Planetary Landers and Entry Probes

by Andrew Ball, James Garry, Ralph Lorenz

This book provides a concise but broad overview of the engineering, science and flight history of planetary landers and atmospheric entry probes designed to explore the atmospheres and surfaces of other planets. It covers engineering aspects specific to such vehicles which are not usually treated in traditional spacecraft engineering texts. Examples are drawn from over thirty different lander and entry probe designs that have been used for lunar and planetary missions since the early 1960s. The authors provide detailed illustrations of many vehicle designs from different international space programs, and give basic information on their missions and payloads, irrespective of the mission's success or failure. Several missions are discussed in more detail to demonstrate the broad range of the challenges involved and the solutions implemented. This will form an important reference for professionals, academic researchers and graduate students involved in planetary science, aerospace engineering and space mission development.

364 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2007

Reviews

[Marc]

A very good textbook-like introduction to the field, especially for those unfamilar with recent developments. However, it IS an overview, and details of individual missions/vehicles are slim, and generally confined to tables of data and short summaries.

The technical introduction (Part I of the book) is a good synopsis of the issues involved in design of these vehicles, but again is an overview of systems issues, not detailed design issues or criteria for the end-designer.

This book is best targeted for three markets:

1) An introductory college text.
2) The casual reader who wants to know more about the issues involved in the missions they follow through interest.
3) An overview of technical issues for a manager who must supervise the people actually involved in the detailed design of landers and entry probes.