Publisher's Synopsis
In the four years since the first edition of this book was published, I have received numerous email messages from readers all over the world with their suggestions. I have also used this book as a textbook for my undergraduate and graduate courses on space systems engineering. Based on readers' suggestions and my notes, the book is completely revised with an addition of a new chapter on ``Orbital Maneuvers'' (Chapter 5), additional text on attitude dynamics (Chapter 2), and updated contents throughout the text. This book is an outcome of my lectures delivered to engineering/science students at Ryerson University, Canada; Kyushu University, Japan; and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea. The first edition of the text started when I was at Kyushu University, Japan. I have been pursuing research on the subject of ``Dynamics and Control of Space Systems'' for more than twenty-five years. During the course of research and teaching this subject, I realized that there is an earnest need of a text which may provide a basic understanding of inherent complexity in modelling space systems including environmental forces and torques. This text fulfils this goal through a step by step approach that explains each concept in a simple way with mathematical details and simple notations. This textbook is written for engineers, scientist, and undergraduate/graduate students pursuing study or research on the dynamics and control of space systems. I have used all the contents of this textbook in a core course on Space Systems Engineering (one semester, four hours a week). This text assumes that the reader is well acquainted with elementary calculus and linear algebra. Enough care has been taken so that the reader may attempt different types of problems. Each concept has been discussed with sufficient mathematical background supported by examples. A complete set of problems has been added to the end of every chapter. A "Solution Manual" accompanying this book provides a solution to most of these exercise problems. I especially thank my colleagues and students who have gone through previous drafts of this book, and provided me with valuable suggestions. Finally, I express my sincere appreciation to my parents, my wife, Annu, and children, Diksha and Saurabh for their support and patience, without which it would have been impossible to complete this book. This textbook is dedicated to my parents and family for their inspiration and support. In writing the second edition of the textbook, I have tried my best to provide the best relevant materials on the subject. I encourage and welcome all comments and suggestions to make this book more relevant to the contents of your course or research study. Please send your comments to kdkumar@ryerson.ca.
