Relativistic flight mechanics and space travel a primer for students, engineers, and scientists /

• Main Author: Tinder, Richard F., 1930-
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: San Rafael, Calif. (1537 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 USA) : Morgan & Claypool Publishers, c2007.
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Series: Synthesis lectures on engineering (Online) ; #1.
• Subjects: Manned space flight.; Relativistic rocket mechanics.
• Online Access: Abstract with links to full text

Relativistic Flight Mechanics and Space Travel is about the fascinating prospect of future human space travel. Its purpose is to demonstrate that such ventures may not be as difficult as one might believe and are certainly not impossible. The foundations for relativistic flight mechanics are provide...

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Scope and philosophy of this book
• Is interstellar space travel possible
• Why travel to distant stars, planetary systems, and galaxies
• General requirements for interstellar space travel
• Background
• The nature of light and its velocity
• Michelson-Morley experiment and the null result
• Postulates of Einstein's special theory of relativity
• Principle of simultaneity and synchronicity
• Relativistic time dilation and the clock paradox
• Relativistic distance contraction
• Relativistic transformation of coordinates and addition of velocities
• Relativistic momentum and mass
• The Relativistic mass-energy relation
• Problems
• Relativistic rocket mechanics
• Relativistic (proper) measurements and calculations of the astronauts
• Introduction to rocket mechanics; the rocket equation
• The photon rocket
• Relativity of velocity, time, acceleration, and distance
• Energy requirements for relativistic flight
• Concluding remarks regarding relativistic flight
• Problems
• Space travel and the photon rocket
• Summary of important equations
• The flight plan and simplifying assumptions
• Comparative distances, flight times and rocket mass ratios to various star/planet systems, galaxies and beyond, calculation plan
• Consequences of particulate efflux velocities, varying speeds of light, and acceleration
• "Give me WARP three, Scotty"; practical considerations
• Problems
• Minkowski diagrams, K-calculus, and relativistic effects
• Minkowski diagrams
• K-calculus and relativistic effects and measurements
• Problems
• Other prospective transport systems for relativistic space travel
• Nuclear particle propulsion
• Matter/antimatter propulsion
• Laser sail propulsion
• Fusion ramjet propulsion
• Exotic space transport and propulsion systems
• Fundamental constants and useful data
• Units of conversion
• Metric (SI) multipliers
• Mathematical definitions and identities
• Hyperbolic functions
• Logarithm identities (Base b)
• Derivation of the rocket equations
• The photon rocket equation
• The effect of efficiency
• The classical rocket equation.