Here Be Dragons Stewart Money 9781926837338 Books
Download As PDF : Here Be Dragons Stewart Money 9781926837338 Books
Here Be Dragons is the story of SpaceX. In the pre-dawn hours of May 22, 2012, a conventional looking rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on what was only its third flight. Yet it was carrying a spacecraft to conduct history’s first commercial mission to the International Space Station, and along with it, America’s best chance to restore its space-faring capability. The total taxpayer cost for developing the rocket and the spacecraft, including its previous flights, was $396 million, a fraction of the amount NASA had spent on any comparable project. For Elon Musk and SpaceX Exploration Technologies Corp, a company founded only a decade earlier, it was a stunning accomplishment, yet it was only one stop on a journey which leads all the way to Mars. From its earliest trials and near disaster on the remote Pacific atoll of Kwajalein to four successful missions to the International Space Station, Here Be Dragons vividly details the first era of SpaceX. Set against a national space pr
Here Be Dragons Stewart Money 9781926837338 Books
I really wanted to like this book.Pros: it's a detailed chronology about SpaceX. I learned that the product the company is shipping today looks nothing like their existing plan. SpaceX pulled this off by starting with a clean sheet design, their complete vertical integration, and a masterful job of pivoting opportunistically when the market shifted in a way none of their competitors could.
Cons:
1. One of the problems in writing about a complicated subject is that some authors confuse their ability to understand the subject with their ability it to communicate to others. This book suffers from that problem in spades.
2. In the first few chapters the author attempts to offer a laymans description of the SpaceX Merlin engine and tank layout (pintles, igniters, turbo pumps, bulkheads, etc.) and design tradeoffs, without ever considering if readers could understand it. (Here's a test for authors trying to communicate a technical subject: have 10 people read your text description and then have them go to a whiteboard and draw a diagram of what they read.) I doubt if anyone reading this text could do that. It's a shame as one or two rudimentary diagrams illustrating the key engine components would have solved this.
3. The book suffers from what I can politely describe as excessive verbiage. Having an editor could have made this book half, if not one third, its size. Slogging through page after page of redundant and repetitive ideas was just exhausting.
4. The book feels like a very long and extended SpaceX white paper. There are no sources, other than quotes of press releases and public statements, and no opposing viewpoints. It feels like a stream of consciousnesses explanation of SpaceX history.
5. When the subject turns to Boeing, Lockheed and Congress the book reads like an extended polemic. Even if you believe they deserve it, not having a single opposing view or insight turns this section into an embarrassing rant. At a minimum, rather the just offering the "SpaceX was screwed" story, it wouldn't have taken much to do a deeper and more useful dive into the influence of campaign contributions to the politicians sabotaging SpaceX and the revolving door between Air Force officials and Boeing and Lockheed. The book offers a sentence or two in this direction but not much more.
6. Finally, the title of the book promises "..& the Journey to Mars." Perhaps I got the one copy of the book that left this section out, but there's not a single chapter or even page about the "Journey to Mars."
Disappointing.
Product details
|
Tags : Buy Here Be Dragons on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders,Stewart Money,Here Be Dragons,Apogee Prime,1926837339,SCIENCE Astronomy
People also read other books :
- The Cabin Boy Michele Hinton 9780557136933 Books
- The Zelaznog Criterion Collection Vol 1 eBook Cortin A Zelaznog
- Pippa Progress First Adventures With A Microscope For Children Version 1 Mol Smith
- Dumplings The Ultimate Recipe Guide edition by Terri Smitheen Encore Books Cookbooks Food Wine eBooks
- Readymade Sweetie All mixed up Whitney Williams Books
Here Be Dragons Stewart Money 9781926837338 Books Reviews
This book chronicles the remarkable progress made by SpaceX, a company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. In its short existence, SpaceX has already had a disruptive effect on the launch vehicle industry, offering much lower launch prices than anyone else. Their medium lift launch vehicle, the Falcon 9, has had 18 successful launches and no failures (as of May 2015 when this review was written). Soon they will conduct the first launch of their heavy lift launch vehicle, the Falcon Heavy. In the meantime they developed the Dragon Spacecraft that has had 7 successful missions and no failures transporting cargo to and from the International Space Station, and they are working on the Dragon 2 spacecraft that will do the same for crew.
Those (like myself) who have an interest in the details regarding the design choices for the rocket engines, rocket stages, and spacecraft will be pleased, since this is covered exceptionally well in the book. SpaceX has been exceedingly innovative, resulting in a level of progress on launch vehicles and spacecraft that we have not seen since the 1960s. The book also covers the future plans of SpaceX, including what is known about their plans for their long term goal of colonizing Mars.
As a retired aerospace engineer I’ve been closely watching news about SpaceX, and I can attest that this book is both accurate and complete in its coverage. The book nominally concludes at the beginning of 2014, though an epilogue was added that brings the book up to date through mid-2014.
Expert analysis is also given as to why SpaceX has been so successful and how they have overcome the many obstacles they have faced. The obstacles have been as much political as technical. SpaceX is a threat to established aerospace companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet Rocketdyne and United Launch Alliance. The author details how some of the established companies have been using their influence with congress and the Air Force to impede SpaceX.
I would recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the space program or an interest in what makes a company successful. I consider this book the best purchase I have made this year.
An in depth history of Space X. Packed with lots of details, pictures and illustrations.
I really wanted to like this book.
Pros it's a detailed chronology about SpaceX. I learned that the product the company is shipping today looks nothing like their existing plan. SpaceX pulled this off by starting with a clean sheet design, their complete vertical integration, and a masterful job of pivoting opportunistically when the market shifted in a way none of their competitors could.
Cons
1. One of the problems in writing about a complicated subject is that some authors confuse their ability to understand the subject with their ability it to communicate to others. This book suffers from that problem in spades.
2. In the first few chapters the author attempts to offer a laymans description of the SpaceX Merlin engine and tank layout (pintles, igniters, turbo pumps, bulkheads, etc.) and design tradeoffs, without ever considering if readers could understand it. (Here's a test for authors trying to communicate a technical subject have 10 people read your text description and then have them go to a whiteboard and draw a diagram of what they read.) I doubt if anyone reading this text could do that. It's a shame as one or two rudimentary diagrams illustrating the key engine components would have solved this.
3. The book suffers from what I can politely describe as excessive verbiage. Having an editor could have made this book half, if not one third, its size. Slogging through page after page of redundant and repetitive ideas was just exhausting.
4. The book feels like a very long and extended SpaceX white paper. There are no sources, other than quotes of press releases and public statements, and no opposing viewpoints. It feels like a stream of consciousnesses explanation of SpaceX history.
5. When the subject turns to Boeing, Lockheed and Congress the book reads like an extended polemic. Even if you believe they deserve it, not having a single opposing view or insight turns this section into an embarrassing rant. At a minimum, rather the just offering the "SpaceX was screwed" story, it wouldn't have taken much to do a deeper and more useful dive into the influence of campaign contributions to the politicians sabotaging SpaceX and the revolving door between Air Force officials and Boeing and Lockheed. The book offers a sentence or two in this direction but not much more.
6. Finally, the title of the book promises "..& the Journey to Mars." Perhaps I got the one copy of the book that left this section out, but there's not a single chapter or even page about the "Journey to Mars."
Disappointing.
0 Response to "∎ [PDF] Free Here Be Dragons Stewart Money 9781926837338 Books"
Post a Comment