Orbital Mechanics: For Engineering Students (Aerospace Engineering) [Hardcover]

Howard Curtis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0750661690 | ISBN-13: 978-0750661690 | Publication Date: January 10, 2005 | Edition: 1

Orbital mechanics is a cornerstone subject for aerospace engineering students. However, with its basis in classical physics and mechanics, it can be a difficult and weighty subject. Howard Curtis - Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle University, the US's #1 rated undergraduate aerospace school - focuses on what students at undergraduate and taught masters level really need to know in this hugely valuable text. Fully supported by the analytical features and computer based tools required by today's students, it brings a fresh, modern, accessible approach to teaching and learning orbital mechanics. A truly essential new resource.

* A complete, stand-alone text for this core aerospace engineering subject
* Richly-detailed, up-to-date curriculum coverage; clearly and logically developed to meet the needs of students
* Highly illustrated and fully supported with downloadable MATLAB algorithms for project and practical work; with fully worked examples throughout, Q&A material, extensive homework exercises and an Instructor's Manual.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Curtis, a professor with many years of technical teaching experience (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ., FL), presents the foundations of orbital mechanics. The book has 11 chapters, four of which are optional, that concentrate on basic orbital mechanics, orbital maneuvers, and satellite mechanics. The reader should know calculus and be able to use computers with software packages in mathematics. A background in physics, dynamics, differential equations, vector notation, and linear algebra is presumed. The book contains worked-out problems and derivations in which each step is provided so that the reader does not have to puzzle over missing steps--an attractive feature. The reader can download copies of needed programs and obtain a solutions manual separately. Use of the five appendixes is often needed to address the information in the chapters. Figure quality is excellent and there is a 15-page index. This work is suitable for readers adequately prepared in mathematics and physics. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. -- W. E. Howard III, formerly, Universities Space Research Association - July 2005, CHOICE.


"...this textbook must be praised for its clear derivations of all equations, presentation of even the most difficult aspects of orbital mechanics based on first principles and a very large amount of well-chosen solved examples. This book will be exceedingly attractive and useful not only to students but also to other researchers or practiced engineers attempting to understand the very exciting and useful field of orbital mechanics."
- Alexander M. Jablonski, 'Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students', June 2005

Book Description

From classical mechanics to spaceflight, this is the only orbital mechanics book students need

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann; 1 edition (January 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750661690
• ISBN-13: 978-0750661690
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A More "Engineering" Approach, January 26, 2007

By 

N. Ibrahim "Senior Aerospace Undergrad" (Toronto) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Orbital Mechanics: For Engineering Students (Aerospace Engineering) (Hardcover)

Good book, but with typos here and there. There is an errata if you search for the book's website and most of the errors you can spot easily. What makes this book especially useful are the MATLAB functions, which allow you to implement the theory without having to debug newly written code (this is more time consuming, than difficult).

This is however a beginner's book into orbital mechanics, but gets the job done if you want to sim a basic interplanetary mission relatively accurately. For a more refined approach with I would suggest "Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics" by Hughes.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars good content, however!, November 26, 2006

By 

James M. Pothering - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Orbital Mechanics: For Engineering Students (Aerospace Engineering) (Hardcover)

The book contains good and applicable content for basic orbital mechanics. However, it is riddled with annoying typos and errors with no errata to be found. As an expensive textbook one would expect more care.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK general text... get the second edition, February 7, 2010

By 

C. J. Humberd (Monterey, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Orbital Mechanics: For Engineering Students (Aerospace Engineering) (Hardcover)

Bought this book right before the second edition came out. Some of my classmates bought the second edition, so the class has a mixture of the two books. The professor is constantly pointing out errors and typos in this edition. There is supposedly an errata available, I have not yet found it. Aside from the practice problem and equation numbering, (and correcting the errors) the two editions are essentially the same.

As a text, the explanations of phenomena and derivations of equations are well laid out and can be followed without too much difficulty if you have a good grounding in vector algebra. An understanding of calculus and ordinary differential equations also aids understanding. The MATLAB code found in the appendices is good and can be used as-is or as a starting point for writing your own. If you can get a .pdf of that appendix, though, it makes cut-and-paste-and-run a whole lot easier.

My only other quibble is that the tables with planetary constants (mass, radius, orbit, mu, etc.) are split into two tables and are buried in an appendix, rather than in one table inside the cover. I've tabbed that page, but it would make more sense to make those much-referenced figures more accessible.