Engineering topics

Butrica, Andrew J.

Publications and source records attributed to Butrica, Andrew J..

4 records

NASA NTRS2003

Single Stage to Orbit: Politics, Space Technology, and the Quest for Reusable Rocketry

While the glories and tragedies of the space shuttle make headlines and move the nation, the story of the shuttle forms an inseparable part of a lesser-known but no less important drama-the search for a re-useable single-stage-to-orbit rocket. Here an award-winning student of space science, Andrew J. Butrica, examines the long and tangled history of this ambitious concept, from it first glimmerings in the 1920s, when technicians dismissed it as unfeasible, to its highly expensive heyday in the midst of the Cold War, when conservative-backed government programs struggled to produce an operational flight vehicle. Butrica finds a blending of far-sighted engineering and heavy-handed politics. To the first and oldest idea-that of the reusable rocket-powered single-stage- to-orbit vehicle-planners who belonged to what President Eisenhower referred to as the military-industrial complex added experimental (" X "), "aircraft-like" capabilities and, eventually, a "faster, cheaper, smaller" managerial approach. Single Stage to Orbit traces the interplay of technology, corporate interest, and politics, a combination that well served the conservative space agenda and ultimately triumphed-not in the realization of inexpensive, reliable space transport-but in a vision of space militarization and commercialization that would appear settled United States policy in the early twenty-first century. "The 'holy grail' of the spaceship movement has been the development of a vehicle that could accomplish single stage to orbit (SSTO) flight. This study describes the evolution of this concept from the 192'0s to the present, revealing a conservative space agenda that has not yet been the subject of historical analysis. As such, it makes an important contribution to space history literature."-Roger D. Launius, The Smithsonian Institution.

Butrica, Andrew J.↗

NASA NTRS1997

X-33 Development History

The problem of dealing with various types of proprietary documents, whether from the Lockheed Martin, the Skunk Works, McDonnell Douglas, Rockwell, and other corporations extant or extinct, remains unresolved. The computerized archive finding aid has over 100 records at present. These records consist of X-33 photographs, press releases, media clippings, and the small number of X-33 project records collected to date.

Butrica, Andrew J.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Beyond the Ionosphere: Fifty Years of Satellite Communication

The three overlapping stages of satellite communications development outlined provide the three-part framework for the organization of the papers contained in this book. Part 1, 'Passive Origins,' treats the first stage of satellite communications development, extending from the 1940s into the early 1960s, when passive artificial and natural satellites funded by the military and private enterprise established the field. Part 2, 'Creating the Global, Regional, and National Systems,' addresses events that constituted the second stage of development. Early in this stage, which stretched from the 1960s into the 1970s, satellite systems began to make their appearance in the United States, while domestic and international efforts sought to bring order to this new but chaotic, field in the form of Comsat and Intelsat. Part 3, 'The Unfolding of the World System,' explores the development of satellite communications in the remainder of the world, with a strong emphasis on Asia.

Butrica, Andrew J.↗

NASA NTRS1996

To See the Unseen: A History of Planetary Radar Astronomy

This book relates the history of planetary radar astronomy from its origins in radar to the present day and secondarily to bring to light that history as a case of 'Big Equipment but not Big Science'. Chapter One sketches the emergence of radar astronomy as an ongoing scientific activity at Jodrell Bank, where radar research revealed that meteors were part of the solar system. The chief Big Science driving early radar astronomy experiments was ionospheric research. Chapter Two links the Cold War and the Space Race to the first radar experiments attempted on planetary targets, while recounting the initial achievements of planetary radar, namely, the refinement of the astronomical unit and the rotational rate and direction of Venus. Chapter Three discusses early attempts to organize radar astronomy and the efforts at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, in conjunction with Harvard radio astronomers, to acquire antenna time unfettered by military priorities. Here, the chief Big Science influencing the development of planetary radar astronomy was radio astronomy. Chapter Four spotlights the evolution of planetary radar astronomy at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a NASA facility, at Cornell University's Arecibo Observatory, and at Jodrell Bank. A congeries of funding from the military, the National Science Foundation, and finally NASA marked that evolution, which culminated in planetary radar astronomy finding a single Big Science patron, NASA. Chapter Five analyzes planetary radar astronomy as a science using the theoretical framework provided by philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn. Chapter Six explores the shift in planetary radar astronomy beginning in the 1970s that resulted from its financial and institutional relationship with NASA Big Science. Chapter Seven addresses the Magellan mission and its relation to the evolution of planetary radar astronomy from a ground-based to a space-based activity. Chapters Eight and Nine discuss the research carried out at ground-based facilities by this transformed planetary radar astronomy, as well as the upgrading of the Arecibo and Goldstone radars. A technical essay appended to this book provides an overview of planetary radar techniques, especially range-Doppler mapping.

Butrica, Andrew J.↗