You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand the fascinating physics behind space exploration. It's (Just) Rocket Science delivers on a bold promise: spaceflight isn't just for engineers or physicists. Science writer Trisha Muro introduces readers to the physics principles behind how rockets, satellites, and space telescopes reach their destinations by making the science behind these technological marvels both meaningful and accessible. Muro untangles the concepts and calculations that make space exploration possible. Addressing a handful of core topics-including motion, forces, waves, and energy-each section demonstrates how to see physics at work in easy-to-understand explanations. Chapters center on the challenges faced by real spaceflight missions, such as Voyager's deep space dispatches, the James Webb Space Telescope's distant perch beyond the Moon, and DART's asteroid-deflecting impact, while connecting the physics behind these missions to readers' daily lives. Muro introduces essential physics concepts and makes abstract principles tangible through true stories of human ingenuity and cosmic ambition. Covering topics such as orbits, gravity, momentum, light, and relativity, this book explains the surprising science behind familiar headlines, like: How do missions like Psyche use a gravitational slingshot to reach their destinations? Why does the Webb telescope orbit a million miles away from Earth? How do we land rovers like Perseverance safely on Mars? Whether readers are seasoned stargazers or hesitant explorers, It's (Just) Rocket Science invites you to see the science behind space exploration -and recognize how those missions connect back to us.
Trisha Muro is a freelance science writer and former high school physics teacher who has written for OpenMind Magazine, NOIRLab, and Science News Explores.
Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction I. What's Got You Down? (Let's Talk About Gravity) 1. How to Find an Exoplanet: TESS and the Geometry of Orbits 2. A Seemingly Magical Orbit: JWST and Gravitation 3. From a Relativistic Point of View: Hubble and Relativity 4. Initial Conditions: Voyager and Our Place in Space II. Let's GO 5. We Are 'Go' For Launch! Sounding Rockets and the Physics of Launch 6. To Mars We Go: Perseverance and the Physics of Orbit 7. A Balance of Forces: Dragonfly and Newton's Laws Interlude - The Speed You Need, Part 1: Orbits III. There's No Free Lunch, But There Might be Some Tasty Snacks 8. To Shift a Space Rock: DART and the momentum of collisions 9. Gravitational Slingshots: Psyche and angular momentum 10. Spaceflight's Not-Quite-Free Lunch: Apollo and Conservation of Energy Interlude - The Speed You Need, Part 2: Escape IV. Rockets Can't Surf, But They Still Need Waves 11. How to Phone Home From Space: the Deep Space Network and waves 12. Beyond the Rainbow: DAVINCI and the electromagnetic spectrum 13. Seeing the Unseeable: Chandra and optics V. Look Deeper, and Dream On 14. Sailing on Starlight: Two Solar Sail Spacecraft and Photon physics 15. Spaceflight, Differently: Solar Electric Propulsion Reframes the Rocket Equation 16. Doing the Impossible: Parker Solar Probe and Radiation VI. Appendices 17. The Metric System 18. The Math of Gravity, Once More Afterword Notes on Sources Bibliography
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand the fascinating physics behind space exploration.
