Spacecraft Systems Engineering

This book is, after all, "systems engineering" which is more about how components fit together to make a whole than about how any one of those components work. This is probably why it comes across to some as a liberal arts type of overview. The fact is, the equations needed to design a spacecraft are shown, but their usage is largely omitted. There are no student exercises in this book and virtualy no numerical examples. To get a complete view of spacecraft design I recommend this book for the high-level view and Elements of Spacecraft Design (Aiaa Education Series) for a component designer's perspective. That book is written at a much more detailed level with the equations this book has plus plenty of worked out examples and also exercises at the end of most chapters. However, it lacks what this book has, which is a view of how everything fits together. Read the two of them in parallel and you should be able to fill in most of the blanks in spacecraft design.

I use this book as a reference for the undergraduate course I teach (Satellite Design)

This is an excellent introductory book to Space Systems Engineering. You'll manage to get an overall idea of the elements that compose a spacecraft. However, I think that one of the previous reviews (the lady who used the book as a text book in a course) is quite right. I don't think it's deep enough for a University course, but if you're reading it independently (as I did) I'm sure you'll find it useful. I'm an Engineer willing to turn my career into space and it gave me good ideas how my expertise could be used in this field. So, if you're a professional who wants to get into this field or even a fan with a good sciences background (Math and Physics, mainly), this book is for you.

I am about fifteen and I am very interested in engineering, so I bought this book. I will tell you that this has tought me so much about engineering and the importance of math. It contains equations for everything from life support systems to propulsion systems. I would reccomend this for anyone interested in working in the field of spacecraft engineering or just has 70 bucks to spend on an interesting insight into what it takes to build a spacecraft. I have talked to some engineers and they told me that this book will get you on your way to a carrer in this field. It covers all systems and in great detail even if you want to build your own minicraft(science fair, worked too. Well that is all.