Joseph N. Pelton

In his latest book, space scientist, futurist, and educator Joseph N. Pelton explores adozen ways that Planet Earth is at “existential” risk, along with the many ways thatspace systems, data analytics, and advanced networking systems can help us copewith these global challenges.The chapters examine in a straightforward way how satellite systems and technol-ogy can drastically transform fields such as pandemic tracking and global medicalresponses, cosmic hazard monitoring, nuclear energy and waste disposal, water andland pollution, tele-education/telemedicine, and military conflict. Such examplesshow how orbiting smart systems will play an ever more vital role in our vulnerablemodern world, allowing us to monitor, track, and respond to mounting problems ofthe 21st century.Dr. Pelton takes a broad view, probing the social, economic, and regulatory factorsthat are crucial to creating a more sustainable “Spaceship Earth.” This book is a callto action, promoting more organized international collaboration and investment in space technologies that can enable global change.

A true revolution has rocked the space industry, as Silicon Valley and new startup companies around the world have shaken up the status quo. This has in turn triggered a hefty response among traditional aerospace companies, launching the sector into the new Space 2.0. This book explains how and why this remarkable change has happened, starting from the industry’s origins during the Space Age and working its way to the present day. No other industry in the world has experienced the dramatic shift in technology and services as rapidly as the field of satellite services and rocket launch systems has. This book analyzes the dynamic shift over the past decade in how satellites are designed, manufactured, launched, and operated. It also turns an eye to the future, discussing the amazing feats and potential issues we can expect from this shifting arena by 2030. With its beginner-friendly writing style and plethora of illustrations, this book serves as a perfect introductorytext to students and professionals alike wishing to learn more about the key trends in the field of space applications and launch systems.

Prepare yourselves for the coming Cyber Revolution! Over time, humankind has transformed from hunter-gatherer to farmer, from farmer to industrial worker, and from industrial worker to service provider. Now, we are on the cusp of a fourth transformative wave, spurred by climate change, exponential population growth, and our ever-increasing reliance on technology.This Copernicus book follows the stream of changes we will likely experience over the next few decades. These will involve the design and planning of smart cities and vital new mega-cities, as well as the use of sophisticated artificial intelligence and knowledge systems in our professional and everyday lives. The book shows how the nature of work, economics, taxation, social intercourse, and a slew of other global human endeavors will almost certainly undergo fundamental shifts during this time.Despite the many crises the world is gearing up to face, this book is not all doom and gloom – it is a call toaction, a guide to how we might harness novel technologies in space and cyberspace to address our most urgent needs.

Hackers, cyber-criminals, Dark Web users, and techno-terrorists beware! This book should make you think twice about attempting to do your dirty work in the smart cities of tomorrow.Scores of cities around the world have begun planning what are known as “smart cities.” These new or revamped urban areas use the latest technology to make the lives of residents easier and more enjoyable.They will have automated infrastructures such as the Internet of Things, “the Cloud,” automated industrial controls, electronic money, mobile and communication satellite systems, wireless texting and networking. With all of these benefits come new forms of danger, and so these cities will need many safeguards to prevent cyber criminals from wreaking havoc. This book explains the advantages of smart cities and how to design and operate one. Based on the practical experience of the authors in projects in the U.S. and overseas in Dubai, Malaysia, Brazil and India, it tells how such a city is planned and analyzes vital security concerns that must be addressed along the way.Most of us will eventually live in smart cities. What are the advantages and the latest design strategies for such ventures? What are the potential drawbacks? How will they change the lives of everyday citizens? This book offers a preview of our future and how you can help prepare yourself for the changes to come.

This book addresses the complex technical challenges presented by remote space mining in terms of robotics, remote power systems, space transport, IT and communications systems, and more. It also addresses the difficult oversight and regulatory issues that face states and non-state enterprises that would take on the perilous task of obtaining natural resources from the Moon and asteroids. An increasing number of countries are becoming involved in space-related activities that were previously carried out primarily by the United States and the USSR (now the Russian Federation). How these regulatory endeavors might be handled in international treaties, standards, codes of conduct or other means have become a truly international political issue. And there is yet another issue.In the past, space activities traditionally fell under the exclusive domain of government. But the last few years have seen the emergence of the private sector of "space entrepreneurs." This poses many challenges for the pre-existing governance regimes and state-based conceptions of international law. This book examines the adequacies and ambiguities in treaty provisions and national laws and in currently accepted practices involving the growing exploration and exploitation of space-based natural resources.

This book captures the most exciting advances in the harnessing of space as a global resource. The authors track the growing number of space businesses and opportunities for investors, and the many possible benefits of spaceplanes, space stations and even space colonies. The authors also discuss the need for more regulatory reform.Companies like Planetary Resources are now forming to find mineral-rich asteroids and bring back new riches to Earth. Solar power satellites in the next few years will start to beam clean energy back to Earth, to meet the growing demands of a still-developing world. Innovative space industries are vital to the survival of modern human life, and the authors demonstrate what can be done to encourage the growing of the "New Space" frontier. From lassoing and then mining asteroids to developing new methods of defending the planet from space hazards and setting up new hotels and adventures for tourists in space, this new industry will have profound effects on Earth, especially on its economy.This book is based on a study of international experts commissioned ahead of the UNISPACE+50 meeting, having distilled the results of this comprehensive fact-finding process into a compact and very readable form. It can serve as an excellent starting point for understanding all the activities underway or planned to make space truly our next frontier.

This book addresses the complex technical challenges presented by remote space mining in terms of robotics, remote power systems, space transport, IT and communications systems, and more. It also addresses the difficult oversight and regulatory issues that face states and non-state enterprises that would take on the perilous task of obtaining natural resources from the Moon and asteroids. An increasing number of countries are becoming involved in space-related activities that were previously carried out primarily by the United States and the USSR (now the Russian Federation). How these regulatory endeavors might be handled in international treaties, standards, codes of conduct or other means have become a truly international political issue. And there is yet another issue.In the past, space activities traditionally fell under the exclusive domain of government. But the last few years have seen the emergence of the private sector of "space entrepreneurs." This poses many challenges for the pre-existing governance regimes and state-based conceptions of international law. This book examines the adequacies and ambiguities in treaty provisions and national laws and in currently accepted practices involving the growing exploration and exploitation of space-based natural resources.

Addressing a pressing issue in space policy, Pelton explores the new forms of technology that are being developed to actively remove the defunct space objects from orbit and analyzes their implications in the existing regime of international space law and public international law. This authoritative review covers the due diligence guidelines that nations are using to minimize the generation of new debris, mandates to de-orbit satellites at end of life, and innovative endeavours to remove non-functional satellites, upper stage rockets and other large debris from orbit under new institutional, financial and regulatory guidelines. Commercial space services currently exceed 100 billion USD business per annum, but the alarming proliferation in the population of orbital debris in low, medium and geosynchronous satellite orbits poses a serious threat to all kinds of space assets and applications. There is a graver concern that the existing space debris will begin to collide in a cascading manner, generating further debris, which is known as the Kessler Syndrome. Scientific analysis has indicated an urgent need to perform space debris remediation through active removal of debris and on-orbit satellite servicing.

Since the launch of UoSat-1 of the University of Surrey (United Kingdom) in 1981, small satellites proved regularly to be useful, beneficial, and cost-effective tools. Typical tasks cover education and workforce development, technology demonstration, verification and validation, scientific and engineering research as well as commercial applications. Today the launch masses range over almost three orders of magnitude starting at less than a kilogram up to a few hundred kilograms, with budgets of less than US$ 100.00 and up to millions within very short timeframes of sometimes less than two years. Therefore each category of small satellites provides specific challenges in design, development and operations.Small satellites offer great potentials to gain responsive, low-cost access to space within a short timeframe for institutions, companies, regions and countries beyond the traditional big players in the space arena. For these reasons (particularly the low cost of construction, launch and operation), small (micro, cube or nano) satellites are being preferred by students and educational institutions, amateur radio operators, small and developing countries, international aid agencies and most recently by defense agencies and satellite operators who are examining deployment of constellation clusters instead of conventional application satellites. In some cases these new capabilities are being deployed as hosted payloads on larger satellites. The advent of hosted payloads as a significant part of the satellite industry represents a key new topic that this book will address.The number of small satellites—of various types--is increasing fast as their benefits are being realized. This short and unique interdisciplinary book, covering both technical and regulatory aspects, examines all the different types of applications and reasons for small as well as exploring technical and operational innovations that are being introduced. It also examines thenew technical standards, removal techniques or other methods that might help to address current problems and the regulatory issues and procedures to ameliorate problems associated with small satellites, especially mounting levels of orbital debris and noncompliance with radio frequency and national licensing requirements, liabilities, export controls and so on.

The mounting problem of space debris in low earth orbit and its threat to the operation of application satellites has been increasingly recognized as space activities increase. The efforts of the Inter Agency Space Debris Coordinating Committee (IADC) and UN COPUS have now led to international guidelines to mitigate the creation of new debris. This book discusses the technical studies being developed for active removal processes and otherwise mitigating problems of space debris, particularly in low earth orbit. This book also considers threats to space systems and the Earth that comes from natural causes such as asteroids, coronal mass ejections, and radiation. After more than half a century of space applications and explorations, the time has come to consider ways to provide sustainability for long-term space activities.

The field of satellite communications represents the world's largest space industry. Those who are interested in space need to understand the fundamentals of satellite communications, its technology, operation, business, economic, and regulatory aspects. This book explains all this along with key insights into the field's future growth trends and current strategic challenges. Fundamentals of Satellite Communications is a concise book that gives all of the key facts and figures as well as a strategic view of where this dynamic industry is going. Author Joseph N. Pelton, PhD, former Dean of the International Space University and former Director of Strategic Policy at Intelstat, presents a readable book about the entire essence of the satellite communication field.

The continuing post-Copenhagen debate on Climate Change and Global Warming is not the only major threat confronting the people and politicians of the world; and it may not even be the greatest threat. The 21st Century challenges we face in the coming decades also include Super Automation, Structural Unemployment, the failure of Conventional Market Systems, Super-Urbanization and Over Population. Are we, like the dinosaurs, an endangered species threatened by mass extinction? In "MegaCrunch", authors Joseph N. Pelton and Peter Marshall outline ten survival strategies we need to pursue to survive as a species.

Part history, part technology, and part policy analysis, this one-of-a-kind, landmark book reviews the history of NASA's space exploration program, its astronaut safety program, the present status of the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, and the options and strategic opportunities that present themselves as NASA enters its next phase of space exploration with Project Constellation. Written by one of the foremost experts on space policy, ""Space Exploration and Astronaut Safety"", presents in a highly readable format the state of today's space technology, along with the concerns about safety in space exploration as it applies to current and future programs, and whether these issues can be reconciled and translated into a viable future space policy. The book thoroughly explores NASA's options and how these options are tempered and influenced by astronaut safety considerations as well as by uncertain Congressional funding and complex organizational management issues. It also considers the impact of international participation and the increasing prospect of the privatization of space travel.Based on a thorough evaluation of past and current history, findings from the Shuttle tragedies, interviews with key experts, surveys, and extensive research on the Shuttle, ISS, and related NASA space safety programs, the author lays out a comprehensive presentation on where space exploration has been, where it stands today, where it is going, and where it has the potential to go. Decision makers in government (especially those involved with NASA policy and safety), members of space agencies around the world, aerospace scientists and engineers, space enthusiasts, and academicians will all find this book an indispensable and enlightening guide. Investment in the future of space exploration will cost billions of dollars; this book provides ample background and the impetus to enable policy makers, the aerospace community, and the general public to make balanced, educated decisions on how those dollars can best be spent.

Over the past 40 years, satellites have played a key role in creating a global culture, spreading worldwide entertainment, stimulating technological interchange, and promoting trade around the world. Communications Satellites: Global Change Agents addresses communications satellites not only in terms of the technology and the services they provide, but also with consideration of the technology's impact in socio-political, security, economic, policy, news, entertainment, and cultural spheres.Editors Joseph N. Pelton, Robert J. Oslund, and Peter Marshall bring together contributions that place satellites into a broad context and examine how they influence and define today's world. Written in a non-technical, reader-friendly style, chapters investigate how satellite communications work and explore the role of satellites in such arenas as:*news and entertainment systems around the world;*Internet, E-business, and the new global economy;*global television and radio channels;*military operations; and*education, health services, economic development, and electronic immigration.Communications Satellites: Global Change Agents examines what satellites have been and projects how they will evolve in the future, articulating what they mean to the world today and forecasting what they will mean tomorrow. As the definitive source on communications satellites and their role in today's world, this volume serves as a valuable, unique, and timely resource for scholars and students in telecommunications, communication and technology, mass communication and society, and broadcasting.

Over the past 40 years, satellites have played a key role in creating a global culture, spreading worldwide entertainment, stimulating technological interchange, and promoting trade around the world. Communications Satellites: Global Change Agents addresses communications satellites not only in terms of the technology and the services they provide, but also with consideration of the technology's impact in socio-political, security, economic, policy, news, entertainment, and cultural spheres.Editors Joseph N. Pelton, Robert J. Oslund, and Peter Marshall bring together contributions that place satellites into a broad context and examine how they influence and define today's world. Written in a non-technical, reader-friendly style, chapters investigate how satellite communications work and explore the role of satellites in such arenas as:*news and entertainment systems around the world;*Internet, E-business, and the new global economy;*global television and radio channels;*military operations; and*education, health services, economic development, and electronic immigration.Communications Satellites: Global Change Agents examines what satellites have been and projects how they will evolve in the future, articulating what they mean to the world today and forecasting what they will mean tomorrow. As the definitive source on communications satellites and their role in today's world, this volume serves as a valuable, unique, and timely resource for scholars and students in telecommunications, communication and technology, mass communication and society, and broadcasting.