Utilization of Space [electronic resource] : Today and Tomorrow / edited by Berndt Feuerbacher, Heinz Stoewer.

Space: Beyond the Horizon -- Space Utilization -- Access to Space — the Prerequisites for Space Utilization -- Looking down: our Earth -- The Earth Surface -- Climate and Environment -- Weather Observations from Space -- Geodynamics -- Looking up: Stars and Planets -- Astronomy and Astrophysics -- The Solar System -- Between Space and Earth -- Communications -- Satellite Navigation -- Space as a Laboratory -- Fundamental Physics -- Materials Sciences -- Life Sciences -- Any Limits? -- Challenges and Perspectives.

Almost 50 years after the launch of Sputnik, the diversity and criticality of the technology and applications already in place to exploit the ‘high-frontier’ is impressive. And it is no exaggeration to state that a precondition for meeting human needs, coping with environmental problems, and maintaining security is the successful exploitation of space. Yet no one overview exists to document what we have so far done, and soon plan to accomplish, to utilize the near-Earth space environment. Utilization of Space aims to serve as an authoritative overview for professionals and interested laymen by explaining scientific space utilisation, commercial and entrepreneurial issues, and technological applications. The chapters are written by leading specialists in the respective fields and on a level comprehensible to an educated, but not necessarily technically-trained, reader. Enhanced by informative color illustrations, it is intended not only to transmit useful and timely information to readers, but also to share with them the fascination attached to space activities experienced by those actively engaged in them