Second Edition (July 2022)

Spacecraft Operations

The second edition of the technical book "Spacecraft Operations " has just been published (July 2022). It was primarily written by experts from the German Space Operations Center (GSOC). In addition, there are contributions from the European Space Operations Center (ESOC), the University of Southampton, and the industry.  The publication has been updated to reflect the current highly dynamic space exploration landscape. It also includes four new chapters that give more detailed attention particularly to the areas of flight procedures, ground station operations, software and systems, and the "human factor" in spaceflight.

Credit:

Springer Verlag

"After seven years, an update was urgently needed," says Dr. Florian Sellmaier, head of the editorial team. "Spaceflight has evolved, we have operated new missions, and some concepts and tools have been adapted and modernized. We don't want to withhold this from our readers."

The idea for the first edition of the book came from the Spacecraft Operations Course, which has been held regularly at GSOC for many years. "Our expertise has led to an increased demand for the Spacecraft Operations Course. We now offer two courses per year as well as other specially designed courses," explains Michael Schmidhuber, who is one of the course instructors and member of the publication's editorial team. Together with Dr. Thomas Uhlig, the third editor, and a team of graphics and design experts, he led the revision, discussed changes with the authors, and iterated the new content with them.

Springer-Verlag has now published the revised edition in both print and electronic versions. It will serve as a cutting-edge script for the Spacecraft Operations Courses.