Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications

by David A. Vallado, James Wertz

Publisher: Microcosm Press
ISBN: 1881883191

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Book Description

Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications has become the standard astrodynamics reference for those involved in the business of spaceflight. What sets this book apart is that nearly all of the theoretical mathematics is followed by discussions of practical applications implemented in tested software routines that are available for no additional cost on the web. For example, the book includes a compendium of algorithms that allow students and professionals to determine orbits with high precision using a PC. Without a doubt, when an astrodynamics problem arises in the future, it will continue to be standard practice for engineers to keep this volume close at hand and "look it up in Vallado".

While prior editions were exceptionally useful and popular throughout the community, there are a number of reasons why the fourth edition will be even more so. There are many reworked examples and derivations. There is an entirely new chapter on interplanetary motion. There is an improved and expanded discussion of the latest coordinate systems, orbit determination, and differential correction. Perhaps most important is that, as with the third edition, all of the software routines described in the book are now available for free in FORTRAN, PASCAL, C++, VBA, and MatLab. This makes the fourth edition an even more valuable text and superb reference.

Book Reviews

The problems posed at the end of each chapter span a useful range of difficulty, appropriate for use in a senior or graduate level course. Given the book's organization and content, I would recommend it for use as a textbook or a reference. - Robert G. Melton, Pennsylvania State University

Vallado is an excellent book on the "real world" use of astrodynamics in space missions. A must have reference for anyone involved in the development, deployment, and operations of space vehicles. - David B. Spencer, Associate Editor, AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

This book contains a large collection of information pertaining to operational systems and qualitative insights gleaned from recent applications. The integration of these into a treatment of traditional development of Keplerian motion, perturbed motion, and orbital determination represents a significant accomplishment. - John L. Junkins, Texas

Customer Reviews

A good book summarizing the field. Quite easy to use for studying, with lots of examples and good pictures to describe the concepts. Included is also a lot of easy to use algorithms, which makes applying the concepts in programming really simple.

I find this book to be excellent from the point of view of the practicing engieneer. Vallado gives a lot of details on how to solve practical problems and puts a wealth of information in terms one can use almost directly to write algorithms.

The book is structured so that the chapters flow in logical manner. Once you understand the logic you'll have no problem navigating the book.

It is true it is not a book for beginners. I've tried to teach Orbital Mechanics out of it to junior level aerospace engineering students and most of them didn't like it.

The book has quite a few typos but an errata is available on the publisher's website. Also available on the publisher's website are the algorithms presented in the book - in FORTRAN, C, C++, Ada, and MATLAB.

Overall I believe that Vallado put back "Fun" in "Fundamentals".