"A look up at the night sky reveals a treasury of wonders. Even to the naked eye, the Moon, stars, planets, the Milky Way and even a few star clusters and nebulae illuminate the heavens. For millennia, humans struggled to make sense of what's out there in the Universe, from all we can see to that which lies beyond the limits of even our most powerful telescopes. Beyond the Galaxy traces our journey from an ancient, Earth-centered Universe all the way to our modern, 21st century understanding of the cosmos. Touching on not only what we know but also how we know it, Ethan Siegel takes us to the very frontiers of modern astrophysics and cosmology, from the birth of our Universe to its ultimate fate, and everything in between."--

A fascinating account of how the United States established the first global satellite communications system to project geopolitical leadership during the Cold War. On July 20, 1969, the world watched, spellbound, as NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off the Apollo 11 lunar module to walk on the moon. NASA estimated that 20 percent of the planet's population—nearly 650 million people—watched the moon landing footage, which was made possible by the first global satellite communications system, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, or Intelsat. In Beyond Sputnik and the Space Race, Hugh R. Slotten analyzes the efforts of US officials, especially during the Kennedy administration, to establish this satellite communication system and open it to all countries of the world. Locked in competition with the Soviet Union for both military superiority and international prestige, President John F. Kennedy overturned the Eisenhower administration's policy of treating satellite communications as simply an extension of traditionally regulated telecommunications. Instead of allowing private communications companies to set up separate systems that would likely primarily serve major "developed" regions, the new administration decided to take the lead in establishing a single world system. Explaining how the East-West Cold War conflict became increasingly influenced by North-South tensions during this period, Slotten highlights the growing importance of non-aligned countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. He also underscores the importance of a political economy of "total Cold War" in which many crucial aspects of US society became tied to imperatives of national security and geopolitical prestige. Drawing on detailed archival records to examine the full range of decisionmakers involved in the Intelsat system, Beyond Sputnik and the Space Race spotlights mid- and lower-level agency staff usually ignored by historians. One of the few works to analyze the establishment of a major global infrastructure project, this book provides an outstanding analytical overview of the history of global electronic communications from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.

A novel approach to the unresolved issues of theoretical physics and the philosophy/foundations of physics.

A racy book based on the personal experiences of a retired soldier seeking to find what lies beyond the perceptible universe. Various life-threatening experiences came his way, where he survived by a few centimetres accurate firing from the air, artillery, tanks, and machine guns. Even after retirement, he’s had narrow escapes on air, water and land. Numerous other experiences, where the improbable wishes were fulfilled extraordinarily; prophesies made accurate to the last letter and date; clairvoyants who could peep into the long-dead past and the misty future, warning in advance to face the disasters stoically; and many more, compelled him to look beyond and make conjectures based on the findings of the Modern Science and the revelations of the Vedanta. Some truths beyond controlling and regulating the perceptible universe have emerged out; perhaps? Read Empirical Universe and Beyond to find out.

The three-volume major reference “Photons in Fock Space and Beyond” undertakes a new mathematical and conceptual foundation of the theory of light emphasizing mesoscopic radiation systems. The quantum optical notions are generalized beyond Fock representations where the richness of an infinite dimensional quantum field system, with its mathematical difficulties and theoretical possibilities, is fully taken into account. It aims at a microscopic formulation of a mesoscopic model class which covers in principle all stages of the generation and propagation of light within a unified and well-defined conceptual frame.The dynamics of the interacting systems is founded — according to original works of the authors — on convergent perturbation series and describes the developments of the quantized microscopic as well as the classical collective degrees of freedom at the same time. The achieved theoretical unification fits especially to laser and microwave applications inheriting objective information over quantum noise.A special advancement is the incorporation of arbitrary multiply connected cavities where ideal conductor boundary conditions are imposed. From there arises a new category of classical and quantized field parts, apparently not treated in Quantum Electrodynamics before. In combination with gauge theory, the additional “cohomological fields” explain topological quantum effects in superconductivity. Further applications are to be expected for optoelectronic and optomechanical systems.

The Sun is merely one of some 200 billion stars that make up the Milky Way--and the Milky Way is only one of a billion galaxies in the known universe. Packed with fascinating facts and stunning photography, this book examines the Galaxy humans call home and travels light years away, to the domain of phenomena such as the Oort cloud.

It was in the year 2065 on planet Earth that the Astronauts were planning a trip to a planet in another galaxy. This planet was called Clarion. They have been searching decades for a planet that would resemble the Earth. The people also wanted to find the origin of the people that visited the Earth planet many thousand years ago. They left evidence of a far advanced race that had played a role in the development of the planet Earth. The people finally have developed their spaceships so they would travel light years into space in a condensed amount of time.

The reader takes a trip to the edge of the known universe and beyond.

Ambitious Patrol Captain Nissa Sander has spent three years at the galaxy's edge keeping the law and order, and chasing scoundrel smuggler, Justyn Phoenix. But the charming rogue has always outwitted her and she's had a hard time ignoring his hard body and handsome face. But when one of the galaxy's most important documents--the US Constitution--is stolen, Nissa finds herself working with the very man she's been trying to throw in her brig. Justyn Phoenix embraces life and offers everyone a wink and a smile. He's also in love with a spit-and-polish Patrol captain. Yep, crazy in love, and he knows she'll never love him back. But when the opportunity arises to work alongside Nissa on a wild and crazy mission to recover the US Constitution, he can't resist. But nothing on this treasure hunt is as it seems. The trail leads them to fake documents, rival treasure hunters, and a millennia old mystery. As the hunt takes them beyond the galaxy's edge, Justyn and Nissa will face the firestorm of their desire, and soon learn if they can survive long enough to save the galaxy.