222 pgs, 1987, Kluwer Academic Publishers
ISBN 978-9027724793

This book provides an introduction to the mission design of communications satellites. There are many excellent books on orbit mechanics and astrodynamics, but until now there has been no single work that explains the ins and outs of mission design, and explains why and how things are done the way they are done. The book will be of interest not only to practicing mission analysts, but also to spacecraft systems engineers, spacecraft project managers and to those who wish to employ the unique attributes of geosynchronous spacecraft for useful purposes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Launch
3. Transfer Orbit
4. The Apogee Manoeuvre
5. Drift Orbit
6. Station-Keeping
7. Spacecraft Operations
8. Orbit Propagation
9. Tracking and Orbit Determination
10. Spacecraft Stability