Orbital Mechanics: The Essentials by David A. Cicci

During my 30-plus years of teaching orbital mechanics in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University, I carefully developed the material I taught. I intended to cover the introductory topics that were essential for aerospace engineering students. The material I developed during my teaching career is now offered in Orbital Mechanics: The Essentials. I believe it’s presented in a simplified yet thorough manner, which facilitates understanding for students as well as working professionals. The topics are covered on a comprehensive level that also provides a solid background for students in other fields of engineering and science who might be interested in learning orbital mechanics. My description of the topics assumes readers have an introductory knowledge of differential and integral calculus and differential equations. However, individuals without such a background can still benefit from this textbook. Orbital Mechanics: The Essentials is an in-depth discussion of the two-body problem and includes an introduction to satellite perturbations. It contains hundreds of problems designed to improve student understanding. Special effort was taken to select problems that demonstrate applications of the concepts covered. The problems were taken from homework and examinations that thousands of Auburn aerospace engineering students worked during their time in my classes. As an engineering professor, my primary goal was to simplify difficult technical concepts so all students could understand them. For that reason, Orbital Read more