Specific Impulse is a Clarion Book of the Year Award Finalist. Great energy a fun and engaging read! DR. BONNIE DUNBAR, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT AND CEO OF SEATTLE MUSEUM OF FLIGHT Space scientist Carin Gonzales and former submarine commander Jake Sabio are two strangers drifting separately through life when a thunderous explosion above the giant Barringer Meteor Crater inexplicably brings them together, transforming both in unpredictable ways. Now able to see and smell more precisely and move in ways that are clearly impossible, Gonzales and Sabio soon realize that these kinds of life-changing alterations do not come without a price. Worse yet, they soon notice that others who witnessed the explosion are now dead from a seemingly incurable infection. The CDC wants nothing more than to lock them up in a lab for study. Special Agent Will Greenfield wants them for questioning. Contract killer Antonio Crubari would be happy if they would just hurry up and die, but he is willing to speed up the process if need be. Time is running out for Gonzales and Sabio. But even as they struggle to survive and find a cure for the deadly infection, they uncover a secret of monumental proportions that changes everythingincluding the future.

Throughout most of the twentieth century, electric propulsion was considered the technology of the future. Now, the future has arrived. This important new book explains the fundamentals of electric propulsion for spacecraft and describes in detail the physics and characteristics of the two major electric thrusters in use today, ion and Hall thrusters. The authors provide an introduction to plasma physics in order to allow readers to understand the models and derivations used in determining electric thruster performance. They then go on to present detailed explanations of: Thruster principles Ion thruster plasma generators and accelerator grids Hollow cathodes Hall thrusters Ion and Hall thruster plumes Flight ion and Hall thrusters Based largely on research and development performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and complemented with scores of tables, figures, homework problems, and references, Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion: Ion and Hall Thrusters is an indispensable textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students who are preparing to enter the aerospace industry. It also serves as an equally valuable resource for professional engineers already at work in the field.