Small spacecraft have become popular for a number of reasons, most prominently the needs to reduce overall cost, be built more quickly, and spread mission risks. NASA has been challenged with crafting a program that continues to produce meaningful science within the constraints of the available budget. Still, pound for pound, small spacecraft are not precisely inexpensive, given the effects of complexity, launch costs, and a greater degree of risk. Historically, science spacecraft have demonstrated increasing reliability, but this trend might not continue, given the shift to managed risk. There is generally less money available to smaller programs to test spacecraft functions and operational procedures prior to launch. Small spacecraft are also generally less robust. Efforts to reduce failure potentials through the application of more reliable components, better testing, and advanced design techniques should receive greater attention. Despite the risks, however, small spacecraft fulfill important roles in earth science, astrophysics, space physics, and planetary science. NASA's current generation of small spacecraft is capable of impressive levels of performance.

'The author of The Edible Balcony with 100 ingenious ideas for gardening on a budget.' The Bookseller 'Alex Mitchell's new book Gardening on a Shoestring offers a delectable range of ways to create a garden on a budget.' The Independent In our increasingly busy and chaotic world, more and more of us are turning to gardening as a way to create a pleasant space to be in. However, as we continue to tighten our purse strings, the cost can make the pastime a source of further stress rather than one of pleasure. Alex Mitchell's Gardening on a Shoestring is full of inventive ways to achieve the garden you want on a budget, whether you are creating one from scratch or improving what you already have. Packed with money-saving tips, it combines classic gardening skills with simple, creative ideas. Sometimes it's about going back to the old ways of doing things, techniques in danger of being forgotten; other times it's about adapting to the new, saving money on equipment by making your own from inexpensive materials or knowing how to get bargains from nurseries and garden centres. So learn how to prune before you panic buy, grow food for peanuts, create pots for a pittance, propagate plants for nothing and make your own plant feed from weeds - all for next to nothing.

Lonely Planet: The world’s number one travel guide publisher* Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia on a Shoestring is your passport to having big experiences on a small budget, offering the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, what hidden discoveries await you and how to optimise your budget for an extended continental trip. Watch the sun rise over Cambodia’s temples of Angkor; hang out, hit the beach and learn to cook in Vietnam’s cosmopolitan, buzzing Hoi An; and kayak around the turquoise waters of Laos’ Si Phan Don. All with your trusted travel companion. Inside Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia on a Shoestring: Budget-oriented recommendations with honest reviews - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Extensive planning tools and budget calculators Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - covering history, art, literature, cinema, landscapes Colour maps and images throughout Covers Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Singapore, Vietnam Useful features: First Time Southeast Asia, Big Adventures Small Budget, Off the Beaten Track, Border Crossing, Splurge, and Responsible Travel eBook Features: (Best viewed on tablet devices and smartphones) Downloadable PDF and offline maps prevent roaming and data charges Effortlessly navigate and jump between maps and reviews Add notes to personalise your guidebook experience Seamlessly flip between pages Bookmarks and speedy search capabilities get you to key pages in a flash Embedded links to recommendations' websites Zoom-in maps and images Inbuilt dictionary for quick referencing The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia on a shoestringis perfect for budget- and value-conscious travellers taking a big trip, and is packed with amazing sights and experiences, savvy tips and recommendations. After only a few of the destinations in this guide? Check out the relevant Lonely Planet destination guides. These are our most comprehensive titles, designed to immerse you in the culture and help you discover the best sights and get off the beaten track. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You’ll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. ‘Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.’ – New York Times ‘Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.’ – Fairfax Media (Australia) *Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017 Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.

Lonely Planet: The world’s number one travel guide publisher* Lonely Planet’s Europe on a Shoestring is your passport to having big experiences on a small budget, offering the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, what hidden discoveries await you, and how to optimise your budget for an extended continental trip. Hit the streets and free museums of one of the world’s greatest capital cities, London; soak up history and art by day and party by night in Berlin; pick your Greek island for fresh food and golden beaches. All with your trusted travel companion. Inside Lonely Planet’s Europe on a Shoestring: Budget-oriented recommendations with honest reviews - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Extensive planning tools and budget calculators Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - covering history, art, literature, cinema, landscapes Colour maps and images throughout Covers Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Scandinavia, Russia, the Baltic Coast, Czech Republic, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Belgium, Austria, and more Useful features: First Time Europe; Big Adventures, Small Budgets; Off the Beaten Track; Border Crossing; Splurge; and Responsible Travel eBook Features: (Best viewed on tablet devices and smartphones) Downloadable PDF and offline maps prevent roaming and data charges Effortlessly navigate and jump between maps and reviews Add notes to personalise your guidebook experience Seamlessly flip between pages Bookmarks and speedy search capabilities get you to key pages in a flash Embedded links to recommendations' websites Zoom-in maps and images Inbuilt dictionary for quick referencing The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet’s Europe on a shoestring is perfect for budget- and value-conscious travellers taking a big trip, and is packed with amazing sights and experiences, savvy tips and recommendations. Looking for suggestions from a wider range of prices for a shorter, multi-country trip? Check out Lonely Planet’s Europe for a comprehensive look at all the continent has to offer. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You’ll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. ‘Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.’ – New York Times ‘Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.’ – Fairfax Media (Australia) *Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017 Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.

"Gardening on a Shoestring" is for anyone who has more energy than dollars and wants to create a beautiful garden. Best-selling garden author and designer Rob Proctor has tips on how to save money that are innovative and guaranteed to give you the garden you've always wanted.

“This excellent summary of an important part of NASA’s history is recommended for all readers.” —Choice In Faster, Better, Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the U.S. Space Program, Howard E. McCurdy examines NASA’s recent efforts to save money while improving mission frequency and performance. McCurdy details sixteen missions undertaken as the twentieth century drew to a close—including an orbit of the moon, deployment of three space telescopes, four Earth-orbiting satellites, two rendezvous with comets and asteroids, and a test of an ion propulsion engine—which cost less than the sum traditionally spent on a single, conventionally planned planetary mission. He shows how these missions employed smaller spacecraft and cheaper technology to undertake less complex and more specific tasks in outer space. While the technological innovation and space exploration approach that McCurdy describes is still controversial, the historical perspective on its disappointments and triumphs points to ways of developing “faster, better, and cheaper” as a management manifesto. “Readers interested in either the management or economics of complex organizations will find a wealth of material in this well-written exposition. Fans of space travel, like the author himself, will also enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at NASA’s operation.” —Enterprise and Society

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award: the "intensely exciting" story of a group of brilliant scientists who set out to answer the deepest questions about the origin of the universe and changed the course of physics and astronomy forever (Newsday). In southern California, nearly a half century ago, a small band of researchers — equipped with a new 200-inch telescope and a faith born of scientific optimism — embarked on the greatest intellectual adventure in the history of humankind: the search for the origin and fate of the universe. Their quest would eventually engulf all of physics and astronomy, leading not only to the discovery of quasars, black holes, and shadow matter but also to fame, controversy, and Nobel Prizes. Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos tells the story of the men and women who have taken eternity on their shoulders and stormed nature in search of answers to the deepest questions we know to ask. "Written with such wit and verve that it is hard not to zip through in one sitting." —Washington Post

The Spitzer Space Observatory, originally known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), is the last of the four “Great Observatories”, which also include the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Developed over twenty years and dubbed the “Infrared Hubble", Spitzer was launched in the summer of 2003 and has since contributed significantly to our understanding of the universe. George Rieke played a key role in Spitzer and now relates the story of how that observatory was built and launched into space. Telling the story of this single mission within the context of NASA space science over two turbulent decades, he describes how, after a tortuous political trail to approval, Spitzer was started at the peak of NASA’s experiment with streamlining and downsizing its mission development process, termed “faster better cheaper.” Up to its official start and even afterward, Spitzer was significant not merely in terms of its scientific value but because it stood at the center of major changes in space science policy and politics. Through interviews with many of the project participants, Rieke reconstructs the political and managerial process by which space missions are conceived, approved, and developed. He reveals that by the time Spitzer had been completed, a number of mission failures had undermined faith in “faster-better-cheaper” and a more conservative approach was imposed. Rieke examines in detail the premises behind “faster better cheaper,” their strengths and weaknesses, and their ultimate impact within the context of NASA’s continuing search for the best way to build future missions. Rieke’s participant’s perspective takes readers inside Congress and NASA to trace the progress of missions prior to the excitement of the launch, revealing the enormously complex and often disheartening political process that needs to be negotiated. He also shares some of the new observations and discoveries made by Spitzer in just its first year of operation. As the only book devoted to the Spitzer mission, The Last of the Great Observatories is a story at the nexus of politics and science, shedding new light on both spheres as it contemplates the future of mankind’s exploration of the universe.

Y. Fujimori, Symposium Programme Committee Chair, and Faculty Member, International Space University e-mail: [email protected] M.Rycroft, Faculty Member, International Space University e-mail: [email protected] N. Crosby, International Space University e-mail: [email protected] For the sixth annual ISU Symposium the theme was "Smaller Satellites: Bigger Business? Concepts, Applications and Markets for Micro/Nanosatellites in a New Information World". Thus, the Symposium addressed the crucial question: are small satellites the saviour of space programmes around the world It did this from the unique perspective of the International Space today? University - the interdisciplinary, international and intercultural perspective. This Symposium brought together a variety of people working on small satellites - engineers, scientists, planners, providers, operators, policy makers and business executives, together with representatives from regulatory bodies, from national and international organizations, and from the finance sector, and also entrepreneurs. Discussion and debate were encouraged, based on the papers presented and those published here.

Space deals with the issues involved in opening space to private travel and more commercial ventures.