vi
Preface
and then recommended the book to Springer press for publication in English, in
September 2017. After reviewing the English abstract and table of contents of the
book, the Springer’s reviewer considered: “The book proposal titled“Pulsars: the
Lighthouse for Space Flight” is an excellent one, which described the navigation
based on the pulsar timing, a universal object. So, the book should be a valuable
reference for both scientific community and public. However, some suggestions may
be considered before the book is decided for publication…”
According to the reviewer’s suggestions, the author deleted the first chapter,
second chapter and some sections of the other four chapters in the original manuscript,
and expanded, revised and updated the relevant knowledge and content, especially
as a section, adding the spaceflight test results from the XPNAV-1 satellite. In this
way, the architecture and content of the original book have undergone great changes,
focusing on the concepts, theories and experiments on the pulsars, space flight, space
navigation and pulsar navigation, as well as addressing their internal logical relations
in detail, which is almost a new creation and writing. Obviously, the original title is
no longer appropriate, and hence it is re-entitled Understanding Pulsars and Space
Navigations. This book is divided into five chapters, in which the basic concepts,
development histories, realization approaches, theoretical systems, basic methods
and flight tests of the pulsars and space navigations are discussed systematically,
deeply and comprehensively. In the Chap. 1, the theoretical prediction of neutron stars
as well as the discovery, identification, naming, classification, spatial distribution,
physical mechanism and observation characteristics of pulsars are briefly introduced
as fundamental knowledge. The Chap. 2 is divided into two parts for describing:
one is the development of radio astronomy, principle of radio telescope, modern
large radio telescopes and observation of radio pulsars; another is the discovery
and physical characteristics of X-rays, X-ray detection mechanism, detector’s classification, development of X-ray astronomy and observation of X-ray pulsars. On
the basis of summarizing the concepts of space flight, the development history of
human space flight is narrated systematically and intensively in the Chap. 3, from
the thought sprout and technical development of ancient space flight to the pioneers
and founders of modern astronautics, the promoting role of early space research
societies, the coming of the age of space flight and the probes flying out of the solar
system, and particularly in the end of the Chap. 3, the pulsar’s roles in space flights
are addressed in detail. In the Chap. 4, firstly, the terms and concepts related to navigation are briefly described and identified; secondly, the development process from
ancient south-pointing chariot to modern navigation system is described; thirdly,
the basic principles, technical developments and applications including the celestial
navigation system, inertial navigation system, radio navigation system and navigation
satellite system are discussed, respectively; finally, the ground navigation networks
and autonomous navigation technologies for spacecrafts are commented as a key
point, which is the problem of space navigation. In the Chap. 5, firstly, the principle
and progress on the pulsar navigation are addressed; secondly, the space-time theories
under the Newtonian mechanics and general relativity frames are discussed, respectively; thirdly, the fundamental methods of constructing the pulsar timing system
and large-scale navigation are presented, and a set of ground test system is designed
Preface
and then recommended the book to Springer press for publication in English, in
September 2017. After reviewing the English abstract and table of contents of the
book, the Springer’s reviewer considered: “The book proposal titled“Pulsars: the
Lighthouse for Space Flight” is an excellent one, which described the navigation
based on the pulsar timing, a universal object. So, the book should be a valuable
reference for both scientific community and public. However, some suggestions may
be considered before the book is decided for publication…”
According to the reviewer’s suggestions, the author deleted the first chapter,
second chapter and some sections of the other four chapters in the original manuscript,
and expanded, revised and updated the relevant knowledge and content, especially
as a section, adding the spaceflight test results from the XPNAV-1 satellite. In this
way, the architecture and content of the original book have undergone great changes,
focusing on the concepts, theories and experiments on the pulsars, space flight, space
navigation and pulsar navigation, as well as addressing their internal logical relations
in detail, which is almost a new creation and writing. Obviously, the original title is
no longer appropriate, and hence it is re-entitled Understanding Pulsars and Space
Navigations. This book is divided into five chapters, in which the basic concepts,
development histories, realization approaches, theoretical systems, basic methods
and flight tests of the pulsars and space navigations are discussed systematically,
deeply and comprehensively. In the Chap. 1, the theoretical prediction of neutron stars
as well as the discovery, identification, naming, classification, spatial distribution,
physical mechanism and observation characteristics of pulsars are briefly introduced
as fundamental knowledge. The Chap. 2 is divided into two parts for describing:
one is the development of radio astronomy, principle of radio telescope, modern
large radio telescopes and observation of radio pulsars; another is the discovery
and physical characteristics of X-rays, X-ray detection mechanism, detector’s classification, development of X-ray astronomy and observation of X-ray pulsars. On
the basis of summarizing the concepts of space flight, the development history of
human space flight is narrated systematically and intensively in the Chap. 3, from
the thought sprout and technical development of ancient space flight to the pioneers
and founders of modern astronautics, the promoting role of early space research
societies, the coming of the age of space flight and the probes flying out of the solar
system, and particularly in the end of the Chap. 3, the pulsar’s roles in space flights
are addressed in detail. In the Chap. 4, firstly, the terms and concepts related to navigation are briefly described and identified; secondly, the development process from
ancient south-pointing chariot to modern navigation system is described; thirdly,
the basic principles, technical developments and applications including the celestial
navigation system, inertial navigation system, radio navigation system and navigation
satellite system are discussed, respectively; finally, the ground navigation networks
and autonomous navigation technologies for spacecrafts are commented as a key
point, which is the problem of space navigation. In the Chap. 5, firstly, the principle
and progress on the pulsar navigation are addressed; secondly, the space-time theories
under the Newtonian mechanics and general relativity frames are discussed, respectively; thirdly, the fundamental methods of constructing the pulsar timing system
and large-scale navigation are presented, and a set of ground test system is designed