The Logic of Microspace

Book excerpt: Changing the focus of the multibillion-dollar global aerospace business toward smaller, lower-cost spacecraft is not happening solely due to technical, managerial, financial or market motivations. Rick Fleeter's second book on the small, low-cost space programmes which are the fastest-growing segment of aerospace activity, gives the reader a keen understanding of the full spectrum of factors driving this profound change. The text then goes beyond engineering technologies and management techniques to envision the tantalizing prospects microspace has in store for the industry, its present markets and those of the future.