low temperatures or high pressures.
Comlink: cell-based, handheld telecommunications device.
Cryogenic: super-cold; generally any temperature below about –100 °C or 173 K. Commonly applied to gases that need to be held at these very low temperatures to remain liquid.
Delta-v (delta-vee): in astrodynamics, the amount of velocity change needed to carry out an orbital manoeuvre. A space vehicle’s mission capability can be quoted in terms of its delta-v – the maximum change in velocity that the fully loaded and fuelled vehicle can provide.
DSNB: Deep Space Navigation Beacon. Part of the network of radio-based navigation aids located on Solar System bodies, which allows precision navigation across interplanetary distances.
DSTC: Deep Space Traffic Control.
EGT: Exhaust Gas Temperature, an important operational parameter for jet engines.
Ejecta: the debris ejected during the formation of an impact crater.
Ephemeris: in astronomy, a table giving the positions of astronomical objects in the sky.
EPR: Engine Pressure Ratio, an important operational parameter for jet engines.
Europa: second Galilean moon of Jupiter.
EVA: Extra Vehicular Activity. A spacewalk, or surface excursion.
Gabbro: dark, coarse-grained, intrusive igneous rock, formed when molten magma is trapped beneath the surface of a planet and cools into a solid mass.
Gas core nuclear engine: a rocket engine powered by a fission reactor, where the fissile material is an incandescent gas (as opposed to a solid core).
Gee (g): an acceleration equal to that exerted by gravity at the Earth’s surface, approximately 9.8 m/s2.
Hoist: in mining, the system of electric motors, guide wheels (sheaves) and wire rope used for lifting or lowering a load up or down a shaft.
ILS: Instrument Landing System. A system of radio-based navigation aids that allow a precision landing.
Intake shaft: in deep mining, the shaft through which fresh air enters a mine.
Ka-band: a region of the electromagnetic spectrum between about 20–30 GHz, used for high data rate radio transmissions to and from Earth. See X-band.
Level: in mining, a horizontal or near-horizontal passage.
LO2: common abbreviation for liquid oxygen.
Localiser: a radio-based navigation aid that establishes an accurate horizontal course to a runway or landing pad threshold.
Mission Management System (MMS): a computerised avionics system to assist pilots in navigating and managing a spacecraft. The MMS works with the autopilot to guide the craft through the series of speed, course and altitude changes in the planned route.
Mode Control Panel (MCP): situated between the pilots, below the forward windows, the MCP is used to select and activate autopilot and autothrottle modes and establish altitudes, speeds and climb/descent profiles.
Navigation Display (ND): information from the MMS, external navigation aids and geographical databases are combined to create a display of the craft’s position and course.
Orebody: region of rock that contains economically significant concentrations of a mineral.
Perihelion: closest approach of an orbiting body to the Sun.
Primary Flight Display (PFD): situated in front of each pilot, the PFD provides all the flight information needed by the pilot for each phase of the mission. The PFD shows relevant information for each mode of flight, e.g. takeoff, atmospheric flight, suborbital climb, and planetary approach and landing.
Propane: gaseous hydrocarbon of the alkane family, chemical formula C3H8. Can be liquefied at cryogenic temperatures.
Radionuclide: an atom with an unstable nucleus, which can undergo radioactive decay, and emit gamma rays and/or subatomic particles.
Raise: in mining, a shaft that is begun from a level and is excavated upwards, as opposed to being sunk downwards. Once completed, there is no real difference between a shaft and a raise, other than the method of its construction.
Regolith: the layer of loose, soil-like material covering solid rock on the terrestrial planets. On airless bodies such as Mercury and the Moon, the regolith is formed by the action of micrometeoroids breaking down surface rocks into a powder, and can be many metres thick.
Return shaft: in deep mining, the shaft through which spent air leaves a mine.
Rock bolt: a long anchor bolt, for stabilizing openings or passages in rock.
Shaft station: in mining, any location in a shaft where the cage can be halted, and men, materials or ore loaded or unloaded.
Sidestick: evolution of the more traditional control yoke, for controlling an aircraft in pitch and roll. A sidestick is controlled by small wrist and arm movements, and can be operated even under high-g conditions.
Stope(s): in mining, rooms supported by surrounding areas of standing rock.
Terminator: the line separating night and day on a planetary surface.
UTC: Coordinated Universal Time. A high-precision time standard used in aviation and space navigation, broadly equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
VHF: Very High Frequency, typically applied to radio communication.
X-band: a region of the electromagnetic spectrum between about 7.0–12.5 GHz, used for voice and data radio communications between spacecraft and planetary bases and Earth.
Zulu: Zulu Time, a standard aviation term for UTC.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FURTHER READING
Beatty, J. Kelly (ed.), Carolyn Petersen (ed.) and Andrew Chaikin (ed.) The New Solar System. 4th edn. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Blyth, F.G.H. and M.H. De Freitas. A Geology for Engineers. 7th edn. Butterworth- Heinemann 1984.
Cummins, A.B. (ed.), I.A. Given, and H.L. Hartman (ed.) SME Mining Engineering Handbook. 2nd edn. Society for Mining Metallurgy & Exploration, 1992.
Davies, Merton, et al. Atlas of Mercury. SP-423. NASA, 1978.
Dunne, James, and Eric Burgess. The Voyage of Mariner 10. SP-424. NASA, 1978.
Harmon, J.K., et al. ‘Radar mapping of Mercury’s polar anomalies’. Nature 369 (1994): 213-215.
Heppenheimer, T.A. Facing the Heat Barrier: A History of Hypersonics. SP-2007- 4232. NASA, 2007.
Heppenheimer, T.A. The Space Shuttle Decision. NASA’s Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle. SP-4221. NASA, 1999.
Huzel, Dieter, and David Huang. Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid Propellant Rocket
