The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

70 cast propellant
decelerate. Then, at an altitude of about 175 km, its main
parachute will deploy, followed 15 minutes later by a
smaller, drogue chute. Throughout the remainder of its
140-km descent, Huygens will take measurements of the
temperature, pressure, density, wind speed, and energy
balance in Titan’s atmosphere and relay this information
to the orbiter. It will also send back images, including the
first clear views of Titan’s surface. After the probe mission
is completed, Cassini will turn its high-gain antenna
toward Earth and begin transmitting its recorded data.
cast propellant
A solid fuel fabricated by being poured into a mold and
solidified to form a hard grain.
Castor and Pollux
A pair of French microsatellites, also known as D5A and
D5B, launched unsuccessfully on May 21, 1973, by a Diamant
B from Kourou. Castor was to have studied interstellar
space and collected aeronomy and geodesic data;
Pollux was to have tested a hydrazine propulsion system.
catalyst
A substance that alters the rate of a chemical reaction but
is itself unchanged at the end of the reaction.
CATSAT (Cooperative Astrophysics and
Technology Satellite)
A small scientific satellite being developed jointly by the
University of New Hampshire and the University of
Leicester, England, through the USRA (Universities
Space Research Association)/NASA STEDI (Student Explorer
Demonstration Initiative) program. It will study
the origin of gamma-ray bursters from a 550-km circular
polar orbit. CATSAT’s developers are seeking a launch
opportunity for their spacecraft.
Cavendish, Margaret (1623–1673)
The Duchess of Newcastle and the author of The Blazing
World, in which the heroine makes a round trip of the
Moon and planets and thus qualifies as the first fictional
female space traveler. Cavendish was a colorful figure
and a prolific and popular author. The well-known diarist
Samuel Pepys described her less kindly as “mad, conceited,
and ridiculous.” A tremendous self-publicist, she
published under her own name—a radical and deliberate
infringement of contemporary proprieties—a huge body
of work encompassing historical treatises, essays, poems,
plays, and an autobiography. Her personal excess was legendary,
and when she made her rare and highly theatrical
public appearances, men and women lined the streets of
London to catch a glimpse of her.
cavitation
The rapid formation and collapse of vapor pockets in a
fluid flowing under very low pressure. It is a frequent
cause of structural damage to rocket components.
C-band
See frequency bands.
CCD (charge-coupled device)
An imaging device, often used by Earth resources and
astronomy satellites, consisting of a large-scale integrated
circuit that has a two-dimensional array of hundreds of
thousands of charge-isolated wells, each representing a
pixel (picture element).
celestial guidance
A method of spacecraft guidance that uses stars as references
for attitude and navigation.
celestial mechanics
The study of how bodies such as planets or spacecraft
move in orbit.
Celestis
A Texas company that has made a business out of launching
the cremated remains of individuals into space; the
company offers to fly 7 grams of ashes for $5,300 (2002
price). In April 1997, Celestis sent some of the ashes of
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, 1960s icon Timothy
Leary, and 22 other individuals into Earth orbit using a
Pegasus XL. Since then, there have been several other
Celestis funerary missions, typically as secondary payloads.
Celestis 04 was launched by a Taurus rocket from
Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 21, 2001, alongside
the much larger payloads OrbView-4 and Quik-
TOMS. Two canisters mounted to the Taurus fourth stage
contained lipstick tube–sized capsules of ashes. The canisters
were to remain mounted to the orbiting rocket
stage until the spent motor naturally reentered about a
year after launch. But the Taurus went out of control following
second-stage separation and fell back to Earth
with its payloads less than two minutes after liftoff.
Centaur
A powerful upper-stage rocket that can be mated to an
Atlas or Titan launch vehicle. The Centaur was America’s
first cryogenic rocket, running on a combination of
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and was developed
under the direction of the Lewis Research Center. It first
flew in 1962 and became operational in 1966 with the
launch of Surveyor 1. Subsequently, it has undergone
many improvements. Until early 1974, Centaur was used