NASA talks space junk... "The Orbital Debris" iBook & PDF

open.NASA - Pack It In, Pack It Out: The Orbital Debris iBook

A few weeks ago, the NASA Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership (APPEL) publicly released its first iBook publication on the topic of orbital debris mitigation. Sometimes referred to as “space junk,” orbital debris is subject to national and international requirements that emphasize a “pack it in, pack it out” framework for space missions. These practices, which are essential for maintaining safe access to space, are important to aerospace engineers and policy makers around the world. The orbital debris iBook gives you – the engineer, the Space Tweep, the biologist, the concerned citizen, the environmentalist, the teacher, the political scientist, the law student – the chance to share the same materials NASA uses in APPEL’s orbital debris course.

This is the first of what we hope will be more books to come related to courses taught by APPEL.The future of learning at NASA is no longer confined to a classroom. This iBook speaks to the larger trend of the democratization of knowledge, where anyone can learn anything, any time, any place.

Below is an interview with the APPEL Director and NASA Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Ed Hoffman on the iBook and learning at NASA, which was originally published in the October issue of APPEL’s monthly ASK the Academy newsletter. While this initiative is still evolving, we hope you take a moment to download the iBook or PDF of the orbital debris iBook and let us know what you think.

NASA - APPEL Releases Orbital Debris iBook [& PDF]

The NASA Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership (APPEL) is excited to announce the public release of Orbital Debris Management and Risk Mitigation, its first publication of NASA training materials using the iBook format. This new electronic book platform, introduced in the spring of 2012, enables the seamless integration of text with videos, 3-D models, image galleries, and interactive graphics.

APPEL’s Orbital Debris Management and Risk Mitigation (ODM) training course provides mission-critical knowledge that helps NASA missions implement with agency’s overarching strategic goals and the U.S. National Space Policy goals for sustainability in space. The new iBook supplements the existing course taught by Mr. Nicholas L. Johnson, Chief Scientist in the Orbital Debris Program Office at Johnson Space Center. These supplementary materials are now freely available to anyone.

The book was produced using iBook’s Author, a free software. Since iBooks are designed to function on an iPad, APPEL has also released a PDF of the complete text and all multimedia materials for readers using other technologies or e-readers.

You'll find this weird but I've been wanting to write a science fiction story about a private space junk company so when I saw this I knew I had to grab a copy.