Springer Gyrodynamics: Euromech 38 Colloquium Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, 3–5 September 1973

European Mechanics Colloquia - EUROMECH 38 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium 3-5 September 1973 The Euromech 38 Colloquium on Gyrodynamics was held on the new Campus of the University of Louvain in Louvain la-Neuve, Belgium. The scientific and organizing commit tee consisted of Professor F. Buckens (Louvain), K. Ma gnus (Munchen), L. Maunder (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and P.Y. Willems (Louvain). A total number of 36 papers were presented and 65 par ticipants attended. Of these 11 came from Belgium, 2 from Bulgaria, 2 from Denmark, 2 from Finland, 12 from France, 17 from Germany, 1 from Israel, 1 from Japan, 3 from Ne therlands, 1 from Sweden, 12 from U.K. and 1 from U.S.A. Participants came both from industry and universities. Especially the European Aerospace Industry was well re presented. There were sessions on the various aspects of rotatio nal dynamics. In all the sessions, both theoretical and practical aspects were considered. The sessions were de voted to Instruments (theory and technology, in particu lar for dynamically-tuned gyroscopes), Rotating Mecha nisms, Application of System Theory to Rotational Dyna mics (especially optimal control and estimation theory), Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics (influence of elastic defor mation, presence of fuel vessels, stability analysis and VI pointing accuracy). The presence of the participants on an isolated campus turned out to be beneficial and this developed a favora ble atmosphere for open discussions efficient work and friendly social activities. We are very grateful to Springer-Verlag for publishing these proceedings in book form.