Living Off the Land in Space (eBook)

Green Roads to the Cosmos

C Bangs, Les Johnson, Greg Matloff (Autoren)

eBook Download: PDF

2007 | 2007
XIV, 247 Seiten
Springer New York (Verlag)
978-0-387-68316-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Human civilization has evolved to the point at which we can consider tapping space resources and expanding beyond Earth's atmosphere. The Introduction surveys possible motivations for large-scale human emigration to space. Since our early ancestors began to move out of Africa, humans have constantly expanded their range. Today, the pattern of human settlement extends from pole to pole. Humans regularly visit the upper troposphere and ocean floor and technology has enabled a few to even reside above the atmosphere in space stations. For the next few millennia at least (barring breakthroughs), the human frontier will include the solar system and the nearest stars. Will it better to settle the Moon, Mars, or a nearby asteroid and what environments can we expect to find in the vicinity of nearby stars are questions that need to be answered if mankind is to migrate into space.

Autor

At present, Dr Matloff teaches physics and astronomy as an Assistant Professor at New York City Technical College, CUNY. He has pioneered the application of gossamer spacecraft to deep-space exploration and has served as a Faculty Fellow in summer 1999, 2000 and 2001 at NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSFC), Huntsville AL. He has participated there on a design team planning interstellar missions propelled by solar sails unfurled Sunward of the Earth. He consults for NASA through Gray Research and Teledyne Brown, in Huntsville AL. Les Johnson manages the Science Programs and Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In addition to his NASA credentials, Johnson also is an inventor. He holds three patents, including one received in 1989 for a laser-triggered, fiber-optic neutron detector. His most recent patent was awarded in July 2003 for an electrodynamic sail for propulsion. Johnson is also a two-time recipient of the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal. Ms Bangs’ work is in many permanent collections, including MSFC, the US Library of Congress, the Mint Museum and the Chrysler Museum.

Inhalt

Contents 5
Foreword 10
Acknowledgments 11
Introduction 13
1 The old frontier 20
2 The new frontier 28
3 The rocket and its limits 40
4 The first "green" space technologies 51
5 Probes to the planets: where we've been on our journey 60
6 Probes to the stars: concept studies 76
7 Breaking out into space: visionary fututes 88
8 Thinking interstellar 99
9 Technological readiness 112
10 Space brakes 126
11 The ion trail 138
12 The orbital steam locomotive 147
13 Sky clippers 155
14 Art or science? 167
15 Space beanstalks 175
16 Chemical propulsion for space exploration 191
17 Human exploration 198
18 Defending the Earth 208
19 Space miners 216
20 Some exotic possibilities 224
21 Sights on centaurus 237
Index 246

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.8.2007
• Zusatzinfo: XIV, 247 p.
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Weltraum / Astronomie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Luft- / Raumfahrttechnik
• Schlagworte: advanced propulsion systems • Environment • solar-electric rockets • solar sails • space exploration • space exploration books • space frontier • space habitation • space manufacturing • space propulsion
• ISBN-10: 0-387-68316-X / 038768316X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-387-68316-4 / 9780387683164