Prospects for Interstellar Travel PDF Download

Author: John H. Mauldin
Publisher: Univelt
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
A detailed introduction is presented to the problems of interstellar space travel. The general topics discussed include: basics of travel in space, advanced propulsion methods; relativity and interstellar travel; relativistic drives and problems; starships as systems; missions; astrogation, observation, and communication; technological requirements and hazards; biological requirements; personal, social, and political considerations; interstellar life and civilizations; long-term prospects.

Author: Ben Rankin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780645577112
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Exploration is a human trait. For as long as humans have walked the Earth they have been inspired to achieve more and search further. For those interested in spaceflight, the greatest adventure of them all is to journey through interstellar space. This book discusses five prominent interstellar propulsion systems and analyses their feasibility. It also discusses a relevant interstellar travel case study method.

Author: K. F. Long
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461406072
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
The technology of the next few decades could possibly allow us to explore with robotic probes the closest stars outside our Solar System, and maybe even observe some of the recently discovered planets circling these stars. This book looks at the reasons for exploring our stellar neighbors and at the technologies we are developing to build space probes that can traverse the enormous distances between the stars. In order to reach the nearest stars, we must first develop a propulsion technology that would take our robotic probes there in a reasonable time. Such propulsion technology has radically different requirements from conventional chemical rockets, because of the enormous distances that must be crossed. Surprisingly, many propulsion schemes for interstellar travel have been suggested and await only practical engineering solutions and the political will to make them a reality. This is a result of the tremendous advances in astrophysics that have been made in recent decades and the perseverance and imagination of tenacious theoretical physicists. This book explores these different propulsion schemes – all based on current physics – and the challenges they present to physicists, engineers, and space exploration entrepreneurs. This book will be helpful to anyone who really wants to understand the principles behind and likely future course of interstellar travel and who wants to recognizes the distinctions between pure fantasy (such as Star Trek’s ‘warp drive’) and methods that are grounded in real physics and offer practical technological solutions for exploring the stars in the decades to come.

Author: Giovanni Vulpetti
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387685006
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Solar sail technology is very close to becoming an engineering reality and it will soon be used in the exploration of the solar system and beyond. This fascinating book provides an accessible introduction to solar sails and details how they work and what they will be used for in the exploration of space. It also examines current plans for solar sails and how advanced technology, such as nanotechnology, might enhance their performance. Coverage shows how solar sail propulsion will make space exploration more affordable and demonstrates how access to destinations within (and beyond) the solar system will become within reach.

Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 147323218X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Arthur C. Clarke was renowned for his science fiction, but his understanding of the subject was more than imagined. First published in 1951, this painstakingly-researched non-fiction book shows the depth of Clarke's expertise - he predicts the moon landings nearly two decades before they occurred, explores the potential use of satellites for communications more than ten years before Telstar 1 was put into orbit, and goes on to discuss the potential of space stations and long range orbital telescopes. Informed by interviews with the foremost scientists and engineers of the time, Clarke presents his thesis for how man will explore space . . . and the reader can measure his predictions against reality. 'He was a great visionary, a brilliant science fiction writer and a great forecaster. He foresaw communications satellites, a nationwide network of computers, interplanetary travel; he said there would be a man on the moon by 1970, while I said 1980' - and he was right' Sir Patrick Moore

Author: Claude A. Piantadosi
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231531036
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
Seeking to reenergize Americans' passion for the space program, the value of further exploration of the Moon, and the importance of human beings on the final frontier, Claude A. Piantadosi presents a rich history of American space exploration and its major achievements. He emphasizes the importance of reclaiming national command of our manned program and continuing our unmanned space missions, and he stresses the many adventures that still await us in the unfolding universe. Acknowledging space exploration's practical and financial obstacles, Piantadosi challenges us to revitalize American leadership in space exploration in order to reap its scientific bounty. Piantadosi explains why space exploration, a captivating story of ambition, invention, and discovery, is also increasingly difficult and why space experts always seem to disagree. He argues that the future of the space program requires merging the practicalities of exploration with the constraints of human biology. Space science deals with the unknown, and the margin (and budget) for error is small. Lethal near-vacuum conditions, deadly cosmic radiation, microgravity, vast distances, and highly scattered resources remain immense physical problems. To forge ahead, America needs to develop affordable space transportation and flexible exploration strategies based in sound science. Piantadosi closes with suggestions for accomplishing these goals, combining his healthy skepticism as a scientist with an unshakable belief in space's untapped—and wholly worthwhile—potential.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309215897
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
From September 2007 to June 2008 the Space Studies Board conducted an international public seminar series, with each monthly talk highlighting a different topic in space and Earth science. The principal lectures from the series are compiled in Forging the Future of Space Science. The topics of these events covered the full spectrum of space and Earth science research, from global climate change, to the cosmic origins of life, to the exploration of the Moon and Mars, to the scientific research required to support human spaceflight. The prevailing messages throughout the seminar series as demonstrated by the lectures in this book are how much we have accomplished over the past 50 years, how profound are our discoveries, how much contributions from the space program affect our daily lives, and yet how much remains to be done. The age of discovery in space and Earth science is just beginning. Opportunities abound that will forever alter our destiny.

Author: Roger D. Launius
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 0801887089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
2008 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine Given the near incomprehensible enormity of the universe, it appears almost inevitable that humankind will one day find a planet that appears to be much like the Earth. This discovery will no doubt reignite the lure of interplanetary travel. Will we be up to the task? And, given our limited resources, biological constraints, and the general hostility of space, what shape should we expect such expeditions to take? In Robots in Space, Roger Launius and Howard McCurdy tackle these seemingly fanciful questions with rigorous scholarship and disciplined imagination, jumping comfortably among the worlds of rocketry, engineering, public policy, and science fantasy to expound upon the possibilities and improbabilities involved in trekking across the Milky Way and beyond. They survey the literature—fictional as well as academic studies; outline the progress of space programs in the United States and other nations; and assess the current state of affairs to offer a conclusion startling only to those who haven't spent time with Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke: to traverse the cosmos, humans must embrace and entwine themselves with advanced robotic technologies. Their discussion is as entertaining as it is edifying and their assertions are as sound as they are fantastical. Rather than asking us to suspend disbelief, Robots in Space demands that we accept facts as they evolve.

Author: Ben R. Finney
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520058989
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
This book weaves together essays by twenty-five noted scholars from the social and space sciences which examine the human as well as the technological side of our future beyond Earth.

Author: Marc G. Millis
Publisher: AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics)
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 786

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Book Description
Frontiers of Propulsion Science is the first-ever compilation of emerging science relevant to such notions as space drives, warp drives, gravity control, and faster-than-light travel - the kind of breakthroughs that would revolutionize spaceflight and enable human voyages to other star systems. Although these concepts might sound like science fiction, they are appearing in growing numbers in reputable scientific journals. This is a nascent field where a variety of concepts and issues are being explored in the scientific literature, beginning in about the early 1990s. The collective status is still in step 1 and 2 of the scientific method, with initial observations being made and initial hypotheses being formulated, but a small number of approaches are already at step 4, with experiments underway. This emerging science, combined with the realization that rockets are fundamentally inadequate for interstellar exploration, led NASA to support the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project from 1996 through 2002.""Frontiers of Propulsion Science"" covers that project as well as other related work, so as to provide managers, scientists, engineers, and graduate students with enough starting material that they can comprehend the status of this research and decide if and how to pursue it in more depth themselves. Five major sections are included in the book: Understanding the Problem lays the groundwork for the technical details to follow; Propulsion Without Rockets discusses space drives and gravity control, both in general terms and with specific examples; Faster-Than-Light Travel starts with a review of the known relativistic limits, followed by the faster-than-light implications from both general relativity and quantum physics; Energy Considerations deals with spacecraft power systems and summarizes the limits of technology based on accrued science; and, From This Point Forward offers suggestions for how to manage and conduct research on such visionary topics.