Centauri Dreams

Imaging and Planning - Interstellar Exploration

Paul Gilster - Collection General Science / Space Exploration

302 pages, parution le 03/12/2004

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Résumé

If We Could Just Travel At A Tenth The Speed

Sending a space probe even to the nearest star presents scientists and engineers with apparently insurmountable obstacles. Yet researchers at NASA and in space agencies and institutes around the globe are thinking seriously about, and even making plans for, how we will send a spacecraft to the Centauri stars and beyond. Many of the scientific issues under discussion and the engineering solutions proposed sound like the products of science fiction, and in fact many of them have been inspired by science fiction. But the real work of building a pathway out of our solar system is already underway, and Paul Gilster describes the issues and efforts in startling detail:

Why conventional chemical rockets aren't up to the job of reaching Alpha Centauri, and even propulsion by nuclear explosions may come up short.
The promise of antimatter as a fuel for propulsion, and the problem of harnessing its remarkable energies-even, perhaps, in an "antimatter sail."
New and newer conceptions of other "sail" technologies, including photon-driven sails that get their energy from the Sun, and laser-driven light sails.
Communication across the vast distances of space with laser media already being tested, and navigation schemes dependent on machine intelligence.
Developing systems that will allow for "spacecraft autonomy"-starships that can analyze and repair problems, make course adjustments, and even select landing sites on their own.
The prospects for nano-machines that could seed the universe with tiny information-gathering probes, or even miniature factories capable of building evolvable outposts of hardware and software.

The human quest to explore, Gilster believes, runs deep in our bones and brains. The best science fiction, as he sees it, is not predictive but diagnostic- that is, we use it to analyze and look for ways past our frustrations, predicaments, and limitations. And the very real scientific work that is already under way is a sign that however far the thought may be from our day-to-day consciousness, somehow we know that eventually our future must lie in interstellar migration. To move on is human destiny. A trip to the next star is just a first step.

L'auteur - Paul Gilster

PAUL GILSTER is a columnist on technology for the News & Observer in North Carolina. He is the author of six previous books, most notably The Internet Navigator and Digital Literacy. An avid reader and writer of science fiction as well as popular science, he makes his home in Raleigh.

Sommaire

Preface
Designing a mission
The target: Alpha Centauri and other nearby stars
The trouble with rockets
The antimatter alternative
Journey by starlight: the story of the solar sail
Of lightsails. Ramjets, and fusion runways
Breaking through at NASA: science on the edge
Interstellar communications and navigation
A spacecraft that can think for itself
The future of the interstellar idea
Afterword
Notes
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Copernicus Books
Auteur(s)	Paul Gilster
Collection	General Science / Space Exploration
Parution	03/12/2004
Nb. de pages	302
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	621g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780387004365
ISBN13	978-0-387-00436-5