Interstellar Travel

Propulsion, Life Support, Communications, and the Long Journey
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-0-323-91280-8
Verlag: Elsevier - Health Sciences Division

Buch, Englisch, 440 Seiten, Format (B × H): 235 mm x 190 mm, Gewicht: 892 g

Interstellar Travel: Propulsion, Life Support, Communications, and the Long Journey addresses the technical challenges that must be overcome to make such journeys possible. Leading experts in the fields of space propulsion, power, communication, navigation, crew selection, safety and health provide detailed information about state-of-the-art technologies and approaches for each challenge, along with possible methods based on real science and engineering. This book offers in-depth, up-to-date and realistic technical and scientific considerations in the pursuit of interstellar travel and will be an essential reference for scientists, engineers, researchers and academics working on, or interested in, space development and space technologies. With a renewed interest in space exploration and development evidenced by the rise of the commercial space sector and various governments now planning to send humans back to the moon and to Mars, there is also growing interest in taking the next steps beyond the solar system and to the ultimate destination - planets circling other stars. With the rapid growth in the number of known exoplanets, people are now asking how we might make journeys to visit them.

Zielgruppe

Aerospace engineers, researchers, scientists and academics working on or interested in space development and space technology, especially interstellar travel.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Roy, Kenneth

Johnson, Les

Fachgebiete

• Technische Wissenschaften Verkehrstechnik | Transportgewerbe Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik, Luftverkehr
• Technische Wissenschaften Sonstige Technologien | Angewandte Technik Astronautik
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Raumfahrt

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Assumptions and Limitations - FTL possibilities and issues

2. Propulsion Options

3. Power options
4. The Interstellar environment
5. Crew Health - psychological, biological, medical
6. Life Support
7. Communications and the ability to remain connected to Earth
8. Prospects for Human hibernation
9. Ship culture and government
10. Spare parts and additive manufacturing
11. Optimal crew size at both departure and arrival
12. Artificial Intelligence

Über Autor(innen)

Johnson, Les
Les Johnson is a physicist and NASA technologist at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center where he is the Principal Investigator for flight demonstration of advanced space technology systems including solar sails, power systems, and most recently, space based solar power. He was the co-investigator on the Japanese-led T-Rex space tether experiment that flew in August 2010, the Principal Investigator for the NASA ProSEDS space experiment, received NASA's Exceptional Achievement Medal three times, and holds 3 space technology patents. His book, Solar Sails, a Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel was favorably reviewed in the journal Nature (10 April 2008). Graphene: The Superstrong, Superthin, and Superversatile Material That Will Revolutionize the World also appeared in Nature (25 January 2018) and was excerpted in American Scientist (May-June 2018). Les is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, the British Interplanetary Society, the National Space Society, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and MENSA - and is the Program Chair of the Interstellar Research Group.