Deep-Space Probes

by Matloff, Gregory L.

• ISBN13: 9781852332006
• ISBN10: 185233200X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-12-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

There is currently tremendous interest in the search for extrasolar life and extraterrestrial intelligence, and this is expressed by financial backing from NASA for extrasolar exploration by space probes.This book will be an authoritative and comprehensive survey of the present-day state of the art in the field of extrasolar and interstellar space exploration, focusing on the most promising techniques.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Author's preface	xiii
Acknowledgements	xv
List of illustrations	xvii
Introduction	xxi
Motivations for Deep-Space Travel	1	(12)
An inventory of near-Earth objects	4	(2)
Considering NEO origins	6	(1)
The difficulty of telescopic exploration of NEOs near their point of origin	7	(2)
Robotic exploration options	9	(1)
Directed panspermia	9	(1)
Bibliography	10	(3)
The Realms of Space	13	(12)
The question of origins	13	(2)
Realms of fire, water and ice	15	(1)
Solar radiant flux and planet effective temperature	16	(2)
The effect of atmospheric optical depth	18	(1)
The lifetime of a planet's atmosphere	18	(2)
Comparative planetology: an appreciation of the lifezone	20	(1)
Beyond the planets: the reefs of space	21	(1)
Bibliography	22	(3)
Tomorrow's Targets	25	(10)
The TAU mission: an early NASA/JPL extrasolar mission study	26	(1)
SETIsail and ASTROsail: proposed probes to the Sun's gravity focus	27	(2)
The Aurora project: a sail to the heliopause	29	(1)
The NASA Interstellar Initiative	30	(1)
The NASA heliopause sail	30	(1)
The NASA Kuiper Belt explorer	31	(1)
A probe to the Oort Cloud	32	(1)
Bibliography	33	(2)
Space Propulsion Today	35	(22)
Rocket history and theory	35	(4)
The solar-electric drive	39	(1)
Unpowered planetary gravity assists	40	(4)
Powered solar gravity assists	44	(2)
The solar-photon sail	46	(8)
Bibliography	54	(3)
The Incredible Shrinking Spaceprobe	57	(8)
The small and the very small	58	(1)
Nanotechnology: the art and science of the very, very small	59	(2)
Nanotechnology and spaceflight: near-term possibilities	61	(1)
Nanotechnology and spaceflight: long-term possibilities	62	(1)
Possible limits to nanotechnology	63	(1)
Bibliography	64	(1)
The Nuclear Option	65	(18)
Nuclear basics	65	(4)
Nuclear-electic propulsion (NEP)	69	(3)
Nuclear-pulse propulsion: Orion, Daedalus and Medusa	72	(3)
Inertial electrostatic confinement and gas-dynamic mirror fusion	75	(1)
Antimatter: the ultimate fuel	76	(3)
Bibliography	79	(4)
Twenty-First Century Starflight	83	(18)
Laser/maser sailing fundamentals	84	(3)
Starship deceleration using the magsail	87	(3)
Thrustless turning	90	(2)
Perforated light sail optical theory	92	(2)
The Fresnel lens: a method of improving laser beam collimation	94	(2)
Round-trip interstellar voyages using beamed-laser propulsion	96	(1)
Interstellar particle-beam propulsion	97	(1)
Bibliography	98	(3)
On the Technological Horizon	101	(16)
The hydrogen-fusing interstellar ramjet	101	(3)
The ram-augmented interstellar rocket (RAIR)	104	(4)
The laser ramjet	108	(2)
The ramjet runway	110	(2)
A toroidal ramscoop	112	(3)
Bibliography	115	(2)
Exotic Possibilities	117	(16)
`Shoes and ships': the potential of magnetic surfing	118	(4)
`Sealing wax': approaches to antigravity	122	(1)
`A boiling-hot sea': zero-point energy and special-relativistic star drives	122	(4)
`Cabbages and kings': general relativity and spacetime warps	126	(2)
`Winged pigs': some other exotic ideas	128	(1)
Bibliography	128	(5)
Of Stars, Planets and Life	133	(12)
A short history of extrasolar planet detection efforts	133	(2)
Methods of imaging extrasolar planets	135	(3)
Extrasolar planets found to date that orbit Sun-like stars	138	(2)
How common are life-bearing worlds?	140	(2)
Terraforming: a way to increase the odds	142	(1)
Bibliography	143	(2)
Life Between the Stars	145	(12)
Environmental obstacles to interstellar flight, and their removal	146	(3)
Options for onboard power between the stars	149	(1)
Close environment life support systems	150	(1)
Of worldships and interstellar arks	151	(2)
Hibernation for humans: the long sleep to α Centauri	153	(1)
Bibliography	154	(3)
Conscious Spacecraft	157	(4)
The von Neumann machine: can the computer eat the Galaxy?	158	(1)
The cryogenic star-child	159	(1)
The virtual star-traveller	159	(1)
Bibliography	160	(1)
Meeting ET	161	(6)
Are starships detectable?	162	(2)
Motivations of star-travelling extraterrestrials	164	(1)
Bibliography	165	(2)
Afterword	167	(2)
Nomenclature	169	(6)
Glossary	175	(3)
Index	178