Living Off the Land in Space

by Matloff, Gregory L.

• ISBN13: 9780387360546
• ISBN10: 0387360549
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-05-04
• Publisher: Copernicus Books

Summary

Human civilization has evolved to the point at which we can consider tapping space resources and expanding beyond Eartha??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.

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction: Citizens of the Cosmos	p. 1
Further Reading	p. 5
The Old Frontier	p. 9
Paleolithic Migrations	p. 10
Neolithic and Bronze Age Migrants	p. 11
Historical Migrations	p. 12
Further Reading	p. 15
The New Frontier	p. 17
The Moon as a Habitat	p. 18
Living Among the Near-Earth Objects	p. 20
The Lure of Mars	p. 22
Settling the Outer Solar System	p. 24
Interstellar Environments	p. 25
Further Reading	p. 26
The Rocket and Its Limits	p. 29
Rocket Fundamentals	p. 33
Rocket Varieties	p. 36
Electric Rockets	p. 36
Nuclear-Thermal and Solar-Thermal Rockets	p. 37
Rocket Futures	p. 38
Further Reading	p. 38
The First "Green" Space Technologies	p. 41
Aeroassisted Atmospheric Reentry	p. 42
Planetary Gravity Assists	p. 44
Further Reading	p. 47
Probes to the Planets: Where We've Been on Our Journey	p. 51
Robots to the Moon!	p. 52
The Lure of Our Sister Planet	p. 54
Blistering Mercury	p. 55
Tantalizing Mars	p. 56
Distant Giants	p. 60
Small Worlds	p. 63
Further Reading	p. 65
Probes to the Stars: Concept Studies	p. 67
Interstellar H-Bombs	p. 69
A Sanitized Orion	p. 70
Some Wonderful Improbabilities	p. 72
TAU: NASA's First Interstellar Probe Study	p. 73
Star Sailing	p. 74
Further Reading	p. 77
Breaking Out Into Space: Visionary Futures	p. 79
Cylinder Cities	p. 81
Power for the Earth	p. 83
Beyond the Space Cylinders	p. 85
Life in the Space Cities	p. 86
Further Reading	p. 88
Thinking Interstellar	p. 91
Earthly and Understandable Units of Measure	p. 92
Distance in the Solar System and Beyond	p. 93
NASA's Interstellar Initiative and the Interstellar Probe Mission	p. 96
Further Reading	p. 102
Technological Readiness	p. 105
Technology Readiness Levels	p. 107
Basic Principles Observed and Reported	p. 107
Basic Principles Observed and Reported	p. 108
Analytical and Experimental Critical Function and/or Characteristic Proof of Concept	p. 109
Component and/or Breadboard Validation in a Laboratory Environment	p. 110
Component and/or Breadboard Validation in a Relevant Environment	p. 111
System or Subsystem Model or Prototype Demonstration in a Relevant Environment (Ground or Space)	p. 112
System Prototype Demonstration in a Space Environment	p. 115
Actual System Completed and "Flight Qualified" Through Test and Demonstration (Ground or Space)	p. 116
Conclusion	p. 116
Further Reading	p. 116
Space Brakes ("Living Off the Land" by Using a Planetary Atmosphere)	p. 119
Aeroentry	p. 120
Aerobraking	p. 121
Aerocapture	p. 123
Aerocapture Application to Solar-System Resource Surveys	p. 126
Some Aerocapture Issues	p. 127
Aerogravity Assist	p. 128
Further Reading	p. 128
The Ion Trail	p. 131
Ion Drive History	p. 132
Electric-Propulsion Fundamentals	p. 133
Initial Interplanetary Application of Ion Propulsion	p. 135
Possible Ion Propulsion Technology Application to Solar-System Development	p. 137
Further Reading	p. 138
The Orbital Steam Locomotive	p. 141
Solar-Thermal Rocket Fundamentals	p. 142
Near-Term Application of Solar-Thermal Rockets	p. 144
Possible Application of Solar-Thermal Technology to Solar-System Development	p. 146
Further Reading	p. 146
Sky Clippers	p. 149
Photon Sailing History	p. 150
Solar Sailing Fundamentals	p. 151
Current Sail Technology	p. 153
Missions for Near-Term Solar Photon Sails	p. 156
Near-Future Solar-Sail Development Possibilities	p. 158
Solar-Photon Sails and Space Development	p. 159
Further Reading	p. 159
Art or Science?	p. 161
The Message Plaques	p. 162
The Pioneer Plaques	p. 162
The Voyager Plaques	p. 164
A Future Message Plaque Possibility: Holography	p. 165
Further Reading	p. 167
Space Beanstalks	p. 169
Electrodynamic Tethers: Tapping a Planet's Magnetic Field for Power and Propulsion	p. 170
Tethers for Propulsion and Power at Jupiter	p. 176
Momentum Exchange Electrodynamic Reboost (MXER) Tethers	p. 179
Further Reading	p. 183
Chemical Propulsion for Space Exploration: Good for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow	p. 185
The Moon: A Refueling Depot for Deep-Space Exploration	p. 187
Mars: The Red Planet May Provide Fuel for Round Trip Travel to Earth	p. 188
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune: Our Next Stops	p. 189
Asteroids and Comets: Abundant and Dispersed Gas Stations	p. 190
Human Exploration	p. 193
Aerocapture	p. 195
Solar-Electric Propulsion	p. 196
Solar-Thermal Propulsion	p. 197
Solar Sails	p. 199
Space Tethers	p. 200
Defending the Earth	p. 203
Nuclear Impact-Threat Mitigation	p. 205
Using Space Resources to Mitigate the Threat	p. 206
Further Reading	p. 208
Space Miners	p. 211
Possible Near-Earth Resource Locations	p. 212
Preliminary Exploration	p. 215
Mining the Atens	p. 215
Tapping More Distant Space Mines	p. 217
Further Reading	p. 217
Some Exotic Possibilities	p. 219
Plasma Sails	p. 220
Magnetic Propulsion	p. 222
Antimatter Propulsion	p. 222
Breakthrough Propulsion Physics	p. 225
Replacing the Rocket: Antigravity	p. 226
Replacing the Rocket: Thrust Machines	p. 226
Tapping ZPE and Getting Something for Nothing	p. 227
Hyperspace Shortcuts	p. 227
Instant Earths	p. 228
The Red-Eye Special	p. 229
Further Reading	p. 229
Sights on Centaurus	p. 233
The First Starships	p. 234
The Slow Boat to the Stars	p. 235
Fast Ships	p. 237
Spreading Through the Galaxy	p. 238
Further Reading	p. 239
Afterword	p. 241
Index	p. 243
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