Living Off the Land in Space (eBook)

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.

Contents 5
Foreword 10
Acknowledgments 11
Introduction 13
1 The old frontier 20
2 The new frontier 28
3 The rocket and its limits 40
4 The first "green" space technologies 51
5 Probes to the planets: where we've been on our journey 60
6 Probes to the stars: concept studies 76
7 Breaking out into space: visionary fututes 88
8 Thinking interstellar 99
9 Technological readiness 112
10 Space brakes 126
11 The ion trail 138
12 The orbital steam locomotive 147
13 Sky clippers 155
14 Art or science? 167
15 Space beanstalks 175
16 Chemical propulsion for space exploration 191
17 Human exploration 198
18 Defending the Earth 208
19 Space miners 216
20 Some exotic possibilities 224
21 Sights on centaurus 237
Index 246