The Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer’s Guide To Interstellar Travel

295 Pages·1989·9.388 MB·English

by  Eugene Mallove & Gregory Matloff

THE
5TflK FLIGHT
MNbPOOK
• •
Pioneer’s Guide to Interstellar Travel
A
EUGENE HflLLOVE GREGORY FWTLOFF
From the Tower of Babel to the Starship En­
terprise, some part of our collective mind
has always been at work scheming of ways
to storm the heavens and reach the stars.
Now, as we approach a time when the
future of our species may depend upon
more than what our beautiful but meager
portion of galactic real estate offers, we
are. fortunately, doserthan ever to fulfilling
that age-old ambition. But beyond the
known planets, our closest extrasolar
neighbor Is 270,000 times more distant
than the Sun, and bridging the vast dis­
tances to the fertile worlds that may lay
beyond our Solar System will require radi­
cally new technologies—technologies as
different from current capabilities as was
Apollo 11 from The Spirit of St. Louis. The
technological revolution that began In
1967, when Sputnik I pierced the atmo­
sphere and made its way Into Earth orbit. Is
really only the prelude to the much
grander story of Interstellar travel.
The Starflight Handbook is the first com­
pendium on planet Earth of the many and
varied approaches to start light now on
the drawing boards of some of our most
talented scientists and engineers. In an
easy, nontechnical style, the authors offer
in-depth discussions of everything from
nuclear pulse propulsion engines to inter­
stellar navigation systems, while detailed
technical and mathematical Information
Is reserved for sidebars and special ap­
pendices. Interwoven through the text are
historical perspectives as well as related
social and cultural considerations about
the necessity and feasibility of starfl Ight
within the next quarter to half century
Generous coverage is given to interstellar
propulsion schemes of all kinds; space­
time problems in starflight; long-range,
star to Earth communications; effects of
the Interstellar medium on people and
machines; scientific payloads; Interstellar
arks and colonies; and techniques for
spotting extrasolar planets. Throughout,
the text is liberally sprinkled with elegant
and enlightening illustrations depicting
many of the Ingenious and fantastic de­
signs for starships and their hardware.
(continued on back flap)
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STARFIIGHT HANDBOOK
The WHey Sdence editions
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Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe, by Bryon D. Anderson and
Nathan Spielberg
The Naturalist’s Year, by Scott Camazine
The Urban Naturalist, by Steven D. Garber
Space: The Next Twenty-Five Years, by Thomas R. McDonough
The Body In Time, by Kenneth Jon Rose
Clouds in a Glass of Beer, by Craig Bohren
The Complete Book of Holograms, by Joseph Kasper and Steven Feller
The Scientific Companion, by Cesare Emiliani
Stars ailing, by Louis Friedman
Mirror Matter, by Robert Forward and Joel Davis
Gravity’s Lens, by Nathan Cohen
The Beauty of Light, by Ben Bova
Cognlzers: Neural Networks and Machines that Think, by Colin Johnson and
Chappell Brown
Inventing Reality: Physics as Language, by Bruce Gregory
The Complete Book of Superconductors, by David Wheeler and Mark Parish
Planets Beyond: Discovering the Outer Solar System, by Mark Llttman
The Oceans: A Book of Questions and Answers, by Don Groves
The Starry Room, by Fred Schaaf
The Weather Companion, by Gary Lockhart
To the Arctic: An Introduction to the Far Northern World, by Steven Young
Ozone Crisis: The 15-Year Evolution of a Sudden Global Emergency, by
Sharon Roan
The Endangered Kingdom, by Roger DiSilvestro
Serendipity: Accidental Discoveries in Science, by Royston M. Roberts
Senses and Sensibilities, by Jillyn Smith
Chemistry for Every Kid, by Janice Pratt VanCleave
The Atomic Scientists: A Biographical History, by Henry Boorse, Lloyd Motz,
and Jefferson Weaver
The Star flight Handbook: A Pioneer's Guide to Interstellar Travel, by Eugene
Mai love and Gregory Matloff
TH€---------------------------------
STARFLIGHT HANDBOOK
A Pioneer's Guide
to Interstellar Travel
Eugene F. Mallove
and
Gregory L. Motloff
WILEY SCIENCE EDITIONS
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
New York • Chichester • Brisbane ♦ Toronto • Singapore
Publisher: Stephen Kippur
Editor: David Sobel
Managing Editor: Frank Grazioli
Editing. Design, dr Production: G&H SOHO. Ltd.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the sub­
ject matter covered It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering
legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required,
the services of a competent professional person should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF
PRINCIPLES JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIA­
TION AND A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS.
Copyright © 1989 by Eugene F. Mallove and Gregory L. Matloff
All rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada.
Ruprududiun ur hanslat ion of any part of tlUs work beyond that permitted by section 107 or 108 of
the 1976 United Stat« Copyright Act without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful.
Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the Permission Department,
John Wiley & Sons. Inc.
Library of Congress CataJoging-Ln-Publk?ation Data
Mallove, Eugene F.
Tlie starflight handbook ; a pioneer's guide to interstellar travel
Eugene F. Mallove and Gregory L. Matloff.
p. c. m. — (Wiley science editions)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-471-61912-4
1.1 nterstellar travel. I. Matloff. G regory L. II. Title.
III. Series.
TL790.M26 1989
629.4'1—del9 88-31933
CIP
Printed in the United States of America
8990 10 987654321
Dedicated to the memory oj
Robert H. Goddard
and
Konstantin E. Tsiolkovskii
and to all
who share and who will share
their magical dreams.
901536
Too low they build, who build beneath the stars
Edward Young, 1683-1765, Night Thoughts
(Inscribed on a wall of the Library of Congress)
Oh, write of me not “Died in bitter pains,”
But “emigrated to another star!”
Helen Hunt Jackson, 1831-1885, Emigravit