A Telegraph Best Science Book of the
Year "A witty yet in-depth exploration of the prospects
for human habitation beyond Earth… Spacefarers is
accessible, authoritative, and in the end, inspiring." ...-Richard
Panek, author of The Trouble with Gravity It's been over
fifty years since Apollo 11 landed on the moon. So why is there so
little human presence in space? Will we ever reach Mars? And what
will it take to become a multiplanet species? While many books have
speculated on the possibility of living beyond the Earth, few have
delved into the practical challenges. A wry and compelling take on
the who, how, and why of near-future colonies in space,
Spacefarers introduces us to the engineers, scientists,
planners, dreamers, and entrepreneurs who are striving right now to
make life in space a reality. While private companies such as
SpaceX are taking the lead and earning profits from human space
activity, Christopher Wanjek is convinced this is only the
beginning. From bone-whittling microgravity to eye-popping profits,
the risks and rewards of space settlement have never been so close
at hand. He predicts we will have hotels in low-earth orbit, mining
and tourism on the Moon, and science bases on Mars-possibly
followed (gravity permitting) by full blown settlements. "Nerdily
engaging (and often funny)…Technology and science fiction
enthusiasts will find much here to delight them, as Wanjek goes
into rich detail on rocketry and propulsion methods, including
skyhooks and railguns to fling things into orbit…He is a sensible
skeptic, yet also convinced that, in the long run, our destiny is
among the stars." - The Guardian "If the events of this
year have had you daydreaming about abandoning the planet entirely,
Spacefarers is a geekily pleasurable survey of the
practicalities and challenges." - The Telegraph "The best
book I've read on space exploration since Isaac Asimov." -Michael
Shermer, publisher of Skeptic
The past five decades have witnessed often fierce international rivalry in space, but also surprising military restraint. Now, with an increasing number of countries capable of harming U.S. space ...assets, experts and officials have renewed a long-standing debate over the best route to space security. Some argue that space defenses will be needed to protect critical military and civilian satellites. Others argue that space should be a "sanctuary" from deployed weapons and military conflict, particularly given the worsening threat posed by orbital space debris. Moltz puts this debate into historical context by explaining the main trends in military space developments since Sputnik, their underlying causes, and the factors that are likely to influence their future course. This new edition provides analysis of the Obama administration's space policy and the rise of new actors, including China, India, and Iran.
His conclusion offers a unique perspective on the mutual risks militaries face in space and the need for all countries to commit to interdependent, environmentally focused space security.
As biomaterial advances make headway into lightweight radiation protection, wound healing dressings, and microbe resistant surfaces, a relevance to human space exploration manifests itself. To ...address the needs of the human in space, a knowledge of the space environment becomes necessary. Both an understanding of the environment itself and an understanding of the physiological adaptations to that environment must inform design parameters. The space environment permits the fabrication of novel biomaterials that cannot be produced on Earth, but benefit Earth. Similarly, designing a biomaterial to address a space-based challenge may lead to novel biomaterials that will ultimately benefit Earth. This review describes several persistent challenges to human space exploration, a variety of biomaterials that might mitigate those challenges, and considers a special category of space biomaterial.
This work is a review of the major human and environmental challenges facing human spaceflight, and where biomaterials may mitigate some of those challenges. The work is significant because a broad range of biomaterials are applicable to the human space program, but the overlap is not widely known amongst biomaterials researchers who are unfamiliar with the challenges to human spaceflight. Additionaly, there are adaptations to microgravity that mimic the pathology of certain disease states (“terrestrial analogs”) where treatments that help the overwhelmingly healthy astronauts can be applied to help those with the desease. Advances in space technology have furthered the technology in that field on Earth. By outlining ways that biomaterials can promote human space exploration, space-driven advances in biomaterials will further biomaterials technology.
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Long-duration spaceflight induces changes to the brain and cerebrospinal fluid compartments and visual acuity problems known as spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). The clinical ...relevance of these changes and whether they equally affect crews of different space agencies remain unknown. We used MRI to analyze the alterations occurring in the perivascular spaces (PVS) in NASA and European Space Agency astronauts and Roscosmos cosmonauts after a 6-mo spaceflight on the International Space Station (ISS). We found increased volume of basal ganglia PVS and white matter PVS (WM-PVS) after spaceflight, which was more prominent in the NASA crew than the Roscosmos crew. Moreover, both crews demonstrated a similar degree of lateral ventricle enlargement and decreased subarachnoid space at the vertex, which was correlated with WM-PVS enlargement. As all crews experienced the same environment aboard the ISS, the differences in WM-PVS enlargement may have been due to, among other factors, differences in the use of countermeasures and high-resistive exercise regimes, which can influence brain fluid redistribution. Moreover, NASA astronauts who developed SANS had greater pre- and postflight WM-PVS volumes than those unaffected. These results provide evidence for a potential link between WM-PVS fluid and SANS.
Sand-grain-sized computers, self-healing materials and constellations of craft would reboot our reach, explain Igor Levchenko, Michael Keidar and colleagues.
We cannot properly understand history without a full appreciation of the spaces through which its actors moved, whether in the home or in the public sphere, and the ways in which they thought about ...and represented the spaces of their worlds. In this book Michael Scott employs the full range of literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence in order to demonstrate the many different ways in which spatial analysis can illuminate our understanding of Greek and Roman society and the ways in which these societies thought of, and interacted with, the spaces they occupied and created. Through a series of innovative case studies of texts, physical spaces and cultural constructs, ranging geographically across North Africa, Greece and Roman Italy, as well as an up-to-date introduction on spatial scholarship, this book provides an ideal starting point for students and non-specialists.
The other right stuff Witze, Alexandra
Nature (London),
02/2023, Volume:
614, Issue:
7948
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In 1990, for instance, Sullivan helped to launch the Hubble Space Telescope, an observatory too large to get into orbit on any other vehicle. In January 1986, four members of the group - McNair, ...Onizuka, Resnik and Richard Scobee - were on board with three other astronauts when the space shuttle Challenger's O-rings failed just after lift-off, causing an explosion that killed them all. NASA retired the shuttle fleet in 2011, after astronauts finished construction on the International Space Station - an abrupt ending to the programme and to the story of the 1978 astronaut class.
This open access book serves as a concise primer introducing the non-specialist reader to the physics of solar energetic particles (SEP). It systematically reviews the evidence for the two main ...mechanisms which lead to the so-called impulsive and gradual SEP events. This second edition contains two completely new chapters discussing element abundances and shock waves, reflecting new theoretical, modeling, and observational results. Existing chapters have been substantially expanded or updated with additions placed in a broader context.More specifically, the author discusses the timing of the onsets of SEPs, their longitude distributions, their high-energy spectral shapes, their correlations with other solar phenomena, as well as the all-important elemental and isotopic abundances. The book relates impulsive SEP events to magnetic reconnection in solar flares and jets. The concept of shock acceleration by scattering on self-amplified Alfvén waves is introduced, as is the evidence of reacceleration of impulsive-SEP material in the seed population accessed by the shocks in gradual events. The text then develops processes of transport of ions out to an observer. Finally, a technique to determine the source plasma temperature in both impulsive and gradual events is demonstrated.The author also mentions the role of SEP events as a radiation hazard in space and briefly discusses the nature of the main particle telescope designs that have contributed to most of the SEP measurements.
The expansion of our civilization to the Moon and beyond is now within our reach. This book explores the importance of being a spacefaring nation. It proposes maximizing use of the Moon and shows ...that science and engineering fact are ahead of science fiction.
If you have ever wondered about space travel, now you have the opportunity to understand it more fully than ever before. Traveling into space and even emigrating to nearby worlds may soon become part ...of the human experience. Scientists, engineers, and investors are working hard to make space tourism and colonization a reality. As astronauts can attest, extraterrestrial travel is incomparably thrilling. To make the most of the experience requires serious physical and mental adaptations in virtually every aspect of life, from eating to intimacy. Everyone who goes into space sees Earth and life on it from a profoundly different perspective than they had before liftoff. Astronomer and former NASA/ASEE scientist Neil F. Comins has written the go-to book for anyone interested in space exploration. He describes the wonders that travelers will encounter—weightlessness, unparalleled views of Earth and the cosmos, and the opportunity to walk on another world—as well as the dangers: radiation, projectiles, unbreathable atmospheres, and potential equipment failures. He also provides insights into specific trips to destinations including suborbital flights, space stations, the Moon, asteroids, comets, and Mars—the top candidate for colonization. Although many challenges are technical, Comins outlines them in clear language for all readers. He synthesizes key issues and cutting-edge research in astronomy, physics, biology, psychology, and sociology to create a complete manual for the ultimate voyage.
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