Interstellar Travel

Propulsion, Life Support, Communications, and the Long Journey

Les Johnson, Kenneth Roy, Les Johnson, Kenneth Roy

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9780323912808
• eBook ISBN:
  9780323912815
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Aerodynamics
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Interstellar Travel: Propulsion, Life Support, Communications, and the Long Journey addresses the technical challenges that must be overcome to make such journeys possible. Leading experts in the fields of space propulsion, power, communication, navigation, crew selection, safety and health provide detailed information about state-of-the-art technologies and approaches for each challenge, along with possible methods based on real science and engineering. This book offers in-depth, up-to-date and realistic technical and scientific considerations in the pursuit of interstellar travel and will be an essential reference for scientists, engineers, researchers and academics working on, or interested in, space development and space technologies. With a renewed interest in space exploration and development evidenced by the rise of the commercial space sector and various governments now planning to send humans back to the moon and to Mars, there is also growing interest in taking the next steps beyond the solar system and to the ultimate destination – planets circling other stars. With the rapid growth in the number of known exoplanets, people are now asking how we might make journeys to visit them. - Discusses the technical challenges that must be overcome to mount interstellar missions - Features various aspects of interstellar travel by the world's recognized leading experts in the field - Provides referenceable data and analysis for both new and experienced researchers in the interstellar and deep-space exploration fields

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Propulsion options
• Chapter 2 Electrical power options for interstellar spacecraft
• Chapter 3 Crew health—Psychological, biological, and medical issues and the need for a systems approach
• Chapter 4 Interstellar life support
• Chapter 5 Timing relationships and resulting communications challenges in relativistic travel
• Chapter 6 Prospects for human hibernation
• Chapter 7 Ship governance and culture
• Chapter 8 Spare parts and additive manufacturing
• Chapter 9 Optimal crew size at both departure and arrival
• Chapter 10 Artificial intelligence: Useful crewman, terrible master, benign leader, or the actual payload, and do we get to choose?
• Chapter 11 Maintaining communication with Earth during an interstellar flyby mission
• Appendix General relativistic faster-than-light propulsion for interstellar flight
• Index