Space Exploration: Past, Present, Future - Hardcover

Petersen, Carolyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1445656035 ISBN 13: 9781445656038

Publisher: Amberley Publishing, 2018

Synopsis

Humanity has always looked to the stars, but it hasn’t been until relatively recently that we have managed to travel into space. Carolyn Collins Petersen takes us on a journey from the first space pioneers and their work, through the First World Warled technological advances in rocketry that formed the basis for the Space Age, to the increasing corporate interest in space. This detailed examination of our steps into space is viewed from our potential future there on Mars to be exact and considers how we will reach that point. The author concludes with our current advances and our immediate ambitions in space exploration. The future and its scientific possibilities are enthralling: who will be the first to step on Mars? Will matter/antimatter annihilations take us to the Kuiper Belt, or will it be ion propulsion? What is the Alcubierre Warp Drive? Will it take us to the stars?

About this title

From the Author:

In this book, I wanted to answer a question I first heard as a lecturer aboard a cruise ship in 2009: what's involved in creating a space-faring civilization?  The answer certainly requires a look at history. However, a modern space-faring civilization also requires elements of law and policy, commerce, competition, education, science, art, music, and good old-fashioned human emotion. The effects of that exploration affect every person on the planet in one way or another. That's the story I set out to tell in this book. Of course, we start with the history, in this case, an executive summary of early developments, followed by a look at principles of flight and rocketry. The story unfolds through the history of NASA and the Soviet Union's space agency to get to the Moon first. From there, we move into the modern age, where more than 75 countries have space interests and hundreds of people have flown beyond Earth.

There are many people for whom space access is a given; those born since the dawn of the space age, or who grew up with rockets flying to the Moon. For them, it has always been there, just as telephones and automobiles and airplanes are a part of the backdrop of life. For those people, this book serves as an introduction to the topic. 

For others of any age who may be interested in or had the time to really delve into this fascinating topic, the book recaptures the story of space exploration. It also points the way to the future, which is always just one second away and always being shaped by new launches, technologies, and ideas. It serves as a snapshot of a fascinating topic. 

My hope is that, once someone finishes reading Space Exploration: Past, Present, Future, they will use the resources provided at the back of the book to undertake their own voyage into the past and future of space exploration.

From the Inside Flap:

 The future of space exploration and its scientific possibilities are entralling; who will be the first to step on Mars? Will matter/antimatter annihilations take us to the Kuiper Belt, or will it be ion propulsion? What is the Alcubierre Warp Drive? Will it take us to the stars? 

About this edition

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1445656035
• ISBN 13: 9781445656038
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304