Space, the Final Frontier?

Discusses the opportunities and methods for the exploration and exploitation of space by human beings.

Giancarlo Genta (Author), Michael Rycroft (Author), Franco Malerba (Foreword by), Michael Foale (Foreword by)

9780521814034, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 February 2003

430 pages, 150 b/w illus. 5 tables
23.6 x 16 x 2.3 cm, 0.858 kg

'This is a good read and the authors discuss a wide range of subjects well. With such a wide remit one might consider a specialist book preferable but this publication meets its aims well, with a clear and highly readable style … This is an excellent book and I can thoroughly recommend it.' Astronomy Now

What are our motivations for going into space? Where does our long-term space future lie? Why, and how, should we strive to reach, if not for the stars, at least for the Moon and Mars? This exciting book looks first at the progress that has already been made in our attempts to explore and expand beyond the Earth. Current and past space technologies and space stations are described, and the effects of the space environment on the human body are explained. A discussion of the merits of the robotic exploration of space is followed by a look at our exploration of the Moon and Mars. Final chapters touch on propulsion methods required for leaving our solar system, and ask which of the possibilities for future space travel is most likely to succeed. This thought provoking book will appeal to all those with an interest in the future of space exploration.

Introduction
1. Space today
2. The gateway to space
3. Cities and factories in space?
4. Robots in the solar system
5. Back to the Moon
6. Mars, the Red Planet
7. Exploitation of the solar system
8. Beyond the pillars of Hercules
9. Other lives, other civilisations
10. Towards a galactic civilisation
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Popular astronomy & space [WNX], Popular science [PDZ]