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"The discovery in the last few decades of thousands of exoplanets orbiting nearby stars has made the age-old dream of interstellar travel a newly urgent scientific question. Initiatives like NASA's 100-Year Starship and the billionaire-funded Breakthrough Starshot are now investigating and developing new technologies that could one day enable humans to explore, perhaps even colonize, distant solar systems. This short, accessible book brings readers to the forefront of this new frontier, laying out both the challenges to be navigated and the latest thinking and scientific developments that could allow us to overcome them"--
About the author
Les Johnson
Summary
A brief guide to the real science of interstellar travel
With known exoplanets now numbering in the thousands and initiatives like 100 Year Starship and Breakthrough Starshot advancing the idea of interstellar travel, the age-old dream of venturing forth into the cosmos and perhaps even colonizing distant worlds may one day become a reality. A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars reveals how.
Les Johnson takes you on a thrilling tour of the physics and technologies that may enable us to reach the stars. He discusses the latest exoplanet discoveries, promising interstellar missions on the not-so-distant horizon, and exciting new developments in space propulsion, power, robotics, communications, and more. But interstellar travel will not be easy, and it is not for the faint of heart. Johnson describes the harsh and forbidding expanse of space that awaits us, and he addresses the daunting challenges—both human and technological—that we will need to overcome in order to realize tomorrow’s possibilities.
A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars is your passport to the next great frontier of human discovery, providing a rare inside look at the remarkable breakthroughs in science and technology that will help tomorrow’s space travelers chart a course for the stars.
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"A sober and careful analysis of the possibility of interstellar travel, written by someone with exactly the right background."---Robert Connon Smith, The Observatory
