Traveler's Guide to the Stars

"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. NASA scientist Les Johnson begins by surveying the vast, hostile landscape between stars we'll need to traverse: an extremely cold, mysterious expanse rife with harsh radiation and cosmic dust. He describes our first sallies into this sphere with forerunners like the Voyager craft, now well on their way into the interstellar medium, and new extrasolar probes currently being planned that will venture farther beyond our solar system and launch within our lifetimes. He next considers who our interstellar explorers will be-first robots, followed by humans-and what each will entail, before delving into the mind-boggling science of how one would actually propel an interstellar starship. Johnson explains the most promising approaches, from antimatter-powered rockets to the light-filled sails scientists like himself are piloting now, and discusses other design challenges to be overcome like power and communications. The book closes with a chapter exploring the real science of sci-fi and pop culture fixtures like warp drives and wormholes, and a conclusion that considers what it will take as a society to realize our interstellar future"--
A brief guide to the real science of interstellar travelWith 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.