Sten Odenwald

A Guide to Space Travel from A to B Sten Odenwald

Space travel revolves around the answers to three major questions that have confronted explorers for thousands of years: 1) Where will we go? 2) What will we do when we get there? 3) How will it benefit folks back home? Far beyond the technological issue of how to actually travel in space is the very practical issue of answering these questions long before we turn the first screw in the hardware, or the first plank in a ship's hull is layed. This book is a condensed version of the companion books: Interstellar Travel: An Astronomer's Guide, and Interplanetary Travel: An Astronomer's guide, which covered these issues in more technical detail. Answers are provided using the best, current, astronomical knowledge of our solar system and the thousands of exoplanets that have been discovered in recent years, including Proxima Centauri b and the exciting, new TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. The book explores the pros and cons of various destinations, whether 'space mining' is a viable economic activity as is often claimed, and some of the basic considerations in designing interplanetary and interstellar spacecraft. Considerable effort is also made to describe in detail the hazards along the way, both physical and psychological