Hugo Award winner Ben Bova and Les Johnson complete Bova's Outer Planets series (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto)****, a Grand Tour of the human settled solar system, with a final encounter on Pluto.Major Larry Randall has been called to Pluto to retrieve Dr. Aaron Mikelson. Mikelson, no longer human after a horrific accident, is now melded to an AI. His enhanced senses have detected an alien artifact on Pluto’s surface, and h...

Interstellar Travel: After Arrival is a comprehensive, technical look at the necessary considerations for settlement on an extra solar planet following interstellar travel, addressed by leading experts in the fields of space development. The book features the current and future plans for lunar, Mars, and asteroid settlement, and how what we learn from such future endeavors might apply to settlement at destinations around other stars. In addition, scientists who have been considering the co...

Interstellar Travel: Propulsion, Life Support, Communications, and the Long Journey addresses the technical challenges that must be overcome to make such journeys possible. Leading experts in the fields of space propulsion, power, communication, navigation, crew selection, safety and health provide detailed information about state-of-the-art technologies and approaches for each challenge, along with possible methods based on real science and engineering. This book offers in-depth, up-to-da...

Interstellar Travel: Purpose and Motivations is a comprehensive, technical look at the necessary considerations for interstellar travel addressed by leading experts in the field, from scientists studying possible destinations (exoplanets) and the vast distances between, to those concerned with building institutions and capabilities in society that could sustain such endeavors. In addition to the technical, medical, and anthropological aspects of deep space travel, the ethics and morality o...

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 tech...

In terms of the scale of the galaxy, both in space and time, we humans are new comers. Though we are newly on the scene, we are already thinking about how to create large structures in space. Recently, analysis of data from one of the stars in the Kepler data set has led to speculation regarding huge artificial structures (called Stapledon/Dyson Spheres) constructed by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations. The NASA Kepler space observatory has been observing light curves of about 100,00...

The reality of sunlight-based sailing in space began in May 2010, and solar sail technology and science have continued to evolve rapidly through new space missions. Using the power of the Sun's light for regular travel propulsion will be the next major leap forward in our journey to other worlds. This book is the second edition of the fascinating explanation of solar sails, how they work and how they will be used in the exploration of space. Updated with 35% new material, this second editi...

We are all touched by death in some way. Les Johnson's, Tell Everyone, takes you through the jarring experiences of loss and pain that left him without a wife, and almost without his daughter, Heather. The ripples that move through his family after these events are devastating, and his vulnerable retelling makes it relatable. The narrative weaves through a series of events, journals, and letters to his daughter while she was in a coma for weeks. However, the lasting message is the one she ...

What was our planet like in years past? How has our civilization affected Earth and its ecology? Harvesting Space for a Greener Planet, the Second Edition of Paradise Regained: The Regreening of the Earth, begins by discussing these questions, and then generates a scenario for the restoration of Earth. It introduces new and innovative ideas on how we could use the Solar System and its resources for terrestrial benefit.The environmental challenges that face us toda...

Hugo Award winner Ben Bova and Les Johnson complete Bova’s Outer Planets series (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto), a Grand Tour of the human settled solar system, with a final encounter on Pluto.Major Larry Randall has been called to Pluto to retrieve Dr. Aaron Mikelson. Mikelson, no longer human after a horrific accident, is now melded to an AI. His enhanced senses have detected an alien artifact on Pluto’s surface, and he’s not leaving witho...

THE SECOND TIME AROUND—IS HARDER . . .Decades after the last footprints were left on the Moon, the US was preparing to return to the Lunar surface in a new class of rockets, when the mission suddenly became much more urgent. It would have to be a rescue mission.Unbeknownst to the rest of the world China had sent its own Lunar expedition. A manned expedition. Until a distress call was received, no human outside of China even knew that the mission was manned—...

The year is 2065 and an accidental encounter in space leads to the discovery that we are not alone in the universe—and that our continued existence as a species may be in jeopardy.Chris Holt, working in his office at the Space Resources Corporation, discovers that one of the asteroids he is surveying for mining is actually not an asteroid at all but a derelict spaceship. The word gets out and soon the world's powers are competing to explore and claim for themselves the secrets that...