Beyond: Our Future in Space

by Chris Impey

Overview

“Expansive and enlightening. . . . Impey packs his prose with wonderful anecdotes and weird factoids.”—New York Times Book Review

Human exploration has been an unceasing engine of technological progress, from the first homo sapiens to leave our African cradle to a future in which mankind promises to settle another world. Beyond tells the epic story of humanity leaving home—and how humans will soon thrive in the vast universe beyond the earth.

A dazzling and propulsive voyage through space and time, Beyond reveals how centuries of space explorers—from the earliest stargazers to today’s cutting-edge researchers—all draw inspiration from an innate human emotion: wanderlust. This urge to explore led us to multiply around the globe, and it can be traced in our DNA.

Today, the urge to discover manifests itself in jaw-dropping ways: plans for space elevators poised to replace rockets at a fraction of the cost; experiments in suspending and reanimating life for ultra-long-distance travel; prototypes for solar sails that coast through space on the momentum of microwaves released from the Earth. With these ventures, private companies and entrepreneurs have the potential to outpace NASA as the leaders in a new space race.

Combining expert knowledge of astronomy and avant-garde technology, Chris Impey guides us through the heady possibilities for the next century of exploration. In twenty years, a vibrant commercial space industry will be operating. In thirty years, there will be small but viable colonies on the Moon and Mars. In fifty years, mining technology will have advanced enough to harvest resources from asteroids. In a hundred years, a cohort of humans born off-Earth will come of age without ever visiting humanity’s home planet. This is not the stuff of science fiction but rather the logical extension of already available technologies.

Beyond shows that space exploration is not just the domain of technocrats, but the birthright of everyone and the destiny of generations to come. To continue exploration is to ensure our survival. Outer space, a limitless unknown, awaits us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393352153
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/07/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Chris Impey is a distinguished professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona and the critically-acclaimed author of Beyond, How It Began, and How It Ends, and four other books, as well as two astronomy textbooks. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Part I Prelude 1

1 Dreaming of Beyond 5

2 Rockets and Bombs 21

3 Send In the Robots 40

Part II Present 59

4 Revolution Is Coming 63

5 Meet the Entrepreneurs 81

6 Beyond the Horizon 99

7 A Plethora of Planets 118

Part III Future 135

8 The Next Space Race 139

9 Our Next Home 157

10 Remote Sensing 175

11 Living Off-Earth 192

Part IV Beyond 209

12 Journey to the Stars 213

13 Cosmic Companionship 233

14 A Universe Made for Us 248

Notes 265

Credits 295

Index 297

Editorial Reviews

"So much fun to read that it is hard to think of it as a major reference work on space travel—history, current status, and the wild blue yonder. But it is!"

Owen Gingerich

"Bold, elegant and engaging."

Nature

"A rare look into the future through a wide-angle lens. With hope and skill, Impey has an optimistic vision in which we finally, and permanently, break the bonds of Earth."

David H. Levy

"Philosophical . . . lively."

Discover

"Bold, elegant and engaging."

Nature Lib

…an expansive and enlightening overview of space travel's past, present and possible future…Impey is not only a skilled scientist…he's also an adept and prolific communicator, who packs his prose with wonderful anecdotes and weird factoids. In particular, Impey knows the value of strong characters in storytelling, and weaves much of his narrative around illuminating profiles of space pioneers old and new…When Impey rises above the current woes of space agencies and the sometimes-dubious plans of entrepreneurs, Beyond truly soars. Its concluding section presents a scattered but sweeping vision for our future in space, and offers more plausible ideas than can be found in whole shelves of futuristic science fiction…Beyond is for everyone who longs to see the sun from across an interstellar gulf, "like a buttercup set on velvet," a book for readers who wish to reach out their hands amid the stars.

The New York Times Book Review - Lee Billings

★ 02/16/2015
As governments debate the value of funding space science, Impey (Humble Before the Void) delivers a timely book covering a wealth of reasons to care about space and what we could accomplish there if we accept the challenge. The “profound human urge to explore” is in our genes, Impey says. Rockets provide a way to escape Earth, but the Cold War “Space Race” between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. highlighted the struggle to balance funding—as well as competing motivations—between military and civilian space science, which has left NASA in its current “doldrums.” Currently, private space companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic offer potential new routes off Earth, while others explore ways to settle “ Moon, Mars, and beyond”—though Impey cautions the reader about the inherent risks, particularly that “people are going to die.” Space travelers will face long-term biological troubles, including bone loss, weakened immune systems, and genetic isolation. They’ll also confront questions of identity, diplomacy, and ownership, especially as more nations and businesses enter space. With vivid writing that skillfully walks the line between visionary and pragmatic, Impey finds equal opportunity for both humans and robotic explorers on a journey that could not only teach us about new worlds, but “how to be better caretakers of this one.” Illus. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Philosophical…lively."

Discover Magazine

"One of the most accessible accounts of the history of rockets and space travel I have ever read…entertaining and informative."

Wall Street Journal - John Gribbin

"Expansive and enlightening… Impey is not only a skilled scientist who studies active galactic nuclei, he’s also an adept and prolific communicator, who packs his prose with wonderful anecdotes and weird factoids… Beyond truly soars. Its concluding section…offers more plausible ideas than can be found in whole shelves of futuristic science fiction."

Lee Billings

"In Beyond, Chris Impey manages to rejuvenate that ‘Space Is Our Future’ feeling that pervaded human culture a half century ago. A needed reminder that, today, not enough of us are looking up, and even fewer among us are doing anything about it."

Neil deGrasse Tyson

"This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the fate of the human race and our bright future among the stars. Chris Impey shows how our efforts to expand beyond Earth are part of the same biological drive that made humans spread their habitat across the face of the Earth."

Ben Bova

★ 05/01/2015
Impey (University Distinguished Professor and Deputy Head, Astronomy, Univ. of Arizona) agrees with Stephen Hawking, whose zero-gravity sojourns he chronicles, that "the human race doesn't have a future unless it goes into space." The author's investigation of our possibilities profiles the heroes—many of them unsung—who made past space exploration an exciting but at times deadly voyage and are the same kinds of people pioneering consumer travel in space now. The history portion of the book includes Ming dynasty misadventures, Nazi rocketry, the Cold War, animals in space, moon landings, recent voyages to planets, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's "doldrums." Today's space entrepreneurship is addressed in a fascinating look at an exciting but risk-filled and regulation-stifled industry run by the likes of Elon Musk and Richard Branson. Practical steps toward establishing space as home are explored, too, in looks at astrobiology, the search for exoplanets, the physical and legal feasibility of a permanent lunar or planetary habitation, space elevators, and other technologies, and even the difficulties (many!) of sex in space. Impey also describes the frightening aspect of the pioneers becoming a different species. In an enjoyable writing style, the author exhaustively examines what seems like every obstacle to life "beyond," creating an unusual and at turns startling and funny read. VERDICT Popular science fans will eat this up. Great for public libraries.—Henrietta Verma, Library Journal

Library Journal

2015-02-04
Do we have a future in space? By astronomer Impey's (How It Began: A Time-Traveler's Guide to the Universe, 2012, etc.) account, the answer is yes—but we must get working immediately."Whether we ‘outgrow' the Solar System or are simply curious about worlds beyond, we'll leave the safe harbor of our planetary system and venture into deep space." So writes Impey, whose narrative blends the factual, the historical and the speculative—in the instance of the last, by imagining a deep-space mission in which cryogenically frozen "Frosties" chill on ice until being "reeled back into consciousness to explore a new world." The author covers the expected basics—e.g., Isaac Newton's wondering how a cannonball would behave if fired horizontally from above the atmosphere, affected only by gravity. Voilà: a law of motion and a basic premise of rocketry. Lightly running through the history of spaceflight, Impey observe, grimly, that NASA's budget has been steadily shrinking over many years, with the bank bailout of 2008 costing more "than has been spent on NASA since it was started in 1959." The author's arguments are a little diffuse to be useful in countering a know-nothing congressperson who wonders why taxpayers should be funding space travel. Enter the entrepreneurs—Dick Rutan, Richard Branson et al.—who give Impey hope, even if the government has much deeper pockets. The author winds down his narrative with a view of what living elsewhere in the solar system might be like, a matter partially addressed by the Biosphere II project of old—which, he notes, may have been a failure but produced 200-plus published papers. He closes with a resounding cri de couer: "Space travel is urgent and it is real." There's not a lot new here, and most of the information can easily be found elsewhere, including Impey's own books. Still, he provides a useful synthesis without prerequisites and a welcoming invitation to join the space race.

Kirkus Reviews