Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- 1 An Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth
- 2 One Attempt to Find Where They Are: NASA's High Resolution Microwave Survey
- 3 An Examination of Claims that Extraterrestrial Visitors to Earth Are Being Observed
- 4 The Likelihood of Interstellar Colonization, and the Absence of Its Evidence
- 5 Pre-emption of the Galaxy by the First Advanced Civilization
- 6 Stellar Evolution: Motivation for Mass Interstellar Migrations
- 7 Interstellar Propulsion Systems
- 8 Interstellar Travel: A Review
- 9 Settlements in Space, and Interstellar Travel
- 10 Terraforming
- 11 Estimates of Expansion Timescales
- 12 A Search for Tritium Sources in Our Solar System May Reveal the Presence of Space Probes from Other Stellar Systems
- 13 Primordial Organic Cosmochemistry
- 14 Chance and the Origin of Life
- 15 The RNA World: Life before DNA and Protein
- 16 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
- 17 Alone in a Crowded Universe
- 18 Possible Forms of Life in Environments Very Different from the Earth
- 19 Cosmological SETI Frequency Standards
- 20 Galactic Chemical Evolution: Implications for the Existence of Habitable Planets
- 21 The Frequency of Planetary Systems in the Galaxy
- 22 Atmospheric Evolution, the Drake Equation and DNA: Sparse Life in an Infinite Universe
- About the Editors and Contributors
- Author Index
- Subject Index
8 - Interstellar Travel: A Review
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- 1 An Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth
- 2 One Attempt to Find Where They Are: NASA's High Resolution Microwave Survey
- 3 An Examination of Claims that Extraterrestrial Visitors to Earth Are Being Observed
- 4 The Likelihood of Interstellar Colonization, and the Absence of Its Evidence
- 5 Pre-emption of the Galaxy by the First Advanced Civilization
- 6 Stellar Evolution: Motivation for Mass Interstellar Migrations
- 7 Interstellar Propulsion Systems
- 8 Interstellar Travel: A Review
- 9 Settlements in Space, and Interstellar Travel
- 10 Terraforming
- 11 Estimates of Expansion Timescales
- 12 A Search for Tritium Sources in Our Solar System May Reveal the Presence of Space Probes from Other Stellar Systems
- 13 Primordial Organic Cosmochemistry
- 14 Chance and the Origin of Life
- 15 The RNA World: Life before DNA and Protein
- 16 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
- 17 Alone in a Crowded Universe
- 18 Possible Forms of Life in Environments Very Different from the Earth
- 19 Cosmological SETI Frequency Standards
- 20 Galactic Chemical Evolution: Implications for the Existence of Habitable Planets
- 21 The Frequency of Planetary Systems in the Galaxy
- 22 Atmospheric Evolution, the Drake Equation and DNA: Sparse Life in an Infinite Universe
- About the Editors and Contributors
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
There are both scientific and social reasons for wanting to go to the stars. On the scientific side, astronomy and planetary science (and very likely the biological sciences also) would benefit tremendously. Just consider the advantages of taking thermometers, magnetometers, mass spectrometers, gravimeters, seismometers, microscopes, and all the other paraphernalia of experimental science, to objects that today can only be observed telescopically across light-years of empty space. On the human side, it would seem that the total number of people who ultimately receive a chance of life, and the survival time of our species itself, would increase enormously if colonization of even a small part of the Galaxy were to prove possible. As pointed out by Shepherd (1952), ‘humanity dispersed over many worlds would appear to be more secure than humanity crowded on one single planet’. At the very least, the resulting cultural diversity would provide an exciting alternative to Fukuyama's (1989) dire predictions for the ‘end of history’ (a point discussed in more detail by Crawford, 1993a).
In this chapter we review some of the propulsion methods that might make it possible to travel interstellar distances on a timescale of decades (i.e. velocities ≥ 0.1c). The concepts discussed are necessarily selective, and the reader who wishes to dig deeper is referred to the extensive bibliography of interstellar travel and communication compiled by Mallove et al. (1980) and updated by Paprotny et al. (1984, 1986, 1987).
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- Chapter
- Information
- ExtraterrestrialsWhere Are They?, pp. 50 - 69Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995