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Beyond Earth: Our Path to a New Home in the Planets
From a leading planetary scientist and an award-winning science writer: a propulsive account of the developments and initiatives that have transformed the dream of space colonization into something that may well be achievable.
We are at the cusp of a golden age in space science, as increasingly more entrepreneurs - Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos - are seduced by the commercial potential of human access to space. But Beyond Earth does not offer another wide-eyed technology fantasy: instead it is grounded not only in the human capacity for invention and the appeal of adventure but also in the bureaucratic, political, and scientific realities that present obstacles to space travel - realities that have hampered NASA's efforts ever since the Challenger fiasco. In Beyond Earth, the authors offer groundbreaking research and argue persuasively that not Mars but Titan - a moon of Saturn with a nitrogen atmosphere, a weather cycle, and an inexhaustible supply of cheap energy, where we will be able to fly like birds in the minimal gravitational field - offers the most realistic and thrilling prospect of life without support from Earth.
We are at the cusp of a golden age in space science, as increasingly more entrepreneurs - Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos - are seduced by the commercial potential of human access to space. But Beyond Earth does not offer another wide-eyed technology fantasy: instead it is grounded not only in the human capacity for invention and the appeal of adventure but also in the bureaucratic, political, and scientific realities that present obstacles to space travel - realities that have hampered NASA's efforts ever since the Challenger fiasco. In Beyond Earth, the authors offer groundbreaking research and argue persuasively that not Mars but Titan - a moon of Saturn with a nitrogen atmosphere, a weather cycle, and an inexhaustible supply of cheap energy, where we will be able to fly like birds in the minimal gravitational field - offers the most realistic and thrilling prospect of life without support from Earth.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 15, 2016
72 people are currently reading
1030 people want to read
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March 20, 2017
Warning! This is a book by a crank! About cranks. For cranks. If you don't yet have a strong background in science, stay far, far away from this book lest it fill you with misconceptions and misinformation.
If the contents weren't bad enough, the format of this book is awful, too. Odd chapters are future predictions communicated as really pulpy, expositional science fiction. They include (no, I'm not joking) a robot army fighting Islamic terrorists, an Exxon colonial space ship, an all-women city on Titan called "Amazonia", and alien pornography broadcast to Earth thanks to faster-than-light communication with the galactic Internet. Alien. Pornography.
Still not convinced? The authors are conspiracy theorists. They thinks "the general public has been left in the dark" about the health dangers of space travel. They even call Carl Sagan "a supercilious jerk". The only reason someone could possibly call Sagan this is from fear. Fear that Sagan's skepticism would be turned on them and expose their idiotic beliefs.
For those with morbid curiosity, here are some of the things these this book gets completely wrong:
* Gullibly repeats the media headlines that Google translation AI "invented its own secret language". (It didn't.)
* A fear-monger's explanation of the paperclip maximizer thought experiment. In short, this thought experiment is scary only if you imagine an AI that has severe mental handicaps in some areas (knowing about humans) but not others (how to make machines to disassemble an entire planet). This is just special pleading and praying on our own innate fears.
* An uninformed telling of the Fermi paradox. It's basically an urban myth that we've looked for life in the galaxy and found none. The truth is we've barely begun to look.
* Greatly exaggerated claims of mental risk from space travel. This is based on one study that has been over-hyped in the media. This study has many limitations. It didn't use galactic cosmic rays, but radioactive Titanium. It uses a mouse model and mice have significant known differences in skull thickness, etc. In fact, we know from studies of humans on the space station that any cognitive effect from long-term exposure has a pretty darn low upper limit.
* Greatly exaggerated claims of cancer risk from space travel. The author interviewed some NASA scientist who got fired for fear mongering (can't remember or find his name at the moment). He did some calculation that showed the cancer risk from a trip to Mars is large. Everyone in the scientific community disagrees with is findings. And anyway, the this argument against a manned mission to Mars is ridiculous. A little bit of mortal danger? Who cares? Nobody's being forced to go. It's the next frontier. How awful would our plight be as a species if we were no longer willing to take risks to discover things and advance science?!
* Conflating the health consequences of micro-gravity with the lower gravity on other planets. He goes on and on about optic nerve swelling like it's the end of the world. I'm pretty sure Scott Kelly is doing just fine. Thanks. Anyway the effects experienced by astronauts on the International Space Station are not predicted to impact people living on the Moon or Mars. All that's needed for our pulmonary system to take care of things is a clear down direction. There is no medical reason the magnitude of the normal vector need be exactly 1g.
* The biggest crank in this book has got to be Sonny White. There was even a great piece in the book where the authors corresponded with White and asked him a question about the casimir force. In reply White laid on them a Dunning-Kruger whopper! He said, to extend the casimir force to a large scale, just make a lot of little cavities in a material, like a big pumice stone. The obvious flaws in this idea are (1) pumice stones actually exist and don't have an extended negative energy field around them and (2) while the casimir effect is present *inside* a gap in between two plates, the wave functions average out to *zero* when seen from the outside. This is the danger of letting an engineer theorize... I say that with love as an engineer myself.
* The book claims we need something like the EM drive to get to Titan. He describes it as a reaction-less engine. Which is a contradiction in terms because of a little thing called the CONSERVATION OF MOMENTUM. The idea that the EM drive pushes off the quantum vacuum is preposterous.
* The claim that GMO babies "will hasten our demise". I don't even. There's also a lot of general agricultural pessimism.
* Climate change alarmism. I know, I know. When people say this they're often coming from a place of climate science denial. I'm not. I just think that the Statue of Liberty can't be half-covered by the ocean because its pedestal is more than 6 meters above sea level. The main plot of the "future" chapters in this book involves people getting so miserable on Earth that they decide to escape to Titan. This is ridiculous. This plot point hinges on social unrest due to climate refugees and increasing violence. Today I can say the climate will change and it will devastate ecosystems and cause mass human migrations. But there is no indication society will unravel as a result. It may not feel like it, but war and violence are still decreasing. This plot point is contrived and hinges on an alarmist position.
If the contents weren't bad enough, the format of this book is awful, too. Odd chapters are future predictions communicated as really pulpy, expositional science fiction. They include (no, I'm not joking) a robot army fighting Islamic terrorists, an Exxon colonial space ship, an all-women city on Titan called "Amazonia", and alien pornography broadcast to Earth thanks to faster-than-light communication with the galactic Internet. Alien. Pornography.
Still not convinced? The authors are conspiracy theorists. They thinks "the general public has been left in the dark" about the health dangers of space travel. They even call Carl Sagan "a supercilious jerk". The only reason someone could possibly call Sagan this is from fear. Fear that Sagan's skepticism would be turned on them and expose their idiotic beliefs.
For those with morbid curiosity, here are some of the things these this book gets completely wrong:
* Gullibly repeats the media headlines that Google translation AI "invented its own secret language". (It didn't.)
* A fear-monger's explanation of the paperclip maximizer thought experiment. In short, this thought experiment is scary only if you imagine an AI that has severe mental handicaps in some areas (knowing about humans) but not others (how to make machines to disassemble an entire planet). This is just special pleading and praying on our own innate fears.
* An uninformed telling of the Fermi paradox. It's basically an urban myth that we've looked for life in the galaxy and found none. The truth is we've barely begun to look.
* Greatly exaggerated claims of mental risk from space travel. This is based on one study that has been over-hyped in the media. This study has many limitations. It didn't use galactic cosmic rays, but radioactive Titanium. It uses a mouse model and mice have significant known differences in skull thickness, etc. In fact, we know from studies of humans on the space station that any cognitive effect from long-term exposure has a pretty darn low upper limit.
* Greatly exaggerated claims of cancer risk from space travel. The author interviewed some NASA scientist who got fired for fear mongering (can't remember or find his name at the moment). He did some calculation that showed the cancer risk from a trip to Mars is large. Everyone in the scientific community disagrees with is findings. And anyway, the this argument against a manned mission to Mars is ridiculous. A little bit of mortal danger? Who cares? Nobody's being forced to go. It's the next frontier. How awful would our plight be as a species if we were no longer willing to take risks to discover things and advance science?!
* Conflating the health consequences of micro-gravity with the lower gravity on other planets. He goes on and on about optic nerve swelling like it's the end of the world. I'm pretty sure Scott Kelly is doing just fine. Thanks. Anyway the effects experienced by astronauts on the International Space Station are not predicted to impact people living on the Moon or Mars. All that's needed for our pulmonary system to take care of things is a clear down direction. There is no medical reason the magnitude of the normal vector need be exactly 1g.
* The biggest crank in this book has got to be Sonny White. There was even a great piece in the book where the authors corresponded with White and asked him a question about the casimir force. In reply White laid on them a Dunning-Kruger whopper! He said, to extend the casimir force to a large scale, just make a lot of little cavities in a material, like a big pumice stone. The obvious flaws in this idea are (1) pumice stones actually exist and don't have an extended negative energy field around them and (2) while the casimir effect is present *inside* a gap in between two plates, the wave functions average out to *zero* when seen from the outside. This is the danger of letting an engineer theorize... I say that with love as an engineer myself.
* The book claims we need something like the EM drive to get to Titan. He describes it as a reaction-less engine. Which is a contradiction in terms because of a little thing called the CONSERVATION OF MOMENTUM. The idea that the EM drive pushes off the quantum vacuum is preposterous.
* The claim that GMO babies "will hasten our demise". I don't even. There's also a lot of general agricultural pessimism.
* Climate change alarmism. I know, I know. When people say this they're often coming from a place of climate science denial. I'm not. I just think that the Statue of Liberty can't be half-covered by the ocean because its pedestal is more than 6 meters above sea level. The main plot of the "future" chapters in this book involves people getting so miserable on Earth that they decide to escape to Titan. This is ridiculous. This plot point hinges on social unrest due to climate refugees and increasing violence. Today I can say the climate will change and it will devastate ecosystems and cause mass human migrations. But there is no indication society will unravel as a result. It may not feel like it, but war and violence are still decreasing. This plot point is contrived and hinges on an alarmist position.
September 2, 2017
If you are going to read this book, you need to be awed by space , you need to wonder what is the scientific breakthrough that will finally takes us out of this planet that is the only way you will enjoy the heavy science on this book. There are moments of reliefs when the author give us a glimpse into the how the future colonization of Titan (Saturn moon) would go over , even tough those glimpses sometimes stretch reality. The book also links those future glimpses with how technology is advancing currently thus the heavy science warning . There is a lot information on this book. If you are not into space , this is not your introduction book.
July 16, 2016
Beyond Earth is a great view of the current status of space exploration, as well as a thought experiment about how things could turn out. Each chapter covers a different aspect of space colonization and exploration. The chapters are broken up into "Present" and "Future" sections.
The Present sections are well researched and give a good understanding of what the status of space colonization is right here and now. The book discusses issues ranging from getting to space to living there to why we would want to. It has interviews with a lot of people working in space right now, and discusses the history of space exploration as well as projects that are still only in the planning stages.
The Future sections of each chapter are fictional accounts of a how future Earth colonizes space. The book starts out by saying they're going to extrapolate from current trends to give us a good picture of what could happen, and by the end of the book humans are looped into an intergalactic network of alien AIs. Despite the ridiculous nature of a lot of the extrapolation, it does give a more intuitive picture of what might be important for the success of space exploration.
While the book does give a good overview of the field, I finished it feeling like I hadn't learned very much. It helped me to put some puzzle pieces into place and understand things better, but I would have liked more technical explanations of lots of the science.
I'd say the major takeaway from the book for me didn't have much to do with space exploration. By explaining how hard it is to survive in space, the book really brings home how great Earth is and how easy it is to mess up a closed ecosystem. One of the themes of the book is that global warming, war, and pollution could be the main reason we end up leaving Earth. By the time I'd finished the book, I felt very motivated to try and solve Earth's environmental problems rather than leave for some colony that would have even bigger problems.
The Present sections are well researched and give a good understanding of what the status of space colonization is right here and now. The book discusses issues ranging from getting to space to living there to why we would want to. It has interviews with a lot of people working in space right now, and discusses the history of space exploration as well as projects that are still only in the planning stages.
The Future sections of each chapter are fictional accounts of a how future Earth colonizes space. The book starts out by saying they're going to extrapolate from current trends to give us a good picture of what could happen, and by the end of the book humans are looped into an intergalactic network of alien AIs. Despite the ridiculous nature of a lot of the extrapolation, it does give a more intuitive picture of what might be important for the success of space exploration.
While the book does give a good overview of the field, I finished it feeling like I hadn't learned very much. It helped me to put some puzzle pieces into place and understand things better, but I would have liked more technical explanations of lots of the science.
I'd say the major takeaway from the book for me didn't have much to do with space exploration. By explaining how hard it is to survive in space, the book really brings home how great Earth is and how easy it is to mess up a closed ecosystem. One of the themes of the book is that global warming, war, and pollution could be the main reason we end up leaving Earth. By the time I'd finished the book, I felt very motivated to try and solve Earth's environmental problems rather than leave for some colony that would have even bigger problems.
December 30, 2016
This book was a good hook for stretching the imagination of what could be possible for living on another planet/moon. The writing was a little scattered and biased at times but the larger points still got across. I really enjoyed pairing the present sections with the future sections to keep things in perspective. I'd recommend this to anyone who is curious about space travel or who just wants to nerd out over a bunch of different space topics.
February 29, 2020
Great idea, awful execution. If this book restrained itself to exploring the many researches on technology that could make possible human living outside earth, it would be so much better. Instead of doing it, the authors force a narrative upon themselves. For instance, when discussing artificial gravity, no alternatives are given to centripetal machines. The choices of the more viable technologies are clearly biased. The understanding of astronomy and physics of the writers might be great, and it does come through in the very approacheable way both are presented. However, knowledge in history, politics and economics are lacking, or intentionally curbed. They end up caring less about human expansion and more about how can capitalism take over the solar system. It's appaling, as Ursula K. Le Guin once said, that people nowdays can imagine the end of the world with more ease than the end of our mode of production. Concerns about the environment are necessary, and it's consequences would also change the social stratification. The hagiography of private investments as the only way of funding space exploration also sounds very biased.
All in all, the "future scenario" bits would be interesting enough for a 1950's science fiction novel, but is too restrictive and narrow-minded for passing as a comprehensive extrapolation. Maybe if the book gave us many conflicting scenarios this feeling would be attenuated. It would be interesting to read a similar book written from a global perspective, that doesn't reduce other space programs (specially the chinese one) as simple background noise for an americanist manifest-destiny exploration of the universe.
All in all, the "future scenario" bits would be interesting enough for a 1950's science fiction novel, but is too restrictive and narrow-minded for passing as a comprehensive extrapolation. Maybe if the book gave us many conflicting scenarios this feeling would be attenuated. It would be interesting to read a similar book written from a global perspective, that doesn't reduce other space programs (specially the chinese one) as simple background noise for an americanist manifest-destiny exploration of the universe.
November 30, 2016
This is science fiction posing as real science. Actually it is more like fantasy posing as science.
The author's assertion that we Earthlings will have to go to Titian to live is really preposterous.
A few may go to Mars to live for kicks, but that will be the end of our trying colonize our other planets and moons.
Our Earth will be a fine place to live for another billion years, and at that time the species which follow us will have to consider seeking a home on a younger planet around one of our neighboring stars, but that is much too speculative to bother writing about at this time.
The author's assertion that we Earthlings will have to go to Titian to live is really preposterous.
A few may go to Mars to live for kicks, but that will be the end of our trying colonize our other planets and moons.
Our Earth will be a fine place to live for another billion years, and at that time the species which follow us will have to consider seeking a home on a younger planet around one of our neighboring stars, but that is much too speculative to bother writing about at this time.
January 5, 2017
Too much billionaire worship and too much victim blaming. They blame NASA's problems on itself, when really it's not given enough funding and keeps having its mandates changed.
As a survey of what's going on in different space-related sciences, it's okay. The rest of it switches between boring and garbage, especially the 'future' segments where they try to predict what life on Titan will be like (though I admit the part about naturally floating cities was interesting and hadn't occurred to me).
As a survey of what's going on in different space-related sciences, it's okay. The rest of it switches between boring and garbage, especially the 'future' segments where they try to predict what life on Titan will be like (though I admit the part about naturally floating cities was interesting and hadn't occurred to me).
May 29, 2017
Nearly DNF'd this book. As it was, I pretty much skimmed the second half. While some of it was interesting, a lot of it was either depressing or outlandish (looking at you robots fighting terrorists).
November 8, 2018
Nice idea, but I was disappointed with the fact, that authors could imagine only another USA in space. Like colonization of thr Northern America was the only colonization in human history. And we are doomed to repeat this exact scenario again and again.
December 26, 2019
This book has highs and lows,
I appreciate the approach and the mix of fiction with facts but either that approach or the dual authorship creates flaws which are difficult to forgive. At times I find it annoying – the authors’ listed pessimism regarding humanity and conjectured reasons for leaving the planet at all odds with what they themselves admit to be the safer, more affordable, and undeniably more pleasant choice of simply investing in earth – but at times it serves an excellent point to highlight the potential of technology discussed.
I love the journalistic approach. The use of real experiences and existing technologies and research are the real value here, the points I found real interest in, and where the author’s enthusiasm for science and optimism really shine through. This glaringly contrasts with the pessimism in “future” sections, which is perhaps why I found it so annoying, (at least one of) the authors don’t believe it themselves.
Fitted around the journalism, the rest feels like filler. As a result, I found many interesting points in this book, I loved parts of it, and others were fairly meh.
I appreciate the approach and the mix of fiction with facts but either that approach or the dual authorship creates flaws which are difficult to forgive. At times I find it annoying – the authors’ listed pessimism regarding humanity and conjectured reasons for leaving the planet at all odds with what they themselves admit to be the safer, more affordable, and undeniably more pleasant choice of simply investing in earth – but at times it serves an excellent point to highlight the potential of technology discussed.
I love the journalistic approach. The use of real experiences and existing technologies and research are the real value here, the points I found real interest in, and where the author’s enthusiasm for science and optimism really shine through. This glaringly contrasts with the pessimism in “future” sections, which is perhaps why I found it so annoying, (at least one of) the authors don’t believe it themselves.
Fitted around the journalism, the rest feels like filler. As a result, I found many interesting points in this book, I loved parts of it, and others were fairly meh.
December 26, 2021
Interesting book. First, high marks for simply attempting to think through and imagine what human expansion might look like given modern technical background and knowledge. That's not done often. Authors deserve credit for looking at analogs and the experiences from submarines and winter-over Antarctic stays and the psychological and physiological hazards of space reasonably up to date as of the time of writing. They have taken the cosmic radiation hazard seriously as well.
I also applaud them for focusing on Titan; an underappreciated target.
On the downside, they got a bit taken in by some fringe propulsion technologies and their "what the future might be like" is fiction straight up -- clearly labeled as such, but filled with assumptions not justified in the science sections.
Still a worthwhile addition to the literature, as is with all faults.
I also applaud them for focusing on Titan; an underappreciated target.
On the downside, they got a bit taken in by some fringe propulsion technologies and their "what the future might be like" is fiction straight up -- clearly labeled as such, but filled with assumptions not justified in the science sections.
Still a worthwhile addition to the literature, as is with all faults.
January 4, 2018
В "Beyond Earth", авторите молят да забравим за Луната и Марс и да съсредоточим цялото си внимание към сатурновата луна Титан- единственото място в родния гравитационен кладенец, което (според тях) си струва да колонизираме.
June 19, 2020
This book makes a good case for Titan as the most easily-colonized world in the Solar System, and the only one with any hope of being self-sustaining once colonized.
Good discussion of a number of issues in space-related fields, as well.
Good discussion of a number of issues in space-related fields, as well.
June 10, 2017
I thought the writing was good, but found I knew a good portion of the information presented and was not overly pleased by the future-present format of the book in general.
September 7, 2021
There are lots of problems with this book, but the most important one is this: This book presents itself as futurism (ie. a prediction of the future based on current scientific trends), when in fact, it's a combination of selective science, bad science, and science fiction.
It's obvious that the authors set out with an agenda (Humanity will colonize Saturn's moon Titan!) and then cherry-picked narratives and science to try and support their opinion. Science presented in support of this agenda is often limited (inferred from a single study, at times), old (based on decades-old flawed experiments), or outright wrong (presenting debunked propulsionless thrust technology as viable/emerging, among other things). Scientific data that supports other conclusions isn't presented at all, and the very concept of humanity colonizing any celestial body other than Titan is dismissed as dangerous and ridiculous. And on top of that, the authors postulate some outlandish doomsday scenario as a backdrop to their trip to Titan, presumably because the entire idea behind the colonization of Titan is ridiculous without it.
The worst parts of this book, however, are the sections labelled "Future." These sections are pure science fiction. They are not based on predictive science. They're just an exercise in getting the reader from point A (humans are living on Earth) to point B (humans have colonized Titan) in some sort of plausible way—but plausible is a stretch. By the end, the authors are talking about intergalactic reality shows with lizard men. Yes, really. But even more important, these science fiction sections are dreadful. They're horribly written drivel. If you're going to write science fiction, please get someone competent to do it for you.
In the end, I gave this book 2 stars simply because there is some good information to be had here, but it's really more like a 1.5. Make no mistake: this book is not representative of where space science is headed. It raises some good points, but most of it is misleading. Not recommended for anyone who doesn't already have a good grasp of the science, and if you do, you probably won't get anything from reading this.
It's obvious that the authors set out with an agenda (Humanity will colonize Saturn's moon Titan!) and then cherry-picked narratives and science to try and support their opinion. Science presented in support of this agenda is often limited (inferred from a single study, at times), old (based on decades-old flawed experiments), or outright wrong (presenting debunked propulsionless thrust technology as viable/emerging, among other things). Scientific data that supports other conclusions isn't presented at all, and the very concept of humanity colonizing any celestial body other than Titan is dismissed as dangerous and ridiculous. And on top of that, the authors postulate some outlandish doomsday scenario as a backdrop to their trip to Titan, presumably because the entire idea behind the colonization of Titan is ridiculous without it.
The worst parts of this book, however, are the sections labelled "Future." These sections are pure science fiction. They are not based on predictive science. They're just an exercise in getting the reader from point A (humans are living on Earth) to point B (humans have colonized Titan) in some sort of plausible way—but plausible is a stretch. By the end, the authors are talking about intergalactic reality shows with lizard men. Yes, really. But even more important, these science fiction sections are dreadful. They're horribly written drivel. If you're going to write science fiction, please get someone competent to do it for you.
In the end, I gave this book 2 stars simply because there is some good information to be had here, but it's really more like a 1.5. Make no mistake: this book is not representative of where space science is headed. It raises some good points, but most of it is misleading. Not recommended for anyone who doesn't already have a good grasp of the science, and if you do, you probably won't get anything from reading this.
December 22, 2019
Fascinating book that provides a convincing argument for the settlement of Saturn's moon Titan.
We will almost certainly land on Mars first, but Titan is a more desirable location for long-term, permanent habitation. For example, one of the biggest problems for early colonists on the Moon and Mars will be radiation. On Titan, the issue is eliminated – thanks to its protective atmosphere, which is 45% thicker than Earth's. Because of this high pressure and lack of radiation it will actually be possible to walk around on the surface without a bulky, airtight space suit, instead using just an oxygen mask and heavy clothing with embedded heating elements.
Buildings could also be constructed and maintained more easily on Titan, with simpler designs that resemble polar bases on Earth. Occupants could take a somewhat more relaxed approach to keeping habitats airtight. Although leaks would have to be fixed, no immediate danger of death would occur. A simple piece of tape could be applied temporarily until a proper repair was completed.
The very high ratio of atmospheric density to surface gravity would also greatly reduce the wingspan needed for aircraft to maintain lift; so much so that a human could strap on wings and fly great distances while wearing a lightweight spacesuit.
These and other insights are described in detail by the authors, who mention a number of other locations worth exploring in our Solar System. If you're interested in the future colonisation of space, especially the scientific and technical aspects (Dr. Hendrix is a planetary scientist who works for NASA), then this book is definitely worth reading.
We will almost certainly land on Mars first, but Titan is a more desirable location for long-term, permanent habitation. For example, one of the biggest problems for early colonists on the Moon and Mars will be radiation. On Titan, the issue is eliminated – thanks to its protective atmosphere, which is 45% thicker than Earth's. Because of this high pressure and lack of radiation it will actually be possible to walk around on the surface without a bulky, airtight space suit, instead using just an oxygen mask and heavy clothing with embedded heating elements.
Buildings could also be constructed and maintained more easily on Titan, with simpler designs that resemble polar bases on Earth. Occupants could take a somewhat more relaxed approach to keeping habitats airtight. Although leaks would have to be fixed, no immediate danger of death would occur. A simple piece of tape could be applied temporarily until a proper repair was completed.
The very high ratio of atmospheric density to surface gravity would also greatly reduce the wingspan needed for aircraft to maintain lift; so much so that a human could strap on wings and fly great distances while wearing a lightweight spacesuit.
These and other insights are described in detail by the authors, who mention a number of other locations worth exploring in our Solar System. If you're interested in the future colonisation of space, especially the scientific and technical aspects (Dr. Hendrix is a planetary scientist who works for NASA), then this book is definitely worth reading.
December 30, 2016
There are a lot of really great aspects to this book, but unfortunately the author's insistence that their version of the future is the correct version based on "science" really pulled the rating down for this. For one, neither of the authors are fiction authors much less science fiction authors so the "Future" segments of the book came out extremely dry an dull to the point that I was having to skip over them. Furthermore, every author who tries to predict the future, believes that their future is the correct one and their methodology is the be all end all of predictions, and yet they're all wrong. So pick up this book for the historical/current/bleeding edge science perspective, not the future bits.
Now all of the current portions of the book are fantastic! The authors are extremely well read and present each of their arguments starting from a historical perspective and moving all the way out to the bleeding edge of research before jumping into their fanciful future scenarios. Now I don't fully agree with the authors on various topics, especially that Titan is a better place for a colony than Mars, but their arguments are elegant and convincing and almost give one hope for a our future. I would highly recommend reading The Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin before this to get a better perspective on the Red Planet, but this is a fantastic book and maybe will inspire someone out there to follow through with these dreams.
Now all of the current portions of the book are fantastic! The authors are extremely well read and present each of their arguments starting from a historical perspective and moving all the way out to the bleeding edge of research before jumping into their fanciful future scenarios. Now I don't fully agree with the authors on various topics, especially that Titan is a better place for a colony than Mars, but their arguments are elegant and convincing and almost give one hope for a our future. I would highly recommend reading The Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin before this to get a better perspective on the Red Planet, but this is a fantastic book and maybe will inspire someone out there to follow through with these dreams.
December 1, 2016
Beyond Earth is a nonfiction popular science book with a couple of tricks up its sleeve. First, it mixes in a near-future science fiction story as it covers our current understanding of planetary science, rocket science along with the physical and psychological effects of space travel. These alternating "present" and "future" storylines generally work well, but there are times when the science fiction bits read like convenient just-so future versions of present-day science. The other trick Beyond Earth pulls off is that it is really a warning siren for global climate change. While telling a compelling tale about how a select cadre of brave souls could colonize space, the real message here is that our best chance to preserve most of humanity requires facing up to the challenges here on Earth. Anyway, where could these colonists head? You're probably thinking Mars. But for authors Charles Wohlforth and Amanda Hendrix, our "best" bet for a space colony lies along the shorelines of the gigantic natural gas lakes of Titan, a moon of Saturn. Certainly worth a read, especially if you're debating whether your next book should be popular science or science fiction. Beyond Earth has you covered on both counts.
April 4, 2019
This book is a fun read, as long as you don't take it too seriously. Unfortunately it wants to be taken seriously. I will summarise it for you : the first planet that humans will colonise is not Mars, but Titan. There are many reasons why this is silly. The main one is that the gravity on Titan is actually less than the moon. To this they breezily suggest that everyone on this hypothetical colony would whiz around in a centrifuge once a day. Not going to happen. They also include a rather detailed fantasy section in each chapter about how space travel will unfold in the future. Fine I guess, except towards the end it takes up over half of each chapter, and finally gets a bit stupid. Oddly enough I thought their future story perfectly illustrated why Titan won't be colonised.
March 2, 2020
This is a masterful work on current science and space travel (2017). The book is broken into two parts: the present and the future. The present explores what we have already discovered about our solar system and those we have viewed from afar. The Future section uses the science we have now with very conservative projections to where we will be in the near future to determine how we would colonize off-earth. The authors use such descriptive and narrative language that it felt like I was reading a novel. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Science, NASA, Exoplanets, Space Travel, and the Future.
February 18, 2017
The non fiction sections are a decent overview of challenges facing manned interplanetary exploration and potential colonization. The speculative sections were off the wall. The takeaway: Better start taking care of our planet, even for those enthusiastic about exploring the solar system and beyond. A lack of resources, required technology leaps, and less than compelling case for human space exploration will keep us in training wheels for many decades to come.
February 27, 2017
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, because there is a dearth of books for lay people that get them interested in space travel within our solar system. However, as a science fiction writer, I found the 'future' sections unsettling, and not in a good way. I like a less fuzzy demarcation between reality and fantasy. The book is best when it covers current or near future potential, and fails miserably when whole chapters are devoted to non-space-travel-related history.
August 12, 2019
#GoodreadsGiveaway: While I found the discussion on the health impacts of space travel infinitely fascinating, and the logistics of off-world settlements, I was rather uncomfortable with the discussion of economics. It seems that the authors accept the role of capitalism and privilege in the development of new technologies, particularly related to space exploration. While plausible, I cannot accept the premise that humans will use use and dispose of the earth in the fashion described.
February 4, 2017
It was my pleasure to read BEYOND EARTH - OUR PATH TO A NEW HOME IN THE PLANETS. As a science fiction writer, I am always looking for new material to write about and I am so glad I got a hold of this book.
The book's 2 coauthors, Charles Wohlforth and Amanda Hendrix, describe in great detail the current state of the United States space program and a probable future where mankind may be able to colonize other worlds of the solar system. They freely admit the future they describe will not likely occur exactly as they describe. But I am reminded of the writings of Jules Verne I read as a child when Mr. Verne's nineteenth century view of modern life turned out to be more right than wrong. So noting the tremendous research Wohlforth and Hendrix have done, I would say their view of the future is pretty close.
What I like is this book dwells on a matter that must be seriously considered before we start spending great money, time and effort to colonize moons and other planets. And that is, why we should colonize in the first place. After all, no world we explored so far has an environment that is anywhere near being similar enough to Earth for humans to survive. They show that even if we could terraform a world into a safe place for people, we would still have to deal with the severe medical problems that long distance space travel could cause humans.
One frightful incentive they have found would be man's inability to control the very real damage that is now being done to the environment that could make our planet unlivable.
Earth's moon is the closest world to us. One could get there with just a few days of weightlessness. But it is also outside Earth's magnetic field so people would have to live below the surface to escape the deadly radiation from the sun and cosmic rays from space.
Mars is a cold world and its atmosphere is so thin that radiation from space would be a health hazard there too. Just getting there would involve many months of weightlessness that can cause serious medical problems. Though we may one day set up an exploring outpost on the planet, we are nowhere near the technology needed to establish a self sustaining colony there.
Wohlforth and Hendrix believe the best place to build a colony would be on Saturn's moon Titan. Wohlforth has won the LA TIMES Book Prize for Science and Technology. Hendrix has worked at JPL and served as a scientist for the Cassini mission to Saturn. So they are qualified to make a good judgement.
Titan is far away. But with improved rocket technology we may be able to shorten the travel time we now need to get there. It's atmosphere is toxic but its barometric pressure makes it a lot more comfortable place than Mars. It even has a "hydro" cycle that could support life, albeit it would have to be a form of life we are not familiar with.
BEYOND EARTH describes a futuristic scenario where a group of people establish a small colony on Titan. Over time the colony grows larger until it develops into a small society with a unique culture and interests that are apart than that of the people of Earth.
The authors give us a realistic, if not an amusing parody of how the corporate world of the future could handle a space program much like powerful entities control many things in our world today.
In a bleak future envisioned by Wohlforth and Hendrix, wealthy businessmen become aware of the severe damage their company is doing to the Earth's environment. So they invest in a space program where they build a colony on Titan and construct ships to travel there. The elite men who run the business get to escape the woes of Earth and move to the alternative world. Everybody else has to stay home and endure the hardships of the Earth they wrecked.
I have always loved sci-fi stories about humans leaving Earth to explore and colonize other worlds. But Wohlforth and Hendrix gives us a much needed presentation of the current realities of the American space program. NASA, which always struggles with limited funding, is no longer as long term goal orientated as it was during the Cold World race to the moon.
As for the private sector, a number of entrepreneurs are considering long term missions to Mars that are dangerous if not foolish, that have no real chance of working.
Wohlforth and Hendrix know that before we make any long term commitment to manned missions to explore or colonize other worlds, we must have a crystal clear view of what we can and can not do with available technology. That is why I will recommend this book to anybody with an interest in space exploration.
The book's 2 coauthors, Charles Wohlforth and Amanda Hendrix, describe in great detail the current state of the United States space program and a probable future where mankind may be able to colonize other worlds of the solar system. They freely admit the future they describe will not likely occur exactly as they describe. But I am reminded of the writings of Jules Verne I read as a child when Mr. Verne's nineteenth century view of modern life turned out to be more right than wrong. So noting the tremendous research Wohlforth and Hendrix have done, I would say their view of the future is pretty close.
What I like is this book dwells on a matter that must be seriously considered before we start spending great money, time and effort to colonize moons and other planets. And that is, why we should colonize in the first place. After all, no world we explored so far has an environment that is anywhere near being similar enough to Earth for humans to survive. They show that even if we could terraform a world into a safe place for people, we would still have to deal with the severe medical problems that long distance space travel could cause humans.
One frightful incentive they have found would be man's inability to control the very real damage that is now being done to the environment that could make our planet unlivable.
Earth's moon is the closest world to us. One could get there with just a few days of weightlessness. But it is also outside Earth's magnetic field so people would have to live below the surface to escape the deadly radiation from the sun and cosmic rays from space.
Mars is a cold world and its atmosphere is so thin that radiation from space would be a health hazard there too. Just getting there would involve many months of weightlessness that can cause serious medical problems. Though we may one day set up an exploring outpost on the planet, we are nowhere near the technology needed to establish a self sustaining colony there.
Wohlforth and Hendrix believe the best place to build a colony would be on Saturn's moon Titan. Wohlforth has won the LA TIMES Book Prize for Science and Technology. Hendrix has worked at JPL and served as a scientist for the Cassini mission to Saturn. So they are qualified to make a good judgement.
Titan is far away. But with improved rocket technology we may be able to shorten the travel time we now need to get there. It's atmosphere is toxic but its barometric pressure makes it a lot more comfortable place than Mars. It even has a "hydro" cycle that could support life, albeit it would have to be a form of life we are not familiar with.
BEYOND EARTH describes a futuristic scenario where a group of people establish a small colony on Titan. Over time the colony grows larger until it develops into a small society with a unique culture and interests that are apart than that of the people of Earth.
The authors give us a realistic, if not an amusing parody of how the corporate world of the future could handle a space program much like powerful entities control many things in our world today.
In a bleak future envisioned by Wohlforth and Hendrix, wealthy businessmen become aware of the severe damage their company is doing to the Earth's environment. So they invest in a space program where they build a colony on Titan and construct ships to travel there. The elite men who run the business get to escape the woes of Earth and move to the alternative world. Everybody else has to stay home and endure the hardships of the Earth they wrecked.
I have always loved sci-fi stories about humans leaving Earth to explore and colonize other worlds. But Wohlforth and Hendrix gives us a much needed presentation of the current realities of the American space program. NASA, which always struggles with limited funding, is no longer as long term goal orientated as it was during the Cold World race to the moon.
As for the private sector, a number of entrepreneurs are considering long term missions to Mars that are dangerous if not foolish, that have no real chance of working.
Wohlforth and Hendrix know that before we make any long term commitment to manned missions to explore or colonize other worlds, we must have a crystal clear view of what we can and can not do with available technology. That is why I will recommend this book to anybody with an interest in space exploration.
July 23, 2017
For decades at least, the dream of a human colony moving our species beyond this planet has been a dream shared by both science fiction and science fact. It's an idea that has yet again come into vogue. Yet the question remains: how would we even set about the task and where do we go? While the popular answer seems to be the Moon or Mars, writer Charles Wohlforth and planetary Amanda Hendrix's Beyond Earth: Our Path To A New Home In The Planets seeks to answer both and propose an altogether different destination: Saturn's moon Titan.
To make their case, Wohlforth and Hendrix lay two parallel narrative strands: The Present and The Future. The Present is, perhaps obviously so, the fairly straight forward non-fiction account they present. This takes us from the Space Race to the present day with some interesting sidelines. The pair is critical of NASA, perhaps not unfairly, pointing to the agency's lack of a continuous vision as having helped stall manned space flight to not only Low Earth Orbit (LEO) but for having not done as much research as is needed before sending humans off on long term space flights. The pair place a lot of faith in the burgeoning private space industry, including a tour of a Space X facility where they're given a tour by the young engineer behind the Falcon 9's second stage. There's also an exploration of the science involved with Titan and just what it might have to offer humanity that neither the Moon nor Mars have as well as discussions about artificial intelligence, balloon probes to scout the planet, and the psychology of sending humans to Titan. It makes not for dry reading but for fascinating glimpses into current and potential future developments.
The other strand, The Future, builds on this but in a different way. Building on the developments they discuss elsewhere in the chapter, the pair turns their gaze upon just how those pieces of technology and development might play out. They build onto those developments a narrative of events ranging from natural disasters, societal changes, and a political will that might lead to the building of the first off world colony. These sometimes bleak but often surprisingly optimistic sections often read like plot summaries of some unwritten science fiction novel (and I was reminded at times of Neal Stephenson's Seveneves that I read two years ago), with one yearning for a little more detail to flesh out the narrative. Many of the leaps seem quite logical and the pair also presents historical precedents for some of the ideas being presented. What it does offer, more than anything else, is a glimpse into what the work being done now might lead to tomorrow.
While it makes for fascinating reading, the book does have some minor issues. Some of the leaps taken are sometimes difficult to follow. For example, chapter five “The Health Barrier To Deep Space” begins by showing some of the side effects of long term space flight upon the human body during missions on the ISS which make for interesting reading. What it leads to is a Future segment involving a Chinese lunar base and a mission to Mars that goes catastrophically wrong due to a breakdown in the astronauts' cognitive functions, which makes little sense based on the research presented by Wohlforth and Hendrix earlier in the same chapter. Other times, the speculative leaps they take seem a step too far but those occasions are few and far between, mainly coming at the far end of the book's narrative into perhaps the most deeply speculative parts of the book. These are largely minor issues and ones that don't distract too much from the main thrusts of the book.
For those with an interest in just how humanity might finally become a multi-planet species, Beyond Earth presents a good case. Part study of current technological developments, current planetary exploration, and speculative work, Wohlforth and Hendrix combine both approaches rather nicely. It isn't an overly optimistic work by any means, a cheer-leading effort that preaches to the choir (to mix one's metaphors) but a work that shows a potential way forward. Whether or not any of its pans out is anyone's guess but, for now, it makes for fascinating reading.
To make their case, Wohlforth and Hendrix lay two parallel narrative strands: The Present and The Future. The Present is, perhaps obviously so, the fairly straight forward non-fiction account they present. This takes us from the Space Race to the present day with some interesting sidelines. The pair is critical of NASA, perhaps not unfairly, pointing to the agency's lack of a continuous vision as having helped stall manned space flight to not only Low Earth Orbit (LEO) but for having not done as much research as is needed before sending humans off on long term space flights. The pair place a lot of faith in the burgeoning private space industry, including a tour of a Space X facility where they're given a tour by the young engineer behind the Falcon 9's second stage. There's also an exploration of the science involved with Titan and just what it might have to offer humanity that neither the Moon nor Mars have as well as discussions about artificial intelligence, balloon probes to scout the planet, and the psychology of sending humans to Titan. It makes not for dry reading but for fascinating glimpses into current and potential future developments.
The other strand, The Future, builds on this but in a different way. Building on the developments they discuss elsewhere in the chapter, the pair turns their gaze upon just how those pieces of technology and development might play out. They build onto those developments a narrative of events ranging from natural disasters, societal changes, and a political will that might lead to the building of the first off world colony. These sometimes bleak but often surprisingly optimistic sections often read like plot summaries of some unwritten science fiction novel (and I was reminded at times of Neal Stephenson's Seveneves that I read two years ago), with one yearning for a little more detail to flesh out the narrative. Many of the leaps seem quite logical and the pair also presents historical precedents for some of the ideas being presented. What it does offer, more than anything else, is a glimpse into what the work being done now might lead to tomorrow.
While it makes for fascinating reading, the book does have some minor issues. Some of the leaps taken are sometimes difficult to follow. For example, chapter five “The Health Barrier To Deep Space” begins by showing some of the side effects of long term space flight upon the human body during missions on the ISS which make for interesting reading. What it leads to is a Future segment involving a Chinese lunar base and a mission to Mars that goes catastrophically wrong due to a breakdown in the astronauts' cognitive functions, which makes little sense based on the research presented by Wohlforth and Hendrix earlier in the same chapter. Other times, the speculative leaps they take seem a step too far but those occasions are few and far between, mainly coming at the far end of the book's narrative into perhaps the most deeply speculative parts of the book. These are largely minor issues and ones that don't distract too much from the main thrusts of the book.
For those with an interest in just how humanity might finally become a multi-planet species, Beyond Earth presents a good case. Part study of current technological developments, current planetary exploration, and speculative work, Wohlforth and Hendrix combine both approaches rather nicely. It isn't an overly optimistic work by any means, a cheer-leading effort that preaches to the choir (to mix one's metaphors) but a work that shows a potential way forward. Whether or not any of its pans out is anyone's guess but, for now, it makes for fascinating reading.
March 22, 2020
This book takes the premise of humans living permanently somewhere off of Earth, and systematically peels back every layer of every barrier standing between the present and that goal. In each chapter the authors point out one challenge that is keeping us from spreading out across the solar system, explain why it's such a big deal, and investigate how we might overcome it. Just when the possibility of overcoming that roadblock looks promising, the authors then point out the next problem we're going to face after that, and the cycle begins again. The book provides a detailed compendium of all the problems we need to deal with if we ever want to live beyond Earth, a roadmap for what [the authors think] we need to do to get there, and a vision for what our future off Earth might look like. Unfortunately, while the parts about actual space are quite interesting, the parts about humanity (and the social problems we will need to overcome to develop a space program) were cringeworthy.
The good:
The future "scenarios" or vignettes presented are often fascinating, particularly in the middle sections of the book (which deal more with the physical challenges of space travel, rather than the sociological issues). While the authors are adamant in insisting that they are not writing sci-fi, several of them do read like they could be the basis of cool sci-fi shorts (and I mean that in a good way). This book is full of interesting fodder for hard SF stories. And the detailed explanation of the practical challenges of space travel and settlement instill in the reader a great appreciation for both how far away we are from doing any of this stuff, and also how tantalizingly possible it is. (As the authors often stress, better understanding the challenges we are going to face is the first step to seeing how we will solve them.) Long story short, after reading this I understand space travel far better than I did before.
The bad:
Much of this book reads as a breathless endorsement of leaving space development to the capitalist free market. The space stuff itself -- the frank and lucid explanations of why certain destinations are not feasible or desirable, the description of what life on Titan could be like -- is awesome and inspiring. But the authors' analysis of human society feels unimaginative by comparison.
One of the central theses of the book is that our current governmental institutions, like NASA, are too bloated and bureaucratic and not up to the task of establishing human settlements off Earth, and thus that private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin will be our saviors. The authors also assume that people will not come together to combat climate change (that's the ultimate reason they argue we will need settlements off Earth) and that people won't come together to develop spacefaring capabilities (that's why we need free-market incentives to do it). To me, though, it's somewhat disheartening that these very smart writers who can imagine a fantastic life on another world can't imagine socialism or a mass movement.
The authors frequently tout the benefits of "move fast and break things" sort of startups, arguing that these places, rather than government bureaucracies, are what we need to get to space. To be fair, this was written in 2016, which maybe was before the problems associated with the "move fast and break things" approach were so widely acknowledged.
The authors idolize venture capitalists and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Again, to be fair, this was written in 2016, which was before Musk was as much of a laughingstock as he is now, but even then it was known that he regularly failed to deliver on his overblown promises (a fact that the authors acknowledge but hand-wave away). The authors seem selective in their application of criticism. For example, a whole chapter is devoted to explaining why Mars is not a viable location for a long-term human settlement, but then later in the chapter about Musk the authors appear to heap praise upon Musk for his bold vision to make a human settlement on Mars (only in the final pages of the book do they point out that his vision is unviable).
The authors also, throughout the whole book, constantly use the language of colonization (complete with positive references to Columbus and the Mayflower), referring to potential long-term human settlements as "colonies". They even laugh off criticism of this (their writing sometimes oozes disdain for SJWs who would criticize the discourse of colonialism), pointing out that at NASA the term "colony" is not in vogue but that they're going to use it anyway. They don't really explain *why* the term is problematic. They hint that NASA doesn't like the use of the term when talking about shorter-term habitats because it implies the idea of permanent living, and if that were the only criticism then it would indeed be fine for them to talk about "colonies" when they talk about humans settling to live on Titan long-term. But they fail to consider the problematic history of colonialism and why that is not a good model for how anyone should want to expand into space (for more see "The Racist Language of Space Exploration"). In one vignette they paint potential detractors of this language (people protesting naming a future spaceship the Mayflower) as "testy", "self-important", and time-wasting. In their defense, maybe someone could say that settling on a barren rock doesn't have the same problematic implications of "colonizing" a land where humans already live and have a culture. But, crucially, the authors aren't just talking about barren rocks; they present substantial evidence that there may already be life on Titan. In light of that, the fact that they so glibly talk about "colonizing" Titan is troubling. Oh, and I haven't even gotten to the casual Islamophobia that appears in several vignettes...
The verdict:
The authors have a lot of fascinating stuff to say about space and space travel itself (Amanda Hendrix has a Ph.D. in planetary science, after all), and I learned a lot from the parts of this book that are about actual space. It's just too bad that those lessons are embedded in an ode to free-market capitalism and settler colonialism.
The good:
The future "scenarios" or vignettes presented are often fascinating, particularly in the middle sections of the book (which deal more with the physical challenges of space travel, rather than the sociological issues). While the authors are adamant in insisting that they are not writing sci-fi, several of them do read like they could be the basis of cool sci-fi shorts (and I mean that in a good way). This book is full of interesting fodder for hard SF stories. And the detailed explanation of the practical challenges of space travel and settlement instill in the reader a great appreciation for both how far away we are from doing any of this stuff, and also how tantalizingly possible it is. (As the authors often stress, better understanding the challenges we are going to face is the first step to seeing how we will solve them.) Long story short, after reading this I understand space travel far better than I did before.
The bad:
Much of this book reads as a breathless endorsement of leaving space development to the capitalist free market. The space stuff itself -- the frank and lucid explanations of why certain destinations are not feasible or desirable, the description of what life on Titan could be like -- is awesome and inspiring. But the authors' analysis of human society feels unimaginative by comparison.
One of the central theses of the book is that our current governmental institutions, like NASA, are too bloated and bureaucratic and not up to the task of establishing human settlements off Earth, and thus that private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin will be our saviors. The authors also assume that people will not come together to combat climate change (that's the ultimate reason they argue we will need settlements off Earth) and that people won't come together to develop spacefaring capabilities (that's why we need free-market incentives to do it). To me, though, it's somewhat disheartening that these very smart writers who can imagine a fantastic life on another world can't imagine socialism or a mass movement.
The authors frequently tout the benefits of "move fast and break things" sort of startups, arguing that these places, rather than government bureaucracies, are what we need to get to space. To be fair, this was written in 2016, which maybe was before the problems associated with the "move fast and break things" approach were so widely acknowledged.
The authors idolize venture capitalists and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Again, to be fair, this was written in 2016, which was before Musk was as much of a laughingstock as he is now, but even then it was known that he regularly failed to deliver on his overblown promises (a fact that the authors acknowledge but hand-wave away). The authors seem selective in their application of criticism. For example, a whole chapter is devoted to explaining why Mars is not a viable location for a long-term human settlement, but then later in the chapter about Musk the authors appear to heap praise upon Musk for his bold vision to make a human settlement on Mars (only in the final pages of the book do they point out that his vision is unviable).
The authors also, throughout the whole book, constantly use the language of colonization (complete with positive references to Columbus and the Mayflower), referring to potential long-term human settlements as "colonies". They even laugh off criticism of this (their writing sometimes oozes disdain for SJWs who would criticize the discourse of colonialism), pointing out that at NASA the term "colony" is not in vogue but that they're going to use it anyway. They don't really explain *why* the term is problematic. They hint that NASA doesn't like the use of the term when talking about shorter-term habitats because it implies the idea of permanent living, and if that were the only criticism then it would indeed be fine for them to talk about "colonies" when they talk about humans settling to live on Titan long-term. But they fail to consider the problematic history of colonialism and why that is not a good model for how anyone should want to expand into space (for more see "The Racist Language of Space Exploration"). In one vignette they paint potential detractors of this language (people protesting naming a future spaceship the Mayflower) as "testy", "self-important", and time-wasting. In their defense, maybe someone could say that settling on a barren rock doesn't have the same problematic implications of "colonizing" a land where humans already live and have a culture. But, crucially, the authors aren't just talking about barren rocks; they present substantial evidence that there may already be life on Titan. In light of that, the fact that they so glibly talk about "colonizing" Titan is troubling. Oh, and I haven't even gotten to the casual Islamophobia that appears in several vignettes...
The verdict:
The authors have a lot of fascinating stuff to say about space and space travel itself (Amanda Hendrix has a Ph.D. in planetary science, after all), and I learned a lot from the parts of this book that are about actual space. It's just too bad that those lessons are embedded in an ode to free-market capitalism and settler colonialism.
April 25, 2020
I have been looking for books about the science and engineering of crewed missions to the planets. There is a lot of work being done on the numerous technologies that will be needed to take us out there. With that, I picked up this book as part of my journey of learning about the challenges.
Here, the authors make the case to colonize Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The idea is to visit other places, but really put together a self-sustaining colony there. While I’m used to lots of “Ifs” in such literature, this one didn’t make me excited. I felt the authors were not really sure of the tone of the book, as each chapter feels a bit disjointed from each other.
The authors do not hide their distane with how NASA is run today. They continually trash its project management style, where missions take years to decades to launch. They really like SpaceX and are drawn towards the startup culture of the space launch pioneer. The authors continually point out where NASA cut funding to key research areas for planetary missions. But there isn’t any mention of private funding into what will be needed to fill in the wide gaps.
Two areas that I’m interested in with planetary spacecraft design is propulsion systems and crew health. Propulsion needs to get the ship there much faster than what we can achieve today to limit a number of factors that hold us back. Which then leads to crew health. No one wants to live in an aluminum can for several years. Zero-g will mess up humans. Radiation will mess up humans. As a space exploration table top game I have says, there are many multiples of scenarios where astronauts die vs. mission success. How to keep crews healthy?
The authors didn’t have many answers to either. The propulsion system was a bunch of handwaving, but nothing solid like other HOPE books. They want to drop the time to Titan from seven years to less than two. Crew health is looked at, but without many solutions. Artificial gravity through rotation would work, though the authors site a lack of research to determine what it’ll take. Same with shielding. Who wants to go on a mission to the outer planets simply to experience severe cognitive decline half way through the mission?
The book makes a basic case for following SpaceX’s model and pushing NASA to the side. What is missing there is the fact NASA has to deal with an ever shifting government priority (see US crewed return to Luna over the last 20 years). SpaceX is definitely shaking things up in the launch business. But they would need to fund a lot of fundamental research into propulsion and crew health that may not see payback for decades. I wanted a book that would give plausible solutions to the major issues facing a long duration mission away from Earth. But I didn’t get much more than “Go to Titan & burn hydrocarbons”.
Here, the authors make the case to colonize Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The idea is to visit other places, but really put together a self-sustaining colony there. While I’m used to lots of “Ifs” in such literature, this one didn’t make me excited. I felt the authors were not really sure of the tone of the book, as each chapter feels a bit disjointed from each other.
The authors do not hide their distane with how NASA is run today. They continually trash its project management style, where missions take years to decades to launch. They really like SpaceX and are drawn towards the startup culture of the space launch pioneer. The authors continually point out where NASA cut funding to key research areas for planetary missions. But there isn’t any mention of private funding into what will be needed to fill in the wide gaps.
Two areas that I’m interested in with planetary spacecraft design is propulsion systems and crew health. Propulsion needs to get the ship there much faster than what we can achieve today to limit a number of factors that hold us back. Which then leads to crew health. No one wants to live in an aluminum can for several years. Zero-g will mess up humans. Radiation will mess up humans. As a space exploration table top game I have says, there are many multiples of scenarios where astronauts die vs. mission success. How to keep crews healthy?
The authors didn’t have many answers to either. The propulsion system was a bunch of handwaving, but nothing solid like other HOPE books. They want to drop the time to Titan from seven years to less than two. Crew health is looked at, but without many solutions. Artificial gravity through rotation would work, though the authors site a lack of research to determine what it’ll take. Same with shielding. Who wants to go on a mission to the outer planets simply to experience severe cognitive decline half way through the mission?
The book makes a basic case for following SpaceX’s model and pushing NASA to the side. What is missing there is the fact NASA has to deal with an ever shifting government priority (see US crewed return to Luna over the last 20 years). SpaceX is definitely shaking things up in the launch business. But they would need to fund a lot of fundamental research into propulsion and crew health that may not see payback for decades. I wanted a book that would give plausible solutions to the major issues facing a long duration mission away from Earth. But I didn’t get much more than “Go to Titan & burn hydrocarbons”.
March 31, 2020
The authors of this book wrote a short guest blog article on the Scientific American website arguing about why it would be really worthwhile to colonize Titan. I was curious to see a more fully-formed version of their arguments, discovered this book, and checked it out from the library.
Unfortunately, the authors failed to actually provide answers to the sorts of answers I'd want. It talks about cosmic radiation and how dangerous it is to be in the open space, which maybe I'll buy, but not about the radiation environment around Saturn even though they are advocating for living on Titan. I'd at least expect them to give me the impression of having done some math around the idea that you can do electrolysis on Titan's water-ice to get oxygen that you can then combine with the hydrocarbons in the atmosphere. Things like that.
But that's not all. This book has a racism problem, among other things. See, the authors decided to spice things up with a narrative of the future. So there's a robot army to fight Islamic terrorists, a race with China, general-purpose colonialism, vaguely pro-eugenics statements, and seems, although I might be misinterpreting the intentions of the authors, to advocate that if we somehow find life on Titan that it's totally OK to exterminate it.
Plus, the authors lean on the usual trope that, since we did a pretty good job of screwing up our planet, that logically we should screw up other planets, which does nothing to help the environmental or space exploration cause.
The authors take a lot of extraordinary claims at face value. They seem to have never bothered paying attention to any amount of ethics or philosophy or frankly the humanities outside of how to string words together into a readable and organized text. They don't know how to check their privilege. They don't even know how to write vaguely good science fiction. And let's note that one of the writers has a PhD in aerospace engineering and has been a principal investigator on Cassini and Galileo and that means that they can probably fill the equivalent number of pages with just interesting stuff they found out about Titan and Saturn and maybe a few worked engineering problems on space travel and that would have been better than this, which is why I'm a lot harsher on this book than I would be on some adolescent crank with a youtube channel.
Unfortunately, the authors failed to actually provide answers to the sorts of answers I'd want. It talks about cosmic radiation and how dangerous it is to be in the open space, which maybe I'll buy, but not about the radiation environment around Saturn even though they are advocating for living on Titan. I'd at least expect them to give me the impression of having done some math around the idea that you can do electrolysis on Titan's water-ice to get oxygen that you can then combine with the hydrocarbons in the atmosphere. Things like that.
But that's not all. This book has a racism problem, among other things. See, the authors decided to spice things up with a narrative of the future. So there's a robot army to fight Islamic terrorists, a race with China, general-purpose colonialism, vaguely pro-eugenics statements, and seems, although I might be misinterpreting the intentions of the authors, to advocate that if we somehow find life on Titan that it's totally OK to exterminate it.
Plus, the authors lean on the usual trope that, since we did a pretty good job of screwing up our planet, that logically we should screw up other planets, which does nothing to help the environmental or space exploration cause.
The authors take a lot of extraordinary claims at face value. They seem to have never bothered paying attention to any amount of ethics or philosophy or frankly the humanities outside of how to string words together into a readable and organized text. They don't know how to check their privilege. They don't even know how to write vaguely good science fiction. And let's note that one of the writers has a PhD in aerospace engineering and has been a principal investigator on Cassini and Galileo and that means that they can probably fill the equivalent number of pages with just interesting stuff they found out about Titan and Saturn and maybe a few worked engineering problems on space travel and that would have been better than this, which is why I'm a lot harsher on this book than I would be on some adolescent crank with a youtube channel.
June 18, 2019
Чи єдині ми у Всесвіті?
Я зараз дочитую неймовірно захоплюючу книгу про пошуки життя в космосі, про людські успіхи і поразки в космічних дослідженнях і в мене аж серце завмирає від читання таких книг.
Автори вибрали таку цікаву форму оповіді: розкриваючи реальні людські досягнення та провали, вони паралельно моделюють можливу майбутню реальність, в якій люди стають на багато кроків ближче до космосу та інших планет.
І дають деякі відповіді на низку вражаючих запитань.
.
Чи можливо людині жити в космосі?
.
Чим загрожують людині далекі космічні перельоти?
.
Яка планета потенційно може стати нашим другим домом?
.
Чому ми не бачимо інших цивілізацій у всесвіті?
Це така глибока, безмежно цікава і невичерпна тема!
Наше життя - вражаюче явище, ми не знаємо, одні ми тут чи ні, чи є ще хтось тут, але я вірю, що десь існують інші цивілізації.
Можливо, розвиненіші за нашу, можливо, вони лише на стадії зародження.
Автори книги ставлять таке запитання: якщо вірити вченим, наш всесвіт існує більше 13 мільярдів років.
Але ми не бачимо, не чуємо і не відчуваємо іншого життя поруч з нашою планетою. Чому так?
Можливо, життя якось самознищується?
Ключова тема книги - дослідження проблеми: чи можливо людям вижити на інших планетах? Тут аналізується здоров'я, фінанси, науковий потенціал людства. І є один цікавий факт: зберегти цілість планети, її ресурси, красу і багатства - це дешевше, ніж зробити все для того, щоб колонізувати хоча б одне космічне тіло.
Але люди про це не думають.
Розмірковуючи про ці питання, приходиш до розуміння того, яка ж ми дрібочка в цьому житті.
Голова йде обертом від усіх цих запитань!
Хтось ще полюбляє цю тему? Рекомендую вам цю книгу!
Вона неймовірна!
Я зараз дочитую неймовірно захоплюючу книгу про пошуки життя в космосі, про людські успіхи і поразки в космічних дослідженнях і в мене аж серце завмирає від читання таких книг.
Автори вибрали таку цікаву форму оповіді: розкриваючи реальні людські досягнення та провали, вони паралельно моделюють можливу майбутню реальність, в якій люди стають на багато кроків ближче до космосу та інших планет.
І дають деякі відповіді на низку вражаючих запитань.
.
Чи можливо людині жити в космосі?
.
Чим загрожують людині далекі космічні перельоти?
.
Яка планета потенційно може стати нашим другим домом?
.
Чому ми не бачимо інших цивілізацій у всесвіті?
Це така глибока, безмежно цікава і невичерпна тема!
Наше життя - вражаюче явище, ми не знаємо, одні ми тут чи ні, чи є ще хтось тут, але я вірю, що десь існують інші цивілізації.
Можливо, розвиненіші за нашу, можливо, вони лише на стадії зародження.
Автори книги ставлять таке запитання: якщо вірити вченим, наш всесвіт існує більше 13 мільярдів років.
Але ми не бачимо, не чуємо і не відчуваємо іншого життя поруч з нашою планетою. Чому так?
Можливо, життя якось самознищується?
Ключова тема книги - дослідження проблеми: чи можливо людям вижити на інших планетах? Тут аналізується здоров'я, фінанси, науковий потенціал людства. І є один цікавий факт: зберегти цілість планети, її ресурси, красу і багатства - це дешевше, ніж зробити все для того, щоб колонізувати хоча б одне космічне тіло.
Але люди про це не думають.
Розмірковуючи про ці питання, приходиш до розуміння того, яка ж ми дрібочка в цьому житті.
Голова йде обертом від усіх цих запитань!
Хтось ще полюбляє цю тему? Рекомендую вам цю книгу!
Вона неймовірна!
November 30, 2020
Научно-популярно-фантастическая книга двух американских авторов: Чарльза Уолфорта - журналиста, писателя (в основном об экологии и Аляске) и Аманды Хендрикс - учёного-планетолога, в прошлом сотрудника НАСА, рассказывает о том, как, почему и с какими технологиями человечество колонизирует спутник Сатурна Титан и, почему собственно говоря, именно Титан. Повествование построено перемежением частей про "настоящее" и "будущее". В "Настоящих" частях рассказывается о тех обстоятельствах и аспектах современной жизни, которые в "Будущих" частях приведут к созданию технологий и социальных условий для колонизации Титана. Поскольку "настоящие" части во многом основаны на тезисах, с которыми я не согласен - например, про потепление и подъём уровня моря - или про то, какой гениальный Илон Маск, то и "будущее" части выглядят не очень убедительно начиная с выбора планеты для колонизации - Титана, а не, например, верхних слоёв атмосферы Венеры? и заканчивая социальным устройством будущей колонии - авторы демонстируют просто-таки комсомольскую веру в капитализм как бесконечное светлое будущее всего человечества. Достоинством книги является то, что авторы не скрывают и не игнорируют сложности создания нужных технологий - как это часто бывает в подобных книгаха - а довольно честно и подробно о них говорят, таким образом, что становится понятно, что, на самом деле, в настоящий момент человечество не обладает и не будет обладать в ближайшем будущем технологиями для колонизации иных планет, а посему надо сосредоточится на спасении Земли и это, как мне кажется, и есть главная мысль произведения.
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