Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization"Robert Zubrin is a true engineering genius like the heroic engineers of the past." --Frederick Turner, American Enterprise Using nuts-and-bolts engineering and a unique grasp of human history, Robert Zubrin takes us to the not-very-distant future, when our global society will branch out into the universe. From the current-day prospect of lunar bases and Mars settlements to the outer reaches of other galaxies, Zubrin delivers the most important and forward-looking work on space and the true possibilities of human exploration since Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Sagan himself said of Zubrin's humans-to-Mars plan, "Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue." With Entering Space, he takes us further, into the prospect of human expansion to the outer planets of our own solar system--and beyond. |
From inside the book
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... chemical propulsion systems . These were chosen because CH4 / O , is the highest - performing space - storable chemical propellant and can be manufactured easily on either Earth , Mars , or a carbonaceous asteroid . H2 / O2 , while ...
... CHEMICAL PROPULSION Since we currently have efficient chemical rocket systems , it is worth ask- ing if these can be used to accomplish interstellar missions . On the surface , the idea seems absurd - the maximum possible exhaust ...
... chemical fuels is limited to about 13 megajoules per kilogram ( MJ / kg ) by the laws of chemistry . Nuclear fission , on the other hand , offers fuels with an enthalpy of 82 million MJ / kg , more than 6 mil- lion times as great as the ...