Beyond: Our Future in Space (47 page)

terraforming, 172–74, 182, 216–17, 227

terrestrial exoplanets, incidence of, 128, 129,
216
, 241

terrorism, 152–53

Tesla, Nikola, 237

Tesla Motors, 96–97,
97

test pilots, 71–74, 272

Tethers Unlimited,
226

Thales, 18–19

“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” (Feynman), 180

thought experiments:

and birth of science, 19

for Dyson sphere, 253–54

of Newton,
25

on self-replication, 226–27

3-D fabrication, 159,
160
, 226–27,
226

thrust, in flight, 68–69, 72, 186, 220, 222–23

thymine, 6

Timbisha tribe, 118–19

Titan, 53, 125, 177, 182, 278

Tito, Dennis, 75, 170

Toba supervolcano, 202

toilets, in space travel, 116–17

Tokyo Broadcasting System, 75

tortoises, in space research, 49

Tower of Babel, 148

“Tranquility” (toilet), 117

transhumanism, 207–8

transit method, exoplanet detection by, 128–29,
128
,
129
, 130–31

“Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations” (Kardashev), 253

transporter devices, 228–32

TrES-2B (exoplanet), 132

tricorder devices, 92

Tristan da Cunha, 202–3

“True Story, A” (Lucian of Samosata), 20

Truman, Harry, 36

Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich, 26–28, 36, 72, 110, 149, 268

rocket equation of,
see
rocket equation

Turing, Alan, 258–59

twin research studies, 98

Tziolas, Andreas, 224

UFOs, 142

belief in, 102, 238

proported sightings of, 239, 240

Ulam, Stanislaw, 221

uncertainty principle, 229–30, 291

United Arab Emirates (UAE), 106

United Nations, 47, 141, 145, 147, 214

General Assembly, 42

Moon Treaty of, 279

United States, 141

bureaucracy of, 105–9

China’s relations with, 144

energy consumption of, 222

founding of, 109

government shutdown of 2013 in, 63–64

rocket development in, 28–30, 35–39

space policy debate in, 146–47

space program of, 38, 40–45, 47, 50, 51, 55–56,
56,
63–64, 72, 74–75, 107, 140–141,
140
, 154, 184, 195, 296, 271;
see also
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

in World War II, 34

Uranus:

probes to, 52

as uninhabitable, 125

V-2 ballistic missile (Retaliation/Vengeance Weapon 2), 30–36,
33
, 47, 48

vacuum:

as lethal, 54, 108

rocket function in, 30

of space, 70, 108, 126, 195, 222

Vanguard rocket, 36–38, 269

Van Thillo, Mark, 194

Vega (star), 236

Venera 7, 51

Venus:

Earth compared to, 171, 215

fly-by of, 51

nanobot exploration of, 182

probes to, 40, 51, 184, 270

property rights on, 145

as uninhabitable, 124

Verne, Jules, 26, 28, 117, 183, 239

vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) rockets, 103

Very Large Array, 236

videoconferencing, 176

video games:

evolution of, 175–77

simulation compared to, 261

Vietnam War, 158

Viking probes, 51,
52
, 164, 176

Virgin Atlantic airline, 87

Virgin Galactic, 88–89,
88
, 101, 105–6, 113

Virgin Group, 87

Virgin records, 86–87

virtual reality, 176–77

volcanoes:

on Earth, 119, 202

on Io, 53, 177

as source of heat energy, 124

super-, 245

Volna rocket, 184

Vomit Comet, 114

von Braun, Wernher, 28, 30–36, 38, 76, 140, 166–67, 269

von Kármán, Theodore, 141

von Littrow, Joseph, 238

von Neumann, John, 227, 258–59

von Neumann probes, 227, 258

Voskhod 2 spacecraft, 108

Vostok 1 spacecraft, 40–41

Voyager 1, 52, 53, 121,
121
, 125, 219, 225

Voyager aircraft, 83

Wakata, Koichi, 273

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 164

Wang Yaping, 142–43

Wan Hu, 21–22,
22
, 24, 31, 139, 141

warfare, rockets in, 22–24, 30, 32–34

War of the Worlds, The
(Wells), 164

warp drive, 228–29

Warwick, Kevin, 206–8

Wasp 18b (exoplanet), 132

water:

acidification of, 195

as biomarker, 217–18

on Earth, 172

on Europa, 125

on exoplanets, 132

on Mars, 124–25, 163–66,
165
, 170, 172, 173

on Moon, 159–61

as requirement for life, 123–25, 132, 214, 217

in space travel, 116, 159

Watson, Thomas, 213

weaponry:

nuclear, 36, 38

technological roots of, 22–24

weightlessness, 54, 88, 114, 167–68, 200

Weisman, A., 293

Welles, Orson, 164

Wells, H. G., 28, 164

Wells, Spencer, 7

White, Ed, 43

White Knight, 85

White Knight II, 88

Whittle, Frank, 69

Wigner, Eugene, 227

wind tunnels, 84

Wolfe, Tom, 272

Woman in the Moon
, 28

women:

in space programs, 73, 74, 142–43

see also
specific individuals

World War II, 30, 33–35,
33
,
108
, 141

World Without Us, The
(Weisman), 293

wormholes, 255

“Wow!” signal, 237

Wright brothers, 69

X1 Robotic Exoskeleton, 205,
206

X-15, 71–72, 82,
85

X-37, 72,
85

XCOR, 101

Xie Haisheng, 143

Xi Jinping, 143, 144

X-planes, 71

X Prizes, 84–85, 88, 91–93,
92
, 97, 147, 156, 161, 273–74, 280

Yahoo search engine, 79

Yang Hui, 24

Yang Liwei, 142

Y chromosomes, 6

Yeager, Chuck, 71, 73, 84, 272

Yeager, Jeana, 84

Year Million
, 250

YouTube, 95, 213–14

Z-2 spacesuit, 195–96

Zero G Corporation, 93

zero gravity, 54, 93, 101, 148

physiological effects of, 114–15, 167–68

sex in, 200, 214

Zhang Yuhua, 162

Zheng He, 109

Zip2, 95

Zond 5, 49

Zubrin, Robert, 166, 168,
169
, 174, 223

ALSO BY CHRIS IMPEY

Humble Before the Void

Shadow World

Dreams of Other Worlds

How It Began

How It Ends

The Living Cosmos

Copyright © 2015 by Chris Impey

All rights reserved

First Edition

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Impey, Chris.

 Beyond : our future in space / Chris Impey. — First edition.

      pages cm

 Includes bibliographical references and index.

 ISBN 978-0-393-23930-0 (hardcover)

1. Astronautics—Forecasting—Popular works. 2. Astronautics—
History—Popular works. 3. Manned space flight—Popular works.
4. Outer space—Exploration—Popular works. I. Title.

 TL793.I468 2015

 629.401'12—dc23

                                                           2014046924

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