Beyond: Our Future in Space (43 page)

in space exploration, 50

Art of Electronics, The
(Horowitz), 237

artificial intelligence (AI), 179, 208, 245, 249, 259

human intelligence surpassed by, 258

Artist in Space program, 74, 76

Artsutanov, Yuri, 149

Asia, population dispersion into, 7–8, 11, 15, 218

Asimov, Isaac, 94

Asteroid Redirect Mission, 104–5, 146, 156

asteroids:

capture of, 104–5, 146, 173, 276

impacts by, 245

mining of, 155–56, 182

astrobiology, 123–24

astronauts, 141, 272

physiological effects on, 114–17

selection criteria for, 73–75

sex and, 200

see also
specific individuals

Atacama Desert, population adaptation to dry environment in, 119

Athene, 163

Atlantic Ocean, first non-stop flight over, 90–91

Atlas rocket, 36–37, 71, 72

atmosphere:

of Earth, 8, 70–71,
70
, 118, 167, 172, 174

of exoplanets, 216

habitability requirements for, 132–33, 216–17

of Mars, 124, 164–66, 173–74, 216

of Venus, 171

atomic bomb:

Soviet, 35, 36

US development of, 35, 36, 239, 244

atomic energy, 219, 244

Atomic Energy Commission, 99, 222

Atomists, 18

atoms, 19

manipulation of, 258

in nanotechnology, 151

rearrangement of, 229–30, 232

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
11
, 12, 86

Australia:

isolation in, 204

population dispersion into, 7–8

Autonomous Nanotechnological Swarm (ANTS), 182

aviation industry, 91, 99

accident rate for,
108

Aviation Week
, 71

B-2 bomber, 70

Babylonians, 163

Bacon, Roger, 23

bacteria, 172, 180

Baikonur Cosmodrome, 65–66

Bailey, Ronald, 207

Baker, David,
169

ballistic missiles (ICBMs):

Chinese, 141

intercontinental, 36–37, 65

long-range, 30–34,
33

balloons:

flight principles for, 68–69

high-altitude, 32

hot-air, 47, 68, 89

Barrow, John, 258

Bass, Ed, 192–93, 285

Baumgartner, Felix, 68, 272

Baum, L. Frank, 188

behavioral
b’s
, 15

Bell X-1, 71

Bell, Alexander Graham, 78

Bell Labs, 153

Benford, Gregory, 223–24

Benford, James, 223–24

Bennett, Charles, 230

Bering Strait, land bridge across, 8, 120, 218

Berlin Rocket Society, 32

Berlin Wall, 41

Berners-Lee, Tim, 78–79

Bernoulli, Daniel, 68

Berserker series (Saberhagen), 177, 259

Bezos, Jeff, 103

Bible, 148–49

big bang theory, 131, 255

“Big Ear” telescope, 237

Bigelow, Robert, 102–3

binary stars, 126

biohackers (grinders), 207

biomarkers, 216–18

Biosphere 2 experiment, 192–97,
193
, 285–86

black projects, 69–70, 72, 144

Blade Runner
, 204, 208, 259

Blue Origin, 103

Boeing X-37, 72,
85

Bohr, Niels, 213, 288

Bostrom, Nick, 207, 245–47, 260–61

Bounty
, HMS, 202

Bradbury, Ray, 164

brains:

computer interfaces with, 205–7

human, 12–17, 203, 283

of orcas, 190

radiation damage to, 115

simulation of, 259–61

“brain in a vat” concept, 260

Branson, Holly and Sam, 89

Branson, Richard Charles Nicholas, 80, 86–89, 95, 97–98, 101–2, 106

Breakthrough Propulsion Physics, 290

Brezhnev, Leonid, 42

Brightman, Sarah, 102

Brin, Sergey, 275

British Airways, 87

British Interplanetary Society, 221

Brokaw, Tom, 74

Brother Assassin
(Saberhagen), 177

Bryan, Richard, 238

buckyballs, 151, 231

Buddhism, 20, 267

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
, 197

Buran, 72

Burnett, Mark, 75

Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 164

Burrows, William, 35–36

Bush, George W., administration of, 93

Bussard, Robert, 222

butterfly effect, 195

By Rocket into Interplanetary Space
(Oberth), 31

California, population dispersion into, 8

California, University of:

at Irvine, 112, 223

at Los Angeles, 78

Calvin, William, 15

camera technology, 53, 176–77, 205

Cameron, James, 92, 120, 176

Canada, 142

canals, on Mars, 163

canards, 82–83

cancer, 180

cannonball, Newton’s experiment with,
25
, 267

cannons:

acceleration force of, 26

smooth-bore, 24

carbon, 172

in nanotechnology, 151–52, 182

as requirement for life, 123–24, 256

carbon dioxide, 132, 171, 172–73, 182, 193–94, 196, 218, 278

carbon nanotubes, 151–52

carbyne, 152

Cassini spacecraft, 52–53, 125, 182

Castro, Fidel, 41

casualties, early Chinese, 22

cataracts, 115

cats, 48–49, 251

causality principle, 230–31

cave paintings, 15

celestial property rights, 145–47

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 158

centrifuges, 114

Cerf, Vinton, 67

Chaffee, Roger, 43

Challenger, explosion of, 55–56,
56
, 74, 107, 271

Chang’e 3 lunar probe, 143, 162

chemical fuels, 219–21,
220

chickens, research using, 26

chimpanzees, 14

genetic diversity of humans vs., 202

China:

as averse to innovation, 109

in early attempts at space travel, 21–22,
22
, 68, 139, 141

population dispersion into, 7

revolution in, 141

rocket development in, 23–24, 113

space program of, 139–44,
140
, 161, 162, 195, 276

US relations with, 144

Christian, Fletcher, 202

Christianity, 20

Chuansheng Chen, 11

civilization:

Type I, 253,
254
, 257

Type II, 253–54,
254
, 257

Type III, 253,
254
, 257

Type IV, 253,
254
, 255

Clarke, Arthur C., 149–50, 164, 185, 201, 252

climate change, 197–98, 286

Clinton, Bill, 154

cloning, 251

Clynes, Manfred, 205

Cocconi, Giuseppe, 187

Colbert, Stephen, 74, 117

Cold War, 35–39, 41–43, 50, 55, 73, 76, 139, 145, 197

Columbia, disintegration of, 55,
56
, 107

Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report
, 107

Columbus, Christopher, 243

comets, 183

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), 275

Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, 145

communication:

with alien species, 52, 189, 234–35, 238,
239
,
246
, 253, 255, 259

by digital data transmission, 66–67, 77–80

latency and, 178

space technology in, 153–54

Compaq, 95

computation, future technology of, 258–62

confinement, psychological impact of, 169–70

Congress, US:

legislation in, 78, 144

on space programs, 38, 41, 75, 156, 158

consciousness, simulation of, 259–61

conservation biology, 201

conspiracy theories, 238, 240

Constellation program, 104

Contact
(film), 236–37, 242

Contact
(Sagan), 236

contraception, 200

Copernicus, 19, 20, 127

Coriolis force, Coriolis effect, 152

cosmic rays, 115, 160,
160
, 164, 167,
168
, 204

cosmism, 27

cosmonauts, 141

disasters of, 108

records set by, 115

selection criteria for, 74

Cosmos 1, 184

cosmos, cosmology, ancient concepts of, 17–20

Cosmos Studios, 184

Cosmotheoros
(Huygens), 163

counterfactual thinking, 14

Cronkite, Walter, 74

cryogenic suspension, 250–51

cryptobiosis, 123

cryptography, 231, 291

Cuban missile crisis, 41–42

CubeSat, 184–85

Cultural Revolution, Chinese, 141–42

Curiosity rover, 165, 167, 176, 181

cybernetics, 206–7

Cyborg Foundation, 288

cyborgs (cybernetic organisms), 204–8, 288

Cygnus capsule, 100

cytosine, 6

dark energy, 256

d’Arlandes, Marquis, 68

DARPANET, 78

Darwin, Charles, 265

“Darwin” (machine), 227

Death Valley, 118–19

deceleration, 222, 223

DeepSea Challenger sub, 120

deep space, 126–29

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 78, 224

Defense Department, US, 38, 78, 90, 153

De Garis, Hugo, 258

Delta rockets, 72, 113

Delta-V,
111

Democritus, 19

Destination Mir
(reality show), 75

Diamandis, Peter, 90–94, 97–98, 147, 156

diamonds, 131, 231

Dick, Philip K., 204–5

Digital Equipment Corporation, 213

DNA, 6–7,
9
, 19, 189, 202, 228, 251, 263, 265, 266

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
(Dick), 205

dogs:

brains of, 13

in scientific research, 251

in space travel, 40, 47

Dolly (sheep), 251

Doomsday Clock, 197–98,
246
, 286

dopamine, 10, 98

Doppler method, exoplanet detection and characterization by, 127,
128
, 129, 130, 133, 215

Doppler shift, 127

Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp, 33

Downey, Robert, Jr., 95

drag, in flight, 68, 83, 223

Drake, Frank, 187–88, 235, 237

Drake equation, 188,
189
, 233–35, 237, 241, 243, 244, 253, 291–92

DRD4 alleles, 7R mutation in, 10–12,
11
, 15, 98

Drexler, Eric, 226

drones, 180–81

Druyan, Ann, 184

Duke, Charles, 45

Dunn, Tony, 225

Dyson, Freeman, 226–27, 253

Dyson sphere, 253–54,
254

Earth:

atmosphere of, 8, 70–71,
70

early impacts on, 50, 172

geological evolution of, 172

as one of many worlds, 17–20

planets similar to, 122, 124–26, 129–33, 224, 235

projected demise of, 197–98

as round, 19

as suited for human habitation, 118–22,
121
, 234

as viewed from space, 45, 53,
121
, 185, 270

Earth Return Vehicle,
169

“Earthrise” (Anders), 270

Earth similarity index, 215–16

eBay, 79, 95

Economist, The
, 105

ecosystem, sealed and self-contained, 192–97,
193
, 285

Eiffel Tower, 27, 149

Einstein, Albert, 220, 228, 256

Eisenhower, Dwight D., 36–39, 73, 79

electric cars, 96

electric solar sails, 186

electromagnetic waves, 186

e-mail, 78

embryo transport, 251

Enceladus, 177, 182, 227

potential habitability of, 125, 278

Encyclopædia Britannica
, 95, 283

Endangered Species Act (1973), 201

energy:

aliens’ use of, 190

civilizations characterized by use of, 252–57,
254
, 258

dark, 256

declining growth in world consumption of, 257

Einstein’s equation for, 220

production and efficiency of, 219–24,
220

as requirement for life, 123–24

in rocket equation, 110

Engines of Creation
(Drexler), 226

environmental disasters, 245

environmental protection:

as applied to space, 147

movement for, 45, 235, 263, 270

Epicureans, 18

Epsilon Eridani, 187

Eratosthenes, 19

ethane, 52, 125

Ethernet, 213

eukaryotes, 172

Euripides, 18

Europa, 52, 97–98

potential habitability of, 125,
125
, 161, 278

Europa Clipper mission, 98

Europe:

economic depression in, 28

population dispersion into, 7–8, 11, 15

roots of technological development in, 23–24

European Southern Observatory, 133

European Space Agency, 159, 178–79

European Union, bureaucracy of, 106

Eustace, Alan, 120, 272

Evenki people, 119–20

Everest, Mount, 120

evolution:

genetic variation in, 6, 203, 265

geological, 172

of human beings, 16–17

off-Earth, 203–4

evolutionary divergence, 201–4

exoplanets:

Earth-like, 129–33, 215–18

extreme, 131–32

formation of, 215,
216

incidence and detection of, 126–33,
128
, 233

exploration:

as basic urge of human nature, 7–12, 109, 218, 261–63

imagination and, 262–63

explorer gene, 86

Explorer I, 38

explosives, early Chinese, 21–23

extinction, 201–2

extraterrestrials,
see
aliens, extraterrestrial

extra-vehicular activities,
179

extremophiles, 122–23

eyeborg, 205–6

Falcon Heavy rocket, 114