Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization by Robert Zubrin (PDF)

Description

Robert Zubrin is a true engineering genius like the heroic engineers of the past. –Frederick Turner, American EnterpriseUsing 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.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Robert Zubrin is an internationally renowned astronautical engineer and the acclaimed author of The Case for Mars. NASA recently adapted his humans-to-Mars mission plan. A former senior engineer at Lockheed Martin, Zubrin is the founder of Pioneer Astronautics, a successful space exploration and development firm. He lives in Indian Hills, Colorado.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐After writing my previous review, I had some further thoughts on this book, which causes me to downgrade my rating by a point. First, the book seems curiously inconsistent. For most of the book, he seems to have a cowboy attitude about space travel, with about the same ethical sensibilities as the Spanish conquistadors: land on the planet and “terraform” it without any thought to the “rights” of the life forms that might already be there. We, as human beings, are naturally conquerors and will just be following our nature to do so (just as we are currently in the process of devastating our own planet, Earth, by the way). Only towards the end of the book does he discuss one of the reasons why we see no scientific evidence of extraterrestrials visiting planet Earth: they may regard us as a “designated wilderness area,” with the right to determine our own destiny and future evolution. In other words, as ancient and wise beings, they probably have adopted a policy of non-interference with primitive life forms (which we would be, relative to them). In fact, NASA itself already has established policies of non-interference, in its plans for searching for life on Mars, and so Zubrin’s swashbuckling mentality seems curiously outdated for such a far-reaching book. On the other hand, Zubrin completely overlooks one aspect of our own growing technology that might provide an answer as to why we haven’t seen any evidence of extraterrestrials. He implicitly assumes that we MUST have humans do the advanced exploration, because robotic probes aren’t intelligent enough. Well, realistically, we probably won’t plant anything close to a human intelligence on Mars for another fifty years (in spite of his arguments that we could do it in ten). But by then, robotics will have advanced to the point where artificial intelligence is at least equal to human intelligence. Our progress in space exploration may be uncertain, but progress in robotics isn’t. We’ve been unsuccessful so far because of the limited computational power available, but in fifty years it will be a million times greater than it is now, and we will surely have developed robots that will be far more capable than we are to explore extraterrestrial surfaces. They will be at least as smart as we are, and far more “environmentally safe” and far more physically capable than we. MACHINES are what will inherit the universe, not flimsy human flesh. The extraterrestrials haven’t revealed themselves to us because they know how devastatingly demoralizing it would be to reveal to us that they are made of metal and silicon that has far surpassed anything that could ever evolve organically. Think about THAT for a while.

⭐Dr Robert Zubrin is a masterful past rocket engineer, president of the Mars Society and great writer. Read A Case for Mars (5 stars), Mars on Earth (5 stars) and How to Live on Mars (3 stars). His second book Entering Space ( Case For Mars was first) is well written and an easy read. Finished it in 2 days.A few parts of rocket formulas are a little technical and the first few chapters are a little slow to get going but after that his book is a rocket ship. Wonderful. Plus there are several futuristic beautiful colored artwork pages showing some of the things he describes.Robert lists civilization into three categories. #1 Beginning of mankind to complete communication global network and space program a little more advanced than today. #2 Man’s exploration and colonization of the solar system. moon observatories, research center, Mars colony, asteroid mining, outer plant Helium 3 harvesting for using a deuterium/he3 mixture for fusion reactors, moving ice asteroids for water, metal gathering of asteroids, and a sling shot effect around Jupiter and/or Saturn is discussed. Much much more. #3 Galactic exploration. He goes into possible propulsion systems to take us to the stars using present understanding of physics without going into the obscure and way out theories.The Mars Society is discussed as well as the HAB ( Mars research station) to be built on Devon Island in the far north Arctic. They actually do it. Read his #3 book Mars on Earth (5 stars).Again in Entering Space Robert talks about “Mars Direct” which is the safest and most economical way of sending a crew of 4 to Mars and back and allowing them 1 1/2 years to explore the Red Planet.If NASA ever goes this “Mars Direct” route (and it should) I strongly believe Dr. Zubrin should get a Nobel Prize. I was so impressed with Dr. Zubrin’s writings, his “Mars Direct” idea and the back breaking hard work he and others did on Devon Island . Plus being interested in the expansion of the human race and Mars colonization ,I became a paid Mars Society member.

⭐Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot. It’s interesting and thought-provoking, without being overly concerned with details. I found it a much easier read than the same author’s “The Case for Mars”, which I am currently reading.There are far more positives than negatives, and I can only think of 2 criticisms. One is the author’s justifications for human space exploration and colonization. His main argument seems to boil down to “We explored in the past and we should do it now. It’s human nature”. While he’s certainly technically correct, as a philosophical and/or political justification I find it somewhat wishy-washy. I would have like to have seen more about human eco-vandalism, population explosion, dwindling resources, global war, and commercial interests as topics for discussion which have a strong bearing on our justification for settling on other celestial objects.The second is that I’d like to expand the author’s tripartate division of technological civilizations to include 5 categories. Added to the categories of civilizations who have travelled beyond their mother planet, have colonized their solar system, and who have reached other star systems (categories 1-3), I propose:4) Civilizations that have colonized their entire local galaxy (or most of it)5) Civilizations that have developed *inter-galactic* travel (and colonization)4), and especially 5), represent exponentially greater achievements in all respects than 1-3. I think they should be considered as separate stages of further development/maturity of a space-faring civilization.The book is also heavily US-biased (for those who may take objection to such things).But overall well worth a read if this subject at all interests you.

⭐It’s wonderful to be presented with a coherent, physically feasible pathway to the stars. With a perspective spanning millennia but rooted in the current state of the art, Robert Zurbin succeeds in knocking aside the hubris-driven white elephants which block more efficient, nimble projects that might well be able to negotiate the track ahead.By weaving together the more technical strands of the book into an evolutionary case for diversifying humanity’s current tenuous hold on life from a single planet naked in the face of asteroid strikes, nuclear catastrophes and the negative potential of artificial intelligence to multiple planets, and eventually solar systems, Robert Zubrin displays a visionary clarity unusual in any context – let alone this technical tour de force.I came away feeling that he is ambivalent about terraforming, although radically pro such efforts on the surface. What was for me the most profound phrase in the book – “life creates nature” – sweeps aside many of the core objections to terraforming, an endeavour he goes into in a lot of detail. Later in the book, however, part of his well-argued treatment of why we aren’t aware of having met extra-terrestrial life is that the development of an entirely separate branch of life is something infinitely precious, containing immense potential – so much so that more advance extra-terrestrial civilizations would likely watch rather than disturbing us. If this is so true for them, surely it is just as true for us as we risk swamping indigenous Martian, Enceladian, Titanian, etc. life forms?All in all, an extraordinary book – one to inspire us to reach farther than our small, earthly lives.

⭐Ein sehr gutes Fachbuch, das genau in unsere Zeit passt. Wie Steven Hawking erkannt hatte,zurück zu den Sternen.

⭐

⭐OK ok

⭐good

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