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The E-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society Reaching Beyond the Earth

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The E-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society Reaching Beyond the Earth The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society Reaching Beyond the Earth ne of the most dynamic and System is obsolete almost before it starts. again we look forward to seeing more of exciting areas of current human This is just one of the many fascinating areas these showcases in the future. Also, John Oendeavour must surely be the which lie at the very heart of this key area of Silvester completes his review of Britain’s aerospace industry. It represents mankind’s the Society’s remit, and which we hope to be first space rocket and I talk about the latest achievements at their very best, and offers exploring in future issues of Odyssey. I am updates with Mars One. hope for the great enterprise of space travel sure that, like me, you look forward to reading to which the British Interplanetary Society Terry’s future speculations. In the next issue we delve into the strange aspires. and murky world of conspiracy theories, Also in this issue we are very pleased to with a short story and Richard’s Radical For that reason, I am delighted to introduce have a short story entitled “Shadows” from Vectors column devoted to this endlessly a new occasional column of “Aerospace Stephen Baxter, the well known author and fascinating subject. Richard will also be Speculations” to Odyssey which focuses BIS member. We are hoping to have a series telling us more about Alex Storer’s artwork, on this area of activity, written by our of these 500 word short stories from other and is writing an article about Alex’s latest own Assistant Editor Terry Don with his authors in due course. music album entitled ‘Panorama’. John considerable experience in the field. He will Silvester talks about Celestial Songs and be discussing how our imagination can allow In addition, our regular columnist Richard gives us a book review of ‘Freedom at us to see developments yet to come which Hayes gives us an intriguing view of the Feronia’ by Dick Penn, while Terry Don may take us beyond the confines of our possibilities of orbital rings, and also starts a gives us some thoughts on the innovative existence on the surface of this planet. new series of showcases of the imaginative use of green propellants for space flight. science fiction art of Alex Storer, who we Until then we hope you have a very We start off with a special article where Terry interviewed in the previous issue of Odyssey. good summer and we’ll see you again in talks about a major subject of current interest There is no doubt that Alex gives us much to October. – whether NASA’s new Space Launch think about with his impressive artwork, and Terry Henley, FBIS Richard Hayes FBIS talks about the Impact of the BIS on Interstellar Travel e almost take it for granted these other stars had been postulated as long ago opera The Skylark of Space, published in days that interstellar travel has as 1686 in de Fontenelle’s Conversations on 1928 but written around ten years earlier, long been a major goal of both the Plurality of Worlds (which also included sees plenty of interstellar travel, and Wcurrent advances in technology and the thoughts on extraterrestrial life), but the idea Laurence Manning’s 1934 story The Living science fiction which may have originally of actually travelling to other stars didn’t Galaxy is an early depiction of a world ship driven them. But it wasn’t always so. really feature. For that, we have to wait until gradually transporting its cargo of people around 1900 when Robert W. Cole wrote to the stars. But bear in mind that all of If we look back to science fiction before the his extraordinary The Struggle for Empire: this, including the writings of Konstantin twentieth century, it’s probably not surprising A Story of the Year 2236 – a tale where Tsiolkovsky in the 1920s which foresaw that most speculation was about travelling the British Empire controls the entire Solar the human race eventually spreading as far as the Moon and planets, at most. For System and beyond, before entering into throughout the Galaxy, was happening less most of that time, the stars were seen as a interstellar war with some very un-British than a century ago. In overall timescales, it’s largely unknown realm at an indeterminate aliens! relatively recent. distance, and therefore probably inaccessible by any means. Even so, it was the arrival of the pulp And this is where we enter the very period magazines around the 1920s which saw the where the BIS have been at the forefront of Admittedly, the possibility of planets orbiting idea really develop. EE “Doc” Smith’s space thinking about space exploration in general. Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 1 Left: The stars within our reach – Project Daedalus 1978. Cover design by David Holmes. Right: Breaking new ground with the special red cover issue of JBIS on World Ships, June 1984. Its impact has been widespread – to consider the December 1976 issue, on the possibility Sometimes we can subsequently answer the just a couple of examples, in their 1953 book of converting O’Neill space colonies into questions raised in those early papers. In the Space Travel, Ken Gatland and Anthony interstellar arks. second red cover issue in September 1974, Kunesch referred to the revolutionary impact Tony Martin started a short series of articles of Harry Ross’s Orbital Bases in JBIS of Not surprisingly, Project Daedalus itself is looking at whether there were extrasolar January 1949, and of Ken’s own Rockets in widely referenced – it even gets a mention in planetary systems. We now know that such Circular Orbits in March 1949. Carl Sagan’s 1980 popular classic Cosmos. systems exist in abundance, but asking fundamental questions about spaceflight and So it’s only to be expected that the same But in many ways it must be the famous astronomy, and thinking through possible applies to studies of interstellar travel. You red cover issues of JBIS, which focus on answers, is what the BIS has always been wonder just how much progress would interstellar studies, that should get pride of about. have been made without Les Shepherd’s place. Looking back at the very first such Interstellar Flight in the July 1952 issue issue in April 1974, the first article was We’ve come a long way, in a fairly short of JBIS, where he explored possible Non-Aqueous Biosystems: The Case for time, in speculating about interstellar travel. technologies for deep space journeys. In their Liquid Ammonia as a Solvent, by P Molton Nowadays, of course, it’s everywhere in 1981 analysis of space travel in the Solar of the University of Maryland. Maybe not science fiction, whether it be in books, System and beyond, Bound for the Stars, the most exciting title to begin a new series, films or games. And serious literature on Saul Adelman and Benjamin Adelman gave which continues to this day, but it questioned the subject is growing by the day. But let’s full credit for Tony Martin’s assessment in whether life could develop based on liquid not forget that it was a few pioneers, in the the January 1972 issue of Spaceflight of the ammonia instead of water, and therefore areas of both fact and fiction, that pulled our limitations of the Bussard ramjet. Yet they whether we’re always right to look for vision away from just our near neighbours also recognised the more upbeat approach evidence of water on a planet to conclude in space to the wider cosmos beyond. They of Gregory Matloff on the same subject in that it may harbour life. They’re still valid set us on the right path, and it wasn’t so very the September 1974 issue of JBIS and, in questions now. long ago. What’s On 70th Annual General Meeting Britain’s First Space Rocket – The Story of the Skylark 25 July 2015, 1 pm 16 September 2015, 7 - 8.30 pm Venue: 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ Speaker: Robin H. Brand, BSc CEng MIET Venue: 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ Exoplanets: Where are our Alien Neighbours? 5 August 2015, 7 - 8.30 pm A full list of events, with details and registration information can be found online: Speaker: Don Pollacco Venue: 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ www.bis-space.com/whats-on Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 2 John Silvester FBIS talks about BBC Radio 4’s play Far Side of the Moore was fortunate enough to get to listen to this play, which was broadcast on I Radio 4 on 30 March. Set in 1956-7, its subject matter is the life of Patrick Moore just prior to his recruitment by the BBC as the presenter of The Sky at Night. The play is essentially a light comedy with some pathos. It was written by Sean Grundy, and PM is played by Tom Hollander, who excels in the role. In fact he captures the great man’s mannerisms and eccentricities to such perfection; it almost seems as if he is still alive. The author clearly did his research, but I’m not sure about the initial Sir Patrick Moore photographed at his home. Paul Grover suggestion that the programme should be The bête noire of the story is Dr Henry King Thus The Sky at Night was born.
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