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Mankind Beyond Earth, Ties the Story Together and Extends It to Further Exploration of the Piantadosi Explains Why Space Exploration, a Claude A 0.94091” continued from the front flap “Finally, a give-it-to-me-straight “A whole generation has grown up with tales of the glory of man’s PIANTADOSI account of why space exploration excursion into space, and this fact-filled and stimulating book SEEKING TO REENERGIZE AMERICANS’ Bonestell was an award-winning pioneer of astronomical art and has been dubbed the “Father of Modern Space Art.” A crater on Mars and the asteroid 3129 Bonestell are named after him. after named are 3129 Bonestell asteroid the and Mars on A crater Art.” Space Modern of “Father the dubbed been has art and astronomical of pioneer award-winning an was Bonestell jacket image: © chesley bonestell, © chesley image: jacket matters. In Mankind Beyond Earth, ties the story together and extends it to further exploration of the Piantadosi explains why space exploration, a Claude A. Piantadosi folds together Moon again and Mars.” passion for the space program, the value of captivating story of ambition, invention, and science, politics, and culture to further exploration of the Moon, and the impor- discovery, is also increasingly difficult and why BRUCE D. BUTLER, University of Texas Medical School MANKIND demonstrate why a civilization tance of human beings on the final frontier, space experts always seem to disagree. He argues at Houston without a spacefaring future is Claude A. Piantadosi presents a rich history that the future of the space program requires MANKIND of American space exploration and its major doomed to extinction.” “Mankind Beyond Earth offers a wide-ranging analysis of the merging the practicalities of exploration with achievements. He emphasizes the importance NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, challenges facing human space exploration. Using examples the constraints of human biology. Space science of reclaiming national command of our manned deals with the unknown, and the margin (and astrophysicist, American Museum from polar expeditions, aviation history, undersea voyages, and BEYOND EARTH program and continuing our unmanned space of Natural History, author of space missions, Claude A. Piantadosi shows that exploration is budget) for error is small. Lethal near-vacuum missions, and he stresses the many adventures Space Chronicles: Facing the unforgiving to those who fail to plan. Piantadosi details the conditions, deadly cosmic radiation, micrograv- that still await us in the unfolding universe. Ultimate Frontier barriers that must be surmounted for humans to leave Earth for ity, vast distances, and highly scattered resources Acknowledging space exploration’s practical long voyages. He supports his case with information from diverse remain immense physical problems. To forge and financial obstacles, Piantadosi challenges exploring mars exploring ““In this engaging book, disciplines, including microbiology, radiation physics, botany, THE HISTORY, SCIENCE, AND FUTURE ahead, America needs to develop affordable us to revitalize American leadership in space Claude A. Piantadosi presents a astronomy, and physiology. He also makes a strong argument for BEYOND EARTH space transportation and flexible exploration exploration in order to reap its scientific bounty. strategies based in sound science. Piantadosi concise and accurate history of how the United States to refocus on exploring the Moon and to use OF HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION closes with suggestions for accomplishing these our nation’s space program arrived Moon exploration both for scientific discovery and as preparation goals, combining his healthy skepticism as a at its current uncertain juncture, for longer trips to Mars.” continued on the back flap scientist with an unshakable belief in space’s lee jae chang design: bonestell l.l.c. jacket of courtesy , reproduced supplementing it with powerful JAY C. BUCKEY, MD, former payload-specialist astronaut, untapped—and wholly worthwhile—potential. insights into a wide range of fields, professor of medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine from planetary science to human at Dartmouth College physiology. This is a compelling © jared lazarus/duke photography lazarus/duke © jared work from a scientist committed to expanding the human exploration of our universe.” MICHAEL L. GERNHARDT, NASA astronaut, manager of the Environmental Physiology Laboratory at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center CLAUDE A. PIANTADOSI, MD, is professor and director of the F. G. Hall Environmental CLAUDE A. PIANTADOSI Laboratory at Duke University. Educated at COLUMBIA the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill UNIVERSITY and the Johns Hopkins University School of PRESS Medicine, he trained in undersea medicine and NEW YORK saturation diving in the U.S. Navy and in respi- CUP.COLUMBIA.EDU ratory physiology and pulmonary medicine at Duke. He spent thirty years as a resource con- printed in the u.s.a. COLUMBIA sultant to NASA. He is an author of more than three hundred scientific papers and The Biology of Human Survival: Life and Death in Extreme Environments. MANKIND BEYOND EARTH C6029.indb i 10/12/12 9:41 AM C6029.indb ii 10/12/12 9:41 AM MANKIND BEYOND EARTH THE HISTORY, SCIENCE, AND FUTURE OF HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION CLAUDE A. PIANTADOSI COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK C6029.indb iii 10/12/12 9:41 AM columbia university press publishers since 1893 new york chichester, west sussex C opyright © 2012 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Piantadosi, Claude A. Mankind beyond Earth : the history, science, and future of human space exploration / Claude A. Piantadosi. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-231-16242-5 (cloth : alk. paper)—isbn 978-0-231-53103-0 (e-book) 1. Astronautics—United States—Forecasting—Popular works. 2. Manned space fl ight— History—Popular works. 3. Outer space—Exploration—Popular works. I. Title. tl789.8.u5p53 2012 629.4500973—dc23 2012017631 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 cover art: © chesley bonestell, exploring mars, reproduced courtesy of bonestell llc. cover design: chang jae lee References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. C6029.indb iv 10/12/12 9:41 AM Civilization is obliged to become spacefaring—not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable—staying alive. CARL SAGAN C6029.indb v 10/12/12 9:41 AM C6029.indb vi 10/12/12 9:41 AM CONTENTS Preface xi A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF SPACE EXPLORATION 1 PART 1: HINDSIGHT AND FORESIGHT 1. MEN AND MACHINES 13 A House Divided 14 Robot Days 18 So Few Plausible Options 22 2. A SPACE LEXICON 25 The Thin Blue Line 28 The Science of Limits 30 Genes and Adaptation 33 vii C6029.indb vii 10/12/12 9:41 AM CONTENTS Some Astronomical Concepts 36 The Tortoise and the Hare 40 3. THE EXPLORERS 45 People of Adventure 46 Polar Science, Space Science 49 The Hard-Shell Engineers 59 The Space Doctors 61 4. TWENTIETH-CENTURY SPACE 68 The Early Days 68 Project Apollo 71 The Shuttle Disasters 74 LEO and the Space Station 79 5. BACK TO THE MOON 88 Serene Selene 92 Water, Water Everywhere 95 It’s Not Made of Green Cheese 99 Extravehicular Activity 105 The View from Earth 108 PART 2: A HOME AWAY FROM HOME 6. LIVING OFF THE LAND 117 Energy and Efficiency 119 Ecological Footprints 125 On Never Running Out of Air 127 Water and Food 133 7. ROUND AND ROUND IT GOES . WHERE IT STOPS, NOBODY KNOWS 140 Recycling: Open or Closed, Hot or Cold? 141 The CO2 Cycle 143 Making Room for the Jolly Green Giant 146 Micronutrients 149 viii C6029.indb viii 10/12/12 9:41 AM CONTENTS 8. BY FORCE OF GRAVITY 152 Allometry 153 Balance and Perception 155 Bone and Muscle 157 Weightlessness and the White Cell 165 9. THE COSMIC RAY DILEMMA 169 The ABCs of Cosmic Rays 172 The ALARA Principle 175 Radiation’s Effects 181 Countermeasures 186 10. TINY BUBBLES 188 Destination Mars 188 Microbes in Space 192 Gas Leaks 195 The Age of the Astronaut 197 On Biological Clocks 199 PART 3: WHERE ARE WE GOING? 11. THE CASE FOR MARS 203 The Weather Forecast 207 Surface Time 211 Suits and Structures 214 One-Way Trips 216 12. BIG PLANETS, DWARF PLANETS, AND SMALL BODIES 219 The Truth About Asteroids 221 Oasis Ceres 223 Titan and the Galileans 225 Moons of the Ice Giants 231 13. NEW STARS, NEW PLANETS 236 On Leaving the Solar System 238 The Interstellar Medium 243 ix 01_pian16242_fm.indd ix 11/5/12 2:43 PM CONTENTS Changing Ourselves 245 Science Fact, Science Fiction 248 Bibliography and Additional Reading 251 Index 269 x C6029.indb x 10/12/12 9:41 AM PREFACE NASA’s space shuttles retired in 2011 after an impressive thirty-year career. Two terrible accidents aside, the Space Shuttle Program’s 135 mis- sions epitomize the best of human spacefl ight since the Apollo lunar landings of 1969 through 1972. The shuttle program produced many unforgettable highlights, but most important, without it we could have never built the In- ternational Space Station (ISS), a technological tour de force of which we all should be proud. Not all the news, however, is good. The reasons to explore space fi rst dawned on me as an eighth grader, when I carefully prepared my fi rst sci- ence project on the Red Planet, and the urgency of those reasons has only increased. But in becoming a scientist, I was taught to see problems, and Houston, we have a problem . The shuttle program confi rmed the high risk and cost of sending people into space, despite the attendant benefi ts, and the reality took the bloom off the rose long ago.
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