Books

The Mote in God's Eye - by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Simon and Schuster, New York, 1974. ISBN: 0-671-21833-6
This is a science fiction story about humanity's first contact with alien intelligence about 1000 years after attaining faster-than-light travel. The aliens contact humanity by sending a piloted laser sail to an inhabited human world.
Planet of the Apes - by Pierre Boulle.
The Vanguard Press, Inc., New York, 1963. Library of Congress Card Number: 63-21843
This science fiction story, which is far different from the movie, begins with a fantastically fast solar sail. A quote from the book describing the sail can be found at U3P.
Project: Solar Sail - editor: Arthur C. Clarke, managing editor: David Brin.
Penguin Books, 1990. ISBN: 0-451-45002-7
A collection of essays and short stories about solar sails. This book was part of a fund-raising effort for the World Space Foundation.
Rocheworld - by Robert L. Forward
Rocheworld is the story of a one way human interstellar laser sail exploration program. The focus of the story is about the first mission, which is sent to Barnard's Star. This story draws heavily from Forward's work on multi-stage interstellar laser sails.
More of Robert L. Forward's Books
Solar Sailing: Technology, Dynamics and Mission Applications - by Colin R. McInnes.
Springer-Verlag, London, ISBN 1-85233-102-X, 1999. 296 pages, Hardback Ł45.
This book is the newest, most up-to-date, and comprehensive book on solar sailing written to date. For the reader who is eager to calculate solar sail trajectories, control characteristics, and detailed radiation pressure, there are numerous mathematical formulas. For those interested in different solar sail designs and applications, there are detailed discussions of past and current design and mission studies, like GEOSTORMS and various competitors in the proposed 1992 Earth to Moon race. You can order the book through the publisher, Springer, or through any bookstore, such as Amazon.com. Look at the table of contents and cover for a preview:
- Table of Contents
- Cover
Space Sailing - by Jerome Wright.
Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1992. Library of Congress call number: TL783.9.W75 1992. ISBN 2-88124-803-9 (hardcover) and ISBN 2-88124-842-X (softcover).
Space Sailing was written by Jerome Wright to make much of the technical details of the JPL Halley rendezvous project publicly available. The book discusses a rich variety of solar sail configurations, applications, and considerations to be taken in their design.
Space Sailing - by Dorothy M. Souza.
Lerner Publications, Minneapolis, 1994. Library of Congress call number: TL783.9 .568 1994. ISBN: 0822528509
The Starflight Handbook: a Pioneers Guide to Interstellar Travel - by Eugene F. Mallove and Gregory L. Matloff.
Wiley Science Editions, New York, 1989. Library of Congress call number: TL790 .M26 1989
Starsailing: Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel - by Louis Friedman.
Wiley, New York, 1988. Library of Congress call number: TL783.9 .F75 1988.
This book is less technical than Space Sailing, but covers the history of solar sailing. Look here for an abstract.

Benjamin Diedrich -- diedrich@ugcs.caltech.edu

Last modified: Fri May 28 12:10:13 PDT 1999