Gilster P. Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration

Springer Science+Business Media, New York, 2004. — 308 p. — ISBN: 9781441918185.Why, today, would anyone undertake a plan to launch a spacecraft some 30 years in the future, and on a journey that would take some 40 years to complete? Paul Gilster investigates the science, and the spirit, of the NASA and JPL researchers who are actually at work on just such a project.Designing a Mission
The Target: Alpha Centaur! And Other Nearby Stars
The Trouble With Rockets
The Antimatter Alternative
Journey by Starlight: the Story of the Solar Sail
Of Lightsails, Ramjets, and Fusion Runways
Breaking Through at Nasa: Science on the Edge
Interstellar Communications and Navigation
A Spacecraft That Can Think for Itself
The Future of the Interstellar Idea