Interplanetary Outpost: The Human and Technological Challenges of Exploring the Outer Planets (Springer Praxis Books) 2012th Edition

The subtitle of the book is a little misleading. It reads "Human and Technological Challenges of Exploring the Outer Planets". Actually, the book concerns NASA's HOPE study dating from 2003. HOPE stands for Human Outer Planets Exploration, and it was a plan for establishing a manned exploration outpost of Jupiter's moon Callisto around the years 2040 - 2045. This would have served as a base for conducting teledirected exploration of nearby Europa and for servicing spacecraft outbound to farther destinations. Those other destinations (Outer Planets) are not subjects of the book.My overall impression of the book is that it's rather skimpy on engineering and is mainly focused on the crew's human factors, principally life support for the projected five-year mission to Callisto. The About the Author page indicates that Seedhouse is a specialist in space medicine, and it really shows in the book's contents. Of the books 232 pages (ten chapters), only 90 pages (four chapters) are devoted to the mission architecture and hardware. The remainder cover, first, an evaluation of other possible destinations (rejected in favor of Callisto), "planetary protection" measures (nine pages!), then crew-related topics (selection, training, biomedical, life support, behavioral) and a detailed description of mission requirements, events and objectives.The HOPE study envisioned the construction of a "space gateway" at the Earth-Moon L1 point to serve as a construction site for the "Shackleton" interplanetary spacecraft and the spacecraft for its various precursor missions. These are meant to preposition the surface habitat on Callisto, an orbital tanker for the propellant for the crew's return trip to Earth (topped off by automated In-Situ Resource machinery), and the various surveillance and communications hardware. Amazingly, the gateway's itemized mass budget totals only 12,050 kilos! For a facility responsible for construction of the Shackleton and the precursor vehicles, provisioning, crew training, etc. Wow they're going to have some kick-ass technology in 2040!Four propulsion schemes are briefly considered: nuclear thermal, magneto-plasma dynamic, magnetized target fusion, and the VASIMR electric plasma rocket. Each but the last is given a single paragraph before being dismissed for consideration, and then an entire chapter is devoted to the VASIMR and its continuous-thrust trajectories to Callisto and back to Earth. This chapter on the VASIMR is the meatiest in the book by far, but I see one thing lacking in this presentation: the VASIMR rocket itself is only one half the necessary hardware because it is an electric rocket, and so needs an electrical power supply. Seedhouse does not supply any description of one, he only mentions once the "nuclear power plant" that will need to be embarked on this faraway mission to the dark depths of Jovian space. Apparently the assumption is made that 30 years from now the necessary hardware will be developed (no such hardware for space missions exists now). My only complaint is that it would have been nice to see what are the latest ideas and concepts for a 100 percent reliable nuclear plant meant to function for a period of five years with minimal maintenance. The CGI picture of the VASIMR shows solar panels, and it true that the current JUNO mission to Jupiter uses solar vice nuclear RTG power, but for a large spacecraft such as Shackleton solar seems inadequate.Seedhouse goes on to describe the inflatable hab modules such are being built now by Bigelow, their provisions for radiation and meteoroid protection, the life support systems (including hibernation apparatus!), and an experimental crew centrifuge being built by NASA (NAUTILUS-X) which will be test flown aboard the ISS someday. All of this is somewhat speculative seeing that these are preliminary conceptual-stage engineering experiments intended to produce hardware to be flown some 30-odd years from now. Indicative of this is the following paragraph I excerpt in brief from page 85: "Those with an engineering background may notice the lack of a thermal rejection capability...a yet-to-be-determined thermal management solution will probably be implemented...Engineers may also notice the absence of an exo-truss, necessary for managing and transmitting the load path from the propulsion system. That is because the issue of load path negotiation has yet to be resolved."There is a chapter titled "Descent and Landing" which is concerned with the Callisto descent vehicle (though the ascent craft doesn't get any treatment). I can't really understand why this 20 page chapter is in the book! Callisto is like the Moon with an airless low-gravity environment; I would've thought that that problem was solved some fifty years ago! Not to mention the DCX vertical landing spacecraft he describes. Seedhouse describes in detail the propulsion and navigation requirements, abort options, crew interfaces, etc. etc. but I cannot understand how all this differs from the systems the Apollo crews used in a mission environment so similar, except for the possibility that the newer versions of these systems will be more automated, faster, safer, etc. Since the mission to Callisto is expected to happen 30 years hence, I'd have taken all that as a given. Don't see the need to devote 20 pages to it all.Another thing that irritated me reading the book is the emphasis on hibernation/hypersleep. There are six photos given from pop movies depicting people waking up from their interplanetary naps. Do we really need this? I guess some readers just expect to get their fix of pop entertainment even in their science books. Seedhouse does acknowledge that the idea may be too "science-fictiony" for serious consideration, but for me the emphasis on such a far-out concept is unmerited. One interesting thing here is his inclusion of an article "Human Hibernation" from the British Medical Journal from over 100 years ago. This describes how "poor Russian peasants allegedly survived famine by sleeping for half the year (winter)." He quotes a passage that avers that the Russians would wake once a day to eat bread and drink water, then go back to sleep for another day, repeating this cycle for some six months. Too bad this is the only reference given to this seemingly-extraordinary practice! (none other are to be found on the Web)Allow me to pause here and comment on some of the figures given for radiation doses in the Jovian system. This book, like every other I've read on this topic (excepting the one by Oberg), ignores the fact that every moon and every spacecraft in Jupiter's equatorial plane will receive a massive dose of particle radiation every orbital period when the Jovian magnetotail sweeps across it. Why doesn't anybody appreciate this fact? Since I myself am working on a fiction project set at Jupiter, I for one would like to find out just how intense the Jovian magnetotail is and how long it takes to sweep across a moon. I cannot find it anywhere! So this matter is really not a small thing! If anyone knows please post a comment.FYI Jupiter's magnetotail is believed to extend halfway to Saturn (that's over 2.5 AUs!). There is a technical pub on the web that indicates that the New Horizons spacecraft, on its way to Pluto, flew straight down Jupiter's magnetotail to measure its length, measured as some 550 Jupiter radii.In the book there's more far-out stuff like nanotechnology for repairing frozen bodies, mind-transference to superintelligent computers, Kurzweil-style, etc. etc. Fortunately this stuff is tastefully not overdone. And what the heck, the mission is set a quarter-century from now -- why not? But all this from an author who dismisses fusion and antimatter as possible propulsion schemes simply for being "too immature" ??? Gimme a break!One thing I liked was the problem mentioned about the magnetic shield against cosmic radiation. I had not considered that energetic particles would accumulate inside the field and would have to be eliminated or shielded against, and I haven't seen this mentioned in my other reading. Overall, I'd have to say I enjoyed the one-third of the book having to do with the engineering, but the rest of the crew stuff was just not my cup of tea. Three stars is a respectable rating.

I reallyliked this book! It went into considerable detail of the problems and solutions of mounting a mission to callisito! and nice graphics!