The Never-Ending Frontier culminates the Beyond the Saga of Rocket Science series by taking you on a journey from the present to the future. The Soviet Union steadily matured its Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs), civilian launch vehicles, and tactical missiles across a broad front to reach approximate parity with the United States, only to see it all crumble with the Soviet empire’s collapse in late 1991. The book explains how Russia resurrected its space programs and maintains a respectable presence in space today.
In 1983 President Ronald Reagan inaugurated a large Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) program called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to deter Soviet nuclear-armed ICBMs, SLBMs; and their smaller cousins Medium and Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (MRBMs/IRBMs) from striking the homeland. Although SDI was never implemented in its full glory, a several dozen BMD missiles stand watch in Alaska and California today.
This book takes you inside today’s burgeoning commercial space efforts (mostly in the United States) and the latest government space programs and launch vehicles worldwide. You’ll learn why the ‘death’ of rocket science as we know it today is not that far away, and what is most likely to replace rockets as we know them. You’ll be taken way beyond rocket science with thought-provoking and well-researched chapters on superintelligent computers; far-out propulsion systems that are technically feasible; the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (where are they?); humanity’s accelerating evolution (where is it going, and how long will it take?); cosmology (how many universes are there?; is space infinite?); physics (is a theory of everything possible?); the long-neglected spiritual evolution of our race that scientists fail to mention, but that will play a dominant role in where we’re going in the future; and finally what awaits us in the afterlife. Read this book if you seek answers to perplexing questions: Does God really exist? Why are we here? Why does evil seem more powerful than good if God’s all-powerful? What happens after we die?
Table of Content
Preface
Series Introduction
Introduction
Where Are You Going, Russia?
Maturation of Soviet/Russian Technology
ICBMs
SLBMs
Tactical Missiles
Launch Vehicles
Soyuz Family
Proton
Cyclone
Zenit
Future Directions
Russian Rocket and Space Agencies Today
Troubles Besetting the Russian Space Sector
Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaties
World’s Nuclear Stockpiles
International Space Programs
World’s Space Agencies
China’s Space Program
Space Programs in Other Countries
Ballistic Missile Defense
History of U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense
Strategic Defense Initiative
SDI Architecture
Defensive Tactics
Offensive Tactics
SDI Is Cancelled
Theater Missile Defense
Ballistic Missile Defense Today
Boost Phase
Midcourse Phase
Terminal Phase
Russia’s BMD
China’s BMD
BMD in Other Countries
Commercial Space
Birth of the Commercial Space Age
Space Entrepreneurs
Obstacles Besetting the Aerospace and Defense Sector
Elon Musk and Space X
Falcon Launcher and Dragon Spacecraft
Falcon Heavy
Starship
Peer Competitors
United Launch Alliance
Blue Origin
Northrop Grumman Space Systems
Scaled Composites
Sierra Nevada Corporation
Virgin Galactic
Boeing
Bigelow Aerospace
The Bright Future of Commercial Space
Why Rocket Science Will Soon Be Obsolete
Historical Development of Rocket Science
Kondratiev Cycles
What Are Field Interactions?
The Standard Model of Particle Physics
What Comes After the Standard Model?
Breakthrough Physics and Field Effects Propulsion
New Space Futures
Interstellar Travel
Faster Than Light Travel
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind
Life on Earth and Elsewhere
Past Human Evolution
Classical Darwinian Evolution
The Evolution of Intelligence
Non-Darwinian Human Evolution
Humans and Super Intelligent Computers
The End of the Recognizably Human Species?
The Kardashev Scale
The Big Bang
Popular Misconceptions about the Universe
Inflationary Cosmology
The Evolution of the Universe
The Multiverse Hypothesis
The Promise of Spiritual Evolution
Key Takeaways
Star Trek and the Fermi Paradox
Epilogue
Acronyms and Glossary of Key Terms
Appendix A Mathematical Primer on Rockets
Appendix B Solid Propellants and Rocket Motors
Appendix C Star Travel Parametrics
Appendix D The Statistical Drake Equation
Appendix E Planetary Body Maneuvering
Acknowledgment of Source and Credits
Index
About the author
Prolific author and space transportation systems expert with 45+ years of progressive experience in systems engineering and integration of aerospace and defense systems, systems analysis and trade studies, formulation of system requirements, verification, and validation. Walter Sierra has worked in a variety of assignments from staff engineer to branch supervisor, in locations from major rocket firms in California to the halls of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and many places in between. Author of a four-book series (2021) entitled Beyond the Saga of Rocket Science which is easily readable for those interested in the history of the world’s space programs: (1) The Dawn of the Space Age, (2) Avoiding Armageddon, (3) In Space To Stay, (4) The Never-Ending Frontier. These books have received excellent reviews by Kirkus Reviews, the US Review of Books, Foreword Clarion Reviews, Pacific Book Review, and Blue Ink Review. Author Website: https://www.waltersierra.com
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