Segnalo un libro appena uscito dedicato ai viaggi interstellari. L’autore, Coryn Bailer-Jones, è uno degli astronomi che lavora sui dati di Gaia.
Un articolo di presentazione da Centauri Dreams:
Coryn Bailer-Jones’ The Physics of Interstellar Travel fills a need which has become apparent only in the last twenty years. Indeed, going back to the turn of the century, one would find the idea of traveling to another star discussed only in relatively isolated pockets, often presented at the tail end of conferences devoted to other astronautical topics. Papers, though, were being written at an increased rate, building on early work begun in the 1950s through the efforts of luminaries such as Les Shepherd and Eugen Sänger and continuing into the era of Robert Forward. By the year 2000, a number of mission designs had been created, still very much on the back burner but of high interest to specialists. […]
The Physics of Interstellar Travel is, in short, a comprehensive extension of current textbooks in astronautics into the realm of missions once thought to be impossible. This book’s mathematical rigor should clarify for rising students the realization that steps we take today can result in practical outcomes, with the goal of reaching another star conceivable by the end of this century.
La versione digitale del libro si può scaricare gratuitamente da questa pagina: