Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space

Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space (Stanley Schmidt and Robert Zubrin, eds., Wiley, 1996, ISBN 0-471-13561-5) is a book composed of a collection of factual articles on space colonization, several from recognized experts in the field.

The articles range from colloquial to fairly technical, occasionally deriving results after a series of calculus equations. Their subject matter ranges from colonization of the inner Solar System to the outer Solar System and interstellar colonization, and from novel application of well-understood engineering principles, to speculative physics theories. It includes five articles authored or co-authored by Zubrin; other notable authors include Robert L. Forward, Martyn J. Fogg, and Christopher McKay. The book is also notable for including a publication of Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct mission architecture (first formulated in 1990), which was soon expanded into a book of its own, The Case For Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must, and which provided the impetus for the founding of the Mars Society.

Contents

• Introduction, Stanley Schmidt
• Part One: Breaking the Bonds of the Earth
  • "Comes the Revolution...", G. Harry Stine
  • "The Hypersonic Skyhook", Robert Zubrin
• Part Two: Stepping Into the Solar System
  • "Mars Direct: A Proposal for the Rapid Exploration and Colonization of the Red Planet", Robert Zubrin and David A. Baker
  • "Inward Ho!", Stephen L. Gillett
  • "Colonizing the Outer Solar System", Robert Zubrin
  • "Islands in the Sky: Human Exploration and Settlement of the Oort Cloud", Richard P. Terra
  • "Alien Life Between Here and the Stars", Robert L. Forward
• Part Three: Creating New Worlds
  • "Terraforming Mars", Robert Zubrin and Christopher P. McKay
  • "A Planet Dweller's Dreams", Martyn J. Fogg
  • "Astrophysical Engineering and the Fate of the Earth", Martyn J. Fogg
• Part Four: Advanced Drives and Interstellar Travel
  • "To the Stars!", Gordon R. Woodcock
  • "The Magnetic Sail", Robert Zubrin
  • "The Tachyon Drive: Infinite Exhaust Velocity at Zero Energy Cost", John G. Cramer
  • "The Negative Matter Space Drive", Robert L. Forward
  • "The Economics of Interstellar Commerce", Warren Salomon