Wright was one of the first to introduce the concept of propulsion using light pressure. He reports on his continuing work, mostly at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, for scientists, engineers, and space enthusiasts with little technical background. The first space sailors are probably in junior high now. Printed on acidic paper. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Solar sailing - using the sun as a propellant - offers the possibility of low-cost long-distance missions that are impossible with conventional spacecraft. This first comprehensive book on this propulsion method provides a detailed account of solar sailing, at a high technical level, but in a way accessible to the scientifically informed layperson. Solar sail orbital dynamics and solar radiation pressure form the foundations of the book, but the engineering design of solar sails is also considered, along with potential mission applications.

The range of solar sailing is very vast; it is a fully in-space means of propulsion that should allow us to accomplish various mission classes that are literally impossible using rocket propulsion, no matter if nuclear or electric. Fast and very fast solar sailings are special classes of sailcraft missions, initially developed only in the first half of the 1990s and still evolving, especially after the latest advances in nanotechnology. This book describes how to plan, compute and optimize the trajectories of sailcraft with speeds considerably higher than 100 km/s; such sailcraft would be able to explore the outer heliosphere, the near interstellar medium and the solar gravitational lens (550-800 astronomical units) in times significantly shorter than the span of an average career (~ 35 years), just to cite a few examples. The scientific interest in this type of exploration is huge.

This book presents the best contributions of the the Third International Symposium on Solar Sailing Glasgow, 11 – 13 June 2013. It is a rapid snap-shot of the state-of-the art of solar sail technology in 2013 across the globe, capturing flight programs, technology development programs and new technology and application concepts. The book contains contributions from all of the leading figures in the field, including NASA, JAXA, ESA & DLR as well as university and industry experts. It therefore provides a unique reference point for the solar sail technology. The book also includes key contributions from the prospective users of solar sail technology, which will allow the technology to be considered by the user in this unique context.

Anyone dreaming about owning an affordable sailboat will be attracted by this book which provides a good introduction to trailer-sailing. The author shows how cruising on a small boat that can be kept at home and towed behind the family car is a satisfying and not very costly exercise.

Clear all moorings, one-half impulse power and set course for a mare incognitum... A popular culture artifact of the New Frontier/Space Race era, Star Trek is often mistakenly viewed as a Space Western. However, the Western format is not what governs the worldbuilding of Star Trek, which was, after all, also pitched as "Hornblower in space." Star Trek is modeled on the world of the "British Golden Age of Sail" as it is commonly found in the genre of sea fiction. This book re-historicizes and remaps the origins of the franchise and subsequently the entirety of its fictional world--the Star Trek continuum--on an as yet uncharted transatlantic bearing.