Synopsis
Describes the future high-orbital manufacturing facilities now in the planning stage, explaining how they will be placed in orbit, how they will operate, who will work in them, and how living conditions will be controlled and sustained. Bibliogs
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Review
Rocket man, I think it's going to be a long, long time. When Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill published the first edition of High Frontier back in the mid-70s (just four years after "Rocket Man," to be exact), he just assumed that some of us would be living in orbit by now. Or as the Space Studies Institute's George Friedman puts it in a new essay for this third edition of O'Neill's pioneering work, the L5 society's slogan "L5 in '95!" certainly wasn't referring to 2095.
In High Frontier, O'Neill had mapped out a straightforward, manifestly doable path to putting humans into space permanently and sustainably, using 1970s material and current-day Zubrin-style know-how. But O'Neill died in 1992 seeing humanity no closer to fulfilling his bold vision. Freeman Dyson points out in a new introduction to this edition that in many ways we've actually backslided, that the International Space Station (and the current role of NASA) is "not a step forward on the road to the High Frontier. It's a big step backward, a setback that will take decades to overcome."
But O'Neill's idea of pursuing an inexhaustible energy supply (solar power in space) and endless room to expand remains tantalisingly attractive. The science has only gotten easier, and the moral imperative has only become more pronounced, with the planet's resources ever-steadily squeezed and the recent knowledge that a mass-extinction event on Earth is nearly inevitable. (O'Neill calls the High Frontier the only chance to make human life--perhaps all life in the universe--"unkillable.") The High Frontier is as exciting a read as it ever was, and six new chapters provide context for the advances made in the 25 years since O'Neill's original manifesto. But perhaps the best addition to this printing is the chance to see and hear the soft-spoken physicist himself, in more than an hour of MPEG video included on the CD-ROM. --Paul Hughes
Synopsis
CD-ROM and Book. Man's on-going conquest of the solar system has been much publicised for its miraculous accomplishments. What is generally less publicised are the potential uses of space beyond simply landing men on another planet. 'Flags and foot-prints' is something we can all be proud of, but the true value of near-Earth space lies with the possibilities for manufacturing and colonisation. Processes not possible on Earth, because of atmosphere and gravity, can be employed in space to produce unique and highly desirable commodities. Habitats built in space, occupying the same orbit as the moon and made primarily from lunar raw materials, can be the necessary answer to our desperate, ever-increasing needs for living and agricultural areas. O'Neill is universally recognised as the father of the 'O'Neill colony' concept. Beginning in the 1970s, he took the original concepts and built from them a complete, realistic and attainable plan - a plan to orbit permanent colonies at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points in near-Earth space, where everyday people would live, work and play in comfort and safety in an environmentally satisfying world.
In this 3rd edition of The High Frontier, is O'Neill's original blueprint for the future, accompanied by new chapters presenting the up-to-date technologies and social considerations that impact upon and further justify the plan. This is a vision of a possible hopeful future that could already have come to pass if the human race had committed to it - it is still a source of hope for the future."About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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THE HIGH FRONTIER: Human Colonies in Space
Published by
William Morrow and Company, Inc, New York, 1977
ISBN 10: 0688031331
ISBN 13: 9780688031336
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Type Punch Matrix, Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
First printing. Uncommon first edition of the particle physicist's exposition of his famous solution to the housing shortage and the climate crisis: energy-saving space colonies, conveniently parked between the earth and the Moon. O'Neill's proposal for human space colonies involved a series of cylinders suspended between the earth and moon at a point called LaGrange Point 5. Presented as a way to combat environmental degradation, his iconic designs (reproduced here) have gone on to have a much larger influence on many filmmakers and writers. As writer David Pescovitz wrote of HIGH FRONTIER, it "captures the wonder and sense of possibility that permeated our culture after the first moon landing and into the 1970s." The first printing of this, his landmark book, is uncommon. 8'' x 5.5''. Original quarter blue cloth with black boards. Tiffany blue endpapers. In original unclipped ($8.95) dust jacket by Rick Giudice. Illustrated with black and white plates. 288 pages. Minor edgewear to jacket, slight fading to spine. Faint crease front flap. Touches of shelfwear to book. Overall bright and sound. Near fine in very good plus jacket. Seller Inventory # 55122
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THE HIGH FRONTIER: Human Colonies in Space
Published by
William Morrow and Company, Inc, New York, 1977
ISBN 10: 0688031331
ISBN 13: 9780688031336
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Type Punch Matrix, Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very good in very good jacket. First printing. Rare inscribed first edition of the particle physicist's exposition of his famous solution to the housing shortage and the climate crisis: energy-saving space colonies, conveniently parked between Earth and the Moon. O'Neill's proposal for human space colonies involved a series of cylinders suspended between the earth and moon at a point called LaGrange Point 5. Presented as a way to combat environmental degradation, his iconic designs (reproduced here) have gone on to have a much larger influence on many filmmakers and writers. As writer David Pescovitz wrote of HIGH FRONTIER, it "captures the wonder and sense of possibility that permeated our culture after the first moon landing and into the 1970s." The first printing of this, his landmark book, is uncommon, and it is rare signed especially in the year of publication. 8'' x 5.5''. Original quarter blue cloth with black boards. Tiffany blue endpapers. In original unclipped ($8.95) dust jacket by Rick Giudice. Illustrated with black and white plates. 288 pages. Inscribed by the author on the half title: "With very best wishes to Eugenia Fernandez, and hopes that Brazil may join in the thrust toward the high frontier. Gerard K. O'Neill 3/1/77." Minor wear and toning to jacket. Small closed tear to lower edge rear spine fold with tape repair to verso. Some sunning to edges of book, a few pages slightly dog-eared. Else clean and sound. Seller Inventory # 50294