Unofficially they called themselves the TFNG, or the Thirty-Five New Guys. Officially, they were NASA's Group 8 astronauts, selected in January 1978 to train for orbital missions aboard the Space Shuttle. Prior to this time only pilots or scientists trained as pilots had been as…
This book introduces the Statistical Drake Equation where, from a simple product of seven positive numbers, the Drake Equation is turned into the product of seven positive random variables. The mathematical consequences of this transformation are demonstrated and it is proven th…
This title reviews in-depth research on accretion on all scales, from galactic binaries to intermediate mass and supermassive black holes. Possible future directions of accretion are also discussed. The following main themes are covered: a historical perspective; physical models…
Water has been discovered on the Saturnian moon, Enceladus, and on Jupiter's moons, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Where there is water, could there be life? Could this tantalizing possibility result in a manned mission to the outer planets? But how will such a mission be desig…
As humans take their first tentative steps off our home planet, and debate the costs/benefits of sending people back to the Moon and perhaps on to Mars, we must also start to make plans for the day when we will venture forth as pioneers farther out into the Solar System and beyo…