title: Starsailing: Solar Sails and Interstellar Travel
author:  Louis Friedman 
description: Cofounder (with Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray) of the Planetary Society, Friedman spent 10 years working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was involved in, among other projects, research on solar sailing. (Three times NASA has rejected the solar sail, which operates on sunlight pressure and uses no fuel.) Friedman describes how the sails work and outlines their history, beginning with the first scientific paper on the subject, written under a pseudonym by engineer Carl Wiley for a 1951 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. In nontechnical language, the author covers the physics of solar sailing, problems of solar navigation, the design and construction of solar sail spacecraft and its promise for the future: "Used as an interplanetary shuttle, the sail would enable us to collect samples on Mars and other planets on a continuing basis." The 72 illustrations include diagrams, paintings and photos. This visionary volume, one of an excellent series of lay science Wiley Science Edition books, is recommended to anyone interested in science. <BR>Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: PROXIMA RISING
  Hard Science Fiction
  
  BRANDON Q. MORRIS
  
  Contents
  Proxima Rising
  Author’s Note
  Also by Brandon Q. Morris
  Exoplanets – A Guided Tour
  Glossary of Acronyms
  Metric to English Conversions
  Excerpt: Proxima Dying
  
  Proxima Rising
  
  January 1 of Year 1
  MY NAME IS DIMITRI MARCHENKO. I 
  AM 
  ON BOARD MESSENGER,
  mankind’s first interstellar spaceship. The ship moves through the vacuum
  of space at one fifth the speed of light, powered by an enormous amount of
  energy, with no engine and no need for one.
  I woke today according to plan at 0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds. All
  systems of Messenger are functioning in the intended ranges. The star
  tracker, which orients itself based on the position of the stars nearest to us,
  reports the flight is going according to plan. The solar system in which I
  was born is located 28 trillion kilometers from our current position. The
  light of my home star, the sun, takes three years to cover this distance. But
  before this moment’s solar rays reach us, we wil