Advanced Space System Concepts and Technologies

The book presents an imaginative view of what space could well become in the next several decades if new technologies are developed and bold new innovative applications are undertaken. It discusses the following concepts: a future environment for space activities very different from the predominant conditions of the past and present; a dozen critical technologies with the potential for making orders-of-magnitude reductions in spacecraft and launch vehicle weight and cost and orders-of-magnitude increases in their performance; and a large number of space applications that use these technologies to address both established as well as unconventional missions and functions that have revolutionary potential.