Meetings
Map of UOP
7:30 PM Thursday October 12th
University of the Pacific
Olson Hall room 120
Stockton Astronomical Society
Presents
Ejner Fulsang
On Becoming a Spacefaring Society:
If we ever hope to become a true spacefaring society, we must wean ourselves
away from chemical rockets. This premise will be proven through an examination
of Tsiolkovsky’s Rocket Equation, where it will become apparent that adding fuel
achieves diminishing returns, but increasing exhaust gas velocity offers rapid transits
to Mars, the outer planets, and eventually the nearby stars. There is an upper limit
to the exhaust gas velocity of chemical rockets. To improve on this we must
revisit nuclear thermal rockets, and eventually fusion rockets, and finally antimatter
rockets. Each of these technologies is feasible although considerable engineering
and infrastructure development remains to be done. This technological evolution
is being presented in Fulsang’s series of hard SciFi novels, The Galactican Series.
This presentation will be delivered at the high school physics level.
Fulsang will be offering for sale signed copies of each of his two SciFi novels,
SpaceCorp and CisLuna. The price is $30 for both, or $15 each.
Retail price on Amazon is $36.75 plus shipping and taxes.
Ejner Fulsang has been a tech writer for NASA and SETI for the last ten years. His
specialty is helping scientists write proposals for space missions. It’s been quite
an education, covering topics like spacecraft, instruments, mission design, launch
vehicles, and hazards of space. He is particularly intrigued by the possibility of life
on other planets and moons, especially the notion of a second genesis where life
comes from chemical, not biological origins.
…Eric Holland
