Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space

Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space (Stanley Schmidt and Robert Zubrin, eds., Wiley, 1996, ISBN 0-471-13561-5) is a book composed of a collection of factual articles on space colonization, several from recognized experts in the field.

The articles range from colloquial to fairly technical, occasionally deriving results after a series of calculus equations. Their subject matter ranges from colonization of the inner Solar System to the outer Solar System and interstellar colonization, and from novel application of well-understood engineering principles, to speculative physics theories. It includes five articles authored or co-authored by Zubrin; other notable authors include Robert L. Forward, Martyn J. Fogg, and Christopher McKay. The book is also notable for including a publication of Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct mission architecture (first formulated in 1990), which was soon expanded into a book of its own, The Case For Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must, and which provided the impetus for the founding of the Mars Society.

Contents

 * Introduction, Stanley Schmidt
 * Part One: Breaking the Bonds of the Earth
 * "Comes the Revolution...", G. Harry Stine
 * "The Hypersonic Skyhook", Robert Zubrin
 * Part Two: Stepping Into the Solar System
 * "Mars Direct: A Proposal for the Rapid Exploration and Colonization of the Red Planet", Robert Zubrin and David A. Baker
 * "Inward Ho!", Stephen L. Gillett
 * "Colonizing the Outer Solar System", Robert Zubrin
 * "Islands in the Sky: Human Exploration and Settlement of the Oort Cloud", Richard P. Terra
 * "Alien Life Between Here and the Stars", Robert L. Forward
 * Part Three: Creating New Worlds
 * "Terraforming Mars", Robert Zubrin and Christopher P. McKay
 * "A Planet Dweller's Dreams", Martyn J. Fogg
 * "Astrophysical Engineering and the Fate of the Earth", Martyn J. Fogg
 * Part Four: Advanced Drives and Interstellar Travel
 * "To the Stars!", Gordon R. Woodcock
 * "The Magnetic Sail", Robert Zubrin
 * "The Tachyon Drive: Infinite Exhaust Velocity at Zero Energy Cost", John G. Cramer
 * "The Negative Matter Space Drive", Robert L. Forward
 * "The Economics of Interstellar Commerce", Warren Salomon