Interstellar Monitor

In the year 2441, the War of Wazian Ascension ended in victory for Earth. Captain Zeta Smith of the IERS Monitor was declared a hero of the Interstellar Earth Republic. Soon after the war, Captain Zeta Smith and the crew of the Monitor discovered that keeping the peace can be more bloody and painful than fighting the actual war. Old enemies have returned, and they do not follow the same rules as Captain Smith and his crew. Captain Smith and the crew of the Monitor will have to face painful facts of human history, and the nightmarish flaws of the human soul to survive the trials and difficulties they will face. In the end, they will not only have to defeat their physical enemies, but the demons of human history.

In the year 2450, peace is commonplace for the Interstellar Earth Republic. Captain Dennis Masilleo has been in command of the IERS Monitor for eight years. The former captain of the Monitor, Zeta Smith, is now a Huzlorian count and is the ruler of the city of Dublesh on the planet Huzlor. But from the darkest reaches of space, a group of enemies is about to strike, and peace for Masilleo, Smith, and the rest of humanity is about to be shattered. Evil is on the move, and it is bringing death and destruction to the worlds of the Interstellar Earth Republic and into the lives of the crew of the Monitor. The greatest danger Earth has ever faced is about to be unleashed, and a war of unbelievable magnitude will spread across the known galaxy. The crew of the Monitor will be tested like they never have been before, and everything they hold dear will be shaken to its foundation. Even if they are successful in defeating this evil, they will still have to face an even greater opponent who is lurking in the shadows close to home. It will be as if the universe itself has turned on humanity, and many people will be considered to be among the forsaken multitude. This is the fourth book in the Interstellar Monitor series.

In the year 2440, the IERS Monitor is launched on its maiden voyage into interstellar space. Under the command of Captain Zeta Smith, the Monitor goes on a journey of great importance to the Interstellar Earth Republic. The Monitor must represent Earth's interests and also defend Earth's territories. The galaxy can be a dangerous place. Along the way the Monitor encounters many enemies of Earth and many potential allies. The crew of the Monitor has experiences they will never forget. They experience a journey filled with action, adventure, intrigue, betrayal, mysticism, ideology, secrets, romance, and dry humor. Members of the crew must confront their own weaknesses and strengths. In the end, the IERS Monitor is a ship that affects the course of interstellar history.

Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence is devoted to the concepts and studies related to the science, technology, and observational techniques of communication with extraterrestrial intelligence (CETI). Topics covered range from the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) to the theory of interstellar communication; the problem of the origin of life; radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations; and interstellar communication by neutrino beams. An infinitely expandable space radiotelescope is also described. This book is comprised of 21 chapters and opens with a discussion on the CETI activities of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) from 1965 to 1976 and describes the outlook for the IAA CETI Standing Committee. The following chapters sketch the background and rationale for a SETI program; the significance of the detection of signals and of information that may be contained in signals from extraterrestrial civilizations; an extended Drake's equation, the longevity-separation relation, equilibrium, inhomogeneities, and chain formation; and the physical and psychological basis for the belief that a band of frequencies called the water hole is a prime band for SETI. This monograph will appeal to practitioners in the fields of astrophysics, astronomy, planetary formation, exobiology, and biological evolution.

Knowledge about the outer heliosphere and the interstellar medium, which were long treated as two separate fields, has improved dramatically over the past 25 years as a consequence of recent developments: The discovery of interstellar pickup ions and neutral helium inside the heliosphere, the determination of the interstellar hydrogen distribution in the heliosphere obtained using backscattered solar Lyman-alpha radiation, the prediction and subsequent detection of the hydrogen wall just outside of the heliopause, the development of detailed global models for the interaction of solar wind plasma with the interstellar medium, and most recently, direct in-situ plasma and field measurements inside of the heliosheath. At the same time, our understanding of the nearby galactic environment, including the composition and dynamics of the warm gas clouds and hot gas in the local bubble, has benefited greatly from absorption-line spectroscopy using nearby stars as background sources and dynamic modeling. The present volume provides a synopsis of these developments organised into seven sections: Dominant physical processes in the termination shock and heliosheath, three-dimensional shape and structure of the dynamic heliosphere, relation of the plasmas and dust inside and outside of the heliosphere, origin and properties of the very local interstellar medium, energy and pressure equilibria in the local bubble, physical processes in the multiphase interstellar medium inside of the local bubble, and the roles that magnetic fields play in the outer heliosphere and the local bubble. The last theme is probably the most basic of all as magnetic fields play important roles in most of the phenomena discussed here. The volume concludes with four papers providing the "big picture" by looking at the time evolution of both the heliosphere and the local bubble, looking beyond the local bubble, and finally addressing the challenges in modeling the interface between the two media.

Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide in Robotic Exploration of the Solar System a detailed history of unmanned missions of exploration of our Solar System. The subject is treated from an engineering and scientific standpoint. Technical descriptions of the spacecraft, of their mission designs and of instrumentations are provided. Scientific results are discussed in considerable depth, together with details of mission management. The project will deliver four volumes totaling over 2,000 pages that will provide comprehensive coverage of the topic with thousands of references to the professional literature that should make it the 'first port of call' for people seeking information on the topic. The books will cover missions from the 1950s until the present day, and some of the latest missions and their results will appear in a popular science book for the first time.