The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space
First edition cover
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| Author | Gerard K. O'Neill |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Rick Guidice |
| Country | United States |
| Subject | Space colonization |
| Publisher | William Morrow and Company |
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Publication date
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1977 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 288 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 2388134 |
| 609/.99 | |
| LC Class | TL795.7 .O53 1977 |
The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space is a 1976 book by Gerard K. O'Neill, a road map for what the United States might do in outer space after the Apollo program, the drive to place a man on the Moon and beyond. It envisions large manned habitats in the Earth-Moon system, especially near stable Lagrangian points. Three designs are proposed: Island one (a modified Bernal sphere), Island two (a Stanford torus), and Island 3, two O'Neill cylinders. These would be constructed using raw materials from the lunar surface launched into space using a mass driver and from near-Earth asteroids. The habitats were to spin for simulated gravity and be illuminated and powered by the sun. Solar power satellites were proposed as a possible industry to support the habitats.
The book won the 1977 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science.
The book featured impressions of life in outer space by a number of artists including Don Davis, Rick Guidice, and Chesley Bonestell.
Interior of an O'Neill cylinder
Interior of an O'Neill cylinder
Solar eclipse inside an O'Neill cylinder
Interior of a Bernal sphere
Cutaway of a Bernal sphere
Exterior of a Bernal sphere
Exterior of a Bernal sphere
Agricultural module of a Bernal sphere
The Stanford torus and its mirror
Stanford torus under construction
Stanford torus cutaway view
Interior of a Stanford torus
Lunar mass driver powered by solar panels.
Solar power satellite built from an asteroid with a Bernal sphere in the bottom right corner.
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Wikipedia