Beyond Mars
Which worlds should people and robots go to after Mars, inward to Venus and Mercury, outward to Titan, and beyond the solar system? Why, where would we land, and how would we get there? A narrated video course with the PowerPoint, practice questions and a test with certificate.
What you'll learn
Venus and Mercury
Floating cloud cities 30 miles above Venus, ice in Mercury's polar craters, and the missions on the way.
Ceres and the asteroid belt
Ice and brine under Occator Crater, metal asteroids, and why the belt is the fuel stop for everything farther out.
Jupiter's moons
Callisto, the safest base at Jupiter; Europa's hidden ocean; Ganymede. Europa Clipper and JUICE.
Saturn's moons
Titan's thick air and methane seas, Enceladus's geysers, and the Dragonfly drone helicopter.
The far planets
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Beyond the solar system
Voyager 1, Proxima b, the seven planets of TRAPPIST-1, light sails and von Neumann's self-copying probes.
How we get there
Reusable rockets, nuclear engines, gravity assists, nuclear power, living off the land, and robots first.
The speed of light and beyond
Light-years, why nothing goes faster than light, time slowing near light speed, warp drives and wormholes.
Where people could live
The Moon, Mars, Venus's clouds, Titan, Callisto, Ceres, spinning space habitats and planets around other stars, compared.
Our suggested order
Six steps outward, based on safety, resources and distance.
What you get
- The narrated video and audio, about 12 minutes
- The PowerPoint, with a written reading slide after every narrated slide
- A practice page with key facts and practice questions
- A 10-question test with every answer explained and a printable certificate at 80%