Beyond the Earth (Rafael Clemente)

In what already seems like a very welcome custom, another three years have passed since his last work, his apotheotic work on the Apollo program, Rafael Clemente returns to the attack with a new historical plunge into the field of space exploration. On this occasion, we will accompany you on the trips of the probes and automatic robots sent to the other planets of the solar system.

Centuries after the invention of the telescope, a fabulous but limited instrument, the exploration of the solar system using these vehicles has been crucial to expanding our knowledge of the universe without putting human life at risk. These missions allow us to study planets, moons, asteroids and comets directly, providing data on their composition, atmosphere and conditions. This helps to better understand the formation of the solar system, evaluate possible threats to Earth, such as asteroids, and detect environments that may support life, such as on Mars or the moons of Jupiter. Furthermore, the technologies developed for these explorations drive scientific advances applicable in other areas.

Such is its interest that the history of this company dates back to the very beginning of astronautics, when space powers competed to be the first to explore Venus, Mars and beyond. Several decades have passed since then, and countless missions have been sent to those destinations. In his new book, Rafael Clemente, one of the main pioneers of the dissemination of astronautics in Spain, makes a superb review of the most important ones, both from the point of view of the ingenuities themselves, and the amazing results that they managed to send towards Earth.

The author examines very diverse aspects of this complicated adventure, such as the suitability of the technology involved, the communications systems used, the astrodynamics necessary to trace such distant routes, some of the most surprising discoveries, etc., also presenting countless anecdotes. that make reading this book a remarkable entertainment.

There are many things that the reader will learn. The book is divided into chapters that cover a specific destination (Venus, Mars, Mercury, the outer planets, the minor bodies), which allows us to highlight some differences in the exploration of each, due to aspects such as the distance to the Sun, the nature of its surfaces, etc.

With the continuous improvement of the instruments and technology involved, the agencies and countries engaged in this exploratory task have not stopped returning to all of these destinations, each time going a little further. We have already learned a lot about them, but there are still unknowns to be resolved, such as the possible existence of life in other places in the solar system. It will be these robots, from orbit, or from the surface of such stars, that could reveal what could be the main scientific discovery in history.

Taking into account that the exploration of the solar system is probably at one of its most interesting moments, with multiple devices working simultaneously around and on a large number of bodies in our planetary system, it is especially appropriate to know what humanity has done in this field to date, and what it intends to do in the near future. Clemente’s work is, therefore, one of the most timely and recommended proposals in the field of scientific dissemination.

Dome Books. 2024. Softcover, 255 pages. ISBN: 978-84-4804-132-8