Table of Contents
Earthbound

The Obstacles to Human Space Exploration and the Promise of Artificial Intelligence

• Preface
• Introduction
• I. Hell off Earth
• Perilous Unknown Unknowns
• Deep Space Radiation Onslaught
• Radiation disrupts cells
• Radiation cripples blood cells
• Radiation damages the brain
• Radiation attacks the gut
• Radiation’s heart attack
• Radiation compromises the lung
• Radiation clouds the eye
• Radiation causes cancer
• Radiation underlies abnormal behavior
• Weightlessness: Biology Unmoored
• Artificial gravity impractical
• Weightless cell impaired
• Spaceflight brain damage
• Brittle bone, wasting muscle
• Space blindness unavoidable
• Shrinking weightless heart
• Lung effects a puzzle
• Blood cells destroyed
• Gut barrier disrupted
• Liver damage detected
• II. Medical Deep Space Perils
• Immune System Malfunction
• Space Disease Outbreak Threat
• Microbiome Malfunction in Space
• Space Malnutrition Hazard
• Massive Space Waste
• Enduring a Foul Environment
• Traumatic Head Trip
• Pathological Sleep Deprivation
• Space Hazards Synergize
• III. Space Medicine as Malpractice
• IV. Unique Orbital, Surface Hazards
• Space Junk Hazard
• Unique Lunar Perils
• The Alien Hazards of Mars
• V. The Cosmic Cheerleaders
• NASA Promoting Its Self-interest
• Self-Serving Politicians
• Zealous Enthusiasts
• Uncritical Media
• Profit-Seeking Space-Industrial Complex
• Billionaires’ Space Visions
• VI. Fantastic Voyages: Sci-fi as Propaganda
• VII. Flawed Arguments for Human Space Exploration
• VIII. Politicized Space
• Apollitics Ruled
• Politically Driven Space Shuttle
• Pie-in-the-Sky Space Station
• A History of Waste in Space
• NASA’s Spinoff Spin
• The China Syndrome
• IX. A Fiscal Moondoggle
• Coping with Major Equipment Snafus
• X. The Folly of a Mars Mission
• XI. Future Flights of Fancy
• The Murky Prospects for Space Manufacturing
• The Siren Song of Space Tourism
• The Shimmering Mirage of Colonies
• The Fevered Dream of an Asteroid Gold Rush
• XII. Is Human Space Travel Unethical?
• The Ethics of Astronauts as Test Subjects
• Management Ethical Lapses
• Ethical Unknowns of Space Hazards
• The Ethics of Mars Contamination
• XIII. Launching a Neuronaut Space Program
• Mounting Bio-reconnaissance Missions
• Rugged Robots Rule
• The Promise of Neuronauts
• Seeking a Heaven on Earth