Living Among Giants ― Exploring and Settling the Outer Solar System

The outer Solar System is rich in resources and may be the best region in which to search for life beyond Earth. In fact, it may ultimately be the best place for Earthlings to set up permanent abodes. This book surveys the feasibility of that prospect, covering the fascinating history of exploration that kicks off our adventure into the outer Solar System.

Although other books provide surveys of the outer planets, Carroll approaches it from the perspective of potential future human exploration, exploitation and settlement, using insights from today’s leading scientists in the field. These experts take us to targets such as the moons Titan, Triton, Enceladus, Iapetus and Europa, and within the atmospheres of the gas and ice giants. In these pages you will experience the thrill of discovery awaiting those who journey through the giant worlds and their moons.

All the latest research is included, as are numerous illustrations, among them original paintings by the author, a renowned prize-winning space artist.

Springer author/artist Michael Carroll received the AAS Division of Planetary Science’s Jonathan Eberhart Award for the best planetary science feature article of 2012, an article based on his Springer book Drifting on Alien Winds. He lectures extensively in concert with his various books, and has done invited talks at science museums, aerospace facilities, and NASA centers. His two decades as a science journalist have left him well-connected in the planetary science community. He is a Fellow of the International Association for the Astronomical Arts, and has written articles and books on topics ranging from space to archeology. His articles have appeared in Popular Science, Astronomy, Sky and Telescope, Astronomy Now (UK), and a host of children’s magazines. His twenty-some titles also include Alien Volcanoes (Johns Hopkins University Press), Space Art (Watson Guptill), The Seventh Landing (Springer 2009), and Drifting on Alien Winds (Springer 2011). His latest coauthored book is Springer’s Alien Seas: Oceans in Space (2013).

Carroll has done commissioned artwork for NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and several hundred magazines throughout the world, including National Geographic, Time, Smithsonian, Astronomy, and others. One of his paintings is on the surface of Mars—in digital form—aboard the Phoenix lander. Carroll is the 2006 recipient of the Lucien Rudaux Award for lifetime achievement in the Astronomical Arts.