 First edition cover | |
| Author | Gerard K. O'Neill |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Rick Guidice |
| Subject | Space colonization |
| Publisher | William Morrow and Company |
Publication date | 1976 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 288 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | 0-688-03133-1 |
| 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 human on the Moon and beyond. It envisions large human occupied 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.