{{Short description|1976 book by Gerard K. O'Neill}} {{Redirect|The High Frontier|the Lumerians album|The High Frontier (album)|other uses|High Frontier (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox book | name = The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space | image = The High Frontier cover.jpg | caption = First edition cover | author = Gerard K. O'Neill | cover_artist = Rick Guidice | country = United States | subject = Space colonization | publisher = William Morrow and Company | pub_date = 1976 | media_type = Print (Hardcover) | pages = 288 pp (first edition) | isbn = 0-688-03133-1 | dewey = 609/.99 | congress = TL795.7 .O53 1977 | oclc = 2388134 }} '''''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 (another sphere), 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.
== Awards == The book won the 1977 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science.<ref>{{cite web|title=Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science Winners|publisher=Phi Beta Kappa Society|year=2007|url=https://www.pbk.org/Awards/BookAwards/ScienceWinners|access-date=2023-01-28|archive-date=2022-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102122146/https://www.pbk.org/Awards/BookAwards/ScienceWinners|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Illustrations== The book featured impressions of life in outer space by a number of artists including Don Davis, Rick Guidice, and Chesley Bonestell. <gallery> Image:Spacecolony1.jpg|O'Neill cylinders Image:Spacecolony4.jpeg|Interior of an O'Neill cylinder File:Spacecolony3edit.jpeg|Interior of an O'Neill cylinder Image:Internal view of the O'Neill cylinder.jpg|Solar eclipse inside an O'Neill cylinder
Image:Bernal Sphere 3.jpeg|Interior of a Bernal sphere Image:Bernal Sphere 2.jpeg|Cutaway of a Bernal sphere Image:External view of a Bernal sphere.jpg|Exterior of a Bernal sphere File:External view of a Bernal sphere 2.jpg|Exterior of a Bernal sphere File:Bernal Sphere agricultural module.jpeg|Agricultural module of a Bernal sphere
Image:Stanford torus external view by Don Davis AC76-0525.jpg|The Stanford torus and its mirror File:Stanford torus under construction.jpg|Stanford torus under construction File:Stanford Torus Cutaway view.jpeg|Stanford torus cutaway view File:Stanford Torus interior.jpg|Interior of a Stanford torus
Image:Lunar base concept drawing s78 23252.jpg|Lunar mass driver powered by solar panels. File:Solar power satellite from an asteroid.jpg|Solar power satellite built from an asteroid with a Bernal sphere in the bottom right corner. </gallery>
==In popular culture== Many of the concepts illustrated in ''The High Frontier'' can be seen in the early series of the anime franchise ''Mobile Suit Gundam'', which depicts a world where humans have migrated into space colonies.<ref>{{cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions: Time and Space|publisher=GundamOfficial|date=July 16, 2003|url=http://www.gundamofficial.com/features/faq_time_space.html|accessdate=2008-09-10}}</ref> The O'Neill cylinder colony design appears frequently, largely unchanged from its original concept, such as in ''Policenauts''. The main space station in the popular TV series, ''Babylon 5'', is similar to an O'Neill cylinder, but with internal lighting replacing the windows and mirrors.
==Criticism== Science fiction writer Charles Stross wrote a critical essay with a similar title on the feasibility of interstellar space travel and making practical use of various moons and planets in the Solar System: ''The High Frontier: Redux.''<ref>{{cite web | title=The High Frontier: Redux | date=June 16, 2007 | url=http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the_high_frontier_redux.html | accessdate=2009-09-26}}</ref> Stross's criticisms do not directly apply to the O'Neill's "High Frontier" document about colonizing interplanetary space.
==See also== * ''2081: A Hopeful View of the Human Future'' * L5 Society * Space stations and habitats in popular culture
==References== <references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:High Frontier, The}} Category:Space colonization literature Category:Asteroid mining Category:1976 books Category:1976 non-fiction books Category:American non-fiction books Category:William Morrow and Company books