Clarke, Arthur C. (ed.) - Project Solar Sail / Кларк, Артур (ред.) - Проект "Солнечный парус" [1990, EPUB, ENG]

Foreword: The Winds of Space essay by Arthur C. Clarke Introduction: Sailing the Void essay by Isaac Asimov The Wind from the Sun / Солнечный ветер novelette by Arthur C. Clarke To Sail Beyond the Sun (A Luminous Collage) poem by Ray Bradbury and Jonathan V. Post The Canvas of the Night essay by Eric Drexler Ice Pilot short story by David Brin A Solar Privateer poem by Jonathan Eberhart Sunjammer / Солнечный парус novelette by Poul Anderson A Rebel Technology Comes Alive essay by Jonathan V. Post and Chauncey Uphoff Argosies of Magic Sails (excerpts from "Locksley Hall") poem by Alfred Tennyson Ion Propulsion: The Solar Sail's Competition for Access to the Solar System essay by Bryan Palaszewski The Grand Tour short story by Charles Sheffield Lightsail poem by Scott E. Green Rescue at L-5 short story by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason Lightsails to the Stars essay by Joel Davis and Robert L. Forward The Fourth Profession / Четвёртая профессия novelette by Larry Niven Goodnight, Children short story by Joe Clifford Faust Solar Sails in an Interplanetary Economy essay by Louis Friedman and Robert L. Staehle Afterword essay by Arthur C. Clarke

The enormous disk of sail strained at its rigging, already filled with the wind that blew between the worlds. In three minutes the race would begin, yet now John Merton felt more relaxed, more at peace, than at any time for the past year. Whatever happened when the Commodore gave the starting signal, whether Diana carried him to victory or defeat, he had achieved his ambition. After a lifetime spent in designing ships for others, now he would sail his own. “T minus two minutes,” said the cabin radio. “Please confirm your readiness.” One by one, the other skippers answered. Merton recognized all the voices—some tense, some calm—for they were the voices of his friends and rivals. On the four inhabited worlds, there were scarcely twenty men who could sail a sun yacht; and they were all here, on the starting line or aboard the escort vessels, orbiting twenty-two thousand miles above the equator. . . .