Misión Alfa: Manuel Mariscal’s Novel of the First Crewed Journey to Another Star
An improved propulsion system based on nuclear fusion, an atomic-particle engine with an extremely high specific impulse, makes possible crewed interstellar journeys that were once unimaginable. Misión Alfa tells the story of the preparation and execution of the first of these journeys, which takes its protagonists to the very threshold of another planetary system four light years from Earth.
Author: Manuel Mariscal Muñoz
Title: Misión Alfa (1998)
Format: Spanish paperback (Editorial Generalife), 384 pages
Scope: Hard science fiction novel set at the end of the 21st century
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/8460577864 (ASIN 8460577864)
A Family in Deep Space
The uncertainties and setbacks faced by the young astronaut couple in charge of exploring the new planetary system are the backbone of this story, set at the end of the twenty-first century. One of the problems is conceiving a child in artificial conditions, in outer space: a child with no right to a normal childhood, with no friends of his own age, and everything that implies.
Pablo
Other difficulties arise in the daily life of this very unusual family, who decide to carry out the exploration over several years away from Earth. The first drawings of Pablo, the couple’s son, reflect the environment around him, so different from Earth’s. His parents teach him to read and write and give him lessons in mathematics and more. His questions about something as ordinary as fire show how hard it is for a child born away from Earth to understand our world.
Four Light-Years Away
The novel’s destination is a planetary system about four light-years from Earth, the distance of our nearest stellar neighbours, the Alpha Centauri system, which presumably gives the mission its name. Even at a substantial fraction of the speed of light, such a journey would take years each way, and the novel takes that seriously: the astronauts must plan for a long stay away from home, with all the psychological and practical consequences.
The Real Science
The book’s starting point, a fusion-powered engine with very high specific impulse, is grounded in real research. Specific impulse measures how efficiently an engine uses its propellant: the higher it is, the more speed a spacecraft can gain from a given amount of fuel. Chemical rockets are far too inefficient for interstellar travel, which is why engineers have studied alternatives. In the 1970s the British Interplanetary Society’s Project Daedalus designed an uncrewed fusion-powered probe for a journey to another star, and more recent proposals have explored light sails pushed by lasers. Mariscal imagines the next step: a crewed ship.
Life in Deep Space
What sets the novel apart is its attention to daily life. Raising a child far from Earth, in artificial gravity or none, with no other children and no chance of a normal school, raises questions that space agencies are only beginning to consider, from radiation exposure to the effects of isolation on development. Pablo’s drawings, shaped by an environment no earthly child has known, are the novel’s most touching invention.
The Author and the Book
Manuel Mariscal Muñoz’s novel was published by Editorial Generalife in 1998. Spanish hard science fiction has never been a large field, which makes this kind of book unusual, and readers who enjoy it could turn to Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora (2015), another novel about the human realities of an interstellar voyage.
The Diary
With no news from Earth, the family continues its adventure, keeping a diary with notes on the main events of each day. It is interesting to see how the longing to know a new world full of possibilities leads this couple to make so many sacrifices, and they return home confident that their work has been worthwhile. I have not found an English edition, so I link the Spanish one.
As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases.
Part of the reading recommendations featured on books.sapiensverbum.com.
