About this project

I have been thinking about orbital rings and space infrastructure for more than ten years. The current book series is the culmination of that thought.

The planned series is called Astronomy's Shocking Twist. It consists of ten books across two tracks. The technical track includes five non-fiction books on space infrastructure: orbital rings, mass drivers, space elevators, propulsion systems, and large-scale space habitation. The hard science fiction track comprises five novels that share a single universe grounded in the technical work. The two tracks are meant to reinforce each other. The fiction tells a story that could happen, while the technical books demonstrate how it could be achieved, using real materials and real numbers.

Volume I of the technical track, The Orbital Ring: The Economic Case for Space Mass Transit, serves as the starting point. It is written for a generally educated reader; you do not need an engineering degree to follow the arguments. Volumes II and III are textbooks, while Volume IV, which covers construction, is planned for release after the fiction series is complete.

About me

The career arc has traversed several fields: electronics technician at Acuson Medical Ultrasound in the late 1980s, member of the Hydrogen Energy Association in the 1990s when hydrogen was a fringe topic, and a project called "Making Math Fun" in the same decade when I was considering teaching. Since then, I have worked in software and audio as an inventor and serial entrepreneur, maintaining a home physics lab that has remained active throughout. The common thread across ultrasound, hydrogen, software, audio, the home physics lab, and space infrastructure is a habit of showing the work. These books represent the long version of that habit.

Much of the thinking that led to this book series was prompted by Isaac Arthur's YouTube channel, Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur. If any of this material is new to you and the SFIA format appeals to you, start with his episodes on orbital rings and megastructures, as they remain the best accessible introductions available.

How I work

Derivations are performed in MathCAD and verified against simulation code written in Python. The simulation code is open source and available on GitHub. Every major number in the book comes from one of three sources: a peer-reviewed publication, a calculation presented in the book, or a simulation whose code the reader can download and run.

I use AI tools to assist with research, technical verification, and editorial feedback. The engineering decisions, design choices, and writing are my own. Any errors are also my own. If you find one, the Errata page linked in the footer is how you can inform me.

Contact

I read every email. I cannot always respond quickly, but I do respond.

Email: author@pauldejong.com

For corrections to the books, please use the Errata page rather than email. It puts the correction in front of other readers and keeps credit where it belongs.

For permissions, bulk orders, or foreign-language rights: permissions@pauldejong.com.

Where to find me online

Links are in the site footer.