The Outer Periphery - Andy Sturdevant

The Outer Periphery: Amateur Spacecraft Designs from the U.S. Patent Office / by Andy Sturdevant / ISBN 9781957625065 / a 100-page paperback, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, published in June 2025 (now shipping) by 50 Watts Books & Birchwood Palace Industries.

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A collection of over 75 patent illustrations for functioning spacecraft and spaceflight technologies, designed by amateurs, hobbyists, sci-fi enthusiasts, engineers, and cranks. Ranging from “somewhat plausible” to “completely off the wall,” these drawings beautifully capture the delirious optimism of the space age. In the years between Sputnik and Challenger, sitting in your garage drafting a design for, say, a rotating spacecraft that produced an electric dipole on four rotating spherical conducting domes seemed not just like an interesting hobby, but an obligation to the future of humankind.

Want to place a wholesale order? You can find most 50 Watts publications on Faire, and/or you can email will AT 50wattsbooks.com for a full list (I distribute a few books not on Faire).