James Popoff's career has been spent in applied statistical modeling supporting retail customer and trade zone segmentation. His abiding interest, however, has been for 24 years, amateur radio. His original callsign was first a "Basic"-class, then the "Advanced"-class VE5COY, issued by Canada (and that Advanced license is still current) and now in the USA his "Amateur Extra" callsign is AJ4XI. He is active in emergency communications, which is where he first became aware of the "optimized link-state routing" technology that in turn spawned the idea for the MMARS and GAIA, the ideal vehicle for young people to experience hands-on interplanetary science via amateur radio. That line of thought became the genesis of this book. Dr. Popoff is married to Ann, and when their grandchildren are not visiting their Florida seacoast home, they spoil their border collie, Jack.