Category Archives: Transhuman News

DISCLAIMER: This web site is not a policy statement. It is intended to be an accessible introduction to the ideas developed in the Stanford/NASA Ames space settlement studies of the 1970s to support the annual NASA Ames Student Space Settlement Design Contest. You. Or at least people a lot like you. Space settlements will be a place for ordinary people.

Presently, with few exceptions, only highly trained and carefully selected astronauts go to space. Space settlement needs inexpensive, safe launch systems to deliver thousands, perhaps millions, of people into orbit. If this seems unrealistic, note that a hundred and fifty years ago nobody had ever flown in an airplane, but today nearly 500 million people fly each year.

Some special groups might find space settlement particularly attractive: The handicapped could keep a settlement at zero-g to make wheelchairs and walkers unnecessary. Penal colonies might be created in orbit as they should be fairly escape proof. People who wish to experiment with very different social and political forms could get away from restrictive social norms.

Although some colonies may follow this model, it's reasonable to expect that the vast majority of space colonists will be ordinary people. Indeed, eventually most people in space settlements will be born there, and some day they may vastly exceed Earth's population. Based on the materials available, the human population in orbit could one day exceed ten trillion living in millions of space colonies with a combined living space hundreds of times the surface of the Earth.

For an alternate view, see Robert Zubrin's powerful case for Mars exploration and colonization. Mars' biggest advantage is that all the materials necessary for life may be found on Mars. While materials for orbital colonies must be imported from the Moon or Near Earth Objects (NEO's -- asteroids and comets), there are many advantages to orbital colonies. Advantages include:

By contrast, orbital colonies can rotate to provide any g level desired, although it's not true gravity. Spinning the colony creates a force called pseudo-gravity, that feels a lot like gravity. Pseudo-gravity is much like what you feel when a car takes a sharp turn at high speed. Your body is pressed up against the door. Simillarly, as an orbital space colony turns, the inside of the colony pushes on the inhabitants forcing them to go around. The amount of this force can be controlled and for reasonable colony sizes and rotation rates the force can be about 1g. For example, a colony with an 895 meter (a bit less than 1000 yards) radius rotating at one rpm (rotations per minute) provides 1g at the hull. Children raised on orbital colonies should have no trouble visiting Earth for extended periods.

Mars and the Moon have one big advantage over most orbits: there's plenty of materials. However, this advantage is eliminated by simply building orbital settlements next to asteroids. It may even be easier to mine asteroids for materials than the Mars or the Moon as there is much less gravity. Fortunately, there are tens of thousands of suitable asteroids in orbits near that of Earth alone, and far more in the asteroid belt. Early settlements can be expected to orbit the Earth.

Later settlements can spread out across the solar system, taking advantage of the water in Jupiter's moons or exploiting the easily available materials of the asteroid belt. Eventually the solar system will become too crowded, and some settlements will head for nearby stars.

Interstellar travel seems impractical due to long travel times. But what if you lived in space settlements for fifty generations? Do you really care if your settlement is near our Sun or in transit to Alpha Centuri? So what if the trip takes a few generations? If energy and make up materials for the trip can be stored, a stable population can migrate to nearby stars. At the new star, local materials and energy can be used to build new settlements and resume population growth.

With great difficulty. Fortunately, although building space colonies will be very difficult, it's not impossible. Building cities in space will require materials, energy, transportation, communications, life support, and radiation protection.

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Space Colonization Basics

Moon colonization. The very idea whips up images of interconnected biodomes, hovercrafts cruising the pockmarked surface, and ships darting to Earth and back again. The moon is the only planetary object whose features can be seen without the aid of a telescope. It's also the closest object to our planet large enough for humans to inhabit. When considering long-term space exploration and living, building a moon colony seems like the next logical step. We have the technology to get there and the innovative thinking to be successful. But what are the benefits of a moon colony? Do the risks outweigh the gains? How is such an expensive undertaking feasible in uncertain economic climates? Will we build on the moon in the next decade, or will the dream of a moon colony continue to hang on the horizon, just out of reach?

Let's take a look at some of the pros -- and cons -- of colonizing the moon.

Humans have been fascinated with the moon for millennia. From the discoveries of Aristotle and Galileo to modern science explorations, the moon has held profound mysteries and endless possibilities. In recent decades, the desire to tackle this new frontier, and to travel through the galaxy in search of sentient life, has prompted scientists and entrepreneurs alike to tackle head-on what many believe to be the first step in interstellar travel: a colony on the moon.

Many feel a moon outpost -- not a full-fledged colony -- will be built within the next 10 years. Human spirit alone, however, can't meet the considerable barriers that stand in the way. The costs associated with building a colony are prohibitive, but the private sector may be able to pay for what governments can't afford. Safety is a paramount concern, and state-of-the-art technologies -- including nanostructures -- are creating viable solutions for life in space. Although public attitude and the willingness to support expensive space programs waxes and wanes, the human desire to explore is constant.

In 1835, John Herschel wrote a series of six articles claiming the discovery of life on the moon. It later became known as the Great Moon Hoax [source: Gizmodo].

That a moon colony would need to be self-sufficient is perhaps stating the obvious. When you're 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) away from Earth, you would want to have the upper hand when it comes to necessities like food and water.

Dehydrated food is one option. Although it's not the freshest, it's compact, comes in minimal packaging and stores for years. But is it a realistic expectation that colonists would be satisfied with such fare for months on end? If the taste factor alone isn't enough of a turnoff, limited choices may make it less than ideal. Hydroponic farming] is a smart alternative to freeze-dried space food. NASA has been experimenting with it for more than 20 years as a way to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for astronauts. It's efficient -- a must considering the limited supply of water -- and food would be fresh. Transportation costs would disappear. And there's another perk: Farming in space can also supplement another precious resource: oxygen.

When we believed that the moon was just a dusty mass, the lack of water was a huge argument against colonization. The weight alone would make transporting water from Earth prohibitively expensive. However, scientists have recently discovered approximately one billion gallons (3.8 billion liters) of water ice in one moon crater [source: Potter]. Conceivably, colonies built near ice deposits would have a natural supply of water. There would have to be purifying systems for removing toxins like mercury, as well as systems for reclaiming gray water. When melted and broken down into its components, water ice could also be used as fuel for rockets.

Astronauts, leave the shakers at home: In space, salt and pepper come in liquid form only.

Why buy an around-the-world ticket when a few million dollars will take you to the moon? Entrepreneurs are banking on space as the next wave in travel. With the expectation that it will amount to billions of dollars in revenue, companies like Virgin, with its prototype space plane Virgin Galactic, are leading the way in private space travel. Space Adventures is developing what it hopes will be the first private lunar expedition. They anticipate ferrying thousands of travelers to the moon and eventually beyond. Hotel chains, such as Hilton Hotels, are looking into the feasibility of providing travelers with accommodations on the moon that feature all the comforts of home.

The rest is here:
10 Pros (and Cons) of Colonizing the Moon : Discovery Channel

The colonization of the Moon is the proposed establishment of permanent human communities on the Moon. Science fiction writers and advocates of space exploration have seen settlement of the Moon as a logical step in the expansion of humanity beyond the Earth.

Permanent human habitation on a planetary body other than the Earth is one of science fiction's central themes. As technology has advanced, and concerns about the future of humanity on Earth have increased, the argument that space colonization is an achievable and worthwhile goal has gained momentum. Because of its proximity to Earth, the Moon has been seen as a prime candidate for the location of humanity's first permanently occupied extraterrestrial base.

Should attempts at colonization go ahead, economic concerns are likely to lead to settlements being created near mines and processing centers, or near the poles where a continuous source of solar energy can be harnessed. While it would be relatively easy to resupply a lunar base from Earth, in comparison to a Martian base, the Moon is likely to play a large role in the development of long-duration closed-loop life support systems. Duplicating the ecology of Earth so that wastes can be recycled is essential to any long term effort of space exploration. The wealth of knowledge gained by extracting and refining resources on the Moon would positively affect efforts to build colonies elsewhere in the Solar System.

Putting aside the general questions of whether a human colony beyond the Earth is feasible or scientifically desirable in light of cost-efficiency, proponents of space colonization point out that the Moon offers both advantages and disadvantages as a site for such a colony.

Placing a colony on a natural body would provide an ample source of material for construction and other uses, including shielding from radiation. The energy required to send objects from the Moon to space is much less than from Earth to space. This could allow the Moon to serve as a construction site or fueling station for spacecraft. Some proposals include using electric acceleration devices (mass drivers) to propel objects off the Moon without building rockets. Others have proposed momentum exchange tethers. Furthermore, the Moon does have some gravity, which, experience to date indicates, may be vital for fetal development and long-term human health. Whether the Moon's gravity (roughly one sixth of Earth's) is adequate for this purpose, however, is uncertain.

In addition, the Moon is the closest large body in the solar system to Earth. While some Earth-crosser asteroids occasionally pass closer, the Moon's distance is consistently within a small range close to 384,400 km. This proximity has several benefits:

There are several disadvantages to the Moon as a colony site:

Excerpt from:
Colonization of the Moon - Space Colonization Wiki