Colonizing Space: How, When And Why?

[sigurdV]

I would like to note that i think the colonization of planets will be the less taken option. planets and their indigenous life forms could cause problems we wouldn't need and the gravity wells of planets will be very expensive to crawl out of regularly.

 

Here I think you shine: Are you aware of the concept "Space Elevator"?

 

http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/project.archive/1976.skyhook/papers/scasci.txt

[sigurdV]

i think free Orbiting Colonies are more likely. Carbon nano tube type fibers could be used to make torus shaped colonies, miles in diameter, like endless suspension bridges, rotate them and inside you have gravity and a huge space for a ecosystem. Moving it around in low energy orbits to take advantage of natural resources,

We have at the moment a "Space Station". Its a precursor to the "orbiting colony", do you think its of any use in colonising our solar system? Should we build a copy circling the Moon?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_station

[sigurdV]

Moving it around in low energy orbits to take advantage of natural resources, once a colony was built and independent building a new colony would be the main business of the colony as it traveled around a star system. gathering resources to build more and better ones could bring about a growth that would expand at a high rate if not exponentially.

 

I think you mean that we should "park" objects smaller than a Space City, but bigger than our Space Station at strategically chosen places in our solar system? Thereby making commerce possible?

[sigurdV]

SigurdV, please use the quote feature, I'll try to explain why many of your concepts simply do not hold any weight.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept

 

Isnt making a list an easier approach, perhaps ill see?

Is it really that many?

While I wait I decide to write a fantasy about the colonisation of our solar system.

[sigurdV]

The Moon Colony.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_the_Moon

 

The Moon is the closest place to harvest resources,i heard its thin on resources

but heavy hydrogen is there to export to Earth and eventually elsewhere in the system...

But how do we live there? Is there enough oxygen and water to sustain a colony?

If we live underground and import and recirculate necessities then perhaps we can start an ecology there: Our First Colony feeding on energy caught from solar cells? Parabolic Mirrors produced by the Moon Factory,exported everywhere they are needed.

 

So the beginning is Earth, one or two space stations and a Colony and a Factory on the Moon.

Until we have a working space elevator we cant depend on Earth People colonising nearby space. So the first duty after survival is producing Colonists!

[sigurdV]

The Moon Paradise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_space_elevator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

http://www.opalcapitaloftheworld.com.au/

How will life be there?

 

If we use the surface of the moon to collect solar energy, then transports from the moon to elsewhere might be very cheap...

I imagine an electric railway with a long acceleration trail to allow passengers a comfortable ride. When speed is enough for leaving the moon the train...Eh...I mean "Moon Ship" is oriented towards some point in Solar Space. Perhaps transporting heavy hydrogen and Parabolic Mirrors to Space Station Earth... Moon ships are at this phase of colonisation rather expensive, so they return by "sun sail" to the moon.

 

Now, Dear Reader, let us board a ship on its way to Space Factory Venus!

[sigurdV]

Space Factory Venus!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus

In the beginning travel to Venus was thought to be a slow affair,but arrays of mirrors strategicaly parked along the way accelerates and decelerates the ship.

Travel is both fast and cheap, and we soon arrive at the Space Factory orbiting Venus.

The factory isnt much to see really,the reason for its being is to refine (Using energy from the sun.) and export, among other things oxygen (!) sucked up in the Co2 form from Venus rich atmosphere... Im against Terraforming Venus, its athmosphere is a resource!

Next stop is Colony Mercury

[sigurdV]

Colony Mercury

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet) And click on "Mercury (planet)"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Mercury

Mercury exports Sun Light,Metals,reports on suns behaviour,collects Hydrogen from the solar atmosphere and imports Oxygen for breathing and water production.

Its also a prison and you will stay the rest of your lives working in the mines...

Just kidding :)

 

Can we focus and export Concentrated Sun Light into the Asteroid belt,Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud?

Starting with parabolic mirrors as close to the sun as possible, sending rays further out via Relay Mirrors?

 

Can Sun Light be exported all the way to the next solar system,

making "cheap high speed interstellar travel" possible?

If so we might also have a good Defensive Weapon...

And a way to protect Earth against colliding asteroids!

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mercury_in_color_c1000_700_430.png

[sigurdV]

Back on Earth!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth

Sitting in front of the computer,pondering past present and future...My first reaction is worry:

How many Hypographian rules have i broken? In trying to outline the beginning stages of a successful colonisation of our Solar System,I claim it to be a fantasy since Im no expert. But fantasy is frown upon...

 

My only defence is that a layman prediction can be nothing else!

Come all ye experts and please tell us what the real story will be!

 

Like China who recalled (and burned) their ships from the coasts of eastern Africa,(at the time when the Portugese were sailing south on Africas west coast) the United States of America planted a Flag on the Moon and retreated...

 

A quote:Under the Ming Dynasty, China had another golden age, with one of the strongest navies in the world, a rich and prosperous economy and a flourishing of the arts and culture. It was during this period that Zheng He led explorations throughout the world, possibly reaching America.

 

History is a Harsh Mistress!

 

Why Colonise?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando_%28book%29

[sigurdV]

Why Colonise?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonisation

The short answer is: Population Pressure.

A species has a "Home Environment" defined as the area or volume where it lives and multipies at a certain rate.As the population rises the resources diminishes...

 

The "HE" has a "border environment" of some shape,there the "conditions" are hazardous:One step too far from home and the organism dies. Sometimes it seems impossible to make the step... birds dont fly from Air into Space.

 

As to "Mankind" the Earth is their "HT" and the "BT" is the sphere where the Moon defines the rim,minus Earth.(Strictly speaking the underground/underwater also belongs to the BT.)

 

The "T" in "HT" stands for "Territory"

just another word for "Environment", but loaded with connotations. Another word is "Ecological Niche" supposed to have a "Scientific Definition".

 

My idea here is that Evolution has a Path to follow!

 

[sigurdV]

Darwinism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_evolutionary_synthesis

A theory of greatest "Explanatory Power", I think of it as "The Theory."

Its shortest expression was/is "Survival of the Fittest.", which has been mis-"interpreted" as "Survival of the Strongest".

 

I suppose there is a Modern Version of Darwinism including Self Reference...

Dawkin mirrors Darwins theory introducing "memes", memes essentially being ideas having as HT our Minds and BT what is separating them. Obviously then Darwinism is a meme, competing with other memes in their HT. This raises a question: How far can Darwins Theory get extended?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoevolutionism

 

All an extension need is "Reproducing Objects" with HT and BT.

 

The possibility of applying Darwinism to Our Universe has been proposed...

At the moment the opposition is in the lead since they claim that although the Universe

can be said to be its own HT there is no BT...They Claim... Without evidence of course.

 

So I oppose the opposition! Leaving the question of an "Outside" to the future, let me ask:

Are there BT`s INSIDE the Universe like there is a BT inside the Earth?

 

Since we dont know what it is...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind

[sigurdV]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Centauri

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole

 

Just looking at places to put cities on our way towards the galactic center.

[sigurdV]

Are we alone in the Galaxy?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

 

 

Supposing we are not the only civilsation in the Milky way, then there is at least one other civilisation... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilisation

 

1 Where?

 

2 What kind of civilisation?

 

3 Are there Predator/Prey Civilisations?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#Definition

[sigurdV]

Supposing we are not the only civilsation in the Milky way, then there is at least one other civilisation... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilisation

 

1 Where?

 

2 What kind of civilisation?

 

3 Where can we flee?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Universe

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_of_the_universe

 

 

The intergalactic space must be the first step on our way to escape

if monsters we met somewhere...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space#Intergalactic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large-scale_structure_of_the_universe#Large-scale_structure

Neither we nor them can exceed the speed of light

so if the prey keep moving

it is safe for the moment... Why werent we planning for this?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy

 

In Liddell Hart's words,

In strategy the longest way round is often the shortest way there; a direct approach to the object exhausts the attacker and hardens the resistance by compression, whereas an indirect approach loosens the defender's hold by upsetting his balance.

[sigurdV]

Earth...in the Milky way:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_way

Perhaps we should expand in the opposite direction, towards the galactic rim.

 

Sun's location and neighborhood

 

The Sun (and therefore the Earth and the Solar System) may be found close to the inner rim of the galaxy's Orion Arm, in the Local Fluff inside the Local Bubble, and in the Gould Belt, at a distance of 8.33 ± 0.35 kiloparsecs (27,200 ± 1,100 ly) from the Galactic Center.[6][42][73] The Sun is currently 5–30 parsecs (16–98 ly) from the central plane of the galactic disk.[74] The distance between the local arm and the next arm out, the Perseus Arm, is about 6,500 light-years (2.0 kpc).[75] The Sun, and thus the Solar System, is found in the galactic habitable zone.

There are about 208 stars brighter than absolute magnitude 8.5 within 15 parsecs (49 ly) of the Sun, giving a density of 0.0147 such stars per cubic parsec, or 0.000424 per cubic light-year (from List of nearest bright stars). On the other hand, there are 64 known stars (of any magnitude, not counting 4 brown dwarfs) within 5 parsecs (16 ly) of the Sun, giving a density of 0.122 stars per cubic parsec, or 0.00352 per cubic light-year (from List of nearest stars), illustrating the fact that most stars are less bright than absolute magnitude 8.5.

The Apex of the Sun's Way, or the solar apex, is the direction that the Sun travels through space in the Milky Way. The general direction of the Sun's galactic motion is towards the star Vega near the constellation of Hercules, at an angle of roughly 60 sky degrees to the direction of the Galactic Center. The Sun's orbit around the galaxy is expected to be roughly elliptical with the addition of perturbations due to the galactic spiral arms and non-uniform mass distributions. In addition, the Sun oscillates up and down relative to the galactic plane approximately 2.7 times per orbit. This is very similar to how a simple harmonic oscillator works with no drag force (damping) term. These oscillations were until recently thought to coincide with mass extinction periods on Earth.[76] However, a reanalysis of the effects of the Sun's transit through the spiral structure based on CO data has failed to find these correlations.[77]

It takes the Solar System about 225–250 million years to complete one orbit of the galaxy (a galactic year),[78] so it is thought to have completed 18–20 orbits during the lifetime of the Sun and 1/1250 of a revolution since the origin of humans. The orbital speed of the Solar System about the center of the galaxy is approximately 220 km/s or 0.073% of the speed of light. At this speed, it takes around 1,400 years for the Solar System to travel a distance of 1 light-year, or 8 days to travel 1 AU (astronomical unit).[79]

[sigurdV]

The Sun may be found close to the inner rim of the galaxy's Orion Arm, at a distance of 8.33 ± 0.35 kiloparsecs (27,200 ± 1,100 ly) from the Galactic Center.[6][42][73] The Sun is currently 5–30 parsecs (16–98 ly) from the central plane of the galactic disk.[74] The distance between the local arm and the next arm out, the Perseus Arm, is about 6,500 light-years (2.0 kpc).[75] The Sun, and thus the Solar System, is found in the galactic habitable zone.

 

So how fast will we travel?

Ill make an uneducated guess: It will take several hundred years years to travel a light year.

And we should aim for Intergalactic Space,

where we can grow and evolve undetected,colonising on the way.

 

To successfully (and independently of the resources in the galaxy) colonise Intergalactic Space we should learn how to make practical use of the Casimir Effect.

We should have lots of time to solve even the most difficult engineering projects!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect

[sigurdV]

How does it begin?

The first step is hardest,

we must finance the project...

 

Lets build a model here on Earth.

And test it!

 

When it generates money,

we build a model in orbit

and then its off to the Moon.