Colonizing the Solar System

[Skywyze]

Once we develop cheap, reliable transport to LEO and Geosync, the colonization of the solar system ought to proceed quickly.

 

So, first we get off Earth using an orbital elevator (a thin strand of woven carbon nanotubes, anchored at the equator on this end and a counterweight in geosync). This would allow massive amounts of materials to be lifted from Earth's surface into orbit using a very small amount of energy, opening up all of Earth orbit to colonization and industry.

 

Once we get up there, I envision a series of linked colonies in geosync orbit, with several orbital elevators at various points around the globe. Over time, the colonies could even be expanded to encircle the entire planet with a man made ring that could house billions or trillions of people...

 

But that will come with time. Meanwhile, as soon as we have developed the space elevator on Earth, we should send a ship carrying a second elevator setup to the moon. We place this setup in Lunar geosync, possibly on the Earth-facing side, and start shipping equipment for a permanent colony base down to the surface.

 

Once the moon base is at least partially operational, a similar mission should be sent to Mars. Even if it's the first manned mission to Mars (which it hopefully wont be), it is extremely important to get the elevator installed as early as possible. Once it's up and running massive amounts of materials and colonists will be able to spread out across the Martian surface.

 

While Luna and Mars are being colonized, mined, and developed, other missions should be made to set up a permanent resource-gathering presence in the asteroid belt. These resources would be the best to use for the production of ships, orbital colonies, and other space-bound equipment since it would reduce the cost of lifting materials off-world, and it would reduce mass-loss from the planets themselves-which could become a problem over time (orbit changes and all that).

 

I predict that if we use this system, the off-Earth population will grow exponentially, technology will advance by leaps, new markets will be created, and new societies will develop.

 

Within 50 years of the development of an orbital elevator the inner solar system will be filled with the lights of a bustling society of space-faring, highly advanced humans, on the verge of manned interstellar exploration.

[Jay-qu]

we have discussed a few times before here at hypography, and at the moment there is little to no reason to colonize anywhere but our own humble rock...

 

see :: Space colonisation

how would you colonise space

[Skywyze]

How about solving the problems of overpopulation, hunger, disease, environmental destruction, and social stagnation!

 

The human race NEEDS to expand, and if we don't move outward we will continue to crush ourselves here.

 

Also, the longer we keep "all our eggs in one basket," so to speak, the risk of total annihilation increases. Granted, it's not a very high risk, but why not make a backup, eh?

 

And last, but not least: I don't know about you, but I'd like to live to see a Mars colony or two...

[Jay-qu]

yeah i would love to see mars as a colony! doesnt mean it solves all those problems though.

 

how does it solve hunger? or disease? as for the others they are all solvable right here for the moment, and it would be far cheaper and easier me thinks!

[Boerseun]

Colonising would be fine for its own sake. To relieve population pressure on Earth, it's a non-starter. We are currently experiencing a nett population growth of roughly 300,000 humans per day.

 

In other words, we'll have to lift a third of a million people into space every single day, and we'll only be maintaining the status quo!

 

I don't see any possible solution to this problem where space or space colonization would be involved. The only solution in exponential population growth would be education and wealth creation for the poor masses. Educated people with money in their pockets tend to have less babies. Empower women in the Third World to have a say as far as sex and family planning goes. The empowerment of women in the West through access to birth control pills have resulted in a huge drop in birthrates in the 60's.

 

Space would have to be colonised solely for its own sake.

[Jay-qu]

whao, thats over a billion in 10 years! Earth has 153,295,000 km^2 of land, and a projected population of 6,499,273,880 today, so thats 42 people per square km!

[TheBigDog]

Skywyze,

 

I like the scenario that you draw up. Just a couple of comments to add.

 

We are not evolved for life in zero g. We need to overcome theno gravity issue or we cannot colonize space.

 

The elevator you suggest shoud be much longer. I read about them being 62000 miles long so that geosync is the center of balance, and the end is actually well in excess of escape velocity. So to launch space missions you would just crawl them to a high point, let go at the correct moment, and you are launched into space.

 

Putting them on the moon might prove difficult because it turns so slowly, despite the lower gravity.

 

So if you want to build your vision of the future, what are the technologies that we need to be working on today to make it happen? What will be the key breakthroughs?

 

Bill

[Racoon]

Yeah,

How come Han Solo could walk around the Millenium Falcon in Space.

Did they have a Gravity Inducer or what??? :) :)

[Racoon]

 

So, first we get off Earth using an orbital elevator (a thin strand of woven carbon nanotubes, anchored at the equator on this end and a counterweight in geosync). This would allow massive amounts of materials to be lifted from Earth's surface into orbit using a very small amount of energy, opening up all of Earth orbit to colonization and industry.

 

Not a bad idea, but it seems comletely unfeasible.

What about the Intense Heat of entering and exiting the Atmosphere?

 

Sound like you create a giant "straw" made out of avanced material. And then you just 'suck up' needed materials.

The distance of these nanotubes would be huge.

Plus what about all that space debris hitting it?

A paint chip in space impacts like a .44 caliber at close range. (or so I heard)

What happens if there is a break in the elevator somewhere?

 

PS. I see you're from Portland.

Seems we Got a good percentage of Hypo's from Portland Area!!

Including Myself, Turtle, and BioChemist! :)

[Boerseun]

whao, thats over a billion in 10 years! Earth has 153,295,000 km^2 of land, and a projected population of 6,499,273,880 today, so thats 42 people per square km!

Yes...

 

I remember a time when the published Earth Population Figure was someting like 3.5 billion. And I'm not old at all. Not by any measure!

 

People shag too much. Bottom line!

 

:)

[Boerseun]

People shag too much. Bottom line!

:)

...not that it's a bad thing, of course...

[InfiniteNow]

Yes...

 

I remember a time when the published Earth Population Figure was someting like 3.5 billion. And I'm not old at all. Not by any measure!

 

People shag too much. Bottom line!

 

:)

So... just so I have a proper point of comparison, how much is too much? :)

 

 

:)

[InfiniteNow]

A quick thought on colonization is that it's just an expensive form of theme park or roller coaster ride. We might do better to divert resources currently being spent on putting humans on other worlds (within our tiny solar system mind you) toward figuring out some bigger cosmological questions which themselves could help us with many other, more local and palettable, issues.

 

 

EDIT: even wormhole dynamics...

[Jay-qu]

of course not! its polititians that ban drugs like RU486 - its happening here now, they are getting all ethical about an abortion drug.. and i dont want to spark up another abortion discussion!

 

I think wormhole dynamics may be a little out of reach at the moment, but I see what you mean. If we spend money on finding better ways of doing things then it will become cheaper and easier in the long run

[Skywyze]

We are not evolved for life in zero g. We need to overcome theno gravity issue or we cannot colonize space.

 

No, we are certainly not evolved for life in zero G, which means we would have to either adapt biologically (which would take too long), or use artificial gravity to exercise a few times every day. For this we can use a centrifuge on the Moon or Mars, and live in spinning colonies in space.

 

Also, if Heim theory is correct (or any number of others), we should be able to produce artificial gravity fields at some point in the next century.

 

The elevator you suggest shoud be much longer. I read about them being 62000 miles long so that geosync is the center of balance, and the end is actually well in excess of escape velocity. So to launch space missions you would just crawl them to a high point, let go at the correct moment, and you are launched into space.

 

Yes I think I've read something like that as well, and that's probably the best way to do it. :)

 

Putting them on the moon might prove difficult because it turns so slowly, despite the lower gravity.

 

Yeah, I've since done a little reading on lunar geosync and it seems its a bit too far away from the moon to be of much use... However, it's pretty easy to land a lot of material on the moon so a luna elevator isn't all that important.

 

So if you want to build your vision of the future, what are the technologies that we need to be working on today to make it happen? What will be the key breakthroughs?

 

Bill

 

We need to develop strong/long nanotube ribbons.

 

It would be nice to also have faster propulsion, artificial gravity fields, hyperspace travel, anti-gravity, and indefinately extended life spans...

 

But I'll be happy with the elevators for now. We can do a lot with just that.

[CraigD]

Assume for a moment that Earth-space elevators are not achievable for the next several centuries. Despite a lot of optimistic enthusiasms for them, the engineering challenges are truly daunting, and may prove practically insurmountable.

 

All that is really necessary for the colonization of the solar system is the creation of habitats capable of sustaining large numbers of human beings, and a launch capability comparable to our current. Once an artificial “ecological nitch” for human beings exists, humans can do there what they have historically proven to do best – reproduce exponentially. With current artificial fertilization and implantation technology, and launches of one or a few small payloads of sperm and ova, problems of viable breeding population size can be circumvented.

 

What’s critical for the creation of livable extraterrestrial environments is large amounts of energy. Assuming that launch capability prohibits supplying extraterrestrial colonies with fissionables (eg: uranium, plutonium), that generating useful energy with artificial nuclear fusion remains beyond human capability for several centuries, and that fuel is difficult to obtain outside of earth, this leaves 2 obvious feasible sources for large amounts of energy: solar radiation, and planetary magnetic induction.

 

These 2 energy sources reveal 2 “sweet spots” for colonization: inward, toward the sun, where solar radiation is most intense, and the vicinities of giant planets, expecially Jupiter, where the mechanical energy of the orbit of great and lesser moons is most easily obtainable through magnetic induction with the planet’s strong moving magnetic field.

 

Mars and the asteroids are not within these sweet spots. So, while the asteroids may provide valuable, energy-efficient access to material resources, I suspect Mars is of limited value for colonization in the next few centuries, compared to the greater and lesser moons of Jupiter, or the empty space near the Sun.

 

I’m optimistic that, even if dramatic improvements in Earth launch capabilities, such as space elevators, or dramatic improvements in compact power generators, such as controlled fusion, fail to be realized anytime soon, space colonization is still possible, by virtue of sheer human fecundity.

[Skywyze]

I’m optimistic that, even if dramatic improvements in Earth launch capabilities, such as space elevators, or dramatic improvements in compact power generators, such as controlled fusion, fail to be realized anytime soon, space colonization is still possible, by virtue of sheer human fecundity.

 

 

I agree that colonization is possible without these technologies, and in fact I think colonization is possible NOW. However, I believe you are underestimating the rate of technological advancement, which is proceeding at an exponential rate itself. A few centuries is a VERY long time for technological growth, just look at the last century...