What is a space settlement?
“A space settlement” refers to a habitation in space or on a celestial body where families live on a permanent basis, and that engages in commercial activity which enables the settlement to grow over time, with the goal of becoming economically and biologically self-sustaining as a part of a larger network of space settlements.
Do we need economic activity in space to sustain space settlements?
In this view, for any space settlements to exist there needs to be sufficient economic activity in space to do one of the following: Create sufficient wealth to sustain the space settlements as a by-product of economic activity. Classically, O’Neill envisioned thousands of space-suited settlers building Solar Power Satellites.
What is the space Setlement initiative?
The Space Setlement Initiative. Founded by Alan Wasser, former CEO of the National Space Society proposes legislation authorizing lunar land claims recognition to help catalyze private sector investment in building permanent settlements. The Artemis Project to establish a self-sufficient lunar colony. Isaac Asimov on space settlement.
What is it like to live in a free space settlement?
These free-space settlements could be wonderful places to live; about the size of a California beach town and endowed with weightless recreation, fantastic views, freedom, elbow-room in spades, and great wealth. Subsequent discoveries have brought this dream much closer.
What are the needs in space?
Astronauts must have oxygen, food, water, and rest. These needs are usually simple to meet on Earth; to meet these needs in space is very complicated. The gases in space cannot support human life. In fact, most of space contains no gases at all—it is what scientists call a vacuum.
How does space settlement work?
Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization) is the hypothetical permanent settlement and exploitation of natural resources at celestial objects other than Earth. As such it is a form of human presence in space, beyond human spaceflight and operating space outposts.
What are the challenges of space settlement?
To be sure there are many daunting challenges facing prospective space colonists such as protection from exposure to deadly radiation levels, the impact on the human body while living and working in cramped, low-gravity environments for extended periods of time and the psychological toll of isolation, confinement and ...
What is space settlement essay?
Space settlement was planned by an idea of “extinction of humans” in coming years by “Garudam Lee”. So, all together we can define a space settlement as a home in space providing all needs like in earth. Just one difference will be that we are living in a home in space but not on earth.
How do you design a space settlement?
You design a space settlement: a nice place to live in, orbiting in space some distance from the earth. Your design should include a drawing, 3D model and any other means to help visualize your settlement, and a written description of your colony.
What are 3 benefits of space exploration?
Everyday benefits of space explorationImproving health care. ... Protecting our planet and our environment. ... Creating scientific and technical jobs. ... Improving our day-to-day lives. ... Enhancing safety on Earth. ... Making scientific discoveries. ... Sparking youth's interest in science. ... Cooperating with countries around the world.
What is the importance of space technology?
The beneficial uses of outer space, including strengthening communications infrastructures, disaster management, education, agriculture, environmental protection and natural resource management, had enormous relevance for human development, especially for developing countries, the report says.
What is the future of space technology?
Future space technologies will rely heavily on robotics and AI to assist human teams of astronauts. Researchers hope that robots will be able to perform maintenance and repairs on existing space stations while aiding scientists with data collection and analysis.
What should be the structure of space settlement?
The structure consists of a residential torus, four quartered rings, a beaded torus, central cylinder and zero-g heavy manufacturing cylinder with the scope of expansion plans. The structure rotating at 0.95 rpm ensures different values of g at different structural components.
Are space colonies possible?
Because we are planetary creatures, most people think of space settlements on Mars or perhaps Earth's Moon. However, it turns out that life in orbit is very attractive. Instead of building a settlement on the outside of a planet, to live in orbit we must build giant spacecraft and live inside.
What is the best location for a space settlement?
The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is a particularly attractive location for orbital colonies, as ample materials are available. There have even been proposals to colonize the Oort Cloud (Schmidt and Zubrin, 1996), a vast region of icy comets extending nearly halfway to the closest star.
How do you create gravity in a space colony?
Creating artificial gravity Fortunately, there is more than one form of acceleration — and by using centrifugal force we can generate something equivalent to gravity on Earth. One possible way of creating artificial gravity in space is by utilizing a technology called an O'Neill cylinder.
What is Lewis One Space Settlement?
Lewis One space settlement design: intended to improve on the 10,000 inhabitant designs of the mid-70s depicted in the artwork (see above). The new design features large shielded micro-g construction bays, low-g agriculture near the rotation axis to reduce the length of cylindrical settlements, large micro-g visitor and recreation areas, space viewing, and low-g recreation.
Who sponsors the Space Settlement Design Contest?
This annual space settlement design contest for 6-12th grade students has been sponsored by NASA Ames Research Center from 1994-2018, for the last several years in conjunction with the National Space Society (NSS). A Space Act Agreement between NASA and NSS is currently being worked on to continue joint sponsorship of the contest. Meanwhile, the 2019 contest is being sponsored by NSS.
What is the Space Show?
The Space Show focuses on timely and important issues influencing the developmentof outer-space commerce and space tourism, as well as other related subjects of interest to us all. These are highlights associated with the design contest that were reported to NAS management.
Who is the head judge of the NASA Ames Student Space Settlement Design Contest?
Free-Space Settlements by Al Globus. This site holds a large number of papers by Al Globus and collaborators on free-space (orbital) settlements, asteroid mining, and space solar power. Al Globus is the head judge of the annual NASA Ames Student Space Settlement Design Contest.
When was Gerard O'Neill's space settlement testimony?
Dr. Gerard O'Neill's space settlement testimony before Congress 23 July 1975. This lays out early thinking about the feasibility and value of free space settlements.
Who founded the Space Studies Institute?
Space Studies Institute. SSI was established by Gerard O'Neill. It has sponsored important research towards space settlement and organized a premier series of conferences on the subject.
Who wrote the book Colonies in Space?
Colonies in Space A complete online book by T. A. Heppenheimer.
What are the challenges of space colonization?
To be sure there are many daunting challenges facing prospective space colonists such as protection from exposure to deadly radiation levels, the impact on the human body while living and working in cramped, low-gravity environments for extended periods of time and the psychological toll of isolation, confinement and separation from one’s family and society. The benefits that await us as direct or incidental byproducts of space colonization could include advances in architectural design, alternative fuel production, 3D printing and low-gravity manufacturing to name but a few. The NASA Headquarters Library has many resources to assist policymakers, scientists, teachers, students and members of the public with a passionate or passing interest in these areas.
How has the International Space Station provided us with data?
The long-term habitation of the International Space Station by rotating teams of astronauts, scientists and medical professionals has provided us with a wealth of data to establish parameters for keeping humans alive and healthy for long periods in the harsh environment of space. Here on earth there have been several ambitious projects attempting to duplicate as close as possible the conditions of off-world habitation to test the limits of human endurance.
What is NASA's library?
The NASA Headquarters Library has many resources to assist policymakers, scientists, teachers, students and members of the public with a passionate or passing interest in these areas. All items are available at the Headquarters Library, except as noted.
What is space settlement?
Space settlement meanspeople livingand working beyond Earth, not only on the Moon and Mars, but also in giantrotating spacecraft -- orbital space settlements.
How much land would Ceres have to be to build a space settlement?
If the materials in the single largest asteroid, Ceres, were used for orbital space settlement construction, we could build territory equal to over 200 times surface area of the Earth (1). This is enough to provide every single nation as much territory as if they conquered the entire Earth. Furthermore, conquering Earth is probably impossible, whereas building space settlements is merely incredibly difficult.
Why is building a space settlement so difficult?
There are two ways to overcome this: a lot of money or an easier way. An enormous pile of government money doesn’t seem to be headed our way, but it turns out there is a much easier way.
How much does a 100 meter diameter cylindrical settlement weigh?
This means that a 100-meter-diameter cylindrical settlement in ELEO might have a mass of around 8.5 kilotons [Globus 2017a], hundreds of times less than what would be needed above the Earth’s magnetic field.
How much water is needed for radiation protection?
In orbits beyond Earth’s magnetic field, radiation protection requires about seven tons of water, or eleven tons of lunar regolith, per square meter of hull and a couple of tons less on the surface of Mars or the Moon [Globus 2016].
Why is radiation in space so high?
As radiation levels in space are high compared with Earth, the mass of the radiation shielding completely dominates the mass of most space settlement designs because inadequate shielding can lead to cancer, cataracts, and sterility.
Where is the radiation in space?
It is our incredibly good luck that there is a region of space, very close to Earth, where radiation levels are much, much lower than at the usual suspects. Locations for the usual space settlement suspects include the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and the Earth-Moon L5 point (or other high Earth orbit).
Do space tourists need hotels?
All those tourists need somewhere to go, meaning they will need space hotels . The first ones may be small to keep upfront costs down, but if space tourism is successful, the desire for bigger, more sophisticated, and more comfortable hotels could drive constant improvement.
What is the Astrosettlement Development Strategy?
Astrosettlement Development Strategy (ADS) can be boiled down into a four step economically based roadmap for space settlement which could be started with minimal private funding. Each step would achieve economic success before moving on to the next level. The four levels are Earth based research, industrialization of the Moon, developing and settling the solar system and interstellar migration.
Why is NASA developing nuclear propulsion systems for Mars?
So why is NASA announcing development of new nuclear thermal propulsion systems for missions to Mars in the distant future? The reactor cores like those used in Project NERVA are known technologies that can it be adapted for other useful applications and it can be done safely on Earth. There could be a large niche market for energy production in remote rural areas such as Alaska or Canada, or supplementing base load utilities during power disruptions due to severe weather events. With their high operating temperatures, these reactors can replace fossil fuel power generation for manufacturing industries that require process heat such as steel/aluminum or chemical production, which cannot be powered efficiently by wind or solar energy. There may also be a cost advantage and environmental benefit to replacing carbon based fuels for powering maritime oceangoing vessels.
What is Kubica's orbital settlement?
In a post on Medium, Kubica uses the rotating habitat Kalpana as an illustrative example of his “Spacelife Direct” approach for an orbital settlement spinning to create 1G of artificial gravity and hosting north of 400 condominiums in LEO. Such a facility would be shielded from radiation by Earth’s magnetosphere if it were located in low equatorial orbit and therefore could be constructed with less shielding. This results in a significant reduction of mass driving costs way down. Running the numbers on this scenario opens up exciting possibilities with the amazing capabilities of Elon Musk’s Starship currently under development by SpaceX.
How much does a lunar space elevator cost?
But a lunar space elevator (LSE) is possible with commercial polymers available today and could be built for about $2 billion according to Charles Radley, a Systems Engineer and AIAA Associate Fellow. In a paper available on Academia.edu he shows how a “… lunar elevator is both feasible and affordable, and indeed profitable.”
When was the space shuttle Atlantis launched?
Launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-66) on November 3, 1994. The mission carried an experiment called NIH.Rodent 1, the first of only two study’s to date on rats launched at mid-pregnancy and landed close to full term to study the effects of microgravity on reproduction. Credits: NASA
Is lunar water a cis-lunar resource?
Most forward looking space planners believe that lunar water will be one of the primary resources that will drive cis-lunar economic activities. But can the growth of a water-based ecosystem be modelled to make future revenue predictions? Using a new methodology that combines System Dynamics with scenario planning a team of researchers in Japan and France has done just that by quantifying the parameters of two scenarios likely to unfold in the near future: a lunar settlement called “Moonopolis” and a long term exploration effort named “Apollo 2.0”. The analysis was just published in Acta Astronautica in a paper entitled The cis-lunar ecosystem — A systems model and scenarios of the resource industry and its impact.
Does SSP cover self replicating factories?
Earlier this year SSP covered self replicating factories for space settlement. An innovative paper on this topic with a simpler approach was submitted by Mikhail Shubov to ArXiv.org in August that shows how to accelerate efforts in this area.
What would spur consideration and interest among prospective space settlement stakeholders?
Establishing guidelines and a permitting criterion would spur consideration and interest among prospective space settlement stakeholders. Serious investors and colonists will, at a minimum, appreciate and more likely insist that a government sanctioning regime be in place to add a high-level of confidence to any proposed settlement initiative.
Is international space law flexible?
There is an open question as to whether international space law is flexible enough to permit an entity, or consortium of entities, to construct a space settlement at will. An evaluation of any barriers that might exist or arise, and consideration of policy solutions must be explored and crafted.
Why is space colonization important?
Nick Bostrom has argued that from a utilitarian perspective, space colonization should be a chief goal as it would enable a very large population to live for a very long period of time (possibly billions of years), which would produce an enormous amount of utility (or happiness).
What is space colonization?
Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization ) is the hypothetical permanent habitation and exploitation of natural resources from outside planet Earth . As such it is a form of human presence in space, beyond human spaceflight or operating space outposts . Many arguments have been made for ...
Why is solar energy sent to the moon?
Transmitting solar energy wirelessly from the Earth to the Moon and back is also an idea proposed for the benefit of space colonization and energy resources . Physicist Dr. David Criswell, who worked for NASA during the Apollo missions, came up with the idea of using power beams to transfer energy from space.
How has the expansion of humans and technology affected the environment?
Expansion of humans and technological progress has usually resulted in some form of environmental devastation, and destruction of ecosystems and their accompanying wildlife. In the past, expansion has often come at the expense of displacing many indigenous peoples, the resulting treatment of these peoples ranging anywhere from encroachment to genocide. Because space has no known life, this need not be a consequence, as some space settlement advocates have pointed out. However, on some bodies of the Solar System, there is the potential for extant native lifeforms and so the negative consequences of space colonization cannot be dismissed .
What are the arguments for and against space colonization?
The two most common in favor of colonization are survival of human civilization and the biosphere in the event of a planetary-scale disaster (natural or human-made), and the availability of additional resources in space that could enable expansion of human society.
Why is space manufacturing important?
Space manufacturing could enable self-replication. Some think it's the ultimate goal because it allows an exponential increase in colonies, while eliminating costs to and dependence on Earth. It could be argued that the establishment of such a colony would be Earth's first act of self-replication. Intermediate goals include colonies that expect only information from Earth (science, engineering, entertainment) and colonies that just require periodic supply of light weight objects, such as integrated circuits, medicines, genetic material and tools.
Which moons are a target for colonization?
Moons of Saturn – Titan, Enceladus, and others. Main article: Colonization of Titan. Titan is suggested as a target for colonization, because it is the only moon in the Solar System to have a dense atmosphere and is rich in carbon-bearing compounds. Titan has water ice and large methane oceans.
“Across The Sea of Space, The Stars Are Other suns.”
- – Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Once the exclusive province of science fiction stories and films, the subject of space colonization has rapidly moved several steps closer to becoming a reality thanks to major advances in rocket propulsion and design, astronautics and astrophysics, robotics and medicine. The urgency to es…
E-Books
- The e-books listed below are available to the general public through National Academies Press. (https://www.nap.edu) 1. The National Research Council. Pathways to Exploration: Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Human Space Exploration.2014
Articles and Reports
- The expert guide to space colonies – https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20141002-time-to-plan-a-space-colony The future of space colonization – terraforming or space habitats? by Matt Williams, Universe Today - https://phys.org/news/2017-03-future-space-colonization-terraforming-habitats.html
Internet Resources
- NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/ National Space Society – Space Settlement: https://space.nss.org/?s=space+settlement The Mars Society: www.marssociety.org The Planetary Society: www.planetary.org