Orbital Space Settlements

1
Orbital Space Settlements

• Al Globus
• March 2000

A scientist discovers what exists
An engineer creates what never was
von Karmon
2
(No Transcript)
3
(No Transcript)
4
(No Transcript)
5
http//spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/ph
otos/sts71/mir-imax/hmg0018.jpg
6
People Live Everywhere

• Every continent, including Antarctica
• Hottest, driest deserts
• Coldest, iciest regions
• Wettest rain forests
• On water
• For short periods, in orbit
• 6,000,000,000 people on Earth

7
Life is Everywhere

• On nearly all land areas
• In nearly all waters
• In the rocks under the Earth
• In near-boiling water
• In ice
• On desert rocks
• On a spacecraft on the Moon

8
Next Target Orbit

• Your lifetime thousands of people living in
  orbit
  
• A few centuries most of humanity in orbit.

Next millenium generation ships to the stars
9
Orbital Space Settlement

• Who? Ordinary people.
• What? Artificial ecosystems inside gigantic
  rotating, pressurized spacecraft.
  
• Where? In orbit near Earth at first.
• How? With great difficulty.
• Why? To grow.
• When? Decades.
• How much will it cost? If you have to ask, you
  can't afford it.

10
Who

• Today highly trained astronauts.
• 200-400 million pesos tourist trip to Mir
• Tomorrow everyone who wants to go.
• 100 - 10,000,000 people per colony
• Ultimately, thousands or even millions of
  colonies
  
• Sounds unrealistic?
• A hundred years ago nobody had ever flown in an
  airplane.
  
• Today 500 million person/flights per year.

11
What

• A space settlement is a home in orbit, not just a
  place to work.
  
• Live on the inside of air-tight, kilometer scale,
  rotating spacecraft.

12
Where

• In orbit, not on a planet or moon.
• Moon (1/6g) and Mars (3/8g) gravity too low.
• Children will not have the bones and muscles
  needed to visit Earth.
  
• Orbital colonies rotate for 1g.
• Continuous solar energy.
• Large-scale construction easier.
• Much closer hours not days or months.

13
How

• Materials
• Moon
• Oxygen, silicon, metals, some hydrogen for
  water.
  
• Near-Earth Asteroids
• Wide variety of materials including water,
  carbon, metals, and silicon.
  
• Radiation protection
• Life support Biosphere II scientific failure,
  engineering success!
  
• Transportation critical and difficult.

14
(No Transcript)
15
Why

• Growth survival.
• Largest asteroid converted to space settlements
  can produce living area 500 times the surface
  area of the Earth.
  
• 3D object to 2D shells
• Uncrowded homes for trillions of people.
• New land.
• Nice place to live.

16
Real Estate Features

• Great views
• Low/0-g recreation
• Human powered flight
• Cylindrical swimming pools
• Dance, gymnastics
• Sports football (soccer)
• Environmental independence
• Custom living
• Weather art

17
When

• A few decades should be sufficient to build the
  first one.
  
• No serious effort now.
• Technology requirements
• Safer, cheaper launch
• Extraterrestrial materials
• Large scale orbital construction
• Closed ecological life support systems
• And much more

18
How much will it cost?

• A lot.
• How much did Mexico City cost?
• Orbital space settlements will be far more
  expensive
  
• all materials imported
• transportation difficult
• build all life support
• hostile environment
• new techniques must be developed

19
Key Problem Launch
20
2020 Tourism

• Hotel
• Doctors
• Maids
• Cooks
• Recreational directors
• Reservation clerks
• etc.
• These may be the first colonists.

21
Low/0-g Handicapped/Elderly Colony

• No wheelchairs needed.
• No bed sores.
• Easy to move body even when weak.
• Never fall and break hip.
• Grandchildren will love to visit.
• First facilities for the extremely rich.
• Need good medical facilities.
• Probably cant return to Earth.

22
Conclusion

• The colonization of the solar system is the
  next great adventure for humanity. There is
  nothing but rock and radiation in space, no
  living things, no people. The solar system is
  waiting to be brought to life by humanity's
  touch.