Difference between revisions of "Space habitats"

Places

There are many suitable places to site a habitat in space, especially within the orbit of Jupiter.

Low Earth orbit

The easiest to get to from Earth is low earth orbit, although due to the Earth's strong gravitational pull it requires enormous amounts of energy to bring material up from the surface and one could not be classed as self-sufficient here, however the views are pretty good.

Geosynchronous orbit

In a geosynchronous orbit the habitat would hover the same spot on Earth which would mean that one would have the same day / night cycle as on the surface which is an important consideration with human physiology.

Lunar orbit

In lunar orbit the moon is within easy reach but the habitat will be subject to the moons two-week long day / night cycles which might not be to everyone's taste, although of course the normal light rythms can be replicated internally with lighting.

Surface of the moon

The surface of the moon provides a continent-sized area to inhabit and somewhere to 'get outside'. However it is not clear that the one-sixth of Earth's gravity here is enough to stop degredation of the human body over extended periods, but this could be overcome by having large circular habitats that rotate to simulate a 1G environment.

Lagrangian points

Near Earth asteroids

Solar orbit

Venus atmosphere

Venus surface

Mars moons

Mars orbit

Surface of Mars

Asteroid Belt

Ceres

(Water ice)

Other moons

Many to choose from

Types of habitat

• Stanford torus
• O'Neill cylinder
• Crater bubble
• Rotating moonbase for 1G
• Hollowed out asteroid
• Zero-G station
• Rotating dumbell