Difference between revisions of "Space habitats"
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Space is a very harsh environment and it may be hard to imagine wanting to live in such a seemingly bleak place, but taming it is only a matter of some (admittedly fairly serious) engineering and is entirely within our current technical capability. | Space is a very harsh environment and it may be hard to imagine wanting to live in such a seemingly bleak place, but taming it is only a matter of some (admittedly fairly serious) engineering and is entirely within our current technical capability. | ||
| − | There are many challenges to enable building these towns and cities off-Earth. Two prominent ones are raw materials and gravity. A colony of any size will have to be self-sufficient in materials as it will not be practical to ship them up from the surface of the Earth due to the enormous energy required to climb against its pull. Escaping this pull long-term also causes major problems for the human body. Muscles get very weak, including the heart, and bones de-mineralise. The only real solution is to generate artificial gravity by rotation | + | There are many challenges to enable building these towns and cities off-Earth. Two prominent ones are raw materials and gravity. A colony of any size will have to be self-sufficient in materials as it will not be practical to ship them up from the surface of the Earth due to the enormous energy required to climb against its pull. Escaping this pull long-term also causes major problems for the human body. Muscles get very weak, including the heart, and bones de-mineralise. The only real solution is to generate artificial gravity by rotation, which likely includes Moon-bases, if people are going to stay for any length of time. |
There have been many studies over the past thirty years to understand what kind of habitats could be built and what size constraints there are. Surprisingly the answer in the 1970s was that based on bridge and ship-building techniques it is possible to build cylindrical megastructures up to 30 kilometres long and 6 kilometres in diameter with a single one able to comfortably house millions of people. | There have been many studies over the past thirty years to understand what kind of habitats could be built and what size constraints there are. Surprisingly the answer in the 1970s was that based on bridge and ship-building techniques it is possible to build cylindrical megastructures up to 30 kilometres long and 6 kilometres in diameter with a single one able to comfortably house millions of people. | ||
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==Material== | ==Material== | ||
[[Image:Lunar mass driver.jpg|thumb|250px|Lunar mass driver]] | [[Image:Lunar mass driver.jpg|thumb|250px|Lunar mass driver]] | ||
| − | It would be far too expensive to built these huge structures from material brought up from the surface of the Earth, so for colonies near Earth it has been proposed to use material mined from the moon or | + | It would be far too expensive to built these huge structures from material brought up from the surface of the Earth, so for colonies near Earth it has been proposed to use material mined from the moon or {{wp|Near-Earth_object|near-Earth objects}} such as asteroids and comets, and transported using solar powered {{wp|Mass_driver|mass-drivers}}. |
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| − | * | + | *{{wp|Gerard_O%27Neill|Gerard O'Neill}} |
| − | * | + | *{{wp|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder|O'Neill cylinder concept}} |
*[[Resources in space]] | *[[Resources in space]] | ||
{{br}} | {{br}} | ||
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===Geosynchronous orbit=== | ===Geosynchronous orbit=== | ||
| − | In a | + | In a {{wp|Geosynchronous_orbit|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=== | ===Lunar orbit=== | ||
Revision as of 19:29, 23 July 2007
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Main Page > Colonising Space > Space habitats
Space is a very harsh environment and it may be hard to imagine wanting to live in such a seemingly bleak place, but taming it is only a matter of some (admittedly fairly serious) engineering and is entirely within our current technical capability.
There are many challenges to enable building these towns and cities off-Earth. Two prominent ones are raw materials and gravity. A colony of any size will have to be self-sufficient in materials as it will not be practical to ship them up from the surface of the Earth due to the enormous energy required to climb against its pull. Escaping this pull long-term also causes major problems for the human body. Muscles get very weak, including the heart, and bones de-mineralise. The only real solution is to generate artificial gravity by rotation, which likely includes Moon-bases, if people are going to stay for any length of time.
There have been many studies over the past thirty years to understand what kind of habitats could be built and what size constraints there are. Surprisingly the answer in the 1970s was that based on bridge and ship-building techniques it is possible to build cylindrical megastructures up to 30 kilometres long and 6 kilometres in diameter with a single one able to comfortably house millions of people.
Being mega-scale engineering projects, it is not hard to see that similar techniques used in the habitat's construction could be used to make the interiors of these habitats be like beautiful places on Earth, such as rolling green English countryside. Some designs even have enough atmosphere inside them to make the sky appear blue.
Material
It would be far too expensive to built these huge structures from material brought up from the surface of the Earth, so for colonies near Earth it has been proposed to use material mined from the moon or near-Earth objects 
such as asteroids and comets, and transported using solar powered mass-drivers .
See also
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