The Science of Space Colonization Planet Earth is not going to last forever. Sooner or later the human race will have to look for somewhere else to call home. Of course, this will not be the case for an extreme amount of time; nevertheless, scientists have already started to examine various options for possible space colonization. Sending a colony into space is no small task, so there are loads of problems and obstacles that humanity will need to hurdle to do this successfully. In order for humanity to permanently create settlements outside of Earth’s atmosphere, there needs to be advancements in many different areas of science and technology. If humanity decides that there is a specific planet that they want to colonize, then the first question …show more content…
Cameron Smith, an anthropologist at Portland State University, said that an interstellar colony should start out with at least 20,000 to 40,000 people , so the first priority when deciding how to travel to our new colony should be the safety and comfort of at least that many people (Wall). The size of the potential spaceship will have to be big enough to comfortably support a population of this size and all the supplies needed to keep them alive, which is no small task in space. There would need to be some sort of protections from solar radiation and asteroid fields built into the ship as well. Not only will the ship have to keep the passengers alive, but it will have to be able to get them to their location in a timely manner. At the fastest speed by a spacecraft ever recorded, it would take approximately 19,000 years to travel to the nearest star (Williams). This leaves only a couple of possibilities: settle on a planet inside our solar system, find a way to vastly increase the speed of this ship, send multiples generations of families who are all willing to die in space, or develop a sort of …show more content…
Similar to space transportation, these space stations would have many elements needed to make the habitat safe and comfortable for human life. A NASA report mentions that most of the designs for these stations are expected to be approximately one half to a few kilometers across while the entire station rotates around its axis to generate Earth-like gravity with enough mass on the outer hull to protect from solar radiation and meteorites (Globus). These designs would allow for sustainable life, but unless this settlement wants to live solely on supply shuttles from Earth, then it will need to be self-sustaining. That same NASA report says, “Each settlement must be an independent biosphere. All oxygen, water, wastes, and other materials must be recycled endlessly.” (Globus). Even after successfully planning a thriving space settlement, there is still the question of where, in space, the settlement should be located. There is a point in space where the gravitational attraction between the Earth, the sun, and the moon all balance out called the Lagrangian Point (Hadhazy). This point would be close enough to allow supply runs and communication with Earth, and it would still be close enough to the moon if it was necessary to travel there to mine resources. Settlements in space could also be used as a baby step toward the
Humans have dreamed of leaving the earth and traveling space for many years, and up to this day they have taken many steps in the right direction. Yet, with every new frontier they approach, new problems loom over the horizon. Some of these problems arise right here on Earth. Some of the issues have been resolved, such as escaping the forces of gravity to reach outer space. Most of the problems are far more arduous and the solutions need more time to be worked out properly. In “The Coming Schism” by James E. and Alcestis R. Oberg, they posit that humans can colonize space. Humans need to buckle up and build the technology which will help to solve problems that would arise to
In a span of 20-50 years, I believe that it is possible colonizing planets excluding Earth. With the Moon being colonized first in my opinion, it will come with many challenges. One of the challenges of colonizing Moon
It’s cold up there. Cold and inhospitable. It is not easy, and it will take time. These are things the first humans in Africa must have thought of journeys northward. And yet, people still went. They colonized the globe in all its varied environments. When humans first bred dogs and horses, they did not do so to send them into unexplored land in our steed. We did not build crow’s nests on ships to observe and not go. Why is even a question whether humans should go to space? Space is the final frontier that the universe has to offer, and humanity would be remiss not to explore it with their own hands. It’s important to frame the debate. Succinctly, should
Angelo, A. Joseph. ”Lunar Bases and Settlements.” Encyclopaedia of Space Exploration. 11 Penn Plaza: New York. 2002.121. PRINT
Ideas such as colonizing another planet is not unheard of and if humans do not consider the possible impacts in a new environment, this can be detrimental. The article “A NASA-Funded engineer's plan to colonize Mars” from CNN was written by Kate Springer in 2017. One statement that made was, “I believe building in space is going to become commonplace in less than 50 years. There's an abundance of energy and materials (in space) -- all we have to do is design self-replicating factories and build a lot of objects. In a short time, our capability to manufacture in space will be many
Currently the building of space colony will provide a huge set of both technological and economic challenges.
Space is very, very big. And it's also very, very, dangerous. We humans are squishy and don't live particularly long lives here on Earth, and that's even before the extensive toll our bodies suffer due to space, in accordance with aforementioned squishiness. The amount of challenges there are in sending people beyond our planet are immense. We have to worry about air, food, waste, radiation, communication, bone loss due to zero-g. Simply getting up there is a challenge, and then we have to worry about getting home. Due to this long list of concerns, humans have been relegated to a very small corner of our solar system. The record breakers for furthest humans from home remain the handful of men that walked on the moon during the Apollo
We began questioning what was there for us, the planets and the space. Although we have been wondering and studying astrology since the beginning of time, we find ourselves most preoccupied with the idea now. Much like all new adventures and explorations, there has been failures. I am not here to talk about the failures that have happened though, just to let you know there are numerous there to be accounted for. Instead we shall look at the developments. During the Red Scare, a country competition to get to the new land first and claim or stake it like playing the board game Risk, most of our best outer space designing was made. The first rocket was USSR’s “Sputnik 1” on October 4th, 1957. It was then followed by the first live being in orbit 1957 by the USSR, the 1st human spaceflight in 1961 by the USSR, the first spacewalk in 1965 by the USSR, the first moon landing of America with “Apollo 11” in 1969, and the first space station in 1971. Although there is much controversy to the moon landing of July 20th 1969, I include it for the sake of history being remembered that way regardless to peoples’ preferences on it being either real or fake. Fruit flies, monkeys, dogs and other animals were sent to the new world and launched into what some people pay 20-35 million US $s to do. Yes, space tourism hit its hikes, between the years 2001-2009, sending mostly celebrities past the skies for a ten day visit of the New World for a starting price
Interstellar colonization is a very interesting, yet controversial topic because of all the different things we would probably need to do to be able to pull this off. Because of this there are many interesting topics that can be explored here, including propulsion types, habitation process, ship habitation, will it be an orbital colony or will it be on the ground, and even how we would go about funding this venture.
Inhabiting space is the next step for mankind as a whole. Today scientists are working on getting humans on nearby planets. NASA and Spacex are the two orginizations you would hear about in the news, making new discoveries and advancements to further the evolution of mankind. Humans are obviously special, and have always making new advancements since the stone age. In a couple of years when our technology gets better, it would be the perfect time for humans to unite as one and work towards helping mankind go to space and sending humans to other planets, like Columbus or the Vikings found land in the west hemisphere, man will find habitable planets in the neighboring systems. Since the stone age man has gotten smarter, more efficient, and has increasing power.
The original space race may be far in the past, but the human drive to explore and discover has kept the concept of space travel and colonizing the rest of the universe a fascinating concept. Additionally, as climate change worsens on Earth and the human population continues to grow, the idea of moving out of Earth and beginning fresh becomes more and more appealing. However, Earth is the only planet known to sustain life, and whether life can be sustained elsewhere is a question that still needs to be answered. Space colonization presents a variety of new problems that need to be solved and dangers that need to be accounted for. Beyond the most obvious
Planet Earth is not going to last forever. Sooner or later the human race will have to look for somewhere else to call home. Whether it is from overpopulation, global warming, or even the sun exploding, one day humans will need a new home. Of course, this probably will not be the case for a large amount of time; nevertheless, scientists have already started to examine various options for possible space colonization. Sending a colony into space is no small task, so there are loads of problems and obstacles that humanity will need to hurdle to do this successfully. In order for humanity to permanently create settlements outside of Earth’s atmosphere, there needs to be advancements in many different
The possibilities and limitations for colonization on Mars are diverse, and they all contribute to the idea of colonization on a foreign planet. However, there are many limitations that are factors for obstacles in the plans, as 3D printer Behrokh Khoshnevis explains how he has plans to create an inhabitable living area on Mars. The author, Kate Springer, quotes Khoshnevis when he claims that he could actually build on Mars, using a system that he created, and seems a bit skeptical that the plan could actually work. Springer supports this idea when she quotes Khosnevis’s statement, “Getting the technology to Mars [is the biggest barrier]. We will have to place the construction machines inside the payload compartment of a rocket. For that, we have to be mindful of the size.
As humans, we always push to explore for new discoveries, it is in our blood to explore and push scientific boundaries. Space exploration has allowed us to expand our technology, foster a curiosity in humans, discover new worlds, and most importantly push even further to discover life in a new planet. With the advancement of new technology and innovators, there has been a significant discussion whether sending humans with the support of robots is the most efficient method. However, there are great arguments made that sending exclusively robots on space exploration is the best strategy. There is
Outer space is mankind’s common heritage, so all the countries must have equal access to the outer space. In the past few decades science and technology have freed from the boundaries of earth and making its way in to space.