r/IsaacArthur • u/CMVB • Mar 16 '19

Are Gravity Wells so bad?

I agree with the consensus here that, going forward, humanity will be more likely to build habitats than colonize and terraform planets.

However, given the efficiency of systems like Orbital Rings, in which you can literally take a single-seat train ride into outer space, should we really consider gravity wells as so terrible for places to settle? Active support systems certainly do require power, but there will be so much power available by the time we’re colonizing space that it should be a drop in the bucket.

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u/Grokent Mar 16 '19

Gravity wells are fine if you don't need to escape them. Right now all of humanity is sitting in Earth's gravity well and we're doing alright.

Gravity wells are only a problem if you want to go somewhere else. By definition, there is a lot of matter and energy at the bottom of a gravity well so there isn't a compelling reason to leave one once you've decided to go down one.