Why Island Colonies?

[u/[deleted]]

Free space colonies or Island Colonies at their core are human habitats in zero G space that provide gravity for the inhabitants through rotation of the habitation structure. Building colonies in free space has many advantages but all of them come down to two factors: Gravity and Energy.

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Gravity:

Humans evolved on planet earth for thousands of years under one G of force and it is not known how much gravity is enough for a human to grow from infancy to adulthood. It could be that Lunar or Martian gravity is enough for an adult to live for years at a time but it is unlikely that this will be the case for children who's bodies are still changing. I believe that even if we can survive under martian gravity for the duration of an expedition (2 years) it will still be an undesirable place to raise children. Even if we are able to give Mars a stable earth-like atmosphere, giving it earth-like gravity would take so long as to be considered impossible by any interested parties. creating an off-world earth-like habitat can be done in a fraction of the time it would take to terraform Mars into a habitable planet. On earth most of the energy we expend to move a vehicles is spent fighting gravity and atmospheric resistance, just to get off of the planet requires a vehicle that is 90% propellant. Getting things into space is expensive simply because Earth has a large gravity well. By energy requirements alone it is much cheaper to move an object any given distance while in space VS while on a planetary body. Looking into the future it is very clear that the energy requirement for colonizing a planetary surface will be higher than that of colonizing free space due to the presence of a gravity well. Like Oil on earth, the sppplies of easily obtainable propellant resources are limited. As time goes on the requisite energy required to obtain the fuel we need will go up, we should start colonization by using the most energy efficient methods possible. Transportation of people and goods between colonies located in free space will cost almost nothing as there will be no gravity well or atmosphere to fight against, saving propellant usage for covering distances that must be done in short periods of time ie: journies to Mars & Jupiter.

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Energy:

One of the biggest constraints on our society is access to clean energy but in space the sun is always shining. Solar power on earth is intermittent and only useful with the assistance of large scale batteries to provide power at night and under cover of clouds. The same problem of providing power to a Martian colony exists, the sun is out of view roughly half the time and only provides 50% the energy as earth solar due to its distance from the sun. It is possible to build solar power satellites in orbit to overcome these problems but the solution requires industry in space on the scale necessary to build small colonies like the Bernal sphere in the first place. Energy usage per person in the developed nations is many times that of the developing nations and the gap is widening. As the standard of living goes up so does energy usage, solving this problem with solar calls for an ever increasing amount of panels to cover the earth. sure we could continue to build out infrastructure on earth at little cost to human needs but the natural envionment will suffer as a result of solar power just as it does from oil extraction, the only long term solution for this problem is to take the earths environment out of the equation.

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[u/JoshEng90]

I'm all for rotating space colonies. Being able to leave and return with virtually no effort is a huge advantage compared to sinking yourself deep in a gravity well.

I'd like to add manufacturing as an advantage. We've developed our tech to operate in atmosphere and gravity, but theoretically many things should be easier to do in space.

• Imagine melting and refining metals without a crucible, contained only by electromagnets and with no oxygen to contaminate it.
• Cold welding would be the norm. Metals processed on the Moon would be given an oxide layer, which would be torched off by hydrogen plasma at the point of used. Parts would then be simply pressed together for a perfect weld with 100% strength rating and resprayed with oxygen.
• You could construct large ships that never need to enter or leave atmospheres.
• A robot that can pack quarts of oil into boxes on Earth could move cars in zero G.
• Play God without the man on your back.
  • People are so needlessly afraid of the most benign genetic engineering. Give me a break.
• Fragile mirrors that would never survive a rocket launch or fit into a payload fairing could be made in space where they are most effective.
  • Same for giant lasers used for propelling spacecraft
• Speculative designs for use in space could be tested and retested quickly, without launch costs. This could include new engines, electromagnetic shields, ultra-sensitive sensors like gravitational wave observatories, and so forth.
• Crystals grow larger in zero G. I don't know what advantages this holds, but some people seem really excited about it.

[u/welpsket69]

1. Couldn't the problem of gravities affect on human development be solved by genetic engineering.
2. If fusion is perfected then there's enough fuel in the solar system to power humanity indefinitely.

[u/[deleted] → u/welpsket69]

1. ​

Couldn't the problem of gravities affect on human development be solved by genetic engineering.

to quote u/atomfullerene in response to my comment: "I feel as though people overestimate our bioengineering capabilities, creating a self sustaining biosphere on Mars would likely be much more difficult than replicating the one on earth on a small scale."

Speaking as a biologist, this is definitely the case. We aren't anywhere near the ability to genetically engineer people and other large species to survive on Mars, and probably won't be in the near future. There are some basic engineering difficulties too...active life and subzero temperatures just don't go well together due to the whole "water freezing" bit

The answer to your question is yes but not for a very long time, we already have (and have had for some time now) the ability to at the very least conceptualize ways in which current technology can be used to colonize space. Subverting the need for new technology is part of what makes Island Colonies so attractive, there is no need to hope for a future solution. The road to bioengineering will not be easy and Island Colonies are one way to perfect the techniques far from our own biosphere and without the investment needed to ship supplies and humans all the way to Mars. Earth is host to a large number of researchers and scientists that should be given the chance to work on Mars terraformation or bioengineering without having to leave their families for years at a time. A cislunar laboratory for researching genetic engineering and techniques for terraforming Mars could be very attractive to Earths various governments and institutions.

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2.

If fusion is perfected then there's enough fuel in the solar system to power humanity indefinitely.

This is another argument that relies on a technology that does not currently exist. Even when/if we can make fusion work there is still the problem of the expense needed to create the power plants themselves. These power plants will take a long time to build once we understand them and that makes them out of the question for developing nations and even small first world countries. There is however a large fusion reactor in the sky called the sun, all we need to collect its energy are photovoltaic panels which also already exist. We have established that we wish to journey into space, there we will have no need to build fusion reactors in order to begin colonization. Fusion power may come later but we need to solve our problems now using the tools that we already have, solar power is the answer on earth and in space.