Space Colonization

[Serenity595]

Space Colonization

"Space colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth." - Wikipedia

Why would we want to colonize other planets? How will it happen? Where will we settle first? Who will go? What problems may we encounter? Where would we settle next?

Let's make a plan.

In this first entry, I will be looking at one of the primary terrestrial planets in our solar system: Mercury.

The following celestial bodies will possibly be covered at a later date:

- Mars
- Venus
- gas planets
- dwarf planets
- asteroids
- moons

I may either update this post with new information or add a reply.

For now, I will give you a breakdown of Mercury and its relation to future colonization. Let's begin.

Mercury

"Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days." - Wikipedia

Where would we settle?

We would most likely settle in the polar regions because of the extreme daytime temperatures elsewhere on the planet. An orbital settlement would also be possible, but it would most likely be located floating above the dark side of the planet.

What are the advantages of settling here?

- It is similar to the moon so it may be colonized with the same general technology, equipment, and approach. This would make the colonization of Mercury more economically feasible both in cost and time compared to colonizing a completely foreign planet.
- There may be deposits of ice in permanently shaded craters at the poles. This would provide a source of water for the colonists (ionized water has been discovered on Mercury).
- The potential ability to collect the extreme amounts of solar energy on Mercury would make this a highly industrious and efficient colony.
- Mercury is theorized to contain large amounts of helium-3 in its soil which could become an important source for clean nuclear fusion energy. Mercury is also theorized to have a crust rich in iron and magnesium silicates which could be used to build tons of hardware.
- The gravity of Mercury is similar to that of Mars, which would make it more ideal for long-term human habitation than our moon in that respect.

What are the difficulties in settling here?

- There is a lack of an atmosphere on Mercury. This is an obvious detriment to human survival on this planet. All lighter elements would have to be imported from other planets.
- The extreme heat would always cause a problem because of Mercury's close proximity to the sun. The actual land area that could be colonized effectively is much smaller in comparison to other planets such as Mars.
- Since Mercury has a slow rotation, its solar days are long and are equal to 176 earth days. The benefit of this is the large potential solar energy output of proposed "solar farms". The downside is the heat's devastating effects on life as well as its detriment for humans to travel to other regions of the planet for exploration and industrial purposes. The long nights can also have a similar effect as the solar farms would be rendered useless if they were located on certain planetary axis.
- The intense gravity from the sun would require space ships to use a larger velocity change to arrive and depart from Mercury than compared to other planets.

What is the conclusion?

Mercury is promising for a industrious colony and could provide many benefits in both the energy and hardware markets that may revolve around the future space economy. The main difficulty for human colonization on Mercury is the extreme heat, but this disadvantage could be diminished by establishing bases at the poles where possible ice and ionized water deposits may be found. This planet's main export will undoubtedly be intense amounts of solar energy, which would provide a backbone to the growing colonies that would co-exist in our solar system. The large amount of solar energy could also be potentially harnessed for interstellar travel, which would make Mercury a prime spot for refueling spaceships.

- - -

This concludes my first entry into the theoretical human colonization of other planets within our solar system.

 

[rsmv2you]

Space Colonization

"Space colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth." - Wikipedia

Why would we want to colonize other planets? How will it happen? Where will we settle first? Who will go? What problems may we encounter? Where would we settle next?

Let's make a plan.

In this first entry, I will be looking at one of the primary terrestrial planets in our solar system: Mercury.

The following celestial bodies will possibly be covered at a later date:

- Mars
- Venus
- gas planets
- dwarf planets
- asteroids
- moons

I may either update this post with new information or add a reply.

For now, I will give you a breakdown of Mercury and its relation to future colonization. Let's begin.

Mercury

"Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days." - Wikipedia

Where would we settle?

We would most likely settle in the polar regions because of the extreme daytime temperatures elsewhere on the planet. An orbital settlement would also be possible, but it would most likely be located floating above the dark side of the planet.

What are the advantages of settling here?

- It is similar to the moon so it may be colonized with the same general technology, equipment, and approach. This would make the colonization of Mercury more economically feasible both in cost and time compared to colonizing a completely foreign planet.
- There may be deposits of ice in permanently shaded craters at the poles. This would provide a source of water for the colonists (ionized water has been discovered on Mercury).
- The potential ability to collect the extreme amounts of solar energy on Mercury would make this a highly industrious and efficient colony.
- Mercury is theorized to contain large amounts of helium-3 in its soil which could become an important source for clean nuclear fusion energy. Mercury is also theorized to have a crust rich in iron and magnesium silicates which could be used to build tons of hardware.
- The gravity of Mercury is similar to that of Mars, which would make it more ideal for long-term human habitation than our moon in that respect.

What are the difficulties in settling here?

- There is a lack of an atmosphere on Mercury. This is an obvious detriment to human survival on this planet. All lighter elements would have to be imported from other planets.
- The extreme heat would always cause a problem because of Mercury's close proximity to the sun. The actual land area that could be colonized effectively is much smaller in comparison to other planets such as Mars.
- Since Mercury has a slow rotation, its solar days are long and are equal to 176 earth days. The benefit of this is the large potential solar energy output of proposed "solar farms". The downside is the heat's devastating effects on life as well as its detriment for humans to travel to other regions of the planet for exploration and industrial purposes. The long nights can also have a similar effect as the solar farms would be rendered useless if they were located on certain planetary axis.
- The intense gravity from the sun would require space ships to use a larger velocity change to arrive and depart from Mercury than compared to other planets.

What is the conclusion?

Mercury is promising for a industrious colony and could provide many benefits in both the energy and hardware markets that may revolve around the future space economy. The main difficulty for human colonization on Mercury is the extreme heat, but this disadvantage could be diminished by establishing bases at the poles where possible ice and ionized water deposits may be found. This planet's main export will undoubtedly be intense amounts of solar energy, which would provide a backbone to the growing colonies that would co-exist in our solar system. The large amount of solar energy could also be potentially harnessed for interstellar travel, which would make Mercury a prime spot for refueling spaceships.

- - -

This concludes my first entry into the theoretical human colonization of other planets within our solar system.

Even with the advancement of technology wouldn't the temperature make it impossible in the first place?

 

[David]

I don't mean to troll but:
MOOOOOONBASE ALPHA :3

 

[xHallucinationx]

They should settle on Jupiter so after the Sun becomes a Red giant thousands of years from now people have a place to go.

 

[xHallucinationx]

I don't mean to troll but:
MOOOOOONBASE ALPHA :3

That post will bring on posts making this go into random.

 

[Serenity595]

Even with the advancement of technology wouldn't the temperature make it impossible in the first place?

Theoretically, it would still be possible. All we have to do is approach Mercury from the dark side and colonize the poles. Even though the max surface temperature on Mercury can reach 700 K (or 800.6 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot enough to melt lead), it it still logical to assume that at some point in our evolution of technology that we will attain the capabilities to block or repel solar radiation and heat through a strong, artificial magnetic field, or maybe even create a material that can withstand such temperatures on a daily basis. At least the long nights would give the colonists plenty of time to make repairs and to cool down the solar collecting units.

They should settle on Jupiter so after the Sun becomes a Red giant thousands of years from now people have a place to go.

I haven't thought of that theory, but I did some research and found some surprising insight into Red giants. Here is an article on the subject of earth's theoretical probability in surviving the stellar evolution of our Sun into a Red giant.

http://www.universetoday.com/12648/will-earth-survive-when-the-sun-becomes-a-red-giant/

According to the theoretical physics and outcome that is explained in the article, Jupiter would not be within the new habitable zone that would stretch from 49.4 AU to 71.4 AU (astronomical units), well into the Kuiper Belt, as Jupiter is at an average distance of only a mere 5.20 AU. Even Neptune, the farthest planet from the sun, is just 30.1 AU away. Pluto barely misses the habitable zone at a maximum orbital aphelion (the point at which it is furthest from the sun) of 48.871 AU. There is a slight possibility that we could survive orbiting the planet of Jupiter for a brief time as the Red giant gets larger and larger, however.

Our best chance at more long-term oriented survival would be in one of the dwarf planets such as Haumea (only during the brief aphelion of its orbit which maxes out at 51.544 AU, just barely over the minimum habitable threshold of 49.4 AU, although its perihelion [the point at which it is closest to the sun] is still too low), Makemake (also only during the brief aphelion of its orbit which maxes out at 53.074, which gives a slightly longer time period that it could sustain life, even though it would only be temporary), and Eris (still temporarily habitable, but most promising because its perihelion and aphelion lies between 37.77 AU and 97.56 AU respectively), the most promising of these being the latter. Eris in particular, however, and quite uniquely, would actually exceed the new habitable zone of 49.4 AU to 71.4 AU during part of its orbit around the sun and would become too cold to support life, rather than too hot.

All of these options aside, there is still a chance we'll find moons or other celestial bodies that may become capable of supporting life in the future. However, there is no need to worry about the earth's destruction in this stellar process, as our Sun will not change into a Red giant for another 7.59 billion years.

 

[Mariolink42]

Theoretically, it would still be possible. All we have to do is approach Mercury from the dark side and colonize the poles. Even though the max surface temperature on Mercury can reach 700 K (or 800.6 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot enough to melt lead), it it still logical to assume that at some point in our evolution of technology that we will attain the capabilities to block or repel solar radiation and heat through a strong, artificial magnetic field, or maybe even create a material that can withstand such temperatures on a daily basis. At least the long nights would give the colonists plenty of time to make repairs and to cool down solar collecting units.



I haven't thought of that theory, but I did some research and found some surprising insight into Red giants. Here is an article on the subject of earth's theoretical probability in surviving the stellar evolution of our Sun into a Red giant.

According to the theoretical physics and outcome that is explained in the article, Jupiter would not be within the new habitable zone that would stretch from 49.4 AU to 71.4 AU (astronomical units), well into the Kuiper Belt, as Jupiter is at an average distance of only a mere 5.20 AU. Even Neptune, the farthest planet from the sun, is just 30.1 AU away. Pluto barely misses the habitable zone at a maximum orbital aphelion (the point at which it is furthest from the sun) of 48.871 AU. There is a slight possibility that we could survive orbiting the planet of Jupiter for a brief time as the Red giant gets larger and larger, however.

Our best chance at more long-term oriented survival would be in one of the dwarf planets such as Haumea (only during the brief aphelion of its orbit which maxes out at 51.544 AU, just barely over the minimum habitable threshold of 49.4 AU, although its perihelion [the point at which it is closest to the sun] is still too low), Makemake (also only during the brief aphelion of its orbit which maxes out at 53.074, which gives a slightly longer time period that it could sustain life, even though it would only be temporary), and Eris (still temporarily habitable, but most promising because its perihelion and aphelion lies between 37.77 AU and 97.56 AU respectively), the most promising of these being the latter. Eris in particular, however, and quite uniquely, would actually exceed the new habitable zone of 49.4 AU to 71.4 AU during part of its orbit around the sun and would become too cold to support life, rather than too hot.

All of these options aside, there is still a chance we'll find moons or other celestial bodies that may become capable of supporting life in the future. However, there is no need to worry about the earth's destruction in this stellar process, as our Sun will not change into a Red giant for another 7.59 billion years.

Space Colonization

"Space colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth." - Wikipedia

Why would we want to colonize other planets? How will it happen? Where will we settle first? Who will go? What problems may we encounter? Where would we settle next?

Let's make a plan.

In this first entry, I will be looking at one of the primary terrestrial planets in our solar system: Mercury.

The following celestial bodies will possibly be covered at a later date:

- Mars
- Venus
- gas planets
- dwarf planets
- asteroids
- moons

I may either update this post with new information or add a reply.

For now, I will give you a breakdown of Mercury and its relation to future colonization. Let's begin.

Mercury

"Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days." - Wikipedia

Where would we settle?

We would most likely settle in the polar regions because of the extreme daytime temperatures elsewhere on the planet. An orbital settlement would also be possible, but it would most likely be located floating above the dark side of the planet.

What are the advantages of settling here?

- It is similar to the moon so it may be colonized with the same general technology, equipment, and approach. This would make the colonization of Mercury more economically feasible both in cost and time compared to colonizing a completely foreign planet.
- There may be deposits of ice in permanently shaded craters at the poles. This would provide a source of water for the colonists (ionized water has been discovered on Mercury).
- The potential ability to collect the extreme amounts of solar energy on Mercury would make this a highly industrious and efficient colony.
- Mercury is theorized to contain large amounts of helium-3 in its soil which could become an important source for clean nuclear fusion energy. Mercury is also theorized to have a crust rich in iron and magnesium silicates which could be used to build tons of hardware.
- The gravity of Mercury is similar to that of Mars, which would make it more ideal for long-term human habitation than our moon in that respect.

What are the difficulties in settling here?

- There is a lack of an atmosphere on Mercury. This is an obvious detriment to human survival on this planet. All lighter elements would have to be imported from other planets.
- The extreme heat would always cause a problem because of Mercury's close proximity to the sun. The actual land area that could be colonized effectively is much smaller in comparison to other planets such as Mars.
- Since Mercury has a slow rotation, its solar days are long and are equal to 176 earth days. The benefit of this is the large potential solar energy output of proposed "solar farms". The downside is the heat's devastating effects on life as well as its detriment for humans to travel to other regions of the planet for exploration and industrial purposes. The long nights can also have a similar effect as the solar farms would be rendered useless if they were located on certain planetary axis.
- The intense gravity from the sun would require space ships to use a larger velocity change to arrive and depart from Mercury than compared to other planets.

What is the conclusion?

Mercury is promising for a industrious colony and could provide many benefits in both the energy and hardware markets that may revolve around the future space economy. The main difficulty for human colonization on Mercury is the extreme heat, but this disadvantage could be diminished by establishing bases at the poles where possible ice and ionized water deposits may be found. This planet's main export will undoubtedly be intense amounts of solar energy, which would provide a backbone to the growing colonies that would co-exist in our solar system. The large amount of solar energy could also be potentially harnessed for interstellar travel, which would make Mercury a prime spot for refueling spaceships.

- - -

This concludes my first entry into the theoretical human colonization of other planets within our solar system.

 

[Stratadon]

They should settle on Jupiter so after the Sun becomes a Red giant thousands of years from now people have a place to go.

Sorry to burst your bubble but Jupiter is inhospitable to man. It has gravity that is about 2.5x what we have on earth. Humans would have a VERY difficult time there. Our bodies are not build for gravity that strong. A 150 pound man on earth would weigh 375 pounds on Jupiter. That would be like if you had a 225 pound man riding on your back here on earth all day every day. Not only that, but the average temperature on Jupiter is -240 Fahrenheit. Idk about you, but I am happy nice and toasty in my 70 F living room.

 

[katphish]

View attachment 88767

I can't believe people like you exist on this forum who would just try to insult someone's research and hard work being put into this thread with an image macro.

If you can't say anything that contributes to the topic at hand (which is obviously meant to be scholarly discussion) then keep refrain from replying.

This is the same reaction that people had to airplanes and claims that the earth was round. Look at the world now.

 

[rsmv2you]

Serenity, I would love for you to make a Space Colonization thread about the moon next. I mean the idea of one on mercury would be awesome but the technological requirements are simply "when" and "ifs" for now and will probably stay that way for a long time.

I would like to hear your discussion about a moon base (in a totally separate thread) because I wanna discuss something that could be possible in my lifetime.

 

[StTheo]

I'd go for Venus. Oxygen and Nitrogen are lifting gases there, and the atmosphere at ~50 km above the surface is the most Earth-like in the Solar System.
Mars is pretty much covered by others, I'm not too interested in it.
Asteroids could be useful for mining, or carving ships out of. Also, these big rocks are more deadly than our most destructive weapons.
Jupiter has deadly levels of radiation and an incredibly powerful gravity well. Europa may be nice, but you'd have to be under the ice to be safe from the radiation (I think).
I don't know much about Saturn.
The most efficient place in the Solar System to mine for gas would be Uranus. I'm not even joking. It's also rather messed up - how the hell do you tilt a gas planet?! Even it's magnetic field is

Spoiler: weird

.
I don't know much about Neptune.
After this you get to tiny ice dwarfs, useable for some kind of dock for extra-solar transport, I guess.

 

[rsmv2you]

to mine for gas would be Uranus.

*snickers*

Sorry.

 

[Stratadon]

I'd go for Venus. Oxygen and Nitrogen are lifting gases there, and the atmosphere at ~50 km above the surface is the most Earth-like in the Solar System.
Mars is pretty much covered by others, I'm not too interested in it.
Asteroids could be useful for mining, or carving ships out of. Also, these big rocks are more deadly than our most destructive weapons.
Jupiter has deadly levels of radiation and an incredibly powerful gravity well. Europa may be nice, but you'd have to be under the ice to be safe from the radiation (I think).
I don't know much about Saturn.
The most efficient place in the Solar System to mine for gas would be Uranus. I'm not even joking. It's also rather messed up - how the hell do you tilt a gas planet?! Even it's magnetic field is

Spoiler: weird

.
I don't know much about Neptune.
After this you get to tiny ice dwarfs, useable for some kind of dock for extra-solar transport, I guess.

Been watching too much sci-fi movies lately xD ? It would be terribly inefficient to make a ship out of an asteroid. Rock is very heavy. A space ship should be light and made of strong metal alloys.

 

[StTheo]

Been watching too much sci-fi movies lately xD ?

Mostly just Mass Effect and Doctor Who, lol

 

[StTheo]

*snickers*

Sorry.

That was why I worded it that way

 

[Stratadon]

Mostly just Mass Effect and Doctor Who, lol

I am a Whovian too and I also watch Torchwood!

 

[bbgunshot]

If it could be like Freelancer then I'm in.

 

[Serenity595]

View attachment 88767

Hahaha.

This is exceptionally intriguing!! Your depth of knowledge astounds me, and I can't wait to read more.


(I might even contribute some actual intellectual replies later when, I'm less tired and more coherent )

Thanks.

I'd love for you to join this discussion!

Sorry to burst your bubble but Jupiter is inhospitable to man. It has gravity that is about 2.5x what we have on earth. Humans would have a VERY difficult time there. Our bodies are not build for gravity that strong. A 150 pound man on earth would weigh 375 pounds on Jupiter. That would be like if you had a 225 pound man riding on your back here on earth all day every day. Not only that, but the average temperature on Jupiter is -240 Fahrenheit. Idk about you, but I am happy nice and toasty in my 70 F living room.

I think xHallucinationx meant orbiting Jupiter, which could be feasible if we stayed at a distance. It may even be possible to survive in the high atmospheric zones, as the gravity wouldn't be as strong.

Also, I heard that electricity to power a space station orbiting Jupiter wouldn't be a problem as it could be harnessed from the planet's massive magnetic field.

I don't think -240 F temperatures would be much of a problem either if we actually had the technology to build a space station orbiting Jupiter. Besides, cold temperatures are much easier to deal with than hot temperatures, because at least they freeze things instead of disintegrating them.

I should probably study Jupiter more in-depth, though.

Serenity, I would love for you to make a Space Colonization thread about the moon next. I mean the idea of one on mercury would be awesome but the technological requirements are simply "when" and "ifs" for now and will probably stay that way for a long time.

I would like to hear your discussion about a moon base (in a totally separate thread) because I wanna discuss something that could be possible in my lifetime.

Thanks for the suggestion! Yes, I probably will.

I will most likely finish Venus and Mars in this thread and then move onto other celestial objects (especially moons) in another thread.

I'd go for Venus. Oxygen and Nitrogen are lifting gases there, and the atmosphere at ~50 km above the surface is the most Earth-like in the Solar System.

Hmmm... I need to research that planet.

 

[GreenEarth]

Sun becoming a red giant? Oh man you have so many more things to worry about. As the suns luminosity increases 99% of your plant life will die away, this will happen 600 to 700 millions years from now. Also with increasing luminosity (1 billion years at most) water will boil away. Radiation from the sun will break apart bonds of 2 Hydrogens from 1 Oxygen (water vapor in the atmosphere) creating gas. These gases (hydrogen and oxygen) will escape into space, so no more water. You also have to consider probability, specifically probability that a meteor 1 km in diametere will collide with the earth causing some sort of extinctions, in a span of millions of years, it's going to happen, the question is when.

Also as the sun grows in size you have to consider maybe mercury will collide with venus, causing incredible chaos in the inner solar system, pieces of planets fucking flying everywhere, possibly hitting Earth.

When the sun does become a red giant, there is a possiblity that the moon Titan might be able to support life.

Also in 7 to 8 billion years the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy will collide.

So on and so forth, shit gets pretty depressing later on with the increase of entropy, assuming humans survive many billions of years stars will start to burn up, get farther apart (universe expansion), and energy will be harder to find. Elements will decay to iron, organization will be harder and harder to find, etc.

I hadn't even heard of proton decay, do they decay? That would be depressing.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

 

[katphish]

Greenearth and Serenity on the same thread? Shit just got real.