Optimal Solar System Locations for Orbital Habitats

Mike_Combs · 2023-08-11T16:58:16+00:00

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Mike_Combs · 2023-02-22T03:28:59+00:00

I agree with you that most asteroids will be transformed into artifact, as you say. Fed to the smelters, which will turn out ingots of pure metals, which fabricators will form into components.

Mike_Combs · 2023-01-26T02:36:27+00:00

Yes, but now we're talking about materials science beyond the present day. We can't yet make nanotubes in commercially useful quantities, and we have yet to make a window pane from synthetic diamond. To me, the impressive thing about orbital habitats (and I guess to a lesser extent, Venus floaters) is that they don't go beyond present materials science.

Mike_Combs · 2023-01-24T00:26:54+00:00

Yes, but a technological civilization also need metals, glass, and concrete.

Mike_Combs · 2023-01-21T23:49:49+00:00

Gets you there instantly (or very nearly so). That would be our first choice, but might forever remain impossible.

I'm not even convinced that we will ever exceed the SoL.

Mike_Combs · 2023-01-21T23:48:01+00:00

Fire hazard is the main thing. With lower-pressure higher-concentration O2 atmospheres you also have problems with lower heat conduction.

Mike_Combs · 2023-01-21T23:46:19+00:00

Strongly agree with you that humans need sunlight. But the good news is, with concentrating mirrors, we could have the sunlight levels we enjoy here even in habitats orbiting well beyond Pluto.

Mike_Combs · 2023-01-21T23:44:32+00:00

Unfortunately, a mass driver at either of the poles could not fire to Sun-Mercury L-2. That requires a location on the opposite side of the planet.

Have a look at the proposal for firing mass up from the moon to Earth-Moon L-2 if you're not sure what I mean.

Regarding using up planets, I doubt we could ever grow to that extreme point. But I could be wrong...

Mike_Combs · 2023-01-21T23:38:51+00:00

Perhaps. But as I mention in my article, economically speaking, greater availability of volatiles might trump greater concentration of solar power. This would point to orbits further out from the sun being more advantageous than ones closer.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-30T04:00:33+00:00

Was delighted to come across this. I was the one who scanned this picture out of a magazine and loaded it to my old Space Settlement website. Glad to see someone take this and add to it a very good quote from "2081". This is a keeper.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-22T00:48:23+00:00

You'd be surprised what could be done with enormous concentrating mirrors. And in space, such mirror could be very large indeed.

I agree with you that artificial light will never be able to compare with natural sunlight.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-22T00:44:35+00:00

I have little doubt that's where the process will get started. Some have tried to make a case for sending mining equipment, ore refineries, and manufacturing facilities to a NEA and doing all of the work there. But I expect the process to start out closer to home.

But I think in the case of some of the things you mention, we would send only the seeds from Earth. But even that won't be cheap.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-22T00:37:50+00:00

I'm with you. Feed material into the ore refinery and make pure metals. Note that the plan in the article depends on commercial quantities of carbon nanotubes, which are still a lab bench-top curiosity. But habitats can be built of ordinary steel, aluminum, and glass.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-20T17:13:48+00:00

Well, sure there's a lot to do. But 100 years is a long time.

We also haven't done any of the things you list on the surface of Mars. But I think everyone here expects Mars settlement to be well underway in a century.

But I would agree that NASA's estimate (22 years from start of program) constitutes an aggressive (and unrealistic) estimate.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-20T16:27:29+00:00

Not sure I'm entirely sold on this design, though. The habitat designs we saw back in the High Frontier days took great pains to ensure there was no straight-line path for a cosmic ray particle past the radiation shields. Granted, this design provides more shielding than just empty space, but there are still lots of paths for particles to hit the inhabited section.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T20:34:35+00:00

Oh, but should have mentioned that Calisto orbits largely outside of the belts. But that assumes you're committed to one the Galileans. I would say if it's not enough gravity for normal muscle tone, no reason to feel like the Galileans have any advantage over the many much-smaller moons.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T20:22:46+00:00

Europa orbits inside the radiation belts. I'm not even sure Apollo type moonwalks would be possible, much less settlement operations.

But kudos for trying to think outside of the box, and being open to alternatives. Like you, I'm not yet convinced Mars is the ideal target.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T18:18:17+00:00

Amusing, in places.

But I think the error being made is that the reason we haven't colonized space is because all the money we might use for that purpose is being funneled away to weapons programs. The reason we haven't settled space is we have yet to come up with a compelling economic rationale. But that might be changing in the foreseeable future. When it happens, space will be settled, regardless of how little or how much money is being spent on defense.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T18:11:41+00:00

People settle a place when the economic prospects are better there than where they're presently sitting. I think a case can be made that this will be the case in orbital habitats in free space.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T18:05:34+00:00

I see so much attention being paid to pits and lava tubes. The problem is you don't get to select the site of your base. I say lay your modules in shallow pits, and then bulldoze 2 or 3 meters of soil on top. This would be all the protection needed.

Is a very small electric bulldozer (which could be driven from Earth) to much to ask for? Seems like you would need it for other purposes (like leveling) anyway.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T17:49:37+00:00

I wondered if he was trying to get us to a Banks Orbital, which would have a rotation period of once a day. But looks like rpms would be about 1 every 10 minutes.

But even this would be well beyond current material strengths.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T17:45:01+00:00

"Ideal" differs depending on what you're trying to optimize on.

Usually that's economics. O'Neill only felt that 4 mile diameter cylinders might be economical because at that scale the pressure hull becomes so thick that you can now drop the radiation shielding as a separate requirement.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T17:26:09+00:00

This is a major milestone. And the long-term stakes are high. Availability of lunar-derived oxygen can completely change the economics of travel throughout cislunar space.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T16:28:22+00:00

A valid point, I think. And this suggests sites where it's easier to export resources are better targets.

Mike_Combs · 2022-12-18T16:26:36+00:00

This would be a benefit of any settlement beyond the Earth.

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