Space Settlement

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Space Settlement
"For me the single overarching goal of human
space flight is the human settlement of the solar
system, and eventually beyond. I can think of no
lesser purpose sufficient to justify the
difficulty of the enterprise, and no greater
purpose is possible," Michael Griffin, current
NASA administrator, in 2003 testimony before
Congress.

• Al Globus
• San Jose State University
• Chairman, NSS Space Settlement Advocacy Committee

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Science and Engineering

• Scientists answer questions.
• Engineers build things.
• In order to build things, it is often necessary
  to answer questions.
• In order to answer questions, it is often
  necessary to build things.
• Question will life fill the solar system?
• Answer build space settlements

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Space Settlement

• Not just a place to go work or visit for a
  limited time
• Not a space station (ISS, Mir)
• Not exploration
• A home in space
• Hundreds or thousands of residents
• Many space settlements (thousands)
• A least some residents plan to spend their life
  there
• Some residents are raising their kids

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Where Orbit?

• To raise children that can visit Earth requires
  1g
• Moon 1/6g Mars 1/3g
• Orbit any g, for 1g rotate at 2rpm 250m radius
• Continuous solar energy
• Large-scale construction easier in 0g
• Short supply line to Earth (hours vs days/months)
• Greater growth (orbit 100x vs. Moon/Mars 2x)
• Orbital disadvantage materials
• Millions (NOT billions) of tons from Moon/NEOs
• Kalpana One weighs about 15 million tons
• Under Van Allen Belt substantially reduces this

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What

• A space settlement is a home in orbit, not just a
  place to work.
• Live on the inside of air-tight, kilometer scale,
  rotating spacecraft.

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ONeill Cylinder
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Kalpana One
thermal rejection
body mounted solar arrays and power rectenna
200m
250m
550m
Shielding inside rotating hull Hull 15 cm steel
transparent end caps
Population 5,000
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Why
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Growth

• Largest asteroid converted to space settlements
  can produce 1g living area 100-1000 times the
  surface area of the Earth.
• Reason 3D object to 2D shells
• Easily support trillions of people.
• New land
• Build it yourself
• Dont take from others

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Wealth and Power

• Chinas Ming dynasty
• 1400-1450 ocean exploration
• Pulled back, was colonized
• English 100 Year War 1337-1453
• Failed military expansion in known world
• Established empire overseas
• English merchant marine, 1485-1509
• 1550s Irish colonization
• American colonies 1600s
• 625 million x energy on Earth
• Total solar energy available
• One smallish asteroid, 3554 Amun, contains 20
  trillion materials.
• There are tens of thousands of such asteroids

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Nice Place to Live

• Great views
• Low/0-g recreation
• Human powered flight
• Cylindrical swimming pools
• Dance, gymnastics
• Sports soccer
• Independence
• Separate environment
• Easy-to-control borders
• Other, for example, weather art

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How?
http//spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/ph
otos/sts71/mir-imax/hmg0018.jpg
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How (cont)

• Solar energy
• Asteroid and lunar materials
• Apollo - we can do anything
• Profitable business
• Communication, earth imaging satellites
• Sub-orbital tourism save your money!
• Orbital tourism need 1-8 billion prize
• Old folks home no wheelchairs!
• Small, special groups. Religious? Prisons?
• Solar power satellites
• Asteroid materials for Earth

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When?

• A few decades should be sufficient to build the
  first one
• No serious effort now
• Technology precursors
• Safer, cheaper launch
• Extraterrestrial materials
• Large scale orbital construction
• Closed ecological life support systems
• And much more

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Who

• Today highly trained astronauts, or
• 20 million tourist trip to ISS
• 200,000 sub-orbital tourist trip in a few years
• Tomorrow anyone who wants to go.
• 100 - 10,000,000 people per colony
• Ultimately, thousands or even millions of
  colonies
• Sounds unrealistic?
• A hundred years ago few had ever flown in an
  airplane.
• Today 500 million person/flights per year.

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How much will it cost?

• If you have to ask, you cant afford it.
• How much did Bucharest cost?
• We invented money
• Cheaper than war
• 1 trillion/year
• Millions of deaths last few decades
• Massive destruction
• Creation of terrorist
• Space settlement
• Unknown costs, but
• Much, much less than 1 trillion/year
• Few deaths (a few hundred so far)

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Conclusion

• The settlement of the solar system could be the
  next great adventure for humanity. There is
  nothing but rock and radiation in space, no
  living things, no people. The solar system is
  waiting to be brought to life by humanity's
  touch.

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BACKUP
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2020 Tourism

• Hotel
• Doctors
• Maids
• Cooks
• Recreational directors
• Reservation clerks
• etc.
• These may be the first colonists.

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Low/0-g Handicapped/Elderly Colony

• No wheelchairs needed.
• No bed sores.
• Easy to move body even when weak.
• Never fall and break hip.
• Grandchildren will love to visit.
• Need good medical facilities.
• Telemedicine
• Probably cant return to Earth.

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People Live Everywhere

• Every continent, including Antarctica
• Hottest, driest deserts
• Coldest, iciest regions
• Wettest rain forests
• On water
• For short periods, in orbit
• 6,000,000,000 people on Earth

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Life is Everywhere

• On nearly all land areas
• In nearly all waters
• In the rocks under the Earth
• In near-boiling water
• In ice
• On desert rocks
• On a spacecraft on the Moon

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Next Target Orbit

• Your lifetime thousands of people living in
  orbit
• A few centuries most of humanity in orbit.

• Next millenium generation ships to the stars

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Key Problem Launch
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Stanford Torus