Switching from politics for a bit, I thought it would be nice to discuss space and humanities future amongst the stars. One of the biggest eventualities is a space home....or at least a space hotel. Essentially another space station, but designed so people can live there in comfort.
First and for most, to get a space station into orbit requires light weight materials and equipment that can be transported into space on the cheap without overburdening the rocket which will bring it up there. Thus, some scientists and inventors have developed the inflatable space station. It is lighter, but from tests is more durable than a traditional metal space station. Using layers of materials like Kevlar allows for an inflatable space station the size of a football field to be brought up (in its compact size of course). So the hurdle of getting it to space is largely solved. Inflating it is a simple task of inflating it with a lightweight gas like nitrogen. From there it is all about putting in what you want and need for human habitation.
The problem with living in space however is that there is no gravity. Due to the lack of pressure on our bodies our digestive system does not work all to well. You can eat something, but it might not come out the other end for days. If such an event occurs, then you can't eat anything new either because you risk bursting your organs. NASA has use the equivalent of a human centrifuge to mitigate this problem, but it is no substitute. Thus, we need artificial gravity and there is but one other way to accomplish that. Have the space station rotate at a high enough speed that artificial gravity on the human body is produced. Literally a person would work on the hull of the station with less gravity the closer one gets to the center of the craft. This system will also help with preventing your bones from becoming too brittle and your muscles shrinking as in space; your body does not need to work as hard to accomplish movement. Actually if a person lived all their life in space, they may turn into the equivalent of the human blob. So you see why gravity is so essential.
A space station can be self sustaining. Waste can be recycled, and certain vegetables do not need soil. Basically, the station, (to keep costs down) will have a hydroponics garden with nutrient rich water running through the roots of the plant to aid in its growth....potatoes just need a spray once a day and they will grow just fine.
So the main hurdle to space living is gravity generation and cost. But where are you going to put the space station. When the first of this new bread of station goes up and is proven to be habitable for human life, they will be placed into orbit. So with your telescope you can see your neighbor hovering above you. There is an alternative place to place the stations, a Lagrange point. A Lagrange point is a spot between two celestial bodies with neutral pull. In other words, if you place an object there, it will not move as the two planets, stars, or whatever else is out there are pulling at the object in the "point" preventing movement. Interesting is it not?
The first groups of people in space will be the rich and those seeking fortune (by raiding space of whatever it has in value). Once the technology becomes cheaper, expect to see retirement homes in orbit as with less strain on the human body, the elderly will be able to get around without the need for a walker. So I can predict hotels, casinos, and retirement homes in space first before anything else. In other words money is the driving source of our future in space, and tourism is its key.
My next post is on lunar and interplanetary colonization, then the future of NASA, followed by the politics of space.
No comments:
Post a Comment