Space Habitats
For space habitats, one is invited to fast
forward 20 years. Advanced technology at this time will be
putting families into space habitats to augment the dwindling
housing resource here on Earth. Sizeable population growth
has been met with an increasing demand for additional housing
units and raw materials since the bounties of the Earth can
no longer sustain the growing needs of the population.
Space Habitats |
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In view of this, investors are looking for areas beyond Earth
to establish new villages and produce raw materials to support
its construction.
The obvious answer to this can only be in outer space. It
would probably take a greater great resolve for investors
to entice families to settle in space habitats. But then again,
this is only an alternative and investors are cashing in on
the new housing boom.
While investors expend time and effort to build machines
that would create new products out of recycled materials and
at the same time seek alternative sources to support construction
of space habitats, similar material types have been found
abundant in space and investors now embrace the possibility
of mining the much needed resources. From this was born the
possibility of human colonies established in beyond Earth's
atmosphere.
Space habitats, otherwise called orbital colonies, space
colonies or space settlements, are based on a scientific idea
that has been proposed a couple of times as alternative dwellings
for human beings. This idea was ignored several years ago,
though not lately. Unlike waystations and specialized facilities
already operating in space, space habitats will serve as permanent
settlements wherein the ecosystem is deemed similar to Earth
and people could actually raise families and work accordingly.
There have been several space habitat designs presented by
NASA. One of the most popular is the Bernal sphere that was
proposed in 1929 by John Desmond Bernal, which was originally
designed as a hollow spherical shell, 16-kilometer in diameter
and can hold approximately 20,000 people. Another proposal
is the Stanford Torus that sported a donut-shaped ring design;
1.6-kilometer in diameter and can accommodate around 10,000
people. Each of the designs presented used different methods
of sustaining a livable environment.
What are the potential advantages of space habitats over
planet-based colonies? Primarily, space habitats will have
access to vast resources available in asteroids, meteors and
other nearby heavenly bodies that are complemented by the
constant utilization of solar energy. Likewise, there is that
immense possibility of providing decent housing for a vast
population density that would involve around trillions when
using the solar system's free-floating resources. However,
the idea of thriving in space seems unrealistic to most people
as of this time because of the belief that spacesuits and
other gadgets are necessary in order to survive the hazards
of space life.
What then motivates investors to engage in the idea of space
habitats? Definitely profits. While investors who would want
to own and operate space habitats will need to invest large
sums of money considering the facilities that will be required
to operate an Earth-like environment, once the space habitats
are fully developed and functional as a place fitting for
human settlement, profits will pour in dramatically with people
buying the idea of living under an ideal and controlled environment.
Space habitats could be considered as one of the most outrageous
developments of our time because thriving in space runs counter
to the typical perception that human beings can only survive
life on Earth. Though partly true, the idea of space habitats
could be the next "wild, wild west". Moreover, this
could open doors of possibilities and opportunities for enterprising
individuals. Space habitats could be the breakthrough that
would serve as an antidote to many of our maladies here on
earth. The time has come to push forward with this idea.
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