The Colonization of Space

Abstract

Write a 250+ word response to the article. (If you are a teacher or student who would like to modify this Google Doc, go to File > Make a Copy. I cannot and do not respond to Share requests-my apologies!) The Colonization of Space By The Week Staff, 11-26-18 Humanity is inching closer to establishing colonies on other worlds. Is it really feasible? Here's everything you need to know: What's the timeline? The best guess is that humanity will set up shop on the moon or Mars or both sometime in the 2030s. NASA says it will develop the ability to establish a lunar colony within six years, but currently has no such plans. Russia says it will establish a lunar outpost by 2030, and China's and Europe's space agencies are toying with a moon base, too. Setting up a colony on Mars would be far more challenging. The tiny Dutch company Mars One claims it will send pioneers by 2032-but few outside experts think this is feasible. Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to land two unmanned cargo ships on Mars in 2022. Four more will follow in 2024-two of those manned. Musk said he wants Mars Base Alpha done by 2028 for the first colonists. NASA's timeline calls for a round-trip manned mission to orbit Mars in 2033 and for a landing in 2039. But it has no current plans to establish a permanent colony there.

Planetary Resources and Astroecology. Planetary Microcosm Models of Asteroid and Meteorite Interiors: Electrolyte Solutions and Microbial Growth— Implications for Space Populations and Panspermia

“…In the future, asteroids may be used as resources for space colonization (O'Neill, 1974;O'Leary, 1977;Lewis, 1993). Carbonaceous chondrite materials from Phobos and Deimos may be used as fertilizers in Martian terraforming (Lewis, 1997).…”

In situ biological resources: Soluble nutrients and electrolytes in carbonaceous asteroids/meteorites. Implications for astroecology and human space populations

“…The preceding sections demonstrated bioresources in asteroids materials, that can be used as soils for agriculture, or as extracts for hydroponics. (O'Neill, 1974, Sagan, 1994Ming and Henninger, 1989;Lewis, 1993) The potential yield of biomass can be calculated from the compositions of the resource materials, compared with the requirements of biological tissues.…”

“…Human expansion in the Solar System has been contemplated for over a century since Tsiolkovsky, and it is a long-term goal of NASA ( (Rynin, 1971;O'Neill, 1974O'Neill, , 1977McKay et al, 1991;Sagan, 1994, O'Keefe, 2002Griffin, 2014). Astroecology experiments with carbonaceous meteorites showed that microorganisms, plant cultures and shrimp hatchlings can grow on these materials (Mautner 2002a, b) Therefore biological materials for space-based ecosystems and human populations can be derived from these in-situ asteroid resources (Mautner, 2002a,b, Montague et al, 2012, similarly to in situ resource utilization (ISRU) for industrial and structural materials.…”

“…(O'Leary, 1977;Matloff et al, 2001;Bolonkin, 2013) Carbonaceous C-type asteroids can be physically accessible in-situ biological sources of organics and electrolytes, provide soils for agriculture and extracts for hydroponics, produce food for settlements on the asteroids or on terraformed planets and space colonies. (Sears, 1973;O'Neill, 1974O'Neill, , 1977Bunch and Chang, 1980;Ming andHenninger, 1989, Lewis, 1993;Brearley and Jones, 1998;Dyson, 2000) Although large populations can be accommodated by space resources, there has been few experiment-based tests whether these resources can support biological growth, or data for estimating potential yields of biomass. Concerning asteroid resources, it is necessary to establish the soil fertilities of model carbonaceous meteorites.…”

MHD propulsion by absorption of laser radiation

“…The liaison holds great potential for propelling space shuttle craft into orbit with an essentially infinite specific impulse, especially considering that MHD thrusters are known for their ability to produce the very high exhaust velocities required for realistic air-breathing propulsion at high altitudes. 52 " 54 The scheme becomes even more attractive when it is realized that higher propulsive efficiencies may allow a single orbital laser power station, perhaps attached to a space laboratory or colony, 55 to supply only several gigawatts of power. On a close fly-by orbit, radiant energy would be transmitted to the planetary surface, the shuttle craft "beamed-up," and docking in orbit would occur several thousand miles downrange.…”