Questions tagged [space-colonization]
For questions concerning species that have settled on or near celestial bodies they are not native to and the challenges this presents.
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How does a spacecraft attempt an intercept course with a hostile one realistically (Part II)?
Well, gentlemen. Here is Part II. We know what to do about the manoeuvre, but we need to know possible tactical options the two Task Groups would use.
Background
Now, as previously specified, we ...
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Resources to justify long-distance space mining missions
Earth is setting up mining colonies on Tau Ceti e. But how can they justify the enormous cost of sending people there? ...Because during the initial exploratory missions, it was discovered that in ...
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A big primitive computer in orbit, very big, powerfull but old technologies from 80's, what is a potential fiat money value for its use? [closed]
This question about the economy of technological solution, there 800 of such on wb
Was looking for materials for the answer to the question
Semiconductor foundries are a thing of the past. Rebuild the ...
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How could we (modern humans) get established on a hot planet?
Consider a planet similar to Mustafar (of the Star Wars franchise). Ambient temperatures and pressures are nearly 400 Celsius and 80 ATM. The story is that a surviving crew of normal humans is running ...
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Is this atmospheric composition breathable, and what would it look like?
I have developed a fictional planet with the following atmospheric composition;
60.4% Nitrogen
27.6% Oxygen
9.8% Xenon
1.5% Water Vapor
0.64% Argon
0.06% Carbon Dioxide
Is this breathable to humans ...
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Order of Solar System Colonization
As human population continues to grow and need for raw resources grow, various nations and private organizations begin colonization efforts of our Solar System beyond the blue and green sphere we call ...
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The earth is flung into deep space
I've been reading the book Nomad, and in it
That's got me thinking, is there any chance of survival beyond a few days/weeks when the atmosphere freezes? (Would it freeze?)
Just off the top of my ...
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Where in the solar system is the most viable place to put my colonists, after Mars and Luna?
Mars and Earth's moon already feature in a lot of fiction about space colonization. After these two planets, and assuming that other solar systems are too far away, what is the best place within this ...
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What are the minimum set of physical characteristics to define an Earth like planet?
Introduction
I have a vague notion of building some sort of strategic space game. Similar to other strategic games, locations are assigned value based upon some abstract evaluation. Following in ...
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How fast could we build a Dyson Swarm?
I'm in a rush to colonize the Solar System. Thankfully, the latest Space Race, a commercial one between SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab and other less known market entrants, is set to dramatically ...
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Why would a civilisation choose to inhabit a single enormous vessel instead of maintaining interstellar colonies?
The setting: Very distant future, Earth is long gone/forgotten/just not around anymore. Humanity, whatever it may consist of (people, AI, something in-between) inhabits a single vast generation ship ...
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What society might survive the 3 generation rule
A not widely accepted psycho-social phenomenon but one our descendents might sometime face, the Three Generation Rule states:
that the degree of social discipline needed for a space habitat to
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How would a lunar colony defend itself against aggression from Earth?
Assume that the with the technology level of the near future a self-sustainable colony has been established on the moon. For some reasons a conflict between this colony and some powerful nations on ...
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Habitable environment on a big moon of a gas giant lacking magnetosphere
I am trying to figure out how to make a moon (75% of Earth size) of a gas giant habitable.
To give an idea of the technological level, here are technologies the colonists have access to:
fully ...
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What would come first, the colonization of the solar system or interstellar colonization?
I have a world (around 3000-3500ad) where human race is spread across various planetary systems - so interstellar travel it's possible.
The interstellar travel is possible via a Bussard Ramjet which ...
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Is it statistically likely and physically possible to have two civilizations in the same star system?
With our current technology we're able to travel through our Solar System (and beyond) during at least a human lifetime.
Is it physically possible that a star system has more intelligent lifeforms in ...
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Is it a forgone conclusion that any exo-bacteria discovered on an alien, albeit Earth-like planet will be deadly to human life?
Would the discovery of alien bacteria found on even an Earth analog planet preclude the possibility of colonization due to the potentially deadly nature of bacterial/viral infections? Put differently, ...
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What would be the first thing humans would mine on Jupiter?
Jupiter is a terrible place to be, but for a number of artistic reasons, I'd like to have my story take place there and only there. "Mining", or resource extraction by any other name, is the usual ...
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What does the physiology and biochemistry of a vacuum adapted post-human look like? Part 4: Movement
I am a post-human adapted for permanent life in vacuum and micro-gravity. How might my physiology and biochemistry overcome the following challenges?
Please note I have a strong cultural aversion to ...
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Establishing an under-ice base on Europa - ice drilling/melting?
If life were discovered in the supposed ocean on Europa, it would be a popular destination for scientists and researchers. I am curious as to what life on Europa would be like, in terms of engineering ...
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What does the physiology and biochemistry of a vacuum adapted post-human look like? Part 5: Senses
I am a post-human adapted for permanent life in vacuum and micro-gravity. How might my physiology and biochemistry overcome the following challenges?
Please note I have a strong cultural aversion to ...
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How to wrap the Moon in plastic to make her a giant, supported by the atmospheric pressure, greenhouse
Moon's surface is about thirty million square kilometers large. That's a lot of plastic, but no bigger effort than many other terraforming projects we have discussed.
Description:
A global bubble ...
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What is the feasibility of a floating city on Venus?
I've read that the atmosphere about 60 km from the surface of Venus is very similar to the atmosphere on earth (the oxygen/nitrogen/CO2 levels and pressures are about the same). If there was a way, to ...
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How to render Venus semi-habitable?
It must be very dark and hot on the surface of Venus, but my humans want to change that and make a Venusian colony. The problem? The extremely thick atmosphere would make it problematic to say the ...
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What off-Earth colony would be easiest to build? [duplicate]
To live on another planet, we have deal with its environment. Let us assume that terraforming is not a near-time, realistic option, so we have to deal with none-or-thin atmosphere (pressure), with ...
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Reasons to colonize planets of another solar system?
In my other question I tried to find out if it makes any sense to colonize other planets or moons instead of just building space stations. The answer I accepted seems very well elaborated to me and ...
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How would an advanced civilization have constant communication between planets?
In this universe humans have advanced far enough to be able to colonize planets in our system but not enough to do interstellar travel. Earth is united and they have moved beyond countries and borders....
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Best Foods/Plants to Grow in Generational Spaceship?
Hopefully this isn't a duplicate; I wasn't able to find another question which addressed this, at any rate.
Let's say I have a generational spaceship going off to another solar system to establish a ...
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Do the moons of Mars have enough gravity to colonize?
Context
NASA commissioned some awesome, vintage-style prints a while back advertising the colonization of Mars.
Three of them stood out to me because they depicted colonization of the moons of Mars - ...
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Tolerable range of surface gravities for interplanetary colonists?
Human physiology is adapted for life at 1G, but planets colonised by future humans will likely have different surface gravities.
What is the range of values for surface gravity that humans can ...
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What could a self-sustaining lunar colony slowly lose that would ultimately prove fatal?
I've got a lunar colony that was set up to be self-sustaining before a collapse of life on Earth. The colony has survived on its own for several thousand years through a period of technological ...
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Why terraform at all?
We Earthlings like to live in gravity wells but also have a taste for the exotic and are a bit lazy. Why not make colonies that take advantage of local conditions?
Cloud cities over Venus, much less ...
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Colonizing the galaxy by slow boating reality check
Humans like to explore and seem to have an almost instinctual need to expand. After spreading throughout the solar system and even into the Oort Cloud they decided that humanity should follow the ...
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What skin colour would living permanently on the moon select for?
The context:
There is a population of people surviving on a lunar-analogue's surface, descended from the crew of a crashed spaceship. The rest of their society is not relevant to the question, but ...
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Which is initially more favorable; large or small settlements in a new planetary colony?
I have a question that concerns a story I am writing and I hope it is a valid one to ask. But in my story, several groups of colonists, each arriving on different ships at relatively the same time, ...
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Why might it be desirable to engineer aquatic humans?
Consider a space opera sort of universe in which there exist communities of water-dwelling humanoids. These ocean people are derived from rootstock humans, descendants of genetically engineered human-...
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How to Effectively Collect and Recycle Space Junk?
The Question
What would be an efficient and relatively low-cost solution for collecting and recycling of space junk?
The most important criterion of effectiveness is the ability to remove even small ...
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Ideal size for a relativistic generation ship?
Assuming the ship has access to fusion power, a large volume of solar panels, and crude antimatter power generators (say maybe 1 gram a day per generator, or whatever is reasonable for technological ...
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Building materials on Europa
What would colonists building a base on Europa use for building materials? I am interested in habitats in three locations:
on or just under the surface
bolted onto the underside of the ice sheet
...
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Unprepared and Without a Homeworld
The Scenerio
In the very near future a NASA probe returns to Earth with a soil sample from an asteroid containing a strange substance able to catalyze cold fusion reactions. The economic value of ...
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Where is the safest place to build a colony on the Moon?
I'm working on a universe which implies that humanity settled on the Moon.
Knowing that we want to keep contact with the Earth (means we don't want to settle on the hidden face) and we want to avoid ...
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Halfday planetary scan: what do you get?
Due to an unforeseen malfunction your intergalactic spaceship suddenly drops out of hyperspace and comes to a near full stop. The ship is damaged, and will need to be evacuated soon...very soon.
You ...
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How can I design spacesuits for Anthills?
The idea of a collective consciousness (or anthill) species is pretty simple; instead of cells tissues and organs you have ant-like creatures, all making up a larger creature. This is different from a ...
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Drilling a tunnel into the core of Enceladus
The extreme pressure and temperature greatly reduces our ability to drill holes deeper than some kilometers into Earth's mantle.
However, on a body smaller, colder and less dense, this would be a ...
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Re-organize meals in a 32-hour day?
The idea of adapting to a longer day is not new. Besides other recent questions here, I recall it in When Worlds Collide (or its sequel).
As I'm rewarming half a pizza for a late meal, I wonder how ...
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Why might humans and aliens be able to produce viable offspring? [closed]
Jeff is a human. He has two arms, two legs, a head, a heart, and all the normal stuff of a human. This includes a penis.
Zhsdfgl is not a human. Zhsdfgl is roughly her species' equivalent of female. ...
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Feasibility of Capturing Hydrogen from the Solar wind
Solar wind density is very low even at Venus it is only 10 or so H+ ions per cm$^3$ but it is moving at a brisk clip of 400 km/s for the slow wind and 750 or so for the fast wind. So (feel free to ...
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How to tell what can I use in space bistro? [duplicate]
Imagine that humanity made a mining colony at some planet. This planet has its own biosphere.
One of the retired workers decides not to go back to Earth, but instead wants to open up a bistro, so ...
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The horizon, concave vs convex
How would a horizon inside of a ring or a toroid look like?
As if a planet's surface was concave, instead of convex, how far away would the horizon appear? Im trying to get a handle on what the ...
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How to hide the fact that you're in an O'Neill cylinder?
Let's say you've either cloned yourself a native population (the ethical option) or taken a bunch of volunteers and wiped all their memories of modern technology and society (the slightly more morally ...
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