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.
102
questions
38
votes
16answers
5k views
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 ...
0
votes
3answers
967 views
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 ...
9
votes
5answers
1k views
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 ...
57
votes
17answers
11k views
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 ...
16
votes
2answers
1k views
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 ...
6
votes
6answers
1k views
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 ...
15
votes
8answers
795 views
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 ...
39
votes
25answers
9k views
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 ...
31
votes
17answers
9k views
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
...
11
votes
13answers
2k views
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 ...
9
votes
6answers
2k views
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 ...
31
votes
10answers
7k views
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, ...
18
votes
11answers
5k views
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
269 views
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 ...
13
votes
6answers
1k views
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 ...
0
votes
2answers
115 views
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 ...
30
votes
12answers
6k views
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 ...
24
votes
2answers
2k views
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 ...
9
votes
10answers
799 views
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 ...
8
votes
5answers
2k views
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 ...
25
votes
11answers
9k views
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 ...
27
votes
18answers
6k views
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 ...
9
votes
3answers
213 views
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 ...
22
votes
11answers
4k views
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....
10
votes
4answers
537 views
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 ...
14
votes
3answers
2k views
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 -...
11
votes
7answers
4k views
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 ...
36
votes
15answers
9k views
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 ...
18
votes
13answers
3k views
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, ...
33
votes
11answers
6k views
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 ...
5
votes
3answers
747 views
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 ...
9
votes
4answers
521 views
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
...
9
votes
13answers
472 views
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 ...
8
votes
2answers
158 views
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 ...
5
votes
1answer
495 views
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 ...
5
votes
2answers
904 views
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 ...
4
votes
1answer
130 views
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 ...
3
votes
1answer
170 views
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 ...
-4
votes
6answers
344 views
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. ...
8
votes
2answers
198 views
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 ...
7
votes
2answers
576 views
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 ...
6
votes
4answers
628 views
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 ...
5
votes
7answers
547 views
Why Colonize a Planet Without the Continued Benefit of Modern Technology?
I'm new to science-fiction and I'm intrigued by the consequences of "Plan B" in the popular movie Interstellar. "Plan B" means transporting a supposedly sustainable population to a habitable planet ...
3
votes
3answers
307 views
Identifying viable settlement locations from orbit
This question discusses what you'd look at from space, but mostly focuses on how you could identify the weather.
This question discusses what resources a colony would need, but doesn't discuss how ...
2
votes
2answers
236 views
How diverse could humans become from living on different planets?
Suppose that humanity has spread across the universe, colonizing various habitable worlds, until their empire spans the entire galaxy (or near enough) - but there is no sign of alien life. There are ...
1
vote
2answers
372 views
73 Gigatonnes of TNT upon collision could cause how many casualties?
So, after going through a some rough calculations, I figured my earlier question ran into a few problems regarding the final velocity of the asteroid. I pulled the mathematics a bit incorrect, so I ...
58
votes
20answers
12k views
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 ...
56
votes
20answers
11k views
How would someone hide an asteroid in the void of space so only they could find it?
My story opens with an old man who arrives at his "personal" asteroid somewhere out in space. When he arrives, everything is powered down and he has to bring systems online before he can take his suit ...
43
votes
10answers
9k views
How would Martian and Earth societies synchronize themselves regarding time?
If humans colonize Mars how will the 2 societies (Mars inhabitants and Earth inhabitants) be able to synchronize and cooperate regarding time? Since:
Martian days and years are different than the ...
19
votes
8answers
2k views
What would be the most viable form of government for the first space colonies?
The Setting
It is the near future (say 2060ish). Some entity (corporation, government, private venture, etc.) has elected to build the first permanent (as in intended to become self-sufficient) ...
