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Space Colony Art from the 1970s

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Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#41

Post by HillRat »

cellu_cc wrote: post #34
dwaltrip wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool site! Just ordered an awesome poster of the star-birthing region in the Orion Nebula ( https://postercoop.com/posters/45/ ). Thanks for building and sharing your project.

From the description on that poster "The artist’s share of profits from sales of this poster will be donated to NASA." How, Though? You can't donate to NASA

Technically, you can give money to a federal agency, but (with few exceptions) they in turn have to forward the money to the Treasury for the general fund.

Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#42

Post by yreg »

Pharmakon wrote: post #29
planktonite wrote: post #20

There’s an under appreciated problem with spinning space stations: they would be set off balance by uneven distribution of weight around the ring. This would make small scale rings a bit problematic because people and stuff need to move around. Rings the size of halo would have enough mass that the movement of people wouldn’t be enough to matter.

An issue with larger rings is that the downforce felt around the ring would vary based on your position within a segment. While it would be a more subtle gradient than a smaller ring, and so less nauseating, it would mean that living and working space would vary in terms of perceived gravity. Another problem is transportation, with the fastest way to cross the ring being across a “spoke” with a gravitational gradient…

You don't want rings, you want O'Neill cylinders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder

Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#43

Post by yreg »

marktangotango wrote: post #9

Some of these arise from of Gerard O’Neill work on space colonies. I saw these in National Geographic in the late 70s they were hugely inspirational to me. Note while Musk advocates settling Mars Bezos has indicated a preference for space colonies such as O’Neills. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder

If this interests you, check this channel out, the man argues the case for space megastructures very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTDlSORhI-k

Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#44

Post by manigandham »

Love this art, especially the retro sci-fi look in general. Some similarities to share:

NASA's own "visions of the future" poster series: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/

Futuristic concept artists like Syd Mead: https://www.google.com/search?q=syd+mead+art&tbm=isch

"Never Built" series based on city building proposals, starting with Los Angeles: https://www.google.com/search?q=never+built+los+angeles&tbm=...

Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#46

Post by exochrono »

cellu_cc wrote: post #34
dwaltrip wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool site! Just ordered an awesome poster of the star-birthing region in the Orion Nebula ( https://postercoop.com/posters/45/ ). Thanks for building and sharing your project.

From the description on that poster "The artist’s share of profits from sales of this poster will be donated to NASA." How, Though? You can't donate to NASA

I think as long as it's unsolicited you can send them money - https://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/npg_img/N_PD_1210_001G_/N_PD_12...

Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#47

Post by exochrono »

dwaltrip wrote: post #33
exochrono wrote: post #23

Oh man - I feel a lot of history with these images - they actually inspired one of the first online businesses I tried to make. I wanted to put one of these images on my wall, but they were niche enough that I couldn't find anybody selling them. I printed one myself using Zazzle, but then I started thinking that it would be cool to create a place where anybody could share cool niche images they found and have them au…

Cool site! Just ordered an awesome poster of the star-birthing region in the Orion Nebula ( https://postercoop.com/posters/45/ ). Thanks for building and sharing your project.

Oh damn, thank you! :D

Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#48

Post by manigandham »

planktonite wrote: post #20

There’s an under appreciated problem with spinning space stations: they would be set off balance by uneven distribution of weight around the ring. This would make small scale rings a bit problematic because people and stuff need to move around. Rings the size of halo would have enough mass that the movement of people wouldn’t be enough to matter.

In the book/TV series "The Expanse", they actually spin up massive asteroids and live inside tunnels, effectively like a ring but made of rock, to offset the fact that it doesn't have enough gravity otherwise. Neat concept, although will likely end in failure.

Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#49

Post by exochrono »

manigandham wrote: post #39
exochrono wrote: post #23

Oh man - I feel a lot of history with these images - they actually inspired one of the first online businesses I tried to make. I wanted to put one of these images on my wall, but they were niche enough that I couldn't find anybody selling them. I printed one myself using Zazzle, but then I started thinking that it would be cool to create a place where anybody could share cool niche images they found and have them au…

How do they look when printed? Are you sourcing the original images?

I think they look really good when printed, actually! Here's a photo of them on my wall haha - https://imgur.com/a/1PwN6UD (kpop and SF planning posters are not from my site ;))

I sourced the images for printing from the NASA space colony website - https://settlement.arc.nasa.gov/70sArt/art.html.

Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

#50

Post by Pharmakon »

yreg wrote: post #42
Pharmakon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An issue with larger rings is that the downforce felt around the ring would vary based on your position within a segment. While it would be a more subtle gradient than a smaller ring, and so less nauseating, it would mean that living and working space would vary in terms of perceived gravity. Another problem is transportation, with the fastest way to cross the ring being across a “spoke” with a gravitational gradient…

You don't want rings, you want O'Neill cylinders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder

I really, really do. I’d also like a side of Dyson Swarms, hold the butter. Seriously, how amazing would an O’Neill cylinder be? People live inside, and outside you’d have industries using the vacuum to do things that would cost a fortune on Earth.

Just a teensy little upfront investment is required, but with SpaceX it might not be so crazy someday soon. If the cost per kilo into orbit drops enough, a lot of sci-fi could become real; not the Dyson swarm, but orbital habitats and industries sure could.

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