"YOU PROMISED ME MARS COLONIES. INSTEAD, I GOT FACEBOOK"
Space Colony Art from the 1970s
21–30 of 59 posts
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#22I remember some of these, which were reprinted in magazines like Odyssey (and maybe even Omni ?) in the 70s and 80s. The images, along with colony/exploration books by Larry Niven, Ben Bova, and James P. Hogan, really had the power to set one's imagination on fire.
The cylindrical colony is basically Arthur C Clarke's Rama. One of the images of the spherical colony shows a human-powered vehicle, which IIRC featured in the first Rama book.
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mars colonies, at least, can rely on Nitrogen and CO2 from the Martian atmosphere. Orbital habitats have to import everything but sunlight. Having the colonies underground may have an extra advantage, both on Mars and on the Moon, as they may be closer to sources of ice. I remember hearing something about the Moon being much less dry than previously thought. No running water nor blocks of ice, but maybe crunching roc…
Right on. To add to this, early stage terraforming is in the immediate rather than long-term plan for Mars. As soon as we start producing CO2 on Mars, we're on our way. I'm not against colonizing space itself, but early seagoing explorers didn't attempt to colonize the ocean. We need to establish ourselves in environments that allow easy production of oxygen, water, and food. In the end, it is about money. It takes a…
> because it can't hold atmosphere easily
But neither can Mars. Most of its early atmosphere was blown away and that will continue. There's nothing we can do about the lack of gravity.
The problem with Mars is that it is cold, terminally. The nuclear furnaces have gone out. I haven't seen a proposal from the terraformers that counteracts that. You might be able to counteract it with CO2, but then that gets blown away by the solar wind. It's crazy hard to fix.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to see us on Mars. Unfortunately, the engineering and science obstacles are huge, enormous.
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#24OMG, so this is where the Elysium creators got their inspiration from! Elysium art: http://actionflickchick.com/superaction/wp-content/uploads/2... http://www.geeksofdoom.com/GoD/img/2013/08/2013-08-09-elysiu...
Mass Effect as well
http://amhnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Mass-Effect...
I'm sure there are others
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#25Ahhhhh now I want to go back and read Rendezvous with Rama. But I'm scared to reread it, I don't want to tarnish my memory of it.
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are both extremely difficult to accomplish with current technology. The issue with Mars is that it has no magnetosphere [1], and as such, all habitats will have to be underground and/or shielded with very thick layers of lead, dirt and water. Man made colonies will have the same problem, in addition to requiring space manufacturing and assembly at a level that is currently impossible. If SpaceX brings the cost o…
Mars colonies, at least, can rely on Nitrogen and CO2 from the Martian atmosphere. Orbital habitats have to import everything but sunlight. Having the colonies underground may have an extra advantage, both on Mars and on the Moon, as they may be closer to sources of ice. I remember hearing something about the Moon being much less dry than previously thought. No running water nor blocks of ice, but maybe crunching roc…
"No running water nor blocks of ice, but maybe crunching rocks yields something useful"
Space Fracking?
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#27The torus design really makes it so that it's uphill both ways. That would change the "Back in my day" jokes forever.
Except that it's _not_ "uphill" in a force sense, since the attraction is the result of centripetal force, acting outward perpendicular to the ring at any point, not gravity, which would focus in toward a center. So, visually, yes. In fact, no.
I genuinely love HN for bits like this...both with an amusing quip, and then someone who can explain that technically, the amusing quip is inaccurate. It nicely stimulates both left and right side of my brain.
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#28Many of these pictures are based on designs described in one of my favorite books of all time, The High Frontier , by Gerard K. O'Neil. In it, O'Neil, a Princeton physicist and founder of the Space Studies Institute, goes on to describe in great technical detail the feasibility of building artificial space habitats of varying sizes. I heartily recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in space. The ideas from t…
I liked http://www.nss.org/settlement/ColoniesInSpace/ better as a book, though of course O'Neill had more authority.
Quite. Just acknowledging you beat me to the punch ;-)
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except that it's _not_ "uphill" in a force sense, since the attraction is the result of centripetal force, acting outward perpendicular to the ring at any point, not gravity, which would focus in toward a center. So, visually, yes. In fact, no.
I genuinely love HN for bits like this...both with an amusing quip, and then someone who can explain that technically, the amusing quip is inaccurate. It nicely stimulates both left and right side of my brain.
I'd say "'pedantic' is my middle name" but for the fact that it isn't.
Re: Space Colony Art from the 1970s
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was a member of the L5 society and continue to believe that low earth orbit habitats will be a better option than colonizing Mars.
They are both extremely difficult to accomplish with current technology. The issue with Mars is that it has no magnetosphere [1], and as such, all habitats will have to be underground and/or shielded with very thick layers of lead, dirt and water. Man made colonies will have the same problem, in addition to requiring space manufacturing and assembly at a level that is currently impossible. If SpaceX brings the cost o…
> Until we crack compact, high yield fusion, I doubt we will make much progress in realizing our space-faring dreams.
What about regular, fission nuclear power?