Space, Outer, and other Places

[ozmirage]

COSMOLOGY – a philosophical, religious, or mythical explanation of the nature and structure of the universe.

Meaning of Life

The meaning of life is life. Without life there is no meaning. The goal of life is more abundant life. Life is an endless struggle against extinction by a hostile inanimate universe.

Suggested Goals

Therefore, we should strive to establish more abundant life; to bring life to lifeless places; and to prepare a place for the seventh generation yet to come.

The future goal for more abundant life is to colonize outer space, via giant orbiting habitats and vivariums, where all energy, power and necessities are already available, except for life.

Implementation

Humanity must expand into space colonization, as soon as possible. Space colonization begets world peace. World peace begets space colonization. Only via orbiting space habitats can humanity survive and thrive. It is impractical to pin hopes on “terraforming” Mars or any other solar system body. We need multiple Earths.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_habitat
__ An “Island Three” O’Neill colony might consist of (2) 5 mile diameter by 20 mile long cylinders.

Each cylinder could hold 1320 “floors” of concentric cylinders, with a total surface area of 207502.19 square miles.
Combining both cylinders, the net result is 415,004.38 square miles.
(For comparison, the surface area of California is 163,696 sq mi)

Note: Surface area of Earth: 510,072,000 km2 (196,940,000 sq mi), or one “Terrestrial” or Terr.
. . .
An “Island Three” O’Neill dual cylinder space habitat has an equivalent of 0.0021 Terrestrials, in surface area. (If subdivided into concentric cylindrical decks)
. . .
To reach one Terrestrial, 475 space habitats would need to be constructed. If the production cycle was 20 years per habitat, and each habitat built another, it would only take 10 cycles or 200 years (10 x 20 years).
If we started building Colony One in 2040,

2040: 0
2060: 1
2080: 3
2100: 7
2120: 15
2140: 31
2160: 63
2180: 127
2200: 255
2220: 511 <<1.07 Terrs.
2240: 1023 <2.14 Terrs.
2260: 2047 <4.38 Terrs.
2280: 4095 <8.76 Terrs.

The obvious point is that colonizing space via orbiting habitats is far more efficient and practical than seeking equivalent terrestrial planets, or terraforming planets in our own solar system.

How To Do It

Frugal, low resource SPACE COLONIZATION can be achieved by the implementation of autonomous self replicating micro factories (fabricons, “Queen Ants”) seeded upon Earth orbit crossing asteroids. These units build the tools, that build the bigger tools, that construct the shells, vessels, and containers necessary for giant vivariums, habitats, and transports. (At no further cost to Earth) Ditto, for resource harvesters sent to gather hydrocarbons or ice from comets.

Once completed, these vessels ‘surf gravity’ (via the Interplanetary Transport Network ) to near Earth (ex: L4 or L5), where crews can be sent up to commission the colony, bringing seeds, fertilized ova, and related biological material to build complete habitats and food production.

When finished, each autonomous space colony can ‘surf gravity’ to its new orbit - around the Sun, cycling between planets, or with asteroids, or orbit around a planet, or a moon. As the heavens fill with colonies, space travel will be a simple matter of hitch hiking from one autonomous colony to another. Slow, but frugal and relatively safe.

Even at 0.1 lightspeed, we can slowly fill the galaxy over the next half billion years.

Space colonization via habitats - a better idea
https://web.archive.org/web/20120219082348/http://settlement.arc.nasa.gov/Basics/wwwwh.html
“. . . The key advantage of space settlements is the ability to build new land, rather than take it from someone else. This allows a huge expansion of humanity without war or destruction of Earth's biosphere. The asteroids alone provide enough material to make new orbital land hundreds of times greater than the surface of the Earth, divided into millions of colonies. This land can easily support trillions of people.”Since human population growth is geometrical, while the planet's surface is finite, it is a normal progression for humanity to extend itself into the Cosmos, building robust life supporting systems, vivariums, and habitats for all life.


The details are up to you.

[ozmirage]

LONG LONG TERM GOALS
>>>>|||<<<<
In the long run, we all can expect to die.

Those who believe in a continued existence of consciousness, may further experience awareness, and the locale of that awareness may or may not be the consequence of previous actions, behaviors and thoughts.
Those who believe that oblivion awaits, can only expect nothingness.

This raises the question : if one believes that oblivion awaits, what benefit is there in delaying gratification of all desires? If you don’t get “yours” here and now, you’re a loser. You go from awareness to oblivion. End of story.

If one follows the law of the jungle, and fulfills all needs by preying on others, so what? Dead prey or dead predator - makes no difference in the end. Get yours while the getting is good. Be a “good” predator - pillage and rape and plunder as you will.

That mindset is opposite to the law of love. Philosophies and religions based on the law of love teach that harmless actions in support of one’s “right to life” are good, while harmful actions are bad. The highest and greatest love is to sacrifice for the benefit of another. And to reinforce these lessons, they teach the notion that there is a consequence for one’s actions, behaviors and thoughts. That consequence may be in the form of one’s next incarnation as a reflection of Karma. That consequence may be in the form of one’s standing and status in the afterlife. Or that consequence may be in the nature of what one’s associates will be, as in “like attracts like.” In that case, striving to be that which one would find pleasant company for eternity is balanced against that which one would find to be unpleasant company for eternity. This unpleasantness would also have the effect of banishment from any consciousness that embodies the highest aspects of the law of love.

Let us turn from this avenue of thought to a more mundane issue : continuity of the species.

Individuals make up the human species. The long long term goals of the human species is survival and propagation. Which means that the individuals should embrace such goals as both beneficial and logical.

Based on the observation that humans reproduce geometrically, and thus cannot long survive in a constrained environment, there are but few options:
[A] Reduce reproduction rate, or
[B] Engineer the environment, or
[C] Expand beyond the limits of the terrestrial environment.

Choosing “A” is a recipe for disaster. Any subgroup that reduces its birth rate will be overwhelmed by the subgroups that do not reduce their reproduction rate. The future belongs to the descendants, not those whose line goes extinct. Unimaginable tyranny is required to impose a reduced reproduction rate, with all its inherent gender preferences and bias.

Choosing “B” is a reasonable goal. However, those who believe in “Environmental Preservation” will impede any attempt at “Environmental Amplification.” Thickening the life bearing volume of the Earth is beneficial, especially if wildlife habitat is multiplied with the human habitat. But you cannot thicken if you're constrained to preserve the status quo.

Choosing “C” is the best long term goal. Outside of Earth’s gravity well, all elements necessary for life can be found. There’s a fusion reactor, running 24/7. And there is expansion volume that would not be overwhelmed for millennia.

Though science fiction often depicts humanity colonizing far planets and moons, the most logical and practical way to colonize outer space is via autonomous orbiting space habitats. If constructed from materials already outside of Earth’s deep gravity well, by robotic fabricators, it would not require the risk nor expense of launching humans to far distant locations. Finished vessels and colonies could be sent, via the Interplanetary Transport Network, to rendezvous points, for subsequent loading of cargo and crew. Once staffed and supplied, these gigantic habitats can surf gravity to orbits that intersect other planets and bodies. Thus space travel becomes inexpensive, though slow. In time, the heavens can fill up with autonomous space habitats, providing support for more biomass than would ever be possible if limited to the Earth.

What humanity should do is engineer the smallest practical autonomous robotic factory that can not only build the tools that build the tools that build the space habitats, but also replicate themselves. Once seeded on asteroids that pass close to Earth's orbit, they will geometrically expand, as well as grow, fractally, to fill the heavens with hollow worlds, space vessels and habitats - eventually at a rate greater than human reproduction cycles. That changes the whole idea of colonizing outer space, and the false limitations of budgets, ideology and nationalism.

We should create a ‘Firefly sky’ of immense space colonies, orbiting the sun, cycling between planets, orbiting planets, and even moons. We can convert the celestial resources into the raw materials and finished habitats to support ever growing quantities of lifeforms, human and nonhuman.

In time, humans may expand beyond, to other star systems, and thus insure that the human species survives the demise of the solar system, in eons to come.


And this way, we can dispense with the gloom and doom peddlers, and stop accepting that the end is nigh. Let's get busy - we're going up and out !

[Mari]

' Humanity must expand into space colonization, as soon as possible. Space colonization begets world peace. World peace begets space colonization. Only via orbiting space habitats can humanity survive and thrive. It is impractical to pin hopes ' on “terraforming” Mars or any other solar system body. We need multiple Earths.'

Not until we have cleaned up our own mess first, and that's a long way off. The Galactics will never allow us to leave Earth orbit and colonize other planets whilst we are still in barbarian mode, because in that mode, or 'Empire' mentality, there will be a race to see who can 'own' a piece of planet, if not the planet itself and the strife that would bring. We currently have land wars here and there's no way we would be allowed to bring that crap out into our solar system, never mind deeper space.

[ozmirage]

' Humanity must expand into space colonization, as soon as possible. Space colonization begets world peace. World peace begets space colonization. Only via orbiting space habitats can humanity survive and thrive. It is impractical to pin hopes ' on “terraforming” Mars or any other solar system body. We need multiple Earths.'

Not until we have cleaned up our own mess first, and that's a long way off. The Galactics will never allow us to leave Earth orbit and colonize other planets whilst we are still in barbarian mode, because in that mode, or 'Empire' mentality, there will be a race to see who can 'own' a piece of planet, if not the planet itself and the strife that would bring. We currently have land wars here and there's no way we would be allowed to bring that crap out into our solar system, never mind deeper space.
Perhaps you missed the point about colonizing outer space via autonomous orbital habitats and vivariums?
As in not colonizing "other planets" in this system or others.

... the most logical and practical way to colonize outer space is via autonomous orbiting space habitats.

[ozmirage]

How to Colonize Outer Space for Dummies
- - - A soundbitten exposition - - -

= = = = =
1. World peace needs space colonization needs world peace. (War is a waste of resources that could be better used for space colonization)


2. Geometric expansion of humanity cannot continue if limited to the finite resources of Earth


3. Money is not prosperity nor real, but an abstraction for reality. Prosperity is based on prodigious production, equitable trade, and enjoyment of surplus usable goods and services. Achieving space colonization is not constrained by money, but by the aggregate surplus goods and services available to be diverted to that goal.


4. Most practical means to colonize the solar system is by constructing immense autonomous self reliant spinning habitats and vivariums, using abundant resources already in outer space (asteroids, comets, moons, etc). Using water in the outermost shell will shield against cosmic rays, beta particles, secondary radiation and most other harmful radiation. (Sorry, no “windows to open space”)


5. Most efficient means to construct the infrastructure is to use autonomous robot factories ("Queen ants") which are seeded upon a multitude of celestial bodies. Each "queen" builds tools, that build the bigger tools, that build the shells, hulls, tanks, and habitats necessary for space colonization.


6. Once completed, giant colonies can "surf gravity" via the Interplanetary Transport Network, from Earth's L4 or L5, where they would be crewed, loaded with embryos, zygotes, and seeds, and commissioned. Then each can be redirected to establish orbits, around the sun, cycling between planets, around moons, or anywhere that suits the crew members.


7. Each colony can construct and establish human habitats and vivariums with varied climates to provide a suitable environment for their lifestock.


8. Once the colony growth rate is faster than the human population growth rate, humanity is freed from the limitations imposed by a terrestrial lifestyle. By expanding into the solar system, more abundant life can exist.


9. Thus we fulfill the destiny and meaning of life - to make more life, and more habitats for that abundance of life. Life is an endless struggle against extinction by a hostile inanimate universe.


10. If laser propulsion is perfected, a multitude of orbital laser stations can be established so that vessels can accelerate / decelerate using coherent light powered by our friendly neighborhood fusion reactor.


11. Star systems may be colonized by first sending robot scouts / factories to investigate and begin construction of infrastructure, vessels, and laser propulsion systems. Then launch an armada (i.e., serial packets) of colony transport habitats, via laser propulsion (0.1g acceleration requires 354 days to reach 0.1c), to the neighboring star systems. The continuous long chain of ships, 0.1 light year apart, provide a communications link. One year from destination, decelerate using the laser systems previously built (or the destination star), and then crew, provision and commission the habitats and vivariums awaiting their arrival.
(Low acceleration is more practical when living within a 1g spinning habitat.)


12. Repeat the process, and expand life outward to new star systems, filling the galaxy in half a billion years or so.


*At a velocity of 0.1 c (1/10 light speed), and accounting for recovery time, the expanding radius of human colonization would be roughly 0.05 c (1/20 light speed).
Every 1,000 years, humanity would extend another 50 light years from Sol.


http://www.icc.dur.ac.uk/~tt/Lectures/Galaxies/LocalGroup/Back/50lys.html

STARS WITHIN 50 LIGHT YEARS OF SOL


50866

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars_and_brown_dwarfs

[ozmirage]

ASTEROID MINING

https://www.asterank.com/3d/

Scientists think the M-type (metallic) asteroid 16 Psyche is comprised mostly of metallic iron and nickel similar to Earth’s core.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/16-psyche/in-depth/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche
16 Psyche (asteroid) mass : (2.23±0.36)×10^19 kg

From this one asteroid, one could build 546,256,494,080 battleships of the Iowa Class.
IOWA class battleship weighs 45,000 tons (40,823,313.3 kg, or 40,823 metric tonnes)

{Of course, we’d rather build autonomous space colonies, instead of armored dreadnoughts in space.}
An O’Neill cylinder 5 miles x 20 miles, 1319 decks, holding approx. 10.36 million crew (nominal) 20 million (max).
Massing 26,742 megatonnes per colony
Estimated 833,895 space colonies
_ _ 19.67 cycles x 20 year construction cycle = 393 years
_ _ 19.67 cycles x 30 year construction cycle = 590 years

Hosting population of 8.637E+12 (8.637 trillion)
(Reach that population roughly before 2700 A.D.)

Surface area equivalent to 877 Earths
With a population of 9.848 billions per equivalent Earth

THAT’S JUST ONE ASTEROID !