How would you colonise space?

[pgrmdave]

Would it be possible to build a self-sufficient colony in space without being on a planet? That may be the first step, once they could provide for themselves well enough, they may be able to produce a surplus of goods that they could then send down to colonists on a planet.

[lindagarrette]

Read the book! I keep referring to Marshall Savage's Millennial Project which has most of the answers to the questions that keep popping up here.

[GAHD]

Ahh, but it's so much more fun to dream than read, linda.

my steps to colonise space:
1) send ship out to the asteroid belt, skip mars.
2) on the way to mars the ship sends out a probe to map the relative density of materials on the surfaces of asteroids near/in the belt, and choses its final destination based on that data.
3)ship detaches furtheur probes/pods that are really just thrusters with a fuel tank and some clamp/spike mechanism to latch on to asteroid rich in whatever materials you can find meeting the requirements to be turned to more fuel.
4) use fuel asteroid to refuel ship and probes
5) sending pods out again to pick up another rich asteroid.
6)latch ship onto asteroid fully refuled and 'break' to drop it close to earth orbit to be recovred for raw materials processing (in zero-G) to create more ships.
6)repeat from step 1 as ships become available.

things could be furthur streamlined by making the ship itself a smelter with a processing facilityand some sort of mass-driver to electrically fire raw materials where needed, somewhat saving on fuel.

perhapse even having a facility setup mid way to build the ships in zero-g?

[TMAK]

why does it even have to be human bodies that colonize space?

instead of just sending out probes, my (probably unoriginal) suggestion would be to develop AI that would not only be able to interpret the data, but also terraform Mars (or some other moon/planet) once it gets there. of course the most pressing problem would be the raw material and ensuring the AI doesnt break down.

im new, btw....

[Freethinker]

The other day I had a sci-fi moment. Perhaps a good story line, although it's been done before, but not at quite the same level. We've had Sci-fi stories involving some "seed" or organic molecule that travels thru space, lands on a plant (such as earth) and takes over.

What if instead of an organic molecule, we developed nano technology? If we made a singular nano machine that when it comes in contact with the needed resources, slowely uses the resources to build larger machines? A cross between Virtuosity and It Came from Outer Space?

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by pgrmdave

Would it be possible to build a self-sufficient colony in space without being on a planet? That may be the first step, once they could provide for themselves well enough, they may be able to produce a surplus of goods that they could then send down to colonists on a planet.

Hm, not too sure about that. I think a space colony (such as those proposed by Gerard K O'Neil and others) would still need input from, say an asteroid for example, if they're going to produce their own products of whatever kind and sell it to other worlds.

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by GAHD

things could be furthur streamlined by making the ship itself a smelter with a processing facilityand some sort of mass-driver to electrically fire raw materials where needed, somewhat saving on fuel.

perhapse even having a facility setup mid way to build the ships in zero-g?

To make use of the asteroid belt is a great idea that I agree with. Also, industries and ship docks and other facilities in space will be necessary if we want to produce large ships or components quickly. To do so in zero-G makes more sense than to do it on a world much heavier than some of our largest moons I think. In space you can build structures as large as you wish, and you're not confined by the limits of rockets.

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by lindagarrette

Read the book! I keep referring to Marshall Savage's Millennial Project which has most of the answers to the questions that keep popping up here.

I will try to get myself a copy of that book, it does sound interesting!

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by TMAK

why does it even have to be human bodies that colonize space?

instead of just sending out probes, my (probably unoriginal) suggestion would be to develop AI that would not only be able to interpret the data, but also terraform Mars (or some other moon/planet) once it gets there. of course the most pressing problem would be the raw material and ensuring the AI doesnt break down.

im new, btw....

I've been thinking about this myself, but then it was mostly the matter of us uploading to computers and robots, so that we could go wherever we want. Also, it would give us some sort of immortality, which I believe would make it more accepted to carry out long term projects like terraforming. (I suspect that if we can ever become immortal, we will no longer be impatient.)

Anyway, using advanced robotics and AI to sort of pave the way as you suggest is probably a good idea, so that humans can follow shortly thereafter. Or, we could use both humans and robots, as I think they could complement each other.

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by Freethinker

The other day I had a sci-fi moment. Perhaps a good story line, although it's been done before, but not at quite the same level. We've had Sci-fi stories involving some "seed" or organic molecule that travels thru space, lands on a plant (such as earth) and takes over.

What if instead of an organic molecule, we developed nano technology? If we made a singular nano machine that when it comes in contact with the needed resources, slowely uses the resources to build larger machines? A cross between Virtuosity and It Came from Outer Space?

For a while I've been thinking about something similar, that is if we found a new organism that was very different from what we know, would we be able to tell if it was life or a designed nano population? But then again, "life" is whatever we decide to define as life, isn't it?

Anyway, I like your idea. Maybe we could construct certain selfreplicating nanomachines that could terraform planets "quickly" or "morph" an asteroid into a radiotelescope... we could form the solar system as we wish.