How would we colonize our Solar System in the next 50 years? What Sciences would be involved?
Question:
would realistic space ships designed with current Technology
look like? (The space shuttle is 1970s)
What major technology advances would be required?
How would we go about mining cruithne? Colonizing
Sedna?
Answer:
Looking at your question I would say that there are a number of ways to colonise the solar system.
1.) The first step is to get a reliable transport method that would get humans and materials off the earth and into space - preferably into earth orbit. It would also have to work the other way.
The space shuttle is an engineering disaster - it's ridiculous that the heat resistant tiles have to be applied by hand. The chinese are using oak as an ablative sheild
Possible replacements for the space shuttle are:
a.) A dual launch system like Space Ship one. Where a carrier plane carries the space pod into the upper atmosphere and launches it there. The space pod will then head for space.
The technology exists for the atmospheric ram jet the pod rocket engines need to be advanced to get to orbital height.
b.) A ground based laser array burning the chemical fuel on a space pod. Technology still required laser development and fuel development.
c.) A magnetic rail track accelerating a space pod and launching it from a high mountain - feasible with current technology. Or shooting pods from a giant cannon - the idea was first mooted in Jules Verne's the first men to the moon - very feasible.
d.) The ideal would be a beanstalk between the earth's surface and a geo-stationary asteroid. Though materials with the necesary tensile strength have been found, they are fractions of a millimeter long, the technology needs to be developed to create 36 000 kilometer long strands.
These earth to space craft (except for the beanstalk) would have to be aerodynamic to get through the atmosphere. They may have wings or fins.
2.) The space station to tranship cargo and people between space and the earth. The technology is available. The best design would probably be a donut ring or a cylinder that could be spun to create gravity. To work better than the existing space station, better solar cells need to be developed and ecological engineering would be a must, otherwise all air and water would have to be imported.
3.) From the space station to the planet and asteroids and back space ships will be required. We have the technology to build rocket motors such as used on Voyager and Discovery. For cargo deliveries it might be more economical to build solar sails that would use sunlight to power the craft. Solar sails require development of polymer sheeting. These craft would be creatures of space - they don't have to be aerodynamic. These craft could land on airless asteroids and if their rockets are powerful enough they could land and take off from airless planets and moons. On the moon is a large supply of Helium 3 which is the perfect fusion fuel - for more efficient craft the development of helium 3 motors and power sources would be required.
4.) Moon and Planetry landers and launchers. These would be craft carried by the spaceships to their destinations. The design would depend on whether their target has an atmosphere and what kind of fuel is available. We have the technology to build this type of craft. Once a colony is established on a planet, it would need some kind of launching system to efficiently lift stuff out of the planet's gravity well. The earth launchers are a possibility.
Mining of Cruithane would not be hard using current technology. Explosives (even nuclear bombs) could be used to break up the asteroid. Solar mirrors can be built, to refine the ore on site or melt the asteroid. If rocket motors are attached to the chunks of nickel iron - the material can be moved to where it is required. If the ore is required on earth at this stage the only delivery method is to attach parachutes to it and drop it - which could be a bit disasterous.
I don't think the frozen planets, like Sedna, Pluto & Neptune are colonisable. Their surfaces are deep frozen gases. Even a small bit of heat may cause disasterous sublimation. The tundra pipeline technology is an attempt to build a structure anchored in frozen water 0 Celcius. The temp of the frozen planets is -273 Celcius.
We will still be here, struggling on Earth in 50 years. They'll be a couple manned "Mars Missions" or we may even go back to the Moon by then, but the majority of mankind will still be right here.
The major sciences involved would be Astronomy, Engineering, and Biology. A few theoretical rockets have been designed by NASA engineers. One I remember had its engines in the front. Don't laugh, cars have their engines under the hood and they work okay. The most important advances would involve keeping humans alive and sane for long periods in outer space. Terran biology is dependant on the Moon and tides, so we'd have to figure out a way to simulate that. Also, we'd have to terraform the planets to make them suitable for human life.
Let's face it, we're just plain not going to colonize the Solar System in fifty years.
At the rate the space exploration is going it wont happen in 50 years! Many hurdles have to be overcome but I can say that the space station program is a waste of time and the designers arent thinking here! First off, I would be designing it as a vehicle that could make a trip to Mars fully manned with a large crew of people. We could use it as an orbiting lab now and then use it for the trip later! Secondly, triple redundancy needs to be a major factor in all life support and propulsion systems. A trip like mars at the very least will take 6 months just to get there. We need to develope shuttles to transfer people to the surface and back, we need medical people and supplies, food stores, technical people, and a great multitude of other things. The trip shouldnt be a race to get there but should be designed around safely getting there and then remaining in orbit so we could then shuttle back and forth to Earth. With the proper person heading this task we could possibly be their in 50 years but not the way they are heading now. I also hate to say it but Isaac Asimovs idea on oneil rings is the way to go here. It would be the most efficient way to maintain muscle mass and blood flow.
We woudnt have sufficent technology within the next 50 years. However lets say that we did start building a ship today. It would most likely have to be constructed in orbit as the amount of energy to get a large ship off the ground would be too astronomincal.
Advacnes in technology would be most areas of science lol. However a major development would be engines, we need engines that will propel us through space at high speeds. Exclusing fossil fuels, because you would need HUGE storage tanks.
Ummm, maybe chrogenic freezing as it would take ages for us to reach any planet lol.
throw the time limit of 50 years out; lets just look at some of the problems that must be overcome.
1) Distance - the planets and many moons in the solar system are at very vast distances thus it takes much time to get to them. How do you transport supplies and people there over such long periods of time? Food and water for a 3 month journey to mars alone is problematic enough - the return journey adds to that.
2) Water - how do you find and exploit water sources at the destination end?
3) Radiation - On earth, we are nicely shielded from solar radiation by our atmosphere and magnetic field. How do we deal with radiation on remote planets?
4) Air supply - how do we get adequate air on remote planets
5) Impact of Gravity on Humans - muscles begin to weaken and break down in space over time. How will the human body handel the no-gravity of space during the journey; how will our bodies adapt on planets/moons with different gravitational forces than earth?
6) Structures - how do you build structures to live in on remote planets/moons? Imagine going to a place where there is nothing and you have a transport capacity problem and time problem as I laid out in 1 above. You will eventually have to manufacture things when you get to a remote planet - how do you start? What tools do you start with? What can you build when you get there nad what do you build first?
That is just six problems off the top of my head.if you just sit down and think about those 6 alone, you can easily figure out the many scientific disciplines that will be involved in solving those problems - pretty much all of them.
As long as the US Government controls the money, we will never get off this rock, NEVER!! Only the privatization of space will get us off this planet.
First, I think we would need to establish a base on the moon because it is way too hard to get materials into orbit around the earth.. we would need to get our supplies from the moon.
second... we could construct some sort of super-conducting rail system to launch items into orbit around the moon..
next.. we need to reach out into space and put the stars and planets into a good position to make the trip possible in however much of the 50 years we'd have left after building a ship to go to them... or.. it will take longer than 50 years
That would depend on how well our young people in the near future study in their math and science classes; how well their teachers can instill that knowledge when teaching these young students; how well those students can apply what they have learned; and how much money uncle sam still has for this type of endeavor in 30 or 40 years from now!
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