In recognition of tonight’s premiere of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Curiata.com presents this look at the potential for — and possible necessity of — space colonization.
Space colonization has long been a dream for scientists and fiction writers alike. Despite this dream, space colonization seems no closer to realization today than it was in 1969. With population and pollution rising across the globe, the time has come to seriously consider development of space colonization programs. Although some of the technology is still a few years away, with proper funding, space colonization can be achieved during our lives.
Humanity is developing at an ever accelerating pace. Only 100 years ago, radio was a completely novel innovation with unknown potential. Just 20 years ago, cell phones were an extreme luxury, and the World Wide Web was just beginning to enter into public consciousness. Yet today, most of us have cell phones which can access the Internet at blindingly fast speeds.
Our quick expansion and development has undoubtedly caused growing pains, some of which, particularly climate change, could stop our development cold, even causing our own extinction. While we certainly need to address these problems on our own planet immediately, we should also look to space for some answers. Uninterrupted solar energy, population diffusion, and resources attainable from near-Earth objects, are just some of the benefits we would gain from expanding into space.
Population projections by the United Nations expect humanity to increase by 50 percent in the next 60 years. The assumption after 2075 is that population growth will level off. This, however, ignores some unexpected developments in the world of science.
Many scientists are beginning to see death as not necessarily inevitable. Google recently announced the creation of a new company, Calico, whose goal is to defeat death, or at least slow it down. Calico and scientists across the globe will continue looking into lab-grown organs and reverse-aging techniques by studying the so-called immortal jellyfish.
These studies offer great hope to those of us who don’t want to die, but they raise an important question about the Earth’s capacity. If natural death is no longer a factor, adverse population trends are virtually impossible. That potential reality shatters all prior population trends and can put us in danger of overpopulation much sooner than expected.
If Google is able to defeat degenerative diseases, and if scientists master laboratory organ growth, the human population will explode, exacerbating pollution, climate change, scarcity, and all the other problems associated with overpopulation. But if humanity has the capacity to conquer death, then surely it cannot be too difficult to make substantial progress in our space programs. This is not science fiction anymore. Advanced space programs of exploration and colonization are an evolutionary necessity.
Then the question must be raised: where should humanity begin this endeavor? The first step is already being planned by a company in Japan, which hopes to have a space elevator running by 2050. A space elevator would provide cheap cargo shipment into space for building projects, while beginning the early steps of moving humans into orbit in a cost-effective manner. Space elevators, however, require a material both strong and light. While carbon nanotubes and boron nitride nanotubes are thought to have potential, they are not yet financially viable.
The International Space Elevator Consortium is asking the public to discover the ideal material for a space elevator. Designers of materials meeting certain strength requirements will receive cash payouts upwards of $1 million. Once discovered, the tether material will be attached to a conventional rocket and lifted into space. From there, the counterweight and tether will be assembled. The counterweight will enter geosynchronous orbit, where the tether will be released to lower itself to the ground station on Earth. The tether can then be upgraded as necessary to carry increasingly larger loads.
Following the elevator’s completion, carts carrying the cargo can be added and fitted with solar panels to allow them to run continuously and cleanly for days at a time. The counterweight and other parts of the elevator may also be fitted with solar panels to provide the Earth and all its nations with clean, nearly infinite, power for generations. The lowered cost of space shipment would even allow industries to expand into space and begin looking into orbital colonization and beyond.
Orbital space stations are a strong next step in the expansion of the human race, but the goal should undoubtedly be to settle on a new planet. Interestingly, several private companies are already looking ahead with plans for permanently colonizing Mars within the next two decades.
Assuming the success of these ventures, their societies are expected to start small, with only a handful of people landing on the Red Planet every few years. Eventually, a next step should be made in creating a large, self-sustaining colony. A biodome, consisting of many layers of transparent materials to block solar radiation and fend off the Martian sandstorms, would create an environment habitable for plants and animals. As these settlements become stronger, the next step should be undertaken, one which will be even more daring and seemingly impossible.
The final step in this cosmic Manifest Destiny imposed by human ingenuity is to pass the vast distance between star systems and create permanent settlements on extrasolar planets. The distances between star systems are incredibly great, some measuring in the hundreds of thousands of light-years from the Earth.
Overcoming this daunting matter is possible according to the theory of relativity. In this theory, Albert Einstein stated that as an object travels close to the speed of light, it will appear to travel through time more slowly than any stationary or slower moving object. This means that interstellar travel is possible within a typical human lifetime.
A matter-antimatter engine may be the ticket to achieving this seemingly impossible accomplishment. When matter and antimatter collide, they annihilate each other completely and produce nearly pure energy output. With almost 100 percent efficiency, the speed of light is within reach.
There is no doubt that space colonization will one day be a necessity. The technology is only a few research grants and hypotheses away. With the right funding, where we go is only limited by the daring of scientists to push the envelope and expand our horizons.
One day, there may be colonies throughout the galaxy, and even the universe, built by human pioneers, keeping the human race alive beyond our mother Earth.
Kevin Hillman contributed to this story.