"The Richness of Our Solar System" on Fantastic Worlds

[jordan179]

Most people, including most people who are in favor of human expansion beyond the Earth, don't realize just how rich is the Solar System. They tend to look only at the major terrestrial planets and assume that the only place into which we can expand without interstellar travel is Mars, because there are only three such planets in our Solar System

Comments

[xuenay]

Most of those are habitable in principle, but inhospitable enough that I'm not sure why anybody would want to. I imagine they'd have a small human crew supervising robotic mining operations, but probably not much more.

Of course, if we learn how to do mind uploading, then in principle any place capable of hosting computers (or even robotic bodies) is good.

And there's something about the idea of small habitats built into asteroids that I find strongly appealing on an emotional level. Never mind the fact that there may not be much point in them.

[jordan179]

Most of those are habitable in principle, but inhospitable enough that I'm not sure why anybody would want to. I imagine they'd have a small human crew supervising robotic mining operations, but probably not much more.

As technology advances, the cost relative to per capita income of building any required level of housing or recreation in an environment at a given level of inhospitability drops. Colonization would start with small research and mining outposts, but it would not necessarily end there -- worlds with rich resources would attract further research and mining outposts, which in turn would attract merchants to supply them, farmers (*) to feed them, and all the sorts of support personnel these people might themselves require.

I think that every one of the worlds I listed will in (many centuries) become the home of millions, even billions, of human beings.

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(*) "Farms" of course in this context meaning volatiles-collection, processing and hydroponics food production operations.

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[lather2002]

I think will should build enough Space Shuttles to ship all registered Democrats, Socialists and Communists that are living in the USA and ship them to Venus. Just saying :D

[polaris93]

Actually, we could tunnel into any asteroid Phobos' size or larger to make a habitat out of it, and would thereby guarantee protection of the inhabitants from solar tantrums and stray radiation from space. It would also be easier to maintain environmental integrity (i.e., keep air in) with many feet of rock surrounding living and working spaces, with only a few airlocks to let people in and out of the habitat. Surface telemetry could provide images of everything surrounding such a habitat and relay it to "windows" within the living and working spaces, which would reproduce what the telemetry picked up, making it look as if one were really looking out of a normal window into space (when in fact it was just an image reproduced on a screen backed by thick rock). Such a habitat could be spun on an axis to provide any strength of gravity desired -- much better than having to depend on low-gravity fields such as that of Mars, say, because pregnant women and other female creatures in the habitat would do better with a(n apparent)