An Argument for a Human Colony in Earth Orbit

The best insurance policy for the survival of the Human Race are permanent  off-world colonies. The first one should be in earth orbit. The following discusses the advantages and addresses the problems of this approach.

Immediate and cost effective solution.

All of the pieces  are now in place from the private sector. The International Space Station can be retasked to be the kernel of a modularly  expanding colony. Bigelow Aerospace has modules in production and is testing a module currently attached to the ISS. This colony can be easily supported from earth with private sector spacecraft currently in operation.

Revenues

This colony could generate revenues by functioning as a tourist hotel and space port. Space shuttles can be assembled here for exploring the solar system, asteroid mining, establishing farther out colonies, etc. These shuttles can be as large as needed since they don't land on planets. They can carry landers if required.

Zero-G

The biggest argument against such a colony is bone loss and other health problems due to zero-G. I discount this argument because life evolved in the oceans. Training in pools is the closest astronauts  can get to zero-G on earth. Whales may suffocate when beached, but in the ocean, their bones and organs are just fine. We should be able to adapt as well as they did.

However, permanent space colonists must commit to never living on a planet. They will never again have to plod around under the tyranny of gravity. In zero-G people can essentially fly. Unneeded feet can evolve into hands (What does God need with feet? Are we really made in His image?) Life could actually be better.

Yes, they will forever be dependent upon technology. But naturalists don't understand how  dependant and vulnerable  we are on this one of a kind jewel of a planet. It can be gone in a heartbeat. We must expand our horizons as soon as possible.

If it turns out zero-G is not feasible, we should be able to figure it out long before these colonists are unable to re-adapt to a gravity well.

Self Sufficiency

A priority will be to become self-reliant as soon as possible. This will be the best insurance policy for the survival of the human race. It will be absolutely necessary for remote colonies and can be developed  at low risk here.

Shielding

The advantage of a low earth orbit colony is that it gets sufficient shielding from earth's magnetosphere.  However, the "day" is rather short with a sunrise every 90 minutes . A geosynchronous orbit, or spacecraft will require artificial shielding. I propose a magnet field generator at the center of the structure.

The Benefits of a Magnetic Field

 A strong magnetic field will require quite a bit of power, but can have benefits in addition to shielding. If it is AC or even pulsating DC,  it can be used to distribute power to devices throughout the habitat  without wiring. Pickup coils will transform an AC magnetic field into local current.

One device can be a motility belt that will works against the magnet field and propel the wearer throughput the structure, or enable station keeping. It may be possible to design the belt to use the field like an induction motor; requiring no local power source.



So the ideal habitat will have very large open spaces (simply bubbles) where the occupants can fly around in at will.  This is infinity cheaper  than O'Neill ships, that are massive and must withstand the enormous forces created by rotation in order to generate artificial gravity (no one living today will ever see one).

Generational Starships

These habitats can be used as starships . All that is required is a propulsion source. I propose the sun. We use a Dyson swarm to collimate a large light beam to Alpha Centauri, using reflectors, or lasers if necessary. It should have a solar flux density roughly equal to that which illuminates Earth. This will provide all of the energy required for the journey. The habitats will use this "light bridge" to sail to the next star. It may take 100,000 years, but stay at homes will simply orbit the sun for that same time period. This light bridge should be miles in diameter in order to support a flotilla of spacecraft and all of the asteroids and comets that will be sent along for raw materials. Only light sails are required to these masses.

The one problem with this is that local inhabitants must maintain the bridge for the required length of time or. at least, not interfere with the robots built to maintain it. Assuming, of course that no other energy source  is developed during that time.

Another argument is why try to colonize the next star with such low tech. In 1000 years we will develop warp drive and zoom past them. Maybe, but they can be picked up along the way. But then again what difference does it make whether you are spinning in circles around a star or on a linear  trajectory between them. The habitat is your home.

This journey can be shortened significantly if the habitats can be decelerated in order to achieve orbit around the star. There is a danger of traveling so fast that the habitats cannot be captured by the star. If robots can be sent to the destination star ahead of time, they can build a bridge that can decelerate the habitats. This will be a more reliable energy source since it can't be interfered with by Terran politics. This opens the door for gravity lovers. A strong enough  solar flux density can accelerate the habitats at one-G and then at mid point decelerate them at one-G. Sorry, but I can't do the math to come up with actual numbers for the journey to Alpha Centauri. However, since they will probably prefer to remain in their habitats while orbiting the star, they will be back to zero-G.

We colonized the Earth with sails. No one suggested to wait until we invent jets.

For those of you who can't conceive of  a space habitat as comfortable as earth, you forget about the storms, hurricanes, tornadoes , fires, floods, earthquakes, etc. that we have had to deal with for the past 100,000 years.

Search for Intelligent Life

If some other intelligence in our galaxy is using light bridges for this purpose, we should be able to detect them. This will confirm both their presence and the viability of this approach. Start looking.

One reason we haven't seen aliens yet may be that intelligence life simply colonizes space. Living in zero-G may have advantages which includes lots of room for expansion. They may have little interest in gravity wells. All you need is a star for energy... if that.

So why aren't they orbiting our star and mining our asteroids? Perhaps there is no rush to spread your seed throughout the galaxy. Just doing it is sufficient.