Re: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps

From: Immortalist (Reanimater_2000_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/11/04 

Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 09:45:11 -0700

"theBeaver" <none@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:vzhyc.11903$H65.9953@nwrddc02.gnilink.net...
> The human instinct to expand our territory and breed is not something
> that should be indulged. Man's biggest problem is his inclination to
> *** in his own house, thinking, instinctively, that territorial
> expansion or future miracles will save him. It is the nature of things
> that unbridled ambition speeds its own end, and if humans cannot reign
> in their own animal urges by reason, we deserve to go nowhere. To hear
> this primitive impulse touted as a laudable goal that's supposed to
> inspire me with pride in my species disgusts me.
>

Shitting on your own capacity for optimism?

> Immortalist wrote:
> > The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps by Marshall
T.
> > Savage, 1994
> >
> > [1] AQUARIUS - Space Colony at Sea
> > [2] BIFROST - 21st Century Launch System
> > [3] ASGARD - Space Colony in Orbit
> > [4] AVALON - Ecospheres on the Moon
> > [5] ELYSIUM - Terraforming Mars
> > [6] SOLARIA - Colonizing the Solar System
> > [7] GALACTICA - Colonizing the Galaxy
> >
> > The Millennial Project is a thousand year plan to colonize the galaxy. Yes,
you
> > read that right, no need to adjust the sanity controls on your computer.
> >
> > The Millennial Project begins with the premise that mankind may very well be
the
> > only life in the universe; it is therefore our duty to see that life spreads
and
> > flourishes, that we fill the universe and make it live and breathe. As long
as we
> > are stuck on just one little clump of mud hurtling about the sun, all our
eggs
> > are in one basket. A single large meteor, nuclear war, or virulent plague
might
> > wipe us out. Even barring catastrophe, population density and longevity are
> > increasing. Eventually we'll have to either stop breeding or find new places
to
> > put people. This book is an eight part, 1,000 year plan to solve these
problems.
> >
> > Marshall T. Savage's elegant and eloquently written plan begins with a simple
> > step: establishment of a foundation to begin planning for humanity's
diaspora.
> > Since The Millennial Project was written in 1994, this actually has already
> > begun, though it looks like it's in the early stages.
> >
> > ---------------------------------------
> >
> > [1] AQUARIUS - Space Colony at Sea
> >
> > The meat of the plan begins with my favorite step - colonization of the
Earth's
> > seas. Aquarius solves todays problems in an inexpensive and ecologicially
sound
> > way, and serves as a testbed for our later colonization efforts.
> >
> > The first and most important part of each aquarian colony is an OTEC (Ocean
> > Thermal Energy Converter), a revolutionary form of solar power. Thanks to the
> > sun, surface ocean waters are far warmer than in the depths, especially at
the
> > equator. An OTEC is a 3300 foot long pipe that sucks 40 degree (fahrenheit)
water
> > to the surface where it's 80 degrees. This temperature differential can then
be
> > used to power a steam engine. The lower the air pressure is, the lower the
> > boiling point. At .43 PSI water boils at 80 degrees. The expansion of the
water
> > vapor turns a turbine which generates electricity. The vapor then condences
on a
> > pipe that carries 40 degree water, which then lowers the pressure, which
causes
> > more water to boil, continuing the process.
> >
> > A single OTEC will be taken by ship to a spot in equatorial waters, where the
> > water is warm and deep and hurricanes are rare (thanks to the Corriolis
force). A
> > magnesium wire mesh will be placed in the water and using the electricity
from
> > the OTEC the water will be electrolyzed, creating a "seament". The same
minerals
> > used by shellfish to create their shell will be deposited onto the wire from
the
> > sea water due to the electricity. After 6 months of electrolysis a 5.5 mile
> > diameter structure capable of housing 100,000 people should be complete.
> >
> > The OTEC will pay many dividends. Excess energy can be converted and stored,
or
> > sold...water can be electrolyzed, separating the oxygen and hydrogen.
Hydrogen
> > can then be transported via large balloons for use in fuel cells in other
parts
> > of the world. More importantly, the water dredged from the depths of the sea
will
> > be rich in nitrogen which will promote plant and algal growth, making sea
farming
> > of fish and mollusks possible.
> >
> > ----------------------------------
> >
> > [2] BIFROST - 21st Century Launch System
> >
> > Our bridge into space will be a revolutionary new system, far more economical
> > than NASA's shuttles. A kilogram of payload onboard a Space Shuttle costs
about
> > $8800 to send into orbit. The reason for this is that for every ton of
payload
> > (the stuff you actually intend to put into orbit) you have to use 25 tons of
fuel
> > and shuttle to get it there (20 tons of fuel, 5 of shuttle). Much of the fuel
is
> > spent, not lifting the payload, but lifting the rest of the fuel.
> >
> > By contrast, Bifrost will be extremely cheap, perhaps as low as $15 to $20
per
> > kilogram over the long term. The reason for this is that the Bifrost shuttle
will
> > carry almost none of its own fuel.
> >
> > Bifrost begins with a 250 kilometer tunnel drilled out of a mountain and the
> > surrounding countryside. The tunnel will be hyperbolic - beginning with a
slight
> > upward slope until it reaches the mountain towards the end, at which point it
> > will be nearly vertical. Ideally the mountain will be one situated on or near
the
> > equator such as Kilimanjaro because objects at the equator are already moving
> > faster than objects located at other parts of the world...the Earth has a
> > circumference of about 25,000 miles, and rotates every 24 hours, so an object
at
> > the equator has an angular velocity of more than 1,000 miles an hour. By
> > contrast, an object at the north pole has nearly no angular velocity. This
extra
> > velocity makes launches a bit cheaper (and explains why American launches
have
> > been done from Florida and Texas).
> >
> > The shuttle is a "wave-rider", a delta wing craft (triangular) that coasts on
its
> > own shockwave and makes an excellent glider. The wave-rider will be
accelerated
> > through the tunnel using superconducting rings in the walls - magnetism will
drag
> > it along until it's attained much of the velocity necessary to launch it into
> > orbit.
> >
> > The wave-rider carries only about 4 tons of fuel. Ice, to be precise. When
the
> > wave-rider bursts free of the tunnel, powerful lasers on the ground will
vaporize
> > the ice on the rear of the wave-rider, which will give it the extra boost it
> > needs to get into space.
> >
> > The only fuel needed is a small chunk of (non-polluting) ice, so the
electricity
> > needed is rather low.
> >
> > -------------------------------------
> >
> > [3] ASGARD - Space Colony in Orbit
> >
> > Our next stepping stone will be a colony in geosynchronous orbit about the
Earth.
> > Much like Aquarius, Asgard will house about 100,000 people. Also, much like
> > Aquarius, Asgard will be modular. Aquarius will be composed of many hexagons
> > joined together to allow for easy expansion and provide stability against
> > sinking; Asgard will be Aquarius taken to 3 dimensions.
> >
> > Asgard will be composed of a number of silicon bubbles - balloons, really. A
> > house or office will be a bubble with a 6.66 meter radius. This bubble will
be
> > surrounded by 12 other bubbles of the same size; these 13 will be held by a
large
> > bubble. This in turn will be another dozen similar large bubbles, and these
13
> > will then be held by the largest bubble (300 meter radius), the outer wall of
the
> > colony.
> >
> > Each bubble will be inflated by oxygen at 1/5 the air at sea level. On Earth,
air
> > is about 80% nitrogen, 20% oxygen (with a few other gasses thrown in).
Removing
> > the nitrogen will allow us to have less pressure in our bubbles which will
exert
> > less stress, yet still give us the same "partial pressure" of oxygen for
> > breathing.
> >
> > The outermost bubble will actually be a double-bubble - one surrounded by
another
> > slightly larger one. The space between these two bubbles will be filled by a
5
> > meter thickness of water, which will serve as a shield against radiation and
> > micro-meters as well as drinking water and a space for farming of algae and
other
> > things to eat. Also, like Aquarius, our power needs will be satisfied by
solar
> > power.
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> >
> > [4] AVALON - Ecospheres on the Moon
> >
> > From the orbit about our own planet, we'll jump to the next most convenient
> > place - the Moon. Despite its barren look, the Moon can easily be made
hospitable
> > for life. It has millions of craters, ranging up to hundreds of kilometers in
> > diameter. These will be domed over; larger ones will make cities, smaller
ones
> > perhaps just single family homes. All together, the craters cover as much
area as
> > California, Texas, and Montana combined.
> >
> > About 90% of the elements we need are available right there on the Moon. The
> > remaining 10% can be rounded up from other places such as meteors. One type
of
> > meter especially, "carbonaceous chondrites," have exactly what we need,
including
> > (of course) carbon, and water.
> >
> > Once we've established a presence on the Moon, we'll repeat one of the
previous
> > steps: Bifrost. A similar system on the Moon will work tremendously cheaply,
both
> > because the Moon has just 1/6 the gravity of Earth, and because the cooler
> > temperatures make cooling the superconductors easy. From there we will launch
our
> > way to the next step...
> >
> > -------------------------------------
> >
> > [5] ELYSIUM - Terraforming Mars
> >
> > Our first target won't actually be Mars itself, but its tiny moon Phobos.
Phobos
> > is a 26 kilometer diameter rock circling Mars, barely big enough to call a
moon.
> > One thing in its favor is that, again, with very little gravity it makes an
> > excellent space station, because launches are cheap. You can actually throw a
> > stone from Phobos and hit Mars.
> >
> > Phobos itself isn't nearly large or hospitable enough, so from there we would
> > head to Mars. Fortunately, all evidence points to Mars once being a world
much
> > like Earth. There are mountains, dry river beds, empty oceans. At the poles
there
> > are frozen reservoirs of carbon dioxide. There may even be vast frozen seas
> > beneath the surface. It will be our job to melt the polar caps of carbon
dioxide
> > and let the greenhouse effect take over (with a bit of help from us).
Amazingly,
> > Mars has a day that's only 33 minutes longer than Earth's and in fact fits
human
> > circadian rhythms more closely than Earth's, so we should feel right at home,
> > though sunlight will be a bit less than half as bright as on Earth.
> >
> > Presumably by this time we will have perfected use of fusion for power
> > generation. It's fusion that powers the Sun, as well as certain kinds of
nuclear
> > weapons. Helium-3, a rare isotope of helium, can be harvested from the Moon
and
> > can be used together with deuterium (an isotope of Hydrogen very common in
> > Earth's oceans) to start a fusion reaction.
> >
> > --------------------------------------
> >
> > [6] SOLARIA - Colonizing the Solar System
> >
> > With just a 2% annual growth rate, there will be 1 trillion humans by the
year
> > 2250, about 166 people for every 1 person there is today, doubling about
every 36
> > years. With an 8% growth rate typical of frontier settlement, this would be
> > astronomically higher, doubling every 9 years. Where will we put all these
> > people?
> >
> > Our best bet is the asteroid belt, a big pile of rocks orbitting between Mars
and
> > Jupiter. Amazingly, there are ten billion asteroids larger than 100 meters in
> > diamater. That's larger than a football field in all 3 dimensions, and weighs
1.5
> > million tons. The 32 largest asteroids are far larger, all over 200
kilometers in
> > diameter, with Ceres, the largest, being 466 kilometers. Each asteroid, once
> > hollowed out, could support a population of anywhere from thousands to
billions
> > of people. Beyond that, there are 100 billion asteroids between 10 and 100
meters
> > in diameter, with enough matter to support anywhere from a few families to a
> > small town.
> >
> > Farther out there's an even more incredible resource: the Oort Cloud. The
Oort
> > Cloud is a ring of as many as 100 trillion comets, starting at about Pluto
and
> > extending about halfway to the nearest star. The mass of the comets in the
Oort
> > Cloud may be as high as ten times the combined mass of all of the planets in
the
> > solar system.
> >
> > At this stage we'll want to increase our energy output to fuel our expansion.
> > Again, we'll turn to solar power. In fact, it will be the ultimate in solar
> > power - what is known as a Dyson shell (or Dyson sphere), named after the
> > physicist Freeman Dyson who first came up with the idea in 1959. A Dyson
shell is
> > a 20.6 million kilometer diameter shell almost completely surrounding the
sun,
> > leaving a narrow band in the center so that light will still reach the Earth
and
> > other planets. The shell will be composed of an incredible number of thin
solar
> > collectors that will beam energy in the form of lasers or focussed microwaves
to
> > where it is needed.
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> >
> > [7] GALACTICA - Colonizing the Galaxy
> >
> > Despite an exhaustive search by programs such as SETI and SETI@Home, no other
> > star system has been proven to have life. It's in this step that we'll change
> > that.
> >
> > Our first star system for settlement will be the Centauri system, a system
with
> > three stars orbitting each other, Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, and Proxima
> > Centauri. The closest is about 4.3 light years away.
> >
> > A light year doesn't sound like much; science fiction flippantly throws the
term
> > around as if it's trivial, but really it's such an inconceivably large unit
that
> > travelling this distance in a reasonable amount of time will prove quite a
> > challenge. A light year is the distance light travels in a year; light
travels
> > nearly 300,000 kilometers per second, or around the Earth twelve times in one
> > second. Clearly we'll need a new form of energy and propulsion to reach the
> > nearest star.
> >
> > The answer is anti-matter. Anti-matter is very much like matter, except when
> > combined with matter, both are annihilated and release pure energy. A
kilogram of
> > anti-matter is enough to launch 9,000 Saturn V rockets to the moon.
> >
> > Naturally you don't find anti-matter just lying around. We'll have to produce
it,
> > at incredible cost. We'll create electron / positron pairs by focussing
together
> > lasers operating at about 26 million times the power of the Sun, but
fortunately
> > for only billionths of a second at a time.
> >
> > We'll need special craft to take us to the Centauri system. Our ship will be
> > designed to travel at about half the speed of light, which means it will take
> > more than a decade to get to the nearest star (since it will take time to
> > accelerate half the speed of light). Travelling at this speed, even the
smallest
> > motes of dust can have incredible destructive force when they collide with
the
> > ship. Therefore, the ship will have a thick ablative shield in the tip, a
barrier
> > that will be expected to wear away over the course of the trip.
> >
> > http://www.4literature.net/story/2002/7/28/115247/145
> >
> > Forgot what step 8 was, dam, there goes the galaxy!
> >
> >
>