The First Space Settlement



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One day humanity will settle space, but what will that first settlement be like and where will it be? In Orbit? The Moon? Mars? Or somewhere else entirely?

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Credits:
The First Space Settlement
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 357, August 25, 2022
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur

Editors:
David McFarlane
Jason Burbank
Sig’Unnr’s Deluge

Cover Art:
Jakub Grygier https://www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier

Graphics:
Alberto Imbrosciano
Bryan Versteeg
Fishy Tree
Ian Long LITE
Jeremy Jozwik
Ken York
Rapid Thrash
Sergio Botero
Space Resources CGI

Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator

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42 thoughts on “The First Space Settlement”

  1. My two cents:
    An outpost is just a collection of facilities dedicated to one purpose: eg:- mining outpost, early warning outpost.
    An outpost exist only for that specific purpose that created the need for the outpost. Absent that purpose, an outpost is generally abandoned. And the occupiers of an outpost is largely transient and highly specialised and the support facilities are by design, minimal.

    A settlement however, is a collection of facilities that is intended to be grown into a permanent location with native population growth. The initial impetus of settlement might be mining or military or farming or others, but has since been the locus of local expansion in purpose. Meaning, as the collection point of some mining outposts or the central location for trade. Furthermore, settlements has a higher percentage of support population (eg, families, schools, hotels, service…) compared to the initial population.

    I would imagine an outpost growing in importance to become a settlement, and finally a village or town as the purpose of the original location be expanded.

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  2. Amazing video! Thank you, as always.

    And hey, congratulations on your prizes at the fair! That takes me back to my 4H days when I was a wee lad.. a long, long, long time ago.

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  3. Every time I watch one of Arthur’s videos and he says “you might want to grab a drink and a snack” I get this warm excited feeling and want to grab a Capri Sun and some Goldfish crackers

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  4. settelment is in my opinion a building or buildings that is there for permenent-living in . and it can be on a moon ,planet, or in space ,on a asteroid ..

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  5. Something many seem to forget is that plants provides two things, by converting CO2 and H20 (both of which we breathe out) plus urine and faeces of course, into O2 for us to breathe in, plus carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins and fats which we consume. Thus, I think a successful space colony, be it mobile or stationary, will likely have much more plant matter per human than we've envisioned so far

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  6. 😀 You start a settlement by adding a habitat where people can live while they build out the settlement. That would make a semi permanent living arrangement on a big space station could be seen as a space habitat 😀 The smaller solutions would ba a spinning station to simulate gravity, that could be upgraded to a much bigger station, from there we're starting to immagine such solutions as asteroid build habitats and beyond that O'Neal cylinders and other gigantic solutions.

    I would think that our first habitat, should be one that could be used for several future paths and as such a spinning station close to earth with microgravity labs to further research and other solutions to jump start our move into deeper space. From there bases and habitats on the Moon and Mars could be built, but before we go that far we as in humankind should really check how little gravity we would need to live safely permanently.

    The moon hasn't enough gravity as far as i know for us to live there without something to add to fake gravity on our body regularly, but would Mars be safe? We don't currently don't know as far as I I check, but then it's been a while since I really dug into it..

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  7. My personal take is that an output is a strategic base used as a remote jump-off point or place to garrison forces. The outpost could expect to be 100% dependent on outside resources being imported to sustain it. There are no humans around that don't serve a specific job in support of the base or military purposes.

    A settlement would be as close to 100% self-sufficient as possible. The population living there would have other occupations besides sustaining the settlement. A dance instructor, poet, retirees, or athlete living in/on the settlement would be indicative of settlement vs an outpost. People would have the expectation of living the rest of their lives and birthing children at this location.

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  8. But how can cycler save fuel? To dock with it you have to match trajectory, which would require you essentially spent the fuel that already put you on trajectory to coast to your destination. I suppose you could use a mass driver and mass, uh, braker, and jhooks to rendez-vous with the cycler which will borrow and lend kinetic energy with ships travelling to and from the various points on its orbit

    Reply
  9. 15:20 inb4 first space settlement being an Amish branch that gets the idea to abandon Earth because it has been spoiled. They'll pick up technology just barely enough to get the migration done, as has been custom with the first great migration, and then dump the technology or start seeing purpose in it but can't use it.
    Ahh… the sci-fi stories practically write themselves!

    Reply
  10. Let me know if this is a dumb, but I've never even considered the idea until now. If you're in a habitat rotating at 60mph to simulate gravity, and you get in a car and drive against the rotation at 60mph, does the simulated gravity get canceled out?

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  11. I always half-joke that when I'm an old man I'm gonna take my grandkids to the Disney theme park on the moon and they are going to complain that im a boring old man for takeing a side trip to visit the sites of the Artemis missions.

    Reply
  12. Wasn't the nausea risk with spin-gravity due to Coriolis effect, and the difference in perceived gravity between your head and feet, not the ring's RPM or your visual frame of refence? That's the theory I'd heard, although in practise it'll probably be all of the above. I expect people's issues with spin-gravity will vary by individual, and lessen with experience, as with seasickness and balance while out at sea.

    People who've grown up in space stations might even find natural gravity nauseating — not the amount of force but the fact that it works differently. I can imagine windowless areas of refuge, both in space stations and on Earth, reserved for people who just can't handle the view [yet].

    Reply

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