A new white paper lays out the strategy
Living off the “land” in space
Building blocks for governance of space resource activities
The Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group announces adoption of the Building Blocks of an International Framework on Space Resource activities
A proposed solution for space debris removal
Maritime traditions can be used as a model for creation of a space salvage entity that would incentivize private contractors to remove orbital debris via a credit based system.
A definition of space settlement
Dale L. Skran of the National Space Society breaks down the term differentiating between individual permanent habitats and the general creation of a grander association of colonies:
“ ‘A space settlement’ refers to a habitation in space or on a celestial body where families live on a permanent basis, and that engages in commercial activity which enables the settlement to grow over time, with the goal of becoming economically and biologically self-sustaining as a part of a larger network of space settlements. ‘Space settlement’ refers to the creation of that larger network of space settlements.”
The Art of Bioneering
In a previous post I mentioned Dr. Jim Logan’s concept for space settlements in a cored out section of Deimos presented at the Bioneering Panel at SSI 50. A string of 10 Island One settlements would be placed in a 15km x 1/2km tunnel bored through the Martian moon. Videos of the Panel have been posted and details of the concept can be found at 1:47:23
EXPAT: Expandable Shielded Rotating Space Habitat
Anthony Longman of Skyframe Research presented his concept for a free space settlement built from Asteroid materials at the Space Studies Institute SSI 50 last September. The system uses a structural design concept called Tensegrity to start small from an 8.5m pressure hull and expand iteratively to progressively larger stages ending with a habitat large enough for 8000 people. The final structure contains 90 acres of managed woodland complete with outdoor mall space and over 5 floors of living quarters. Longman appeared recently on The Space Show to provide further details of the concept. His presentation can be found at timestamp 1:32 into the SSI 50: 01 Habitat Design Presentation.
SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise videos now available
Determining the Gravity Rx
Joe Carroll of Tethers Applications, Inc. delivered a presentation on a proposal for a LEO partial gravity test facility at the StarShip Congress which took place in San Diego September 13 – 15. An interesting fact is that of all the surfaces of bodies in the solar system where humans may want to build settlements, all of them have gravity similar to the Moon and Mars. Thus gravity in the solar system is “quantized” to just these two levels simplifying the testing regime. Determining the prescription needed for human health in partial gravity is a critical path research topic needed for space settlement.