Who thinks giant spaceships could be used as cities or space colonies?

Question

I mean you've seen Aircrft carriers out in the ocean that can survive for months on thier own wouldn't be a good Idea to use the same type of thing in space only with plants and animals and make it like a Big city satellite orbiting the Earth?

Answer 1

Whether or not it is a good idea, is beside the point. The resources in space are mind-boggling and someday someone in power is going to want them.

Look at what's out there - a single, one-kilometer wide, "M-type", metal-rich asteroid - of which there likely are, ballpark est., upwards of fifty in Earth- crossing-orbits alone - would contain:

30 million tons of nickel,
1.5 million tons of metal cobalt,
and 7,500 tons of platinum. (Source 1)

..and some *100,000* asteroids, of all sizes and types, have been identified in the Main Belt in the solar system. M-types constitute somewhat under %10 of the total.

Look at it this way. Life on Earth, according to biological science, existed solely in the oceans up until, to give a generous estimate, 500 million years ago.

After it began to colonize the land, our fossil records show that more ocean species, and matter from the ocean (ie, dead bodies, seaweed) went from ocean to the land, than the other way around...

Which makes sense. Land was "full of nothing" and all those plants & animals were exploiting new niches to evolve in.

However, when land plants established forests some 370 million years ago, the ecological productivity of land-based ecosystems exceeded that of the coastal ocean for the first time.

By 260 million years ago, we have clear evidence of land-based species returning *back* to the ocean, and out-competing the stay-behinds. From this point forward far more land species and materials cross into the ocean than vice versa.

And Earth as a whole became richer and more diverse as a result. (Source 2)

All because some species took a risk and left Mama Sea.

There is no life evident in the rest of the solar system, because humans have not yet made a home there... but someday, the (vast) resources and (practically limitless) energy there, will be harvested by humans.

Or by evolved, intelligent raccoons - should we fail and go extinct. Life is nothing if not persistent.

Answer 2

I'm not saying it could never happen, but there are some huge challenges. If you chose to build this enormous craft on the surface of the earth then you would need a method to get it to break free of the Earth's gravitational pull. If you built it in space, you would need to make so many trips that it would be cost prohibitive. Additionally, there are not enough people trained and experienced to work in space. Space is an extrememly violent environment. The amount of fuel required to stabalize the craft during the build would be enormous, so a craft of that size created in low earth orbit around Earth would most likely tumble uncontrollably while being built and possibly be pulled appart due to the gravitational forces being applied to it. Building something of this size on the moon still becomes an almost unmanagable task due to the lack of water on the moon. Water is need not only for human consumption but to construct just about anything.

Answer 3

Robert Forward, Arthur C. Clarke and many others have described that possibility as a way to colonize space.

However, with the international space station being build at an alarmingly slow rate, let's say we are (unfortunately) still pretty far.

Answer 4

only if our insane desire as a species to take our weapons can be checked while nuclear weapons may at some time be used to fend off rogue asteroids or comets they if taken into space may be used there I think colonization of space is essential for the survival of the human race this planet is not capable of supporting 20 billion humans at some point we will be like the rat overcrowding experiment and kill each other of through diesease and war mankind is at its best when we explore and if we are to achieve peace for our world it will be through exploration of space and the utilization of the sheer vastness of space to colonize large space going vessels as space stations are in fact planned for this century however the scope and size of these in my humble opinion need to be drastically revised upward we need to be able to house 1 billion people off world by century's end in this way we ensure that a catastrophic hit from a asteroid or outbreak of new virus or other catastrophie does not do the human race in It is nice to see that i am not the only person thinking about this

Answer 5

to do it , many space rocket will be go back and forth, if you want to finish it on 10 years, the ozone layer will disapear because of it

yes?
so we try to build moon base.....