I covered previously colonies on the surfaces of other planetary objects. With this article, I will cover asteroid colonies and colonies in space.
Space and asteroid colonies have several advantages over planetary colonies. They can be (although slowly) moved, they can be expanded and they have plenty of energy coming from the sun. Depending on it's location it can be a center for manifacturing, processing, commerce or military. The versatility and adaptability of the space colony makes it a strong option. Also, space colonies are seldom very heavily populated (let us say seldom more than 1 million) and are probably shielded so that upon a catastrophic event the colony can be easily evacuated at least off-station for a short duration. Compartements can enhance the shielding and make it hard to do serious damage to the inhabitants.
The drawbacks are however that the colony will need oxygen and water. Oxygen can be generated from plants and through chemical processes. Plants require water, however, which has to come from somewhere. There may also be an alternative (backup or primary) nuclear power plant which will require fuel (hydrogen, helium, water, plutonium or similar). Also at least a part of the construction materials need to be imported, increasing the cost of building. Another drawback is the need of repairs. The colony needs constant repairs to stay operational, especially as older the colony gets. And the population growth has a very specific limit, after the water, air and space run out you have to either expand the colony or send people elsewhere.
The space colonies are usually present in science fiction around LaGrange points, in the asteroid belts and orbiting some planet on a stable orbit. The location of the colony also gives an indication of it's use.
Orbital space colonies are usually for commercial and military use. They may provide a port of call to off-planet traders, a base of operations for planetary security forces and such. Their industrial capacity is usually concentrated on ship and food manufacturing.
LaGrange colonies are usually built for their location. It is fairly easy to throw material from a planetary object to the LaGrange point and make it stay there. This makes, say an Earth L-5 colony a nice industrial center as they can get materials thrown from the moon, process it and sling it towards earth, for instance. Or sell it to traders passing back and forth. They are waystations but may also function as a way to ease the population growth issues on the planet below. These stations are usually huge and don't serve any particular reason except supporting the local population.
Asteroid colonies aren't usually very big. They might also be completely temporary, only existing until the asteroid the colony is built on (and the asteroids nearby) have been exploited. The colony usually has some installations on the surface of the asteroid but most of the habitation and basic operations are under the surface. Nevertheless, the population of an asteroid colony composes mostly from miners and engineers and possibly their family. The colony might not be for habitation at all, miners and engineers only being there for a certain tour of duty. Abandoned asteroid colonies are the favourite bases for space pirates and smugglers since they usually are pretty functional with some repairs, have all the facilities and have lots of space. If this is an issue, there might be regulations about blowing up abandoned space colonies every now and then.
Näytetään tekstit, joissa on tunniste colonies. Näytä kaikki tekstit
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tiistai 3. kesäkuuta 2008
keskiviikko 28. toukokuuta 2008
Colonies, surface
I seem to pace around certain ideas from time to time. I think it is a process of refining ideas for me. Anyways, today I thought about colonies.
In the legionverse science fiction setting of my creation, there are two types of human settlements: established worlds and colonies. The distinction between the two is that worlds have at least 100 million inhabitants (legal minimum set by Imperial Senate) and have a representative in the Imperial Senate as a consequence. Worlds also have the right to establish and govern colonies. People are free to establish colonies, but Imperial Law requires that the colony must be associated either with a specific world or be governed by the Imperial Navy. Illegal colonies found are immediately put under authority of the Navy.
Now, considering a colony. It is a permanent but relatively new settlement built by a relatively small group of people, a few hundred adults at most in the beginning. They probably have limited supplies, tools and a limited connection to the motherworld. Therefore the equipment they do have with them is concentrated to keep the colonists alive long enough that they can build shelter and start producing food (and oxygen, if needed).
Well-prepared (and/or funded) colonists might send an advance party to build the shelters for the colonists to inhabit. They might be robots, a group of volunteer colonists with the necessary skills or hired hands. What to send depends on technology and ease of travel to the location. Robots would be favoured if using humans is risky or expensive but humans probably would be used if robots are not trusted or if they are not flexible enough in their decision-making.
Now, let us assume that the colonists have shelter and have started producing food for themselves. The next goal would be to build a technical infrastructure. Let us assume that the planet the colonists have settled has natural oxygen and water so these are not required. To speed up food production, machinery will be needed and machinery will need power. Solar power would be easily obtained, but the amount of solar energy available would be limited. Nuclear or fusion power might be too difficult to build (and fuel), fossil fuels might not be available on the planet. If hydrogen is needed for powering vehicles or generators, there must be some way to separate hydrogen from water or a source of raw hydrogen (a gas giant, perhaps?).
The colony ship might be available for the colonists, at least if the colonists or the colony backer owns the ship. In this case, the colonists might dismantle the colony ship and strip it's high technology for their own use. This would provide the early colony with a power plant, sufficient fuel for a while as well as metal from the hull to use for reinforced shelter, possibly even surface-to-orbit weaponry from the ship's turrets or a minifactory for manufacturing spare parts. The ship would give the colony a good supply of essentials for building the core of industry on the planet.
Now, let us assume that the colony has survived the first cycle around their star (let us assume that this is roughly 0.5-3 years) and have means to produce food, electricity and can repair goods and might have some rudimentary transports, harvesters etc. Now new items appear. At this point, the colonists have been isolated for quite a while, only in the company of each others. Tensions might rise and the colony risking dispersement (which might be dangerous or simply divide the resources available). This would prompt to create a way to settle disagreements peacefully, by arbiter. The settlement would probably attempt to follow the customs of their homeworld but might, especially if exiles or otherwise unhappy with the rules back home, create something of their own. This would become the basis of government and society and the early days would shape the future society.
Another question is maintaining contact to homeworld, a vital requirement. While a colony should be as self-sufficient as possible, the colony needs additional colonists and resources to grow. Also, some spare parts might not be available on the planet and getting these would require contact with homeworld or trade relations elsewhere. This requires, however, that the colony has something to trade for the goods they need. The motherworld might require food, industrial metals or something else. The preparation to provide these to the motherworld will probably be a top priority, depending on what they can easily provide and what the world can offer. The motherworld would certainly fund operations to get more resources that the colony can provide and therefore fuel the colony's rapid growth.
In the legionverse science fiction setting of my creation, there are two types of human settlements: established worlds and colonies. The distinction between the two is that worlds have at least 100 million inhabitants (legal minimum set by Imperial Senate) and have a representative in the Imperial Senate as a consequence. Worlds also have the right to establish and govern colonies. People are free to establish colonies, but Imperial Law requires that the colony must be associated either with a specific world or be governed by the Imperial Navy. Illegal colonies found are immediately put under authority of the Navy.
Now, considering a colony. It is a permanent but relatively new settlement built by a relatively small group of people, a few hundred adults at most in the beginning. They probably have limited supplies, tools and a limited connection to the motherworld. Therefore the equipment they do have with them is concentrated to keep the colonists alive long enough that they can build shelter and start producing food (and oxygen, if needed).
Well-prepared (and/or funded) colonists might send an advance party to build the shelters for the colonists to inhabit. They might be robots, a group of volunteer colonists with the necessary skills or hired hands. What to send depends on technology and ease of travel to the location. Robots would be favoured if using humans is risky or expensive but humans probably would be used if robots are not trusted or if they are not flexible enough in their decision-making.
Now, let us assume that the colonists have shelter and have started producing food for themselves. The next goal would be to build a technical infrastructure. Let us assume that the planet the colonists have settled has natural oxygen and water so these are not required. To speed up food production, machinery will be needed and machinery will need power. Solar power would be easily obtained, but the amount of solar energy available would be limited. Nuclear or fusion power might be too difficult to build (and fuel), fossil fuels might not be available on the planet. If hydrogen is needed for powering vehicles or generators, there must be some way to separate hydrogen from water or a source of raw hydrogen (a gas giant, perhaps?).
The colony ship might be available for the colonists, at least if the colonists or the colony backer owns the ship. In this case, the colonists might dismantle the colony ship and strip it's high technology for their own use. This would provide the early colony with a power plant, sufficient fuel for a while as well as metal from the hull to use for reinforced shelter, possibly even surface-to-orbit weaponry from the ship's turrets or a minifactory for manufacturing spare parts. The ship would give the colony a good supply of essentials for building the core of industry on the planet.
Now, let us assume that the colony has survived the first cycle around their star (let us assume that this is roughly 0.5-3 years) and have means to produce food, electricity and can repair goods and might have some rudimentary transports, harvesters etc. Now new items appear. At this point, the colonists have been isolated for quite a while, only in the company of each others. Tensions might rise and the colony risking dispersement (which might be dangerous or simply divide the resources available). This would prompt to create a way to settle disagreements peacefully, by arbiter. The settlement would probably attempt to follow the customs of their homeworld but might, especially if exiles or otherwise unhappy with the rules back home, create something of their own. This would become the basis of government and society and the early days would shape the future society.
Another question is maintaining contact to homeworld, a vital requirement. While a colony should be as self-sufficient as possible, the colony needs additional colonists and resources to grow. Also, some spare parts might not be available on the planet and getting these would require contact with homeworld or trade relations elsewhere. This requires, however, that the colony has something to trade for the goods they need. The motherworld might require food, industrial metals or something else. The preparation to provide these to the motherworld will probably be a top priority, depending on what they can easily provide and what the world can offer. The motherworld would certainly fund operations to get more resources that the colony can provide and therefore fuel the colony's rapid growth.
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