Colonies, space

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.