Space Colonies

At the end of our journey into space – the Moon and beyond – may be awaiting entirely new structures and modes of habitation: Islands of civilization, artificial villages floating in space, built from lunar and asteroidal or even planetary materials. Revolutionary concepts await us, such as “Space Elevators” from the Moon’s surface to L1 – a concept pioneered by Jerome Pearson, or Electromagnetic Propulsion from the surface of the Moon to any destination in the solar system at unheard of speeds and accelerations, or other “fuelless” space transportation such as Solar Sails, Laser Sails, Plasma Sails – changing forever the basic prospects of reaching any and all points throughout the solar system – and one day beyond. (click habitat image to enlarge)

Most likely those voyages will be “one way” out into the unknown – Vikings of Space or the Polynesians of ages ago, when they set out from the shores of the Pacific Islands to the unknowns of the Hawaiian Islands – an incredible feat of exploration and navigation.

In the end, the vision of the high frontiers as first outlined by Jerry O’Neil in the 1970’s and by Freeman Dyson may be first and foremost in and around our sun with free-floating habitats, rings and – when very advanced—“Dyson Spheres”—trying to contain and maintain the dissipating energies of the Sun.

The key to these possibilities and “prospectives” lies on the Moon – our “testbed” to the stars.