Hi All,

When we visualize activities in space we end up visualizing huge setups.

On our planet before the advent of agriculture and large social groups,
humans lived in small tribal units. The total human population on our
planet was negligible.

Is it possible to visualize the start of colonization of space in the same
way.

To start with would it be practicable for a small group to establish
themselves on the Moon and hold fast?

Regards,
Selvaraj

When we visualize activities in space we end up visualizing huge setups.
On our planet before the advent of agriculture and large social groups, humans lived in small tribal units. The total human population on our planet was negligible.
Is it possible to visualize the start of colonization of space in the same way.
To start with would it be practicable for a small group to establish themselves on the Moon and hold fast?
Regards,
Selvaraj

On 7/3/14 10:38 AM, sraj sraj99@... [spacesettlers] wrote:

> On our planet before the advent of agriculture and large social groups,
> humans lived in small tribal units. The total human population on our
> planet was negligible.

Yes, but at that time, virtually all of our needs were provided by the
biosphere. Air, food, water, all basically just lying around. Even a
single person can survive under those circumstances.

> Is it possible to visualize the start of colonization of space in the
> same way.
>
> To start with would it be practicable for a small group to establish
> themselves on the Moon and hold fast?

The difference here is, there is no biosphere to support us. Air, food,
water, radiation protection, etc. all have to be provided through
technology (and the smaller you want to make it, the higher the tech
level required).

Maintaining technology requires a large society. Lots of us are clever
enough to design and build circuits, if we have a supply of components,
but not even the smartest of us can build a chip fab in their spare
room. And the chip fabs depend on lots of other parts that are made
elsewhere...

So, yeah, a small group on the Moon could hang on, if we assume they
have lots of money and can import a steady stream of stuff from Earth.

A bigger group could hold on more easily, and import less stuff, because
they'd have more capability to make things on site.

I note though that modern digital manufacturing (e.g. 3D printing and
CNC machining) is changing this equation a bit. You still can't make a
chip with a 3D printer, but you can make a lot of handy stuff -- and the
printers are getting better all the time. There may come a time when
you a relatively small machine shop could produce almost any product you
might need out of raw materials, and so all the colony has to worry
about is maintaining a supply of those raw materials.

Also, at some point, you can build a self-sustaining ecosystem that
efficiently cycles air, water, and food. But that's hard to do small
(even if we imagine advanced 3D printing).

Anyway, I digress a bit... I think in reality, the first colonies will
be small and in LEO, and they will import a lot of stuff, paid for by
tourism revenue. Thus the first colony is likely to be something like a
orbital Disney resort.

Cheers,
- Joe

On Jul 4, 2014, at 9:10 AM, djmitzlplick@... [spacesettlers] wrote:

> A stable ecosystem, i.e. habitat, can be had with a small group, that embraces a fully closed, recycling small biosphere. A large biosphere was attempted and failed because of too much tech, and too big a start up.

I presume you are talking about Biosphere II.

Biosphere II was a marking and scientific failure.

It was an engineering success.

Think about it.

On the first try the system supported 6 people for over a year without resupply. Eventually, more oxygen was needed proving that the system was in fact air tight. The extra oxygen was needed because the concrete was absorbing it. This was a fantastic result obscured by the target of two years. If the target had been one year we would have thought: wow, they did it.

In any case, resupply of a space settlement is ok just as colonies on the American East coast were resupplied from the home country.
[spacesettlers] <
spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
> wrote:
A stable ecosystem, i.e. habitat, can be had with a small group, that embraces a fully closed, recycling small biosphere. A large biosphere was attempted and failed because of

too much tech
, and

too big a start up
.
I presume you are talking about Biosphere II.
Biosphere II was a marking and scientific failure.
It was an engineering success.
Think about it.
On the first try the system supported 6 people for over a year without resupply. Eventually, more oxygen was needed proving that the system was in fact air tight. The extra oxygen was needed because the concrete was absorbing it. This was a fantastic result obscured by the target of two years. If the target had been one year we would have thought: wow, they did it.
In any case, resupply of a space settlement is ok just as colonies on the American East coast were resupplied from the home country.