So what ARE habitats good for anyway?

This is a pretty good list. In my way of thinking, a massive SPS
construction program, and its attendant space housing requirements, is
probably the only primary justification for the building of orbital
settlements. (Although I would have to allow that orbital tourism might
also lead to space habitats, albeit in a much more evolutionary and
drawn-out way.) In an major SPS construction program, there would be both
the space mining and orbital infrastructure needed to build habitats, and
(barring dramatic improvements in robotics) the requirement for doing so.
The other items on this list, while valid advantages of orbital life,
probably cannot stand as primary rationales for building space settlements.
But once space settlements are built for other reasons, all these items
become advantages to this approach.

I would see space settlers as arriving in 3 waves. The first would be
composed of SPS and other space construction workers; those who will want to
live in orbit because that's where their jobs are. Then, after subsequent
habitats begin being built for immigrants from Earth, the next generation
will probably be the wealthy, who will want to live in space not only for
the prestige but for the ideal living conditions possible in a totally
artificial environment. Then I would hope that as prices continue to drop,
we would see a third wave of the less wealthy; those who may be leaving
Earth because they don't feel they can live as freely there as in
communities which they will make for themselves in space. This 3rd wave
will be the biggest, and in the long run the most significant.

Regards,

Mike Combs

From: Ian Woollard [mailto:ian.woollard@...]
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 8:27 PM
To: spacesettlers@egroups.com
Subject: [spacesettlers] So what ARE habitats good for anyway?

Ok here's my list:

- space tourism (hotels)
- space sports
- 'mobile homes' (want to go to mars?)
- space swimming pools (think low velocity water slides that go
upside-down)
- separating compounds
- repairing telecom satellites
- building telecoms satellites
- space theme parks
- building solar power satellites
- somewhere to live (especially workers for the above)
- really secure accomodation for rich people

Anything else?

I would see space settlers as arriving in 3 waves. The first would be composed of SPS and other space construction workers; those who will want to live in orbit because that's where their jobs are. Then, after subsequent habitats begin being built for immigrants from Earth, the next generation will probably be the wealthy, who will want to live in space not only for the prestige but for the ideal living conditions possible in a totally artificial environment. Then I would hope that as prices continue to drop, we would see a third wave of the less wealthy; those who may be leaving Earth because they don't feel they can live as freely there as in communities which they will make for themselves in space. This 3rd wave will be the biggest, and in the long run the most significant.

Regards,
Mike Combs
From:
Ian Woollard [mailto:ian.woollard@...]
Sent:
Wednesday, December 06, 2000 8:27 PM
To:
spacesettlers@egroups.com
Subject:
[spacesettlers] So what ARE habitats good for anyway?
Ok here's my list:
- space tourism (hotels)
- space sports
- 'mobile homes' (want to go to mars?)
- space swimming pools (think low velocity water slides that go
upside-down)
- separating compounds
- repairing telecom satellites
- building telecoms satellites
- space theme parks
- building solar power satellites
- somewhere to live (especially workers for the above)
- really secure accomodation for rich people
Anything else?