How to fill a new Habitat?

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "victoriatangoman"
wrote:
> Has anyone thought through the mechanics of actually populating a
> Habitat? How will it work, do you think?
>
> Assume a population of 10,000+, why heck, you can even go up to the
> Island 3 with a population of 5,000,000 per cylinder.
>
> Let's say a 100,000.

Remember that O'Neill (which I think is where you are getting these
figgures) said (roughly) that "...hold up to..." or "...has a maxinium
capicity..." of 10 000 for Island One, 250 000 for Island 2 and 10 000
000 for Island Three.

It only the "confortable carring capicity" of the habitat, not the
actutal popluation. So the actutal popluation (of an Island One) might
be 9 100, 8 750 or 12 800 or 15 000.

It would be common sense to make the intial popluation of a habitat
less than the design capicity of the habitat, to allow for natural
popluation growth, imgration, and any other situation which would
change the capicity and/or popluation.

> Are all of the houses built before you open the airlock?

I would think that an apporate housing would be built for inital
settlers to live in.

> Do you build the first 100 before you open the airlock and then
> progress as population grows?
>
> Do you start at one end of the Habitat and build towards the other
> or do you build all over?

You could, but it would make the habitat only "half finished." This
might make some people unhappy (or happy). It would restict the space
in which citizens of the settlement could go, and would therefore
decrese the land area per person, and cause feeling of clostropobia.

> If you're working with paired O'Neill cylinders, do you fill one
> before openning the other? If so how do you mass balance between the
> two?

I guess you would coordinate between the two teams, and as someone
suggested, put your consuction materials to balance them out.

> Do you build out the sewage plant for the final population even if
> you build only a 100 homes to start? Same with other utilities? If
> so then you have to staff them, or in this case overstaff them, when
> you have a shortage of residents.

If you "under-popluate" the entire settlement, I am sure you could
under-staff your unilities as well. And remeber that some tasks and
going to be mechinized as well, which would require only the computer
techs.

> What do you think is an ideal time period over which to populate the
> Habitat before you close off immigration?

If you have the ideal carring capicity, the immigration rate and the
natural growth rate, then you could find the ideal "cut-off point."

> Should you fill it to maximum capcity and plan on the children that
> will be born making their homes in future Habitats or do you only
> allow immigration to fill x% of the Habitat and count on the
> children to fill in the remainder?

See above.

> Well, it's been a long time and I'm not thinking too straight
> anymore, so I'll cut my questions short at this point. Please feel
> free to add your own questions about this process and give your
> thoughts on how you think this process should be implemented.
>
> TangoMan

(NOTE: This is a cross post to the one I maded at the
Howtobuildaspacehabitat mailling list).