Why

I 100% agree Mike !

From: Asgard_97@... [mailto:Asgard_97@...]

> Do you want the short answer to WHY, or the long one? ;)
> Short answer-most early colonization activities begin with
> multi- family farmhold type colonies. Why try to reinvent
> the wheel as these were 'mostly' successful.
>
> Generally speaking we'll start small and work up, hence
> the early populations in the 250-1000 people range.

One minor difference being that those early colonies you're talking
about didn't require billions of dollars of capital just to have air to
breath and water available.

In my world view, the first space colonists will be supported by (and
employees of) huge multinational corporations who have a few billions of
dollars to spend. And thus it won't happen until those corporations
expect profits over that investment (the problem we must solve to bring
about space settlement).

I have no doubt that self-supported movements will follow, but only
after corporations have invested in and emplaced infrastructure such
that the start-up costs are reduced two or more orders of magnitude.

Regards,

Mike Combs