Hello everyone!

>I am researching space colonization and I have lots of questions,
>particularly with regard to the human aspect. Can people really
>live in an enclosed environment without
>killing/exploiting/destroying each other and themselves?

There are a lot of engineering types in this group that don't give much
thought to the behavioral side of the problem. So I feel like I should jump
in here.

Yes there are tons of unanswered questions. There have been no homicides on
Mir or the ISS, but those crews rarely went more than a year in orbit. Like
so many questions about orbital colonies, only time and experience can
answer this for certain. But "The High Frontier," Gerard O'Neill's 70's-era
book that did so much foundational engineering on orbital colonies,
suggested that we evolve toward orbital colonies with many square miles of
interior surface, to help make things as spacious and earth-like as possible
("Island 3's"). He preferred trees to mechanical atmosphere processors,
24-hour diurnal cycles using real sunlight instead of artificial lighting,
and a lot of other "natural" features. I believe that would have a whole
lot to do with reducing the psychological stresses. But it's all still
theory.

>Does anyone know how close we are to achieving an actual space
>colony?

Decades. But the work of Bigelow Aerospace to construct simple, inflatable
orbital habs is a hopeful sign. Bigelow will be ready in just a few years,
then we'll see what people will do with these new structures. Orbital
hotels may be up and available by 2020. We'll never be able to launch
everything we need to build Island 3's from earth--we'll need to establish
asteroid and/or lunar mining, and automated manufacturing in space. The
Bush Moon-Mars plan hints at moving toward these capabilities--about the
only evidence I've seen for intelligent life in the White House.

>Any successful biosphere projects?

The big Biosphere project in Arizona was ambitious, and hideously expensive.
Nobody has attempted anything that large since. However NASA in Ames,
Iowa, is doing a lot of research on food crops in space, if that's the kind
of thing you're asking about. They're working on gas exchange (some food
crops off-gas chemicals that would poison astronauts), nutrition, light
requirements, gravity requirements and hydroponics. I'm a little disturbed
that they're so interested in artificial "soils" instead of just hauling up
compost and making soil from lunar sand.

>Most torus-models I've seen on the web seem to me to be a size that
>would create a constant spinning effect. Would stars be constantly
>whizzing by overhead?

Well, define whizzing? The Island 3 colony proposed in The High Frontier
had a rotational speed of about 1 RPM. The inhabitants could see stars
move, but only if they stared out the window awhile. O'Neill's torus was
Island 2, and I think he minimized windows. But then he considered Islands
1 and 2 to be transitions to Island 3.

>Also, I read that to shield the inhabitants
>from deadly radiation, there would need to be a layer of soil
>blocking it. (One model's proposal) How would there be light?

Shielding would be necessary, yes. But transparent to light doesn't
necessarily mean transparent to ionizing radiation. O'Neill said that
sufficiently-thick quartz crystal panels for windows would block dangerous
radiation but let in sunlight. Another possibility discussed on this site
are optical fibers transmitting sunlight into the interior.

>I am open-minded and fascinated. However, I am doubtful that it is
>possible by virtue of the simple fact that on Earth, we depend on so
>many intricately-detailed micro and macro systems that we evolved
>(or were designed) with. Symbiotic and parasitic relationships are
>all part of the necessary life cycles that play crucial ecological
>roles. We can't "choose" the weather at a whim, for example.
>Sometimes it's "too" cold, hot, wet or dry because nature is
>balancing itself. Can we possibly think of everything?
>
>In essence, we humans, plants and animals, are more dependent on
>this particular location than we realize. Our bodies evolved with
>an atmosphere, solar and lunar cycles, seasons, and gravity.
>
>I think we might be seriously over-reaching, here.

I'm one of the few advocates for these types of synergies and complexities
on this site. I've heard some fairly appalling suggestions for colonies,
including 2-gas atmospheres, crops grown in ridiculously over-simplified
"soils," and plans to prevent any microbial life from entering colonies.
Like you I think we need to keep conditions in these orbital colonies as
earth-like as possible, even in things that we don't suspect, like seasons,
light frequencies, and the plant and animal life we bring up with us.

But still I'm optomistic that we can work through the problems. I just have
to say orbital colonies are the best hope for the future of mankind--earth
is too valuable to us to destroy it in our indolence.

Brad W.