Space communities, villages, and towns- Exploring asteroids and moons as potential habitat for humans

The world population is crossing 8 billion human beings1. We are increasingly facing the challenges of climate change and resource crunch. Space travel is no more a science fiction film or an imagination; but a reality. However, human beings have only been successful in creating an international space station2, landing on the moon3, and doing some short visits4 to the upper layers of the earth’s atmosphere by some tourists.

Most of our focus is on the planet Mars5 and earth’s moon6. However, there are other options like the asteroids in the asteroid belt7 and the moons of other planets, like Europa8 of the planet Jupiter. Based on our current observations, not all planets are habitable. Take, for example, the planets Uranus and Neptune, often referred to as ice giants9. In addition, we do not know what lies under their gaseous atmospheres.

It is sometimes sad to see that scientific articles use the word “colonization”10 to refer to the possibility of human exploration for other habitats in the solar system and beyond. Moreover, we are looking for “mining”11 precious minerals when it comes to asteroids. Scientists like Carl Sagan prefer to use the term ‘Space city’12 for our exploration to build habitats in space. Asteroids, certain planets, and certain moons could be some of the possible destinations for humans. Some of these could be space villages or towns, especially on asteroids. There are numerous asteroids compared to the total sum of planets and moons in our solar system. We need to increase international collaborations to understand further these celestial bodies, their advantages, and their limits.

Our organic bodies are not resistant to cosmic radiation, lower temperatures, and lower gravities. Some experiments also show what space travel could look like. Several films have popularized the rotating space stations13. Astronauts in the international space station have shown us how they adapt to zero-gravity situations14. There is no doubt that real experience is completely different from what we see from the videos of these experiences. Yet, they do prepare us mentally about what we could expect. We have to expand our horizons15 and think beyond moon and Mars.

References

  1. Current World Population
  2. International Space Station
  3. Moon landing
  4. Space Tourism
  5. Exploration of Mars
  6. Exploration of the Moon
  7. Asteroid belt
  8. Europa (moon)
  9. Ice giant
  10. Space colonization
  11. Asteroid mining
  12. Should We Colonize Space? Some People Argue We Need to Decolonize It Instead
  13. List of films featuring space stations
  14. ESA’s new astronauts have a taste of zero gravity
  15. Space habitat