April 17, 2011 Expediting Factors in Developing a Successful Space Colony An Interactive Qualifying Project Report completed in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Science degree at Worcester Polytechnic Institute Submitted to: Worcester Polytechnic Institute Professor Mayer Humi Mathematical Sciences Produced By: Michael Egan John Kreso This report represents work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its web site without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects. ABSTRACT This project studies human interaction with space and investigates the feasibility and sustainability of creating an extraterrestrial colony. Commercial interests and the preservation of humanity have recently rejuvenated curiosity and desire to expand human presence in space. The biggest technical setback in space activity is the high cost of space transportation. A revolution in propulsion is needed to make colonizing space a possibility. This report investigates the buildup of this breakthrough and how it would change future of humanity. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 6 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................... 8 US SPACE POLICY .................................................................................................. 8 HUMAN INTEREST IN SPACE ............................................................................ 10 COLONY LOCATION ............................................................................................ 11 PROBLEMS ......................................................................................................................... 12 FEASIBILITY ISSUES ........................................................................................... 12 SUSTAINABILITY OF COLONY ......................................................................... 18 PROLONGED SPACE EXPOSURE FOR HUMANS .......................................... 20 SOLUTION .......................................................................................................................... 21 PROPULSION AND TECHNOLOGY ................................................................... 21 COMMERCIALIZATION ...................................................................................... 25 PROTECTION AND SAFETY ............................................................................... 27 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 30 IMPACT ON SOCIETY .......................................................................................... 30 OUTLOOK FOR FUTURE ..................................................................................... 32 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 36 RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................... 37 WORKS CITED .................................................................................................................. 39 APPENDIX .......................................................................................................................... 40 LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. 40 MATHEMATICAL MODELING ........................................................................... 41 DATA AND SOURCE EVALUATION ................................................................. 43 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This project determines some of the major factors that will help expedite the creation and ensure the success of a colony in space. This goal has always been a source or wonder for humanity, and achieving it would bring about many opportunities for the human race. A lunar or other celestial colony would not only extend human’s capabilities in space, but would bring about great changes on earth. The ability to perform research and gather resources somewhere other than earth will lead to many scientific discoveries and provide a better understanding of how humans interact with their environment. After concluding our research and analysis, we determined that propulsion technology, commercialization of space, and bioengineering the body would have the greatest impact on the long term sustainability of human presence in space. These three factors are not only necessary for a space colony to be possible, but are critical for the advancement of humanity on earth as well. Without a revolution in propulsion methods, it is too expensive to make the continuous trips from earth to space that are required to sustain an initial colony. Bioengineering is necessary for the human body to be able to withstand longer missions into space, and must be significantly improved for a colony’s inhabitants to have a realistic chance of survival. Finally commercialization is monumental for all space activities, because profitability is the only thing that drives discovery. It will also increase the funding for the required research to take place and ensure the continuation of whatever mission is implemented. Our ultimate goal is to determine how the preparation and eventual colonization of space will affect humans on earth. Sending people to live permanently in space will be the culmination of over a hundred years of technology and research and will be remembered as humanity’s greatest achievement. Such an important event will unify humans on earth and demonstrate the remarkable things humanity is capable of. This will have a lasting impact on the makeup of our world and will hopefully reduce the problems that society faces today. We are interested in studying this entire process, not because of a need for a new business sector such as space, but because colonizing space will come to define the nature of humanity more than any event in the foreseeable future. 5 INTRODUCTION One of the most significant challenges facing our society today is the incredible feat of colonizing space. Whether it is for scientific research or in hopes of bettering life on earth, extending humanity’s habitable domain has always been at the top of human curiosity and intrigue. Apocalyptic science fiction stories combined with current technological levels make humans wonder how possible it would be to permanently inhabit space. The vast knowledge and technology needed to accomplish this combined with the profound impact it will have on humans would make a sustainable space colony one of earth’s crowning achievements. Without a doubt, humanity’s future will be highly dependent on successes in space and how humans can use the outcomes for the good of society. Conquering the extreme environments of space will not only expand human knowledge of the universe, but will also tell us a great deal about humanity and why humans evolved in such a unique way. This project focuses on the inherent obstacles and possible solutions for sustaining human life outside the boundaries of mother earth. While we do not expect to come up with a viable plan to colonize space, we seek to determine the factors that will contribute to the first space habitat and how creating a second world for humans will shape and come to define humanity. This project was very intriguing to us because it involves one of humanity's greatest curiosities and applies engineering to solve conceptual problems for the future. Along with technical expertise, a large amount of creativity and outside the box thinking is needed to solve the problems humans face in space. Analyzing obstacles is a major part of an engineer’s teaching, and being taught to solve the most challenging problems in innovative and efficient ways prepared us well for this subject matter. Engineering for space has much more extreme conditions and consequences than on earth, and most of the solutions are impossible without originality and effectiveness because of the limited resources available and the groundbreaking nature of these challenges. This not only applies to our career goals but also our goals as a human. The knowledge acquired during this project will give us an understanding of why we are here and what we need to engineer a better future, which in years to come may depend on space. This topic easily leads into future IQPs because there are many aspects that need to be analyzed for space colonies to be implemented. Two important facets that would complement our project involve human thoughts on space and the planning of colonies. In order for all of the time and expenses of going to space to be worth it, humanity has to believe in and stand behind the efforts. A space program must be created that regains popular interest and sparks competition like when nations were fighting to be the first to set foot on the moon. Also, the layout of the colony is a major contributor