Glad you enjoyed the link. I've read a number of things about space colonization over the years.
The only thing that seems unreasonable is the scale of these proposed satellites. I doubt anything of this size would be completed in mine or your lifetime. Not to mention their own timeline is a bit off. [/b]
I agree regarding both scale and time line. No space program has yet experimented with centrifugal gravitation on any scale that matters. There was initially supposed to be a centrifuge module on the international space station, but budget cuts eliminated that. Dollars are what dictate the time line and feasability. As of yet, there has been no urgent need to move toward anything like this (or return to the moon, trip to Mars, etc.). Unless there is a compelling need to create something like this, the timeline will drag out indefinitely. As for scale, yes, they are collosal - but not impossible - once again, the economic need would be the driving factor.
The other thing they don't seem to touch on is how they intend to defend against any sized space debris, like meteors. Rocks are common in space which is why the earth is so ideal for living. We have that atmosphere up there to stop most of it. Also, where do they intend to get all this earthen material? Once that stuff is off of earth it isn't coming back. I'm sure that there will be a group against the harvesting of earth to put pieces of it into space; especially if it is good topsoil as indicated in the grassy look of the pictures.[/b]
Most of what I've read regarding protection from space debri and radiation has been related to the "earthen material" you referred to (a large enough mass around the outside of the colony would protect occupants from debri and radiation). In fact, it's highly unlikely that it would be from earth. A better alternative would be to steer an asteroid into one of these orbits, or process material from asteroids (or possibly the moon) and move these materials into position for construction. The Earth's gravity makes bringing materials "up" far too expensive. However, steering material (that's already out there) into place is much cheaper from an energy standpoint. The majority of the resources necessary for such an endevour are, in fact, actually available in orbit around the sun. It'd still be an enormously expensive undertaking!
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I've been reading the paper a little at a time. It makes me want to pick up a couple of Leary's books. He's got some whacky ideas, but some of them have merit. I think it's quite fascinating that his emphasis went from the "inner space" of individual minds, to "outer space".
As a boy in the 60's, I was totally taken with space exploration. The "space race" was hot, and mankind's potential was unlimited. As I grew older, I watched the fervor over space travel dwindle back down to nothing more than a nitch market for science fiction media. Of course, I didn't understand it at the time, but all that fervor was really being fueled by an artificial war - the "cold" war - and the political/economic/sociological machinery that was fighting it.
I think Leary is close to the mark about the "genetic purpose" of the last century's wars. I'm not sure if you would classify their purpose as "genetic" per se, however - unless we use the term loosely and include the concept of memes, perhaps.
Interestingly, I find myself looking more and more into that "inner space" in recent years. I look at so many of the subjects that fascinated me as a youth with a rather "jaded eye", nowadays. I've been greatly attracted to the eastern philosophies (and simultaneously repelled by my conventional upbringing). Unfortunately, I have become somewhat dissillusioned and pessimistic - and that's too bad - because I was always an optimist before (when I had my illusions ). Maybe I should try a Timothy Leary Ticket. Who knows, it might change my point of view...
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