The esteemed British Interplanetary Society is resurrecting an ambitious mind for make giant orbiting homes in space . But to make it economically and technically workable , it will have to rely on a plan devised by Gerard O’Neill back in the 1970s .
TheBIS , as some of you may know , came up with a plan back in the thirties to senda multi - stage rocket and a man landerto the lunar month . It was eerily reminiscent of the Apollo Mission that came some 30 years by and by . This think tank has a history , so it would be smart to take these guys seriously .
Now , as BBC Future report , Jerry Stone of BIS ’s SPACE ( Study Project Advancing Colony Engineering ) is trying to do something similar — to show that building a very large space settlement is technically practicable . The architectural plan would call forspace - based human habitatsconsisting of giant rotating spaceship contain landscapedbiospheresthat can house up to 10 million people . The dodging is unremarkably refer to as anO’Neill cylinderand similar to the ones portrayed inBabylon 5andElysium .
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In damage of the technology required , we ’re almost there . Richard Hollingham excuse :
O’Neill measuredly designed the structure using existing 1970s engineering , materials and mental synthesis proficiency , rather than adopting futurist inventions . The empty cylinder , for instance , was establish on sword and aluminium . After detailed calculations , he claim his conception was feasible at the metre he publish it .
Stone is bringing these plans up to date using today ’s technologies . Rather than building the scale from atomic number 13 , for model , Stone debate sturdy and lighter carbon copy complex could be used instead . feeler in solar cell and climate restraint technologies could also be used to make living light and more comfortable in human space colony .
One of the biggest theoretical challenges O’Neill confront was the endeavour and monetary value of construction . That , says Stone , will be solved when a new propagation of much cheaper rocket launcher and spaceplanes has been evolve , such as the UK - built Skyon . Using golem constructor could also help .
“ Ninety per cent of the textile to build the colonies would come from the Moon , ” say Stone . “ We know from Apollo there ’s silicon for the windowpane , and aluminium , iron and magnesium for the master body structure . There ’s even O in the lunar soil . ”
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Quite plain , the BIS does n’t have the substance to fund such a task , but Stone is hoping that a consortium of corporation and/or some adventuresome multi - billionaire will knap in .
Readmore at BBC Futurewhere Hollingham describes the plan and the O’Neill cylinder in much outstanding detail .
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