How Will Space Colonies Be Built?
Extensive NASA and independent studies have found that all the necessary materials for space colonization are available from the Moon and near-Earth objects, and that solar energy is plentiful in space. No fundamental scientific breakthroughs will be required to build space colonies – though they definitely couldn’t hurt – the challenge is mainly a matter of engineering and cost. Numerous space colonies have been designed at various levels of detail, but all are prohibitively costly in terms of today’s economics. However, we can expect the situation to change with improvements in technology. Many see space travel and colonization as humanity’s destiny. The two largest obstacles to building space colonies today are the health risks of microgravity and high launch costs. Living in a microgravity environment is tough. Frequent exercise is needed to maintain muscle mass, some people suffer from “space sickness,” similar to sea sickness, one’s face puffs up, and most space visitors suffer f
