Discussing reasonable ways to colonize our solar system

One Solar Space Power To Rule Them All?

Posted by on Dec 10, 2008 in Asteroids, Blog, Callisto, Ceres, Mars, Moon, Solar Essay, Titan | 6 comments

Image Credit: Loony Tunes

Note: Article inspired by NASA Watch, The Planetary Society and 21st Century Waves


Warning: This is an extremely long article, so you may want to grab a quick snack as you read through this post.

Anyone who has ever played board games such as Risk and Monopoly knows that the overall purpose of the game is for one player to dominant the board by either taking territory or securing financial resources ahead of their rivals.

The same rule also applies to the final frontier as evidenced by the space race emerging in Asia, as well as between the US and China.

While every nation probably has their own “road map” for conquering the final frontier, there are no less than five critical locations (ranging from asteroids to dwarf planets to even moons) that a space faring nation must secure if they desire to remain (or become) a solar space power in our star system.

First Stop: Luna

Orbiting a mere light second away from Earth, the Moon could easily be described as humanities second home due to its proximity towards our birth world.

Although the lunar surface may lack water (at least in abundance), its white regolith can be “easily” converted into breathable oxygen, allowing our species to survive beyond our earthen cradle without the need to constantly borrow air from our home world.

Often seen as free on planet Earth, oxygen in space will be literally worth its “weight” in gold, and any nation that can find a way to inexpensively produce lunar oxygen will have an advantage later on over its rivals (and may even be able to sell the precious gas for a profit).

While its oxygen rocks could enable humanity to live off world, its reduced gravity may make the tiny sphere appealing to asteroid miners seeking out near earth objects (aka NEO’s).

Since micro-gravity has a way of eroding bones and muscles, destroying immune systems, weakening hearts and strengthening deadly bacteria, asteroid miners may prefer to live lunar side (with frequent trips to mine these NEO’s), than to spend the majority of their time floating next to a space rock in micro-gravity.

Even though a space faring nation (both current and aspiring) could develop a sustainable presence around the Moon (and nearby space rocks) due to its resources and location, it may be wise to travel beyond Earth’s orbit towards more promising worlds (in order maintain its status a future space power).

Next Stop: The dwarf planet Ceres

Although some would consider it “insane” to skip the red planet, heading to Ceres first will ensure that a future space power has the resources to fund its expansion (note: despite the fact that doing so means sacrificing the prestige of sending the first man or woman to Mars).

Ceres strategically orbits within the metal rich region of the asteroid belt, making this dwarf planet prime real estate (at least to asteroid mining corporations).

Any nation establishing a colony on Ceres would be able to send teams of astronauts to secure nearby metallic space rocks as their own, potentially selling them to future allies or harvesting the mineral resources for themselves.

While the dwarf planet lacks any resources of its own, Ceres is suspected of hosting more “fresh water” than Earth itself, which would enable future asteroid minors to potentially grow their own food off world without depending on frequent supplies from Earth.

It would also allow Ceres to act as a interplanetary rest stop between Mars and Jupiter, not to mention a safe haven as well (just in case the asteroid belt becomes infested with space pirates).

Since most of humanities attention will probably be focused on Mars after the Moon, there will probably be very little competition establishing a dominant presence on Ceres (if not conquer it entirely for themselves).

Third Stop: The Martian moon called Phobos

Despite its popularity in science fiction, Mars will probably attract very few visitors due to the extreme difficulty in landing large payloads on the surface of the red planet.

Coupled with the fact that Mars lacks major resources of any kind (note: at least that we know of), the crimson world may only be inhabited by scientists, various cults and individuals disillusioned by Earthen (and Lunar) governments.

Even though the red planet may not be of much economic worth (at least initially), one of its asteroid moons Phobos could be converted into an enormous space station in order to make it easier to process metals harvested from the asteroid belt.

Since the sunlight on Mars is much stronger than in the asteroid belt, a future mining corporation could use the Sun’s rays to melt asteroid metals en mass before exporting them towards Earth (and Luna).

Although working on an asteroid moon may be profitable, living upon one may not due to the side effects of micro-gravity.

Even though a future miner could always counter the effects of micro-gravity with various drugs and electronic shocks, it may be wiser to settle upon the red deserts below as Mars’s gravity is approximately 38% Earth norm.

In order to reduce the cost of transporting personal (and equipment) to and from the Martian surface, a future space power may need to construct an “orbital space elevator“ on the near side of Phobos.

While constructing this would ultimately open up Mars to the rest of humanity (which a future space power could charge a fee for rivals to use), it would also allow them to import water from the Martian surface (instead of depending upon either Earth or Ceres for supplies).

Fourth Stop: The Jovian moon Callisto

Often regarded as a dead world, the Jovian moon Callisto may be of high worth to any space faring nation, due to the fact that it is one of the few radiation safe worlds in our star system.

Even though Mars and the Moon may have “celebrity status” throughout our solar system, neither of the worlds has a global magnetic field to protect their spheres from the wrath of the Sun.

Callisto on the other hand is not only protected by Jupiter’s magnetic field, but it orbits just beyond the gas giant’s radiation belt, enabling future colonists to raise families (and pets) upon this world without fear of growing a third eye ball.

While Callisto may not have any immediate value outside of being a midway point between the inner solar system and Saturn, establishing an outpost here would enable a future space power to “easily explore” its brother Ganymede.

Although Ganymede’s orbit takes it into the heart of Jupiter’s radiation belts, a properly shielded colony could use Ganymede’s global magnetic field to raise an abundance of crops with the help of bees (instead of relying upon ants who may not need a magnetic field to pollinate our green friends).

While it would probably be impossible for one space faring nation to conquer both of these worlds for themselves, conquering these moons early on (especially Callisto) could give a rising space power significant influence over the future of the Jupiteran system (not to mention the next gas giant as well).

Last Stop: The methane moon called Titan

Even if humanity finds a way to harvest the helium-3 locked away within Luna’s crust (not to mention the atmosphere of Uranus), the cost of mining it m
ay put it out of reach for most interplanetary commercial spacecraft.

Since supplies of Uranium and Plutonium could easily become unavailable for space travel (as many nations on Earth may need them for energy or defense), finding an inexpensive alternative could determine whether or not a space faring nation thrives or merely survives in the depths of our star system.

One way to guarantee that a future space power has the neccessary fuel to maintain its fleet (at least inexpensively) is to establish outposts near Titan’s methane lakes (which may contain an abundance of methane/ethane within them).

While it would not be surprising to see Titan heavily colonized in the fairly distant future (by various countries), securing this world early on would enable a space faring country to establish tremendous influence throughout the solar system (or at least within the ringed system of Saturn).

What about the other worlds?

Although their are plenty of other interesting worlds ranging from the burning crust of Mercury to the frozen wasteland of Neptune’s moon Triton, these worlds may not attract that much interest in the future (at least as far as we can tell right now).

Even though everyone probably hopes that humanity would put aside their differences and explore the final frontier in peace, six thousand years of recorded history seems to hold a dim view regarding this viewpoint (as one can glimpse the wars that have raged upon our planet).

Whether or not humanity decides to conquer every sphere and space rock within our solar system only time will tell.

But either way, these four worlds (plus one asteroid moon) may be the key that determines which space faring nation not only dominates our solar system, but perhaps guides us unto the next one as well.

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  • Eadwacer

    Back in the late '50's or early '60's, Dandridge Cole came up with the "Panama Canal Hypothesis", that there were regions of space, like the canal here on earth, that were of strategic significance. His example was geosynch orbit.

  • Paul

    "the Moon could easily be described as humanities second home due to its proximity towards our birth world."

    Humanities = More than one humanity.
    Humanity's = Belonging to humanity.

    I know, I know, possessive's grammar rules suck. I mean, possessives grammar rule's… I mean… oh never mind.

  • http://gpanama.info Noticias Panama

    I trust you would not have reservations if I posted a part of this site on my univeristy blog?

    • http://www.colonyworlds.com Darnell

      As long as you link back to the original article, you can post it in full.

      Also let me know where it's at (link wise)

  • Lpaulb116

    When would we colinize them

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tyler-Bates/100000949608258 Tyler Bates

    “Even though everyone probably hopes that humanity would put aside their differences and explore the final frontier in peace, six thousand years of recorded history seems to hold a dim view regarding this viewpoint (as one can glimpse the wars that have raged upon our planet).”  

    History repeats itself, it may probably, at least following History’s pattern, pan out like this:

    1) 1 or 2 nations will explore the new frontier, Other Nations will join in but the bulk of the work will be completed by the big 2, constantly competing with each other for more and more.  

    An example in history of this is when Spain and Portugal were exploring the oceans and looking for new lands to conquer, a modern example is the Space Race of the Cold War.

    2) These two powers will start to claim territory and grow in power, one country may be significantly stronger than the other, or they could be about even.  Other countries will see profit and join in, but will not be nearly as strong as the main players.

    An example in history supports this idea, in 1550 the only major powers with claims beyond the home continent were Spain and Portugal, a hundred years later, Spain and Portugal are still very strong outside the continent, but other countries join the bid; these countries were England, France, Netherlands, what is now known as Turkey and Russia

    In the near future, the main players could be the U.S. and China and/or Russia and minor players could be Japan, India, various European countries and maybe Brazil.

    3) All Nations take what they can and expand their power, the original main players may be overtaken by the minor players as all nations gain power and territory.  Treaties and alliances may be formed and wars may be fought.  Colonies will be set up and will further expand into more territory.  New resources will be found and exploited, trade will emerge and new cultures will develop and spread

    An example in history for the first sentence include the Spanish Armada, where Great Britain won a devastating victory over the Spanish, another example would be when the USSR collapsed and the US emerged as the sole super power for some time.  

    An example for the second would be when Portugal and Spain agreed to split South America, with Portugal gaining what is now Brazil and lands to the East and Spain gaining the rest of SA and lands to the West.  A similar Example may be a treaty to split the moon into hemispheres.

    An example for the third would be the original thirteen colonies.  A future example may be colonies built on Luna or Mars.

    An example for the fourth would be all the crops grown in the South, such as Cotton and Tobacco where as a future example may mining in the Asteroid Belt.

    4) Nations may drop out of the race, either due to internal conflict, such as revolution of depression, or due to external conflict, such as losing a war.  Certain colonies will become rich and powerful enough to attempt revolution and gain independence, possibly leading the the first sovereign nation existing entirely beyond Earth’s surface.  Other colonies will fail, and remain firmly under the power of the mother nation.

    An example of a successful revolution would be the American Revolution, where conditions made it     impossible for Great Britain to remain in control of the colonies

    An example of a failed revolution would be Northern Ireland, where the UK still fights to control its closest conquered land.

    I imagine anyone could think up examples for the future, such as an independent Martian colony, or maybe a powerful mining corporation that monopolizes asteroid belt, only to be destroyed by an Earth alliance to regain the valuable resources.

    5) Inevitably most or maybe all colonies may try for independence, and many will probably succeed.  This wouldn’t be for hundreds of years, but one day there could be many independent nations beyond Earth’s Surface, all with their own culture, military, alliances and interests.  Some colonies would go to war with each other and conquer one another, others will expand and rival and perhaps even overtake nations from the “Old World” in terms of technology and economic power. As time goes on, alliances will shift and a terrible conflict may ensue that would involve all nations throughout the solar system, a war so grand in scale it was never previously conceived to be possible; it could be called the Great War, or the War to End all Wars, but history will tell us how that plays out….

    This is all speculative and based on modern European history, but the way I see it, the situation seems to fit.  A new era of colonization, empire building and nation building is upon us, assuming we don’t kill each other now.