Module 4 - Exterior Space Colony Design
The exterior of your space colony means the outside. It is very important to take the time to think through how the exterior of your space colony will look like. In Module 2, we discussed how the shape of the space colony would have to be circular in some way in order to spin the colony around and produce a type of artificial gravity.
The photo gallery below shows some professional and some student examples of space colony designs. Notice how they are circular or tubes of some sort.
The photo gallery below shows some professional and some student examples of space colony designs. Notice how they are circular or tubes of some sort.
Exterior Details
LOCATION IN SPACE
The ideal location for a space colony would be far enough away from a planet that the planet would not block the sunlight, but close enough to a planet so the people in the space colony can visit the planet without a super long trip. A good location would be halfway between Earth and the Moon and the Earth and Mars.
COLONY LENGTH/DIAMETER
The length or diameter of your space colony must be long enough that there will be plenty of room inside for people to live and comfortably move around. I would suggest a diameter of no less than 1000 meters. That's about a half mile across. That's still a very small city. Take that into consideration when building your space colony. If you want lots of people on your colony, you will need a lot more space. But, the more space you take up, the more materials you will need and the more expensive it will be to build and provide power to.
PURPOSE THE COLONY WAS MADE FOR
There may be a number of reasons a space colony might be made. Maybe a giant asteroid is heading toward Earth that will destroy all life and we need to live in space long enough to figure out how to get to another planet. Maybe a space colony is meant for scientists to live in space to study space more up close and personal. Maybe the space colony is a mining station where people live while they mine and gather resources from the Moon, Mars or asteroids.
MATERIALS EXTERIOR WILL BE MADE FROM
There are a number of materials the space colony can be made from. Iron and steel are obvious. There are other good metals like titanium, gold, silver, lead and aluminum. Lead will help protect the space station from radiation, but it is heavy and expensive. Aluminum is lightweight and inexpensive, which is great. Titanium is incredibly strong and lightweight.
GETTING ENERGY
The space colony would be easiest powered by solar power. In space, it has easy access to the Sun's energy. If it's far enough from a planet to not be blocked by the planet, then it can receive sunlight almost all day long every day. There would have to be solar panels covering almost all the exterior surface of the space colony. The space colony could also be powered by fossil fuels, such as gasoline and oil, but these would be expensive and have to be transported from Earth to the space colony.
The ideal location for a space colony would be far enough away from a planet that the planet would not block the sunlight, but close enough to a planet so the people in the space colony can visit the planet without a super long trip. A good location would be halfway between Earth and the Moon and the Earth and Mars.
COLONY LENGTH/DIAMETER
The length or diameter of your space colony must be long enough that there will be plenty of room inside for people to live and comfortably move around. I would suggest a diameter of no less than 1000 meters. That's about a half mile across. That's still a very small city. Take that into consideration when building your space colony. If you want lots of people on your colony, you will need a lot more space. But, the more space you take up, the more materials you will need and the more expensive it will be to build and provide power to.
PURPOSE THE COLONY WAS MADE FOR
There may be a number of reasons a space colony might be made. Maybe a giant asteroid is heading toward Earth that will destroy all life and we need to live in space long enough to figure out how to get to another planet. Maybe a space colony is meant for scientists to live in space to study space more up close and personal. Maybe the space colony is a mining station where people live while they mine and gather resources from the Moon, Mars or asteroids.
MATERIALS EXTERIOR WILL BE MADE FROM
There are a number of materials the space colony can be made from. Iron and steel are obvious. There are other good metals like titanium, gold, silver, lead and aluminum. Lead will help protect the space station from radiation, but it is heavy and expensive. Aluminum is lightweight and inexpensive, which is great. Titanium is incredibly strong and lightweight.
GETTING ENERGY
The space colony would be easiest powered by solar power. In space, it has easy access to the Sun's energy. If it's far enough from a planet to not be blocked by the planet, then it can receive sunlight almost all day long every day. There would have to be solar panels covering almost all the exterior surface of the space colony. The space colony could also be powered by fossil fuels, such as gasoline and oil, but these would be expensive and have to be transported from Earth to the space colony.
