While consulting with Al Globus, (one of the authors of the Kalpana One study) I was intrigued by the potential of this type of structure to offer its inhabitants a lifestyle somewhat similar to that of a person living in a small town (like the small town Globus lives in that he modeled the scale after). This is what motivated me to explore the possibilities of this kind of habitat (well before production of the movie Elisium or the game Mass Effect’s Citadel in case you were wondering). Although the structure of my version is faithful to the study, my individual interpretation of it does take some artistic license.

Cross section of the structure with the exterior wall removed. Image: Bryan Versteeg / Spacehabs.com

The Kalpana One structure is a cylinder with a radius of 250m and a length of 325m. A walk around then etire circumference would be about 1600 meters or one mile. By spinning at 2 revolutions per minute, people living inside would experience what would feel like normal Earth gravity. This scale could comfortably house about 3000 inhabitants at a reasonable density.

Construction of this type of settlement would obviously require significant changes to space infrastructure. Current launch costs from Earth for materials range from $5,000-$20,000 per pound and even with incredible progress being achieved by companies like SpaceX, the total tonnage required for large scale industrial projects suggest that getting resources to the structure will always be a significant issue.

This is where asteroid mining will play a pivotal role in fulfilling the supply requirements of space stations and settlements utilizing the abundant, available space resources. Only through the commercialization of virtually inexhaustible resources available in space can we realistically imagine the immense opportunities that wait for us.

Bryan Versteeg / Deep Space Industries

In this type of discussion, it is often difficult for a person who is not familiar with current exploration projects and technological advances to distinguish between science fiction because we can’t do it, or science fiction because we have not done it yet. Asteroid mining falls in the “have not done it yet” category.

As a co-founder of the company Deep Space Industries I can confirm that we are working passionately and effectively to develop the technical resources, capabilities and system integration required to discover, harvest, process, and manufacture in-space resources and commercialize the products.