Image credit: Ergrassa — Deviant Art

Or, How we can take the first steps towards becoming an interstellar species…

For the last few decades we have been dipping our toes into the great beyond, I believe it is time we took the plunge and started to head further into space.

All around us we can see more concentrated efforts to push space exploration to the next level, whether its the launch of more satellites, plans to resume manned Moon landings or the colonization of Mars! One cannot deny that we have entered a new space age, given current trends we are likely to continue to push the boundaries of space exploration. With that said we can do some things to help us move forward quicker and better.

I have been thinking about what we could do to “improve” the process of moving outwards in space, more and more I’ve found myself gravitating towards the idea of establishing heavy orbital presence before (or in parallel to) moving to colonize the Moon, Mars and the rest of the Solar System.

Why would we do that you ask? Well, doing so unlocks pathways to establish new industry sectors, chief among those is Orbital Manufacturing , as this industry grows it will trigger a positive ripple effect which in turn will help catapult other industries forward by leaps and bounds!

From what I can see there are efforts underway to establish heavier presence in orbit. From orbital habitats to early space mining probes and space tourism plans we appear to be on the right trajectory.

In this post I will mostly focus on the ideas and benefits of building rotating habitats in orbit, how doing so will help us establish a space manufacturing industry and how rotating habitats can be utilized as space ports, long term residence for space crew and research labs. Not to mention other use cases.

Why Do we need rotating habitats?

The answer is simple really, gravity! Considering the current cost of sending people to space and the adverse effect of zero/micro gravity on the human body and mind it is very beneficial to have rotating habitats in low earth orbit, even though we might not be able to build a sufficiently large enough rotating habitat which can provide the equivalent of 1G , those who need to be in space for prolonged periods of time should be able to deal with the adverse effects of being in space better than if they were in a zero G environment.

Why do we need to establish space manufacturing to build rotating habitats?

Can we not just build them on earth and assemble them in space?

While technically we can do the building on earth and the assembly in space the process of doing so is extremely expensive. Therefore it makes more economic sense to perform as much of the building operation in space.

See this video for an overview of how rotating habitats can work and why we haven’t built any yet even though the idea has been around for a very long time and it is technically feasible.

How can space manufacturing be established?

Based on my understanding of manufacturing , technology and space travel I envisage a pathway where heavy investment in robotics and machine autonomy would provide enough inertia to sustain the space manufacturing industry for the long term.

Starting with prospecting probes for scanning near earth bodies for raw material and progressing towards building autonomous probes that can capture and transport material rich asteroids to near earth orbit we can start to gather some of the material needed to build structures in space.

From there we can work towards establishing foundries and processing plants in space. again, using robots and drones capable of performing assembly tasks.

As the first orbital foundries are brought online processing and assembly can start, in addition to collecting and processing raw material in space it is also possible to ship some from earth to help accelerate the process. keeping in mind that doing so can be relatively costly.

That however may present yet another opportunity to explore alternative launch mechanisms such as Launch Loops.

Following this pathway the robotics industry and the fields of Industrial Automation and Artificial Intelligence will get a massive boost as progress in those fields will be instrumental in helping establish a viable space manufacturing industry.

This in turn will cause secondary ripple effects which we will likely experience in our daily lives (e.g. pushing consumer robotics to the next level).

Building the first rotating habitat

I personally believe that completing the first rotating habitat and bringing it online will be a milestone in human history. By doing so we tackle one of the main challenges of prolonged stay in space and clear the path towards colonizing the rest of the solar system.

Rotating habitats can be used as research labs, space hotels, long term accommodation for humans working in space as well as control centers for space foundries and the multitudes of drones, probes and robots we will be using to continue manufacturing in space.

And as seen in many science fiction movies, we can then proceed to build spaceships suitable for long space travel which in turn can have their own rotating habitats.

Another benefit to consider is energy collection and redirection, with an established manufacturing industry in space we can begin building solar collectors in space and start beaming energy back to earth, essentially providing a constant low cost source of power! Consider how many problems that can solve!

On that note, recently China announced plans to build the first solar farm in space and it seems like the ideas of 3D printing and using robots for assembly are on the table.

How will space manufacturing affect life back on earth?

As mentioned earlier I see the establishment of space manufacturing as a catalyst to help advance a number of other industries significantly, while we’ve touched on robotics, automation, AI, energy and alternative launch systems I envisage space manufacturing to also help in progressing the fields of genetic engineering and bio-technology. think discovery of new drugs and treatments as well as helping us better understand the human body and the effects of extremely long presence in space.

Can we skip all of this and just go to the Moon and Mars?

Yes, Most likely for the Moon, but! Going to Mars will require that we advance our understanding in technology and biology further. While we seem to be on the path towards establishing a presence on Mars (through the efforts of SpaceX and others) there is still a lot we don’t know about how humans will handle travelling the massive distance between Earth and Mars, let alone making a one-way trip!

In addition, it would be extremely expensive to collect the resources and build the ships & equipment necessary to go to Mars on Earth, it would be more feasible if we were able to collect most of the resource we need in space and use them to build self-sustaining ships and tools while in orbit.

Consider this, we can assemble a space manufacturing plans in orbit and ship it completely assembled alongside the first ships carrying people to Mars.

In doing so we can establish long term presence in Martian orbit and build what we need right there over the red planet (think a space port to receive visitors from earth). From there we can build specialized ships or shuttles to transport people and resources from Martian orbit to its surface!

Final thoughts…

This idea is one which I’m really interested in seeing come to life, while in the future the space manufacturing industry might not get established in the manner described above I think it is highly unlikely that we will manage to venture further into space while solely relying on manufacturing processes on earth.

Perhaps over the next few years we will witness the beginnings of a new era where we advance enough to establish an industry that will help us colonize the solar system and beyond…