Today someone asked me if I could travel abroad, where would I go first?
"Australia." True enough.
Then I admitted that my travel dreams reach a bit further. "What I'd really like is to live in an orbital colony."
After a brief confirmation that orbital colony meant exactly what it sounded like and wasn't a name for some terrestrial bound location, I was asked why. "Wouldn't you miss trees and grass and things?"
A very valid question. On the one hand, I might. On the other hand, with the research I have done on space migration I see no reason why I would have to do without things like trees and grass while living in an orbital colony. Plant life would have to be part of a sustainable solution to the problem.
So why move into space?
First and foremost, because we
can! We have all the necessary technology. We have the means. If we were to give up the war in Iraq or Afghanistan for one year, just one of those countries for just one year, we'd have enough to do it. Not that such a project could get completed in a year. It would take longer. But the funds from doing that would cover the costs. Rather than focusing on death and destruction it seems to me like a far greater achievement to build a permanent space habitat orbiting the planet. Such a project is one of hope not just for the space dreamers, not just for the citizens of our country, but for the whole of the planet. To have the ability to reach out beyond our little gravity hole and see people living where they have never lived before would speak volumes for the human potential.
While on the topic of gravity, perhaps that plays a role in my personal affection for the prospect of space migration. Here in the full gravity of Earth I weigh in around 220 pounds. Weight. Gravity creates weight. That equals about 100 kilograms. That is mass. Here on Earth, mass and weight amount to the same thing. In the absence of that gravity, 100 kilos is still 100 kilos, but 220 pounds becomes... 0 pounds! No weight to move around. Instead it becomes mass. Once you get mass moving, it becomes momentum. I feel like I should have momentum. Just a change in the perspective of the thing could change a lot of people's lives.
Another change in perspective would be spatially related. While we live in and have the capability to perceive three dimensional space, our existence relies almost entirely on two dimensional navigation. Look at a map, or a globe, or even Google Earth and you begin to understand how we live on a 2D plane wrapped around a 3D object. With the absence of gravity, we lose the up/down perspective. We shift into a truly 3D environment. With such a shift the brain will adapt to a fuller utilization of our visual perception skills. What glorious developments await for a brain liberated from having to move about on a surface?
On a more personal note, this leads to another dream of mine. Often in my slumbers I dream that I can fly. It is not the flight of a glider, or a bird, or the free fall of sky diving. In my dreams I float and move at my whim. I want that to be a reality.
On an even more personal note, I am
obsessed with the concept of breasts in zero gravity. Not only do I want to see free floating boobs, but I want to see what breasts that had never known the tortures of gravity would be like. So even if we had an orbital colony in place within five years and some amorous adventurers got right down to business, I'd still have to wait another 25 years to see the results of mammary glands that had never been pulled down by the Earth. Unless the life extension enthusiasts are correct and everyone currently under the age of 40 can expect to live indefinitely, we need an orbital colony
now!
And of course there is all of the great scientific research that can only be done in zero gravity or is best done far away from the obstructing atmosphere of a planet. Things you can't even do in Australia.
Let's get out there!
