One of the barriers to Moon colonization has always been the astronomical (pun intended) cost of transporting materials there. It would cost billions just to take up enough stuff to build a small command center and living quarters. And since the nearest Target is pretty far away, colonists would need plenty of duplicates and back-ups. The most sensible solution is to use material that’s already on the Moon to build anything and everything a colony of humans might need – although even that doesn’t seem entirely sensible. It’s not like plastic, wood and metal grow on trees up there.

What the Moon does have plenty of, though, is rocks. And since we clever humans invented the amazing technology known as rapid prototyping (or 3D printing), we have a way to use those rocks to build a lot of the things a fledgling space colony might need. This idea has been around for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that someone actually tested it out. In the above video, professor Amit Bandyopadhyay from Washington State University puts the concept to the test by using imitation Moon rocks to create small 3D objects like the ones at the top of the page. According to the professor, astronauts could even use the process to mend broken tools and other objects. Today we’re one exciting step closer to setting up shop on lands other than the Earth.

The post Space Colonies Could Be Built from Moon Rocks + 3D Printers first appeared on Gajitz.

The first humans who will live on Mars are alive today, according to Dutch company Mars One. Their ambitious plan is to begin the first colony on the red planet in 2023 with four astronauts who will forever say goodbye to the planet of their birth. Privately-funded Mars One will begin the mission by sending out rovers which will construct the living quarters for the colonists. In late 2022, four lucky astronauts will begin the journey to their new home, arriving seven months later to become permanent residents. Every two years after that, two more colonists will make the trip, expanding the colony, bringing supplies and enlarging the available gene pool for future generations.

Mars One plans to rely on a rather novel fundraising method to finance this long-running mission: the world’s first space reality show. The entire population of Planet Earth will be transfixed, according to the company, on the trials and successes of the newly-formed colony. Because the mission is fraught with the unknown and the constant possibility of danger, there will be no need for the scripted drama or “challenges” presented on Earth-bound reality TV. The company will begin selecting potential colonists beginning on 2013, kicking off an entire decade of training and preparation for the lucky few who will one day go where no human has gone before.

The post The Countdown Begins to the First Human Colony on Mars first appeared on Gajitz.

In the 1970s, NASA conducted a series of think tank-type studies which gathered the best and brightest in space colony design to come up with ideas for how future generations of humans would exist in space. The scientists, researchers, engineers, designers and scholars gathered together to come up with innovative solutions and designs, and their concepts were later turned into these incredible drawings.

The colonies were designed to house around 10,000 people in the inhospitable environs of space. The teams considered everything from the closed biological systems on board the space colonies to how the structures would be built to how the space environment would affect the colonies.

NASA points out that, while space colonies might seem far-fetched at the moment, it wasn’t too long ago that airplanes seemed unrealistic. And a man-made orbiting structure is superior to colonies that might be built on the moon or another planet because it is far easier to control the conditions in an orbiting structure.

These stunning drawings were all made by hand, not digitally – it was the 70s, after all – and go to show just how creative these teams of thinkers were in their ideas for the future space-bound domiciles of humankind.

The accompanying literature on NASA’s website all about the possibility of space colonization is absolutely fascinating. Their idea for funding space colony projects in the future: orbital tourism, selling the electricity from solar satellites, and mining asteroidal metals.

But even more interesting are some of the reasons given for living in a space colony: segregating religious people from “non-believers,” allowing handicapped people to move about freely without the use of wheelchairs, and allowing people to experiment with “different social and political forms.” And, of course, a space colony would make for the perfect escape-proof prison.

What NASA seems to be suggesting is a new Wild West: a law-free community in Low-Earth Orbit in which anything goes. The possibilities are indeed mind-boggling – not only from a design perspective, but considering how soon in our future a leap like this could actually come, it’s a bit daunting to think of these future floating cities as the next frontier to be conquered.

NASA continues to host a yearly space colony design contest for elementary school students, but they no longer host the groovy space colony think tanks of the 70s. Too bad, because with today’s technology there is so much more to be explored…

The post Our Starry Home: NASA’s 1970s Space Colony Artwork first appeared on Gajitz.