1. Countering the effects of micro-gravity on bone and tissue loss.
2. Complete independence of air and food and water.
3. Overcoming micro fractures in hull stability and tracking minute damages to shelter.
4. Adapting the social structure of long term space flights.
Just a couple that popped into mind.
a space station at L-2 or L-3 wouldn't be a 'space flight' per se.McGentrix wrote:1. Countering the effects of micro-gravity on bone and tissue loss.
2. Complete independence of air and food and water.
3. Overcoming micro fractures in hull stability and tracking minute damages to shelter.
4. Adapting the social structure of long term space flights.
Just a couple that popped into mind.
These are good questions as they relate to a space colony.
1. Countering the effects of micro-gravity on bone and tissue loss.
Lots of working out; and more importantly, we'll spin the station for gravity. Probably the easiest to solve of all the issues.
2. Complete independence of air and food and water.
This is going to be a toughie at first, but relatively easy later on. There are thousands of asteroids in the belt composed of ice and dry ice; once we have a few of those, it won't be too difficult to crack O2 and have a steady supply of water.
Obviously, we are going to have to do a lot of work in hydroponics and low grav growing techniques; but, we're going to have to start somewhere, and until we try we'll never know if it will work or not. Early experiments and tests have shown that plants grow just fine in space.
3. Overcoming micro fractures in hull stability and tracking minute damages to shelter.
The ISS is doing a good job of this; there's nothing about this that we don't know how to solve at this time, no real engineering difficulties that we don't have solutions for. New research can help, such as this -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-healing_plastic
4. Adapting the social structure of long term space flights.
Well; I think we can manage
Let us keep in mind also that our first few stations and colonies will not be self-sufficient until we get the industry up and running; the challenges do not all have to be solved, in order to get started, and many of them cannot be solved until the base work is started.
As a species, we have a fantastic track record of overcoming engineering challenges, and a relatively slow pace of overcoming theoretical challenges. The problems you list, or that may come up, are nearly universally Engineering challenges; we can solve them. There's no real gap in our theory (like there would be for, say, interstellar flight) that poses a real roadblock to our exploration and exploitation of space.
Cycloptichorn
Can you tell me: what about starting a moon or Mars colony are we not currently capable of doing? Specifically.
Cycloptichorn wrote:McGentrix wrote:1. Countering the effects of micro-gravity on bone and tissue loss.
2. Complete independence of air and food and water.
3. Overcoming micro fractures in hull stability and tracking minute damages to shelter.
4. Adapting the social structure of long term space flights.
Just a couple that popped into mind.
These are good questions as they relate to a space colony.
1. Countering the effects of micro-gravity on bone and tissue loss.
Lots of working out; and more importantly, we'll spin the station for gravity. Probably the easiest to solve of all the issues.
2. Complete independence of air and food and water.
This is going to be a toughie at first, but relatively easy later on. There are thousands of asteroids in the belt composed of ice and dry ice; once we have a few of those, it won't be too difficult to crack O2 and have a steady supply of water.
Obviously, we are going to have to do a lot of work in hydroponics and low grav growing techniques; but, we're going to have to start somewhere, and until we try we'll never know if it will work or not. Early experiments and tests have shown that plants grow just fine in space.
3. Overcoming micro fractures in hull stability and tracking minute damages to shelter.
The ISS is doing a good job of this; there's nothing about this that we don't know how to solve at this time, no real engineering difficulties that we don't have solutions for. New research can help, such as this -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-healing_plastic
4. Adapting the social structure of long term space flights.
Well; I think we can manage
Let us keep in mind also that our first few stations and colonies will not be self-sufficient until we get the industry up and running; the challenges do not all have to be solved, in order to get started, and many of them cannot be solved until the base work is started.
As a species, we have a fantastic track record of overcoming engineering challenges, and a relatively slow pace of overcoming theoretical challenges. The problems you list, or that may come up, are nearly universally Engineering challenges; we can solve them. There's no real gap in our theory (like there would be for, say, interstellar flight) that poses a real roadblock to our exploration and exploitation of space.
Cycloptichorn
Bear in mind, you stated:
Quote:Can you tell me: what about starting a moon or Mars colony are we not currently capable of doing? Specifically.
Well, I answered.
The reason I did so was that I watched a show on history channel (thank god for tv, eh?) and these were all brought up regarding challenges being faced now. They are working on solutions, but do not have any at this time.
We don't actually know how to process an ice asteroid efficiently (or at all, for that matter). I mean, the basic theory of it, sure, but we're as far from being able to DO it as scientists were from producing an actual atomic explosion in the mid-30s. It's a significant engineering challenge.
