Colonies in Space

by T.A. Heppenheimer, Ray Bradbury (Introduction)

Is there life in space? within the solar system, which we can reach and are now beginning to explore, the answer may be: Nothing but spores and bacteria. Perhaps the answer is: Nothing. Beyond our region of space the answer may yet be: Civilizations and cultures of greatness and magnificence untold. But we have not yet learned to detect them or to communicate with them.

As this has become apparent there has been a reaction against many of the more utopian hopes associated with space flight. Less than fifteen years ago John Kennedy could commit the nation to explore "this new ocean," with widespread hope that we were entering a new Age of Discovery. Today it is fashionable to believe that our problems can find solution only on earth and there is nothing in space which can aid us in any way.

This is not so. If we cannot find planets fit for us to live on, or if Mars is not up to our fondest hopes—very well. We can take our own life into space. We can build colonies in space, as pleasant as we want and productive enough to markedly improve humanity's future prospects. And, we can begin to do this anytime we please.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Reference, Space

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Thomas A. Heppenheimer (January 1, 1947 – September 9, 2015) holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan, and is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has held research fellowships in planetary science at California Institute of Technology and at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany.

He has been a freelance writer since 1978. He has written extensively on aerospace, business and government, and the history of technology. He is a frequent contributor to American Heritage and its affiliated publications, and to Air & Space. He has also written for the National Academy of Sciences, and contributed regularly to Mosaic of the National Science Foundation. He has written some 300 published articles for more than two dozen publications.

Reviews

[Mark Speed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book blew my mind when I read it, and it will blow your mind if you read it today. It was written in the 1970s using technology and knowledge available at that time - not counting on any of the astonishing leaps forward we've made in the last three or four decades.

What will blow your mind - and if you're a sci-fi buff, drive you nuts - is that WE COULD HAVE COLONISED SPACE if only the politicians had the guts to commit to it. But you know what they're like: cowards.

The author goes into extraordinary detail with the plans of exactly how we could colonise near-Earth space and the moon. He uses detailed analysis of moon rock, together with analysis from NASA, JPL and others to detail precisely how the economics of it would work. Once you get a minimum operational base, the materials can be mined effectively on the moon, refined in orbit and built into colonies and solar power stations. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the real solution to global warming: massively efficient off-planet solar power, beamed down to Earth using safe microwave frequencies.

I can dream on...

[Thom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I wrote in my review of Beyond: Our Future in Space applies to this book as well. Both have a positive, hopeful message. Both examine, chapter by chapter, the completely feasible future of mankind in space.

Colonies in Space was released in 1977, and written during the time of the first space shuttle launches. I found it enchanting as a youth, and find it just as interesting today. Power Satellites are a great solution to many of our current problems, and the whole process is well documented.

Illustrations are in greyscale and really don't bring out the beauty of some of those designs. Fortunately, the entire book and the color versions of the illustrations are online at http://www.nss.org/settlement/Colonie...

Is it current? No. Are the ideas still feasible? Mostly yes, though probably costing more money. Humorously, one of the authors "expenses" of living in a colony has been completely replaced - regular shipping of films and music.

[Adam Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many people with an interest in the colonization of space will be familiar with the classic work of Dr Gerard O’Neill entitled The High Frontier. Dr O’Neill’s book cogently sets out the need and importance for humanity of reaching out beyond the safety of our home planet into the vastness of space.

A companion volume in many ways, Colonies in Space by space advocate Thomas A. Heppenheimer (born 1947) is a comprehensive vision of the concept as a whole. Written in 1977, and so published shortly after The High Frontier, Heppenheimer, who holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering, takes us through the way a space colony could be constructed. There is a detailed examination of mass-drivers as the principal way to obtain material for construction. The moon is considered the most likely source for this as lunar soil contains much of the constituents required but later the possibility of using asteroids is also explored.

An interesting account is given of a “construction shack”, a large, spherical module in which much of the fabrication work will take place. The challenging task of constructing large facilities in space is noted but Heppenheimer’s thesis is that all this expense and effort will be more than amply rewarded once space colonies start delivering on the promise of solar power for Earth’s ever increasing thirst for energy.

One of the particular joys of Colonies in Space as a useful guide to the concept is the number of illustrations liberally found throughout. Ranging from hand drawn sketches to full colour paintings, as always with a subject of this nature illustrations greatly help the reader comprehend the structure and nature of much of what is being described.

Once built, the author looks in detail at the lives of the colonists. The model of space colony focussed on the most is the Stanford Torus. Heppenheimer enjoys describing the nature of farming in the colony and what is likely to be the most successful of feeding the colonists. A lot of thought is given to the homes the inhabitants might live in, their construction from bricks of lunar soil and the way they might occupy and amuse themselves when not working.

Attention is given to one of the critical problems for a space colony; protection from cosmic rays especially during solar flares. A number of solutions are suggested but the most practical given is layering the colony in lunar rock. The less pressing threat of meteorites is also discussed. Colonies in Space is convincing in part because it calls upon the work of a number of specialists from the time who considered a wide range of topics within the overall concept.

Following the construction of the initial Stanford Torus colonies, Heppenheimer describes how much larger O’Neill Cylinders might then be built and how different they might be from the initial outposts. He describes the benefits for the inhabitants including how groups of people might have the freedom to live how they want. The possibilities for new science and even space borne universities that might lead to presently unknown vistas of knowledge and thought are also enthusiastically set out.

Looking much further ahead, Colonies in Space suggests that the large space colonies might be the basis for an even wider dispersal of life from Earth as the colonists set off in them to the nearest stars in search of new homes. Taking many decades, if not centuries, generations of colonists would succeed each other as the huge cylinders coast through space on their interstellar voyage.

Combining both a wonderful sense of vision with a detailed and practical approach, Colonies in Space is highly recommended for a comprehensive study of the concept. Copies are available from Amazon and I was able to purchase an original edition with a relatively decent cover to it even after all this time since publication. Fortunately the National Space Society has made a copy available online from their website at http://www.nss.org/settlement/Colonie... which is a great resource for those interested in the subject.

You can also read this review on my space colonization blog at http://projection3.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Linda Branham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an older book that got me interested in living in space. There was a time when we thought we would be able to build space stations where people could live. Even though the idea is no longer a possibility there is still an interesting chapter on how we would farm in space.
Of course... I'm still hoping to live out there.
Ray Bradbury wrote the introduction
This book is now on-line in it's entirety

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This style of 1970’s style of optimism is almost heartbreaking to read now. (Almost – but not quite – they could imagine a wondrous future, tech-wise, but were rather lagging when it came to some new social ideas)

A study in possible ways to set up space station that are eye-poppingly gorgeous to behold, and quite a lot of the ideas presented here still hold water today.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the wake of O'Neil's description of off-world colonies, this author describes in great detail how it could all happen. It is based upon collaboration meetings of interested engineers, not just this author. It is supposed to show how it is all possible and even affordable to have 4000 people working in space to make power satellites to beam power to the Earth. And have a working mining camp on the Moon to send lunar soil to the colony for raw material. Each aspect (orbits, radiation, resupply, manufacturing, transport, living, etc.) is laid out in detail, but it is really pie-in-the-sky (pardon the pun). Each little aspect is on the critical path and would really be an enormous project to develop - not knowing if it would work.

This book is interesting in that it shows the mind-set of late-1970's concerned scientists and engineers. Back then, they were concerned with global cooling, nuclear war, over-population and limited on-planet energy sources.

[Foxears · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up in a second hand bookstore, not knowing what to expect but feeling intrigued. This book discusses the possibilieties of Space Colonization with the technologies available at the time (70s), and it still feels very up to date. Apart from some comments on housewives spending their time making marmelades and jams.

It is sometimes sad to see that some of the predictions made by the author was never realised, but still very exiting to see how colonization of space could already be possible if the interest was there.

I would recommend the book to anyone interested in learningmore about this topic!

[Carolyn McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating book! I'm so glad I found it online. I read this with as open a mind as I could achieve and constantly found myself wondering why much of the theories hadn't been made practice. Politics? Cost? Lack of support? It seems all of the above. Which only leads me to wonder where the human race might be if we didn't hold ourselves back.

[Matthew Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

alternating between painfully dry academia and starry-eyed age of aquarius grooviness, this book is ultimately a fun time capsule with a warm, if quaint, and hopeful outlook for the future of humanity. chapter 11, with its chevy van references, is dripping with 1970s USA milieu. check out Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves for a completely different journey through a nearly identical thought experiment.

[Johnathan Barazzuol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic book that's always been on my bookshelf. Presently on the kitchen book rack. Gets picked up once a year or so as a reference for my daydreams about the future.

[Cojocaru Miruna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[D.L. Morrese · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a bittersweet quality to this book. It's nonfiction, so it has no engaging characters, no suspenseful plot, but it does tell a story. It's more of a snapshot, really, of a hopeful era in which humanity seemed on the verge of venturing out into space, building colonies, and expanding its reach throughout the galaxy. It seemed inevitable, a near certainty, almost right around the temporal corner. The first step would happen soon. Large colonies would be built in space. Initially, these would produce and maintain solar power stations, which would beam their energy back to Earth via microwave transmission. This would make the space colonies economically self-sustaining, possibly even highly profitable.

Published in 1978 (copyright 1977), the author's predictions about what would happen over the next forty years are often incorrect. He did not foresee, for example, the stunning advances that have been achieved in solar voltaic cells, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, or the possibility of cultured meat (his colonies would raise chickens and goats). He was extrapolating from the proven technology of the time, and all of these areas were still quite speculative.

He was also extrapolating from current culture and politics, prior to Reaganomics or the collapse of the Soviet Union. I found the following rather poignant:

Barring a catastrophic epidemic of human stupidity, the decades ahead are likely to see the foundations solidly laid for a world without large-scale poverty or hopelessness, a world of opportunity, rising living standards and widely shared middle-class levels of affluence. Such a world will endure into the indefinite future. (pages 250-251 of the 1st edition Warner mass market paperback)

Obviously, the world he envisioned didn't come about. One can argue whether this is good or bad, but the political motivation and the governmental financial capacity to fund large-scale space development no longer exists. We didn't build space colonies. Perhaps, some day, we will. If humanity is to survive into the distant future, I believe we must.

This review is also being published on the Avery Slom Philosophical Laboratory

[Astrila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presents quite a few different concepts, interesting read.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A study on how human colonies in sspace can be established and maintained.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rereading this book again after 30 years I am still impressed by the thorough research behind it and the shear enthusiasm Heppenheimer brings to his topic. The illustrations (by Don Dixon and others) are lovely and alone make the book worth reading. While I try not to criticize books of this sort for not being prophetic, time has been particularly unkind to this sub-genre of futurism. While the various technological issues are well handled, little time is spent on issues of governance or what sort of social-political order would be needed to make a colony successful. Heppenheimer implies that U.S. law would be extended to space colonies but I would like to have seen some discussion of the political facets of space colonization or at least some thought as to how a colony itself might be governed. Heppenheimer also assumes that space colonies will enhance freedom and social progress, which is a common claim. However, as with most of the other similar books I have read, it’s largely taken for granted in a way that I’ve always found overly-optimistic. But then again, space colonization books are always profusely optimistic.