Titan
Out of context: Reply #15
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- DavidLoehr0
Well, there will be far more background information when we will launch WMYW and feature the project there. For those who care now: a very very brief summary of thoughts and research:
Titan is -180°C cold and has 0.6g gravitation. Furthermore the atmosphere is composed of Nitrogen and Methane (its the ONLY other atmosphere in the whole solar system that has a high Nitrogen composition besides that of Earth). All the details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit…)
There is a NASA document on their planning up until 2045 to be found here: http://images.spaceref.com/news/…
Titan is in their focus most definitely and not from a scientific / research standpoint, but also from a ressource standpoint. The really only problem is: its far away and too cold. But from all the other facts its the most suitable colony environment. There are hydrocarbons in the atmosphere or as liquid streams on the surface, which can be used to generate fuel or plastic components. Water Ice makes up the solid surface. Oxygen is bound there and the hydrogen can be aswell used for energy generation. How necessary a water supply for living there is, should be self-explanatory.
Like being said, its far away, which means the colony has to be autark and not dependent on supply chains. Mars or Moon can be supplied from Earth far more easily.
So the whole concept of the colony is to build it there in-situ with the ressources at hand. Thats where my concept of "growing"-architecture comes from. Basically Titan is being seeded by autonomous factories (the 'spheres' that fall down) who generate plastic compounds out of the hydrocarbons in the atmosphere and planetary crust, grow into a shell, isolate it thermacally and then begin to transform the atmosphere in the shell into a breathable one. What is no big deal since the native atmosphere is mostly made of Nitrogen. Deep frozen seeds and vegetation inside the 'seeders' will be released into the shell and start to grow on the terraformed piece of Titanian land inside. A biosphere will be created over several years. The shell maintains the necesarry balance and regulates the biological processes inside. To keep the balance more easily the climate inside the shell will be a very nordic one, close to 0°, since most of the Titanian crust is made of water ice, so the soil needs to be permafrosted. The plants and vegetation are prepared and modified for this climate; I thought of lichen, fungi, pinetrees and the like.
After that piece of habitable land has been established the colonists will follow. Since I assumed that this terraformed, heated piece will still have some Titanian characteristics, the colonists themselves need to adapt previously. They will have to live at 0.6 gravitation, which is probably the biggest deal. So there will be treatments beforehand, which will prepare them for that. That means most probably that they cannot return to Earth, since bone-structure has been altered etc..
Only bits and parts of this are scientifically founded and a lot is just imagination, but thats how science-fiction works. You have a starting point and then it just spins off.
Enough of writing now ;)