From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Wed Jan 08 2003 - 07:09:02 MST
Robert J. Bradbury wrote,
> Kuiper belt objects. These aren't *really* useful from our
> persepctive since the are mostly water and CO2 (though the C may
> be useful).
I disagree. I think plutinos and other Kuiper belt objects are the future
frontier for humanity!
There are tens of thousands of these planetoids on the edge of the solar
system. Unlike the rocky asteroids in the inner asteroid belt, these have
water ice and CO2. That means they can easily be self-sustaining. Oxygen
to breath, Hydrogen to burn, water to drink, carbon for structures and
organics. What more could you want? They even have pretty hefty gravity
for their size. Smaller objects have more gravity than one might expect,
due to the surface being closer to the core. Pluto is 1/455 of earth, but
has 1/15 the gravity. These planetoids also can have thin atmospheres, like
Pluto. They are round like planets. They are usually red in color due to
ancient organic chemistry from the beginnings of the solar system. Maps of
Pluto show that they have lighter and darker areas, seasonal changes, and
complicated geologies. And don't forget that some people are predicting a
liquid ocean on Charon, Pluto's moon. The tidal forces of the double
planetoid could raise the temperature to comfortable levels. If 10% of
planetoids have moons, it is conceivably possible that there could be
hundreds or thousands of liquid oceans capable of sustaining life in the
Kuiper belt!
These things are literally like little planets and not like the irregular
chunks of rock found in the inner asteroid belt. Somewhere between now and
the time we colonize thousands of planets across the galaxy, I envision a
period of colonization on the edge of the solar system. Thousands of
separate worlds, each self-sustaining, and each far away from the others.
Space is so vast out there that the larger objects are many AU apart from
each other. These are not close-knit neighbors, but far-flung worlds.
There are more worlds in the Kuiper belt than in hundreds of solar systems
as we used to envision them. This is a much bigger frontier and much closer
and more accessible than the sci-fi stellar colonization we imagined only a
decade ago. We will undoubtedly colonize these worlds much sooner and much
faster than stellar colonization. And these worlds would make great
gateways to the stars. They also have smaller gravity wells which makes
launches and inter-world travel cheaper.
Plutinos or Bust!
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP <http://HarveyNewstrom.com>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jan 15 2003 - 17:35:50 MST