Thursday, August 1, 2013

Colony Ship

     Some time ago, I was asked to imagine a space ship that could carry humanity to a new home, if we had to leave this star system. What follows are the ideas I developed. It's just concept, but if someone wants to make a real ship from it, that's cool with me - as long as I get a spot on it.

     Ideally, there would be several ships travelling different routes, maybe to different systems, to allow for the possibility of some not arriving. I will describe the ship(s) in the singular here, however.

     First, a few notes on the ship's complement. It should have a higher percentage of women than of men, since fewer men are needed to populate a colony. The best chances of survival would be with a genetically diverse group of people, so a broad group of races would be ideal. 

     Keeping people sane is critical. Psychology as a whole would be important; there should be a definite portion of people trained in counseling others on the rigors of stress and isolation. In many ways, psychiatrists may be as important as engineers and doctors on the trip. I would even say musicians, actors, and entertainers. Entertainment can relieve tension and bind a community.

     Towards that end, we need parks and farming areas as similar to nature on earth as possible. Everything that grows must provide food or medicine of some kind. These areas, at least, would need full-spectrum lighting. This would not only help the plants, but human moods as well.

     Everything would need to be recycled and, where possible, serve multiple purposes. As uncomfortable as it may seem, we would even need to recycle even the bodies of the deceased. Bones could not be buried or allowed to remain unincorporated into the ship's life-cycle. This would be a generational ship, and keeping bones around would mean a loss to the nutrients and health of future generations.

     The ship itself would need to have replacement parts as interchangeable as possible to maximize its repairability. There would need to be plenty of raw materials and equipment making supplies, of course. For that matter, we would need to be able to mine asteroids, if we had room for and need of the material.

     The ship would not have one central core; rather, it would be designed in sections that could be uncoupled and travel separately. We don't want a death star ending, with a single meltdown destroying the entire ship. To a similar end, major energy reactors would be kept toward the edges for easy jettisoning.

     Living quarters could be escape pods, with equipment that recycles nutrients. I remember seeing, years ago, a group of scientists or astronauts living together in a small space that recycled their waste. Add in some navigation and propulsion so that they can rejoin other escape pods or the space ship, and you have a highly adaptable ship.

     We could take a look at honeycombs for an idea on how to shape the compartments. (I don't know why, but I find the idea of a colony ship being modelled after a honeycomb quite entertaining. Effective, yes; but still entertaining.)

     Anyway, that's the broad outlines. What do you think? Did I forget anything, or add in too much?

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