RE: Orbital Urbanism : Space Colonies of the 1970s
Back in high school, I participated in the International Space Settlement Design Competition. I have fond memories from that time. :) Torus is the way to go - the others are pretty much pipe dreams. Even so, I remember our budget came up to 5 trillion USD or something ridiculous!
The reality is it will be a small fraction the cost to build a settlement on a moon or planet. Looks like Mars is the real target right now. But floating over Venus is a pretty viable option beyond. Moon could be a very good industrial settlement for mining etc, but probably not the best place for a permanent settlement.
Maybe when a civilisation has colonized all possible cosmic bodies, they turn to building their own! Till then, let's focus on the already available real estate.
Interesting stuff! I completely agree! I think there's a lot to learn about this project in terms of how they presented all this imagery. These space-environments are a reflection of the things we hold precious on Earth. Pine trees, rivers and lakes. It's a literal mirroring of Earth, orbiting Earth and strengthening a strong admiration of it from that distance. Just a few years earlier we got our first images of our big blue planet from outer space. That was a huge shift in our admiration for this unique object in the depths of black nothingness. I think this study was holding onto that admiration very tightly in designing orbital giants that could observe / protect our first home.
Also, 5 trillion eh? What's that in Steem.... hmmm... hopefully it's all laid out in the upcoming "steemit roadmap" ;)