Humans in space: Jeff Bezos unveils space colony vision
- 5 years ago
WASHINGTON — Jeff Bezos, the richest man on Earth, has a vision for the future of humanity that is out of this world. Literally.
Last week, Blue Origin unveiled the design of its first lunar lander called, Blue Moon. At the same time Bezos announced his grand vision for human-kind: to create floating colonies outside of Earth. Here is what he has in mind.
According to a press conference, Jeff Bezos envisions human colonies in outer space capable of holding up to 1 trillion people in rotating cylinders called O'Neill Cylinders.
The O'Neill Cylinder was developed by Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill in 1974. According to data from the National Space Society, the design is made up of two 20-mile-long cylinders, both measuring 4 miles in diameter.
The cylinders contain 3 land areas that cover a total of 500 square miles. They rotate in opposite directions, keeping the colonies aimed towards the sun.
Bezos stated that the colonies would have high-speed transportation, farming land, urban areas, and recreational areas with zero gravity.
He added that some areas of the colonies could be replicas of famous cities on Earth.
The weather in these cylinders would be adjusted for optimal human comfort. According to Bezos, there would be no earthquakes and no rain.
He claims that these cylindrical colonies are a better bet for sustaining human life outside of Earth as opposed to Martian or Lunar colonies due to how far and how small they are to Earth in comparison.
In order to cut costs, Bezos proposes transporting humans to and from the colonies in reusable spacecraft such as Blue Origin's New Shephard, a suborbital space vehicle powered using liquid nitrogen designed for space tourism.
The whole idea sounds pretty far fetched. Bezos admits that this will not be a reality for this or the next generation, but he vowed to begin working on the infrastructure, saying quote, "If this generation builds the road to space, build that infrastructure, we will get to see thousands of future entrepreneurs building a real space industry."
Last week, Blue Origin unveiled the design of its first lunar lander called, Blue Moon. At the same time Bezos announced his grand vision for human-kind: to create floating colonies outside of Earth. Here is what he has in mind.
According to a press conference, Jeff Bezos envisions human colonies in outer space capable of holding up to 1 trillion people in rotating cylinders called O'Neill Cylinders.
The O'Neill Cylinder was developed by Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill in 1974. According to data from the National Space Society, the design is made up of two 20-mile-long cylinders, both measuring 4 miles in diameter.
The cylinders contain 3 land areas that cover a total of 500 square miles. They rotate in opposite directions, keeping the colonies aimed towards the sun.
Bezos stated that the colonies would have high-speed transportation, farming land, urban areas, and recreational areas with zero gravity.
He added that some areas of the colonies could be replicas of famous cities on Earth.
The weather in these cylinders would be adjusted for optimal human comfort. According to Bezos, there would be no earthquakes and no rain.
He claims that these cylindrical colonies are a better bet for sustaining human life outside of Earth as opposed to Martian or Lunar colonies due to how far and how small they are to Earth in comparison.
In order to cut costs, Bezos proposes transporting humans to and from the colonies in reusable spacecraft such as Blue Origin's New Shephard, a suborbital space vehicle powered using liquid nitrogen designed for space tourism.
The whole idea sounds pretty far fetched. Bezos admits that this will not be a reality for this or the next generation, but he vowed to begin working on the infrastructure, saying quote, "If this generation builds the road to space, build that infrastructure, we will get to see thousands of future entrepreneurs building a real space industry."