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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightHow We Could Build a City on Mars
If we want to someday live on Mars, spaceships won’t be enough. We would need a Martian city—and this is how we might build one. In many ways, the problem of moving to Mars is simply a packing problem. We need a lot of gear (food, water, shelter) to keep us alive, and the only … Continued
By Ria Misra -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
NASA Just Sealed Six People In a Dome For a Year to Practice Mars
Life on Mars may sound glamorous, but in reality it’s going to mean a lot of time crammed in a small bubble with a few other humans. This could end very badly. So to practice, NASA has taken to sticking people in domes and keeping them isolated for months on end. The latest isolation experiment … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
io9
The ESA’s Head Just Dropped a Proposal to Build a Village on the Moon
The European Space Agency has a brand new head. Johann-Dietrich Woerner took over the agency two weeks ago and he just dropped a major new proposition: Let’s build a village on the moon. In an interview with the BBC, Woerner first made mention of the proposal: We should look to the future beyond the International … Continued
By Ria Misra -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
How We’ll Live on Mars: A Manifesto for Colonizing the Red Planet
For more than century, humans have imagined building colonies on Mars, and now settling the Red Planet is no longer a pipe dream—it’s something we might achieve in little over a decade. And many people, including the author of the new book How We’ll Live on Mars, believe our very survival as a species hinges … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
NASA Wants Your Help Figuring Out How to Build Space Habitats
If and when we send colonists to Mars and beyond, we’re going to need habitats unlike any we’ve built before. To encourage out-of-the box thinking, NASA and America Makes are kicking off a $2.25 million dollar competition to design and build 3D printed space habitats. Image: Interstellar Mayflower, art by Stephan Martiniere One of the … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
io9
Architects envision an underground colony on Mars
When humans finally travel to Mars, what will their first buildings look like? ZA Architects envision an underground colony with spiderweb floors spun from basalt fibers. ZA’s proposal involves sending robots ahead of a human expedition to drill into the basalt-rich soil of Mars, creating caverns for underground human settlement. Human astronauts would then complete … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
Tech News
Dear People of the Year 2076 (1976)
The 1970s was a tough decade for America. As we saw in the second episode of paleofuture.tv, many people were predicting apocalypse. But in 1976, it seems Americans were determined to hold their heads up high and celebrate 200 years of a country that was experiencing some major growing pains. If there’s one thing Americans … Continued
By Matt Novak -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
The Case For Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must
Fifteen years ago, aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin published The Case for Mars, and issued a clarion call to his fellow scientists, and the people of Earth. We need to plan our Mars colony, and we need to do it now. Zubrin has released an updated and revised version of his classic book, outlining the most … Continued
Robert Zubrin -
io9
Gender-bending migrant workers of colonized space
Jenn Manley Lee’s beautifully rendered webcomic Dicebox follows two migratory workers hopping from colony to colony. Along the way, they encounter terrorist attacks, a spaceship crash, a healthy dose of intrigue, and the secrets of their own pasts. Dicebox (occasionally NSFW) is an unusual sort of epic. Its stars aren’t revolutionaries or space pirates or … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
Tech News
Lunar Colonies of the Future (1969)
The May, 1969 issue of Science Journal features an article by Dr. Rodney Wendell Johnson about lunar colonies of the future. Dr. Johnson was the Advanced Planner for NASA’s Advanced Manned Mission Program Office. The illustrations by Roy G. Scarfo that accompany the article are pretty amazing. (Please excuse the semi-blurred scans. The magazine is … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Moon Settlement by 2007 (1985)
The February, 1985 issue of The Futurist magazine featured a piece about a permanent settlement on the moon by 2007. NASA envisions the completion of a permanent settlement on the moon by the year 2007, the fiftieth anniversary of the space age. The final design of the base should be completed by the early 1990s, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The Martian Base (1951)
This painting by Leslie Carr, based on a drawing by R.A. Smith, appears in the 1951 book The Exploration of Space by Arthur C. Clarke. Eighteen years before Man would set foot on the moon, the image depicts a Martian colony of the future, similar to those which would show up later in the 1957 … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Toroidal Space Colony of the Future (1982)
This image appears in the 1982 book Walt Disney’s Epcot Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow. One thing I find curious about the illustration is that it appears to be of a toroidal (or circular) space station, but you can see what looks like sailboats in the water. My simplistic (child-like, really) understanding of … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Space Colonies of the Year 2000 (1979)
In the 1979 book Star Wars Question and Answer Book About Space R2-D2 and C-3PO take young readers through space, explaining different types of telescopes, the search for UFOs, exploding stars, and future space colonies! The image below is described as a space colony that humans could be living in by the year 2000! The … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Vacation at a Space Hotel (1982)
The The Kids’ Whole Future Catalog really is a treasure trove of 1980’s futurism. Today we have a letter from Jenny, writing her friend Susan about the amazing space hotel she’s visiting in the year 2002. Having graduated high school in the year 2002, I’m a little disappointed that my graduation ceremony wasn’t held at … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Wernher von Braun’s Blueprint for Space (1950s)
This clip from the DVD History of Spaceflight outlines Wernher von Braun’s vision for the colonization of space. Be sure to check out footage of von Braun from the rarely seen film Challenge of Outer Space. See also:Wernher von Braun’s Space Shuttle (1950s)Challenge of Outer Space (circa 1950s)Man and the Moon (1955)
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Colonies in Space (1987)
The January, 1987 cover of Odyssey magazine featured colonies in space, as drawn by their cover contest winner. Stay tuned as we explore some of the best 1980’s content from this magazine. See also: Space Colony Pirates (1981) Space Spiders (1979) Welcome to Moonbase (1987)
By Matt Novak -
io9
Build Your Home In TunnelSpace!
NASA churned out a lot of concept art in the 1970s while the agency was exploring ways to build colonies in space. NASA concept artists created trippy pieces like the Cynlidrical Colony above, and Torodial and Bernal Sphere colonies as well. We’d like to imagine that you could low-grav the whole thing, and just leap … Continued
By Kevin Kelly -
Tech News
Air Force Predictions for 2063 (1963)
The 1963 book, 2063 A.D., includes the predictions of Brigadier General Irving L. Branch. Branch was a commander at the Air Force Flight Test Center and predicted that by 2063 exploration of the near planets (Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn) will have been accomplished with manned vehicles. He also predicted that the moon and Mars … Continued
By Matt Novak