Colonization of trans-Neptunian objects: Difference between revisions

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[[Image:Kuiper oort-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Artist's rendering of the [[Kuiper belt]] and [[Oort cloud]].]]

[[Freeman Dyson]] proposed that [[trans-Neptunian object]]s, rather than [[planet]]s, are the major potential habitat of life in space.<ref>{{Citationcite web|title=Let's look for life in the outer solar system |first=Freeman|last=Dyson |website=ted2003 needed|date=JanuaryFebruary 2003 |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/freeman_dyson_let_s_look_for_life_in_the_outer_solar_system?language=en |access-date=18 April 20162025}}</ref> Several hundred billion to trillion [[comet]]-like ice-rich bodies exist outside the orbit of [[Neptune]], in the [[Kuiper belt]] and Inner and Outer [[Oort cloud]]. These may contain all the ingredients for life (water ice, ammonia, and carbon-rich compounds), including significant amounts of [[deuterium]] and [[helium-3]]. Since Dyson's proposal, the number of trans-Neptunian objects known has increased greatly.

Colonists could live in the [[dwarf planet]]'s icy [[Crust (geology)|crust]] or [[mantle (geology)|mantle]], using [[fusion power|fusion]] or [[Geothermal power|geothermal]] heat{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}} and mining the soft-ice or liquid inner [[ocean]] for [[Volatile (astrogeology)|volatiles]] and [[mineral]]s. Given the light gravity and resulting lower pressure in the ice [[mantle (geology)|mantle]] or inner ocean, colonizing the rocky [[Planetary core|core]]'s outer surface might give [[colonists]] the largest number of [[mineral]] and [[volatility (chemistry)|volatile]] resources as well as insulating them from cold.{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}} Surface habitats or [[domes]] are another possibility, as [[background radiation]] levels are likely to be low.{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}}

Colonists of such bodies could also build [[space habitat|rotating habitats]] or live in dug-out spaces and light them with [[fusion reactor]]s for thousands to millions of years before moving on.<ref>[[Carl E. Sagan]], "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space". Random House, 1994, {{ISBN|0-345-37659-5}}.</ref>{{dubious|date=January 2016}}<!--Low gravity health issues.--> Dyson and [[Carl Sagan]] envisioned that humanity could migrate to neighbouring star systems, which have similar clouds, by using natural objects as [[Generation ship|slow interstellar vessels]] with substantial natural resources; and that such interstellar colonies could also serve as way-stations for faster, smaller interstellar ships. Alternatively Richard Terra has proposed using the materials from the Oort-cloud objects to build vast starlight collecting arrays to power habitats, thus making an Oort-cloud community essentially independent of its central star and fusion fuel supplies.<ref>Richard P. Terra, "Islands in the Sky: Human Exploration and Settlement of the Oort Cloud", in ''Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space'', Stanley Schmidt and Robert Zubrin, eds. Wiley, 1996, {{ISBN|0-471-13561-5}}</ref>