The Russian futurist architect has figured out where humanity will move when it finally ditches the Earth.
It looks impressive in pictures. A giant ring encircling the Earth, against the background of grains of sand and the endless darkness of space. People of the future will live in such. At least according to the version of the famous Russian architect-futurologist Arthur Skizhali-Weiss. He developed a new concept for the colonization of space.
In many science fiction books and films, humanity's dreams of life outside the Earth slip through. Moreover, according to some forecasts, in a couple of centuries, if not earlier, people may so dirty the planet that it will be impossible to live on it.
By the way, even Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (the founder of theoretical cosmonautics lived in 1857-1935 - Auth.) Had a theory about orbital cities. He believed that in the future, mankind will be able to build bagel cities in space, which will spin somewhere in orbit. But there it was only about tens of thousands of inhabitants.
View of the Orbital Ring from the mastered surface of the Moon. Drawing: Arthur Skizhali-Weiss.
WHY RESTORATE ANOTHER DEAD PLANET?
Arthur Skizhali-Weiss believes that sooner or later, billions of people will have to leave the Earth. But not far. This is the essence of his concept of an orbital ring - a giant settlement that should encircle the Earth.
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“This is my answer to Elon Musk, who suggests colonizing Mars,” the architect admits. “Musk is wrong. Colonizing Mars makes no sense. Look at the surface of the planet. It is all pitted with craters that were formed after meteorite falls. It is the closest planet to the asteroid belt. She died a couple of billion years ago. Colonizing Mars is too risky for humans and too expensive. It would be much more logical and easier to create an orbital ring.
According to the architect, parts of this structure will need to be assembled on Earth or the Moon (there are many rare earth metals, and it can be built remotely through giant 3D printers), and then delivered into orbit and assembled.
- But how will the ring stay in orbit without shifting towards the Earth?
- The ring should pass in diameter at an altitude of 70 thousand kilometers from the Earth. There, the acceleration due to gravity is zero. That is, the ring will not be attracted to the Earth and will not in any way affect our planet.
View of the Orbital Ring from the submerged Earth after Global Warming. Drawing: Arthur Skizhali-Weiss.
- You say that it makes no sense to colonize Mars because of the constant meteorite bombardment. Doesn't that threaten the ring?
- The ring will have nuclear engines that, in the event of a potential danger of approaching a meteorite, can correct the location of the ring. As you know, it doesn't take a lot of energy to accelerate in space. Some objects can be shot down with laser cannons.
ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY, RIVERS AND FORESTS
The thickness of the orbital ring (in cross section) will be several kilometers. According to Artur Skizhali Weiss, people will be able to create artificial gravity inside, artificial ecosystems - rivers and forests. On the giant space station, it will be possible to develop agriculture, establishing a completely waste-free production.
- How will it look like? Can we see something similar in movies?
- Something similar happened in the movie "Elysium: Heaven is not on Earth" with Matt Damon. There we are talking about the fact that on Earth there is absolutely trouble with the environment and rich people built a city for themselves in orbit - this is the same "donut" as Tsiolkovsky, for several tens of thousands of inhabitants. There, inside the ring, suburban terrestrial landscapes are recreated.
- In our case, what could be the reason for such a massive resettlement?
- There are several options for the possible development of events. The rise in sea levels due to global warming. Catastrophic environmental pollution. Nuclear Wars.
View of the Orbital Ring from the high mountain regions of the Earth with preserved forests. Drawing: Arthur Skizhali-Weiss.
Now it is even difficult to imagine the scale of the Orbital Ring project. One thing is clear: the construction of such a colossus will require huge resources.
- Of course, such a project alone will not be pulled by any power, - says the futurist. - Therefore, we need to consolidate all forces. Only the design of an object can take fifty years, or even more. The construction will take 200 or even 300 years. People will begin to be delivered to the ring by shuttles from Earth in batches, as various sections are put into operation.
- Does the Earth have that much building material?
- Construction will take so much time also because we have to produce materials on a scale that we simply do not have now. You need to build, of course, not from metal. We need lightweight high-strength materials, nanotubes, solar panels. If all countries in the world give up spending on weapons, a huge amount of resources and money will be freed up.
Large space harbor of the Orbital Ring with spaceports. Drawing: Arthur Skizhali-Weiss.
EXPERT OPINION
About the orbital ring …
- Of course, you and I cannot look a hundred years ahead and predict the level of technology development. But with today's realities, in my opinion, the project of an orbital ring is hardly a feasible idea, - says professor, head of the Department of Moon and Planets Research at the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute at Moscow State University, Vladislav Shevchenko. - Imagine how many launches of spaceships will be needed to deliver parts for the future ring into orbit, how many ships will be needed to take out all the inhabitants of the Earth into space. The ships must take off from all spaceports every day. There are seven billion of us earthlings now, and how many will be in two hundred years? In addition, all these launches will provide a huge amount of artificial energy. This is exactly what causes natural disasters now. We began to generate too much energy, so it snows in the Sahara, and in Siberia in November it is 20 degrees Celsius. The consequences of such a number of launches can lead to the fact that there will be no one to transport into orbit.
… and the colonization of Mars
“The colonization of Mars is an unreal thing,” the famous astrophysicist, professor of the California Institute of Technology Konstantin Batygin commented on the ideas of Elon Musk in an interview with video blogger Yuri Dudyu. - Not that it is impossible to do in principle. It seems to me that in today's world this is not where resources should be spent. Mars - even if you make it the best planet it can be, maximize its potential - it will still be complete shit compared to Earth. If you think about what costs are needed to colonize Mars … Do you need to do this? Not. It is better to spend such investments on the Earth.
FROM THE HISTORY OF THE ISSUE
One refinement of Tsiolkovsky's idea was widely known in the mid-1970s. Stanford University students proposed a torus-shaped space settlement to NASA (imagine our traditional donut spinning around its axis). The ring with artificial gravity, dubbed the Stanford Tor, was supposed to be 1.8 km in diameter and was designed for 10 thousand inhabitants. NASA rejected the project, considering it too costly.
ALEXANDER ROGOZA