Right now it is easy to see that a self-sufficient space colony outside the habitable zone will be very large, and have enormous energy consumption. It is very clear that only antimatter-electric power generation can satisfy this energy requirement. In the future it may be possible to substitute a great deal of the conventional earth-sourced biomass needed to sustain humans with a "genetic soup" creature. For example if we could engineer a cockroach that carries all the genes for hundreds (thousands?) of other lifeforms, then the biomass needed for interstellar colonization will be vastly diminished. For the duration of the trip only the Roach Hotel would be needed. An intelligent machine could later construct a larger habitat from materials found in situ and then wake up all those dormant genes in the cockroach, breeding whatever species needed. However until we can create a "genetic soup" creature we will have to accept the conventional approach.
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