Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Is space colonization a viable concept?

Other world colonization shouldn't be too hard.

Let me re-phrase that, it shouldn't be too hard for people 200+ years from now. A group of colonists setting up a colony on another Earth Like Planet several centuries from now should be able to establish and maintain a technology base of at least an early 20th century level. Within 100 years of landing, the population should be large enough to allow for increased technological development. Considering they will have a very large data base of knowledge to draw from, advancing from a base level of say 1900-1920 would not take them nearly as long as it did us.

Our machine tools today (presses, lathes, smelters, etc) can easily last for a century with simple maintanance. The generators and much of the internal plumping in use at the Empire State Building is original equipment from the late 1920s. Our satellites today can last for many decades, and I imagine they could be built to last for 100-200 years by simply over engineering them. The sensors that would be avaliable to such colonists upon arriving would allow them to thoroughly map out and catalog resources from orbit to determine the best place of establishing a colony. By sending multiple missions with identical hardware to the same destination over a period of decades, the colony would be assured spares for any critical parts that might fail before they can be fabricated on site.

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