A new documentary highlights the visionary behind spatial settlement

A new film brings to life the legacy of a physicist who played an influential – but largely unannounced – role in shaping the vision of spatial settlement.

The documentary The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O’Neill derives its name from the 1977 book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space written by physicist Gerard K. O’Neill of Princeton University. The film will be released on April 17 and is an excellent film for those who will better understand the future that people may have in outer space.

O’Neill popularizes the idea of ​​not only establishing space, but doing so in free space rather than on the surface of other planets or moons. His ideas spread through the space-enthusiastic community at a time when NASA was about to debut its spacecraft, which first debuted in 1981. NASA sold the vehicle because it offered regular, inexpensive access to space. It was the kind of transportation system that enabled visions like O’Neill to think about what people in space could do if they were cheaper to get there.

The concept of “O’Neill cylinders” begins with a question he posed to his physics classes at Princeton: “Is a planetary surface the right place for a growing industrial civilization?” Following their analysis, the answer was no. Eventually, O’Neill and his students came up with the idea of ​​free-floating, rotating, cylindrical space colonies that could have enough solar power.

Much of the material needed to construct these massive cylinders was available on the moon, in the form of oxygen, silicon and aluminum trapped in lunar rocks, as well as asteroids. O’Neill and other physicists developed the concept of a ‘mass driver’ to eject material from the lunar surface into the lunar orbit, where it can be processed. It was a great vision, and from a purely physical point of view, nothing was magical.

Space settlement

One of O’Neill’s most important legacies is the reason for the settlement of the space he outlined, explaining why people should venture to Earth and try to find resources and new dwellings.

“I see two basic choices ahead of us,” O’Neill said in archival footage. “There could be more wars, more restrictions on the freedom of individuals as we fight in a zero-sum game over the resources of our planet. Or a new flourishing of opportunities, with wealth for all mankind and the arts, as we are opening a new frontier in space with more than a thousand times the land surface and resources of planet Earth. ‘

O’Neill produced a generation of true believers – called ‘Gerry’s kids’, who founded organizations such as the L-5 Society and put forward his views. As someone who grew up a generation after O’Neill outlined his ideas, it was amazing to see some people who deeply influenced my thinking and served as mentors appear in the film: people like Rick Tumlinson, Lori Garver , James Muncy, Jeff Manber, and more. The film provides a better understanding of where their passion for space occupation came from.

Of course, none of O’Neill’s ambitions came true. The spacecraft eventually enabled NASA to build the International Space Station and deploy critical instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope, but never complied with its bill. The vehicle flew on average less than five times a year. And the cost per flight over the life of the program was about $ 1.5 billion per mission. It was no transportation system that enabled people to move deeper into the cosmos, gain access to its resources, and create economic activity.

Back to the future

O’Neill died of leukemia in 1992 at the age of 65. Despite the lack of progress with his goals, those he influenced furthered his vision. Now, three decades after his death, we may be taking the first steps toward the future he outlined.

This is because Elon Musk, with SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos, with Blue Origin, both dedicated their companies to the development of inexpensive access to space through reusable rockets. Musk was not directly influenced by O’Neill and strongly believes that Mars offers humanity the best place to establish other worlds. Bezos, however, is an O’Neill disciple.

Bezos said he read The High Boundary in high school several times and at Princeton University beginning in the fall of 1982. Although Bezos never took a physics class with O’Neill, he attended his seminars, which were available to everyone on campus.

In 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin. He described his efforts to create a path to space as the “most important work” he performed in his lifetime. In 2019, when Bezos unveiled the full scope of his vision, O’Neill cylinders were in front and in the middle of what he was trying to achieve. “You do not choose your passions – you choose your passions,” he said at the time. Speaking about life in these cylinders, Bezos added: “It’s Maui on its best day all year. No rain. No earthquakes. People will want to live here.” And if they need it, he said, they can easily fly back to earth.

So far, Musk has moved to Mars much faster than Bezos has to O’Neill cylinders. But both are working towards the greater goal of spreading humanity beyond the earth, harnessing the solar system’s resources, and expanding our economic activity. Each works in its own way towards the spatial settlement and contributes to the essential first step in affordable space transportation systems.

Dylan Taylor, 50, is another of O’Neill’s devotees. After Taylor made his mark on real estate, he became an investor in a new angel. In search of the story of O’Neill with a new generation, he played the development of this documentary and supported it financially. Taylor, now CEO of Voyager Space Holdings, seeks to create a core of space companies to sustainably develop the space and take further steps to the high limit. Both attempts are tributes to O’Neill.

There is a free, live premiere of The High Boundary on April 17 – see here. Starting the next day, it will be available as a video-on-demand from Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, Fandango and Microsoft Stream.