If you get sick and tired of the earth, you may not have to wait much longer for a trip outside the planet. One recent study published by Finnish astrophysicist Pekka Janhunen says that it would be possible to establish a floating megacity on Ceres, a dwarf planet floating in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Not only did Janhunen lay down his plan on how a megacity could be built, but he suggested that it could begin to take shape in the next decade and a half.
According to the journal entry (via New York Post), Ceres was chosen because of its similar gravitational qualities, although it lives about 325 miles from Earth. In terms of layman, NASA sent the space probe Dawn there in 2007, and it only arrived in 2015.
“We choose Ceres as the source because C asteroids are more likely to have sufficient nitrogen,” Janhunen wrote. Nitrogen is a critical element because it is necessary for the settlement atmosphere. We use a disk geometry for the megasatellite because the symmetry eliminates the tidal moment so that reaction wheels are not needed to maintain the posture. The habitats are illuminated by natural sunlight. The sunlight is collected on the disk by two planar mirrors that are inclined at 45 degrees obliquely and concentrated by parabolic mirrors to the desired intensity. “
His plan for greatness includes a habitat built of thousands of cylindrical structures, each with more than 50,000 people. These structures would then rotate slowly and create artificial gravity on the surface of the satellite.
Using ‘space lifts’ built into the habitat, people living in the large capacity would be able to mine metals in Ceres to build further structures.
“The utility value of megasatellite becomes clear when we compare it to traditional superficial settlements. It would be technically possible to colonize the surface of Ceres by centrifuge habitats,” the astrophysicist added. “However, the magnetic bearings will have to carry the weight of the habitat. The weight is 34 times less than on Earth, but many orders of magnitude greater than in the microgravity conditions of the megasatellite.”
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