After the solar system is colonized, settled, and developed, interstellar colonization is the next step in mankind’s journey through the final frontier. The distances between planets within our own solar system are easily surmountable once enough space infrastructure is built out to allow the mass … Continue readingWorldbuilding Near-Future Interstellar Demography
When worldbuilding a science fiction or especially space opera setting, spaceships, starships, and the like are almost inevitably of great importance. In a visual medium the look of the ships can communicate a lot, the contrast between Padmé Amidala’s garage and Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon … Continue readingThe Shapes of Spaceships
In the previous post on colonizing the Oort cloud, I pointed out that with sufficiently cheap transportation technology any place within range will be inhabited to some extent by recreational-touristic populations or populations that deliberately seek out isolation. This outermost part of the solar system … Continue readingThe Sun as Gravitational Lens: A Breakthrough Technology?
Once mankind’s footprint has touched worlds across the solar system, what will be the last frontier? In the solar system of the near future, colonization will almost certainly spread outward from near-Earth space. The planets and settings closest to Earth will be settled first: Mars, … Continue readingColonizing the Oort Cloud: The Final Frontier of the Solar System
What would a truly advanced interplanetary transportation system be like? After all the near-future flags-and-footprints expeditions, research outposts, experimental space habitats, and space tourist centers we hear about so much are up and running, the build-out of space infrastructure will begin in earnest. In this … Continue readingInterplanetary Travel in the Solar System of the Near Future