Bernal Sphere:
Bernal sphere is a habitat design for space colony. This one-mile in circumference artificial living is expected to accommodate about 10,000 people and will be developed into a space manufacturing complex.
In the picture above, the sphere portion is where people live and work. This sphere is protected by an outer shell made of the slag of industry processes. The sphere will rotate to create centrifugal force which keeps living things and other objects standing on the surface just as Earth gravity does. This force is estimated to be equivalent to Earth’s gravity at the equator and gradually reduced to zero at the poles. The flat, paddle-like fixtures will radiate heat from the inside habitat to the outer space. The stacked rings near the sphere are agricultural areas. The “gravity” of these areas is about 0.7 that of the Earth and the atmospheres are optimized for the growth of various crops. There are 2 series of slightly curved plates, arranged in 2 circles representing 2 stages. The circle farther from the sphere is the first stage. This stage will collect sunlight and control the day- night circle. The second-stage mirrors will pass the light at a desired angle to the ring-shaped mirrors capping the sphere. These last mirrors will then direct the light to the sphere’s interior.
Inside the sphere is a biological habitat including people, animals, trees and so on. Near the equator of the sphere, there is a small river whose shores are made of lunar sand. Natural sunshine is provided by external mirrors. People in this habitat don’t have to worry about their agricultural crops. They are taken care by the outer space under perfect weather. There’s no need of automobiles since the habitat is small. Typical transportation means may be bicycle or simply by walking.
Link: http://www.futurehi.net/archives/000085.html
Life on The Moon:
This article is an outline of an expecting life on the Moon. This outline introduces to readers several aspects of a space habitat from construction to politics and economics.
Construction: This is the fundamental job upon reaching the Moon. A group of construction workers as well as scientists and engineers will first transported to the Moon and complete tasks such as building scientific research complexes, manufacturing complexes and so on.
Space farming: There are 2 types of farming. The first type will be hydroponics, farms that grow anything, which are adaptable to water and without soil. The second type will be dirt farming. Most of the dirt will come from the Moon or from non-metallic asteroids. The soil will be well-prepared by sterilizing as well as by adding some beneficial bacteria and earthworms. As a result, farmers will no longer worry about their crops being damaged by insects, bacteria, viruses, or fungus. Also, the advantage of artificial weather on the Moon will increase the product yield. The first animals to be commercially raised for food will be fish shrimp and the first land animals will be chickens.
Tourism: Tourist when travelling from Earth to Moon will experience zero gravity as well as weightless sightseeing orbits around the Earth. Then they will be guided through the Moon colony.
Asteroid mining-Colony expansion: Construction materials can be collected from space objects such as dust particles or large comets that are orbiting around the Earth. Also, big objects can be used to expand the Moon habitat, i.e. developing a new habitat within the objects. Interestingly, various materials contained in the object will be turned into volcanoes, mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans and so on.
Space based manufacturing: Main products will be produced in the low gravity and high vacuum environment. One possible product is ultra pure material.
Space living: More and more people will choose the Moon as their home due to its superior condition over the Earth. This depopulation effect will turn the Earth into a place for vacation and historic travel destination for future generation.