Near Term Space Colonization 

Sign the New Horizons Petition: chng.it/DPQ6cSWGk8

I hope I live long enough to see us at least put a few colonies on the Moon and Mars

Give me a Single ship, a fusion motor, and a planet to steer by.

NGL despite the channel focus on futurism, I'm a larger fan of near-term stuff that I might possibly see a small part of before I die.

Running our space industry from the Moon or Enceladus would be ideal--the biggest hurdle to that is building up the outlay. You pay an enormous cost once--but that enormous cost, if the mission is successful, covers all your space needs for decades, maybe even centuries. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me🙂

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” -Douglas Adams

I am 64 and hope to see a Lunar colony at minimum, preferably a Mars colony as well. But, I would really like to see a manned mission land on a astroid or two before I go. Not likely I know but one can hope. Thank you and be safe.

Submarines are the closest equivalent we have to a large spaceship. We will definitely be talking to those people for ideas

The thing about spreading out into the solar system soon is not so much that it protects against near-term threats, but rather that there seems to be a window of opportunity to do it _soon_ -- for protection in the long term -- and we don't know when the window of opportunity may be closed ... by whatever sort of local calamity.

You mentioned one of my alltime favourite shows - Planetes. You casted a smile on my face, spacewizzard.

"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of..." "This is Tosche Station's tower control, your docking request is denied." "COME ON!"

Speaking of redirecting asteroids, my mother actually worked on the DART program, when we redirected that asteroid last year

Yet another wonderfully upbeat and informed video on our potential future. I hope I live long enough to see this and more become a reality. Fantastic work Isaac.

One thing that is commonly ignored in the discussion of sourcing rocket fuel in space, is that the metals from regalith can also be used to make high performance solid rocket fuel. Powdered aluminum was used in the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters, and the modern SLS solid rocket boosters. Lunar regalith is ~8-10% aluminum by weight, so this is an easily accessible fuel anywhere on the surface.

I do believe that the fear of losing control over people is the main reason why we are not colonizing our near space yet. It would be a matter of time until any colony would want independency and large powers hate independency.

I have to remind you that there were a whole series of robot landers that soft-landed on the Lunar surface well before humans did. The first was the Soviet lander Luna 9, which returned pictures (leading to a bit of a political row between the USSR, which sent the probe, and the UK, which had one of the few receiving stations capable of recovering the returned data, causing the USSR to claim the data was stolen when the UK published the pictures first). This was followed by multiple US Surveyor missions, as well as further Soviet Luna missions that soft landed. It is extremely unlikely that there will ever be any body where humans land that isn't first scouted by robot landers. The information these return about the environment is far to important for risk control of human landings to not get.

i so enjoying watching your videos, me and a few of my friends watch you then sit and talk about them. thank you for all that you do

"..keep busts of Robespierre and Saint Just in their offices..." Good line! That caught me off guard

Venus also has all that heat in the atmosphere as a power source. That is a strong tempeture differencial. Heat engine, thermo-electric coupling, heck, a blimp that is painted white, a tube hanging from it, its out side is isolative, the inside conducts heat to the blimp, heat inside cools, sinks, thus drives a turbine. The Bonus? This makes the cooling aspect of terraforming pay for itself.

This came out just in time for the early release version of Starfield! I pre-ordered it so I can play it September 1. It is quite interesting living in a time where we are seeing the very beginnings of early space colonization with programs like Artemis and also seeing the kinds of things people imagine our future in space can be like. Excited either way!

I love these videos. Keeps me from losing hope

Isaac surrounds himself with people that love space and that is great! But simply saying space is extremely popular among the general public is not accurate as he does early in this piece. I wish Isaac would do more of a deep dive into the history of space exploration funding as it relates to things like near term colonization and exploration. I know this channel prides itself in it's futurism but grounding itself in the history of humanity moving to space will only let the channel fly to new heights. Maybe that would be more of a Nebula exclusive but I regard it more as a public service type of content than futurism speculation and would fit well in the public space of RU-vid.

One of Isaac's best videos in my opinion! Lots of great (and pragmatic) insights on Space Policy in the cost and bureaucracy sections.

I just signed the petition. Thank you for bringing awareness to what New Horizons is facing. Hoping for the best and new science!

Notification squad!!

Thanks Isaac, for such a realistic perspective drawn out in this episode. We need spaceship yards and the likes, not terraformed third grade planets

One of the reasons for space colonisation would be people wanting/having to get away from people they dont like.

Wow... your videos are probably the most thought provoking on RU-vid. Thank you for the work you're putting in.

I hope we see videos on all these topics in the future. All of them seem increasingly relevant as space development starts taking off.

Always looking forward to your content. Great stuff.

Oh I love the audio level being a little bit lower! Thank you so much

Thank you for the Williamson story reference; this is why I love your work!

I hope this channel grows and stays around a long time. I'm sick with Covid and am having the worst time sleeping. This is fascinating and relaxing enough to distract me from being cranky and ill. ❤

You have the best accent ever, makes the videos genuinely better.

A lunar manufacturing facility makes sense. Imagine producing space colony base modules for orbital insertion as an intact colony from lunar orbit, then once complete sending the colony to Mars, Venus, etc. as a finished and fully stocked package. A crew then travels with only that needed for the trip to the colony, to a ready and fully stocked colony facility once the colony is safely in orbit at the destination. This would reduce costs, increase safety, and allow more rapid colonization with larger colony facilities as there would be no issues with launching the entire payload and facility through Earth's atmosphere or gravity well. Instead of a minimally shielded tiny facility the size of a bus for a crew of a half dozen, we could send facilities with everything required to maintain a sustainable colony for up to 100 or more people including heavy radiation / impact shielding and artificial gravity habitats that include agricultural / hydroponics perhaps even manufacturing capabilities. One or more of these colony in box facilities could also be placed in Earth orbit as a very profitable space hotel for the rich, an orbital travel hub once orbital planes become the norm for high speed transcontinental travel, or as a replacement for current science / military stations like we have presently. These could also be tailored to manufacturing micro gravity products, or high G products, for all kinds of applications as well. Though these would likely be more advantageous in locations other than Earth orbit in this case. A lunar facility WILL pay for itself in the long run for those bold enough to risk the upfront capital investment to build it.

You make awesome videos, Man

👍 I think a robot rover from USSR was on the moon just before the humans. :) Not sure if that counts, but we always seem to land robots first. Lagrange point dust for earth cooling is interesting!

SFIA. How many times have I used you to win an argument with my pro ancient astronaut coworkers... Its almost not fair.

One of my favorite things about the Battletech Universe is that it points out the reality that once we are not limited to one let alone dozens of garden worlds we are much more likely to wage war on ourselves. After all there is always another planet even if we nuke this particular one to a cinder.

22:00 Small correction: there were robots on the moon before humans. The Lunokhod missions.

0:07 "- EVERY JOHNNY HAS TO START SOMEWHERE ! - I couldn't agree more" ~ Johnny

Fascinating. Thank you. 😊

Thank you for your work.

"Isaac Arthur. 1 hour ago" is always a welcoming sight.

Aw man all those topics are awesome. I hope they all get done

11:25; 'Nobody wants fifty (50!) different space agencies...' Given the vastness of the local stellar neighborhood and everything... that would seem very impractical, yet likely probable. ❤

1492 to 1776 - almost 300 years - seems like a reasonable estimate for the amount of time before independent nations start emerging from space colonies. The key insight here is that no nation is going to spend a lot of resources building a colony specifically to place beyond their own control. Also, that's only about ten human generations, so the genetic engineering to create viable colonists with zero-gee and radiation tolerance will probably take at least that long to develop into a population big enough for viable long-term colonies.

Fantastic episode

Great episode

Looking forward to all of our Lagrange points filling up with O'Neill cylinders.

"Have Space Suit, Will Travel!" My favorite topic referenced by one of my favorite sci-fi novels of all time.

This subject is pure gold : )

So happy you watched planetes. Great fun, some anime silliness and respect for the topic.

WWII UK Sunderlands will serve as optimal ergonomic layouts for Light Space Ships; US Catalinas for even lighter ones; standard Mustang and Mosquito seats for one and two person ships.

Planetes is so good, I'm glad you finally watched it.

This is far more interesting to me than all the pie-in-the-sky stuff. This is real.

Thank you for the macro views of our exciting future ❤

I'd like to make a topic recommendation. When discussing solar sails too many people don't understand orbital mechanics and how one transfers between orbits and bodies. They seem to think that solar sails can only be used to accelerate away from the sun, or other source of light, when really they are used to increase, *_OR DECREASE,_* orbital velocity depending on which direction the light is reflected. If the light is reflected forward in the direction of orbital motion the sail will slow down the craft's orbital velocity moving it's orbit inward closer to the sun. Reflected backward it would increase orbital velocity moving it's orbit outward. This is how all movement within a gravity well works until one reaches escape velocity. I think if you could cover this, even if just a short aside within another topic, it would clear up some confusion for many.

Oregon trail reference made this one an instant classic.

Awsome...as allways

Topical video for Starfield's upcoming release

Those first colonists on the Moon or Mars will have to be absolutely fearless.

30:48 Elated you watched _Planetes_ at last! Hope it was well worth your time! Not gonna lie, I've been hoping you'd check it out for a good five years now, especially after the Space Debris episodes :D All the best, as always!

you mentioned PLANETES!!!!! AAAAAAAAAA i love it and i am so glad you know about it!!!!!

There was a David Brin book about a guy who worked collecting space junk. I've often that instead of burning up boosters and space stations, send them to L4 where a space based Sanford and Sons recycles metals, solar panels and electronics

I had a thought about near term space that might be very soon. -If that Space Hotel or something similar gets built, shooting sceens for movies in real zero-g would be awesome. And those guys already pay stupid amounts of money to shoot scenes.

22:25 Phobos's orbit will need to be tweaked a bit first as it's scheduled to crash into Mars in a few million years.

Where do you get all these beautiful space videos?

It's a sad day when you've watched so much SFIA that the you can imagine all of the videos the poll offers.

Hey Isaac. Could you use a solar system sized "gauss rifle" type of ringed orbitals in a kind of spiral formation to accelerate ships fast enough to make long distance journeys without acceleration being too fast as to harm life on board?

This is my personal favorite theme music for the show. Ethereal and...otherworldly.

The future where the DoT certifies the safety rating of spacesuits like they do on today's motorcycle helmets is one specific bureaucracy stuff I can get hyped on despite the boring paperwork.

Hey I just wanted to tell you I first heard of Alistair Reynolds on your channel and I've now listened to the entire revelation space series and I'm working on revenger now. Thanks for the excellent recommendation

Our biggest problem isn't getting TO another planet...it's safely landing and taking off again and getting all the back that's troublesome

Love watching your video from sfia I recommend battle ship yamito engine dub if you haven't had it mentioned before 🎉🎉

If you get a chance, read the Manga of Planetes too. It is far less silly and more focused on hard sci fi.

Have signed petition. The dangerous and expensive bit of the mission was building and launching it. Stopping doing the planned science now the spacecraft is actually in space is like building skyscraper foundations, and then changing your mind and building a shack on top of them.

Part of the first hundred peeps to view this video! Thanks for all the fun Arthur!

The thing with space hotels is that it will require people to work there which will likely result in alot of young people get a job up there for a year allowing poorer people to experience space as well

I have come to love Isaac Arthurs humor. lol

Therapist: Man with a every single accent spoken at once doesn't exist. Isaac Arthur:

I'm trying to find your video on Phobos and Deimos. Unfortunately, unlike the old days, I can't just search within your videos specifically. Can you put a link in the description? Or are these future videos?

I wonder how far away would a Venus cloud colony

If we build high rise buildings at mcmurdo, and solar radiation then pushes against the North facing side of those buildings, we will cause the earth to slowly change its angle with relation to the Sun.

Very cool

Step one: build an orbital ring, used as a telecommunications hub it should generate trillions in revenue Step two: gold rush, one gold/platinum/iridium rich asteroid would be worth quintillions. This would pay off the ring and much more A mad reckless scramble for gold can move entire civilizations, after that its easy sailing could be an interstellar civilization within a few centuries

Awesome. was about to sleep but Now I Ain't. This Look Interesting!

Let's go!

Colonizing the moon first is like colonizing greenland first because it's closer to europe. Mars has all the resources we need for an independent civilization and it's only 6 months away with current technology. Mars is the first step to becoming an interstellar civilization.

For clearing space debris, in LEO, grab a chunk, throw it down towards Earth, floating up by that action. In higher orbit, grab a chunk and throw it up, floating down by that action. Repeat.

Our view of space debris needs to change. It is an in situ resource to be salvaged into resources for building early LEO infrastructure. It cost tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram to get most of it there, so why just toss it back to burn up in the atmosphere? Catch the junk, melt down the metal and use in orbit to build struts and panels for new LEO stations, habitats, and frames for future orbital solar panels. Waste not, want not.

One thing I've never understood when it comes to mining asteroids for precious metals etc. The reason they are expensive is because they are rare, if they aren't rare, then won't be valuable?

Mars could be a major industrial hub for the Outer Solar System, and a stopover point for ships.

What? We go through an asteroid belt twice a year that has kilometre sized pieces in it. That is far more dangerous than ourselves to our prolonged existence

SFIA needs a designated AI assisted artist to replace some of these old, over used clips. Real gorgeous stuff coming out of mid journey and you could make it into videos with other AI programs

At the highest level, to thrive in space, it seems to me that we need something like a 10x, to 1000x, increase in productivity. The only option for that requires computers.

Detonating an asteroid at L1 would be pretty silly, if you ask me. At the best, short sighted. Cool idea for an SF story, though.

I was distracted at 24:40 and could have sworn you said it made the grand canyon look like a bitch and was so surprised lol

The one that always got me was the idiots that go on and on about us ruining the pristine environment of hard vacuum.

Remove all water from earth and we'd give mars's mountains and canyons a run for its money