Design of the Colony Assignment | Online Homework Help

The goal of this exercise is to specify the properties of a large space colony to be purchased by a consortium of very wealthy individuals. You are the spokesperson (or leader) of this consortium and need to ensure that the colony you buy is configured such that all your needs—physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual—are met. In the future, substantial numbers of humans may be living permanently in space. These people will inhabit very large structures, space colonies, that will need to artificially provide all the natural resources found on Earth. In addition to meeting the physical needs of the human population, the colonies must be equipped to support all the other needs of its inhabitants for them to lead rich and fulfilling lives. Once these colonies become commonplace, then the founders/owners of these colonies will have the opportunity to create new modes for humans to live together, or perhaps to establish a uniform society based on an existing social contract (e.g. a Zen Buddhist Colony). As head of your consortium, you decide to purchase one such colony that will share the Earth’s orbit but on the exact opposite side of the Sun than Earth. That means your colony will never be viewable from Earth (and vice-versa). You will be able to purchase specific modules and constructions depending on your philosophy and governing laws/policies. Decisions regarding the possible modules and customizations will be presented in the second handout

Mark V EcoHabitat

Name

Institutional Affiliations

Question 1

Specifications for the Mark V EcoHabitat I wish to purchase

The colony to be purchased would have a starting population of  5 million people and would have the following specifications.

The population would have a wide range of specialists from various sectors. These specialists are young energetic and educated individuals and middle-aged persons, who are experienced elites, critical thinkers, high quality scientists and individuals with dynamic and diverse opinions. These individuals would be recruited depending on their educational abilities. Education would be made a priority for the young to enable them fit in the population( Albertin et al.) The EcoHabitat would provide business opportunities for the inhabitants. One these opportunities to be eco-tourism. This implies that wilderness  sector would be given much attention so as to advance tourism. The Mark V EcoHabitat would have organized communities and various sectors. This implies that bulkheads would be availed in each of the designed communities, so as to regulate the climate of these sectors.

This population of 5 million people is within a manageable range. Therefore, each occupant  in the colony would have enough space for development, both in education sector and critical thinking. This allows for expansion among the inhabitants. The colony would the population maintained at a given range. This population would therefore have a zero population growth policy. Hence, managing and sustaining basic requirements would be easier. Zero growth rate would be obtained by restricting each family to a maximum of 3 children.

The budget for this colony is as outlined below;

Mark V EcoHabitat                                     $20 D

Air and food pods                                            $4 D

Safety Hatch for Windows                               $1 D

Sun Simulation Mirror                                      $5 D

Spacecraft                                                           $1 D

Farm Animals                                                      $3 D

Wilderness Sector                                                 $3 D

City Sector                                                              $7 D

Suburb Sector                                                          $ 7 D

Manufacturing                                                          $5 D

Total Budget                                                             $56 D

The above budget implies that there is an extra $4 D which can be used in other technological advancement of the colony and other sectors.

Question 2

The colony consist of specialists. This would enable the colony to advance in various fields. Since inter colony transport is available, this will allow interchanging technological advancement with other colonies. Scientists from the colony would therefore have the opportunity to visit other colonies and learn from them, their advancement in different sectors . The solar system range freighter would aid in importing technological ideas to the colony.

Question 3

The colony would be governed by the inhabitants themselves. This colony is made up of specialists with ambitions to develop and advance the technology. They would therefore be the ones to control the colony. This implies that in Mark V EcoHabitat, democratic type of government would prevail. Every inhabitant’s voice would be considered. Insite of being one of the owners of the colony, it would be pleasure to extend power to the colonists, since they are the ones responsible for development of the colony (Ehrlich et al. ). For instance, technological advancements are part of development in the colony.

Question 4

Size of the solar array provided by the Lotus Corporation for the Standard Mark V EcoHabitat

Solution

Solar flux at Earth = 1.36 kWm^-2

Percentage efficiency = 10 %

Calculating 10 % of 1.36 kWm^-2

                                                                ( 10 × 1.36)÷100

= 0.136 kWm^-2

Thirty million people and each person consumes 30 kW

Total consumption = 30,000,000 × 30 kW

= 900,000,000 Kw

0.136 Kw = 1m²

Therefore,  900,000,000 ?           ( 900,000,000 × 1)÷ 0.136

= 6,617,647,058.82 m²

                                    Converting the above answer to square kilometers

(  6,617,647,058.82 × 1)÷ 1000000

= 6,617.647 km²

Size of solar array = 6,617.647 km²

Question 5

Habitat Living Surface Area (HLSA) = 10000 square miles

Population    =   630,000,000 people

Surface population density   630,000,000 ÷ 10,000

630,000 people per square mile.

(1/63000)÷ (63000/63000)

Area per person   =   (1/63000) mi²

Converting to square feet,

442.5144 ft²

Square root of 442.5144 =  21.036 ft

Question 6

630,000,000 × 30 Kw

= 18,900,000,000 Kw

18,900,000,000 ÷ 0.136

= 138,970,588,235.29 m²

Converting to square kilometers

138,970,588,235.29 ÷ 1000000

= 138,970.588 km²

                                               Question 7

The colony has a high population. This makes it not to be suitable for living as the population density per square mile is high. That means people would be congested and this will lower the living conditions. Resources would be depleted with time.

Albertin, C. B., Bonnaud, L., Brown, C. T., Crookes-Goodson, W. J., da Fonseca, R. R., Di Cristo, C., … & Koenig, K. M. (2012). Cephalopod genomics: a plan of strategies and organization. Standards in genomic sciences, 7(1), 175.

Ehrlich, P. R., Harte, J., Harwell, M. A., Raven, P. H., Sagan, C., Woodwell, G. M., … & Eisner, T. (1983). Long-term biological consequences of nuclear war. Science, 222(4630), 1293-1300.