Study finds surprising link between the Moon and methane leaks in the Arctic
Researchers from Norway discover that the Moon's tides influence the release of methane from the ocean floor.
21 December, 2020
Credit: dbvirago/Adobe Stock
- Sensitive instruments reveal methane beneath the Arctic Ocean for the first time.
- The gas is released in cycles that correspond to the tides.
- Rising warming oceans may help to contain the greenhouse gas.
<p>It's a rhythm that preceded our presence on Earth: The moon's inexorable push and pull on our planet's oceans. According to researchers at University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway, it turns out that the moon does more than move the tides—it also controls the release of methane into the atmosphere from below the Arctic Ocean. There's no reason to think it's not true in other seas as well.</p><p>This is yet another example of the complexity of global warming, methane being the other major greenhouse gas. All sorts of things are involved in keeping the environment in balance that one would never expect, like the moon. The study points out that it's not all bad news, however, since as the oceans rise they may help the moon in controlling methane's release.</p><p>The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18899-3#article-info" target="_blank">Nature Communications</a>.</p>
Tidal methane
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDk4NDU4OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MzMxNTkwNX0.dbRoA5swH03DwULPTFLuq15OBPcsrjShpyj_9vI9c6k/img.jpg?width=980" id="f0ff9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="81ddbfa5e3fca1229593d48478bd1223" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2048" data-height="1159" />Screenshot of visualization from researchers' data
Credit: Andreia Plaza Faverola
<p> <a href="https://www.edf.org/climate/methane-other-important-greenhouse-gas" target="_blank">Methane</a> often takes second billing to carbon dioxide in discussions of climate change, likely because it dissipates much more quickly. However, its warming effect is actually far more intense that CO<sup>2</sup>'s — it is 84 times more potent. Methane makes up about 25 percent of our greenhouse gases. </p><p> <a href="https://cage.uit.no/2020/12/11/the-moon-controls-the-release-of-methane-in-arctic-ocean/" target="_blank">Says</a> co-author of the study <a href="https://cage.uit.no/employee/andreia-plaza-faverola/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Andreia Plaza Faverola</a>, "We noticed that gas accumulations, which are in the sediments within a meter from the seafloor, are vulnerable to even slight pressure changes in the water column. Low tide means less of such hydrostatic pressure and higher intensity of methane release. High tide equals high pressure and lower intensity of the release." </p><p> This phenomenon has not been previously observed. While significant gas hydrate concentrations have been sampled in the area, no methane release had been documented. "It is the first time that this observation has been made in the Arctic Ocean," says co-author <a href="https://cage.uit.no/employee/jochen-knies/" target="_blank">Jochen Knies</a>. "It means that slight pressure changes can release significant amounts of methane. This is a game-changer and the highest impact of the study." </p>Detecting the tidal story
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDk4NDYwMS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2ODI5OTI0OH0.vfKQ8xqksfRHMaE9FqemZc3s-mZ-kBCHkltGBRT8V_E/img.png?width=980" id="8a168" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a6c69a000368a89bce0ca7b11bab3b77" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2048" data-height="1251" />Screenshot from video of piezometer out of the water
Credit: Przemyslaw Domel
<p>The researchers buried a tool called a piezometer in the sediment on the ocean floor, and left it in place for four days. During that time, the instrument made hourly measurements of pressure and temperature in the sediments, and these indicated the presence of methane close to the sea floor, increasing at low tide and decreasing at high tide.</p><p>Their first notable observation was, of course, the presence of the gas on the Arctic Ocean floor despite a lack of other more visible indicators of its presence. "This tells us that gas release from the seafloor is more widespread than we can see using traditional sonar surveys," says Plaza Faverola. "We saw no bubbles or columns of gas in the water." She credits the watchful presence of the piezometer for making the discovery: "Gas burps that have a periodicity of several hours won't be identified unless there is a permanent monitoring tool in place, such as the piezometer."</p><p>Enthuses Knies, "What we found was unexpected and the implications are big. This is a deep-water site. Small changes in pressure can increase the gas emissions but the methane will still stay in the ocean due to the water depth."</p><p>Of course, not all the Earth's waters are equally deep, and there may not be enough water weight in some places to contain the methane below. "But what happens in shallower sites?" asks Knies. "This approach needs to be done in shallow Arctic waters as well, over a longer period. In shallow water, the possibility that methane will reach the atmosphere is greater."</p>The weight of water
<p>The basic mechanics at play are simple. Higher tides mean more water pressing down on the methane, and this increased pressure keeps it from rising away from the sea floor. Low tide means less water, less pressure, and a greater opportunity for the methane to escape.</p><p>The researchers note in their study that this simple relationship may actually offer a silver lining to the rising of the world's ocean as the planet cools. There will be more water, and thus more pressure to keep methane from escaping up and into the atmosphere. In essence, higher sea levels may have something of a cooling effect by keeping methane out of the atmosphere.</p><p>In the end, there's not much we can do about the Moon and its tides, but the more knowledge we have of the mechanisms behind climate change the better.</p><p>As Plaza Faverola puts it:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Earth systems are interconnected in ways that we are still deciphering, and our study reveals one of such interconnections in the Arctic: The moon causes tidal forces, the tides generate pressure changes, and bottom currents that in turn shape the seafloor and impact submarine methane emissions. Fascinating!"</p>
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Scientists discover why fish evolved limbs and left water
Researchers find a key clue to the evolution of bony fish and tetrapods.
27 October, 2020
Credit: Karen Carr © The Field Museum
- A new study says solar and lunar tide impacts led to the evolution of bony fish and tetrapods.
- The scientists show that tides created tidal pools, stranding fish and forcing them to get out of the water.
- The researchers ran computer simulations to get their results.
<p>Tides influenced by the sun and the moon were likely the reason why fish developed limbs and early tetrapods evolved, found new research.</p><p>The groundbreaking study took a look at tides during the Late Silurian—Devonian periods, which happened between 420 million years ago and 380 million years ago.</p><p>The scientists built their work on the theory that the Moon's mass and specific location along its orbit can greatly affect vast tidal ranges across Earth and can create tidal pools. Because they are isolated from each other, the pools provided the biological motivation for fish stranded by high tides to eventually grow limbs. </p>
<p>The study involved researchers from UK's Bangor University and Oxford University as well as Uppsala University in Sweden. They devised very detailed numerical simulations that proved the existence of large tides during the period they studied. They are first to tie tidal hydrodynamics to an evolutionary biological event, states the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-10-23-large-tides-may-have-been-key-factor-evolution-bony-fish-and-tetrapods" target="_blank">press release</a> from the University of Oxford.</p><p>To come up with the simulations, the scientists employed <em>paleogeography</em>, the study of historical geography, to reconstruct the Earth's continents within the numerical model. The calculations showed tides over four meters happening around the South China block. That area holds the known origin site of the earliest bony fish we know and has been a treasure-trove of the earliest fossils of that nature. Geological evidence also supports changes in tides to be lined to these fossils.</p>
Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the Tides
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9913a65f847775722d7c23d40d78938b"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dBwNadry-TU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Large tidal ranges could have fostered both the evolution of air-breathing organs in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteichthyes" target="_blank">osteichthyans</a> to facilitate breathing in oxygen-depleted tidal pools, and the development of weight-bearing tetrapod limbs to aid navigation within the intertidal zones," states the paper.</p><p>The researchers believe further tidal simulations from early Earth can be used to recreate that far past with greater detail. The findings can help us understand more what roles tides played in diversifying early vertebrates or in causing extinction events. </p><p>Check out the study published in <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.2020.0355" target="_blank"><em>Proceedings of the Royal Society A</em>.</a></p>
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NASA finds water on sunlit moon surface for first time
Water may be far more abundant on the lunar surface than previously thought.
26 October, 2020
Credit: Helen_f via AdobeStock
- Scientists have long thought that water exists on the lunar surface, but it wasn't until 2018 that ice was first discovered on the moon.
- A study published Monday used NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy to confirm the presence of molecular water..
- A second study suggests that shadowy regions on the lunar surface may also contain more ice than previously thought.
<p>For the first time, scientists have confirmed the presence of water on the sunlit surface of the moon, a discovery with major implications for future moon missions and deep-space exploration.<br></p><p>Since the 1990s, a series of observations have suggested the moon harbors ice, but scientists haven't been able to confirm whether the data was signaling the presence of water (H2O) or a chemical relative called hydroxyl, which is oxygen bonded with hydrogen. In 2018, scientists confirmed that water — in the form of ice — exists in the moon's polar regions.</p><p>Now, a new study confirms that water — not just hydroxyl — exists on sunlit surfaces of the moon.</p>
<div id="cb890" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d95c457262cfa66e224aca4beb5b6646"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1320781145274023936" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">💦🌚 Water molecules were found in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth on the Moon! This di… https://t.co/LYvkYXSTf5</div> — NASA (@NASA)<a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/statuses/1320781145274023936">1603733738.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Publishing their findings in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01222-x#_blank" target="_blank">Nature Astronomy</a> on Monday, researchers examined the lunar surface using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). This airborne observatory is mounted on a customized Boeing 747 that flies at an altitude of about 45,000 feet. That's high enough to rise above Earth's lower atmosphere, which contains water vapor that prevents land-based observatories from getting a clear view of the moon.</p><p>Using SOFIA, the team took a close look at two sites near, one near the lunar equator and another near the Clavius crater, one of the largest craters on the moon. The researchers observed light signals that could only have come from molecular water.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon," Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Now we know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration."</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU5Mjc1NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTM3NjgwMX0.V2wdEbmO-vtCKHZBwEZSZ8MuTHK2nqsdXiMmlVdqJvI/img.jpg?width=980" id="91fc0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="49bb9834168431bbe3e90f94bf406ef6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="\u200bSOFIA" data-width="985" data-height="985" />
SOFIA
Credits: NASA/Daniel Rutter
<p>Still, it's not as if the moon is dripping wet. The observations suggest that a cubic meter of the lunar surface (in the Clavius crater site, at least) contains water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million. That's roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water. In comparison, the same plot of land in the Sahara desert contains about 100 times more water.</p><p>But a second study suggests other parts of the lunar surface also contain water — and potentially lots of it. Also publishing their findings in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1198-9#_blank" target="_blank">Nature Astronomy</a> on Monday, the researchers used the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to study "cold traps" near the moon's polar regions. These areas of the lunar surface are permanently covered in shadows. In fact, about 0.15 percent of the lunar surface is permanently shadowed, and it's here that water could remain frozen for millions of years.</p><p>Some of these permanently shadowed regions are huge, extending more than a kilometer wide. But others span just 1 cm. These smaller "micro cold traps" are much more abundant than previously thought, and they're spread out across more regions of the lunar surface, according to the new research.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU5Mjg1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzQwMTAwMH0.6U64krUfr-q_vJ8NnsCC0GCtK0xOd_ISbXlDE_HFe8A/img.jpg?width=980" id="9082a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="96852009b1c39242c3baaf2149613982" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="5760" data-height="1920" />
Credit: dottedyeti via AdobeStock
<p>Still, the second study didn't confirm that ice is embedded in micro cold traps. But if there is, it would mean that water would be much more accessible to astronauts, considering they wouldn't have to travel into deep, shadowy craters to extract water.</p><p>Greater accessibility to water would not only make it easier for astronauts to get drinking water, but could also enable them to generate rocket fuel and power.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Water is a valuable resource, for both scientific purposes and for use by our explorers," said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist in the advanced exploration systems division for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, in a statement. "If we can use the resources at the Moon, then we can carry less water and more equipment to help enable new scientific discoveries."</p>
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Scientists may have solved the mystery of how the moon was magnetized
New research explains why the Moon's crust is magnetized by debunking one long-standing theory.
12 October, 2020
Credit: Science Advances, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb1475
<ul class="ee-ul"></ul>
<p>The mystery of how the Moon got a magnetic field and what happened to it has baffled scientists for decades. New research explains why the Moon's crust is magnetized by debunking one long-standing theory.</p><p>While the Moon doesn't currently have a global magnetic field, analysis of rocks gathered by Apollo astronauts suggested that it used to be strongly magnetized about 3.56 to 4.25 billion years ago. As some of the rocks were magnetic, scientists estimated that parts of the lunar crust still exhibit traces of magnetization for hundreds of miles. </p><p>The new study's co-author, Australian researcher Dr. Katarina Miljkovic, from the Curtin Space Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University, sees their work as a continuation of efforts by previous scientists:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"There are two long term hypotheses associated with why the Moon's crust might be magnetic: One is that the magnetisation is the result of an ancient dynamo in the lunar core, and the other is that it's the result of an amplification of the interplanetary magnetic field, created by meteoroid impacts," Dr. Miljkovic shared in a <a href="https://news.curtin.edu.au/media-releases/moons-magnetic-crust-research-sees-scientists-debunk-long-held-theory/" target="_blank">press release.</a></p>
<p>The research her team carried out is a "deep numerical study" that looks at the theory that the magnetization is influenced by impacts and essentially disproves it. Dr. Miljkovic says the collisions were not responsible because they "found that meteoroid impact plasmas interact much more weakly with the Moon compared to the magnetisation levels obtained from the lunar crust." As such, the scientists concluded that the core dynamo is the "the only plausible source of the magnetisation of the Moon's crust."</p><p>Dr. Miljkovic's research involved calculating the mass and thermal energy of the vapor generated during violent impacts about 4 billion years ago, as evidenced by the craters we can see just by looking up at night.</p>
Moon mission 2.0: What humanity will learn by going back to the Moon | Michelle Thaller | Big Think
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c97eca7a853afe3bcf42f075bd85b43c"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4vAiCSTV9lQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p><span style="background-color: initial;">Dr. Rona Oran, </span><span style="background-color: initial;">the lead researcher of the study, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said that modern computing power allowed them to run impact and plasma simulations that were previously impossible to carry out. This also allowed them to rule out ideas.</span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"In addition to the Moon, Mercury, some meteorites, and other small planetary bodies all have a magnetic crust," <a href="https://news.curtin.edu.au/media-releases/moons-magnetic-crust-research-sees-scientists-debunk-long-held-theory/" target="_blank">stated Dr. Oran.</a> "Perhaps other equivalent mechanical dynamo mechanisms, such as those we now believe to have been in operation on the Moon, could have been in effect on these objects as well."</p><p>Check out the study published by <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/40/eabb1475" target="_blank">Science Advances.</a></p>
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Urban planning in space: 3 off-world designs for future cities
The future of cities on the Moon, Mars and orbital habitats.
08 October, 2020
Wikimedia Commons | Source: NASA Ames Research Centre
- In the 1970s NASA published an extensive book on urban planning in space.
- Acclaimed architectural and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) designed a conceptual plan for the first permanent settlement for human life on the moon.
- An MIT team developed a concept for the first sustainable cities on Mars to be built in the next century.
<p>One day humanity will again step foot on other worlds. When that day comes we will need to build new cities in these places. Where we go, our cities go. The urban form follows us like a civilizational shadow. </p><p>In order to house our post-terrestrial bound culture, we'll first need to layout the new order of our settlements. There are three prime candidate planets and places in space that may be the first to house our founding space pioneers. </p><p>These are the Moon, Mars, and orbital habitats around Earth. </p><p>Major governmental space agencies, engineering firms and even urban planning groups have already seriously considered the prospect of space colonization.<span></span></p>
<p>In 1977 NASA published "<a href="https://archive.org/details/SpaceSettlementsADesignStudy1977/page/n1/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Space Settlements: A Design Study.</a>" This extensive 155-page book essentially contains a city planning policy guide on the future of cities and urban planning in space. The book focuses exclusively on orbital civilian habitats – the type that would revolve and settle in <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/754/what-is-a-lagrange-point/" target="_blank">Lagrange Points</a> around Earth. </p><p>"Space Settlements" covers everything it can think of, from the psychology of its inhabitants, rocket landing areas, and zoning land-use to the barebones of oxygen production. Even with such depth the book still covers only a small portion of the challenges facing space colonization. </p><p>The sheer scale of genius needed for this feat will keep us busy down here for years. </p><p>Yet, urbanists would be happy to hear that the plan advocates for communities that are walkable, transit-oriented, dense and inclusive. This list checks off a fair bit of principles modern urban planners abide by. </p><p>The book's authors even took the time to think about the notion of the first extraterrestrial pioneers' budding culture:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><em>The first extraterrestrial communities may not be purely American if the United States is no longer a major world power or a major technological center by the time the first extraterrestrial community is established. If the United States remains a major world power, many nations including nonwestern nations and African nations could be highly technological and want to participate, so that the first extraterrestrial community may be international.</em></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"><em>The present technological nations are not necessarily advantaged, because the technology they possess is "Earth-bound" in addition to being culture-bound. They may have first to unlearn the forms, the assumptions and the habits of the Earth-bound technology before learning the new forms and assumptions of technology useful in extraterrestrial communities.</em></p><p>Moon culture evolution, confirmed. The thought of new cultures developing in the newly forged lunar cities and floating metropolis colonies would be a testament to our accomplishment.</p>
Building a city on the Moon
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ3NDMxNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDMxODkxOH0.Xi6ec1PTCdUYZ177T6GCjnj-OI7ZuhAIm6-DCiyaBUk/img.jpg?width=980" id="bba0a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eb63644f2a550aec5a72ae547bc59fca" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="800" data-height="509" />Wikimedia Commons | Source: NASA Ames Research Centre
<p>What would it take to build a full scale city on the moon? Skidmore, Owings & Merrill recently threw their hat in the proverbial moon ring.</p> <p>In partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), SOM presented a conceptual design for their "Moon Village." In a press statement, Design Partner Colin Koop talked about the new challenges needed for architectural design in space.</p> <p>"The project presents a completely new challenge for the field of architectural design. The Moon Village must be able to sustain human life in an otherwise uninhabitable setting. We have to consider problems that no one would think about on Earth, like radiation protection, pressure differentials, and how to provide breathable air."</p> <p>Masterplanning, designing and engineering the imagined settlement, SOM imagines are cross-disciplinary collaboration and an entirely new way to approach the space industry's most complex problems. </p> <ul><li>The Moon Village is imagined on the edge rim of the Shackleton Crater near the South Pole.</li><li>This area was selected because it receives near continuous daylight throughout the whole lunar year. </li><li>Overall development plans were envisioned in three distinct phases to set up infrastructure, resources and habitable structures. </li></ul> <p>The Moon Village would sustain its energy from direct sunlight and set up food generation and life-sustaining elements through in situ resource utilization by tapping into the Moon's natural resources. Water extracted from the depressions near the South Pole would create breathable air and rocket propellants to support the burgeoning industry in the town. By being near the South Pole, the town would have direct access to the crater's water-ice deposits.</p> <p>As for habitats for lunarites to live in, there would be individual pressurized modules which are inflatable, giving residents the flexibility to increase their living space when needed. </p> <p>Most buildings would be three to four story structures that would serve as a combined workspace, living quarter and have the necessary environmental and life support systems integrated into each one. </p> <p>The Moon Village was created for the ESA's reflection of future exploration beyond 2050 in partnership with NASA's strategic plan to "extend human presence deeper into space and to the Moon for sustainable long term exploration and utilization." </p> <p>A pioneer Moon Village could set in stone the first opportunity to permanently inhabit the moon, spur research and explorations and serve as a gateway to the rest of the solar system and beyond. </p>Designing cities in Space Colonies
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ3NDMyMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzcyNDc3Nn0.bT4IDOLBQp4Udt3yVnkRVGWo-iVLNLw9sAM1rXaBiVM/img.jpg?width=980" id="3b518" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="170a0a6a3f8cb47e1dd3adffa3c3bf7f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="5718" data-height="4525" />Wikimedia Commons | Source: NASA Ames Research Centre
<p>Such ring habitats have been a common sight in science fiction for years, from Halo's massive ring worlds to Neuromancer's Tessier-Ashpool floating Freeside. But physicists have known for quite some time that they're actually possible to build. When space becomes more accessible, these would be the first contenders for habitation.</p><p>In NASA's "Space Settlements" study, researchers dedicated a few chapters on basic comprehensive plans, which is a deep dive into how much space would be needed for residential housing, schools and other land uses combined with transportation and other infrastructure. As for transportation, the book again goes into detail: </p><p>"Because of the relatively high population density (15,000 people/km2) in the community, most of the circulation is pedestrian, with one major mass transport system (a moving sidewalk, monorail, and minibus) connecting different residential areas in the same colony."</p><p>These floating cylinders with artificial gravity would survive by creating from the natural resources of outer space. Again in the 1970s Princeton physicist Gerald K O'Neill laid out compelling studies where he envisioned 100,000-person colonies, stationed at what is known as the fifth Lagrangian libration point (L5) in the moon's orbit. </p><p>"It is orthodox to believe that Earth is the only practical habitat for Man, but we can build new habitats far more comfortable, productive and attractive than is most of Earth," he wrote in Physics Today in 1974.</p><p>He was interested in building alternative human habitats that were both beyond Earth and beyond a planetary body. Out of this was conceived the idea of a giant rotating spaceship, which could support a biosphere and house up to 10 million people.</p>Planning the first cities on Mars
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ3NDMyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODM5MDM5MX0.Z98AD3Wu9guYDb-Ex7RhcIoyI0dHzi4FCi-NY2uL3Ro/img.jpg?width=980" id="0eb6d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e7e09f128673a24454bc8e0526ff1ec6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="776" data-height="600" />Wikimedia Commons | Source: NASA Ames Research Centre
<p>In 2017, an MIT team developed a design for a settlement that won the Mars City Design competition. MIT's winning urban plan, titled Redwood forest, proposed to create domes or tree habitats that would house up to 50 people each. The domes provided residents with open public spaces containing vegetation and water, which would be harvested from deep in the Martian northern plains.</p><p>The tree habitats would be connected on top of a network of tunnels, or roots, providing transportation and access to both public and private spaces between other inhabitants of this proposed 10,000 strong community. Advanced technology such as artificial light inside these pods could strongly mimic the sight of natural sunlight.</p><p>MIT postdoc Valentina Sumini who led the interdisciplinary team, described the project's design fundamentals and elaborated on the project's poetic forest metaphor: </p><p>"On Mars, our city will physically and functionally mimic a forest, using local Martian resources such as ice and water, regolith (or soil), and sun to support life. Designing a forest also symbolizes the potential for outward growth as nature spreads across the Martian landscape. Each tree habitat incorporates a branching structural system and an inflated membrane enclosure, anchored by tunneling roots. </p><p>The design of a habitat can be generated using a computational form-finding and structural optimization workflow developed by the team. The design workflow is parametric, which means that each habitat is unique and contributes to a diverse forest of urban spaces."</p><p>The team aims to build a comfortable environment and architecture that focuses on the fundamental and critical aspect of sustainability, a baseline component needed for any Mars or offworld city. </p><p>On the entirety of the system, System Design Management Fellow George Lordos summed up the functionality by explaining the holistic and connected system they imagined. </p><p>"Every tree habitat in Redwood Forest will collect energy from the sun and use it to process and transport the water throughout the tree, and every tree is designed as a water-rich environment. Water fills the soft cells inside the dome providing protection from radiation, helps manage heat loads, and supplies hydroponic farms for growing fish and greens. Solar panels produce energy to split the stored water for the production of rocket fuel, oxygen, and for charging hydrogen fuel cells, which are necessary to power long-range vehicles as well as provide backup energy storage in case of dust storms."</p><p><em>Mike Colagrossi is the founder of </em><a href="https://alchemistcity.com/?utm_source=bigthink&utm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=space-colonies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Alchemist City,</em></a><em> the most thought-provoking urban development and technology email newsletter. </em><a href="https://alchemistcity.com/?utm_source=bigthink&utm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=space-colonies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Sign up</em></a><em> to stay up to date.</em></p>
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