Welcome to the Sunday Paper Club. Every Sunday, this blog will offer an analysis of a paper on space habitation and other related topics. These are my opinions on a weekly scientific paper; basically, I read the paper and write down my thoughts while I read it. They are subject to my perspectives and believes. I am open to debate, so if any reader believes I have misinterpreted something in a paper, please point it out. I'm only a student and I'm still learning how to read these papers and interpret them. All quotes and ideas are from the paper, unless otherwise noted.
This week we are reviewing the paper A Comparative Analysis of Space Colonization Enterprises. I am using a new format based on the Lifehacker article Back to School: Keep an Academic Reading Journal.
Article Information
Title: A Comparative Analysis of Space Colonization Enterprises
Author: Frank D. Drake
Date: 1985
Book: The search for extraterrestrial life: Recent developments; Proceedings of the Symposium, Boston, MA, June 18-21, 1984
Article Overview
The SETI program has been scanning the skies since the early 60’s and we still haven't found any intelligent life outside this solar system. We haven't noticed interstellar conveys moving across space. This lack of an observation casts a shadow of doubt on both extraterrestrial life and interstellar space habitation. This paper explains how the Fermi Paradox disproves the possibility for interplanetary space habitation by presenting the huge leap in energy consumption between an interplanetary civilization and an interstellar civilization.
Key/Interesting Quotes
Space habitation supports have always assumed “that interstellar colonization would be an imperative for technical civilization of out level of achievement.” Page 1
“Typical time scales to [inhabit] a galaxy are of the order of 100 million years or less.” Page 1
“The conflict between the hypothesis that there should be many technical civilizations older than ours and the hypothesis of the inevitability of interstellar colonization is known as the ‘Fermi Paradox’.” Page 1
“Calculations by Newman and Sagan have show that the time required to colonize the entire galaxy in these circumstances is of the order of the age of the galaxy” Page 2
Intelligent species may be “afraid to support a colonization enterprise because they fear that some of their colonies… may turn on them with military force.” Page 2
Regarding using space habitation to relieve overpopulation: “The costs of [interstellar space habitation], compared to the costs of simpler options, are so much greater that even the most technically sophisticated civilization would eschew such an endeavor.” Page 2
“The total amount of solar energy available from the sun is adequate to support something like 10^22 individuals” Page 3
“The ration of energies required for the two types of colonization [(Interplanetary and Interstellar) is] 10^8.” Page 3-4
“The mass per colonist which must be lifted from a deep potential well will be much less for the interplanetary colonies which follow the first to be built, and perhaps for all the colonies.” Page 4
“Colonization of the home planetary system is rational, colonization of the stars is irrational.” Page 5
Personal Response to the Paper
This paper is a well crafted, effective argument against interstellar space habitation. It is all based on energy and I can’t think of any way to get around the energy requirements of interstellar actives. I have suggested Faster Then Light (FTL) travel to counter time based arguments. But FTL travel increases the energy demands, further defeating interstellar travel, since this paper assumed that humanity’s max speed is 1/10th of the speed of light. I could suggest solar sails, but even then, we need to shine a laser at the ship in between suns. I could argue with the Tri-Space Model of the Universe (which allows for FTL travel by suggesting a realm where the speed is light is the minimum speed. A world where it would take enormous amounts of energy to slow down but it would be energetically favorable to speed up) , but this is unproven and still requires energy.
Of course, this paper assumes humans will inhabit other solar systems. I have read an interesting idea of using robots to reproduce organic life on another planets atom by atom. This could be down with ease by having a short burst of energy to leave this solar system and letting the craft drift. It would take 1000’s of years, but it would get done. Of course, this idea has no benefit to us, so it even more invalid then the original idea. We could also use generation ships that are able to carry out trips that are 10,000 years long, but that is a mind numbing slow speed.
Questions Raised by the Paper
This paper assumed energy storage is a problem, has there been significant advances in energy storage since 1985?
This paper assumes that interstellar trips would take at least 100 years, could a generation ship that takes a thousand years solve the energy problem?
Could the energy consumed by interstellar habitation create an energy crisis or increase the costs of energy back on Earth?
