COLONIZING THE ASTEROID BELT

++Result will be a living solar system.
++2 parts in a billion of the sun's energy come to us on Earth.
++As light streams out from the sun, it will be captured by
quintillions of living cells.
myriad life forms will use the raw energy of sunlight to coil organic
elements into algae, flowers, trees, people.
++The asteroid belt.
Human expansion into the solar system will reach its peak.
++Need more resources and more elbow room.  The asteroid belt provides 
both.
++Population explosion, within the confines of a single ecosphere is certainly suicidal.
++One, death rates will fall, and two life spans will
increase.
++Humanity has grown rapidly when pioneering new frontiers.
++To determine doubling time, divide 70 by the rate of growth.
At a 2% growth rate, population will double every 35 yrs.
++Philosophers, and bureaucrats debate the merits of growth;
pioneers, entrepreneurs, and holy warriors will be blazing their way thorough the solar system.

++Life is motive force , force will do what it can do.
++Phase begins in earnest 2.5 centuries into 3rd millenium
embraces a span of another 250years.
++Gravitational islands at L4 and L5, girding these spaces in loops of
beaded gold.
++Carbonaceous asteroids can supply a wide variety of 
valuable substances, but water will be the limiting resource.
++Each person requires 60tons of water.
AA asteroids can support 5billion.
++Population of less than 50billion.
++95% of all humans will live in the asteroid belt.
++Enough water supplies and other resources in the asteroid
belt to sustain 7500 trillion people
++Chopped up into bite sized pieces in a banquet of digestible morsels.
++Asteroid belt is the vast new frontier.
++Outfit themselves at the "rail head" on Deimos.
++To the Trojan asteroids, and even the moons of Jupiter.
++Metals form the backbone of industrial infrastructure, and their
extraction and refinement is at the root of civilization.
++Real money is in water, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and the other
light elements that make up the substance of animate matter.
++Millions of asteroids that are most than a few km in
diameter, and billions and billions of smaller ones.
++Band of hardy trail blazers will form their own society, agreeing 
among themselves on its structure and systems of self-governance.
++Small ecosphere habitat a semi-autonomous robotic miner, a pair of 
multipurpose utility vehicles, a universal
fabricator, and some power bubbles with thermionic generators.
++Like people in third millennium work as telecommuters.
Engineers, designers, writers, counselors, researchers, and consultants.
++Can continue to work and generate revenues after their arrival,
even though otherwise isolated on a barren asteroid.
Participate in the general economy while physically isolated.
++Highly motivated groups of mature professional.
Darwinian selection is elf enforcing; groups not meeting the
rigorous standards are simply not approved for loans.
++Allows them to carry heavy interest burdens, resources enables them
to pay back their loans quickly.  Turn their capital over 
rapidly, so investment pool doubles in size every 5-10 years.
Bringing with them demands for goods and services which can be supplied by yet other colonists.

++Rapid capital turn-over exploding demand - creates a powerful positive feedback
loop in economy.  More money on their loans, investment pool grows,
greater profits, increasing the investment pool available for loans...
++History, the global rate of growth / capita income increase
3%
++For data professionals personal incomes $2-$3 mil /yr quite likely.
++Exponential explosion in the capacities of our computers and telecommunications
equipment.  computer power is doubling every 2 years.
++23rd century to fly through virtual space and perform $100000 worth of
engineering in a week.
(1) growth in overall population (2) access to extraterrestrial
resources.
++Construction of a mass launcher
++Local materials, low temperature superconducting electromagnets 
from alnico - alloy of aluminum, nickel, iron and cobalt.
available on the asteroid.  Ultra-low temperatures
under a blanket of vacuum insulated regolith and by circulating
liquid hydrogen at -252'C. begin to export commodities profitably.
++ /\v of 11kps.
++Self-sufficient colonies of the asteroids, the cost of living will be low.
++++Produce elemental hydrogen which they liquefy and
hurl into space in a vacuum insulated canisters of chromium cobalt alloy.
++Rendezvous with the large asteroid ceres.
Ceres large interplanetary mass driver with huge cargo capacity.
++Consolidated into bulk shipments.
++Autonomous factories.
++Precision medical instruments.
++Vitallium endoskeletons
++Transgeriatric metamorphosis.
++Eventually the whole surface of the asteroid is enclosed in an ecosphere.
++Whole surface can be terraformed and inhabited.
++Asteroid's interior will become honeycombed with caverns and tunnels.
Robotic miners
++Through rigid magnetic launch tubes
hollowed out and terraformed.
++Nothing will be wasted, but everything will be transformed.
++Asteroid belt will become thickly sprinkled with
free-floating ecospheres and terraformed asteroids.
++Largest asteroid, ceres, provides 3mill km^2.
larger than central europe. 32 largest asteroids 11million km^2.
++Fusion-powered mining machines 
interior w/ gamma ray lasers, vaporizing the ore and instantly
separating purified materials from the gas stream.
++Enormous chambers honeycombing every large asteroid.
++Hydrogen plasma tubes bolted - mellow white light of natural
sunshine.  Vegetation, mini-ecospheres.
++Gordian grottos, honeycombing. 3d seirpinski gasket.
++10billion asteroid larger than 100m in diameter.
between 100m and 25km across.
++The smaller asteroids will make wonderful ecospheres
like lunar craters turned inside out.
++The asteroid belt, ships will be able to fly between colonies w/ no infra
structure involved.
++100's of small asteroids travel in a swarm around one big mother asteroid.
++Share space on a sun-warmed earth with the inner planets.
++constant is 1300 watts / m^2.
++Flood tide of radiant energy.
elimination of waste heat.
++Asteroid belt these problems of over exposure are reduced.
++14-w/m^2.  Around 325W in inner belt to 80W in
outer belt.
++Sunlight illuminates the space around earth at intensity of 224000lumens/m^2
Middle of asteroid belt 25000l/M^2
++Average surface temp on Earth 59F, without atmosphere Earth -4F.
++In orbit around Earth, each person
requires 5M^2 of solar bubble to meet total power needs.
20M^2 needed inner belt, middle 45m^2, outer 80m^2.
++2500 330 trillion people.
Computational machines will pushing envelope of theoretical possibility.
++Terraforming planets, building our own artificial
worlds, restoring the earth's natural splendor.
++NS Kardashev
1 - civilization using all power on planet
2 - civilizations using all power in star
3 - civilizations using all power in galaxy.
++Population of 5billion billion in 1000 years.
++If 5% of labor = scientists/engineers 250million billion researchers.
One problem analyzed by 250billion.
++All interconnect in a single vast telecommunications network,
able to contact any one.
Artificial intelligences a billion times more powerful than
all the computers on Earth today combined.
++Water is the most fundamental - metabolite, carrier, diluter,
humidifier, cleaner, radiation shield.
++Average person contains 40l(10.5gal) of water.
++200mill km^3 water need for bodies.
60 tons/capita.  300bill km^3.
++Total water demand 226 ocean masses.
Moons of Jupiter alone contain many times as much water
as there is on Earth, Europa and Ganymeded hold similar reservoirs.
++Chemically from elemental hydrogen and oxygen, which are
both abundant.  Oort cloud
holds huge supply of water and other useful materials.
++Callisto is next best source.
++Oxygen from venus were combined with hydrogen from Jupiter, a mass of 
water = 7x found in rest of solar system.
++Oort Cloud - surrounding our solar system is an eggshaped cloud
of comets, inner margins are 40x as far from sun as the Earth,
and its outer limits extend to 100000AU.
as many as 100trillion comets.
Each of these giant comets could contain as much mass as 400million comets of average
size
++Average American uses 100,000 kwh/yr of power.
++Controlled by natural heat balance, sun provides needed
light, transportation is frictionless .
++5bil billion inhabitants of Solaria would need 5x10^23kwh/yr
++Harvest all available sunlight, wo/ obstructing light
in the plane of the ecliptic. Light has to be collected form the areas of
the sun above and below the equatorial band.
++A thin dark sheet of photovoltaic material can float motionless
in space, held up by beams of light.  Dyson sphere.
++Some fraction of solar energy harvested as electricity.
++Converted into microwaves or laser beams for broadcast to
regions where the power is needed
++Leave light in the plane of the ecliptic unobscured.
++System was first formed , elements were conveniently sorted out of
primordial accretion disk.
++The solar collector shell will, gossamer affairs of hot thin membranes.
++Multitude of free-floating habitats , a sparkling smoke-ring shaped cloud
around the solar system.
++Average population of each ecosphere in Solaria is 100000 the number
of habitats in year 2500 = 50tillion.
++100 bil atoms = individual cell
100 bil cell = brain
100 bill human minds = collective mega consciousness.
++Joined together in sophisticated telecommunications network.
++Transcendent being of aggregate consciousness.
++Autonomous robotic ships.
++Isolation of deep space.
++Long transfer orbit from one of the outposts in the outer solar system.
++10km in diameter will contain 6million tons of Deuterium.
++With this fuel supply , colonists need never want for
energy. Every kg can produce a 100 million KWH of power.
++Migrating in jumps of 40-50 AU per generation
++Would reach outer fringer of Oort cloud in 66000 years.
++Migration to 240AU per year.
++Take 300 years to cross gap between clouds.
++Carry humans and other life forms with it.
++The eventual settlement of the galaxy is assured.