Space Settlements - A Design Study 1977

SUMMARY OF DESIGN CRITERIA

The following physiological, environmental design, and organizational criteria must be met by a successful space habitat for the colonization of space.

Physiological Criteria

The basic physiological criteria are summarized in table 3-3.

Environmental Design Criteria

The criteria for environmental design are both quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative criteria are summarized in table 3-4. Desirable qualitative criteria are summarized in table 3-5.

Organizational Criteria

The organizational criteria have to do with both physical organization and social and managerial organization. In the first category is the criterion that the components of the colony be located so that the resources of space can be effectively exploited: solar energy, matter in the Moon or asteroids and on Earth, high vacuum of space and possibilities of pseudogravity variable from 0 g to more than 1 g. The colony must be provided with a transportation system that is capable of sustaining close contact with Earth, and with extensive electronic communications.

The organization of the governance of the colony is less restrained by specific criteria than are other aspects of life in space. Nevertheless, the organization must be such as to permit comfortable life under crowded conditions far from other human communities. Moreover, the organization must facilitate a high degree of productivity, foster a desirable degree of diversity and heterogeneity, and maintain the physical security of the habitat.

The next chapter considers a number of alternative ways of meeting these criteria. From the various alternatives the particular design is then selected and justified.

TABLE 3-2 — SUMMARY OF COMMUNITY SPACE AND AREA ALLOCATIONS

| Use | Area (m²/person) | Stacking factor | Projected area (m²/person) | Overhead (m) | Volume (m³/person) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Residential | 49 | 4 | 12.25 | 3 | 147 | | Shops, offices | 4 | 2 | 2.0 | 3 | 12 | | Schools, hospitals | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 4 | 8 | | Assembly halls | 2 | 1 | 2.0 | 10 | 20 | | Open space | 10 | 1 | 10.0 | 50 | 500 | | Light industry | 4 | 1 | 4.0 | 20 | 80 | | Storage | 5 | 1 | 5.0 | 8 | 40 | | Mechanical | 4.2 | 1 | 4.2 | 4 | 16 | | Transportation | 6.5 | 1 | 6.5 | 0 | 0 | | Total Community | 86.7 | | 47.0 | | 823 | | Agriculture (a) | 40 | 2 | 20.0 | 45.7 | 915 | | Total Habitat | 126.7 | | 67.0 | | 1738 |

(a) Agricultural space requirements are provided for completeness and convenience. The details are explained in the succeeding chapters. NOTE: The areas and volumes arrived at are approximations for use in establishing mass estimates and aiding in the structural design of the entire habitat enclosure.

TABLE 3-3 — A SUMMARY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL CRITERIA

| Parameter | Value | | :--- | :--- | | Pseudogravity | $0.95 \pm 0.05$ g | | Rotation rate | 1 rpm | | Radiation exposure for the general population | $\le 0.5$ rem/yr | | Magnetic field intensity | $\le 100$ µT | | Temperature | $23^\circ \pm 8^\circ$ C | | Atmospheric composition $p\text{O}_2$ | $22.7 \pm 9$ kPa ($170 \pm 70$ mm Hg) | | $p(\text{Inert gas; most likely N}_2)$ | 26.7 kPa $< p\text{N}_2 <$ 78.9 kPa (200 $< p\text{N}_2 <$ 590 mm Hg) | | $p\text{CO}_2$ | $< 0.4$ kPa ($< 3$ mm Hg) | | $p\text{H}_2\text{O}$ | $1.00 \pm 0.33$ kPa ($7.5 \pm 2.5$ mm Hg) |

TABLE 3-4 — SUMMARY OF QUANTITATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CRITERIA

| Parameter | Value | | :--- | :--- | | Projected area per person | 67 m² | | Total area per person | 127 m² | | Volume per person | 1740 m³ |

TABLE 3-5 — SUMMARY OF QUALITATIVE CRITERIA OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

• Long lines of sight
• Large overhead clearance
• Noncontrollable unpredictable parts of the environment; for example, plants, animals, children, weather
• External views of large natural objects
• Parts of interior out of sight of others
• Natural light
• Contact with the external environment
• Availability of privacy
• Good internal communications
• Capability of physically isolating segments of the habitat from each other
• Modular construction of the habitat and of the structures within the habitat
• Flexible internal organization
• Details of interior design left to inhabitants

APPENDIX A: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

Several geometrical forms for the physical shape of space communities have been studied: including a cylinder of a few kilometers in diameter; a torus of a few kilometers in diameter and several tens of meters in cross section; a bundle of narrower parallel toruses; a necklace shape consisting of small spheres; a pair of large spheres, each of which has a diameter of several kilometers. They were examined from the points of view of volume, mass, rotational speed, shielding needed, construction and costs, as described in the next chapter. However, there are also some psychological considerations of physical shape which affect the mental health of the inhabitants. Different geometrical forms of the communities may also influence the types of social interactions and social organization which take place in them.

The Solipsism Syndrome in Artificial Environment

Some environments are conducive to the state of mind in which a person feels that everything is a dream and is not real. This state of mind occurs, for example, in the Arctic winter when it is night 24 hr a day. It is also known to occur in some youths who have been brought up on television as a substitute to reality.

Solipsism is a philosophical theory that everything is in the imagination, and there is no reality outside one's own brain. As a philosophical theory it is interesting because it is internally consistent and, therefore, cannot be disproved. But as a psychological state, it is highly uncomfortable. The whole of life becomes a long dream from which an individual can never wake up. Each person is trapped in a nightmare. Even friends are not real, they are a part of the dream. A person feels very lonely and detached, and eventually becomes apathetic and indifferent.

In the small town of Lund, Sweden, the winter days have 6 hr of daylight and 18 hr of darkness. Most of the time people live under artificial light, so that life acquires a special quality. Outdoors, there is no landscape to see; only street corners lit by lamps. These street corners look like theater stages, detached from one another. There is no connectedness or depth in the universe and it acquires a very unreal quality as though the whole world is imagination. Ingmar Bergman's film "Wild Strawberries" expresses this feeling very well.

This state of mind can be easily produced in an environment where everything is artificial, where everything is like a theater stage, where every wish can be fulfilled by a push-button, and where there is nothing beyond the theater stage and beyond an individual's control.

There are several means to alleviate the tendency toward the solipsism syndrome in the extraterrestrial communities:

1. A large geometry, in which people can see far beyond the "theater stage" of the vicinity to a view which is overwhelmingly visible.
2. Something must exist beyond each human's manipulation because people learn to cope with reality when reality is different from their imagination. If the reality is the same as the imagination, there is no escape from falling into solipsism. In extraterrestrial communities, everything can be virtually controlled. In fact, technically nothing should go beyond human control even though this is psychologically bad. However, some amount of "unpredictability" can be built in within a controllable range. One way to achieve this is to generate artificial unpredictability by means of a table of random numbers. Another way is to allow animals and plants a degree of freedom and independence from human planning. Both types of unpredictability must have a high visibility to be effective. This high visibility is easier to achieve in a macrogeometry which allows longer lines of sight.
3. Something must exist which grows. Interactive processes generate new patterns which cannot be inferred from the information contained in the old state. This is not due to randomness but rather to different amplification by mutual causal loops. It is important for each person to feel able to contribute personally to something which grows, that the reality often goes in a direction different from expectation, and finally that what each person takes care of (a child, for example) may possess increased wisdom, and may grow into something beyond the individual in control. From this point of view, it is important personally to raise children, and to grow vegetables and trees with personal care, not by mechanical means. It is also desirable to see plants and animals grow, which is facilitated by a long line of sight.
4. It is important to have "something beyond the horizon" which gives the feeling that the world is larger than what is seen.

Types of Social Organization

There are many different types of social organization based on different cultural philosophies. The following exaggerated examples are discussed to suggest how each may be facilitated or made difficult by various forms of macrogeometry of a space colony.

Type A Community: Hierarchical and Homogenistic People in this community believe that if there are many ways, there must be the best way among them, and that the "best way" is "good" for everybody. They think in terms of maximization and optimization. They consider majority rule as the basis of democracy, and competition as the basis of "progress." They look for universal criteria and universal categories which would apply to all people, and they look for unity by means of similarities. Differences are considered as accidental, inconvenient or bothersome, and are ignored as much as possible. Diversity, nonstandard behavior, and minority groups are considered abnormal and undesirable, to be corrected to be more "normal." If these people are inconvenienced by the system which is geared toward the majority, the fault is considered to reside in the "abnormal" people. Because of the belief in the "best way" for all people and in maximum efficiency, all living units are designed alike. Because of the belief that unity is achieved by homogeneity and that differences create conflicts, residents are divided into age groups, occupational groups, and the like in such a way that each group is homogeneous within itself. Similarly, all living units are concentrated in one zone; recreation facilities in another zone; industrial facilities in the third zone. This allows for a large continuous area suitable for recreation activities which require large space.

Type B Community: Individualistic and Isolationistic People in this community think that independence is a virtue, both from the point of view of the person who is independent and from the point of view of others from whom he is independent. They consider self-sufficiency as the highest form of existence. Dependency and interdependence are looked down upon as weakness or sin. Each living unit is like a self-contained castle and is insulated against others in terms of sight, sound and smell. Each unit contains its recreational facilities, and there is no communal recreation area. Within each unit, everything is adjustable to the individual taste. Protection of privacy is a major concern in this type of community.

Type C Community: Heterogenistic, Mutualistic and Symbiotic People in this community believe in the symbiosis of biological and social process due to mutual interaction. Heterogeneity is considered as a source of enrichment, symbiosis, resource diversification, flexibility, survival and evolution. They believe that there is no "best way" for all people. They think in terms of choosing and matching instead of maximization or optimization. They consider majority rule as homogenistic domination by quantity, and instead, use the principle of elimination of or compensation for hardship which even a single individual may suffer from when a decision — no matter which direction — is taken. They consider competition useless and cooperation useful. They think that criteria and categories should be flexible and variable depending on the context and the situation. They look for harmony and symbiosis thanks to diversity, instead of advocating unity by means of similarities. Homogeneity is considered as the source of quantitative competition and conflict. Houses are all different, based on different design principles taken from different cultures and from different systems of family structure, including communes. Each building is different, and within each building, each apartment is different. The overall design principle is harmony of diversity and avoidance of repetition, as is found in Japanese gardens and flower arrangement. Different elements are not thrown together but carefully combined to produce harmony. People of different ages, different occupations, and different family compositions are mixed and interwoven, but care is taken to place together people who can help one another. For example, old people who love children are placed near families who need babysitters. On the other hand, antagonistic combinations are avoided. For example, noisy people are not placed near people who love a quiet environment.