244
O’Neill’s day, there could be an issue with microwaves passing through the atmosphere. Water vapor absorbs microwave frequencies just as methane and carbon
dioxide absorb infrared. In fact, a microwave oven works because the water in food
absorbs the microwaves and heats up. Passing a strong beam of microwaves from a
power satellite through the atmosphere will heat any water vapor it encounters,
creating atmospheric warming and causing climate disruptions. It is more likely that
income from space resource extraction and off-Earth manufacturing would provide
more than enough wealth to support both orbiting space colonies and permanent
settlements on the moon and Mars.
Would people be willing to live in such places? Past experience suggests that if
jobs and opportunities were available, the answer is yes. Most colonization efforts
of the past were driven by economic incentives. Pioneers put up with Alaskan cold,
Arizona heat, Dakota blizzards, Honduran mosquitos, Amazonian humidity, and the
thin air of the high Andes to colonize these places and make their fortunes. A
climate- controlled space habitat or underground lunar base would be quite comfortable by comparison.
Human migrations throughout history have occurred because of overcrowding or
a lack of opportunities at home. Relocating to a new land promised more space and
the ability to set one’s own destiny. The attraction of resources, wealth, selfdetermination, and a chance at a better life brought colonists into the Americas from
all over the world on rickety wooden sailing ships. They endured ocean voyages that
were far longer and much more dangerous than the lunar transit being contemplated
by the engineers currently developing commercial spacecraft for trips to the moon.
One of the complications with mass migrations on Earth, of course, is that the
odds were pretty good that somebody was already living in your so-called “New
World,” and they were willing to defend their land and homes with force if necessary. This led to many deaths and some very sad history in North and South America,
the Caribbean, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, China, and Hawaii,
among other places. None of the other planets, moons, and asteroids in our own
solar system appears to have any inhabitants on them as far as we know. Even if we
do find life someplace like the subsurface of Mars or in the oceans of Europa, there
is still plenty of unoccupied real estate orbiting the sun. For once in our sad and
sordid history, humans can colonize a new land without having to decimate the
natives first.
Besides helping to preserve the Earth, there are substantial economic benefits to
be had in space. Moving the industrial base of humanity to the moon, for example,
would allow manufacturers to produce goods using solar energy and raw materials
available either on the moon itself, or shipped in from the asteroid belt. Resources
that are already in space are abundant and easy to move around compared to those
that have to be lifted out of the Earth’s deep gravity well. There is no lunar ecosystem to destroy, and heavy industry on the moon or in orbit could include mining and
refining asteroid materials and manufacturing useful products from them. It can be
done without causing any harm whatsoever to the landscapes, streams, groundwater, air, or ecosystems of Earth.
12 Moving into the Energy Future
O’Neill’s day, there could be an issue with microwaves passing through the atmosphere. Water vapor absorbs microwave frequencies just as methane and carbon
dioxide absorb infrared. In fact, a microwave oven works because the water in food
absorbs the microwaves and heats up. Passing a strong beam of microwaves from a
power satellite through the atmosphere will heat any water vapor it encounters,
creating atmospheric warming and causing climate disruptions. It is more likely that
income from space resource extraction and off-Earth manufacturing would provide
more than enough wealth to support both orbiting space colonies and permanent
settlements on the moon and Mars.
Would people be willing to live in such places? Past experience suggests that if
jobs and opportunities were available, the answer is yes. Most colonization efforts
of the past were driven by economic incentives. Pioneers put up with Alaskan cold,
Arizona heat, Dakota blizzards, Honduran mosquitos, Amazonian humidity, and the
thin air of the high Andes to colonize these places and make their fortunes. A
climate- controlled space habitat or underground lunar base would be quite comfortable by comparison.
Human migrations throughout history have occurred because of overcrowding or
a lack of opportunities at home. Relocating to a new land promised more space and
the ability to set one’s own destiny. The attraction of resources, wealth, selfdetermination, and a chance at a better life brought colonists into the Americas from
all over the world on rickety wooden sailing ships. They endured ocean voyages that
were far longer and much more dangerous than the lunar transit being contemplated
by the engineers currently developing commercial spacecraft for trips to the moon.
One of the complications with mass migrations on Earth, of course, is that the
odds were pretty good that somebody was already living in your so-called “New
World,” and they were willing to defend their land and homes with force if necessary. This led to many deaths and some very sad history in North and South America,
the Caribbean, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, China, and Hawaii,
among other places. None of the other planets, moons, and asteroids in our own
solar system appears to have any inhabitants on them as far as we know. Even if we
do find life someplace like the subsurface of Mars or in the oceans of Europa, there
is still plenty of unoccupied real estate orbiting the sun. For once in our sad and
sordid history, humans can colonize a new land without having to decimate the
natives first.
Besides helping to preserve the Earth, there are substantial economic benefits to
be had in space. Moving the industrial base of humanity to the moon, for example,
would allow manufacturers to produce goods using solar energy and raw materials
available either on the moon itself, or shipped in from the asteroid belt. Resources
that are already in space are abundant and easy to move around compared to those
that have to be lifted out of the Earth’s deep gravity well. There is no lunar ecosystem to destroy, and heavy industry on the moon or in orbit could include mining and
refining asteroid materials and manufacturing useful products from them. It can be
done without causing any harm whatsoever to the landscapes, streams, groundwater, air, or ecosystems of Earth.
12 Moving into the Energy Future