Space Colonization – The Final Frontier
Chris Besser
Fort Couch Middle School – 8th Grade
Upper Saint Clair, PA
Adult Advisor – Patricia Palazzolo
Space Colonization … The Final Frontier
As time moved through the Mayan Age, past Copernicus and Galileo and even in our present era, man has always wondered about life on other planets. For the first several decades of space exploration, permanently inhabited space stations existed only in the minds of science fiction writers. As technology moved forward, man became more aware that the species as a whole will eventually face extinction on Earth. Could a meteor wipe out humans as it did the dinosaurs? Would the overpopulation of Earth deplete the natural resources needed to sustain life? Would advances in nuclear technology ultimately lead to the Earth’s destruction? Would global warming result in disastrous climate changes bringing floods to some areas and droughts to others? Even if our own carelessness doesn’t bring about our own extinction, we do know that in 5 billion years, the sun will burn out. When this occurs, either increased solar activity will push Earth out of orbit or Earth will burn as the sun becomes a red giant.
Early in man’s history of space exploration, rapid advancements were achieved. In fact, it took only ten years to go from the first man in space to our landing on the moon. Shortly thereafter, though, the world’s space programs slowed dramatically, driven by budget cuts, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that claimed the lives of seven crew members, including the first civilian in space, teacher Christa McAuliffe.
Enter the year 2050, when space colonization has left the pages of science fiction and moved into reality. Let me introduce myself. My name is John McDermott, an eighth grade student at the First Space Generation Middle School. If you’re looking for my school, you won’t be able find it on a map. I’m one member of 500 families who live in the first space colony that is in permanent orbit 270 miles above the earth’s surface.
I feel very lucky to be part of this innovative charter program. Thousands of families applied to live, work, and learn on this space station. We went through a rigorous screening process that included testing our ability to handle G-forces, weightlessness, and confined spaces. My parents had to have skills that were needed on the station, and I had to have promising abilities and aptitudes.
You may wonder, “What kind of classes can you possibly take on a space station that is orbiting the Earth?” First, you need to know the purposes of this station.
The purposes of our colony are:
- To advance high-tech material development. Previous experiments during space flights showed that some materials, such as superconductors, can only be effectively manufactured in a zero-gravity environment. The crystal structure won’t grow properly in gravity. Superconductors have become a vital part of Earth’s energy conservation efforts, due to their ability to float within an electrical field, eliminating friction. Unfortunately, on Earth, they require an enormous amount of energy to manufacture. Therefore, the work being done on this space station is extremely important to humankind.
- To work on bioscience research and development. Similar to materials development, previous experiments showed that human cells will grow differently in zero gravity. In space, some cells will take on a crystalline structure, resulting in different properties than similar cells on Earth. Scientists have now found ways to grow crystalline cells that can be used to treat cancer, AIDS, and other diseases.
- To observe the Earth’s climate changes. Global warming and ozone depletion have drastically altered Earth’s weather patterns, with disastrous results. Now that many steps have been taken to eliminate burning fossil fuels and the production of ozone-destroying chemicals, the hope is that Earth’s climate will stabilize and return to normal. This space station will constantly monitor Earth’s atmosphere from above, and look for early signs of either good or bad changes that scientists can then use to modify conditions on Earth.
- To observe meteors and comets to ensure that they don’t collide with the Earth’s surface. This station will provide an early warning system and will allow scientists to either divert or destroy any comets or meteors that could impact Earth.
- To serve as a jumping-off point for future space travel and exploration. Rockets bound for space require an enormous amount of energy to escape Earth’s gravitational pull. This greatly limits how far man has been able to travel in space. This station will serve as a refueling and resupplying base camp for deep space exploration.
One of the unique features of the First Space Generation Middle School is that it is satellite linked to some schools on Earth for a shared learning experience. For example, I stay current on events going on back on Earth through a Social Studies class that is taught in a traditional classroom. English is also taught from an Earth-bound classroom and is fed by satellite through my space station.
Likewise, classrooms on Earth also benefit from this kind of instruction. Traditionally, students on Earth had to learn about the planets and the solar system from books. But now, they learn Space Sciences first hand through a cyber link from my classroom, and the space station itself becomes like a laboratory for them. My other classes are taught within the space station itself, by teachers who live here with the rest of us.
My class list this year includes:
- Foreign Languages
- Most American classrooms on Earth teach the traditional languages of Spanish, French, and German. Here in our school, we are also taught Russian and Chinese. Since this is an international space station, we often encounter cosmonauts and astronauts from these countries.
- Mathematics
- Math is taught at a different pace here than it is back on Earth. It seems as though everything that we do has to be calculated, from our food consumption to adjusting our orbit trajectory. A missed calculation could result in disaster for the inhabitants of this station. Only those children and their parents who show ability in math have been included among the 500 families on board.
- Earth Sciences
- Because monitoring and preserving the health of the Earth is one of the main objectives of this station, education in Earth Sciences is mandatory for all students. For example, in order to identify and understand the effects of global warming, ozone depletion, or climactic changes, the science of the Earth must be made a high priority. In addition, we learn about the science of other bodies such as Mars and our moon, as we prepare for possible future colonization. As we fully understand the potential for life to be sustained on those bodies, we will be able to reach farther into space.
- Shop
- On Earth, shop involves building things out of wood. That isn’t very available or necessary on a space station. What are abundant are machines. As a result, my Shop class teaches how machines, robots, and computers function, and how to build and repair them.
- Disaster Response
- This is a required course for everyone on the space station, from the time that they first enter school. Because we are floating in the vacuum of space, we are extremely vulnerable to even small meteors and asteroids. Earth is protected by its atmosphere, in which nearly all meteors burn up when entering. We have no atmosphere protecting us, so damage to our station could be catastrophic. Disaster Response class teaches us critical survival skills such as how to close off a damaged area of the station to limit danger, how to rescue people in zero gravity, and other life-saving skills.
- Physical Education
- One of the biggest concerns for space travel is the effect of microgravity on the cardiovascular system, particularly the heart. Also, due to the limited space in the station itself, traditional athletic activities are limited. As a result, our physical education program matches the one faced by cadets of the Annapolis Naval Academy.
- Sciences
- Botany. Since the space station is mostly self sustaining, the ability to grow food is critical for survival. The outermost layer of the station serves as a greenhouse to grow food on a large scale for the 500 families living here. Recycling water and using waste for fertilizer to grow crops as efficiently as possible makes this an important subject for all students. Plants grown here also feed the rodents that are raised as a meat source.
- Chemistry. How atoms or elements interact with each other in bonding or the exchange of electrons between unstable atoms can create new compounds that can release energy. Chemical reactions inside the engines provide the energy needed to allow the space station to operate.
- Physics. The mathematical calculations required to continually adjust orbits and produce artificial gravity are an integral part of Physics. For example, our station creates artificial gravity by collecting solar energy and using it to make the station spin at exactly the right speed to generate centrifugal force that is equal to gravity’s force on Earth. We have to constantly compensate for changes in solar activity and the gravitational pull of Earth and the other planets to maintain exactly the right speed.
My teachers here are very much like the teachers on Earth, except that nothing is done on paper. Each student is assigned and becomes proficient at using a computer. Assignments are emailed or sent across the school’s network. The greenhouse resources and manufacturing facilities here are too valuable for the manufacture of paper. This school also has the major advantage that the teachers will sometimes take us to the greenhouse, the robotics lab, the metallurgical lab, or other parts of the space station, so it becomes very much a working school laboratory. All of our textbooks are electronic, so the most current editions are able to be downloaded, and they conserve space. Finally, all students have electronic note boards. They work like notebooks, but they are completely electronic, so when the page is full, you push a “Save” button, which saves a picture of your notes and clears your board so you can take more notes. We can then go back later and retrieve all of the pages that we saved.
Because this is a permanent space colony, we are all being trained for jobs that will be of future use here on the station. Some of the jobs that we are being trained for include physicist, chemist, botanist, meteorologist, astronomer, physician, computer scientist, nutritionist, conservationist, engineer, astronaut, electrician, machinist, and teacher. Even though we are trained for one job, everyone is cross-trained to be able to fill multiple roles on the station.
While this station represents man’s first permanent colony in space, it will also benefit humans back on Earth. The work that we are doing in biosciences is resulting in medical treatments that could not have been developed in Earth’s gravity. The superconductive materials being developed and manufactured here are improving energy efficiency on Earth, slowing the release of greenhouse gasses and reducing global warming. From our vantage point hundreds of miles up, we’re able to see that the polar ice caps are already beginning to return, and the ozone layer is starting to rebuild. We have worked with scientists on Earth to create an early warning system for meteors or comets that could impact the Earth. Together we are developing a plan to divert or destroy these objects before they can cause major damage. Finally, we are the first step towards ensuring the survival of humans if Earth one day becomes uninhabitable. We are the jumping-off point for exploration deeper into space, to find the next world where humans can live and thrive when that day comes. Without space colonization - when the sun burns out - so will our species. With our space colony, we can someday go where no man has gone before.
Works Cited
Caprara, Giovanni. Living in Space: From Science Fiction to the International Space Station. Buffalo: Firefly Books, 2000.
Launius, Roger. Space Stations: Base Camps to the Stars. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2003.