We Are Doing Space Colonization Wrong
But will we listen?
Imagine being inside a spaceship, similar to an airliner’s first-class cabin. With Earth’s gravity over twenty-four hours behind, the velcro spots on the wide comfortable seats and along the carpet prevent passengers from drifting out of control. A few adults struggle to keep floating toys within their excited children’s reach.
Passengers can now glance at their final destination through the viewports. Nakṣatra: a cylindrical megastructure nearly eight miles in diameter by thirty-one miles long. Ultra-high efficiency, latest generation solar panels, capable of powering New York City many times over, blanket the outer wall.
Upon arrival, visitors are dazzled by metropolitan areas surrounded by suburbia, arching across the cylindrical sky. It feels odd to watch rivers graced by forests following the curved inner wall or lakes hanging upside down without falling over their heads.
Perfect Earth-like conditions allow a population of over twenty million to feel right at home. Carefully controlled weather ensures a comfortable temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Sixteen hours of daytime, followed by eight hours of nighttime, make summer last all year without daylight savings. They’ve never experienced a storm, a volcano, an earthquake, a landslide, or any other natural…
