General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We should have been colonizing the solar system by now. [View all]A HERETIC I AM
(24,368 posts)4 miles across, ten miles long. Orbiting the L5 point, each pair of them rotating counter to each other to belay any dynamic wobbling. The first half inch of material on the moon contains enough raw material to build enough of these to house the entire human race, including oxygen and water.
They are pointed directly at the sun and the mirrors can be angled to offer a typical 12 hour day/night cycle.
You could have any climate you wanted inside each one. Weather, clouds, even storms can be generated and controlled. You could have an entire cylinder that replicated the higher elevations of Colorado. Or entire cylinders replicating the perfect climate of the best seasons of the Kansas/Nebraska corn belt, thus eliminating hunger forever.
Gerard K O'Neil was a genius, way ahead of his time. He worked out a way, with the help of his students, with 1970'S technology for this to be accomplished and to pay for itself.
When I graduated High School, I honestly thought that by 2010 I would be able to have a job as a space trucker.
So much for dreams, eh?