Colonizing the Kuiper Belt

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  • čas přidán 31. 05. 2023
  • We often discuss our future in the Asteroid Belt, and the glorious civilizations we might one day build there. However, it is but a pale shadow of its larger twin, the Kuiper Belt, out at the edge of the solar system.
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    Credits:
    Outward Bound: Colonizing the Kuiper Belt
    Episode 397, June 1, 2023
    Produced, Written & Narrated by:
    Isaac Arthur
    Editors:
    David McFarlane
    Graphics by:
    Bryan Versteeg
    Jeremy Jozwik
    Ken York
    Kristijan Tavcar
    Sergio Botero
    Music Courtesy of:
    Epidemic Sound epidemicsound.com/creator
    Markus Junnikkala, "Hail The Victorious Dead", "A Memory of Earth"
    Stellardrone, "Red Giant", "Ultra Deep Field"
    Sergey Cheremisinov, "Labyrinth", "Forgotten Stars"
    Taras Harkavyi, "Alpha and..."
  • Věda a technologie

Komentáře • 541

  • @ManiusCuriusDenatus
    @ManiusCuriusDenatus Před rokem +663

    You're killing me Isaac...About to start teaching my first period class in a few minutes and you post. Delayed gratification is important, but man you're killing me...

    • @arglebargle42
      @arglebargle42 Před rokem +138

      You have no idea how thrilled I am to know teachers are subbed here too.

    • @andrewbogard2411
      @andrewbogard2411 Před rokem +16

      Just curious what kind of class do you teach

    • @ManiusCuriusDenatus
      @ManiusCuriusDenatus Před rokem +61

      ​@@andrewbogard2411 Middle school U.S. History for the past 11 years. Next year 8th grade World Geography. Needed a change.

    • @andrewbogard2411
      @andrewbogard2411 Před rokem +29

      @@ManiusCuriusDenatus cool, I love history. I am currently a freshman in college. Hope you have a good day teaching your class

    • @SpecialEDy
      @SpecialEDy Před rokem +27

      ​@@ManiusCuriusDenatus Thank you for all that you do, inspiring and forging the next generation of minds that will tend to the Earth and perhaps reach for the stars. You will move minds, and one day they will move worlds. Have an excellent Arthursday!

  • @thentil
    @thentil Před rokem +259

    As someone with a speech impediment (stuttering) i have to say how facking impressive it is that you've built a CZcams channel of this size. I cannot count the number of times I've let mine interfere with the things I've wanted to say or do. Your courage and perseverance is humbling.

    • @chazsroczynski5666
      @chazsroczynski5666 Před rokem +25

      I remember at first I found it odd and maybe even a little off-putting, but now I couldn't listen to this vlog without it.

    • @jaydub2546
      @jaydub2546 Před rokem +7

      ​@@chazsroczynski5666 I actually understand you there

    • @bbbabrock
      @bbbabrock Před rokem +8

      ​@@chazsroczynski5666 I am so used to it now and/or he has improved it so that on the occasion that I listen to someone else covering similar subject matter, I miss the inflection. I figure this guy can't be all that smart, since he just doesn't sound like Issac Arthur.

    • @jimc.goodfellas226
      @jimc.goodfellas226 Před rokem +9

      He has improved tremendously over the last few years...got to give him a lot of props

    • @ashleydolin4292
      @ashleydolin4292 Před rokem +2

      ​@@jimc.goodfellas226 yeah he really has.

  • @sevensins3584
    @sevensins3584 Před rokem +149

    It disturbes me how big the solar system is.. hope you are recovering alright from your surgery!

    • @gnaskar
      @gnaskar Před rokem +9

      What disturbs me is that the solar system is so big, and there are so many other solar systems, all of which are on the same scale!

    • @edstoutenburg3990
      @edstoutenburg3990 Před rokem +9

      Idk- for m self I think the scale of the Sol system-(what small amount humanity has 'probed'- litterally-so far)- is awe inspiring and yet very grounding vs size of Earth. The two Voyager probes launched in the mid /late 1970s have -Only- recently passed out of the Suns heliosphere. Probably...(The pioneer probe was shut down due to cost before that) The New Horizons probe is still moving thru ort cloud, but it was only this year that JPL has realeased the last (?) Of data it sent back from Pluto/charon mini system. Amazing once you get your head around it imho.

    • @stevenpilling5318
      @stevenpilling5318 Před rokem +7

      What interests me the most about the Kuiper Belt is the availability of water, carbon and (above all) nitrogen. That's what's needed in our development of the inner solar system.

    • @commiedeer
      @commiedeer Před rokem +3

      I find it reassuring. It means there's space to find or build countless wonders

    • @sevex9
      @sevex9 Před rokem

      @@edstoutenburg3990 Amazing indeed. How many generations has it been since discoveries by ship & sail were considered monumental? Now we have nuclear powered satellites on the frontier of discovery. What a time to be alive. Rock on brother and or sister.

  • @mailasun
    @mailasun Před rokem +5

    Now the Belters will have another kind of Belters, possibly the “Kuipers” to look down upon😅

  • @scottthomas6202
    @scottthomas6202 Před rokem +149

    My guess is a Kuiper belt colony would use multiple power systems...if you're going to be that far out, you definitely want backups...

    • @AFMR0420
      @AFMR0420 Před rokem +7

      Back ups or redundancy? Also, steam vacuum drives seem perfect without arming all the miners with radioactive reactors (aka don’t give your slaves nukes).

    • @floridaray3380
      @floridaray3380 Před 11 měsíci +3

      Clean, safe nuclear is the wat to go

    • @DreadX10
      @DreadX10 Před 11 měsíci +5

      That far out, your back-ups would want to have back-ups.....

    • @HrHaakon
      @HrHaakon Před 11 měsíci +4

      with all that water, we could just run hydro power!
      (I'm joking, I'm joking)

    • @jimflask1164
      @jimflask1164 Před 11 měsíci +1

      It's just entertainment. Reality is much more simple. He is limited to only using technology he understands to make these videos. He will have to scrap all of it when he learns portal technology is very ancient and also we are billions of years behind in technological development in our solar system. We have people that never left. The advanced people from our past that left evidence we can only dream of reproducing. They are still here, leaving us in isolation for 12,000 years. Waiting for us to reach level 1 in our development. Pluto already has an installation on it and they even left the lights on for us. But NASA painted it out. Soon the truth will be as plain as day.

  • @bradhaaf4749
    @bradhaaf4749 Před 11 měsíci +29

    So depressing knowing what we're capable of achieving compared to what humanity is currently engaged in..😢

    • @harrymills2770
      @harrymills2770 Před 11 měsíci +6

      Yes. We should be mining the asteroid belt and generating electricity in space, by now. But let's waste a bunch of money to go to Mars, instead of building a civilization that can visit Mars at will, by fully exploiting near space, zero g, and free energy.

    • @Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman
      @Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman Před 9 měsíci

      It'll be like that until extinction

    • @bobinthewest8559
      @bobinthewest8559 Před 9 měsíci

      The main thing standing in our way is ego

    • @theunknown8595
      @theunknown8595 Před 4 měsíci

      Good. We shouldn't colonise space or exploit it.

    • @smileyface6583
      @smileyface6583 Před 3 měsíci

      @@theunknown8595Why not?

  • @davidbrin1
    @davidbrin1 Před 10 měsíci +6

    Colonization of the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud is a core element of HEART OF THE COMET, by Benford & Brin. Based largely on my PhD thesis!

  • @ts25679
    @ts25679 Před rokem +11

    When you mentioned building colonies into icebergs I just got a vision of the sci-fi Titanic impacting a berg habitat.

    • @justanotherfella4585
      @justanotherfella4585 Před rokem +3

      You should make that into a movie treatment.

    • @LG-qz8om
      @LG-qz8om Před 11 měsíci +2

      And the inhabitants of the berg drown.

  • @nunofoo8620
    @nunofoo8620 Před rokem +2

    Trillions of people? Imagine that..
    Imagine writing a poem, putting it in a search engine, and finding out several people had already wrote the exact same thing.. What a dystopian world.

  • @cannonfodder4376
    @cannonfodder4376 Před rokem +18

    Yet another fantastic video Isaac. Asteroids remain an underexplored topic in Sci-Fi and in futurism discussions in general.
    Always love your ability to shine light in such topics.

    • @veramae4098
      @veramae4098 Před 11 měsíci

      Wait 'til more people hear about the gold asteroid.

    • @spaceman081447
      @spaceman081447 Před 11 měsíci

      Science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov, Ben Bova, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein among many others have been writing about asteroid habitats for decades.

  • @1003196110031961
    @1003196110031961 Před 11 měsíci +15

    Mr Arthur, I simply can’t get enough of your content. The amount of time you put into your videos is insane. Thank you so much 🙏🏻😀

  • @Gauldame
    @Gauldame Před rokem +38

    I know I shouldn't but when you got to the asteroid to asteroid ships, and the low escape velocity allowing for just physically shoving off the body I started chuckling.
    "Engage the YEET drive!"
    "YEET engaged"
    Just picturing this pogo stick like system is making me giggle more than it really should.

    • @MailleGrace
      @MailleGrace Před rokem +3

      We need a yeet drive in a sci-fi show now. Just a technobabble mention in passing would be awesome. A schematic in the background would be glorious!

    • @kenwelch198
      @kenwelch198 Před rokem +1

      Now I can't stop thinking about Yeet drive powered ships 😂

    • @lgjm5562
      @lgjm5562 Před rokem +1

      Developed by Dr Yeet , founder of the Yeet institute.

    • @JamesDecker7
      @JamesDecker7 Před rokem

      Read Seven Eves for a great hard scifi “YEET Drive”. Orbital mechanics for the win!

    • @sallyforth9905
      @sallyforth9905 Před 11 měsíci

      Postal service in the Kuiper belt; load your package into a trebuchet and yeet it at your neighbour! XD

  • @patrickmchargue7122
    @patrickmchargue7122 Před rokem +14

    Onward to the Oort cloud!

    • @johnwang9914
      @johnwang9914 Před 9 měsíci +1

      About the resources available in interstellar space as we know there are asteroids, comets, rogue planets and brown dwarves out there. Would there be enough for space habitats to survive? or would they only extend the effective range of generation ships and how would harvesting the resources affect the speed of a generation ship?

    • @patrickmchargue7122
      @patrickmchargue7122 Před 9 měsíci

      @@johnwang9914 Given what resources are expected to exist in the interstellar medium, it would likely be no. Closer in toward the sun, however, there should be plenty of resources for any number of habitats. Colony ships would have to stock up on the way out, I think.

    • @johnwang9914
      @johnwang9914 Před 9 měsíci +1

      @@patrickmchargue7122 Well, something like an O'Neill cylinder would mostly be an entirely enclosed system so resources would really only be needed to manufacture another one and a single asteroid or comet and certainly a rogue planet would be enough resources to sustain such a habitat indefinitely. There may be not enough resources on average in the interstellar medium but just one Oumuamua would be a jackpot in resources and we know Oumuamua exists. It would be more of a lottery finding such resources but not finding one only means not building another habitat or generation ship.

    • @patrickmchargue7122
      @patrickmchargue7122 Před 9 měsíci

      @@johnwang9914 We agree

  • @bbartky
    @bbartky Před rokem +4

    25:21 You gave me a bit of nostalgia there. 😀 I remember when I read Gerald O’Neil’s “The High Frontier” where he talked about using parabolic mirrors to build space colonies far beyond Pluto’s orbit.

  • @thoreau283
    @thoreau283 Před rokem +6

    Best futuristic show on CZcams, hands down! Never change Isaac!

  • @robomonkey1018
    @robomonkey1018 Před rokem +4

    Ive never understood why most folks think that after we claw our way out of our gravity well we should go sit at the bottom of another one. Planets just aren't that useful to us without a huge leap in tech.

  • @bradleyadams4496
    @bradleyadams4496 Před rokem +3

    Hawking probes throughout the Orion spiral arm and it's a great way to advance radio satellites and it allows future generations to know more about the system they may have the technology to visit. Just because you have the technology to visit, doesn't mean you should first thing, it may be that a richer system, further away from Alpha Sentaurii is more advantageous for first colony, and it ultimately accelerates two or more colonies.

  • @thewatcher3561
    @thewatcher3561 Před rokem +25

    Great episode, I've always like the outwards bound series ( colonising Ceres is my favourite, but they are all good!)... Never heard of Albion before, will have to look more into it 😀
    Good luck with the surgery.

    • @Elara_____
      @Elara_____ Před rokem +3

      Albion was until recently known as 1992 QB1, hence the term cubewano to designate one of the Kuiper Belt's group of objects.

    • @thewatcher3561
      @thewatcher3561 Před rokem

      @@Elara_____ Yes, thanks for the info 😀

  • @SpecialEDy
    @SpecialEDy Před rokem +19

    Happy Arthursday, my fellow thinking and feeling beings! The world is your oyster, your playground, your sandbox, as are the moons, the planets, the kuiper belt, and the stars. I can't wait to see what amazing places and things you will construct, the elegant order and structure you will bring to this beautiful and chaotic oasis we share.

    • @sevex9
      @sevex9 Před rokem +2

      Yeah I'm prettty spun rn too breh.

  • @arglebargle42
    @arglebargle42 Před rokem +14

    Sincerely appreciate the travel and coms estimates at 18:30, it really puts the scale of our solar system into perspective. One question: Considering the extra mass bringing an icy rock along with you would add, wouldn't it be more efficient to use EM ramscoops in particle dense areas such as the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud?

    • @boobah5643
      @boobah5643 Před rokem +2

      As I understand it, when somebody actually did the math (sometime in the early 80s) they discovered that you lose more speed collecting the fuel than you gain from burning it with a ramscoop. That doesn't make one entirely useless, but you can't tour the galaxy, much less beyond, with a ramship the way we once hoped. TANSTAAFL.

    • @isaacarthurSFIA
      @isaacarthurSFIA  Před rokem +3

      Maybe but the basic ramscoop option doesn't really work, as Boo Bah mentioned, you could use it to dra win fusion fuel at less than 1% of light speed and get positive thrust out of a hypothetical fusion reactor and some sort of ion drive but the specific bussard ramjet trick probably is only helpful for slowing down - which is still pretty handy.

  • @mm650
    @mm650 Před 11 měsíci +1

    First I am REALLY pleased to see Kuiper settlement being discussed seriously on CZcams!
    I do however, think that you needlessly focus upon large objects both in the asteroid belt and in the Kuiper belt. As a consequence of focusing upon such large objects you also focus needlessly upon the settlement of of their surfaces in the classical domes city concept. I urge you to consider a MUCH MUCH easier and more dynamic settlement paradigm: SMALL objects. And I mean REALLY SMALL... 5 meters, 10 meters, maybe as large as 50 meters. How can you colonize something smaller than a house, even smaller than you? The answer is simple: You use more than one. Here's why that can work:
    Big objects have three major interconnected downsides: They are (1) few in number. (2) Inevitably in orbits and trajectories that are less than ideal for the economic, social, and military needs of any human colonists. (3) Too big to maneuver easily or often. Small objects have their own downsides: namely that they don't contain much material, but that's not as big a downside as it sounds, and it can be engineered around much more easily than the downsides of large bodies.
    Because of the power law of sizes, there are a functionally infinite number of small bodies (that is,t you'll never run out). What this means is that you can, start with an orbital trajectory that is convenient and useful, say Near Earth Orbit where it is easy to construct things and you are partially shielded from radiation, and the communication lag to Earth is manageable, and then start gathering building materials selected from only the small asteroid bodies that are already on trajectories that are convenient to redirect to your construction grounds. (If you don't like NEO it doesn't matter, this basic principle works for anywhere that has a large background population of small bodies). Redirecting these objects is easy because (1) they are small, and (2) you can detect them while they are still vast distances from your construction grounds and thus require extremely tiny nudges to alter their trajectory to the one you need. I've run the numbers, and as an example, there ought to be a 5 meter wide asteroid passing within the orbital distance of the Moon to Earth at a velocity that, if it passed at the lowest altitude of LEO would allow for it to at least transiently be captured as a mini-moon of Earth about once a day.... Such an asteroid would not need to be slowed down or sped up, only it's angle of approach would need to be changed. It's spin would also probably have to be rectified. Now, combine that fact with the fact that propellant less thrust options like Zubrin's Dipole Drive, and Solar Sails, exist and you can imagine a fleet unmanned probes that detect candidate Near-Earth-Object asteroids long before that reach Earth, interrogate them remotely with lasers and emission spectroscopy, and radar, to determine composition density, size, mass, spin, and velocity, and then send redirect probes to alter the trajectory of only the small fraction with the most convenient properties to eventually be captured and delivered to your construction grounds. Then, once you have them, they get ground to fine powder and used as raw materials to build space habitat.
    These habitats are BETTER PLACES TO LIVE IN EVERY WAY!!!!!
    (1) Unlike a surface colony on a large body such a habitat provides full gravity and is thus much more healthy a place to live. This can be partially imitated with gravity trains on large objects, but it is a distinctly easier solution when the habitat is free-floating.
    (2)The space habitat is really a low-performance spaceship, and can thus be moved by default. If the colonists no longer want to be in close proximity to Earth they can LEAVE.
    (3)Unlike a subterranean colony on a large body, the walls of the habitat are made to specification in a factory. There is no chance that they will contain inclusions, or imperfections, or fissures, or unknown materials. Such a fully artificial construction represents a PROFOUNDLY less failure prone system!
    (4)Perhaps most important of all, this small body paradigm doesn't run out of opportunities to continue human expansion. There are only a small number of large bodies in the solar system... and once they are colonized... that's it. No more. The small body solution is functionally infinite. We touched on one aspect of that early: that one can afford to be hyper-selective of which bodies one harvests, but in the long run, this paradigm inevitably dominates simply because it exists in a field of never ending opportunity for expansion.
    In essence, this approach recognizes that a Dyson swarm is optimal from the beginning even at very low technology levels... planets and big bodies are a dead-end that we can simply skip.
    PS. Also, in discussion of fission based kuiper/interstellar thrust solutions, don't forget fission fragment rockets and Dipole Drives.

  • @swedichboy1000
    @swedichboy1000 Před rokem +11

    I do believe that it is in mankinds best interest to move towards a post-scarcity civilization. Most of the exploration and mining comes down to the notion of it being too expensive to implement, even though it would provide humanity with abundant resources and further our colonization of the solar system.

    • @allhopeabandon7831
      @allhopeabandon7831 Před rokem

      So people should work for free and companies should give away their property for free as well? I don't understand your comment...it makes no sense. All of our technology was created in the pursuit of profit. There is a reason why so many break throughs come from America and not N. Korea, where your type of utopia is forced upon it's populace. Maybe you should defect there.

    • @java4653
      @java4653 Před rokem +1

      Delusion

  • @philbristow9972
    @philbristow9972 Před rokem +3

    Thank you !!!! Another amazing topic, don’t ever stop. Love it !

  • @charlesblithfield6182
    @charlesblithfield6182 Před rokem +8

    I loved that movie Silent Running as a kid. I’m think it affected me deeply with its environmental and corporate control messages. The robots too were amazing, I think the actors in them were amputee Vietnam Vets.

    • @justanotherfella4585
      @justanotherfella4585 Před rokem

      Top movie.

    • @isaacarthurSFIA
      @isaacarthurSFIA  Před rokem +2

      Yeah there was a pretty good article on the amputee actors in it that someone sent me the last time I lampooned the film in an episode, at the time I had just assumed they had used robots or muppets or some other special effect without really thinking '1971 tech'. The movie definitely effected me when I first watched it as a kid too, but was one of those that left me with headscratching and dissonance when I rewatched it some years back. It still has its god points though.
      cyberneticzoo.com/not-quite-robots/1971-silent-running-drones-doug-trumbull-don-trumbull-paul-kraus-james-dow-american/

    • @charlesblithfield6182
      @charlesblithfield6182 Před rokem

      @@isaacarthurSFIA thanks for the cyberneticzoo link. It’s interesting Turnbull implied the environmental message was secondary, it’s a movie more about man machine relationships. BTW your content always impresses me, very well written, and I always learn a lot so thanks very much for that too.

    • @joeblough4605
      @joeblough4605 Před 11 měsíci

      Loved those robots, wanted one when I was young, still do!

  • @claytonjones932
    @claytonjones932 Před rokem +4

    Best episode in a while. Thanks for the great content!

  • @JonahRoyes
    @JonahRoyes Před rokem +2

    Happy Arthursday I already have my drink and snack ready and I was waiting for it😅

  • @harbl99
    @harbl99 Před rokem +4

    "No, thank you. We don't want any more visitors, well-wishers, or distant relations." -- motto of the Distributed Misanthropic Republic of the Kuiper Belt, 28th century

  • @jayrey5390
    @jayrey5390 Před rokem

    Part 2 , 3 and so on please! Wonderful to hear your perspective.

  • @rarabbb
    @rarabbb Před rokem +2

    Would just like to say thrusday is my favourite day of the week because two of my favourite shows airs and yours is one ❤

  • @greggweber9967
    @greggweber9967 Před rokem +3

    7:27 Problem with them is the cost of changing the orbital inclination to meet up without just whizzing by at an odd angle.

    • @accelerationquanta5816
      @accelerationquanta5816 Před rokem

      Changing orbital inclination becomes less and less expensive the wider the orbit is.

    • @peasant8246
      @peasant8246 Před rokem

      @@accelerationquanta5816 Indeed. "Children of the Dead Earth" taught me that.

  • @morphtrust
    @morphtrust Před rokem +1

    something that would be useful for transmission too would be way-stations where the beam is refocused to ensure it makes it to it's final destination intact enough to be useful, and could also be used for refueling or recharging stations for various travel methods too.

  • @jasonburbank2047
    @jasonburbank2047 Před rokem +2

    Whenever Isaac mentions a habitat wanting its "elbow room" I take that to mean they are doing something repulsive enough that neighbors would band together to stop them if it weren't for the distance.

    • @isaacarthurSFIA
      @isaacarthurSFIA  Před rokem +3

      That is often what I'm thinking too, or that they find their main civilization repulsive.

  • @jonathanhensley6141
    @jonathanhensley6141 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Another weekend listening to issac arthur. Need a civilization game where you have to colonize the entire stellar system before you expand into the milky way.

  • @andrewwilson2301
    @andrewwilson2301 Před rokem

    Good luck with your surgery! Your voice is very important to a lot of people.

  • @joeblough4605
    @joeblough4605 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Stumbled upon this video and your channel, really like it, nice work, I'll watch lots more. Thanks. Love the animations too, do you make them?

    • @isaacarthurSFIA
      @isaacarthurSFIA  Před 11 měsíci

      Some, but these days I personally focus more on the script and general production

  • @Chad_Thundercock
    @Chad_Thundercock Před rokem +2

    I feel like the phrase "or just use nukes to slow down", really encapsulates SFIA in a nutshell.

  • @kocherfamily1257
    @kocherfamily1257 Před 6 měsíci

    Thank you for the video!

  • @MrFLUIZZLE
    @MrFLUIZZLE Před rokem

    Great thought provoking video. Thanks Issac

  • @rolnokay5057
    @rolnokay5057 Před rokem

    This is Great! Love it! Both yall keep it up!

  • @davidmurphy563
    @davidmurphy563 Před 11 měsíci

    God, I haven't watched one of these in years. Used to tune in every week religiously.

  • @scrapsteenlifeintheforks1943

    I fricking love these colonization videos

  • @gkr2189
    @gkr2189 Před rokem +3

    Awesome video, tyvm for making these.

  • @MrKago1
    @MrKago1 Před 11 měsíci +1

    its important to remember that a beam of light can be spread out and refocused. when you do this, it reduces the spread of the beam. since its spreading out naturally you could have giant focusing lenses that every time they refocused the beam, decreased its divergence. and it would also be possible to ad solar collectors to said lenses to pump the light being corrected.

  • @edwardsqbp
    @edwardsqbp Před 9 měsíci

    I love his rich Southern accent when compared to all the prim & proper English narrative on other sponsored documentaries. Thanks for the information and presentation 👍

  • @rex69832
    @rex69832 Před 7 měsíci

    That far out sunlight will be a real problem. A reliable power source will be a necessity. Could be interesting to live out that far. Would certainly be an adventure.

  • @mrmxyzptlk8175
    @mrmxyzptlk8175 Před rokem +1

    Woke up to see a new Isaac Arthur video! It's like finding money in your pocket!!

  • @user-vq1bl7bi8c
    @user-vq1bl7bi8c Před 8 měsíci

    Love this channel

  • @pasikiiski
    @pasikiiski Před 11 měsíci

    Those blinking red/green navigating lights and beacons in gigantic spaceships looks really cool and shipshape! 😎👍

  • @dawmanchannel2837
    @dawmanchannel2837 Před rokem +1

    love watching your videos❤

  • @TheVoiceOfReason93
    @TheVoiceOfReason93 Před rokem +1

    I remember reading an article which calculated that colonising the Kuiper Belt as well as the rest of the Solar System could yield enough resources to support up to 4,000 trillion humans.

  • @KaiserSoze212
    @KaiserSoze212 Před rokem

    Best book I ever read hard sci fi was Dragons Egg. And the sequel was perfect. Truly magical and inspiring. Those kooky little 🐌

  • @ibro796
    @ibro796 Před rokem

    9:32 funniest spaceship in the history of mankind.

  • @mannylugz5872
    @mannylugz5872 Před 11 měsíci +1

    And so the Beltalowdas begin!

  • @NikolaiManning
    @NikolaiManning Před rokem +1

    Just as a general question, but are there any limiting issues with building above or below the orbital plane?

  • @bigemugamer
    @bigemugamer Před rokem

    Great place to set up an early warning grid for any objects coming into our system.

  • @greggweber9967
    @greggweber9967 Před 7 měsíci

    9:30 Low gravity means that if you are trying to accumulate things, it will be easier for them to bounce off and away.

  • @martinwashington3152
    @martinwashington3152 Před rokem

    I've always wanted to use rings which allow for a tunnel of light to be directed through and collected from the exterior of the ring from lumens/thermals from sol creating a light pipe with further rings in much the same fashion as an optical repeater.

  • @markmulligan571
    @markmulligan571 Před rokem +1

    Asteroid belt, Kuiper, Oort: training wheels of bicycle novice humanity.

  • @chrisgriffith1573
    @chrisgriffith1573 Před 8 měsíci

    Thinking about mining out in the Kuiper Belt... the mining process would need for a total enclosure around the asteroid, to keep any dust or grains of sand, rock or other debris from escaping into space to later become missiles later. Its bad enough after billions of years of collisions out there, but if we just went out there hacking into giant rocks in orbit around the solar system, this could get to be a huge problem rather quickly.

  • @bob13513
    @bob13513 Před rokem

    You're very good at supposition. You should make a video about what a technocracy might look like.

  • @airborneranger-ret
    @airborneranger-ret Před rokem +2

    Nice topic - isn't that where the aliens hang out (Heinlein, have space suit, will travel)? :)

    • @wbrennan2253
      @wbrennan2253 Před rokem +1

      I seem to remember the base on Pluto was an advance post with the lunar base a scouting point. Mother Thing's people were from Vega and the Galactic Council was in one of the Lesser Megellanics.

    • @airborneranger-ret
      @airborneranger-ret Před rokem +1

      @@wbrennan2253 I seem to recall that you are correct in what you seem to recall.

  • @thelegion_within
    @thelegion_within Před rokem +2

    surprised this isnt an "outward bound" titled video - it's the same sort of thing (along with the Oort cloud)

    • @isaacarthurSFIA
      @isaacarthurSFIA  Před rokem +1

      It is listed on on the playlist, I just didn't think adding it to the main title served much point. :)

  • @joenunyabidnes6233
    @joenunyabidnes6233 Před rokem +1

    Why aren't skyhooks seen as an option? Placed at Lagrange points or even in their own solar orbits, then ships could be flung from hook to hook until you reach where you want to be, all without using much onboard fuel. Not to mention no hella expensive super-powerful beam machines.

  • @emilysoda4689
    @emilysoda4689 Před rokem

    Okay, I have a couple ideas:
    History of futurisim (essentially, what did people think now would be like like?)
    Types of timetravel (the rules of Timetravel are diffrent for diffrent fictional universes, and what would be the unintended applications of each)
    Von Neiman probe design (how would a von Neiman probe look, if we built it with modern technology?)
    Containing AI (If it's just not possible to make safe AI, what would be some methods of containing it and getting it to do useful work for scociety without also inadvertently letting it hurt scociety)

  • @sangeetanarendrasingh5416

    Can't believe this wasn't covered yet!

    • @arglebargle42
      @arglebargle42 Před rokem +1

      Space is vast and mysterious, most people don't even talk about the Kuiper belt but it really is humanity's best stepping stone to true interstellar travel. So much free material and energy just waiting to be turned into generation ships.

  • @TheEyez187
    @TheEyez187 Před rokem

    Be interesting to search the older bodies of the Kuiper belt for early signs of life or their composite components. The large number of them means there's potential, each being a separate entity that if they once shared such single cell life, it would be possible to see many varying evolutions. The chance is probably slight, but if the panspermia theory is correct then those chances would certainly not be zero. But first, Europa; though after watching 'The Europa Report' found footage film I'd now have some trepidation in going to find out!
    an excellent film worth a watch if you're into space (obviously since you're here) and horror.

  • @cpypcy
    @cpypcy Před 11 měsíci

    Colonizing Oort Cloud i'll re-watch next.

  • @Christian85595
    @Christian85595 Před 6 měsíci

    Man i freaking love Elmer fudd explaining me some astro physics and astro engineering

  • @eitkoml
    @eitkoml Před rokem +3

    What do you think of the possibility that Charon is actually a mass relay that is encased in ice and would connect humans to a series of mass relays enabling quick transportation around the entire galaxy on a timescale that humans can easily handle?

    • @flashraylaser157
      @flashraylaser157 Před rokem

      What evidence is there of this?

    • @johno1544
      @johno1544 Před rokem +1

      ​@@flashraylaser157 none a mass relay is made up fiction from a video game

    • @bclapp2483
      @bclapp2483 Před rokem

      why go all the way to charon? Our moon is a giant space station that has gained a few feet of dust over the aeons :)

  • @DivineMisterAdVentures
    @DivineMisterAdVentures Před 4 měsíci

    YES!! Great stufffffff.

  • @earlosandwich7433
    @earlosandwich7433 Před rokem +1

    This is unsettling.

  • @TravisLawrence12
    @TravisLawrence12 Před 6 měsíci

    Living in the Kuiper Belt would be vastly depressing.

  • @kaylebtennant3317
    @kaylebtennant3317 Před 9 měsíci

    Eris would be a pretty great send-off point given its weird orbit.

  • @madguy8485
    @madguy8485 Před rokem

    I hope Neptune drags out some new Kuiper belt friends for us to meet really soon.

  • @brettcrawford8878
    @brettcrawford8878 Před 9 měsíci

    A good chance Kuiper belt would be a good area to build an interstellar space dock for Alien craft to port themselves. If it was ever built in the past its purpose would have been to get to planet with best chance of supporting life in solar system which could help to guess its location possibly. More advanced space telescopes might help in process of looking for such things in the future. There is the possibility such facilities if allready built could be abandoned for millions of years just needing viable powerplants and supplies to be made operational. Distances involved would mean substandard propulsion systems would not make it worthwhile to send a person there to investigate as they could easily die of old age before getting back to planet of origin.

  • @tenminuteretreat807
    @tenminuteretreat807 Před rokem

    Have you done an episode on first attempts to mine the near earth asteroids? If not, that could be very occurring.

  • @MrAndrewAllen
    @MrAndrewAllen Před rokem

    At 9:51, Mr. Arthur says "Because the Sun and inner planets are all downhill, in gravitational terms, you can throw mined matter back into the Solar System at low cost."
    How does being uphill or downhill matter? There is no significant friction. You can not apply the brakes to slow down and fall inwards. You need to use Newton's laws (equal and opposite reactions) to move anything.
    If anything I would think that solar wind helps you go uphill easier than going downhill.

  • @captrodgers4273
    @captrodgers4273 Před 11 měsíci

    i think the future space settlements will be lots of space stations......particularly oneil cylinders since we can spin them to simulate earth gravity...i think stations close to each other will have connecting cable systems to run transport cars between them to transfer people and goods between them

  • @MaconMedia
    @MaconMedia Před rokem

    Happy #Arthursday!!!

  • @zharyel9890
    @zharyel9890 Před rokem +3

    +100 Vespene Gas

  • @markjohn4203
    @markjohn4203 Před rokem

    Wow. Nice work Isaac. This was quite inspirational ! 🥹

  • @glennscott8622
    @glennscott8622 Před rokem

    Stellar exploration of near future expansion aside from Martian-centric. 👏

  • @SeminarChauffeur
    @SeminarChauffeur Před rokem +2

    Early gang yoo! Also, when objects beyond Neptune gets discussed, I always imagine using one of those far-flung objects, like that proto-planet Sedna, as my personal cryo-storage locker, for everything from frozen food, to data media, and other stuff I want preserved for many thousands for years and are okay with being stored near absolute zero. 😂

  • @mbarker_lng
    @mbarker_lng Před rokem

    The is interesting because the Kuiper Belt is probably the furthest object(s) we can reasonably colonize barring some kind of "Eureka!" breakthrough in propulsion/warp technology. Even a lumbering world-ship to a distant star is effectively a one-way journey fraught with peril and uncertainty.

    • @TraditionalAnglican
      @TraditionalAnglican Před rokem +1

      Isaac has discussed fleets of large (4 km diameter x 30 long) traveling at 5 to 10% of the speed of light, which would be well within the capability of a post-scarcity civilization that’s colonized the Kuiper Belt & the Oort Cloud.

  • @crawkn
    @crawkn Před rokem

    A source of energy so far from the sun could be the relative motion of the bodies. One could tether to a passing rock and allow the tether to rotate a drum connected to a generator. By varying the load on the generator, you could also produce a controlled acceleration to replicate gravity. Once the tether reaches its end, disconnect and grab another.

  • @kevinscott7292
    @kevinscott7292 Před rokem

    What about a chain of Newton's Cradle ships?
    If you have a chain of ships regularly departing and returning to a location, an incomming ship could transfer its momentum to a stationary ship (either physically, or via tractor beam, or gravitationally if big enough, etc). This would solve the wastefulness of constantly acceletating and braking each ship. You would have a literal Newtons Cradle of ships at either end of the supply chain

  • @jaikumar848
    @jaikumar848 Před rokem +3

    Hi Isaac arthur ! Which one will come first in human history ? Mining from asteroid or mining from deep earth ( mental or core of earth )

    • @isaacarthurSFIA
      @isaacarthurSFIA  Před rokem +3

      Id say asteroids but a lot depends on which technologies arrive first

    • @tturi2
      @tturi2 Před rokem

      which would be easier 🤔

    • @hyrumhanson3390
      @hyrumhanson3390 Před rokem

      Currently, asteroids however tec for deep mining is likely to be a upcoming by product of the nation's investing in large geothermal power plants.

  • @jessicawinslet684
    @jessicawinslet684 Před 11 měsíci

    flint michigan called, they're wondering if you guys can find some water before colonizing the Kuiper belt

  • @craigbeasley3120
    @craigbeasley3120 Před 11 měsíci

    Imagine that a Kuiper Belt sort of construct is common for solar system formation, and a species can only really leave its home system after it's been able to clear that clutter and use it as a resource?

  • @username-jc2tp
    @username-jc2tp Před rokem

    Best wishes, Isaac :)

  • @mill2712
    @mill2712 Před rokem +1

    16:06
    How to colonize without fusion.

  • @navilandinator4479
    @navilandinator4479 Před 28 dny +1

    How about the Oort Cloud & or Hills Cloud?
    But still, woww

  • @ingusmant
    @ingusmant Před 8 měsíci

    @6:10 is that a ship from Homeworld? 😂

  • @tturi2
    @tturi2 Před rokem

    excellent video

  • @Hunterxii
    @Hunterxii Před rokem

    Favorite CZcams channel and spofity channel

  • @user-lq9oi5jq3n
    @user-lq9oi5jq3n Před 10 měsíci +1

    Awesome.

  • @stakantube
    @stakantube Před rokem

    Distant worlds 2 best x4 strategy in space.
    also it looks nice. good for background footage

  • @sankang9425
    @sankang9425 Před rokem

    3:46 The pronunciation of Haumea💀💀💀💀 No getting away with that

  • @gab882
    @gab882 Před 11 měsíci

    I always wondered why we don't just build space stations near the asteroid belts as mining docking/refinery stations then ship them to earth instead of outlandishly brandishing Mars as the next frontier. Heck, we should create a Moon colony first as well

  • @davidkleinman5002
    @davidkleinman5002 Před rokem

    How about something on colonising the planets around Bernards Star? I have had a real interest in the system since reading "On Basilik Station" by David Weber. Being the closest star after the Trisolaran Home worlds it will be in our more near future than most other suns...