“O’Neill Cylinders: Islands in Space “, by Isaac Arthur, in
the Outward Bound series, examines the possibility of humans living inside
rotating cylinders (or other structures) with artificial gravity, such as
described in Arthur C. Clarke’s 1979 novel “Rendezvos with Rama”, which Morgan
Freeman has shown interest in producing as a film.
The inspiration for the concept seems to be Gerald T. O’Neill
“The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space” (1976), written about the same time
as the first Mars Viking landing, when Dan Fry was having multiple
Understanding conventions out west of Phoenix in his saucer city at Tonopah (no
longer there – now a cotton farm).
An O’Neill cylinder could be strong enough if as long as 20 kilometers
and wide as 5 km, and they could be strung together with connectors. They could be best placed at Lagrange points
around the Earth and Moon, especially L4 or L5.
This was a proposal of Keith Henson, also known for controversial legal
battles with Scientology (where he wound up sentenced to jail).
There have been many other proposals in science fiction,
such as Babylon 5, and truly large structures like the Bishop’s Ring, or Millendrec
Cylinder.
Artificial gravity can make the cylinders livable, and artificial
skies and topography can be constructed. Politically, they might become like
quasi-sovereign city-states. They might become common when the cost of living
there is less than the cost of living in a big city – maybe in a few hundred
years or less.
My own screenplay “Do Ask Do Tell: Epiphany” describes one
building and rotating upright on Titan (moon of Saturn) but with much stronger
internal gravity than Titan’s. It would
look interesting in a movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment