Bases on other moons and planets in our solar system

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

What do you think the best locations are for potential future manned bases in our solar system?

I think Callisto is a good candidate, due to its distance from Jupiter. It experiences lower radiation than most of the other moons of Jupiter. Europa gets hit by a lot of radiation and the tides there are insane, but imagine if we were able to send unmanned mining ships to get water and other resources? There's also the potential for bases under the ice, but I'm not sure how feasible this is with their tides.

Mars is an obvious candidate, despite being less shielded than our own planet (thinner atmosphere), but that could be fixed with underground bases, base shielding, and in the long term, terraforming.

The Moon, OK, although I think Mars would make more sense as a refueling/resupply point for ships heading further out into the solar system.

We could also look into building bases on some of the larger asteroids that generate a higher gravitational pull.

I wonder if Pluto would make a good base location for ships to resupply before their trip into the furthest reaches of the solar system and beyond.

I hope the Alcubierre Drive is developed within my lifetime.

Some images to get imaginations flowing:

 

[Lord Lavender]

This is a question I have pondered on from time to time as to where to build bases in space. Id say the Moon is a good first start as even though there isn't much practical purpose in that with its lack of resources and small size I think it would be like the kindergarten of space exploration so to speak in that we use the Moon to in essence learn to have settlements on planets that are not Earth like so to speak a way to learn and apply the lessons learnt on that to other planets that we will in future settle.

Overall I think planets that are not extremely cold or hot and dont have any weird stuff going on (Tidally locked, has 1000 mph winds,e.t.c) should be able to be settled from the lessons learnt on the moon, but other Solar system bodies could also provide lessons into settling cerrtian archtypes of planets (Jupiter for instance could be a model for working with gas giants and so on.. It also helps that the planet doesnt have any native lifeforms that could threaten the settlers in any way.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

This is a question I have pondered on from time to time as to where to build bases in space. Id say the Moon is a good first start as even though there isn't much practical purpose in that with its lack of resources and small size I think it would be like the kindergarten of space exploration so to speak in that we use the Moon to in essence learn to have settlements on planets that are not Earth like so to speak a way to learn and apply the lessons learnt on that to other planets that we will in future settle.

Overall I think planets that are not extremely cold or hot and dont have any weird stuff going on (Tidally locked, has 1000 mph winds,e.t.c) should be able to be settled from the lessons learnt on the moon, but other Solar system bodies could also provide lessons into settling cerrtian archtypes of planets (Jupiter for instance could be a model for working with gas giants and so on.. It also helps that the planet doesnt have any native lifeforms that could threaten the settlers in any way.

The Moon and Mars are probably the most feasible possibilities when we're starting out.

I think that stable asteroids are our best bet once we're past the initial stages of colonization and have better technology and more experience, as they might be rich in resources that could be used to help construct and sustain the bases, and any surplus resources could be sent to Earth or other colonies. Part of determining the best candidates for bases/colonies will also involve where they are in relation to the Interplanetary Tranport Network: Interplanetary Transport Network - Wikipedia because if they are in a good place then they would be ideal as refueling/resupply depots

eventually we'll reach a point where we can alter the orbits of larger objects, therefore bringing them to an orbit that might make them more suitable for supply bases or even terraforming, but I'm guessing that's Kardashev I or II level capability and waaay beyond our current abilities.

 

[Lord Lavender]

The Moon and Mars are probably the most feasible possibilities when we're starting out.

I think that stable asteroids are our best bet once we're past the initial stages of colonization and have better technology and more experience, as they might be rich in resources that could be used to help construct and sustain the bases, and any surplus resources could be sent to Earth or other colonies. Part of determining the best candidates for bases/colonies will also involve where they are in relation to the Interplanetary Tranport Network: Interplanetary Transport Network - Wikipedia because if they are in a good place then they would be ideal as refueling/resupply depots

eventually we'll reach a point where we can alter the orbits of larger objects, therefore bringing them to an orbit that might make them more suitable for supply bases or even terraforming, but I'm guessing that's Kardashev I or II level capability and waaay beyond our current abilities.

Interesting ideas there . Asteroids are more hmm in RTS terms resource gathering sites than actual places to settle due to their size or maybe a scouting post or weapons post if we ever came to inter space wars so to speak. Another model I can imagine is building (We can test this out on Earth) floating cities for water planets as that is a common type of planet we could encounter on other solar systems (Hell this would also benefit Earth as well as cities on the ocean would solve population and space issues). As for your orbit modification idea this is something we would need say Star Wars level tech for which is way in the future but is a good one as then you could pull planets into the habitable zone (Assuming there isn't already a planet there as this means the planets could collide or mess up each others orbits due to gravity).

To go on a tangent here I think stars in a very high tech culture (Say Kardashev II plus) could be farmed for energy if there is no way to settle a solar system to meet the very high energy demands of such a culture but then they will probably have invented something even better so another use would be to use planets and asteroids as weapons in space conflict like bombarding a planet with another planet just for the sake of it like some cultures would. I think terraforming in the distant future will lead to a diversification of planets like a power generation planet, a vacation planet, a adventure planet and so on.