Why Colonising Space is the Future

I’m very interested in the colonisation of space, as I do believe that this is the future. Our planet has been plagued by human error in our quest to develop civilisation. Thus, it makes sense that, with our rapidly developing technologies and breakthrough discoveries in science, we can indeed “redeem” ourselves by setting up a colony on another planet.

We have already colonised the space around our own planet, so to speak, as their are thousands of man-made craft orbiting the Earth at various heights.

I’ve presented a speech that was quite successful in late 2009 (the transcription and a few images are available here), and the research that I undertook for that presentation really caught my attention to the fact that it’s possible to colonise right away. The problem with the methods described in my research was that the costs are insanely high, and because of the arcane nature of the project, and the volatility of such an endeavour, investors are not willing to part with their money just yet.

Over the course of 2010, I hope to talk more on this fascinating subject. I will, naturally, be discussing the colonisation of Mars, our nearest neighbour, as its similarities to our own home are very high.

There is a trilogy of novels written by Kim Stanley Robinson called the Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars) that really captures the idea of terraforming a planet, and the scientific, cultural and social repercussions that accompany it, from a wide variety of viewpoints. I plan on reading the series this year to further enlighten my quest to understand the colonisation of space.