AST 100 Verrazano Project – The Lotus Corporation’s Mark V
EcoHabitat: Handout 2 (adapted from BU’s AS 107 course homework)
As we discussed in the first handout, you are the head of a 20-person
consortium convened to purchase and develop a new space colony on the opposite
side of the Earth’s orbit. You’ve already made some key decisions for your future
colony, including the starting population as well as its population growth policy. It’s
time to flesh out more of your design decisions.
You have decided to purchase the Mark V EcoHabitat for your colony; as the
name indicates, this is the 5th generation design, which is the best available
technology you can buy. The EcoHabitat is a modified Stanford Torus Colony, with a
100 mile diameter (120 mile outer diameter; 80 mile inner diameter) with a 20 mile
diameter Habitation ring. The EcoHabitat is provided with spin-stabilization hardware
that maintains a standard Earth gravity at the outer ring through rotation. The Habitat
Living Surface Area (HLSA) of the Mark V is 10,000 square miles.
The Standard Model of the Mark V contains all of the necessary equipment to
support a 30 million population indefinitely. This comes with the following modules:
– 1 City Sector
– 1 Suburb/Estate Sector
– 1 Park/Farm Sector
– 1 Wilderness Sector
– 2 Bulkheads
– Air and Food Manufacturing Capacity for 30 million people
– Climate Control System
– Transportation System
– Hub Control Complex with 2 inter-colony spacecraft
– Solar Power Array for 30 million people
With all of the money from your consortium, you have a total budget of 60 trillion
dollars (6.0 x 1013 dollars). For ease of planning, we will discuss the budget in terms of
Dysons, where 1 Dyson (D) equals 1 trillion dollars. As such, your budget is $60 D. The
base model of the Mark V outlined above has a combined cost of $20 D.
Specifically, the Standard Model has four different living sectors, each
approximately 94 miles by 20 miles in size. There are two bulkheads which divide the
colony into two separate climate zones (though you could choose to make the climates
identical). The City Sector has all the relevant urban infrastructure including a 20-mile
high building. The Suburb/Estate Sector is designed for lower population densities than
the City Sector and could be divided into large estates that would be privately held.
The Wilderness and Farm/Park Sectors are integrated into a complete ecosystem.
There is one mountain range, a 400 square-mile lake, and a river system. Although the
plants and animals provided form a complete ecosystem, this ecosystem is not stable
by itself. Rather, the air supply for the colony is provided by algae tanks located in the
Spoke corridors. Each of the Spokes is 10 miles in diameter and connects the
Habitation Ring with the Central Hub. For safety, there is a four-fold redundancy in the
environmental handling and air supply systems: each Spoke has an independent
system. The Standard Model has two Food Pods that are located in different Spokes.
Together, these Food Pods feed 30 million people.
There are a number of options available for the EcoHabitat. For example, entire
sectors can be substituted out for other sectors differing from the Standard Model.
Switching an inexpensive sector for a more costly one may save you money, but each
substitution costs $1 Dyson in handling fees. Besides the environmental handling,
air and food supply systems provided in the Standard Model, each Spoke is capable of
supporting five (5) additional Pods of your choice. The optional equipment includes:
– City Sector: $7 D each
– Suburb/Estate Sector: $7 D each
– Park/Farm Sector: $3 D each
– Wilderness Sector: $3 D each
– Extra Mountain or Lake: $2 D each
– Extra Flora and Fauna: $2 D each sector
– Farm Animals: $1 D each sector
– Bulkhead: $1 D each
– Safety Hatch for Window: $1 D
– Sun Simulation Mirror: $5 D each
– Air and Food Pod: $4 D (supports 30 million people)
– Extra Mass: $5 D each sector
– Extra Power: $5 D (supports 30 million people)
– Manufacturing Pod: $5 D each, various types
– Spacecraft: $1 D for inter-colony transport; $5 D solar system range freighter
1) Based upon your philosophy, provide specifications for the colony you wish to
purchase. Develop a detailed budget for the colony. Specify your choices for
population, geography, climate, and settlement culture. Use the blank diagram of a
Mark V Habitat (in a separate PDF) to sketch your design.
2) Note that colonies may wish to trade with one another, provide for tourism,
specialize in something (e.g., a Musicians colony). What approach would you take?
Would you want your colonies to be specialists? Why or why not?
3) What sort of government will manage your colony? Remember, you are one of 20
principal owners of the colony — would you wish to give others some control over
your possession? Why or why not?
4) The Lotus Corporation (makers of the Mark V EcoHabitat) provides power for a
population of 30 million people as standard equipment. Lotus defines the “good
life” for your colonists to be a power consumption of 30 kW per person (this is 50%
more than the current standard of living in the US and amounts to 30 kilowatt hours
of Energy per person each hour). Power is gotten from the Sun using an array of
solar cells (photovoltaics). These devices absorb Sunlight and turn it into electricity
with 10% efficiency. What is the size of the solar array provided by the Lotus
Corporation for the Standard Mark V EcoHabitat? Assume the solar flux at Earth is
1.36 kW m-2.
5) Suppose you were to fill the Standard Model EcoHabitat’s four spokes with Air and
Food Pods. Each Spoke can hold 5 pods so there are a total of 20 Pods in the
EcoHabitat that can support and additional 600 million people beyond that of the
30 million capacity of the Standard Model colony. Suppose you allowed the
population to grow to 630 million inhabitants. What is the surface population
density in that colony? If each person is standing on the rim wall, how far apart on
average are the colony inhabitants?
6) Suppose the hypothetical above colony is still living the “good life.” How big of a
Solar Array do you need to build in order to power your 630 million person colony?
7) Would you like to live in such a colony? What do you imagine the quality of life to
be in this situation? Ignoring the moral issue of population control, what is the
maximum population you would be comfortable with inhabiting the EcoHabitat you
have designed?
This handout should also be accompanied by a 1-2 page paper draft. If you are taking
a more creative route, please email me and we will work out the specifics for how to
alter this last portion of this handout to fit your project. This paper draft should have
some more fleshed out decisions about your colony, like the philosophical, political,
and economic structures, which in turn inform your design decisions for how to set up
your different modules, sectors, and pods.
As always, if you take in information from an outside source, please cite all of those
sources. This assignment is Due on Wednesday, April 8th.