A Colony-site survey of the Kerbal System

[Jesrad]

Let's join forces to gather meaningful fact(oid)s and mix them up with SCIENCE! in order to make the most plausible and complete survey of the Kerbal System's potential colony sites, if you will. I'll try to keep the list updated as more information is discovered or confirmed, and as new versions of KSP come.

The current colonisation short list:

Here are the more promising sites for colonisation, in ascending order of combined effort and risk. Detailed discussion about sites comes in later posts.

1. Duna ground
   
2. Dres underground
   
3. Eve's top atmosphere
   
4. Laythe underwater, for Gjames (though the mission will face very heavy radiation on the way)
   
5. Let's hear your suggestions !
   

Fundamental considerations for colonisability (is that even a word ?):

Can't skimp on these.

The site must either have direct access to ice or liquid water, or have a sufficiently low travel deltaV (on the order of 500 m/s tops) from a place that does have such access, that resupply will be easy. Breathable oxygen can then be made from the water. This is essential because even with the best recycling systems available water will decrease over time, and certainly won't increase even as the colony expands. Drugs or toxins that end up in the water supply would be catastrophic and thus make non-resupply of water unacceptable from the get-go.

The site must be safe from radiation (<1Rem/year), so it must be either far enough from Kerbol unprotected, or under a magnetosphere's umbrella, and definitely not inside the resonant cavity of a powerful magnetosphere (like Jool's). This excludes Laythe, Tylo and Valls outright, sorry.

The site, if on or under ground, must be geologically stable - no frequent seismic activity endangering the installations.

And finally, the site must allow for the extraction of waste heat: either by making it possible to radiate it away (access to the vacuum of space) or by absorption of it (access to a lot of mass of temperature <300K). Otherwise the colony is doomed to turn into a pressure cooker, eventually.

Additional considerations:

These are optional, but important for priorisation.

A good solar energy supply helps tremendously - saves on nuclear fuel, and allows growing food locally, saving on resupplies. It's key for long-term expansion of the colony, unless there is nuclear fuel available on the site. Basically, further than Kerbin is a quickly-growing handicap, with anywhere beyond Duna to be regarded as useless, whereas Eve and Moho get bonus points.

A gravity between 0.5 and 1.2 g saves the crew from extensive physical exercise needed for maintaining bone density and from gobbling preventative antibiotics everyday.

Explorable terrain around the site (as in, the site is not in the vacuum of space directly) provides a nearly-endless supply of sciencey stuff to do for your colonists, keeping them challenged and busy - and thus, happy.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Jesrad

[Jesrad]

Here are the first potential colony sites I suggest studying in detail:

1) the obvious: Duna ground

There's water ice at the poles, and likely buried all over the desertic red planet. The temperature range makes it trivial to evacuate waste heat, there's room and sunlight for growing food, and the magnetosphere + atmosphere protect the dwellers from radiation.

2) the not-so-obvious: Dres underground

Dres will soon have asteroid companions, of which many will be mostly water ice - combined with Dres' low escape velocity, resupplying should be an easy matter. In the meantime I'll pretend there is water ice on the ground. Lots of room and some sunlight (a bit less than on Duna) to grow food, too. And a magnetosphere for protection against stellar wind and cosmic rays, albeit weaker even than Duna's. But it's there, I can prove it: there's very few impact craters on Dres compared to, say, the Mün, which demonstrates quick erosion even in the absence of an atmosphere, so there must be significant volcanic activity, which means a molten core and thus core magnetism, QED.

3) the crazy: Eve, top atmosphere

Sure Eve's ground is way too hot and the pressure is inconvenient - but just like with real-life Venus, the top of its atmosphere can prove much more welcoming, with pressure and temperature close to Kerbin's. Supposedly, there is water vapor there too, so water is obtainable through rain (although it may contain nasty stuff that must be removed first) and condensation. Break water and get oxygen to breathe, with hydrogen on the side to inflate balloons with and stay buoyant - it's not like there's a risk they'd burn out, since there's no free oxygen around. OK so there's not much terrain to explore 10 km above the ground, but the view should be majestic. And all that CO2 in the air + lots and lots of sunlight should feed plants alright, though hydroponically. Magnetosphere, radiation, should be the same as Kerbin so we're good.

Thoughts ? What's your prefered potential colony site, and why ?

[GJames]

A Laythe base is still a possibility. Radiation shielding is assigned a value, or a halving thickness, where the intensity of the radiation going through it is halved. For water, it's 18cm, so building an underwater base a few meters down would protect the occupants from most of the radiation.

Soil and concrete are even better, but they are harder to move around and use to cover up a base, whereas you can just lower your underwater base straight down. There they have virtually unlimited water for electrolysis to make rocket fuel .etc.

Yes? No? Maybe?

[Umlüx]

only IF the liquid on laythe is actually water..

Duna would be the best choice if you build your base over an ice deposit, but some radiation protection would still be needed i think.

[Richy teh space man]

I think it depends on what effect radiation actually has on Kerbals, maybe they're a little more hardier then humans, and able to settle on worlds that would kill a human within minutes.

[Jesrad]

A Laythe base is still a possibility. Radiation shielding is assigned a value, or a halving thickness, where the intensity of the radiation going through it is halved. For water, it's 18cm, so building an underwater base a few meters down would protect the occupants from most of the radiation.

Soil and concrete are even better, but they are harder to move around and use to cover up a base, whereas you can just lower your underwater base straight down. There they have virtually unlimited water for electrolysis to make rocket fuel .etc.

Yes? No? Maybe?

Underground won't do on Laythe, the place is way too seismically active. Underwater now, on the other hand... Water-grazing would be more accurate: floaty solar panels and living quarters several meters deep...

Bu just how deep are talking about here ? For comparison, Europa is 540 Rem/day which cooks a human pretty fast, and it's a good approximation for Laythe I think (Jool is smaller but Laythe is smack in the middle of its radiation belt). To get to the level I indicated (1Rem/year) you need to divide that radiation level by at least 130 000 times, or in other words, to halve it 18 times in a row. With water, that means about 3 and a half meters minimum of depth. Workeable, but it'll require very heavy containment.

All in all, it's an interesting, challenging site for colonisation, it may be doable if the sand can be turned into a decent concrete locally, then you can make underwater pressure vessels with inflatable cast and sink them to a suitable, shallow sea bay.

BUT there is the problem of getting there... the trip to Laythe will require quite the radiation shielding as well.

[paleorob]

only IF the liquid on laythe is actually water..

Absolutely!

The comment about Dres having a magnetosphere is pretty insightful but I'm not sure if the interpretation is correct since it is so small. I think you're correct in saying it has been resurfaced but it may have undergone crustal melt from a large impact OR had a core with vulcanism that lasted past the KLHB (Kerbal Late Heavy Bombardment). Considering that it is smaller than both Duna and Mun, neither of which are tectonically active, it would make more sense to assume it has a dead core (like Duna likely has).

[lewille]

Considering everything in Kerbal has 10 times the density of IRL, wouldn't that mean that the Kerbals also are denser and so more impervious to radiation?

Thats pure conjecture off course

[magnemoe]

Main downside with Eve is that its very high escape speed. Even from upper atmosphere its 1.5 time Kerbin. That goes to Eve stays on Eve.

As for Laythe do we know that Jool has Jupiter level radiation belts? Saturns radiation belts are far weaker even weaker than earth, however it will be larger and Laythe is probably in them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn#Magnetosphere

Note that Laythe has an atmosphere almost as thick as Kerbin, it probably has its own magnetic field to both give protection.

Laythe would also work with space planes making SSTO pretty easy.

However the main reason to do colonies outside of research stations is resources.

Laythe has the benefit of the most kerbin like enviroment while beeing in the Jool system. Would make an nice place for food production and recreation for kerbals in the Jool system.

[NGTOne]

Another non-obvious (read: balls-out crazy) might actually be low orbit over Kerbol, just outside its "atmosphere" (corona?). If its composition is reasonably similar to our own Sun, you could conceivably scoop it for hydrogen and oxygen to produce water with minimal dV, and you'd never have a power problem. With a big enough heatshield on the bottom (Kerbol-facing) side, I don't think temperature would be too big of an issue either. And, with the amount of solar energy you had available, I think some sort of electromagnetic shielding might be feasible, to protect against the worst of the radiation.

As for entertainment, with enough sunglasses, you could always look directly at the surface of the sun...

Thoughts?

[Skorpychan]

Another non-obvious (read: balls-out crazy) might actually be low orbit over Kerbol, just outside its "atmosphere" (corona?). If its composition is reasonably similar to our own Sun, you could conceivably scoop it for hydrogen and oxygen to produce water with minimal dV, and you'd never have a power problem. With a big enough heatshield on the bottom (Kerbol-facing) side, I don't think temperature would be too big of an issue either. And, with the amount of solar energy you had available, I think some sort of electromagnetic shielding might be feasible, to protect against the worst of the radiation.

As for entertainment, with enough sunglasses, you could always look directly at the surface of the sun...

Thoughts?

Delta-V getting supplies there. Or the colony there.

Water.

Thrusting against the solar particles hitting the heat-shield.

[NGTOne]

Delta-V getting supplies there. Or the colony there.

Water.

Thrusting against the solar particles hitting the heat-shield.

Our own Sun is composed of about 75% hydrogen, 23% helium, and the remainder being heavier stuff, including oxygen. Assuming Kerbol has a reasonably similar composition, you could theoretically "scoop" it for those things, as well as some other useful stuff (for instance, iron). Then you can go ahead and produce water and LOX/LH rocket fuel out of that (or use ion engines - you have no shortage of power, and our Sun contains neon, which can be used for ion propulsion). As for supplies, one assumes that the colony has the ability to produce its own food and whatnot, and other, less replaceable stuff (electronics components, etc.) could be trucked in either from Kerbin, or an automated facility on Moho.

Now, I will note that all of this assumes that Kerbol has a reasonably similar composition to our own Sun. If that's not the case, obviously this idea wouldn't work.

[EvilotionCR2]

Our own Sun is composed of about 75% hydrogen, 23% helium, and the remainder being heavier stuff, including oxygen. Assuming Kerbol has a reasonably similar composition, you could theoretically "scoop" it for those things, as well as some other useful stuff (for instance, iron). Then you can go ahead and produce water and LOX/LH rocket fuel out of that (or use ion engines - you have no shortage of power, and our Sun contains neon, which can be used for ion propulsion). As for supplies, one assumes that the colony has the ability to produce its own food and whatnot, and other, less replaceable stuff (electronics components, etc.) could be trucked in either from Kerbin, or an automated facility on Moho.

Now, I will note that all of this assumes that Kerbol has a reasonably similar composition to our own Sun. If that's not the case, obviously this idea wouldn't work.

Gonna try that plan. I wanted something like this in LKO (Low Kerbol Orbit).

[NGTOne]

Gonna try that plan. I wanted something like this in LKO (Low Kerbol Orbit).

I know HOME includes some air intake/conversion modules, and they don't need oxygen (they work on Duna). So you could conceivably try this for reals

[Pyre]

Every time a discussion about radiation on Laythe comes up, people seem to forget something; it has a rather significant atmosphere, which should absorb a lot of radiation. Also, all those volcanoes mean a molten core, so Lathye may have a magnetosphere of it's own. Still have to deal with radiation on inbound/outbound flights, but that is just an engineering challenge.

[Jesrad]

Good remarks, a few kilometers of atmosphere will protect against much of the radiation. But that's still orders of magnitude more than safe levels.

[magnemoe]

Our own Sun is composed of about 75% hydrogen, 23% helium, and the remainder being heavier stuff, including oxygen. Assuming Kerbol has a reasonably similar composition, you could theoretically "scoop" it for those things, as well as some other useful stuff (for instance, iron). Then you can go ahead and produce water and LOX/LH rocket fuel out of that (or use ion engines - you have no shortage of power, and our Sun contains neon, which can be used for ion propulsion). As for supplies, one assumes that the colony has the ability to produce its own food and whatnot, and other, less replaceable stuff (electronics components, etc.) could be trucked in either from Kerbin, or an automated facility on Moho.

Now, I will note that all of this assumes that Kerbol has a reasonably similar composition to our own Sun. If that's not the case, obviously this idea wouldn't work.

The technical challenges of doing aeroscoping of the sun would be interesting.

Read a book where they aerobraked in the sun, this is magnitudes easier and required magic tech: nivens stasis field.

[pxi]

Considering that a water supply would be a prerequisite, I would think that you'd design your habitat with an inflatable outer skin, and fill it with enough water to block the radiation. Or just cover it with local soil, assuming that the soil itself is not radioactive.

Edited August 16, 2013 by pxi

[Kimberly]

I think it's fair to assume that Laythe's oceans are water of some kind, until we have evidence to the contrary. It looks that way, after all. Keeping mind that spacecraft have to sustain the pressure difference between vacuum and the pressurized compartment, 1 atmosphere, it should be no problem for space-ready vehicles to descend to 10 meters or so below Laythe's surface, where the pressure difference will again be approximately 1 atmosphere. (Although they will have to withstand compression, rather than decompression.) If Laythe has pure water, gamma radiation 10 meters below the surface will be 2^55 times less than at the surface. That ought to be plenty.

Electrical pumps could fill bladders to sink crafts, or pump water out of the bladders to use their buoyancy to propel craft upwards. Buoys on the surface can provide air (if it is breathable) and electricity to the base below. Boats or water-landing could deploy rovers to anywhere on the planet, and short manned expeditions should be safe. As a bonus, a base that deep is protected from Laythe's weather systems, likely to be somewhat violent due to Laythe being tidally locked.

[Moon Goddess]

Considering everything in Kerbal has 10 times the density of IRL, wouldn't that mean that the Kerbals also are denser and so more impervious to radiation?

Thats pure conjecture off course

But since EVERYTHING is so much smaller in Kerbal universe that means the Planck length is smaller, quarks are smaller, protons neutrons and electrons are smaller, if they ever have the same sub atomic systems. Thus smaller Alpha and Beta particles, and I'm not sure but possibly tighter frequencies for electromagnetic radiation so tighter wavelength higher energy gamma rays, so the effect would be exactly the same?

[Stargate525]

I think it's fair to assume that Laythe's oceans are water of some kind, until we have evidence to the contrary. It looks that way, after all. Keeping mind that spacecraft have to sustain the pressure difference between vacuum and the pressurized compartment, 1 atmosphere, it should be no problem for space-ready vehicles to descend to 10 meters or so below Laythe's surface, where the pressure difference will again be approximately 1 atmosphere. (Although they will have to withstand compression, rather than decompression.) If Laythe has pure water, gamma radiation 10 meters below the surface will be 2^55 times less than at the surface. That ought to be plenty.

That's a common fallacy. There's a reason that spacecraft are so light, and submarines so heavy. But yes, the twenty or thirty feet shouldn't be terrible; the astronaut training complex has spacecraft parts that are submerged further than that.

[NERVAfan]

With water, that means about 3 and a half meters minimum of depth. Workeable, but it'll require very heavy containment.

All in all, it's an interesting, challenging site for colonisation, it may be doable if the sand can be turned into a decent concrete locally, then you can make underwater pressure vessels with inflatable cast and sink them to a suitable, shallow sea bay.

No pressure vessels needed - it takes 10 meters of depth in water to raise the pressure by one atmosphere, so at 3.5 meters, you can just raise the pressure of the inside to match the outside. 1.35 atmospheres pressure is totally breathable - you may want to lower the oxygen concentration a bit, I see different numbers for when oxygen issues start happening.

[NERVAfan]

With water, that means about 3 and a half meters minimum of depth. Workeable, but it'll require very heavy containment.

All in all, it's an interesting, challenging site for colonisation, it may be doable if the sand can be turned into a decent concrete locally, then you can make underwater pressure vessels with inflatable cast and sink them to a suitable, shallow sea bay.

No pressure vessels needed - it takes 10 meters of depth in water to raise the pressure by one atmosphere, so at 3.5 meters, you can just raise the pressure of the inside to match the outside. 1.35 atmospheres pressure is totally breathable - you may want to lower the oxygen concentration a bit, I see different numbers for when oxygen issues start happening.

That's a common fallacy. There's a reason that spacecraft are so light, and submarines so heavy. But yes, the twenty or thirty feet shouldn't be terrible; the astronaut training complex has spacecraft parts that are submerged further than that.

Isn't that largely because submarines go way deeper than 10 meters?

[Van Disaster]

But since EVERYTHING is so much smaller in Kerbal universe that means the Planck length is smaller, quarks are smaller, protons neutrons and electrons are smaller, if they ever have the same sub atomic systems. Thus smaller Alpha and Beta particles, and I'm not sure but possibly tighter frequencies for electromagnetic radiation so tighter wavelength higher energy gamma rays, so the effect would be exactly the same?

Gravity isn't a tenth, however. Presumably because everything is super-dense which in itself assumes "normal" size bits, no? reasons for gravity were not covered in my physics education.