Space Sucks

When  The Expanse begins, a Mars colony already exists and is known for its military prowess. Earth’s moon is an established rendezvous port that avoids the energy-costly gravity well. And the asteroid belt is active with space stations and mining for ores. When you hear enthusiasts discuss the near future of space exploration, this is what they’re imagining is within reach. But is it really? In their tongue-in-cheek book A City on Mars, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, authors of Soonish, suggest it will be very, very difficult.

 

Why? Because to put it bluntly, outer space sucks for us humans, used to the natural resources and the gravity well of Planet Earth. We evolved to live at an atmosphere of pressure, with the abundance of water, oxygen, and surrounded by carbon-based food sources. These niceties will not be easily available on the moon, on Mars, or anywhere in outer space. Behind the humor of their presentation is well-researched science. You would not be surprised by the basic issues of human body physiology presented by outer space travel and long-term survival. We simply don’t know enough, and what we do know suggests there will be numerous obstacles. There’s even a section titled “Actually, the Whole Universe Wants You Dead” on radiation poisoning outside our home planet.

 

I already knew about bone loss and muscle atrophy when not living at 1-g. But I hadn’t thought about fluid shifts. Apparently, there’s something called “Puffy-Face Bird-Leg syndrome”. Also it causes vision problems. They provide the statistics: In short (< 2 week) missions, 23% of astronauts reported problems with close-up vision. In longer missions involving a stint on the International Space Station, it’s 50%. That’s ghastly. Apparently, the “best guess is that the upward fluid shift increases the pressure in your head, altering the shape of your eyeballs and the blood vessels that feed them.” Other questions asked include whether you can have sex in space and whether you can give birth in space; we’ll need to know this for long-term settlement. The answer: We don’t know. But a speculated theoretical solution involves a strange donut-shaped environment.

 

That was only a smidgen of Part I. Part II goes through the pros and cons of different possible locations: Quoting the chapter titles conveys this nicely:

·      The Moon: Great Location, Bit of a Fixer-Upper

·      Mars: Landscapes of Poison and Toxic Skies, but What an Opportunity!

·      Giant Rotating Space Wheels: Not Literally the Worst Option

·      Worse Options

All I can say is that it’s interesting to think about the ecology (or lack thereof) for the different locations. You’ve really got to worry about the environmental issues, which are all there to kill you! But if you did manage to overcome these, there’s Part III to worry about how to create and live in a terrarium. The authors argue that we should have spent a lot more money creating many different Biosphere-like experiments here on Earth instead of blowing money on prestige-inducing projects involving launching stuff out of our gravity well. We need some of the latter, but we need much more of the former. I found this section interesting because it made me think carefully about inputs and outputs needed to sustain a complex system. That’s what a living organism is!

 

Until I read Part IV, I had not ever considered the legal and sociocultural issues related to space settlements. This part was fascinating and new to me. The authors explain the current loose framework we have now and its problems. They also discuss in detail two other frameworks: Antartica agreements and the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The history and the ongoing negotiation of these treaties is a lesson we should learn. These community-rules kinda, sorta work, but there’s always the lurking problem of “might makes right”. At several points, the authors caution us that the scramble for outer space real estate could well lead to more conflict here on our planet’s surface. I’m inclined to agree with them.

 

What I really liked about the book, besides the humorous and engaging approach, is that the question of outer space exploration and settlement is inherently very interdisciplinary. I could see a series of interesting linked college-level courses across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, that could prompt students to think deeply and learn a lot! However, the bottom line still stands. Space sucks. But it’s fascinating to think about.