Scenarios which may lead to the rise of an asteroid-based technical civilisation

• Published in: Acta astronautica 2002-05, Vol.50 (9), p.569-577
• Main Author: Kecskes, Csaba
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Civilization; Ecological Systems, Closed; Electric propulsion; Exobiology; Extraterrestrial Environment; Forecasting; Humans; Kinetic energy; Life Support Systems - instrumentation; Manufactured Materials; Microwave devices; Military Science; Minor Planets; Orbits; Rocket engines; Space Flight - instrumentation; Space Flight - trends; Space life sciences
• ISSN: 0094-5765; 1879-2030
• DOI: 10.1016/S0094-5765(01)00208-9

In a previous paper, the author described a hypothetical development path of technical civilisations which has the following stages: planet dwellers, asteroid dwellers, interstellar travellers, interstellar space dwellers. In this paper, several scenarios are described which may cause the rise of an asteroid-based technical civilisation. Before such a transition may take place, certain space technologies must be developed fully (now these exist only in very preliminary forms): closed-cycle biological life support systems, space manufacturing systems, electrical propulsion systems. After mastering these technologies, certain events may provide the necessary financial means and social impetus for the foundation of the first asteroid-based colonies. In the first scenario, a rich minority group becomes persecuted and they decide to leave the Earth. In the second scenario, a “cold war”-like situation exists and the leaders of the superpowers order the creation of asteroid-based colonies to show off their empires’ technological (and financial) grandiosity. In the third scenario, the basic situation is similar to the second one, but in this case the asteroids are not just occupied by the colonists. With several decades of hard work, an asteroid can be turned into a kinetic energy weapon which can provide the same (or greater) threat as the nuclear arsenal of a present superpower. In the fourth scenario, some military asteroids are moved to Earth-centred orbits and utilised as “solar power satellites” (SPS). This would be a quite economical solution because a “military asteroid” already contains most of the important components of an SPS (large solar collector arrays, power distribution devices, orbit modifying rocket engine), one should add only a large microwave transmitter.