Colonization of trans-Neptunian objects

<a href="/facts/Freeman_Dyson/kSRxTh2r">Freeman Dyson</a> proposed that <a href="/facts/Trans-Neptunian_object/oF5vsbz9">trans-Neptunian objects</a>, rather than <a href="/facts/Planet/rbPjE6Bx">planets</a>, are the major potential habitat of life in space. Several hundred billion to trillion <a href="/facts/Comet/w34utQCd">comet</a>-like ice-rich bodies exist outside the orbit of <a href="/facts/Neptune/1eucwHIC">Neptune</a>, in the <a href="/facts/Kuiper_belt/IvLzYp5P">Kuiper belt</a> and Inner and Outer <a href="/facts/Oort_cloud/wdP3VNxd">Oort cloud</a>. These may contain all the ingredients for life (water ice, ammonia, and carbon-rich compounds), including significant amounts of <a href="/facts/Deuterium/Bv4wfCkw">deuterium</a> and <a href="/facts/Helium-3/SmPC5oT3">helium-3</a>. Since Dyson's proposal, the number of trans-Neptunian objects known has increased greatly.
Colonists could live in the <a href="/facts/Dwarf_planet/IkQoCdwD">dwarf planet</a>'s icy <a href="/facts/Crust_(geology)/FYG1kP4F">crust</a> or <a href="/facts/Mantle_(geology)/RpDdtjCr">mantle</a>, using <a href="/facts/Fusion_power/jyETSzm4">fusion</a> or <a href="/facts/Geothermal_power/1zdrqHdU">geothermal</a> heat and mining the soft-ice or liquid inner <a href="/facts/Ocean/8W8lYgjD">ocean</a> for <a href="/facts/Volatile_(astrogeology)/yYCe49qX">volatiles</a> and <a href="/facts/Mineral/LkUFbNmv">minerals</a>. Given the light gravity and resulting lower pressure in the ice <a href="/facts/Mantle_(geology)/RpDdtjCr">mantle</a> or inner ocean, colonizing the rocky <a href="/facts/Planetary_core/LyQ7DbAl">core</a>'s outer surface might give <a href="/facts/Colonists/SjBCIznY">colonists</a> the largest number of <a href="/facts/Mineral/LkUFbNmv">mineral</a> and <a href="/facts/Volatility_(chemistry)/90r3ep6w">volatile</a> resources as well as insulating them from cold. Surface habitats or <a href="/facts/Domes/vcv5uuXj">domes</a> are another possibility, as <a href="/facts/Background_radiation/LEBeDkGg">background radiation</a> levels are likely to be low.
Colonists of such bodies could also build <a href="/facts/Space_habitat/ImmzlNSq">rotating habitats</a> or live in dug-out spaces and light them with <a href="/facts/Fusion_reactor/jyETSzm4">fusion reactors</a> for thousands to millions of years before moving on.[dubious – discuss] Dyson and <a href="/facts/Carl_Sagan/HhdhTggo">Carl Sagan</a> envisioned that humanity could migrate to neighbouring star systems, which have similar clouds, by using natural objects as <a href="/facts/Generation_ship/9cqVJ75r">slow interstellar vessels</a> with substantial natural resources; and that such interstellar colonies could also serve as way-stations for faster, smaller interstellar ships. Alternatively Richard Terra has proposed using the materials from the Oort-cloud objects to build vast starlight collecting arrays to power habitats, thus making an Oort-cloud community essentially independent of its central star and fusion fuel supplies.

Colonization of trans-Neptunian objects open-in-new

Colonization of trans-Neptunian objects