Scientists have come up with a strange concept of space exploration: living inside asteroids. Their studies claim that in the future it is not impossible for asteroids to become human habitation.
In their research paper, experts from the University of Rochester came up with the idea of hollowing out an asteroid, increasing its spin to create artificial gravity and filling it with buildings.
Then, the asteroid is enveloped in a kind of flexible mesh pocket made of carbon nanofibers to keep debris from breaking apart as it spins.
The research team admits that, for now, their concept is strictly theoretical and will require unprecedented engineering capacity.
"Our paper sits between science and science fiction," said study author Adam Frank at the University of Rochester, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
"We're inspired by sci-fi ideas that have been very popular recently, from TV shows like Amazon's The Expanse, and are offering a new way of using asteroids to build a city in outer space," he said.
"Based on our calculations, an asteroid 300 meters in diameter just a few football fields away could expand into a cylindrical space habitat roughly the size of the city of Manhattan."
The team was inspired by the O'Neill cylinder, a space settlement concept proposed by US physicist Gerard K. O'Neill in 1976.
This futuristic city consists of two connected cylinders that rotate in opposite directions. The cylinder would rotate fast enough to exert artificial gravity on its inner surface, but at the same time slow enough so that the people living inside would not experience motion sickness.
Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who own Blue Origin and SpaceX respectively, reference the O'Neill cylinder in their vision for a future space habitat.
But the Rochester team said it was difficult to build such a settlement, mainly because of the construction equipment that had to be transported from Earth to outer space.
"Our proposed concept is likely to be less expensive and technically complex than constructing the classic O'Neill habitat," the researchers said in their paper.
Therefore, they turned to asteroids, rocky space objects that orbit the Sun and are left over from the formation of the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago.
Scientists estimate that in our Solar System alone, there are about 1,000 giant asteroids. A 2019 study led by Thomas Maindl at the University of Vienna suggested a hollow asteroid with a central cylindrical cavity could be rotated on its axis to achieve an artificial gravity similar to that of Earth.
But the paper doesn't take into account a potential problem, namely that the asteroid rock that is punched will not be strong enough, so it will snap and shatter as it spins.
Most asteroids aren't even solid rock, but piles of debris made up of loose rock and sand held together by the weak gravity of space.
Therefore, the new study proposes to envelop the asteroid in a flexible mesh bag made of high-strength ultralight carbon nanofibers.
The pocket would envelop and support the entire rotating mass of asteroid debris and the habitat within it, while supporting its own weight as it rotates.
In addition, the carbon nanofibers will also become solar panels, which will provide strength for the habitats that live inside the asteroid. Experts say the asteroid's outer layers will provide a natural shield against deadly cosmic radiation from the Sun.
What do you think? Does the idea of humans living on asteroids make sense and maybe come true?