[Reading Science] If Nuclear War Breaks Out, Humanity Will Live in Places Like These

US Rochester University Research Team Proposes 'Sustainable' Space City Idea
"Gravity Formed by Cylindrical Structure, Resources Utilized by Asteroid Harvesting"

Photo by University of Rochester, USA website

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Earth has been devastated by nuclear war and resource depletion. So, where will humanity go? To pioneer deep space, bases and stations in the middle of space are essential, but is this feasible?

Scientists have proposed a new idea for building a 'sustainable' space city to answer this question. They suggest creating a structure shaped like a round cylinder with a hollow center and edges made of elastic materials. Then, by collecting asteroids and attaching them to the outer walls for use as resources, the city can be self-sufficient.

According to the space-specialized media 'Space.com' on the 23rd, a research team from the University of Rochester published a paper on this topic earlier this year in the astronomy journal 'Frontiers in Astronomy & Space Sciences.' The team borrowed the concept of the 'O'Neill cylinder' proposed in 1972 by Gerard O'Neill, a physicist at NASA. The O'Neill cylinder concept, which involves rotating a massive cylinder to create artificial gravity, inspired the public at the time to believe that building space cities was possible. This idea also attracted billionaires recently focused on space development, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. However, the original O'Neill cylinder concept was criticized for lacking self-sufficiency, requiring continuous resource supply from Earth, limiting distance, and incurring high costs.

The research team applied the O'Neill cylinder idea by focusing on the possibility of trapping asteroid debris through gravity. First, they propose installing a cylindrical structure in space with only the edges about the size of Manhattan (approximately 57 km²), attaching flexible carbon nanofibers to the outer walls. Like the O'Neill cylinder, the rotating cylinder generates gravity, and the outer walls fix asteroid debris, allowing construction of buildings and use of mineral resources and residential facilities necessary for the space city. To achieve this, the team suggests using carbon nanofibers as the outer wall material, which are lightweight yet have enough elasticity to withstand the weight of asteroid fragments. Theoretically, when an object is placed inside a rotating cylinder, it presses against the cylinder wall, so asteroid fragments would be firmly fixed to the outer walls of this city structure.

The research team believes that if such space cities become feasible, the cost of exploring the solar system could be drastically reduced, and space travel for ordinary people, not just billionaires, could become widespread sooner. A team representative said, "We do not think these asteroid cities will be built anytime soon," but added, "All the technologies needed to complete such cities currently exist and do not violate physical laws."