Colonizing Cislunar Space and the Lagrange Points

To travel to other planets, we will first have to build up are infrastructure closer to home, in orbit of Earth. The best place to get all the mass for those space stations and rocket fuel depots is from the Moon, and we'll examine the milestones we'll need to reach to start lunar resource harvesting and building up space settlements.

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Credits:
Colonizing Cislunar Space and the Lagrange Points
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 255; September 10, 2020
Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur

Written by:
Isaac Arthur
Jerry Guern
Keith Blockus

Cover Art:

Graphics:
Katie Byrne
SpaceResourceCGI
Tristand3D
Udo Schroeter

Music
Sergey Cheremisninov, "Sirius"
Reign Pagaran, "Distant Voyager"
Aerium, "Fifth Star of Aldebaran"
Denny Schneidemesser, "Across the Universe" & "Luminous Rays"

[littlegravitas]

Oh, what a coincidence! It's about 31 steps from my room to the fridge for a snack and a drink!

[thomasbriscoe]

"Oh, give me a locus where the gravitons focus
Where the three-body problem is solved,
Where the microwaves play down at three degrees K,
And the cold virus never evolved

Oh Home, home on LaGrange,
Where the space debris always collects,
We possess so it seems, two of Man’s greatest dreams:
Solar power and zero-gee sex

[davien]

Quality science discussions as always. 3D illustrations are just icing on the cake. 🍰

[dsdy]

Seeing you mention "your friend Joe Scott" makes me inexplicably happy

[jgr]

22:30 reminded me of an anecdote on the building of Brasilia, Brazil: there used to be an industrial size concrete-mixer that would mix concrete non-stop (yes, 24/7) until it broke & had to be replaced. the calculations showed that it was less expensive to buy a new concrete-mixer ever 30 days than turn it off for maintenance.
so I can easily see companies shipping these kinds of robots to the Moon periodically & using them until it stops working (or its marginal production falls too low) & needs to be replaced.

[brandonporter]

Thanks, Isaac for making these kinds of videos, really cool to see other people thinking about this kind of stuff. I don't get talk to people about these topics in everyday life, but every video is like a cool discussion on the future. Bonus points for helping broaden the imagination of what could be achieved for many people watching you for the first time. You never know who your videos could set on a path. Great work, keep it up!

[DocWolph]

So we are currently living inland on the plains, with some very minor settlements on the coast. We still tend to build the ships and truck them to the sea before setting sail Very close to the coast. But once we start settling fully the coasts and harbors, getting out to sea and the wider ocean becomes so much easier.

Most of Human civilzation resides close to or on the coasts. I would expect space to fairly similar.

[blindyeti]

Isaac, your videos are some of the few that I can endure watching at normal speed (instead of 1.5 or 1.75 for the really slow speakers) because it gives me more time to enjoy the ideas you share with us.

Love your content, keep it up please.

[mito._]

I'm not religious.
But videos like these give me something to believe in.

[lordhefman]

Step 1: we colonize the moon.
Step 2: then colonize Lagrange points.
Step 3: ?
Step 4: make mobile suits.
Step 5: make Gundam IRL, we may need to drop a colony on australia to do this but that is a cost I'm willing to pay.

[QuestionEverythingButWHY]

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
― Isaac Asimov

[alfredsutton]

Arthursday is the best day. Thank you for giving us your wisdom.

[funkknob]

The lagrange points form a giant peace sign, got it!

[joz]

Thanks you Sir, this video has arrived at the right time. I have just finished my 1st novel set on a research station at the L2 point and this video has helped with the science. Thank you Isaac Arthur, I will give you a mention if it ever gets published.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Ive always said the yammering about Mars was stupid. This is the first step in becoming an actual spacefaring civilization.

[cmbaz]

Everytime i watch one of your videos i end up playing KSP the whole day...
Ha ha ha

[IslandHermit]

I think the most useful definition of a "multiplanetary species" is that of having a human presence on another planet which is capable of surviving and growing on its own.

[paull]

All these jokes about 'colonizing translunar space, ' and I'm just like: "Yes, that's when we get to the Jupiter system. It will be awesome."

[cedricrobertson]

I realized something about myself while listening arthir talk about cislunar colonisation from my miniaturised speakers conected to a computer in my poket wirelessly wearing clothes made out of a fabric developed for space exploration while siting on the floor of a log cabin warmed by a fire I made rubing two stick together and carbing a flute out of a cow bone with a stone axe I made myself
I am a techno barbarian

[Cherb]

I keep getting flashbacks to Anno 2205, it amazes me how perfect the game imitates this real-life systems.
Great game.
Great video, thank you!