In 1975, NASA commissioned a team of researchers with illustrating space colonies of the future
IN 1975, NASA commissioned a team of researchers to illustrate potential space colonies of the future. Their ideas are out there.
HAVE you ever contemplated how the world will look in 2100?
If you envisioned massive man-made habitats floating in the deep space, you share a similar view to NASA.
All the way back in 1975, the space agency commissioned Don Davis and Rick Guidiceto to illustrate potential space colonies of the future.
The retrofuturist artwork was born from a team at NASA tasked with conducting 10 weeks of research into off-world structures.
Princeton professor Gerard O’Neill led a team of architects, researchers, engineers and scientists attempting to come up with feasible concepts to present to the space agency.
The researchers came up with three possible scenarios — the Bernal Sphere, the Toroidal Colony and the Cylindrical Colony.
Each of the designs had artificial gravity being produced by centrifugal force, which would be powered by solar panels.
The largest of all three concepts was the Cylindrical Colony, which had the potential to house one million people at once.
O’Neil had hoped work on the designs would begin during the 1990s, but to no avail.
Unfortunately, the professor passed away in 1992, so he will never see his dream become a reality.