Abstract
I will discuss first how Gerard O’Neill’s case for space colonies drew inspiration from several space pioneers such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, John Bernal , Hermann Oberth, Guido Von Pirquet, Hermann Noordung, Wernher von Braun, and Krafft Ehricke, all of whom had envisioned boundless possibilities for humankind in the exploration and colonization of the cosmos. I will then take a critical look at the objections brought up by O’Neill’s environmentalist critics, e.g., Wendell Berry and Dennis Meadows, who believed instead that the very attempt to escape our limits by going into space was irresponsible daydreaming. Nevertheless, I will point out, in spite of the bitterness of the controversy, both sides created the basis for cooperation decades later, bringing up the possibility of realizing the scenarios dreamed by O’Neill.
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Notes
- 1.
O’Neill’s references to Tsiolkowsky appear in (O'Neill 1982, 2) and (ibid, 60–62). Tsiolkowslky’s more formal work on rocketry can be found in his The Rocket into Cosmic Space, Moscow, Naootchnoye Obozreniye (1903). K.K. Lasswitz also explored the idea of habitats in space about the same time. On Two Planets, Leipzig, 1897.
- 2.
This marked a shift on O’Neill’s thinking, due to the influence of Peter E. Glaser, who had developed the concept of solar power satellites earlier (1968).
- 3.
Herman Oberth’s book was his rejected doctoral dissertation, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (By Rocket into Planetary Space), later published by München, R. Oldenbourg, (1923).
- 4.
O’Neill reports to have been influenced by the articles von Pirquet published in Die Rokete, vol. II, 1928.
- 5.
Noordung (1929). He used a nom de plume. His real name was Herman Potočnik. He was born in Croatia, then part of Austria-Hungary.
- 6.
Bernal (1929).
- 7.
Some question, for example, the belief that in just a few years we could build an entire ecosystem from scratch, as would be required in one of O'Neill’s space colonies. In addition to that, proponents of the exploitation of the resources of the solar system are often very optimistic about doubtful technologies; for instance, they frequently make references to self-replicating machines. I discuss the implausibility of such machines, also called “von Neumann machines”, in Munévar (2012).
- 8.
Even the U.S. Military is beginning to take seriously the possibility of solar power satellites. And the Space Frontier Foundation sponsors a website for an open discussion of this technology: http://spacesolarpower.wordpress.com/.
- 9.
An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the conference “Envisioning Limits: Outer Space and the End of Utopia”, in Berlin, April 19–21, 2012, organized by Alexander C.T. Geppert, Daniel Brandau and William R. Macauley. Much of the paper is excerpted from my book manuscript in progress, The Dimming of Starlight: The Philosophy of Space Exploration.
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Munévar, G. (2016). Space Colonies and Their Critics. In: Schwartz, J., Milligan, T. (eds) The Ethics of Space Exploration. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39827-3_3
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