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3SquirrelsinaCoat t1_ja8wgp0 wrote

The challenge with all colonization is the motivation. In theory, your idea makes sense. But that's a long way to go unless colonization is heavily motivated. To build so far away, even with future tech that allows us to get there in say a couple months, the builders would need a huge reason to go for it. I'm thinking Earth becoming uninhabitable or certain groups being under threat if they remain on Earth. I cannot think of a grand reason why we would go so far unless Venus cloud cities are proven useless, Mars isn't workable, and the Moon is for whatever reason off the table.

But if we're building orbital stations, then what does it matter where we put them? And if gravity isn't a factor for an orbital station, why do we care about the surface gravity of the body we are orbiting?

I like your idea a lot, cool premise for a story, I can't think of a reason it would ever come to pass.

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MoreGull OP t1_ja8xcet wrote

Economics are the only realistic reason. Imagine a huge deposit of uranium is discovered near the surface on Callisto, easily mined. That would create an industry around the effort, which, due to distance, would create colonization.

Economics, mining specifically, are the only reason we will spread out into the solar system. Other than a scientific probe here and there....

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_Bl4ze t1_ja9cd7h wrote

Does that necessarily imply colonization, though? We might just send robots to mine things. Sure, there's minutes of delay because those pesky little photons can't be whipped into going any faster, but we can automate a lot of it and it's not like the task involves particularly quick reaction times, seeing as the mineral isn't going anywhere.

And with an remote-controlled miner, you don't have to worry about all the extra dead weight of the hairless monkeys and their habitat and food and water and needing to bring them back before their bones rot from too little gravity.

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MoreGull OP t1_ja9d4vi wrote

It's a question of how capable the tech is I suppose. Can robotics easily reproduce people?

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Kantrh t1_jaaig9u wrote

The energy cost to bring that uranium back is immense though.

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MoreGull OP t1_jaaivwk wrote

What If uranium is super scarce on Earth....

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Kantrh t1_jaakrwi wrote

Going all the way to Callisto to mine it still wouldn't make sense.

Uranium is actually one of the more common elements in the crust. It's just about finding an economically viable concentration and going to Callisto isn't. Aside from the fact that the surface is covered in Ice

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jeffh4 t1_jaa05n3 wrote

Beside economics, the other overriding reasons in science fiction for establishing a space colony are fundamentalist regimes and fundamentalist religious groups.

Actually, add "extremely rich" to the beginning and "who whole-heartedly embrace technology" after then end of the two groups named above. We're unlikely to ever see the an Amish barn raising on Callisto. :-)

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isleepinahammock t1_jabfjxy wrote

Ok. Here's the plan:

  1. Spend centuries fully terraforming Callisto into a paradise with verdant Earthlike conditions on its surface.

  2. Populate it exclusively with Amish settlers.

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Keh_veli t1_jabqz2b wrote

I don't know how Earth could become so uninhabitable than humans would be better off elsewhere. Even after an all out nuclear war Earth would still be the most habitable place in the solar system. If we have to live inside habitat domes or whatever, it's a lot easier to build them here than in space.

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