A pandemic-induced “lockdown” project produced a brand-new vision for how to build cities on asteroids.
The wild asteroid idea would see far-future people gather up rock rubble in a massive bag made of nanofiber mesh, permitting future astronauts to construct a habitat inside the loose asteroid bits as the rocks spin in space.
“This job started as simply a way for physicists and engineers to blow off steam, forget worldly stresses for a while, and picture something insane,” Ph.D. candidate and study lead author Peter Miklavčič, who is based at the University of Rochester, stated in a declaration.
The researchers determined that future Manhattan-sized cities of 22 square miles could be built on these space rocks, just like in science fiction movies, assuming the base of the asteroid is at least 1,000 feet across.
The research study team argues that if their principle undoubtedly works, it would (eventually) allow for lower-cost expedition of the planetary system and open living off-planet to even more individuals than simply billionaires.
That stated, the launch facilities is not yet in place for quick and inexpensive access to space, not to mention any asteroid city-building products; that might take a few years a minimum to construct, if not centuries.
The new research study borrows from the oft-cited “O’Neill cylinder” concept, first proposed by physicist Gerard O’Neill in a 1972 NASA study.


