Reality vs Cyberpunk 2020 - O'Neil Stations
This is a discussion of the reality vs Deep Space cannon.
O'Neil stations
While attempting to map out the O'Neil colonies for my High Life campaign, I saw just how big Galileo - O'Neil 2 colony was. I didn't know what to do with all the space that there was. The dimension I worked with were out of Deep Space, 16km long with a diameter of 6km. I then made an assumption that it would have 3 alternating panels of habitat to windows for sunlight. This would give 3 panels at 3.2km wide by ~16km long, or 51.2km2/51,200,000m2 area to work with. At first I thought there would be a few levels under the vegetation floor, however while mapping it out, I had no idea what all that space would be used for. This made me do some research into what it would take to support a colony.
First thing I looked at was the population. Deep Space says Galileo has a population of ~15k or so. I then assume over 12k where highriders/working class. These people would be living in cramped conditions, like barracks with 3-man bunk beds. I estimated an area of 2mx3m for that, meaning 2-3 people would sleep in that area. I figure 5mx4m or 20m2 for every 4-6 people. This calculation came out to 40,000m2 area would be required to fit all of the 12k highriders. Double that number for eating area and hygiene facilities. That's less than 0.2% of just one panel to house that many people. so what is the rest of the 99.8% of one panel being used for?
Next I needed to determine what plant life is required to sustain the air for the population. I attempt some preliminary research on how much space (for plant life) is required to convert CO2 for 1 person. Some articles I found were about 400 houseplant sized plants. Biosphere 2 had 8,370m2 for 8 people, but had a 14% drain over 16 months which included microbes in the soil. Hydroponics would be better. Nanites ingenuity could improve those numbers as well. So let's say 1,000m2 per person to support for air. If a whole panel was dedicated to plant life, you could support 51,200 people. Reduce that by access ways and other infrastructure to support the farms, say 10%, that means one panel can support a population of 46+k without maximizing the space. Example would be to grow in large walls and shelving to cramp more plants in per sq.ft.
Food would be the next part of the equation. This would mean some bio mass to provide the proper protein and other dietary requirements. Now if the vegetation floor is being used for oxygen generation, there will be a small percentage given to food production. Other idea I was think of was krill or some other aquatic protein as it is one of the best ratios for feed to product compared to other animal life. So how much is needed? Figure average highrider requires about ~100-200g per day. Galileo highrider population means 1,200-2,000kg or a ton+ per day. A krill is about 1g. Which means you need enough room to hold that much krill a day. Read the Wikipedia page on krill (yea, I'm weird), this amount of 10k-60k krill swarm per cubic meters. Figure 10m3 would be enough for a daily allotment. They reproduction in a matter of days with a lifespan ranging for 6-8 months to 6 years, which of course means there would be batches for harvesting. I assume that this could easily be allotted 3km2 for the farm.
Water is the next major component needed to support the population. Storage would be in multiple areas, with treatment plant on each panel for it. I would assume that storage would be distributed throughout the panel. The station would requirement shipments to replenish any lost.
The rest would be energy and other industries. The energy production would be solar panels as well as nuclear or fusion plants in one of the end caps of the station. Similar to water, batteries for energy storage would be distributed throughout the panels.
This is very rough estimates/calculation/fudging, but the populations seem very low for the O'Neil colonies.
In addition, each colony requires 2 cylinders of equal size to prevent the cyclitrical force from flipping the station violently on its axis. This is the Dzhanibekov effect which happens within microgravity. By having two opposing cylinders rotating in opposite direction will give the O'Neil Cylinders stability and prevent this affect.
References
- O'Neil Cylinder - Wikipedia
- Is Jeff Bezos right? Are O'Neill Cylinders better than Mars Colonies? - discussion of why O'Neil Cylinders aren't a good idea.