Blog

Since our name is The Colony Foundation, it makes sense to define the term colony. Like most words, there are multiple meanings, but what we mean is a group of people who leave their homeland to found a new settlement. It also needs to be a group. If you take off by yourself or with just your immediate family, you are not a colony. I think of it as a group large enough and independent enough to provide for most of their own needs. Not sure where the top end is. I suppose that is a matter of perspective.

The first space settlements are going to either have to have a constant stream of goods, or have to be somewhat self-sufficient. The space station is certainly in space, but it is not a settlement, in that there is no intent to permanently live there. I think being a settlement is required for a colony, but a colony also requires a bit more, in that the goal is to be the start of a new society, at least that is my take.

The “practice” colonies we are proposing are only practice in the sense that they are a tool that we can use to learn the skills we will need for space colonies, but they also serve the vision of The Colony Foundation, which is “Spreading Life Everywhere.” To that end, each one should be designed for permanency. Oh, we hope that some of the people who learn there will move on to other colonies, including ones off Earth, and in that sense, one of their ongoing purposes will be as training centers, but they should also have the goal of prospering and thriving in their own right. One of the goals is to prove that these are viable and successful, both from a financial and social perspective.

Perhaps a better question would be what we can’t learn. The biggest thing we can’t learn is how to cope with different gravitational fields. One disadvantage of living at the bottom of a deep gravity well is that you are stuck with at least that much gravity for anything more than a short free fall. Maybe, maybe, in the future we will be able to manipulate gravitational effects, but write now it just science fiction.

Another issue that we will have to deal with in space colonies that we can’t fully duplicate here on Earth is near vacuum. A colony in orbit or on the moon will have to deal with an almost perfect vacuum, and despite the storms of Mars, the atmosphere there is pretty close at 0.01 atmospheres, give or take. What we can do here is start learning about how to deal with these issues, even if we can’t get the full effect. We could have a pressurized colony at altitudes where the natural pressure is lower, which would mean having it at high elevation. We can learn a lot by having a colony at an altitude where the pressure is at 0.7 atmospheres, but pressurized to 1 atmosphere.

One more issue that Earth protects us from is hard radiation, and any space colony will have to deal with that. This issue is fairly easy to plan for, so it isn’t as important that we practice for dealing with it. While there are doubtless other differences, such as how to deal with utilizing the very different “soils” of the moon or Mars, finding water, etc. That does leave an enormous number of issues that we can practice here.

While Elon Musk and others are working to get the cost of transporting material to orbit down, short of some unforeseen breakthrough, transportation costs are still going to be very high. While the transportation costs will likely be lower for any Earth-based colony, in the remote locations we are proposing the costs will vary from moderate to very expensive. We can start to learn about all of the logistics. What is needed and how much to get started. What will we be able to produce in the colony and what will need to be imported.

Earth-based colonies can test a variety of structures to see what works best. While there are doubtless experts who already have ideas, testing these in a variety of environments will be very useful. Do we need to set up the colony in an area of loose dust, that can be piled over the colony structures for shielding, or is it practical to dig tunnels. What will we need for each of these or other possibilities and what will the weight and cost be?

We can learn a great deal about supplying food for colonies. A colony will need to get to self-sufficient on food as quickly as possible. What are the best techniques? What foods should be grown? What do you start with and how much do you need to bring as a reserve? There is so much we don’t know yet. Again, while there are numerous experts, the best way to learn is to actually do this in a colony setting.

How about energy? Are we better off with solar or nuclear or some combination? What is the best combination of weight versus energy produced and which is better for long term maintenance and growth. Are there other options?

We already mentioned that we can partially test a pressurized colony on Earth, but it is more than just developing air tight structures. What do we need to do to ensure the proper flow and mixture of air for the colonists and for plants, etc? Do they need to be the same? Maybe we grow some crops with a different atmospheric mix. There are a lot of necessary skills, here and certainly a lot to learn.

How about all the thousands of things we take for granted every day, running water, waste handling, chemicals from soap to cleaners to lubricants, computers, and all of the other conveniences of a modern life. What do we really need and what is easy and what is hard? So much to learn!

What is the best size for a colony? Is a colony with 50 adults a good starting point, or is 100, 150 or 300 better? What skill sets do we need and who goes in first? What is the ramp up time? These question really need a lot of practice colonies to answer the questions.

How do we structure the political, social and economic systems of the colony? Are there criteria we need to use to select colonists? Again, these are questions that are best answered with actual practice. Another area on the social front is how to handle the political situation with Earth governments. There are some treaties in place, but how is it going to work in practice. A colony in Antarctica will face very similar issues to a space colony on this front.

These are all areas where we can learn a lot. Yes, we can study each of these areas individually, and there are doubtless experts in each of them, but doing it all at once and seeing how it synergizes is only possible with a colony. How do each of these things interact with each other.

One of the big arguments for doing this on earth based colonies first is that the failure mode is less harsh. If a colonist decides they can’t hack it, leaving is at worst difficult, not impossible. If a pressurized colony has a failure in space, fatalities are likely, but if you are pressurizing from 0.7 atmospheres to 1.0, no one is likely to die. If all of your plants die, no one is going to starve to death.

Another reason for doing this on Earth is training. Suppose we are going to set up a colony on Mars, and we selecting colonists, how about a resume that says that John has three years experience living in a colony of 150, that he was in charge of air handling for the colony and cross trained in several other critical skills. You just can’t get that without Earth-based colonies as training sources, and maybe, the entirety of a functioning Earth base colony moves in mass to a space based colony. They have already proved they can work together and be successful.

Perhaps the most powerful reason for doing Earth based colonies is that they build momentum. The problem with space colonies is that even for the richest men on the planet, or even governments, all they can do is work on building up the structures. For the average person, even dreaming about it is unrealistic. That means these energies are necessarily turned elsewhere. But with Earth-based colonies, there is an option that is in the reach of far more people, and as more people are able to start working on this, focusing their energies towards this goal, and taking practical steps towards it, it develops a momentum that we can’t achieve any other way.

It is always good to have goals. It provides a direction to move towards and a yardstick to measure your progress. No one can see the future, so, of course, goals have to be adjusted and updated from time to time. Here is our first pass at our goals:

STAGE ONE GOALS

Timeframe: Completion by 1/1/2018

1. Build up a network of interested potential colonists and supporters, particularly those with skills that would be necessary and useful.
2. Set up initial organizational structure, most likely as a 501c3 organization.
3. Create an established internet presence.
4. Create an initial fund through crowdfunding and/or sponsors, sufficient for a full time staff and office.
5. Create at least 10 first stage proposals for Earth based colonies.
6. Begin establishing relationships with corporations and others who have the necessary tools for the initial colonies.

STAGE TWO GOALS

Timeframe: Completion by 1/1/2023

1. Have an established and growing database of those who want to be colonists or help support colonists.
2. Have a strong organization, with in-house experts in all areas relevant to colonization to provide leadership to the broader community and encourage collaboration and progress.
3. Have an established worldwide reputation as the leader in advancing humanity into off-Earth settlements.
4. Strong internal and external financials to support our goals.
5. Establishment of at least three Earth-based colonies, including at least one with a pressurized environment with at least a dozen more planned and initial designs for the first off-Earth colonies.
6. Strong collaboration with those who are working towards the same goals, and particularly those who are developing transport capabilities.

STAGE THREE GOALS

Timeframe: Completion by 1/1/2035

1. Have an established group of experienced colonists ready to take the next steps and established colonies to train more.
2. Have a strong organization, with in-house experts in all areas relevant to colonization to provide leadership to the broader community and encourage collaboration and progress.
3. Have an established worldwide reputation as the leader in advancing humanity into off-Earth settlements.
4. Strong internal and external financials to support our goals.
5. Establishment of at least 100 Earth-based colonies, including at least twenty with a pressurized environment. At least one off-Earth colony established to at least an early stage. Designs for at least 20 more in at least 3 different environments.
6. Strong collaboration with those who are working towards the same goals, and particularly those who are developing transport capabilities.

STAGE FOUR GOALS

Timeframe: Completion by 1/1/2050

1. Established colonies on Earth and off with the best training program and recruitment system on Earth.
2. Have multiple organizations, both on and off Earth, with in-house experts in all areas relevant to colonization to provide leadership to the broader community and encourage collaboration and progress.
3. Have an established system-wide reputation as the leader in advancing humanity into new environments.
4. Strong internal and external financials to support our goals.
5. Establishment of at least one self-sufficient off-Earth settlement with at least 100 other colonies in diverse environments, with sufficient genetic resources to ensure humanities survival regardless of a single planet disaster.
6. Leadership in collaboration and training and exploration.

STAGE FIVE GOALS

Timeframe: Completion by 1/1/2100

1. Established colonies throughout the solar system that are growing and reproducing.
2. Have multiple organizations, both on and off Earth, with in-house experts in all areas relevant to colonization to provide leadership to the broader community and encourage collaboration and progress.
3. Have an established system-wide reputation as the leader in advancing humanity into new environments.
4. Strong internal and external financials to support our goals.
5. Initial plans and development for first extra solar colony (via slowship unless future developments provide a better option).
6. Leadership in collaboration and training and exploration.

I am Troy Judd and I am the founder of The Colony Foundation. I have been thinking about these ideas my entire adult life. My goal was to build up a business successful enough that I could provide a significant amount of the financing our of my personal resources. I was actually making some significant progress in that direction and than a few years back, due to economic forces way bigger than my business, the industry I was working in crashed and everything I had built fell apart. I also turned 50. I realized I could spend my entire life trying to get prepared to do what I thought was important or I could just start doing it. And really, is it a bad thing that this will have to be a widespread effort, not just the vision of one man.

Interestingly, that same dynamic is what drives our current vision. Instead of trying to save up for the big push to Mars or the Moon, let’s start doing what we can right now. People learn best through doing. Starting with colonies here in challenging locations will also help us build momentum, and test and prove or disprove concepts and technologies before we ship it off planet. It also builds up a trained group of people with proven experience who have shown they can live in that kind of environment. If you are going to run a Marathon, you start by running what you can and build up to something more challenging and finally work your way up to the marathon. If you start with the marathon, it isn’t going to be pretty.

I suppose it is fair to share a bit about me. I grew up blue collar in Texas. My father was a carpenter and as I was older bought and managed rental properties. I was the first person in my extended family to graduate from college. My undergraduate degree, from the University of Texas at Arlington, that being the closest major public university, is in Interdisciplinary Studies. I had a large concentration in the sciences, across the board, with smaller concentrations in mathematics and sociology. I wanted to learn everything about how the world worked, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. After college, I worked for a while as a programmer at a small software company, spent a very brief period as school teacher and then worked in my family’s business for several years. I went through a divorce and then was blessed to marry my wonderful wife Karen, who encouraged me to expand my horizons. I wound up going to law school, and after a few years started my own firm, which grew rapidly and was very successful for most of a decade, which brings us up to where we started.

It might seem weird for an attorney to be the founder of this type of an organization, as most would probably expect an astronaut, and engineer or scientist. With my background, I can understand and talk to any of these experts, but my background is also useful. I have been fascinated for years with how social structures and economics will work as we expand into space. I have studied economics, even taking some graduate level econometrics and math for economics classes to expand my skills in that area. Understanding of the law is also useful. My focus is going to be the social and economic structures. How do we live together in these new environments. Right now, though, my goal is to help bring together all of the experts, and at least as important, people who want to go start working towards these goals. If you fall into either category, please contact me.