Giant Space Habitats: Are They Science Fiction or the Future?

The idea of furnishing giant habitats for humans to live in space has been around for decades. Some say we are closer than ever to making it a reality.

By Conor Feehly
Jul 14, 2023 1:00 PM
Artist rendering of a habitable space station
(Credit: Happy Whale/Shutterstock)

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Assuming human beings don’t wipe themselves out in the coming decades, and technology continues to develop at current rates, our species just might eventually expand into other parts of the solar system.

After all, NASA has plans to build a permanent moon base, and steps are being taken to send crewed spacecrafts to Mars. Should we get there, humans must grapple with various potential methods of survival as a space-faring civilization.

Two general schools of thought have emerged, each with a vastly different approach: Some futurists say terraforming large planetary bodies will be the best bet — to more closely resemble Earth-like conditions — while others say building large space habitats is more realistic.

The Origins of Space Habitats

While they might seem like pure science fiction, space habitats have been treated as a serious subject of study by academics for a long time.

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