News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by bayesian_horse on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:35AM (#18911341)
As far as I know, Humans need lots of gravity to develop, so any settlement could not reproduce, at least until means to counteract the effects of microgravity are discovered.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by TremendousJudge on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:53AM (#18911465)
>Humans need lots of gravity to develop

I don't think reproduction of vertebrates has ever been tried in space. Definitely not humans. It simply isn't known how growing up in moon gravity or no gravity at all affects people. They most likely would never be able to visit the Earth, but maybe they can live healthy lives regardless. Or maybe it's impossible and the fetus dies in the womb. It simply isn't known.

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by Symmetry on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:55AM (#18911478)
Humans certainly need some gravity but whether lunar 1/8 g or martian 2/5 g is enough is something we have no experimental data on.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by EForEndeavour on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @10:49AM (#18911967)
Very minor correction that does not affect your point: lunar surface gravity (1.6 m/s^2) is only about 6 times weaker than that of earth (9.8 m/s^2), not 8 times.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by kamaal on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:38AM (#18911358)
You spin your O'Neill cylinders, that's how you get gravity.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by airstrike on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:48AM (#18911432)
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by kamaal on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:59AM (#18911515)
Pretty much any project that involves humans settling in space in itself is a long shot goal by todays terms.

Even if you start mining the asteroids any time in the coming decades, it won't be any thing less than a century after that, until you put humans into permanent colonies.

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by bayesian_horse on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:45AM (#18911411)
O'Neill cylinders don't work on the moon.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by pavel_lishin on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:48AM (#18911438)
"Aw, Mom, why can't we go live on the moon with Dad?"

"Now, Billy, you know your bones and brain need at least .85G to develop properly. You can go live with Dad when you turn 16."

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by TeMPOraL on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @02:04PM (#18913863)
Would be more worried about this eventually happening the other way around.

"Aw, Mom, why can't we go live on Earth with Dad?"

"Now, Billy, you know your bones and muscles are used to lunar 0.16G, and won't support your body in full 1G. Your heart isn't strong enough for those conditions either."

See also: Belters from The Expanse.

Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by pavel_lishin on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @02:12PM (#18913925)
Yup, also Andy Weir's Artemis, and to a lesser degree Larry Niven's everyone-except-Jinxians.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by TeMPOraL on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @03:06PM (#18914508)
Also the anime Planetes had touched this topic, AFAIR.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by andygates on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @10:56AM (#18912030)
Lunar G isn't microgravity. We genuinely don't have the data, which is why this, Eucropis, and subsequent work is a big deal.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by jerf on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @10:58AM (#18912047)
You can still build something that spins at 1G though. It just isn't a cylinder anymore, but something more like a continuous racetrack.
Re:China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout by kamaal on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:52AM (#18911464)
At this point in time, any mass settlement in space won't involve going down another gravity well.

Pulling stuff out of a gravity well is enough work as it is. Mostly you will have people living and working in neighborhoods, in space, just like you have cities and lot of empty unused land between them on earth.

Like space cities. Then cluster of space cities, then may be a region full of such clusters etc.