Welcome to a very special issue of Ad Astra with 100 pages discussing important space settlement topics, from incremental steps all the way to the “big vision.” I hope you enjoy it.
Veteran Ad Astra contributor and NSS blogger Emily Carney kicks things off with a look back at the pioneering work of Gerard K. O’Neill, generally regarded as the father of modern thinking on space settlement. Then NSS Governor Jeff Greason tackles everything from the historical origins of human settlement to interstellar propulsion in a wild ride into the future.
Joel Sercel of TransAstra examines the many challenges faced by cislunar settlements, with sound solutions for each. Jeff Greenblatt provides an overview of the limits of human expansion in the solar system, Al Globus discusses common arguments against such expansion into the solar system and relevant responses to them, and incoming NSS President Michelle Hanlon looks at the legal issues surrounding future settlements off-Earth.