Spring Break
Trade to be an important part of space life
Scott Conover
Issue date: 5/11/09 Section: Forum
When entrepreneurs, scientists and dissidents finally settle space in the near future, they will be in an environment that requires a high level of preparedness and a low tolerance for error. In the long-term settlement of space, food will have to be grown, ore refined and smelted, and machine shops set up to prepare the necessary parts for homes and space-going vessels.
Without a doubt, almost all successful settlements will be very self-sufficient. Yet, as time goes by, settlers may trade for goods and services, and while all their necessities may be grown, forged or found in space, specialty and luxury goods may be in rare supply.
It seems likely that most space settlers will be from one of the major Earth civilizations. All these civilizations have a profound ability to produce and market various luxury goods, medicines and recreational goods, all of which will be in rare supply to space settlers.
As settlement continues to grow, and as settlers become more successful in extraction and production activities, longings for Earth and for new luxury goods may spur a new trade between near-Earth space settlers and Earth.
Medicines are perhaps the most likely to be in high demand; even if doctors, nurses and other skilled medical professionals settled space alongside welders, farmers and rocket scientists, they would have a limited supply of rare treatments and cures.
If all the settlers were selected for the best health and vitality, it is highly unlikely that they would never require treatment for injuries and illness. Space is new to humankind, as it is relatively unexplored, and therefore potentially hazardous to communities creating new homes among the near-Earth asteroids.
In addition, recreational goods such as rubber balls, exercise equipment, handheld video games, stress balls, books, soda pop and other similar goods may be in high demand among nostalgic settlers. The distance from Earth may breed homesickness, and many settlers may turn to trading for Earth goods in exchange for uncommon or rare metals so that they can have a piece of their former life with them. The shuttles or probes that will transport settlers will not likely have a large space for personal effects, and these too may be shipped up in a trade exchange.
Without a doubt, almost all successful settlements will be very self-sufficient. Yet, as time goes by, settlers may trade for goods and services, and while all their necessities may be grown, forged or found in space, specialty and luxury goods may be in rare supply.
It seems likely that most space settlers will be from one of the major Earth civilizations. All these civilizations have a profound ability to produce and market various luxury goods, medicines and recreational goods, all of which will be in rare supply to space settlers.
As settlement continues to grow, and as settlers become more successful in extraction and production activities, longings for Earth and for new luxury goods may spur a new trade between near-Earth space settlers and Earth.
Medicines are perhaps the most likely to be in high demand; even if doctors, nurses and other skilled medical professionals settled space alongside welders, farmers and rocket scientists, they would have a limited supply of rare treatments and cures.
If all the settlers were selected for the best health and vitality, it is highly unlikely that they would never require treatment for injuries and illness. Space is new to humankind, as it is relatively unexplored, and therefore potentially hazardous to communities creating new homes among the near-Earth asteroids.
In addition, recreational goods such as rubber balls, exercise equipment, handheld video games, stress balls, books, soda pop and other similar goods may be in high demand among nostalgic settlers. The distance from Earth may breed homesickness, and many settlers may turn to trading for Earth goods in exchange for uncommon or rare metals so that they can have a piece of their former life with them. The shuttles or probes that will transport settlers will not likely have a large space for personal effects, and these too may be shipped up in a trade exchange.
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