Space settlement is a unique concept for colonization beyond the Earth.  While most thinking regarding the expansion of the human race outward into space has focused on the colonization of the surfaces of other planets, the space settlement concept suggests that planetary surfaces may not be the best location for extraterrestrial colonies.  Artificial, closed-ecology habitats in free orbit would seem to have many advantages over any planetary home (Earth included).

Animation courtesy of Joe Strout

• Stroll through the Space Settlement Art Gallery
• For more information, look at the Space Settlement FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
• L5: First City in Space is a Sony IMAX movie about the first space habitat.
• These Computer Animations show what life might be like in large space habitats.
• The space settlement concept first came to the world's attention in a "Physics Today" paper, followed by an article in "Futurist" magazine. Research this history with this Gerard O'Neill Paper, Article on-line resource.
• If you find these ideas interesting, you might want to check out some of my hard science-fiction stories which are set in a High Frontier universe
• Articles I've written on this topic
• Articles of others
• Other websites dealing with space settlements or use of space resources

Most of the concepts on this webpage and in the Space Settlement FAQ are from "The High Frontier" by Gerard K. O'Neill, which is available from Apogee Books.

If you would like to discuss these concepts with others, I recommend the Space Settlers maillist at YahooGroups.  One has the options to either receive E-mails "live" as they are sent, receiving single digests of the day's E-mails, or receiving no E-mails at all and just reading the archives available on the web.