Exoplanet Colonization Program
In 1977, L. Stephen Wolfe, and Roy L. Wysack collaborated on a book about the first human settlers on habitable exoplanets (planets in other star systems). The book was called Pioneers from Earth, and was later published by Grosset and Dunlap (US) and David and Charles (UK) under the title Handbook for Space Pioneers.
In the late 1970s, astronomers had yet to discover physical evidence of any planets orbiting other stars. The retiring NASA Kepler Mission has discovered thousands of exoplanets including many earth-sized planets. On April 18th, 2018, NASA will launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TESS is NASA’s next step in the search for planets outside of our solar system. The mission is expected to catalog thousands of planet candidates that may be able to support life. TESS will find the most promising exoplanets orbiting relatively nearby stars, giving future researchers a rich set of new targets in the search for life beyond earth. In our view, it’s no longer a matter ‘if’ a habitable exoplanet will be discovered, but ‘when’.
To share in the excitement of The NASA mission the authors of Handbook for Space Pioneers and creators of the “Galactic Association of Intelligent Life Earth” (GAILearth) have published their work online for free to share with the future pioneers from earth. We want to see the GAILearth.com site become a worldwide cooperative science fiction project where creative people can contribute their ideas about colonizing habitable exoplanets. Click here for our twitter feed for gailEarth, #exoplanetcolonies.
To that end we are soliciting contributions from artists, engineers, architects, map-makers, 3D modelers, scientists, and writers who want to create life, living spaces, and natural environments that people might find on colony planets. If you would like to participate or just see what we’re creating visit GAILearth.com now, and share in the adventure. Handbook for Space Pioneers is also available in Kindle format and hardcopy from Amazon.com. Look at our ideas for settling habitable exoplanets, and send us yours! You can become a contributing author like Amanda Ure with her book Replicas.
Photo Credit: NASA/Adler/U. Chicago/Wesleyyan/JPL-Caltech