How Humans Will Live Permanently in Floating Space Habitats in Low Earth Orbit Before 2050

Have you ever imagined a future where humans will live in floating space habitats? In the 20th century, many futurists like Gerrard O’Neill, Bishop Forres, Paul Birch, and many others proposed different concepts of floating space habitats that could accommodate millions of people in Space.

While these futuristic floating habitats sound quite interesting, most of them are quite complicated to build. Hence, we may not likely be building most of those proposed habitats soon. But can humans live permanently in floating habitats? Currently, humans are already living in space.

Since November 2000, space agencies have continued to send astronauts to the International Space Station located in Low Earth Orbit. Even though no human has continued to stay there for years, some astronauts have spent nearly more than a year aboard the orbiting laboratory.

NASA and its partners studied these astronauts to learn about the effect of extended stay in space on the human body. From their observations, they realized that solving the problem of microgravity would be a stepping stone toward putting humans permanently in space.

Hence, these agencies are investing a lot of funds into the research of artificial gravity and other sophisticated technologies that will make life more comfortable for astronauts in low Earth orbit. The International Space Station, which is the first largest floating habitat to host astronauts from different nations has been in active operation since 1998 until date.

Some of its parts are beginning to wear off due to the aging and hostile nature of space. Hence, NASA is planning to retire the $150 Billion space station into the Pacific Ocean by 2030. But before its retirement, we should be expecting other floating space habitats to commence with active operation in space.

Next Generation Space Stations That Will House Astronauts in Space as the First Modern Floating Space Habitats

The concept of all floating space habitats proposed by futurists in the past may appear to be unrealistic based on our current technological progress. However, both government and commercial space agencies are already making plans that will enable humans to live permanently outside Earth in the future.

While Elon Musk is focusing on sending humans to colonize Mars, Billionaire Jeff Bezos is more concerned with sending humans to a space habitat located in low Earth orbit. Orbital Reef space station is the first proposed habitat proposed by Bezos.

This futuristic floating habitat will house astronauts temporally as they conduct research in space. Even though the Orbital Reef will not be spacious enough to accommodate more visitors at the same time, it will actually be a stepping stone towards building larger floating space habitats to accommodate more humans in the future.

Blue Origin owned by Jeff Bezos has already partnered with other prominent companies to commence with the development of the orbital Reef space station. They anticipate launching it into orbit around 2027.

Aside from the Orbital Reef space station, other agencies are working on other space stations such as the Axiom Space Station, Haven-1, Starlab, and many others. We currently have only two space stations in active operation.

The Tiangong Space Station owned and operated by the China Space National Administration possesses some futuristic features just like the ISS. However, these futuristic space stations that will replace the ISS will be built with more advanced technologies to prepare for bigger space habitats.

How Humans Will Live Permanently in Floating Habitats Before 2050

Before 2050, humans will possibly have the first massive floating habitat that will accommodate humans permanently in space. How could this be possible? Based on our current desire to live outside of Earth, many private companies are already investing heavily to have space stations in space before 2030.

This implies that by 2030, we should have more than 5 space stations in active operation in space. Having more than 5 space stations means that space agencies will conduct more studies in weightlessness. With more astronauts and tourists visiting space regularly, more people will become interested in exploring our low Earth orbit.

This increase in demand will inspire more companies to invest in building floating space hotels to accommodate the explorers. As the human population continues to grow in the 2040s, more people will be willing to relocate to the moon, Mars, and floating space hotels to find more opportunities.

During this period, the need to construct a gigantic floating habitat will arise. With the advanced technologies of the 2040s, it will take companies a few years to complete the construction of this floating space city and give thousands, if not millions of people access to live permanently in Low Earth Orbit. Do you think that we can make this interesting future, a reality in our lifetime?