''The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps'' by Marshall T. Savage is a book (published in 1992 and reprinted in 1994 with an introduction by Arthur C. Clarke) in the field of

exploratory engineering Exploratory engineering is a term coined by K. Eric Drexler to describe the process of designing and analyzing detailed hypothetical models of systems that are not feasible with current technologies or methods, but do seem to be clearly within th ...

that gives a series of concrete stages the author believes will lead to interstellar colonization. Many specific scientific and engineering details are presented, as are numerous issues involved in

space colonization Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization) is the use of outer space or celestial bodies other than Earth for permanent habitation or as extraterrestrial territory. The inhabitation and territori ...

The book's thesis

Savage takes a

Malthusian Malthusianism is the idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population die off. This event, c ...

view of the

exponential growth Exponential growth is a process that increases quantity over time. It occurs when the instantaneous rate of change (that is, the derivative) of a quantity with respect to time is proportional to the quantity itself. Described as a function, a q ...

of human

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

and life in general, and also recommends the exponential growth of

blue-green algae Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

for sustenance. He states that it is humanity's destiny to colonize every star in the galaxy. He draws heavily on the

Fermi paradox The Fermi paradox is the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high a priori likelihood of its existence, and by extension of obtaining such evidence. As a 2015 article put it, ...

(briefly stated as, "If there is intelligent life in space, why haven't we found it yet?") to support his position that it is humanity's burden alone to ignite the universe with the "spark of Life." In ''The Millennial Project'', he calls for the creation of an international foundation to realize these goals. Originally known as the ''First Millennial Foundation'' (founded by Savage in 1987), the organization changed its name to the Living Universe Foundation.

The steps of the project

The "Eight Easy Steps" proposed by Savage are as follows: # Foundationconstitute an organization convened to realize these destinies. # Aquariusbuild arcologies in the tropical

oceans The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...

as a first step to learning how to build ("grow") colonies in space using a method not unlike that used by living

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

s developed by Prof. Wolf Hartmut Hilbertz and applying his concept of Cybertecture. They also would generate income to fund later steps. # Bifrostfirst step in actually getting off the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

using ground-based free-electron-laser-powered laser-propelled

Waverider A waverider is a hypersonic aircraft design that improves its supersonic lift-to-drag ratio by using the shock waves being generated by its own flight as a lifting surface, a phenomenon known as compression lift. The waverider remains a well ...

Leik Myrabo Leik Myrabo is an aerospace engineering professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who retired from there in 2011.

, an aerospace engineering professor at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

, demonstrated the feasibility of using ground-based lasers to propel objects into orbit in 1988. # Asgardbuild a

space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...

geosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

. #

Avalon Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...

build colonies on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

by doming over the

crater Crater may refer to: Landforms *Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet *Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...

s and creating miniature ecologies. #

Elysium Elysium (, ), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields ( grc, Ἠλύσιον πεδίον, ''Ēlýsion pedíon'') or Elysian Plains, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philos ...

start

terraforming Terraforming or terraformation ("Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

to "create a living planet to sustain us" connected with Earth through

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

's proposed Mars Transit System, an example of Earth-Mars cycler. # Solariamine asteroids to create asteroid colonies and Asgard-like stations throughout the Solar System to create a Dyson cloud. # Galactiacolonize beyond the Solar System, expand throughout the

galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

heading to a level 3 on the

Kardashev scale The Kardashev scale (Russian: Шкала Кардашева, ''Shkala Kardasheva'') is a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is able to use. The measure was proposed by Sovie ...

, a method of measuring a civilization's level of energy production and consumption. In the early stages of the Project, Savage recommends Spirulina algae as a primary foodstuff, supplemented by seafood

mariculture Mariculture or marine farming is a specialized branch of aquaculture (which includes freshwater aquaculture) involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other animal products, in enclosed sections of the open ocean ( offshore mari ...

from the cities of the Aquarius phase. The Living Universe Foundation, previously known as the First Millennial Foundation, is an

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

that supports

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

and

more or less based upon the book ''The Millennial Project''. Space Environments Ecovillage in Bastrop, Texas, is one of the few LUF projects that have materialized so far.

Criticisms

The book has drawn some criticism in that while it is replete with details concerning OTEC construction and

, it touches very little on the subject of how

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

s and societies will need to change to enact the Project. Defenders and the author himselfSavage, Marshall T., The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps, 2nd edition, 1994, p 363 maintain that one man writing one book cannot be expected to write out the entire course of human development over the next millennium, and that others more suited to the field of

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...

will be needed for the Project's completion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millennial Project, The Extraterrestrial life Fictional technology Futurology books Science books Space colonization Space colonization literature Asteroid mining

The book's thesis

The steps of the project

Criticisms

See also

References