Lagrange point colonization is a proposed form of
space colonization of the five equilibrium points in the orbit of a planet or its primary moon, called
Lagrange point
In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points (; also Lagrangian points or libration points) are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Mathematically, this involves the solution of th ...
s.
The Lagrange points and are stable if the mass of the larger body is at least 25 times the mass of the secondary body. Thus, the points L
4 and L
5 in the Earth–Moon system have been proposed as possible sites for space colonies.
The
L5 Society was founded to promote settlement by building space stations at these points.
Gerard K. O'Neill suggested in 1974 that the Earth–Moon L
5 point, in particular, could fit several thousands of floating colonies, and would allow easy travel to and from the colonies due to the shallow
effective potential at this point. A contemporary NASA team estimated that a 500,000-tonne colony would cost US$5.1 billion (equivalent to US$ billion in ) to build.
O'Neill proposed manufacturing large
cylinders
A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base.
A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...
or
spheres as colony habitats, while others proposed an enclosed
torus shape or a huge
ring without a "roof". Another approach is to move an asteroid to a lagrange point with a colony in its
hollow interior.
See also
*
Interplanetary Transport Network
*
Lissajous orbit
In orbital mechanics, a Lissajous orbit (), named after Jules Antoine Lissajous, is a quasi-periodic orbital trajectory that an object can follow around a Lagrangian point of a three-body system without requiring any propulsion. Lyapunov orbits ...
References
External links
Dictionary Definition
Space colonization
{{Space-stub