How science fiction imagined the colonization of the solar system. Who will need it

This time - the Moon. Since the very beginning of the space age, scientists and futurologists have been exploring the idea of ​​​​transforming other worlds to suit human needs. This process - known as terraforming - requires the use of geological and environmental engineering techniques to change the temperature or atmosphere, topography, ecology to make it more like. And being the closest celestial body to Earth, the Moon has long been considered a suitable location.

It is known that colonization and/or terraforming of the Moon should be relatively simple compared to other bodies. Because of its proximity, the time to transport people and equipment to and from the surface will be significantly reduced, as will the costs. In addition, its proximity means that extractable resources and products produced on the Moon can be transported to Earth regularly, and the tourism industry should develop.

Colonization of the Moon in science fiction

The theme of creating human settlements on the Moon has always been one of the most popular topics in science fiction. And while the vast majority of stories describe lunar settlements being built on the surface using sealed domes or below the surface, there are a few examples in which the Moon itself is a pleasant and friendly environment for humans to inhabit.

The earliest famous example- this is probably short story“La Journée d’un Parisien au XXIe siècle” (“The Day of the 21st Century Parisian”), written by French author Octave Bellard. Published in 1910, the story tells how the Moon's atmosphere gradually changed and how plants were grown to turn the Moon into a paradise for endangered species and human colonists.

In 1936 American writer K. Moore wrote " Lost heaven", a novel about a smuggler and a space ranger living in a colonized country. The novel presents the Moon as a once fertile place and describes how it gradually became an airless desert. In 1945, British writer C. Lewis wrote a novel in which the Moon was home to a race of extreme eugenicists.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote several novels and short stories about lunar colonies in the 50-70s of the 20th century. In 1955, he wrote Earthlight, in which the lunar population is caught in the crossfire when war breaks out between Earth and the Venus-Mars alliance. In 1961, the novel “Moon Dust” was published, in which the tourist cruiser “Selena” plunged into a sea of ​​lunar dust.

Released in 1968 famous novel Clark's "2001: A Space Odyssey", part of which develops on the colonized Moon, where a mysterious monolith (Tycho magnetic anomaly) was found. Rendezvous with Rama, released in 1973, also mentions a colonized Moon that became part of the unified planets of the solar system.

Robert Heinlein also wrote about people on the moon. Among his early ones is The Stone Family in Space (1952), about the Stone family living on the Moon who want to leave home and explore the solar system. He won a Hugo Award in 1966 for his novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, in which an underground lunar colony supplies Earth with food and minerals.

There is certainly no shortage of novels about the Moon, both colonized and terraformed. But this is fantastic. Let's see how things are in reality.

The science of lunar settlements

Over the past few decades, numerous options have been proposed for building a colony (or colonies) on the Moon. Most of them arose at the dawn of the space age, plans were worked out both in the USSR and in the USA with the development of the Apollo program. IN last years There have been more proposals to return to the Moon by the 2020s and renewed interest in creating a permanent settlement. However, there are several scientific proposals that predate the 20th century.

For example, in 1638, Bishop John Wilkis - an English priest, naturalist, member of the Royal Society of London - wrote “Discourse on a New World and Another Planet,” in which he predicted the appearance of a human colony on the Moon. The legendary Russian engineer, rocket scientist, scientist and cosmonaut theorist Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky proposed during his lifetime (1857-1935) to build a space elevator and suggested that a lunar settlement would become important step in the formation of humanity as a space-conquering species.

By the 1950s and 60s, proposals began to snowball - along with the advent of the Apollo program, plans arose to place astronauts on the Moon permanently. In 1954, Arthur C. Clarke proposed building a lunar base out of inflatable modules and covering them with lunar dust for insulation.

The very first settlement of his plan would require the construction of igloo-type buildings and an inflatable radio tower, followed by the construction of a large permanent dome. Clark proposed purifying the air with an algae-based filter, generating energy with a nuclear reactor, and using electromagnetic guns to launch cargo and fuel for interplanetary ships in space.

In 1959, John Rinehart - director of the Mining Research Laboratory at the Colorado School of Mines - published a proposal entitled "Basic Criteria for lunar development" in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. His "floating base" concept includes half-cylinders with half-domes at either end and a micrometeoroid shield above the base. This idea was based on the fact that in those days it was believed that there were oceans of dust on the Moon one and a half kilometers deep in some places.

At the same time, plans arose to place military bases on the Moon. Among them is Project Horizon, an American plan to build a fort on the moon by 1967. The US Air Force also proposed Project Lunex in 1961, which would have created an underground air force base on the Moon by 1968.

In 1962 John Denike (program manager promising programs NASA) and Stanley Zahn (technical director for lunar base research at Martin Space Division) published a proposal to build a lunar base. Their idea involved building a subsurface base located in the Sea of ​​Tranquility that would rely on nuclear reactors for energy and an algae filtration system.

In recent years, many space agencies have been drafting proposals to build colonies on the Moon. In 2006, Japan promised to build a base on the Moon by 2030. Russia made a similar proposal in 2007, with plans for the base by 2027-2032. In 2007, Jim Berke of the International Space University in France proposed creating a lunar “Noah's Ark” in which human civilization could survive a catastrophic event.

In August 2014, NASA officials met with industry leaders to discuss cost-effective ways to build a lunar base in the polar regions by 2022. In 2015, NASA outlined the concept of building a lunar settlement that would rely on robotic workers (known as "Transformers") and heliostats during the construction process. In 2016, Johan-Dietrich Werner, the new head of ESA, proposed building an international village on the Moon as a successor to .

Possible methods

When it comes to terraforming the Moon, the opportunities and challenges associated with it are very similar to those of . First, the Moon has an atmosphere that is so thin that it can only be called an exosphere. Secondly, there are very few volatile elements necessary for life (hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon).

These problems can be solved by capturing water ice, which contains water ice and volatile substances, and sending them to the surface. Comets sublimate, dispersing these gases and water vapor, thereby creating an atmosphere. These impacts will also release water contained in the lunar regolith, which will accumulate on the surface, forming natural bodies of water.

The transfer of momentum from these comets could also speed up the Moon's rotation so that the satellite is no longer tidally locked. The moon, whose daily cycle would accelerate to 24 hours, would greatly simplify colonization and adaptation to life.

There is also the possibility of paraterraforming parts of the Moon, which would be similar to the gentrification of Mercury's polar region. In the case of the Moon, the Shackleton crater would be suitable, in which scientists have already found water ice. Using solar mirrors and a dome, it would be possible to transform this crater into an area with a microclimate in which plants grow and there is a breathable atmosphere.

Possible benefits

Compared to other planets and moons of the Solar System, there are a number of advantages in colonizing and terraforming the Moon. The most obvious is its proximity to Earth. Compared to Mercury or the outer solar system, the cost and time of transporting people and materials to and from the Moon will be significantly lower.

In addition, bombarding the lunar surface with comets would require fewer comets than in the case of Mars and Venus - on the order of hundreds instead of thousands.

Availability water ice in lunar soil and large sediments in the south polar region will also create surface water(after it is launched Greenhouse effect). Along with comets bombarding the surface, it would be possible to introduce methane and ammonia ices mined somewhere on and in. Observing the terraforming process will also be easier, since the Moon is closer and requires less infrastructure.

At the same time, colonies on the Moon will have many advantages. A local resource base will provide opportunities for local resource utilization as well as raw materials needed for deep space missions. For example, since the composition of the Moon is similar to that of Earth, minerals can be mined on it and sent to Earth. Lunar soil mined from the surface could be used to create radiation shields and domed settlements on the surface.

The lunar reserves of water ice, which are especially abundant in the south polar region, could serve as a constant source of water for the colonists. There is also a lot of helium-3 in the upper layers of the lunar regolith, which could be used in thermonuclear reactors, providing a constant supply of clean energy to both the lunar colonies and the Earth.

A lunar base could act as a launching point for missions to the solar system. NASA estimates that by creating a lunar base that could use local water to create hydrogen fuel, billions of dollars could be saved. Such an outpost would be an integral part of the infrastructure when it comes to manned missions to Mars and the construction of a Martian settlement.

The Moon's low gravity and escape velocity also mean that missions launched from the Moon will require much less rocket fuel to reach space. The same advantage would make it possible to build electromagnetic gun, a lunar elevator, or other projects considered too expensive to build on Earth. Any of these structures will reduce the cost of moving materials and satellites (like space satellites) significantly.

Last but not least, establishing a lunar settlement will also provide us with valuable information, particularly about the long-term consequences of living in low gravity. This information could be useful in establishing a permanent base on Mars or other solar system bodies with surface gravity less than 1 G.

The Moon has stable lava tubes that are large enough to support entire cities, which is a plus. Such an underground environment can be pressurized to contain a breathable atmosphere and also provide protection from solar radiation.

Possible problems

Terraforming the Moon also poses a number of problems. On the one hand, collecting comets and ice from the outer solar system would require infrastructure that simply does not exist and would be expensive to create. Essentially, hundreds would be needed to gather all the resources, and they would have to be equipped with propulsion systems that would allow them to travel in a short period of time, which also do not yet exist.

While long periods of time spent in microgravity are known to cause muscle degeneration and loss of bone density, it is unclear how the effects of low gravity will affect the resident population and children born in such conditions. It may be necessary to genetically modify Earth's plants and animals so that they can live in lunar conditions, but it is unknown whether this will be a successful solution.

And, of course, the cost of all this will be astronomical, although less than one might think, and will require development over several generations. It is difficult to talk about the continuity of generations, not to mention the fact that the obligations adopted by one government or international body may not be respected by the next.

A colony on the surface will have a lot of problems. Long moonlit nights(354 hours long) would mean that dependence on solar energy would be impossible anywhere except the polar regions. In addition, significant temperature fluctuations will also require changes in colony design. Any settlement on the surface will need to be protected from solar radiation.

The lack of an atmosphere increases the chances of being hit by comets and vulnerability to solar flares. The Moon also periodically passes through the Earth's magnetosphere, creating a plasma whip that cuts across the surface. On the bright side, electron bombardment results in the release of ultraviolet photons and a buildup of negative charge on dark side. This also entails some danger for settlements on the surface.

As we have already noted, a number of these issues could be resolved by building settlements below the surface. But if we assume that settlements will depend on solar energy, they will have to be built near the polar regions in order to take advantage of the presence of eternal light in these regions. An alternative would be fusion reactors powered by helium-3. But this, again, is an expensive option and not yet available.

For what? We have already said this. But the most important thing, perhaps, will be the presence of man on the Moon. This presence will serve as a stepping stone to presence on Mars, Venus and other places in the solar system. Another step in our interplanetary - or even interstellar - race.

Looking at the coming era of expansion into deep space through the eyes of science fiction writers, we will see exciting pictures. Giant ships full of settlers eager to explore new worlds rich in resources. Rapid development of colonies following the earthly model. Bloody conflicts between newly created states. To taste, treacherous pirates, noble blue-skinned aborigines and the threat of a non-humanoid enemy that unites humanity are added.

But is colonization of planets outside the solar system really possible? And will it happen the way science fiction writers imagine?

Who will need it

Unfortunately, the model described in the introduction cannot actually work. Science fiction writers simply project into the distant future the experience of colonization of America, Africa, and Oceania already known to mankind. But the exploration of new planets will probably follow a different scenario. The first to set foot on uncharted land will be adventurers who are not hungry for gold, acting on own fear and risk, but well-trained astronauts performing a government mission, bound by laws and obligations.

Scientists will come next, and not settlers at all, who in the case of America were poor peasants, artisans and priests, fleeing from hunger and not needing anything except own land. True, unlike settlers, scientists will not stay forever - after completing their research, they will return to Earth.

The first colonists will look not like Puritan pilgrims, but like heroes ""

Objectively speaking, there will be no one to populate the colony. In the high-tech world of the future, there are unlikely to be “starving people” who are ready to seek happiness in the wild jungle and have the physical and financial means to do so. And if those who wish to do so appear, no one will allow them to put their lives in danger before all the possible consequences of a long stay of the human body in alien conditions have been thoroughly studied.

Migration, which has an economic basis, has long been directed from less developed regions of the planet to more developed ones - and in no case vice versa. If things on Earth go so bad that crowds of desperate people want to flee to other worlds, then civilization will not be able to finance space expeditions at all. Only a prosperous planet, from which you will absolutely not want to leave, will be able to find funds for expansion.

Maybe people will be drawn to “Outland” later, when infrastructure is created in the colonies - roads, cities, factories. Living on planets free from overpopulation and pollution has its advantages. But how long it will take before the established settlement is equal to the metropolis in terms of education and health care and can provide no worse conditions for personal development is unknown.

To conquer ultra-distant worlds you need very, very large ships. Like “Covenant” from the movie “”

It is also unclear why earthlings would finance construction in deep space. Enterprises will be able to supply the colonists, but from the point of view of those who remain at home, the enormous investment will not pay off. The feasibility of interstellar transportation of raw materials seems extremely doubtful. The production of high-tech goods requires not cheap resources, but qualified personnel and sophisticated equipment. It is more convenient to do this on Earth. The American model of colonization is economically untenable.

The “Soviet” version, described in the “World of Noon” cycle, looks much more plausible: earthlings have mastered the vast Periphery, but the communards in space do nothing except search for elusive “wanderers,” sport hunt for takhorgs and grow delicacies on a few alien farms. Because there is nothing else to do there.

How will the colony earn money?

With a high degree of probability, we will have to develop a planet with an atmosphere unsuitable for us. Then the earthlings' base will look something like this

It can be assumed that an extraterrestrial settlement will have three sources of funding: the export of luxury goods, tourism and science. It is not profitable to transport ore from the Moon, but even a simple stone delivered from there costs a lot of money. And shoes made from vegan lizard skin will sell for even more. At first, the souvenir trade will be profitable, but soon the fashion for aliens will pass.

Tourism is a more reliable business and will undoubtedly play a huge role in the economy. Judge for yourself: so far all attempts to launch production in orbit chemical compounds, the synthesis of which is possible only in zero gravity, suffered a fiasco, but space tourism is gaining momentum, and demand exceeds supply a thousand times. There will always be people who want to shoot takhorgs or crustaceans, or simply admire the beauties of other worlds.

In addition to “planetary” space tourism, “spatial” tourism is also possible - to places that offer stunning views of nebulae and unusual star systems (still from the film "")

But at first, the driving force behind colonization will be science. If the race is already building interstellar ships, it means that large funds are allocated for research. A “habitable” planet will attract tens of thousands of scientists - biologists, paleontologists, geologists, meteorologists. And this is actually an insignificant number: the dwindling mysteries of the earth’s biosphere are being unraveled by a much larger number of people.

Finally, don't discount politics. If, having discovered a planet suitable for colonization, the government does nothing, the common people will not understand this. It will be necessary to create ministries and departments responsible for the development of the Periphery, develop programs, organize public supervision, and allocate funds. And then publish reports, create a commission to investigate mysterious disappearance allocated funds, criticize the colonization program and reform the administrative apparatus.

A colony on another planet will provide permanent, well-paid and interesting work millions of people... on Earth. But employees of management institutions will have to visit the management facility at least occasionally. Especially if sensible interstellar radio communication is not invented, instructions will have to be sent by courier ships, and control over their implementation will be difficult. Even if there are no settlers, scientists, farms or hotels in the colony, administrative complexes will have to be built.

The planet's atmosphere will most likely have to be brought into line with the requirements of the human body. In the Alien universe, there are atmospheric processors for this (still from the film "")

At first, the colony on the planet will develop dynamically. The population will quickly reach 100-200 thousand people (scientists, tourists, administration plus service personnel). Supplying an entire city from Earth, if realistic, is impractical, so food production and building materials. A little later, compact automatic factories will be deployed, producing consumer goods from available local raw materials using extremely simplified technology.

Even the assembly of “improved” ersatz machines is not excluded - provided that the most complex components and assemblies are delivered from Earth. See: for making modern car Several grades of steel, non-ferrous metals, plastics, instruments and components are required, delivered from dozens of different enterprises. It is impractical to set up hundreds of factories in a colony and surround it with mines to extract the entire periodic table, if only because the demand for products is limited and the costs (including the delivery of equipment) will never pay off. Only the most necessary materials will be produced locally.

Mining

It cannot be ruled out that on distant planets there will be substances that are not yet known to science, such as the “spice” from Arrakis (a still from the film “Dune”). But you should also be prepared for the presence of worms

About the cost interplanetary transportation Today, of course, it is impossible to say anything definite. But even if shipping goods from the other end of the Galaxy in the distant future becomes as accessible as shipping by sea now, this will not make mining in other areas profitable. star systems. Regardless of the level of technology, transporting goods over long distances will be more expensive than over short distances. In the vicinity of the Earth, the reserves of resources are almost limitless. Metals contained in the asteroid belt can cover our planet with a layer 50 kilometers thick. And the mass of frozen methane on a large comet exceeds proven reserves natural gas on the ground.

Of course, not all resources are available in abundance in the solar system. It is assumed that the crust of some deep space bodies may consist entirely of carbon in the form of diamond. Near young stars, uranium is much richer in the 235th isotope. But... do you need so many diamonds? And will the demand for uranium continue after the advent of thermonuclear energy?

In addition, mineral deposits of unusual composition or richness can only form under unusual conditions. This means that the planet that the miners are interested in will most likely be uninhabitable. Super-protected robots will have to “colonize” it.

If on Earth an increase in pressure and temperature limits the depth of the mines, then even the largest asteroids can be drilled through: their depths are hard and cold

The population of a colony created to extract resources on an oxygen-free planet will not be large. Science fiction writers often forget how successfully robots are replacing people in our time. The main work will be performed by nuclear harvesters, gnawing into the rock and extracting the desired metal from the ore. Repair machines will repair combines, completely replacing faulty blocks and sections. The central station (most likely located not on the surface of the planet, but in orbit) will be populated by engineers, geologists, administrators and those who will serve them: a cook, a hairdresser, a dentist and a team of psychoanalysts who take turns treating each other for depression. There will hardly be more than a hundred people.

Production in such a settlement, with the exception of the metal sent to Earth, will be reduced to plant growing in a greenhouse that supplies the station with vitamins and oxygen, while everything else will be imported from the metropolis. If communication with Earth is interrupted, the colony will almost certainly die. People will not be able to survive in alien conditions without technology renewable by earthlings; they will not be able to reproduce machines that fail.

Second stage of colonization

Alien predators, accustomed to local food, are unlikely to show interest in people, the very sight of which causes stomach upset. Well, maybe you can hunt for the sake of adrenaline (still from the movie “Riddick”)

The collapse of the “official” colony will be as rapid as its rise. One day the funding will stop. An economic crisis will break out, or the fight against the budget deficit will intensify. Scientists will rush to even more distant places, just open worlds. Public interest will wane. Souvenirs will no longer be sold out. The flow of tourists will dry up.

The extraterrestrial settlement will turn into. Huge, ugly, once built hastily without a thought for aesthetics, just to accommodate the masses of arriving researchers, the building of the Institute of Exoplanetology will look through the eye sockets of broken windows onto the Palace of the Space Explorer - futuristic even by the standards of the distant future, it is not clear what the building was intended for. The streets will be empty, automatic factories will stop, cars that there is no one and no need to repair will turn into trash. Experimental plots cultivated to test the adaptability of crops to planetary conditions will become overgrown with a lush, bizarre mixture of native and terrestrial weeds.

And this will not be the end, but the beginning of a new world.

In the movie Alien 3, an abandoned penal colony became a refuge for a religious sect.

When the temporary workers who work on a “shift basis” leave, those who have decided to make it their home will remain on the planet, people who have nothing to lose on Earth. Those who do not like the established order in the metropolis. Even if society's tolerance for minorities knows no bounds, this does not guarantee that minorities themselves will be tolerant of society.

Renegades and sectarians will rush to another planet - religious, pseudo-religious, cultural, political and environmental, that is, those who could not go in the forefront for the reasons described above. Resettlement will provide them with an invaluable chance to create a new society based on whatever principles seem fair. If you find at least a few hundred passionate like-minded people and found a settlement, these principles will work on its territory. No need to redo it old world, overcoming the inertia of ordinary people, and building a better one from scratch.

Numerous settlements of colonists fleeing civilization, leaking onto the planet by hook or by crook, will arise at the height of the “scientific-commercial” period of development. The administration of the colony will fight the “savages,” sending them out as they are caught, but in the end they will give up. Don't comb alien forests!

Independent worlds

In science fiction, human civilization of the galactic period is usually depicted as a community of planet-states, sometimes distinguished by unique customs (borrowed from the history of the Middle Ages), sometimes in every way similar to those of Earth. But almost always one culture corresponds to one world. It's hard to believe: on every open planet Rather, many small colony-states will arise, because each of the dissenters disagrees in their own way.

On the same continent - but farther from each other, there is enough space - some “Brothers in Christ”, heretics who separated from the “Brothers”, “True Brothers” who separated from the heretics, self-proclaimed Cossacks who decided that the village spirit can be settled to save from the skating rink of globalization only thirty parsecs from the banks of the Don, a motley of Tyrolean riflemen with a program that no one understands, ufologists who are confident that they have returned to the ancestral home of humanity, purebred Aryans who have finally found a place where there is not a single Jew, as well as anarchists, communists and four more warring “green” factions, differing in the degree of radicalism of their views on ecology. Each of the groups will be wary of both its neighbors and the “earthlings” - scientists and tourists still appearing on the planet.

In the world of the trilogy “Tomorrow is War!”, for example, the Concordia Empire was created by fanatical Zoroastrians

The Earth will generously sow the surroundings within reach of spaceships with its seeds. ancient culture. Mainly in the form of outright chaff. But the sprouts, left to themselves, will have time for independent development, introspection and improvement.

It would not take a supernova explosion destroying the hyperspace tunnels for the colonists to become isolated: in fact, the settlers would not have left the Earth if they had not wanted to isolate themselves from it. They themselves will strive to reduce contacts with the metropolis to a minimum.

The use of cars will actually have to be abandoned. The tiny colony would be unable to purchase or produce industrial goods shipped from Earth. But the loss of technology, “return to stone Age“will not happen: when going into voluntary exile, the fugitives will take with them carriers with the information they consider useful. Knowledge allows you to achieve a lot using a minimum of tools: for example, in Jules Verne’s novel “The Mysterious Island,” engineer Smith even obtains nitroglycerin using improvised means. The only thing that keeps the heroes of the novel from producing pyroxylin is the fact that in their time smokeless gunpowder had not yet been invented.

Colonists are unlikely to use laser rifles, beam guns and blasters. Most likely, people will return to normal firearms, combining simplicity and efficiency (still from the TV series “”)

A decrease in production levels will not cause social regression. For example, the usual restoration of feudalism in the fantastic “lost colonies” will not happen. Firstly, the very idea of ​​class division will be alien to the colonists. Secondly, the first settlers on an empty planet do not need professional military men - there is no one to fight with yet (unless they need a voluntary militia to fight the local wildlife). Thirdly, the power of the lord is based primarily on land ownership - and for the first 100-200 years of colonization, free land will be in abundance, and ownership of it will mean practically nothing.

Physics and chemistry will lose their former significance for an indefinite period of time, and the conditions for the development of crafts will not soon develop. Modern people who have retrained as blacksmiths will be haunted by the feeling that instead of working they are engaged in historical reconstruction. In addition, despite the voluntary isolation, it will be difficult for local craftsmen to compete with the atomic metallurgical module (we will assume that the earthlings will provide the colonists with a similar machine), which valiantly processes swamp slurry and sand into knives, axes and frying pans. Of course, the robot only produces products standard form and of disgusting quality (especially if he has nowhere to get manganese for alloying steel), but a person cannot compete with it.

Societies that choose to settle in the Outlands will inevitably be subject to natural selection. Insufficiently “principled” groups will cease to exist, because it is the intransigence to the “earthly” way of life that will force the settlers to put up with the inconveniences of pristine nature. A great advantage in the development and settlement of the planet will be given to “ecologically oriented” factions that prefer to conduct natural farming and are disgusted by the dirty and soulless machine civilization. It will be easier for their representatives to adapt to new conditions. The settlers, who certainly want to develop industry, seeing this as if not a goal, then at least a means, will eventually return to Earth. After all, what they are striving for has already existed there for a long time.

The inhabitants of Ba'ku in the film " Star Trek: Uprising" denied high tech and rely on nature

According to the generally accepted canon, young colonies should strive for independence, while the Empire should harshly suppress separatist attempts. But such conflicts can only arise if the mother country is interested in the colonies as sources of raw materials and springboards for military bases. Most likely, the Periphery will represent for the Earth only aesthetic value. The fugitive settlement will receive full self-government from the first day of its existence. The administration of the planet will not be able and will not want to interfere in the affairs of the “free settlers”.

But conflicts are inevitable, since the colonists are initially hostile towards Earth. After 100-200 years, the “newcomers” will have to take into account the moods of the multiplied “indigenous population” when drawing up routes for scientific and tourist expeditions. Negotiations will require that individual community governments be formally recognized. An exchange of embassies between them and Earth is quite possible already at this stage. However, the colonists are unlikely to strive for diplomatic recognition, which would mean a return to the fold of earthly civilization.

"Terrans" in StarCraft have long been independent from Earth

Someday, the connection between the colonized planet and the Earth will be completely interrupted, and the new branch of humanity will have to solve its problems independently. It is quite likely that through the industrial revolution, fortunately there will be no need to invent anything for this - all solutions have already been found and tested on Earth. But it may happen that the colonists will begin to look for their own paths.

Earthly civilization is unlikely to leave the “cradle” completely, since culture is tied to a way of life, and that to the economy. But humanity may well settle in other worlds, creating new civilizational models. And who knows, whether during this process a better option for the development of our species will be discovered than the one that exists here and now.

In space exploration, people are still real babies. We are only taking our first steps, and no human has even set foot on Mars yet. But in books about space, everything is possible: travel to other galaxies, colonization of other planets, intergalactic wars, mysteries of celestial bodies and constellations. You can imagine what life could be like where NASA's most powerful telescopes cannot see. If there are intelligent beings in other galaxies, what do they look like, what is their scale of moral standards, or do they completely lack the logic we are used to? Fantasize with books about space, boldly go millions of light years away from your native blue ball and discover the unknown.

The novel is a forerunner of the science fiction genre. A little naive for modern reader, at one time it was a real event in literature: a man flies to the moon using technical advances! There is no magic - only the power of the human mind.

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Respectable English gentlemen travel not only to India, but their destination is the Moon, so distant and unexplored that it could be anyone. Of course, scientists criticized the book, but readers liked it, although it was forgotten over time.

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The first book of the famous Martian cycle is more fantasy than science fiction. Humanity does not even dare to dream about space flights, but the red planet attracts and captivates many minds - so why not visit it. However, there were no space flights.

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Not so much cosmic as social science fiction, written in an era of severe historical upheavals. “Aelita” talks more about our planet than about Mars, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting. The most romantic of books about space.

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A classic space opera - an ordinary earthly inhabitant finds himself in the epicenter of interstellar conflicts and successfully resolves them. Nowadays, the plot seems completely worn out, but in the middle of the 20th century, Hamilton was among the pioneers of the most promising genre.

In fact, this book is not about Mars or Martians at all. It's about people who wanted to run away from themselves. And in fact, this is not a novel, but a collection of short stories, somewhat interconnected. This is not even prose, but a kind of poetry. And not fantasy at all.

The first novel in a colossal series. History repeats itself: fell in ancient times great empire, which owned half of the lands known to mankind, another - the galactic one - will soon fall. The empire can no longer be saved, we can only prevent the devastating consequences.

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The beginning of the “Queen of the Sun” series, extremely interesting for the modern reader from the point of view of the forecast of technical development. People have mastered space, but do not have satellites and do not know digital images. This only benefits the plot.

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The cosmic utopia of the main idealist of Soviet science fiction. Brave and almost perfect people of the future have finally conquered planet Earth and are now exploring deep space, discovering new things about themselves. The book, as always with Efremov, is actually about love.

Humanity is fighting for life in a fierce war with insect-like aliens. The world of the future is tough and militarized - this is how the author expressed his civil position, for which he was criticized. And then it was filmed. Critics didn't like the movie either.

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Space reliably guards its secrets from overly curious earthlings and sometimes plays with them bad jokes. Whose mind will be stronger - a tiny person or an ocean covering an entire planet, and who needs this fight? No answer. But the process is sometimes more important than the result.

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The famous adventures of the thief and adventurer James DiGriese, who by the will of fate was forced to go over to the side of law and order, but did not lose his former habits. Great combination sharp plot And good humor. The chronology of the cycle is broken, but can be easily restored.

A series of stories and stories about the work of an interstellar hospital, where they can find an approach to any form of life. Written easily, with humor and a serious approach to the biology and anatomy of patients. It is also interesting to see how the role of women in life and in books changes over time.

It is rightfully considered best work world science fiction. The desperate struggle for the sand-covered Arrakis and the precious spices that pave the way to the stars spawned a huge number of sequels, but none of them equaled the original.

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Famous fantasy on the theme different paths evolution. There may well be planets in the Universe inhabited by intelligent apes. Or is it a game of space and time? The story told in the book is noticeably different from the film adaptation. Why not compare? "2001: Space Odyssey» Arthur Clarke 1968
The only novelization of the film on the list is the story of a journey to the satellite of Saturn, which is known to everyone, told a little differently, but with the same deep meaning, as in Kubrick's film. Moreover, the film is also based on Clark’s story “Meeting at the Dawn of History.”

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The novel is a reflection on what will happen if races with fundamentally different physiology meet. Will they be able to find mutual language or will they provoke a disaster? Moreover, the differences at first glance are not so great - some easily change gender, while others cannot.

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A space tramp from a world that knows no suffering finds himself in a world that knows no joy. Justice must prevail. But at what cost? Either space or social science fiction by the Strugatsky brothers rightfully occupies a place on the list of the best.

A unique design of a man-made world rotating in outer space, at one time caused a whole flurry of calculations and amendments from fans. The author heeded the advice and changed some things in the sequel, significantly improving the Ring and its world.

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A curious and almost impossible journey marked by the answer to main question universe: "42". The answer has been received. What exactly were they asking? It may know main character, because he is a piece of a supercomputer that was mistakenly destroyed by road workers.

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The spaceship crashed on an extremely unfriendly planet. Many years later, the new generation has a home - a tiny village on the outskirts of a deadly forest. Do they want to return to the distant and unknown Land that the elders talk about?

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The world of teenagers can be no less cruel than the world of adults, and the tasks that yesterday’s children are forced to solve are sometimes beyond the power of even experienced warriors. So a teenager becomes a hero of a war that has already killed millions of people. But the price of success is too high.

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Seven pilgrims set out on a journey to try to save Man's Hegemony in the Universe. Along the way, they tell each other their stories to understand why they were chosen for this mission and what they must do to complete their mission.

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Can an ordinary earthly guy save the princess of another planet and influence the fate of the galaxies? Even so, if he is Lukyanenko’s hero. “Lord” was written long before “Watches” and the acquisition of mastery, but it is also worth attention because it sometimes raises serious questions.

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The problem of colonization and terraforming of the red planet has been carefully studied and described by the author from both a technical and moral perspective. The idea of ​​environmental protection of a dead planet was voiced for the first time. Arthur C. Clarke called this episode the best of the “Martian” series.

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They say time travel is impossible, but the hero of the book can argue with that. However, until recently he thought that there were no roads between the stars. The book contains a lot of humor and awkward situations, from which there will definitely be a way out, not necessarily the most obvious one.

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In the endless space there are also corners where it is better not to meddle. No man's space is a place where every rabble fights for survival every day, but one day everything changes and the scum have a chance for a better fate. Will they be able to take advantage of this chance?

There is a place for humor in space. The motley crew of an unnamed interstellar transporter confirms this over the course of four novellas and several short stories. Only the first part of the series was co-authored; the remaining books were written by Olga Gromyko.

Modern Robinsons are cramped on uninhabited islands; now they survive on other planets. Charming and armed with the most modern knowledge“Martian” Mark Watney could not leave observers indifferent and received his 549 days of glory on Earth.

In fact, everything was completely different. In fact, Cinderella is a modified human, a cyborg, and the handsome prince offers her not his hand at all, but the salvation of the entire Galaxy. The first book in the Lunar Chronicles series, which offers A New Look to old fairy tales.