Space Colonization Dream Team

[J3st3rtrance]

Ive been thinking a lot lately about space colonization and terraforming. Ive especially been thinking about the people and jobs that would be involved with starting such a project.

Ive thought it would be important to have agricultural experts, geologists, maybe civil engineers, & medical doctors but after that, Im kind of at a loss for what other jobs would be necessary (even if they weren't directly related to terraforming, like the medical Dr).

My question is this: What kinds of specialists or experts do you think would be important to have for starting a space colonization or terraform project?

Im thinking a small team of colonists, 10 people at max.

 

[Griffolion]

You'd need teams of those in question. Also, if mining operations are started, many less skilled individuals could be brought in for working there.

 

[Valate_v1legacy]

Rules of colonization:

If contact is lost for more than a minute or so, send an investigation.

Send hundreds of different teams composed of millions of various individuals. It needs to be able to self govern and self regulate.

That said, you'd need 3-4 ecologist teams, 2-3 biological surveillance groups, and 5-6 groups of engineers. Not to mention laborers, techs, communications experts, pilots, drivers, people to run life support, ect.

But this is all theoretical.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Rules of colonization:

If contact is lost for more than a minute or so, send an investigation.

You only need to send one guy:

That said, it depends on how much of the process can be mechanized, If you have machines doing all the work you only need enough staff to keep the machines running smoothly, and repair any that break down, although you would still need a full team of experts to be consulted about any choices that need to be made: What plants and animals to add, where geographically to put each species, how many are needed to keep a healthy population, etc.

Oh, and you would need zookeepers, lots and lots of zookeepers.s

 

[Esotera]

You need a few specialists who are trained to keep everything running (so that if mission control messes up, at least they're not all dead because they don't know how to use a computer), and some general purpose scientists with broad degree fields. Adaptability is the key here - you'll want as many polymaths as possible.

Microbiologists are probably your best bet today though. All you need to do is selectively breed some bacteria that could convert CO2 to Oxygen, or whatever it is you want to do, and do a whole lot of research. Then send up a machine and release it into the planet's atmosphere, or lack of it. This approach takes a long time but it's the only feasible one - maybe in a few thousand years you could add plants. And of course everyone seems to think it's unethical - screw those guys. Living on Mars would be cool.

Obviously it's a bit more complicated than that, but I've simplified it for the purposes of this thread.