Hypothetical: An Earth-like planet is found, your colony ship is sent to colonize

[Bateluer]

A planet similar to Earth is found in a system far away from Earth.

-Your colony ship travels under non-FTL engines and you will be in a 'stasis' for the trip. As such, you can expect no support from Earth. The ship itself will be dismantled upon your arrival to begin construction of your colony.
- The ship has space for 100 individuals, and enough food rations to support the colony for 2 years after landing. There is only enough water on the ship for 30 days after you land. You may choose which people and within reason, equipment, you stock on the ship. There is a supply of sperm and ova to allow for genetic diversity on your colony.

-The planet is similar to Earth with regards to size, density, and atmosphere. There are no other sentient creatures on it. The most intelligent animals on the planet are dolphin and chimpanzee like creatures.

-Obviously, there's no infrastructure on the planet. If you can't fit on your colony ship, you either build it, grow it, mine it, or go without.


So, what type of people do you choose for your 100 person colony? Any particular supplies you'd want to bring with you? What would you construct first? After a century, would your colony look like a 3rd world country or a 1st world country?

Discuss.

 

[cliftonite]

Disease would probably wipe us out.

 

[TheVrolok]

Disease would probably wipe us out.

Forgot to bring medical supplies? Research equipment? Scientists?

 

[her209]

99 babes
30 days worth of condoms

/thread

 

[Ichinisan]

Disease would probably wipe us out.

By then, we might have the ability to grow the original colonists in a sterile, controlled way with no disease to make sure there is no contamination. The colony could start with no diseases and the only microbes would be beneficial bacteria (no virii). Future microbial diseases would have to come from mutated beneficial bacteria.

 

[cliftonite]

Forgot to bring medical supplies? Research equipment? Scientists?

With a 100 people do you really think they could find a cure in time?

 

[DrPizza]

First thing to construct? A brothel. That way, it can be called "the oldest profession" on the new planet.

 

[cliftonite]

By then, we might have the ability to grow the original colonists in a sterile way...with no disease in a controlled way to make sure there is no contamination. The colony could start with no diseases, so there would be no viruses and future microbial diseases would have to come from mutated beneficial bacteria.

Im talking about stuff that is on the planet that we are not immune to.

 

[Ichinisan]

Im talking about stuff that is on the planet that we are not immune to.

Why would there be life on a planet just because it's 'Earth-like?"

I don't like this premise. Would have been better if we brought the dolphin/chimp creatures ourselves (also sterile and lab-grown in a controlled environment).

 

[cliftonite]

Why would there be life on a planet just because it's 'Earth-like?"

I don't like this premise. Would have been better if we brought the dolphin/chimp creatures ourselves (also sterile and lab-grown in a controlled environment).

You think it is possible for planet to have earth like conditions but not have life??

 

[Ichinisan]

You think it is possible for planet to have earth like conditions but not have life??

Do you have any clue how hard it would be for DNA and an incredibly complex single-celled organism to form from nothing? Just having all the elements in place is not enough. It would take an incomprehensible number of Earth-like planets to find another one that happened to form life.

...I suppose you mean, oxygen? Yeah. I understand that Earth's oxygen came from microorganisms. But I interpret "Earth-like" to mean similar mass, composition, and solar energy. Molten core, magnetic field, water in all 3 states.

Proper terra-forming and colonization would require the introduction of microbes that would produce an oxygenated atmosphere.

 

[Jeff7]

You think it is possible for planet to have earth like conditions but not have life??

I was thinking something along these lines as well.
However, there would likely be a window where life would not have developed yet, though that could likely occur early in the star system's formation, so you might want to bring a good asteroid defense system that can keep large objects away from the planet. If there's no massive planet in the system to help sweep up that kind of junk, it's likely to be a shooting gallery.

Do you have any clue how hard it would be for DNA and an incredibly complex single-celled organism to form from nothing? Just having all the elements in place is not enough. It would take an incomprehensible number of Earth-like planets to find another one that happened to form life.

...I suppose you mean, oxygen? Yeah. I understand that Earth's oxygen came from microorganisms. But I interpret "Earth-like" to mean similar mass, composition, and solar energy. Molten core, magnetic field, water in all 3 states.

It already happened here, so I'd say the chance of it happening at least once is pretty high.

The only reason we don't currently know the probability of this happening is because we have a single data point to work with. Self-replicating collections of molecules may in fact be an extremely common thing.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Do you have any clue how hard it would be for DNA and an incredibly complex single-celled organism to form from nothing? Just having all the elements in place is not enough. It would take an incomprehensible number of Earth-like planets to find another one that happened to form life.

i disagree. given eleventy billion chemical interactions over eleventy billion years, all you need is 1 planet. if repeated, the final result might not be exactly the same every time but it would happen.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

An interesting question would be, what if there were a planet that's inhabitable as far as oxygen and everything, and seeds could be induced to grow, but that it had in fact no bacteria or viruses nor equivalent microorganisms? Would that be good or bad, and how long would it take the ambient populations of bacteria and viruses that come inside the bodies of the colonists to populate the world?

 

[Attic]

i disagree. given eleventy billion chemical interactions over eleventy billion years, all you need is 1 planet. if repeated, the final result might not be exactly the same every time but it would happen.

This. I look at it like the odds of winning the lotteryx11ty billion, but holding at least that many tickets to more than counteract the odds against.

 

[marvdmartian]

All I know is, if we get woken up on the way there, from some weird alien distress call, I'm shutting down the frakkin' radio, and going back to sleep!! :hmm:

 

[The Boston Dangler]

An interesting question would be, what if there were a planet that's inhabitable as far as oxygen and everything, and seeds could be induced to grow, but that it had in fact no bacteria or viruses nor equivalent microorganisms? Would that be good or bad, and how long would it take the ambient populations of bacteria and viruses that come inside the bodies of the colonists to populate the world?

it's not like organisms make oxygen or carbon or anything - the elements that are there are what's there. the key is adding intelligence (i don't mean creationism) to the existing matter and energy. micro critters are very good at this sort of thing if they have an environment that suits them, but there would be lots of discrete steps between "raw ingredients in semi-random, inconvenient form" to "hawaii".

 

[amish]

1. 2 SF ODAs (24 men). used to train the population on survival techniques, used for manual labor, and used for security against any indigenous population (even if it is only poo flinging apes). the original Jamestown almost failed because the settlers were too prissy and had never done any work.

2. 15 various engineers. mechanical, electrical, and civil engineers.

3. 12 doctors of various backgrounds. they won't get many nurses at first so they would have to swallow some pride and get things done.

4. 15 farmers.

5. 20 various scientists that will also serve as teachers to the future population.

6. 14 various textitle makers


after landing I would confirm a source of water and the means to process it into something potable. supplies used to ease the production of goods and food would be necessary. after 100 years it would depend on how the population grew and the knowledge that was received. i'm guessing that it wouldn't be 1st world.

 

[Bateluer]

Do you have any clue how hard it would be for DNA and an incredibly complex single-celled organism to form from nothing? Just having all the elements in place is not enough. It would take an incomprehensible number of Earth-like planets to find another one that happened to form life.

...I suppose you mean, oxygen? Yeah. I understand that Earth's oxygen came from microorganisms. But I interpret "Earth-like" to mean similar mass, composition, and solar energy. Molten core, magnetic field, water in all 3 states.

Proper terra-forming and colonization would require the introduction of microbes that would produce an oxygenated atmosphere.

Wasn't too clear, I guess. Earth-like means that planet has abundant plant and animal life of similar types found on Earth today. Similar, but not the same. They did evolve on a different planet, after all.

Terraforming isn't required. This is a virgin planet, not a ball of rock.

 

[Bateluer]

1. 2 SF ODAs (24 men). used to train the population on survival techniques, used for manual labor, and used for security against any indigenous population (even if it is only poo flinging apes). the original Jamestown almost failed because the settlers were too prissy and had never done any work.

2. 15 various engineers. mechanical, electrical, and civil engineers.

3. 12 doctors of various backgrounds. they won't get many nurses at first so they would have to swallow some pride and get things done.

4. 15 farmers.

5. 20 various scientists that will also serve as teachers to the future population.

6. 14 various textitle makers


after landing I would confirm a source of water and the means to process it into something potable. supplies used to ease the production of goods and food would be necessary. after 100 years it would depend on how the population grew and the knowledge that was received. i'm guessing that it wouldn't be 1st world.

Any trademen? Carpenters, machinists, etc?

 

[amish]

Any trademen? Carpenters, machinists, etc?

each ODA has an "engineer" that is usually versed in carpentry and other trade skills; however, I see your point. they definitely will not have the expertise of an actual machinist, carpenter, or blacksmith. cut my textile people in half and sub in tradesmen.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

1. 2 SF ODAs (24 men). used to train the population on survival techniques, used for manual labor, and used for security against any indigenous population (even if it is only poo flinging apes). the original Jamestown almost failed because the settlers were too prissy and had never done any work.

2. 15 various engineers. mechanical, electrical, and civil engineers.

3. 12 doctors of various backgrounds. they won't get many nurses at first so they would have to swallow some pride and get things done.

4. 15 farmers.

5. 20 various scientists that will also serve as teachers to the future population.

6. 14 various textitle makers


after landing I would confirm a source of water and the means to process it into something potable. supplies used to ease the production of goods and food would be necessary. after 100 years it would depend on how the population grew and the knowledge that was received. i'm guessing that it wouldn't be 1st world.

Good idea but all female and Im the male captain.

 

[PowerEngineer]

I think what's being overlooked so far is the need to find, mine, and process metals and other materials. You'll want to quickly establish an industrial base.

 

[Fern]

-snip-
So, what type of people do you choose for your 100 person colony? Any particular supplies you'd want to bring with you? What would you construct first? After a century, would your colony look like a 3rd world country or a 1st world country?

Discuss.

People. I would chose people who were cross-trained and could serve multiple functions. (Doesn't necessarily have to be all hard science stuff either. E.g., entertainment is necessary so for example I might take physician that was also a decent musician.)

Most would be engineers or scientists. Some physicians. Some technicians/repair/maintenance types. A few linguists. A few education specialists (gotta teach the kiddies). And a couple historians or archivists to keep/make records etc. (Things like knowledge in administration, ethics, law, entertainment could be secondary specialties in those already mentioned as chosen) Note: I see no need for much, if any, in the way of military expertise.

Supplies? Tough one. I would primarily rely upon the personnel chosen to select the supplies they needed to perform their tasks.

Records of the knowledge from Earth. Science and tech knowledge. History, literature, etc. Digital form to conserve space/weight.

I don't see much need for weapons, but perhaps a few arms for the heck of it.

The toughest part is what to bring to enable you to reproduce necessary equip and parts and develop machinery you'll need to manufacture, farm and mine etc.

I think WHERE we land is as important, if not more so, than what I do immediately upon arrival. I want a safe place with ready access to necessary resources, particularly water.

Water is my first need. 30 days isn't much. Some personnel would be allocated this task.

Dismantling the ship for construction of the colony is another priority task.

Scouting the area is another.

My last priority is the last team that will begin studying/analyzing the local flora/fauna.

These initial tasks would have already been determined before leaving though.

Equally important IMO is determining when to regroup and adjust priorities based upon findings to-date.

Fern

 

[Kwatt]

Starting with 100 people is not enough to make it to 1st world in just 100 years.
If you get to 3rd world in a 100 years that would be a good start. I am talking about finding everything needed (basic raw materials) for metal working. Not recycling what was brought. No matter how much you bring it will be used up eventually. Try to get up to the Iron Age as fast as possible.

And the size of the ship will make a big difference. If it is large enough for basic powered farming equipment that will help a lot. And enough will be needed for expected population growth with spare parts.

If the planet has similar plant life you can plan on distilling alcohol and using methane for energy. So plan on equipment for that.

Seeds lots of seeds and then some more seeds. Gardening/farming is going to be a big part of almost everyone's life for a long,long,long,long time.

Also heavy on medical equipment and people with medical training. If takes a lot of resources to raise a baby to young adult/adult. If life expectancy starts to drop that will be fewer years of productivity for resources spent.

You did not mention animals but draft/food source animals should be considered.

People: I need to think about that. Can't be to young they must have training and experience when they arrive. Can't be to old they need to have plenty of productive years ahead of them... that means I can't go because of age and training/experience not of major need. I don't want to think about this any more.



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