Kalpana One, by Al Globus, Ankur Bajoria, and Nitin Arora, is intended to be the first, and smallest, of a family of space colonies.
The Kalpana One structure is a cylinder with a radius of 250m and a length of 550m and is designed to house 5000 people. The size is determined by the limited rotation rate humans are assumed to tolerate, 2rpm. The rotation rate drives the radius to achieve 1g pseudo-gravity, and the radius drives the length due to angular moment of inertia requirements. For later, larger colonies in the Kalpana family, the rotation rate may be reduced, increasing the radius and the allowable length.
Kalpana One solves some of the problems found in earlier designs: excessive shielding mass, large appendages, lack of natural sunlight, rotational instability, lack of wobble control, and some catastrophic failure modes. Much is left to be done before a practical space colony can be fully designed and built.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.