Space Colony Art from the 1970s


A couple of space colony summer studies were conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s. Colonies housing about 10,000 people were designed. A number of artistic renderings of the concepts were made.

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Cylindrical Colonies

Exterior view of a double cylinder colony

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC75-1085

Exterior view of several two-cylinder colonies

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC75-1921

Interior view including looking through large windows

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC75-1086

Interior view with long suspension bridge

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC75-1883

Interior featuring clouds and vegetation

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC75-1920

Toroidal Colonies

Exterior View

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC76-0492.1

Cutaway view, exposing the interior

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC75-1086-1

Exterior view of several neighboring colonies

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC76-0525

Interior view

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC75-2621

Part of the rim including many nearby space vehicles

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC75-1886

Bernal Spheres

The Bernal Sphere is a point design with a sphere living area.

Exterior view

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC76-0965

Photograph of a model of the Bernal Sphere

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC76-0852

View with cutaway to see interior

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC76-1089

Interior including human powered airplane

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC76-0628

View of Bernal Sphere agricultural module (multiple toroids) with cutaway to expose interior

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC78-0330-4

Colony construction crew at work

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NASA ID NUMBER
AC76-1288

Please credit photos to NASA Ames Research Center


Space Settlement Home Page

Author: Bryan Yager


Curator: Al Globus
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