Construct
Mirror System & "The Plug"
How to Colonize an Asteroid
Construct
Mirror System & "The Plug"
To get sunlight into the center of the asteroid, the colonists will have to construct a mirror system to reflect light down the access shaft to the hollowed out area. This mirror system will have to cover at least the same square area as the internal surface of the asteroid colony. If the hollow sphere is two miles in diameter, this will require over twelve square miles of mirror surface.
In order to hold the internal atmosphere inside the colony, there will have to be some type of "plug" in the access shaft. I presently believe that this should take the form of a large transparent bag filled with water. The water can contain elements such as boron which will filter out unwanted radiation (a job which is performed by our atmosphere here on earth).
Since the light entering the shaft will be travelling in a straight line, there will also have to be a mirror or prism system at the internal end of the shaft to disperse light throughout the inside of the asteroid.
This subject is discussed in more detail in the colony construction section of this spin.
