How to Colonize
an Asteroid
How to Colonize
an Asteroid
The home aquarium is a great example of a simple "open ended ecosystem". It is referred to as "open ended" because it will not support your fish with energy input alone - you still have to feed them, change part of the water on a regular basis, and change the materials in whatever type of filter you use.
We cannot use open ended systems in our colony, since we do not have the option of constant re-supply, but this is a very good place to start. Farming for fish will be an important source of protien in our asteroid colony, and knowlege of what goes on in a simple aquarium will be of utmost importance in understanding what goes on in a large pond. In the next section, we will begin to explore the issues involved in "closing" this ecosystem and letting it take care of it's self.