Human colonies beyond Pluto (on a potential ninth planet)

To be able to colonize another world, there are some requirements; the harvesting of energy, enough recourses, handling of the environment (pressure, temperature and gravity and so on) and availability (close enough to be reached).

I just saw a documentary about what a potential planet beyond Pluto would be like. If there is such a thing, we don't know yet. But let's assume there is, and that we are able to travel to it. Would we be able to create a human colony on it? One of the suggestions in the documentary is that it could be half a gas giant and half a terrestrial (or icy) planet.

If the gravity is more or less the same as on earth (like it is on Saturn), there is enough metals and minerals on the surface from asteroids that has slammed into it, the atmospheric pressure is not too hostile and it is possible to construct buildings able to protect you from the cold, then only energy remains.

The sun is too far away, and there is no tidal heating, but there are extremely strong winds on the surface (again, assuming the planet is as described in the documentary). Wind turbines would not work under these conditions. But what about piezoelectric materials? If they can work under very low temperatures (making it possible to use superconductors as batteries?) and is partly protected from the worst winds, could it provide a potential colony with enough energy?

For those interested in the documentary mentioned in the post; just jump directly to 24:30 minutes into the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qERd54UaW-I

Edit: Reasons for downvoting: "This question does not show any research effort; it is unclear or not useful" I would say it is both clear another has show research effort. And yet someone still downvotes it. If it is still not clear: The post explains that it could be possible for humanity to establish itself on the surface of a planet even beyond Pluto (the kind of planet that is proposed in the video). The only thing that's uncertain is there is a technology, even if it's just theoretical yet, that could harvest the energy from its atmosphere.

posted about 5 years ago

Tim Hansen‭

1 reputation 2 0 0 0