Sol-Art Archive - NASA: Original "HALO" ring colonies - 1975 summer study and more.

avatar
(Edited)

This series is a part of the Solar Art Archive a public domain collection of art and materials to be reused and remixed in work however the artist sees fit. We focus on gathering the highest quality files possible and sharing resources.

See more of our collections on our blog @solar and in the Beyond Copyright community here on the HIVE blockchain. Also you can explore our entire collection on the LBRY file sharing platform.


thumb.jpg

Some of you may be familiar with the well known series of video games Halo produced by Bungee/Microsoft. The setting of these games (and namesake) are on a space platform called a "halo", a ring colony floating in space which acts as a bio-dome. In searching through some NASA archives several years ago I came across some illustrations which clearly served as some inspiration for the game. These images are from something known as "Space Settlements: A Design Study"

Space Settlements: A Design Study, provides information on space settlement development and education and assists teachers and students in the NASA Ames Space Settlement Design Contest. The design study was the result of a 10 week program in engineering systems design held at Stanford University and Ames Research Center in the summer of 1975. Participants included professors, technical directors and students in a variety of disciplines from physical science and architecture to engineering and social science. The goal (see preface) was to construct a vision of how people might sustain life in space in a large colony.

To get you in the mood for the following images here is a little excerpt from the "Summer Study" writings:

Preparation for your trip is a difficult period; it eliminates those who are not serious about their intention of going to the space colony. You undergo weeks of quarantine, exhaustive physical examinations, stringent decontamination, and interminable tests to make sure that you do not carry insects, bacteria, fungi, or mental problems to L5. Only then are you permitted to board a personnel module of a heavy-lift launch vehicle which everyone refers to as the HLLV, along with 99 prospective colonists who have gone through even more rigorous tests than you have as a mere visitor.

HaloRing.png
This image from HALO is copyrighted, not public domain

A few things to note:

  • This set is Public Domain (use without restrictions)
  • This particular set are all .jpg most are around 5k resolution. We gathered the highest resolution we could find (check links below).
  • Some of these images are quite detailed and deserve a zoom in on the full res files, enjoy!

Space Colonies

Bernal Sphere

The Bernal Sphere is an early idea for a space colony which later designs were based on. The following images were from the NASA Summer Study.
From Wikipedia:

A Bernal sphere is a type of space habitat intended as a long-term home for permanent residents, first proposed in 1929 by John Desmond Bernal.
Bernal's original proposal described a hollow non-rotating spherical shell 10 mi (16 km) in diameter, with a target population of 20,000 to 30,000 people. The Bernal sphere would be filled with air.

Bernal_Exterior_AC760965_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Bernal_Cutaway:e?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Bernal_Interior_AC760628_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Bernal_Interior:9?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Bernal_Construction_AC761288_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Bernal_Agriculture:5?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Bernal_Agriculture_AC7803304_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Bernal_Agriculture1:3?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q


O'Neill Cylinder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder

The O'Neill cylinder (also called an O'Neill colony) is a space settlement concept proposed by American physicist Gerard K. O'Neill in his 1976 book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space.[1] O'Neill proposed the colonization of space for the 21st century, using materials extracted from the Moon and later from asteroids.[2]
An O'Neill cylinder would consist of two counter-rotating cylinders. The cylinders would rotate in opposite directions in order to cancel out any gyroscopic effects that would otherwise make it difficult to keep them aimed toward the Sun. Each would be 5 miles (8.0 km) in diameter and 20 miles (32 km) long, connected at each end by a rod via a bearing system. They would rotate so as to provide artificial gravity via centrifugal force on their inner surfaces.[1]

Cylinder_Exterior_AC751085_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Cylinder_Exterior:f?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Cylinder_Interior_AC751086_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Cylinder_Interior:0?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Cylinder Endcap.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/CylinderEndcap:1?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Interior View of L5 Torus Sphere Colony.  Space Colonization. Artwork by Don Davis ARC1975AC751920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Interior-View-1:b?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Interior View of Colony from Overhead.  Space Colonization  Artwork.  Farming sections wil be built in terraces with different crops grown on each of the levels. ARC1975AC751922.jpg

https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Interior-View-1:b?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q


Stanford torus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_torus

The Stanford torus is a proposed NASA design[1] for a space habitat capable of housing 10,000 to 140,000 permanent residents.[2]
The Stanford torus was proposed during the 1975 NASA Summer Study, conducted at Stanford University, with the purpose of exploring and speculating on designs for future space colonies[3] (Gerard O'Neill later proposed his Island One or Bernal sphere as an alternative to the torus[4]). "Stanford torus" refers only to this particular version of the design, as the concept of a ring-shaped rotating space station was previously proposed by Wernher von Braun[5] and Herman Potočnik.[6]

Torus_Exterior_AC760525_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/exterior-View-1:e?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Torus_Construction_AC751886_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/torus_construction:5?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Torus_Cutaway_AC7510861_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/torus-cut-away:2?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

Torus_Interior_AC752621_1920.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/torus_interior:3?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

misc. NASA concept art

A few bonus pieces that don't fit the category
Art Concept  Apollo VIII  Command Module CM  ReEntry Orientation.jpg

https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/ApolloVIII:f?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

spacecirlces.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/SpaceCircles:b?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q

NASA ART by Rick Guidice Supersonic SST aircraft technology concept in flight artwork  OART ARC1971AC714036.jpg
https://open.lbry.com/@Sol-art-archive:a/Interior-View2:6?r=Cs2WAZHpMqPTuFiVjF3YzewoXMwoBc4Q


Original source for space colony images here:
https://space.nss.org/settlement/nasa/70sArtHiRes/70sArt/art.html


Please support our project so we can continue sharing our collection!

Hive: @solar - Upvote, subscribe, send tips!
Steem: @solar
LBRY: @sol-art-archive - Subscribe and Tip on LBRY or sign up for LBRY using our referral link (Both you and I will receive LBC credit!)
Bitcoin Network: bc1qqgfd89tj7ljt58ed8ca88e88x7vjtjve6grmvr
Ethereum Network: 0xe8BC73E6381d90a7898CdcB674114aE4A4f1b34c


Take a look at our other posts:

Egyptian Lithographs.pngwe shall overcome.png
Lithographs by Louis HagheCivil Rights Buttons


0
0
0.000
7 comments
avatar

Really cool images and very useful for my new collage project😊 I must thank you😊

0
0
0.000
avatar

Cool, i can't wait to see what you come up with!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Impressive collection of work. I could spend hours diving into these..and most likely will.. lol. Thanks for putting this one together for my visual enjoyment!! 😍

0
0
0.000