The permanent or long-term act of living, working, and existing in space environments, beyond brief visits or missions. It’s not just surviving in a can; it’s the complex, gritty reality of establishing a continuous human presence off-Earth. This concept forces us to confront all the mundane, messy details of human life—sleep cycles in microgravity, growing food without soil, recycling every drop of water and breath of air, managing psychological stress in a lethal, confined tin can—and solve them indefinitely. It’s the ultimate test of our species' ability to become multi-planetary, shifting from explorers to residents.
*Example: Space Habitation isn't the Apollo astronauts' 10-day trip; it's the crew of the International Space Station conducting six-month tours, where they celebrate birthdays, fix broken toilets, and stare out the cupola with a mix of wonder and longing for Earth. It's the blueprint for what life on a Mars base or a O'Neill cylinder will actually entail: a relentless, engineered routine to keep death at bay.*
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026
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