David Barbeau
Precipice
“We are all astronauts”
Buckminster Fuller, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
If we are all astronauts, then by extension, all architects are space architects.
This thesis uses speculative fiction to explore a future in which humans, in their exploration into our deep solar system, have chosen to inhabit the hallowed-out shell of 16 Psyche. After centuries of extraction, humanity has earned a second chance at healing its terrestrial scars by leveraging technology to eliminate waste and embrace reuse and shut down all terrestrial mines.
The site of 16 Psyche is an asteroid within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, about three times the distance from the earth to the sun. It was chosen as the site because it is of great public and private interest, and for its unique gravitational situation. NASA currently has a %1.2 billion probe slated to arrive in 2029 to study it in greater detail. Numerous private companies have begun the work of developing asteroid mining technologies, with 16 Psyche being roughly valued at $10 quintillion (10^18).
The conditions of this environment are drastically different than earth. Gravity is only present at the axis of rotation, and the rotational energy is enough to provide centrifugal force about .1% that of earth if you were to stand on the interior shell. With no atmosphere, careful and deliberate extraction would have to be performed to utilize the thick shell of the asteroid with controlled access points to act as a pressurized vessel.
The narrative is as follows: Psyche 16, humanity's last relic of their extractive past, contains within its metal husk the last mining operation. It’s been decades since the people of Psyche have been called on to provide resources for the UH (Unified Humanity). It has been so long since they have been called on, every single person is drawn to the action to help move this precious material in anticipation of what new wonders it might bring to the great understanding.
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