Neptune's Triton: Is It Worth Billions, Or Trillions?

Of the many worlds that dance around Sun or their paternal planet, Neptune's Triton is probably not a world that tickles one's imagination when envisioning space colonization.

The planetary system is barely shown in films, and even less is probably written about the moon in science fiction stories.

But while moon may be ignored as scientists chase after Mars and Titan, Neptune's Triton may in the distant future become a prime location at the edge of our solar system.

Although often known for its retrograde orbit (an unusual trait for a world this size), Triton boasts a tiny atmosphere and is located approximately 350,000 km from its blue parent.

While the small world does have some water upon its surface, it lacks any known resources that would make it an attractive target (although its nitrogen geysers would probably spark some tourism).

Despite the fact that the moon lacks a "monetary interest," it may attract settlers seeking to harvest helium-3 from Neptune's atmosphere.

Even though orbital stations will probably be constructed above Neptune's atmosphere in order to harvest its helium (similar to the ones seen in Star Wars), colonists may prefer to have their families raised upon Triton's surface, lest they see their loved ones accidentally descend into "the blue abyss" of Neptune's clouds.

While Neptune's helium-3 may make the system attractive, the Lagrange asteroids sharing the planet's orbit could "seal the deal" for establishing cities on that cold, frozen world.

Despite the dangers of mining asteroids, Neptunian colonists could use resources mined from these numerous floating space rocks to not only build up their tiny frozen world, but their economy as well.

Despite the fact that future colonists will probably have to live within aquarium homes (due to radiation) and wear gravity suits, settlers living upon Triton will probably find life to be fairly comfortable (at least financially), despite the fact that they are over 4.5 billion km from humanities Earthen homeworld.

(Image Credits: NASA)



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