And this week’s assignment, pick one of these planets and prepare it for human colonization…research what you can about the actual planet and then conjecture the rest…500 words or more…have fun.
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All the bairns o' Adam 
Hello, this is your quick pocket guide to your first few weeks on Gliese 667 Cc. In this, we’ll cover a few common questions and topics of concern.
While not necessarily difficult, life on Gliese 667 Cc is tricky. One of the main concerns when living on the planet is the psychological effect from having so little visible light. As close as it is to Gliese 667 C, there’s plenty of energy, but most of it falls in the infrared range. As anybody who has spent an extended period of time in the extreme latitudes can tell you, never seeing the sun come up can get to you after a while. This is why your settlement will have several well-lit parks providing lighting conditions similar to what you’d find on Earth, available to you any time of the day.
Another change that you’ll quickly notice is the calendar on Gliese 667 Cc. The planet orbits its star once every twenty-eight days. Due to its axial tilt, you may notice weekly changes in weather and temperature as the planet goes around Gliese 667 C but don’t worry, seasons are much less severe on Cc due to its shorter years, lesser axial tilt, and thicker atmosphere compared to Earth. A light jacket should be all you need on top of normal clothing during the cooler weeks. Days themselves are also longer than on Earth so be sure to keep the timekeeping device of your choice on you so. Humans are built around a twenty-four hour day so such a schedule will be maintained on Cc, especially since day and night aren’t well distinguished on the planet, as mentioned earlier.
Additionally, keep in mind that the planet receives much more infrared light than Earth does. Don’t assume you can’t overheat just because it’s dark there. In fact, because it receives so much infrared light, the planet as a whole is warmer than most locations on Earth. Heat combined with the harder to breath atmosphere can be deadly. As a quick review, recall that because Cc is more massive and dense than Earth, it has a thicker atmosphere. While the atmosphere closely resembles that of Earth’s, it does have more inert gases, meaning you will get less oxygen per breath than usual. For these reasons, we do not allow any unsupervised physical activity outside of the settlement facilities.
The good news regarding physical activity is that gravity on Cc is about a third greater than it is on Earth, meaning you will naturally become stronger over time, though your first few weeks may be challenging, especially after the natural amount of atrophy that will occur on your journey from Earth. Most find their strength returns to Earth levels within the first few weeks on Cc thanks to the daily rehabilitation sessions that you will attend for your first month. These are not optional.
All of you should have already been assigned work, but in your free time we strongly encourage you to find a research area that interests you and lend a hand occasionally, once you pass rehabilitation. For the gardener in you, there’s plenty of native life just waiting to be cultivated. We know Earth plants tend to overheat and generally not grow well on Cc, but there’s still plenty of experimentation left to quantify the viability of Earth plants to grow both assisted and unassisted on the surface. For those of you who like to get out and about, we do have exploration teams that go out regularly. Consider going on a weekend trip to explore this exciting new planet. Or perhaps just get a group of friends together and hire a guide to take you out around the compound for the evening. Considering that over 90% of the planet is water, I’m sure many of you are interested in fishing opportunities. Unfortunately, the oceans are quite lifeless. Infrared light doesn’t penetrate deep into water, meaning there was never enough energy available for complex life to form in it. Some small algae-like plants grow near the shores and on the surface, but that’s all that’s been found so far.
We hope you enjoy your time on Gliese 667 Cc. As the first settlers, Earth will be watching closely.
Excellent discussion, I especially like the advice about the first few weeks being “challenging” …very nice
Planetary Scouting Mission Report
Boss:
After and examination of the first four worlds on the list you provided I would like to make the recommendation that we end this mission. We are currently back on Home Base restocking supplies and having the starboard main engine replaced (don’t ask I will cover the cost). Following is a summary of what we have seen so far and our reasons for recommending Kepler 22b as the ideal candidate for a privately owned world.
Kepler 62e: Ok it is definitely a water world and it is warm enough but because there are really no major landmasses would really be a pain in the ass to inhabit. I know that superboats would work here and there is enough of a temperature difference in the thermocline to harvest energy. The problem is that it is really a primordial sea when compared to earth and we are not really sure that you could farm any water based life more complex that algae. Overall the initial setup costs would be tremendous and everyone would have to live on the boats. There are a few island chains that seem to have an origin from a hotspot like Hawaii but all of them are active and the off gassing is horrible. What we would like to include though is that this might be a viable resource for certain chemicals and minerals if needed on 22b.
Gliese 581g and 667Cc: These are both viable candidates if you are willing to be dome based until terraforming can be completed. Our main concern is that it is too close to the federated space and some of your more esoteric projects might be scrutinized by the government. Out of site is out of mind. And in this case it only takes one jump from Home Base to get there compared to the seven it takes to get out to Kepler. Besides we both know how lazy government inspectors can be and any person (bot or flesh) is more likely to set aside their convictions that far from home. So really these two are more ideal for colonizing but less ideal for your needs.
Tau Ceti e: This is a hell hole if there ever was one. You could set up colonies at the poles especially if you were willing to remain in domed cities but the early reports from back at the turn of the last millennia are correct. We actually measured earthquakes constantly while on the surface. This would either require building anti-grav platforms under every dome and tethering them to the surface of some other creative engineering that we had not thought of. In all it is too unstable and it is even closer to fed space than the Gliese candidates. A definite no.
The last one we visited was HD 40307g, I know we were supposed to do a complete survey of the Kepler system first but we had “engine trouble” and figured we would catch this one on the way back to home base. I will tell you the whole story in person next time we meet and you will shit yourself when you here the whole tale.
HD 40307g: Its perfect but here is the rub. Everyone in the whole fed space has their eye on it and we actually ran into three separate scouting expeditions while in orbit. One of these was entirely non-organic, there wasn’t a single cyborg or biobrain among them. Krax thinks they are looking for a world to build a bot based society on and that is why there were no organics with them. I thought we were long past this but there seems to be a division building up between the older pure bots and the newer organic persons. Have they quit studying the past? The other two were mixed crews as they should be one of which was representing a private consortium.
In conclusion we do not want to go back to Gliese because we have already made our decision and I am now making our joint recommendation. If you want us to go back, we want to use one of your larger armored frigates and we want at least fifty troopers from your security force. Like I said it is complicated and I want to see you in person. Klax just got back from the bay and she said that the engine replacement will take two more days. The entire nacelle has to be replaced and the ship is moping. Klax also said that if you don’t want her to shove her diagnostic probe up your fleshy ass you will give us a ship because she wants to go back to Gliese to finish some business we started.
I think the super-boats are a great idea. And I want to know exactly what you did and who you pissed off on Gliese…
May 17, 2075: Newsfeed: As we have looked been forced to look to the future of civilization we know that Mars is our hope for the near future, but we must look towards the next two thousand years. Kepler-62e, from what our astronauts traveling towards this planet have told us water does exist on this planet, this is the key to life beyond Mars and the only way to get the rest of our population off Earth. It is larger in size than Earth and owing to the growth of the world’s population this increase in size would allow for our future descendants to live a more comfortable life. It is what we call a super-Earth with characteristic similar to our world. The first thing we would need to look at is landforms; Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f are (if water is present above ground) likely covered in water. We have still not uncovered the vast lifeforms that resided in the depths of Earth. The climate is very affected by this, being extremely warm and humid at the poles of the planet. Adjusting our lives will be the key to survival in the next hundred years, we must start now in changing our lives. We now look at surface changes and also the creation of a breathable atmosphere.
NEWS BREAK: October 30, 2125: Our astronauts on Mission Kepler-62e aboard the Pegasus Five, have sent us various pictures of the planet as they approach no life forms have been found, and the super-Earth Kepler-62e is covered nearly completely in water. We now look to how to build up the surface below the water. Getting man on the surface will be more complicated then we believed. Though we equipped our men and women with the proper suits for water situations they have now become outdated and we fear they will not be able to get any further information beyond these pictures we have received today.
December 25, 2205: As we say goodbye to our best and brightest we must put our faith not only in this group of men and women but the technicians, scientists and all of the International Space Stations both on Mars and Earth. As Earth has been our home for over two hundred thousand years we now look to our new home of Kepler formally known as Kepler-62e. Engineers, geologists and geographers have worked tirelessly these past eighty years to create a new planet that will sustain our race. We have terraformed the surface that has been created from soil on Earth, and we will have rich and abundant harvests and a new future. We wish to thank not only those leaving Mars today for Kepler, but also the sacrifices Earth has made, without the soil of Africa Kepler would not have been made ready for humankind, and also the upheaval that was created in this endeavor and rehoming of billions of people throughout Asia and South America. We as a Nation of Humankind thank you for your sacrifice, the triumph of our race will be because of the work we have all done these past one hundred and ninety years.
Very nice…I like the way you handled the information updates…
03/14/2112
RE: press release for Tau Ceti missions
Commander:
Attached is the final draft of press release for the Tau Ceti missions. I realize it is rather oversimplified, but I wanted to make sure it was accessible for the general public. Let me know if I should make any changes, otherwise I’ll go ahead and send it out.
For immediate release:
The planet Tau Ceti e has been selected for the first interstellar human colonization effort.
When Tau Ceti e was discovered in the 2010’s very little was known about it, beyond the fact that it is slightly larger than earth and quite hot, although not unbearably so, assuming an earth-like atmosphere. Due to technological advances in the field of astronomy in the last 100 years we can now conclude that the planet does indeed have an atmosphere similar in composition to that of Earth,
The star system is almost 12 lightyears away, meaning that we will probably not see man or woman set foot on Tau Ceti e during our generation, but a long term plan has been developed and the first, unmanned mission is set to launch on December 19th of this year, the hundredth anniversary of Tau Ceti e’s discovery.
There will be two stages, an unmanned mission to gather information and begin preparing the planet for habitation, and a manned mission to establish a colony and pave the way for the arrival of more colonists later.
First mission, unmanned:
The first mission to Tau Ceti e will be an unmanned craft carrying supplies and rovers. The craft will take a variety equipment to collect data about the surface of the planet and prepare for a later manned mission. The craft will take several satellite images of the planet as it approaches, which it will immediately begin transmitting back to Earth.
Once it has landed on the planet, atmosphere processors will be deployed, which will begin altering the atmosphere to reduce the greenhouse effect and cool the planet over time. This will obviously take some time so it is important to begin as soon as possible. Soil samples will be collected and analyzed. Extremophile algae will be seeded into the ocean to begin photosynthesis and chemosynthesis.
The high quality images of the planet’s surface, once the transmission reaches earth, will be examined to determine the most geologically plausible locales for existing caves systems.
Second mission, manned:
Once a manned mission reaches the planet, the first task will be to excavate a cave system for dwelling, since although the atmospheric processors have been working for many years the planet is still quite hot and impractical for living on the surface. The ship will land in an area already flagged by geologists on earth from the satellite images the first mission beamed back. The first base of operations will be the ship itself, with the colonists only venturing out at night. Once a cave has been located and an entrance either found or created, the colonists will move in, and use flexible solar panels to generate power for lights. The ship itself can be dismantled into modular sections, which are moved into the new subterranean settlement and used as individual dwellings.
The technology to grow plants in space has existed since the early 21st century and is now commonplace, so food for the voyage to Tau Ceti e will not be a problem. The fruits and vegetables grown on the voyage will have been grown on biodegradable frames which can be easily transplanted into the soil of the planet itself, using recycled nutrients from the voyage as fertilizer. A variety of non-agricultural plants will also be brought and gradually planted on the planet.
The first settlement will be named after Mikko Tuomi, the Finn who discovered the planet in 2012, and a tradition of Finnish toponyms will be established for future settlements.
Clothing will be made from cellulosic fibers excreted by bacteria, and notions (zippers and other closures, etc.) brought from Earth. Notions can be reused as garments wear out.
drat, there’s a couple of typos. Sorry about that
No worries about the typos, love the “press release”, really nice way of handling the assignment.
Kepler 62f is a relatively recently discovered satellite, the fifth of five planetary bodies in its native system, and the outer member among the two planets in the habitable zone of its relatively small, dim, and cool star in relation to Sol. The radius of the planet is roughly 1.4x that of earth, which when combined with the scientifically proposed planetary composition of iron/silicate dominant materials leads to an estimated mass of around 2.8 times that of earth. Given the age of the satellite, based on a model proposed for planets in the age range of Kepler 62f, (Potentially more than half that of Earth, with estimates ranging from 3 to 11 billion years) the planet is anticipated to be a likely candidate for a large amount of surface area being covered by water of some kind, be it solid or liquid. This would surely inhibit to some degree the development of sentient life-as discussed to some extent in class. The development of fire, electricity, etc. would be severely infringed upon by a species’ living in an ocean instead of on land, and it is for this reason postulated that if land does exist on Kepler 62f or if the frozen icy surface (?) holds the ability to sustain life somehow, that it is in these areas that intelligent life may evolve. The atmosphere is thought to, if it exists, be rather thick and unsupportive of human life-not exactly much to work with. I am working on the assumption, however, of a complete water world.
All of these factors matter to some degree in the potential human habitation of the planet. The primary obstacles that I see, judging from scientific hypotheticals about the state of affairs, are the estimated temperature, atmosphere, and surface composition. The temperature and the atmosphere will almost certainly demand adaptation to some degree. Perhaps genetic modification to make the atmosphere breathable by human lungs would be a feasible solution? A sealed habitat might be an alternative, and exterior expeditions could be handled then by humans in suits or by some sort of drone technology. That being said, a sealed habitat would also need to take varying aspects of the environment into account. Firstly, is the surface liquid or solid, and if it is solid, is it ice or dry land? If dry land, is it seismically or volcanically active? If ice, is the ice thick enough to be relatively static, or does it move around enough to necessitate adaptations on the part of a sealed colony habitat? Is the nature of the planetary surface seasonal, with ice and water being dominant depending on the latitude and time of year? I would advise perhaps a subsurface habitat-I can only imagine that the primary interest in this planet would like either in the export of water, native non-sentient wildlife for food, biotechnological interests, or medical uses, etc. , power (Oblivion style fusion reactors?), or minerals gathered by in all likelihood subsurface or underwater mining. None of these things seem to require a habitat being on the surface. Perhaps a large mobile base of operations-like a dramatic modification of a modern submarine-would allow for a worthwhile habitat. Unless conditions are temperate year around or there exists the possibility to establish secure terrestrial habitats, I cannot advocate any kind of terrestrial habitat establishment as it may infringe upon the safety of its inhabitants or the viability of the habitat in providing a platform for productive activity.
Personal adaptation to the planetary conditions would no doubt necessitate some sort of therapy to alleviate the effects of the higher gravity of Kepler 62f, and radiation is in all likelihood another issue that should be addressed-whether by shielding for the habitat or by some sort of therapy, again. Mere adaptation, psychologically, to subsurface or underwater living may prove problematic. In the end, colonization of this planet, assuming that it is in fact a water world of some fashion, would almost surely require an absolute bevy of adjustments in order to properly prepare a population for a successful colonization effort.
Good discussion of Kepler 62-f…
— Lt. Schmidt…patch me through.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome onboard the Virginia Intergalactic Exploration Company . I am your pilot and mission leader, Captain Al Zheimer, and in behalf of myself and the crew we are honored that you have joined us for the first manned mission to the recently discovered terrestrial exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf Gliese 581. “
“ Please listen to the following announcement regarding our journey to Gliese 581 g, also known as Zarmina. It is bound to be a long flight and before we all enter warp speed and go into our induced hibernation it is of upmost importance that we are debriefed about out mission.”
“Our projected destination is the Constellation of Libra, about 20 light years from Earth. Zarmina is the fourth planet from its star in a very crowded system and it has a mass 3 or 4 times of that of Earth. An interesting characteristic about this planet is that is locked to its star, meaning that during its 37 day orbit around Gliese 581 only one portion of the planet is exposed to continuous light. As you already guessed, the other portion of the planet lies in total darkness.”
“Preliminary unmanned explorations have detected the presence of elements such as H, O, N, He, B, Na, Mg, Ca, k, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn, Si, P, S, Cl, Ar, Xe, Ag, Au, and Pu. Traces of all these elements and more were found in sufficient amounts that suggests the presence of an atmosphere and minerals deposits similar to Earth’s. These findings also suggest the presence of liquid water in areas closer to the planet’s equator as well as ice sheets in the dark part of the planet. High levels of sulfur indicate the presence of tectonic activity in the form of volcanic eruptions and/or fumaroles. The presence of methane indicates some vegetation has evolved on the surface of the planet and covers 90% of the visible lighted portion of Zarmina. “Measurements taken from early unmanned probes detected strong temperature variances between the light and dark side of the planet. The light side, which has been named “Lux”, maintains a constant temperature of 85 degrees F during its elliptical trajectory around the red star. The dark side, which has been named “Tenebris”, maintains a chilling temperature of – 20 degrees F.”
“As far of animal life, that where Dr. Lins comes in. She is our chief biologist that will study, collect, and classify specimens for research. We are to work in conjunction with her to ensure we have a better understanding of future natural resources for the colonists that will soon be arriving.”
“Are chief Geologist, Dr. Kont, will be working to identify non-organic natural resources that will be useful to support the future colonies on Zarmina.”
“The chief Geographer and Cartographer, Dr. Lundt, will be mapping the planet and will aid in locating the adequate areas for human habitation.”
“Dr. Blich is our chief medical staff. She will be always at hand to identify new viral and environmental threats to our health and mental health. Let’s all remember we do not know what kind of pathogens exist in the atmosphere or surface of the planet, so be cautious and always report to her if you experience any, and i mean ANY, changes in your physical and mental wellbeing.”
“ All these been said, as you enter into the deep sleep of hibernation, the rest of the information will downloaded into your cerebral cortex via the implanted subcutaneous chip in your neck.”
“Let’s all remember this is a research and discovery mission that will help prepare the establishment of future colonies on the surface of this new planet. We are here to continue the spread of our specie and culture throughout the galaxy.”
“That is all for now, ladies and gentlemen. Prepare for deep space hibernation. And Jones…get into your own damn chamber and leave Dr. Blich alone. This is a scientific mission and not a frat party. Keep your hormones in check or I will do that for you. Got it?”
Captain out.
Love the captain’s announcement style for distributing information.
The Kepler missions were some of our history’s most notable space exploration attempts, the pivotal point where we as humans on earth decided it was best to never return to the depths of deep space again. The most notable being the infamous Kepler 62e voyage.
Long ago during the second space age, we had crafted one of the largest ongoing projects to attempt to colonize one of the most habitable planets in space. Kepler 62e was our hope, our hail Mary, the one true planet left that could work. We launched a colony of spacecraft capable of reaching the planet. After a few weeks upon arrival of the planet, we soon began to scour the surface for any land available as it was a water-world. After discovering that no land was shown to the naked eye, we concluded it best to set up the colony on the polar region of the planet. During that phase we had all the proper signs that things would go as planned. Given that the planet’s atmosphere was strikingly similar, a size that was 1.6 times our very own, and a temperature that was a little cooler than ours on average. Life on Kepler was running smoothly for a time being. We eventually found a small island of land within the planet, and decided to move all of the main operations to that small piece of land for ease of work. After erecting a permanent station to operate all of the missions out of, the colonists of Kepler 62e had noticed some abnormalities. There was yet to be life detected on the planet, and temperature was shockingly cold at night which made the colonists reside mostly to their dome station. With a small population of people they did the best they could to grow plants, as well as research soils, but it turned out to be a little harder than anticipated. No seeds on earth would grow on the keplan soil, and every thought we had of the planet being similar to earth seemed too far off. It soon all made sense; the colonists eventually fell distraught to the fact that the last planet with hope in the Kepler series was turning out to be a giant failure. On all attempts to set up a space colony outside of Earth we had failed numerous times, this marking the ultimate failure. On December 8’th 2056 on Earth, the scientists at NASA had received the most eerie transmission from space ever to be found. The transmission came from the Kepler 62e colonist and consisted of a 27 second video clip of the most horrifying footage ever seen. The lone colonist who had a hold of the transmission narrated the end of the Kepler mission and gazed into camera with the eyes of a beaten soul. At which point he opened the door to the room he resided in only to be swept away by a creature unlike anything ever seen before.
That point on marked the end of all space missions to planets outside our solar system, and left as stark reminder as to why we belong on the very planet we came from. NASA vowed never again to run a colonist program ever again.
Oh I love the creepy feel to this…and the fatalism
The existence of water made think of Kepler-62e as my favorite candidate to be prepared for human colonization. Many biologists say that the origins of the first living organisms on earth might have taken place in the ocean. Scientists from NASA say that Kepler-62-e has almost the same size as earth does, but most of its land is covered in water. This would be an issue for the development of civilizations due to continental space is of vital importance to achieve this. Most of them say it has some chunks of land. Thanks to the advance of technology on earth, the creation of solid land in Kepler-62e does not seem crazy. Example of this would be the creation of polders in the Netherlands and the diversion of bodies of water in order to create land available. This project can be put into to practice in Kepler-62e. From the physical point of view this might seem impossible. The execution of this project will require heavy machinery. This machinery can be transported by parts and then be assembled once it gets to Kepler-62e.
Another advantage Kepler-62e has over any other planet is that it orbits around a less hot star than the sun. The best part is that it preserves warm temperatures in the polar areas.
It takes 122 days to rotate its parent red dwarf. For the first humans colonizers of Kepler-62e will take time to adjust to the rapid transition from day to night.
Once there is land available in Kepler seeds of different crops must be planted to see how well vegetation develops in that planet. The growth of these plants will be determined by the amount of light in the planet so that the plants go through the process of photosynthesis. This would also work to determine the composition of the soil to determine the necessary nutrients to be applied for more efficient growth of vegetation. The soil must also be studied to assess its ability to sustain housing. Taking into consideration that most of Kepler-62b is water and it has a tropical kind of weather, it can be suggested that the mangrove would be the ideal type of vegetation easy to reproduce in the planet.
It has been observed by the studious of planet Kepler that it is planet that shows a very thick atmosphere and a lot of electrical activity like it does for earth in the tropics. It is something that has to be studied to assess the impact of lightning in the actual planet and how much it would affect the human civilization.
The existence of water made think of Kepler-62e as my favorite candidate to be prepared for human colonization. Many biologists say that the origins of the first living organisms on earth might have taken place in the ocean. Scientists from NASA say that Kepler-62-e has almost the same size as earth does, but most of its land is covered in water. This would be an issue for the development of civilizations due to continental space is of vital importance to achieve this. Most of them say it has some chunks of land. Thanks to the advance of technology on earth, the creation of solid land in Kepler-62e does not seem crazy. Example of this would be the creation of polders in the Netherlands and the diversion of bodies of water in order to create land available. This project can be put into to practice in Kepler-62e. From the physical point of view this might seem impossible. The execution of this project will require heavy machinery. This machinery can be transported by parts and then be assembled once it gets to Kepler-62e.
Another advantage Kepler-62e has over any other planet is that it orbits around a less hot star than the sun. The best part is that it preserves warm temperatures in the polar areas.
It takes 122 days to rotate its parent red dwarf. For the first humans colonizers of Kepler-62e will take time to adjust to the rapid transition from day to night.
Once there is land available in Keppler-62e seeds of different crops must be planted to see how well vegetation develops in that planet. The growth of these plants will be determined by the amount of light in the planet so that the plants go through the process of photosynthesis. This would also work to determine the composition of the soil to determine the necessary nutrients to be applied for more efficient growth of vegetation. The soil must also be studied to assess its ability to sustain housing. Taking into consideration that most of Kepler-62b is water and it has a tropical kind of weather, it can be suggested that the mangrove would be the ideal type of vegetation easy to reproduce in the planet.
It has been observed by the studious of planet Keppler-62-e that it is planet that shows a very thick atmosphere and a lot of electrical activity like it does for earth in the tropics. It is something that has to be studied to assess the impact of lightning in the actual planet and how much it would affect the human civilization.
Good job considering the possibilities for colonizing Kepler 62-e
Gliese 581 g is an exoplanet that is considered to be one of best potential planets for human colonization. It is found near the middle of the habitable zone and orbits the red dwarf Gliese 581. This rocky, terrestrial exoplanet is significantly earth-like, with a mass 2.2 larger than Earth’s size makes it to be the planet closes to Earht’s size within a habitable zone. Because it is in the goldilocks zone, liquid water would be sustainable, allowing the possibly for human colonization.
Giles 667 Cc is another exoplanet which orbits the triple star system, more specifically, the Gliese 667 C. It is also very similar to Earth and has a mass of around 3.8 of Earth’s. It is exposed to 90% of the amount light Earth obtains yet would be a little warmer than Earth because of the electromagnetic radiation. Its axial tilt is only that of .1251, which results in a 28.155 day long year. It is located in the habitable zone the hot portion of the zone, but would still humans to colonize.
Kepler 62e has somewhat similar features to Earth and is considered an “super- Earth exoplanet.” It is 1.6 times larger than the size of Earth, which is relatively close our measurements. Compared to the sun, the red dwarf star that Kepler 62e orbits is quite smaller and cooler, which can be found in the constellation Lyra. Its orbital period is the equivalent to roughly 122 days and is found in the habitable zone.
The potential for colonization on Kepler 62e is still possible, yet would be considerably difficult. It is a water world, with little land mass on its surface and is fairly cooler than Earth. The climate is warm and humid throughout the planet and mostly made up of overcast skies.
Lack of landmass causes colonization to be very challenging. In order to live on this water world, we would need to discover a way to create some sort of terrestrial area for humans to reside. This also leads to worry about elements and natural resources- where would we grow of food or vegetation? Boats would be the most efficient form of transportation, but civilization would digress without machinery or energy sources to fuel these boats?
Kepler 22b resides within the habitable zone and orbits Kepler- 22, which is classified as a G-star type found in the Cygnus constellation. It’s orbital shape is unknown but it has a 290 day year, and a radius 2.4 times the size of Earth’s. It is also a water world with a a gaseous or liquid outer layer, making it a gas planet. There is very little information available regarding this planet but most likely appears to be uninhabitable.
Tau Ceti e revolves around a star similar to our sun and resides in the habitable zone. It has vert similar qualities when compared to Earth and has great potential for colonization. Its mass is 4.3 times the size of earth and consists of a 168 day year. The atmosphere and temperatures are very much alike and if scientists were to discover existing life on this planet, they believe it would be 1.8 times greater than those found on Earth.
Good discussion of the different possibilities for colonizing these different planets.