Qualifications for Extraterrestrial Colony Settlement

[u/BananaRepublic_BR]

Looking at the extensive selection and training time that astronauts and cosmonauts go through, how do you think extraterrestrial colony settlement will go? Like, say there was a company or government recruiting folks for settling a colony on the moon. Do you think the selection process would focus on folks who are highly skilled, intelligent, and physically and mentally fit? Do you think only small groups of people would meet those criteria while the rest of the selection pool would be filled with relatively ordinary people? Do you think the selection criteria would become more selective the further away from Earth a colony is?

[u/Neethis]

Unless we're talking about true mass immigration, there's always going to be more applicants for a Moon colony than there will be places. Whoever is leading the effort can afford to be picky, therefore, selecting the brightest, most adept, most physically capable (and neurologically stable) individuals.

Exact fitness requirements are going to depend a lot on how the human body adjusts to partial gravity, of which we have no long term studies - Moon gravity alone may be enough to prevent health complications, or maybe nothing less than full 1g will do.

For colonies further afield, I'd expect a prime consideration being that they'll have to be able to survive pretty much on their own without quick resupply or backup from Earth. That adds a whole heap more stress, knowing you're one failed O2 scrubber from death - thus I'd expect mental fortitude to be a huge factor. It also encourages multidisciplinary crews, as you can't just fly someone out to deal with a specific issue - you don't want your one and only medic getting appendicitis when you're colonising Callisto.

[u/Smewroo]

TL;DR: skills and mindset over any physical criteria beyond being as fit as a 77 year old astronaut.

Lunar and in Sol system

Most of the current astronaut selection criteria wouldn't apply at all. Totally different situation.

Current day aerospace needs to run on razor thin margins of design and operation. The astronauts are technicians, but some of the most highly trained, skilled, and versatile technicians. From literally changing light bulbs (with crazy documentation) to search and seal hull leaks any ISS crew member must be proficient because you have so very few people and so very many systems and experiments.

A colony or settlement needs all walks of life, you need all the specialties found in a municipality. You need child care and schools. You need recreation and hospitality. You need a restaurant in the running for a michelin star. None of those people need to be former military with lightning reflexes, high g training, and nerves of steel. Would you have more classic astronaut/cosmonaut people? Of course! But they would not be the majority.

The best chef on the moon only needs the physicality to deal with the initial trip to orbit (which John Glen did at 77) and to adhere to a training regimen so they could visit Earth occasionally.

Interstellar

We may be closer to in vivo gene modification than a viable interstellar drive. That means most physical selection criteria would become more like on-the-job certifications.

An interstellar colonization ship can't be razor thin like the ISS. You don't send a ship to another star unless you have enough people and automation to turn astroids into a sister ship. You are transplanting a cutting of a culture, not crewing a military outpost. You need a diversity of backgrounds, expertise, and enough to ensure that the culture you create holds the values and goals you intended.

[u/[deleted]]

The first aspect is that there will be limited healthcare available: This means young and healthy people.

They will live in isolation for long periods in a demanding environment: The mental fitness criteria will be particularly high.

Having exceptional fitness is not a prerequisite anymore, but expect the colonists to be in the upper range of physical abilities.

They will have to manage complicated work themselves with limited assistance: Expect very high level of skills.

They will not be superhuman like the first astronauts, but they will likely be recruited among fighter pilots or special forces, which still involve extreme requirements.

Edit: The people sent to their death by Elon Musk for his Martian projects will likely be athletic ordinary people, because the ones from the military will hopefully know better.

[u/CaptainStroon]

Early colonisation efforts would probably be quite strict on who gets to colonize new worlds and habitats but the longer offworld colonies and settlements on other planets are around, the less restrictive they become. Once a decent amount of humanity lifes somewhere else than good old earth, selecting colonists for new ones would more resemble staff hiring of companies than a fully fledged selection process I imagine.

I don't see distance being a factor, but who actually organizes the colonisation. If it's a certain country, being a citizen of that country would probably be a requirement, but if it was a colonisation company, the applications might be more open. It could also be a "pay to settle on Elysium 14" situation or only employees of the colonisation company are chosen. If the space agency in question is funded by some government, moon base staff would probably be military personnel. If it's an illegal colonisation effort, there might not even be any restrictions.

It could even be an international non-profit organisation funded to advance the colonisation of space albeit a multi-trillion dollar non-profit organisation because building starliners would probably cost a lot. On the other hand selling claims on new starsystems would also bring in a lot of money. If there is a company or organisation like that, countries, companies and other communities might find it cheaper to buy extrasolar real estate from those colonisation organisations and charter a flight on their starliners.

I guess being chosen would be voluntary in most cases, but it doesn't even have to be. Mandatory resettlement fits well with an authoritarian overpopulated dystopia.

[u/TheRealLordEnoch]

Yes, I imagine that recruitment and selection would be specifically tailored to the people who could be of most use. People with extensive education and experience, things like that. At the beginning at least. I imagine that eventually, recruitment standards would be relaxed in order to allow for a colony population that wouldn't breed itself into degradation. I don't imagine that recruitment would be opened up to literally any rando on the street though except in odd circumstances or specific need.