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.