Space habitat

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A space habitat (also called a space settlement, space colony, spacestead, space city, orbital habitat, orbital settlement, orbital colony, orbital stead or orbital city) is a more advanced form of living quarters than a space station or habitation module, in that it is intended as a permanent settlement or green habitat rather than as a simple way-station or other specialized facility. No space habitat has been constructed yet, but many design concepts, with varying degrees of realism, have come both from engineers and from science-fiction authors.

The term space habitat refers both to self-contained structures envisaged for micro-g environments and, more broadly, also to habitats built on or in a body other than Earth, such as the Moon, Mars or an asteroid. In the first case, those self-contained structures could be in orbit^[1] around the Earth or other celestial body, or they could be generation ships (also called world ships) performing interstellar travel.^[2]