Great minds here have discussed and pondered a station as per Ascadia's founding goals. To me, as great as this is, I think of Space Lab and the ISS and it reminds me of my old job...control room operations...paid to know what to do when something goes wrong, trust me on this...it can be boring. Why not plan/design a station that eventually becomes a large space ship over time...sure the engines we have now will at best confine us to our immediate neighbourhood but we would still protect our planet... possibly better with more reach, much like sailing my small sailboat, at least I can explore my lake and small bays which is more exciting than sitting on a raft close to shore...any thoughts?

From my perspective on the situation, Asgardia should be a ship so that it is not restricted to a singular planetary orbit. Along with the ship there should be docking stations for smaller crafts. For cases of exploration and evacuation. Being stuck in one orbit may get boring after a while and plus Asgardians as a whole would be able to explore close planetary bodies together and long term research on far away objects and planets could be possible. A new planetary or space view wouldn't hurt either.

Agreed with the commander Shepard!

I rather like the idea of having a space ship instead of Station in orbit because it would be boring as you say and it can't show us the beauty of the space. My concept to the ship could be the Mass Effect ship's Citadel is a huge space ship that could travel around the solar system and be also a space station so it would be nice if we want to remain in a site.

It's nice to have an agreement on the subject of having a mobile space station/ship. Hopefully more will come into agreement as well. The beauty of space is something to be sought out and not ignored. Every citizen of Asgardia should have equal rights to view new portions of the cosmos, along with planetary systems and asteroids. It would be an experience of a lifetime to orbit new worlds and even step down on foreign soil to create new civilizations through the colonization of those planets and moons. An operation that would write the future of humanity and excel us into greater things.

This would be a very long way off, but there is no reason both objectives cannot be carried out... with time. One of Asgardia's primary goals is to protect the Earth from threats from space, so some sort of platform will always be needed to remain stationary in orbit. But that does not mean colony ships could not eventually be built to cruise the solar system. Even so, all of Asgardia's stations should have the capability to leave orbit. The mission to save humanity from dangers is noble and there are many ways to do it, but the most successful one, in my opinion, is simply by having a population in space free from the Earth. Should, say, a plague wipe out all humans on the planet, there would be a group still alive elsewhere. This strategy works for any threat but ourselves. Say nuclear war breaks out on Earth, or a meteor swarm or gamma ray burst threatens the planet. Asgardia should deploy every option to protect the planet but if all fails, or in the case of a gamma ray burst where we could do nothing at all, Asgardia would have to do its duty to the species to ensure survival of the only intelligence we know of and move out of harm's way. All of Asgardia in space should have the capability to be mobile. Anything less would take away the number one successful strategy we could devise to protect the species from any threat. Just my thoughts.

I am in total agreeance with eventually having a mobile station, but first and foremost we would need something akin to a port of call, hence an orbiting station until we have the capabilities for local/deep space ventures, even then we would still need somewhere to return to for resupply and maintenance, or somewhere capable of sending a rescue mission should a venture go awry. My opinion would be to start with an orbiting nation, then designing medium to large ships that can be launched from the station as well as return to the nation when the need arises. As far as equality of citizens for space ventures, I would think that even with equal rights that there should still be a screening process because of the risks that would be associated with unknown voyages into the literal Unknown.

It would seem logical that both concepts are one and the same. One can imagine building the first one in LEO or in orbit around the Moon, then additional colonies springing up elsewhere as demand dictates. Colonies could eventually provide "World Ships" linking planets through transfer orbits.

me gusta la idea del barco y de las velas, como toda embarcación debe tener su puerto y los puertos se eligen según la facilidad y la protección que brinda a sus naves... las lunas pueden ser excelentes opciones, usarlas como anclajes, aprovechar su falta de gravedad para aterrizar y despegar, como bases, depósitos, refugio, colonias, como fuente de recursos, y lo importantes es que son muchas y estan presentes en todo el sistema solar

"I like the idea of ​​the ship and the sails, as every boat must have its port and the ports are chosen according to the ease and protection it provides to its ships ... moons can be excellent options, use them as anchorages, Lack of gravity to land and take off, as bases, deposits, refuge, colonies, as a source of resources, and the important thing is that there are many and are present throughout the solar system"

Using Google Translate for fabiangb

I think a moon colony would be best first. With Small space craft "shuttle craft" to get our space legs more firmly under us before going any further than our solar system.

After that we could send a generation ship to nearby Ross-128 where there is a possible Earth-like planet:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/science/planet-ross-128.html

And if that doesn't work out, the space ship could change course to Trappist-1, where there are seven possible planets:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/science/trappist-1-exoplanets-nasa.html

I love the idea of a mobile station/ship. The obvious first step is to get a station in orbit. It will enable us to prove the effects of lower gravity on human physiology. Of course the station/ship will have gravity, but most likely a little less than Earth. It will also give us a chance to test mining and manufacturing technologies.