Imagine a space habitat placed inside a giant mesh bag covering the entire asteroid

One day scientists will put imaginable into practice.

Researchers from the University of Rochester have recently provided a glimpse of future space cities inspired by the golden era of science fiction and “O`Neill cylinders” concept.

Physicist Gerard O`Neill brought in 1972 an idea of two cylinders simulating Earth-like gravity by rotating in opposite directions. The initial O`Neill project would be extremely expensive due to all materials required. So, the researchers developed his idea by using

"all those flying mountains whirling around the Sun" — asteroids — which could "provide a faster, cheaper, and more effective path to space cities," as University of Rochester physics professor Adam Frank said in the press release.

The developers proposed a bag made from carbon nanofiber tubes that would

"envelope and support the entire spinning mass of the asteroid’s rubble and the habitat within, while also supporting its own weight as it spins," the press release notes.

The asteroid would be spun around by a mechanism. The mesh cover that would tighten the asteroid also could shield the asteroid city from radiation.

The notion is seemed to be theoretical only but Adam Frank argues

"The idea of asteroid cities might seem too distant until you realize that in 1900 no one had ever flown in an airplane," Frank continued, "yet right this minute thousands of people are sitting comfortably in chairs as they hurdle at hundreds of miles an hour, miles above the ground."

The concept for spinning habitats constructed from rubble pile near-Earth asteroids is called "Habitat Bennu" named after a possibly-hollow asteroid discovered in 1999.