Space Colonization 2150

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The year is 2150 and man has moved out from her cradle, though perhaps not as far as some might have wished. In the 21st century there were expeditions to Mars and Venus, and once a flyby of Mercury, but no bases and colonies followed, no settlements, no terraforming, nothing so grandiose. The 21st gave way to the 22nd and none returned, instead man, battered but not broken from the great climate crisis, looked towards using space to sustain the Earth. Fleets of drones were crafted to mine asteroids and near earth objects, space docks and industrial forges were crafted in orbit to process materials, fuel depots and space elevators were born to ensure a continuous supply of precious ores and energy to the Earth, and before man knew it although the planets beyond were still barren the Earth and Moon were abuzz in industry and cities among the stars. Asteroids were tugged into orbit, mining cities grew from Lagrange Points, and now to the untrained eye looking skyward one can hardly tell the stars from the space stations.

In 2150 Mankind’s settlement of space stretches across Cislunar Space and a few Near Earth Objects and the history of this settlement reaches back over 100 years. In the 2040s, China, the then dominant superpower, began the expansion of Mankind’s Space Mining industry, which was still in its relative infancy, by creating the first mining waystation at Lagrange Point 1. It was known as Tiangong “Heavenly Palace” Station, and was followed 20 years later by the Indian Station at Lagrange 2, Vimanagadha “Castle of the Heavenly Vehicle”. The stations were leviathans for their time, containing self-sustaining biospheres able to hold crews of dozens indefinitely who would then oversee the various processing stations, water-to-fuel systems, and docks for creating and repairing resource drones sent out to resource rich near earth objects. Assisted by smaller stations and unmanned platforms in geostationary orbit of the Earth, the Tiangong and Vimanagadha stations were both the jewels of human space colonization but also symbols of dominance for the Chinese and Indian Superpowers of their time. This period, from the 2060s to the early years of the 22nd century when both stations were co-active and co-dominant, was still typified by traditional ways of reaching space, such as surface to orbit rockets and space-plane assisted launches. As such, beyond these two stations, which did admittedly grow with each passing decade, mankind’s space assets were largely unmanned due to cost and logistics.

The opening of the first space elevator in Ghana at the turn of the 22nd century changed that. Space Elevators ushered in a new period of vastly cheaper orbital access and a race amongst the great powers of the day to build more elevators. Ultimately the African Union won this race, holding the plurality of the World’s Space Elevators and more than the next four powers combined. The rise of the Space Elevator and the period of African Ascendancy that the 22nd century brought lead to a new dynamic of space colonization. Existing habitats were greatly expanded, and many attempts were made by China and India to ensure the continuing dominance of their Lagrange Stations by constantly adding on to them, but in 2122 the African Union announced its Space Superiority by tugging a Near Earth Object roughly 20 miles wide into Lagrange Point 3, and then eight years later another object into Lagrange Point 5. These objects were heavily mined and afterwards what remained of their massive ant colony like mines were sealed, pressurized, and made the basis for gargantuan settlements. These new stations were given the names Ogyinae and Makeda, after the West African Hero who settled the Earth and the Ethiopian name for the Queen of Sheba respectively. In response a scramble began amongst the powers to claim Lagrange 4 before the various international organizations stepped in and placed a moratorium on any state claiming the area.

In the 20 years since the towing in of Ogyinae and Makeda, settlement of Cislunar Space continues, but it largely retains its original goal of supporting human civilization. As natalism Earthside ensures a still growing population, more and more resources are needed to maintain technological civilization, and so in the name of efficiency, direct national control over the space stations and settlements has been ended. They still keep their original names, and are majority manned by their respective peoples, but the Three-Party System* has established universally abided by guidelines allowing all recognized polities to use the space elevators, geosynch stations, and Lagrange Colonies for the ferrying of materials, people, and diplomacy. Though the bureaucracy involved in using others’ assets still pushes polities to build their own. Although no longer completely controlled by their founder nations, the powers now maintain small space fleets docked in the major stations, composed largely of refitted spacetugs with point-defense systems and nuclear warheads. The Three-Party also maintains a fleet, with sections docked in all four Lagrange Stations.

The stations themselves have now found another use beyond national pride and acting as drone bays, now also being rest stops and way stations for manned ships that go to the two new manned settlements just beyond Cislunar Space. Vimanagadha and Ogyinae now ferry people to and fro the farther off settlements of Ghanmeid (Present day’s Ganymed NEO) and Eros respectively, both of which are overseen by a collection of Three-Party Groups and Neoordist Polities. Luna is now also a place of colonization and development, though as of 2150 is largely limited to a few paraforming experiments on the equator, a handful of water and helium-3 extraction bases, and a peppering of telescope observatories on the far side.

Lagrange 4 is still uncolonized, at least officially. The legal red-tape and possible conflict that might erupt if the area was opened to human colonization are considered too great a cost at the moment. There are however a number of ostensibly unmanned stations that drift between some smaller tugged asteroids. Rumors of extralegal settlements and pirates hopping between these spatterings of rock and metal are brushed aside whenever brought up. Pirates are very much real, though a bit less glamorous than one might think. The distinction between a pirate and an official business man and “entrepreneur” taking their ship out to the farther colonies or around the less crowded parts of space to strongarm people they come across is fuzzy at best, and the increasing ease of producing spaceships in orbit means that it is not unheard of for people in the larger stations to build their own ship and take off into the black. The Great Powers and the Three-Party largely ignore these people, as the real risks in space are terrorists and each other. No one wishes to send their fleet out to catch someone who skimped on a fuel payment or stole some food only to return to a station on fire and de-orbiting.

Currently the frontiers of space settlement are in expanding tourism and moving beyond the Earth-Moon System. Space ferries to go between the stations and colonies and the Moon are the newest sensation, and some of the first truly luxury stations and attractions are being born. Makeda for instance has recently sealed off a section of its old mines and turned it into an internal sea with various fish and sealife in it in order to wow tourists and bring in revenue. Beyond tourism a debate is currently raging, Mars or Venus? There is a growing desire to once again return to manned explorations of the solar system, and possibly even set up the first bases on the nearby planets. The Mars Lobby brings up how much cheaper Phobos and Deimos make Martian Development. The Venus Lobby retorts that Mars has no resources that aren’t currently easily accessible, but Venus could give birth to large solar farms.

Rabbling ensues.

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*Although the “Three UNs” of 2150 are independent organizations they cooperate intimately on matters of Space and Ocean Floor Colonization and security. In these instances the organizations speak with one voice and act with one body often called the “Three-Party”. More conspiratorially minded people occasionally represent the Three-Party with the Illuminati Triangle Eye. Whether this is an insult or a compliment depends upon your point of view.