Our Solar System

Places to visit in the solar system;

On the Moon

Travel time from Earth to Moon; at 1G is 2.2 hours, at 5G about 1 hour.

Moon base Alfa -

The first base built by the UN-EDF. Construction began in 2007 and was mostly complete in 2009. The surface buildings are only half the story, a lot more exists underground. There is also the industrial complex, located a few KM distant to the east and the ship yard a few KM to the north east.

The base was intended for a permanent staff of 320 personnel, with visitor quarters for 200 more. It is not a city or habitat, it is a functional purpose built centre for the advancement of the space industry. Of course it has grown in size over the years, with a large section of science facilities and a command centre for solar system defence being added in the 2010s. By 2030 Alfa had a staff for some 5000, with visitor facilities for 1000.

 

Buck Rogers Base -

Built by the Americans for the Americans, it mirrors much of what moon base Alfa does, except it is exclusively controlled by the US-SF. The base in not very large but does have several nearby industrial complexes and research bunkers. An extensive set of caves are linked to the base, being off limits to none military personnel, we dont know what they are doing down there.

Henge Base -

China's foot hold on the Moon. It is a small station with a crew of about 100 and visitor quarters for 200 more. Mostly it serves as a ground support facility for the orbital ship yard.

ZeHe as it is known, is the giant assembly yard of the Zheng Hee Corporation, which builds big ships and other items for use in the solar system. While technically a civilian industry it is under government direction whenever necessary.

Dermod City -

The European Union's set of 8 lunar habitats that represent; Germany, France, the UK, Spain, Italy, the Norwegians, the Balkans, and Turkey. Each is a self contained city of around 6000 residents, linked to its neighbours by underground railway. The entire area shares some services and facilities like the space port and heavy manufacturing zone. More than any other place on the Moon, it is made for tourists, each city having a capacity of 1000 visitors at a time.

Located at a Lagrange Point (same distance as the Moon to Earth)

Jack Station -

The newly built O’Neill cylinder, Jack Station. A huge habitat 5 km in diameter and 20 km long. As with most big stations rotational force is used for gravity rather than GCUs. The station currently holds a population of 1 million, with a max capacity of 2 million.

Although mostly an American-Canadian achievement, it is open to all visitors and some non-citizens have gained residential status. It is a civilian station with minimal defensive abilities.

Mars -

At a distance of about 2AU travel time at 1G is 4 days, at 5G about 1.8 days.

Sizable colonizing missions have set up on Mars. Including one to transform its moon Phobos into a space station. Mars Direct, a multi-national corporation has taken on a lot of the work, in terms of civilian habitation. In this case the UN has played only a small role, that of dispute arbiter.

Russian Sarra Base being the first established. Followed by USA, Japan, the EU, India and China. Among the privet ventures is a sizable Mormon colony. In total about 3,000,000 people now live on Mars. While the Russian and Chines bases are military installations with small areas for the families of the staff, the other national bases follow a more mixed approach. The UE using almost the same set up as they have for their Luna city.

It is important to note that after the initial building phase of a decade or so, most of the national bases slowed down their expansion. The Mars Direct corporation did not. As its aim was to populate the planet with self sustaining towns, it is invested narrowly with no interests outside Mars. The Nations on the other hand saw Mars as a stepping stone to other tings.

The Belt -

The Asteroid Belt. Located 3 AU from Earth, travel time at 1G is about 5.2 days

Although popular belief still holds that the belt is full of space rocks, the average distance between most is over 500,000 km. It is not at all like you see in most movies. The belt is actually about 1 AU wide, so travel to a specific asteroid will often add a full day to the above time.

About half the mass of the belt is contained in the four largest asteroids: Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. The total mass of the asteroid belt is approximately 4% that of the Moon. A large station has been built on Ceres and now serves as the hub for mining operations. The station is owned by the Rock Hopper corporation, but the UN-EDF does have a patrol base next to it, ensuring law and order.

Jupiter -

At a distance of about 5AU travel time at 1G is 6.3 days, at 5G about 2.8 days.

Inner satellites or Amalthea group: Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, and Thebe, orbit very close to Jupiter and are subject to high levels of elector-magnetic radiation from the huge planet. Not easy places to live on.

Main group or Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. They are considered dwarf planets, with Ganymede being slightly larger than the planet Mercury in diameter, though is less massive.
The Galileo spacecraft was the first to enter orbit around Jupiter, arriving in 1995 and studying it until 2003. During this period, Galileo gathered a large amount of information, making close approaches to all of the Galilean moons and finding evidence for thin atmospheres on three of them, as well as the possibility of liquid water beneath the surfaces of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. It also discovered a magnetic field around Ganymede. 

The major moons of Jupiter have been several bases on them.

The Chinese colony on Callisto (0.12G slightly less than the Moon).

In a fitting move the European Union occupied Europa (0.13G).

Io (0.18G) was claimed by the Arabian League,

Ganymede (0.14G) was given to the South American Alliance.

Saturn- 

 
At a distance of about 10AU travel time at 1G is 9 days, at 5G about 4 days.

The UN-EDF claim Titan as its exclusive territory, setting up a base and a ship yard.

Saturn has 82 moons with confirmed orbits that are not embedded in its rings, of which only 13 have diameters greater than 50 KM. Although there was some talk about colonizing Saturn's large moons, very little has been done in this regard.

 

Titan is the second largest moon in the Solar System and Saturn's largest, slightly bigger than the planet Mercury. It has a dense (surface pressure of 1.5 atm), primarily made of nitrogen with a small fraction of methane. Titan is the only body in the Solar System beside Earth with bodies of liquid on its surface, in the form of methane–ethane lakes in Titan's north and south polar regions. Like Europa and Ganymede, it is believed that Titan has a subsurface ocean made of water mixed with ammonia.

Titan has a gravity of 0.13 G, slightly less than the Moon.

Hyperion is Titan's nearest neighbour in the Saturn system. The two moons are locked in a mean-motion resonance with each other.

Rhea is the second-largest of Saturn's moons, the only moon in the Solar System known to have rings

Iapetus is the third-largest. Orbiting the planet at 3.5 million km, it is by far the most distant of Saturn's large moons.