Interplanetary Transport System
The Interplanetary Transport System is a vast and confusing network of railguns, laser stations, and conventional rockets. With private and public corporations worth more than the Solar System's entire GDP. Interplanetary travel has changed through stages rapidly with the Solar System's technology and infrastructure. In the first and second centuries, space travel was entirely limited to chemical rockets, slowly moving through the void without infrastructure of any kind, and it wasn't until Earth recovered from When Earth Went Dark that travel times could be measured in weeks instead of months, travelers could be considered passengers instead of frontiersmen.
There are several infrastructure projects that have been necessary for the evolution of life in space. Key among these is what was the beginning of almost every human's journey, Earth. Since the old days of the Apollo program, chemical rockets have been used for transport into orbit from the surface. However, these rockets have changed significantly in the years since stages were disposed without care, and rocket costs made launching them the realm of only national governments. But incremental improvements soon made multiple stage rockets reusable, and eventually obsolete. In the present day, a ride to orbit first involves a ten or fifteen minute ride to a remote spaceport, and then a twenty minute flight into orbit aboard and Single Stage To Orbit spaceglider. The first SSTO was built in 67 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The spacecraft was named पुनर्जन्म पक्षी, which translates roughly to Pheonix. Weighing one and a half million kilograms, the Pheonix could carried 75 thousand kilograms to LEO, serving ISRO for 27 years. Followoing the Pheonix came a series of single stage orbital rockets all across the world, most famously NASA's Tin Soldier crewed spacecraft, which delivered crew to the International Space Station until 112. With the commercialization of space in the early first century, LunaCorp and other companies made billions providing easy access to space for the first time.
Mercury's equatorial ring was augmented in 213, and used to launch spacecraft throughout the solar system at high speeds. Taking off from the magnetic track on Mercury's surface grants a spacecraft a maximum of 5.7 kilometers per second of speed, significantly over Mercury's 4.25 km/s escape velocity. Added to Mercury's 47 km/s of orbital speed, this gives any departing spacecraft over fifty kilometres per second of velocity. With some proper timing and maneuvering fuel, this is enough to reach Mars in five months. With the addition of some chemical rockets and smart planning, trips can be made all across the inner system in very short time.
Another great project where the rings of Mars, finished in 139 and decommissioned in 317. Mars' 'rings' were a group of space elevators between Phobos, Deimos, and the surface. The tethers totaled over ten thousand kilometers in length. The tethers rotated between several primary orbits, often detaching their own sections to be reattached in more optimal configurations. Working together with perfect coordination, the Tethers of Mars could sling a ship from low Martian orbit all the way to an Earth transfer orbit, using only the orbital energy of the Martian moons. These elevators gave Mars a pivotal role in the colonization of the Asteroid belt, until 317, when Phobos crashed into the Martian surface and killed several million people. Deimos was decommissioned several months later, and the entire moon was repurposed into an array of rotating habitats for the survivors and evacuees of the disaster.
In the Asteroid belt, numerous mass driver and mag-tracks connect Ceres, Vesta, and the major bodies. With very little navigation and maneuvering, it is possible to reach any point inside the asteroid belt from any second point, in the space of three years. Better than any other region, the Asteroid belt has been mapped and charted so that its gravity is can be understood and exploited. With large groups of factories and production centers, the Asteroid belt is a key center of spaceship production.
The Jovian system has never had the opportunity to develop significant infrastructure, and its unique situation make it the most difficult, and most intriguing target for megaprojects. The War of Stars blanketed the Jovian system with so much debris that it was rendered uninhabitable for a short time, and is yet uncontrolled by the Interplanetary Governance Council. Administered by the The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes of Malta and of Space, TheJovian system is still a very difficult place to travel in, as large clouds of debris destroy spacecraft yearly, and the many moons create a chaotic and unpredictable gravity well. Under these circumstances, it has been impossible since 342 to make any permanent space infrastructure, and the habitats created before the disaster have all since been destroyed. It is hoped that some day the Knights of Space Malta will reopen the system to public transit, and progress can resume on the construction of space infrastructure. Popular concepts include the Jovian Tether system, a series of steel or graphene tethers between the airless moons that would enable cheap travel throughout the system. Some of the moons of Jupiter are primed for space elevators, and Jupiter's the already thriving industry could be exponentially increased by the mass exports space elevators enable.
Saturn has been modified with several atmospheric scoops, as well as a very large habitat production faciality on Titan, as well as the Solar System's largest supercomputer complex. The rings of Saturn pose a significant risk to any megastructures in the system, despite their reputation as the most beautiful site in the System.
Neptune is the largest center for Space Transit Lasers outside of the Inner System, and maintains dozens of interstellar class Grasers, as well as a R.U.N.G.S, which processes dozens of spacecraft traveling towards and away from the Inner System each day.
Type
Civil Services
Capital
Economic System
Mixed economy
Parent Organization
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments