[ winter of sixteen-ten ] - a kalon sci-fi au (wip)

[nyota]

january seven, sixteen ten – galileo galilei first observes the four galilean moons of jupiter: ganymede, callisto, europa and io

❝

it is 3610, two thousand years since galileo first looked through his telescope, disproving celestial geocentricity and kickstarting a millennia of space exploration.

the solar system has been colonized, each planet now hosting its own challenges, cultures and unique way of life. humanity also looks to the far distant stars, hoping to make contact with life, but not as we know it

[nyota]

mercury is the closest planet to the sun and the smallest
planet in the solar system, with an orbital period of only
88 days. due to it's proximity to our star, mercury is both
incredibly hot and radioactive with surface temperatures
during the day reaching up to 700 K (427 °C; 800 °F).
however, as mercury has little to no atmosphere (meaning
it cannot retain heat) this can drop to 100K (−173°C;
−280°F) at night. mercury has a highly elliptical orbit (with
the largest orbital eccentricity in the solar system) resulting
in its poles existing in a state of constant darkness,
meaning large amounts of frozen water are present there.

mercury is an ice mining station. there are no residents on the
planets surface; rather, a small number of personnel oversee
and maintain automated mining equipment from the
space station icarus anchored to the south pole. icarus is
not the most high tech installation out there, but it is sturdy
and reliable, and many recall their time aboard it fondly.
assignments aboard icarus last up to twelve earth months
due to the low gravity environment and its maximum essential
personnel capacity is sixty two. however, it has the capability
to additionally support up to 23 incidental personnel and fifteen
civilians. (these civilians range from tourists to mining
contractors.) icarus is powered by solar energy and
relies on food shipments from earth and mars.

residents

cheshire // nuclear physicist
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trivia

what would it be like to live on mercury? (for why no one lives planetside)
oil platforms (for more about how the icarus would operate)
mercury (for general info on the planet mercury)
the international space station (for how space stations work)

[nyota]

venus is the second planet from the sun, and is named after
the roman goddess of love. as one of the brightest objects in
the night sky, venus was the first planet to have its motion
plotted across the sky by astronomers as early as second
millennium bce. (although it was not known it was a planet at
the time.) it has also been the source of much artistic
inspiration, and is commonly referred to as the morning and
the evening star. venus was the first planet beyond earth
visited by a space craft as it is our closest neighbor. venus has
both the densest atmosphere (92 times that of earth) and
hottest mean surface temperature (735 K (462 °C; 863 °F))
of the terrestrial planets. venus is shrouded by dense clouds of
sulfuric acid and has a surface resembling a dry desertscape,
occasionally resurfaced by volcanic activity.

while there are no residents willing to brave the hellscape
that is venus' surface, numerous 'floating' cities thrive in
the upper atmosphere. the four most prominent of these are
galilei, vulcan, venera and mare, with galilei being the oldest
and largest. galilei has a population of approximately 250 million,
venera following not far behind with 200 million, and vulcan and
mare averaging about 100 million each. a few dozen smaller
cities round the total population of venus to about 1 billion
inhabitants. venus has become renowned for its unique cultural
identity, and is considered a 'hotspot' (both figuratively and
literally, considering the surface temperature) for the arts.
while entertainment is venus' primary industry, other notable
economic enterprises include tourism and diamond manufacture
(by collecting carbon from the atmosphere.) terraforming venus is
an ongoing effort funded by the venusian, earth and mars
governments, though it is expected to take nearly a thousand years
before reaching completion.

residents

samael // night guard
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trivia

venus (for general info on the planet)
venus habitability (for more on surface conditions)
how do we terraform venus? (for how terraforming works)

here is where the city names come from and what they mean:
galilei - after galileo galilei, the first person to realise venus was not a star
vulcan - after venus' lover in roman mythology
venera - after the first object to reach venus, a russian satelite
mare - latin for sea, as in roman mythology, venus was born from sea foam

[nyota]

earth is the third planet from the sun and the largest of
the four terrestrial planets. it is also the densest planet
in the solar system and the only planet with ongoing
significant tectonic activity. the earth's axis of rotation
is tilted, causing seasonal variations on the planet's
surface. life appeared on earth just 1 billion years after
its formation, and due to various mass extinction events
throughout its history, over 99% of all its species that have
ever lived are now extinct. the word earth is derived from
the old english form (eorðe)of the latin terra and greek
γῆ (gē) meaning the ground

earth is the richest planet in the solar system, as most
interplanetary mining and transport companies are
based there. it is also the most densely populated, with
around 15 billion inhabitants. earth is the head and
founder of the interplanetary council, an organisation
that acts similarly to the UN, but on a galactic scale.
much of earth's land surface is taken up by
megacities, though large natural reserves can be found on
all continents. as a result of global warming in the early
21st century, earth does not have large ice caps, and large
mirror arrays at the poles help to regulate the climate.
earth is home to a large variety of languages and cultures,
but due to globalization, these can now be found around
the globe rather than primarily in the place where they were
born. earth is renowned for its technological achievements
and for being the ancestral home of all solar system natives.
additionally, around 520 million individuals reside on the
natural satellite luna.

ryn hatanaka // law enforcement
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leonard // surgeon
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earth wiki (for general info)

[nyota]

mars is the fourth planet from the sun and is named after
the roman god of war. mars is informally known as 'the red
planet', as the iron oxide prevalent on it's surface gives the
planet a reddish tinge distinct enough that it is detectable
using the naked eye. mars has many surface features
similar to those also found on earth and the moon, such as
valleys, deserts and polar ice caps. mars has a surface
gravity about 38% of earth's, and has two natually
occurring satellites, (moons) phobos and demios.

mars is the second most populated place in the system,
and is home to around 5 billion inhabitants. mars is
currently about three quarters of the way through
terraforming processes, meaning that the planet now has
a stable magnetic field, breathable atmosphere and can
support life. the last thing to do is to fill the oceans, so
the planet no longer has to rely on water shipments from
the asteroid belt to sustain itself. mars is renowned for
its technological prowess, and boasts some of the brightest
minds in the solar system. some of it's more notable
advances include sustainable terraforming and acceleration
drives used on spaceships powered by nuclear fusion. two
scientific research stations exist on each of mars' moons,
(used to study prolonged effects of low gravity) manned by
around 30 researchers each.

zachary aaron // terraformer
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mars wiki (for general info)

[nyota]

jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, having
a total mass that is 2.5 times all the other planets in the
system combined, but only one thousandth that of the
sun. jupiter is the largest of the four gas giants (meaning
it lacks a well defined solid surface) and is famous for
its visually striking bands of colorful gas and big red spot,
a giant storm that has raged for hundreds of years.
jupiter has a grand total of 69 formally recognized
satellites, the most in the solar system. the discovery of
the four largest moons, (also known as the galilean moons)
was instrumental in furthering early understandings of the
universe. jupiter is composed of primarily hydrogen and
is one quarter helium.

while no one inhabits the surface of jupiter for obvious
reasons, there is significant colonization on nearly all
of it's naturally occurring satellites. a notable expection
to this is the galilean moon io, as the surface of the planet
receives 3600 rem per day, nearly 50 times the lethal dose
of radiation. ganymede has the most significant colonization,
with a population of around 600 million. callisto is the second
most populous moon with around 450 million, and europa is
home to approximately 200 million. combined with the smaller
settlements on the remaining 65 moons, the total population
of the jovian system is just above 1.5 billion. life on the moons
of jupiter takes place primarily beneath the surface of the
various satellites as jupiter's proximity to the asteroid belt
means it is often hit by stray meteors. the jovian system's
main export is helium-3 gas, and many companies responsible
for mining ice and various minerals from the asteroid belt are
based on the galilean moons. the miners employed by these
companies are primarily from the various smaller moons of
jupiter, resulting in a significant class and wealth disparity
between those living on the three largest moons and everyone
else in the jovian system.

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moons of jupiter (for what the jovian system is)
jupiter (for general info)
colonisation of the outer solar system (for info on feasible colonisation)

[nyota]

wip wip

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yeet