Imagining a Kerbal Future: What Would the Future of Kerbals Look Like? (Chapter XLIII: Epilogue)

[SaturnianBlue]

1 hour ago, Kosmonaut said:

I've always wanted to see that- I saw someone do a mid-sized base that way, but never anything more than long-term housing for 6-8 Kerbals. 

Perhaps Submarine Cities as well. Pretty sure Laythe doesn't have a magnetic field (the only explanation behind it's habitability but deadness) so you have to protect from the radiation somehow. 

It's all possible using KAS

The dual-technique magnetometer seems to suggest that Laythe has a considerable magnetosphere, and I'd assume that at sea level, the atmosphere would protect a kerbal. That said, a submarine city is a pretty cool idea, perhaps it might look something like this?

Edit: I'd imagine that Jool's radiation belts would still be dangerous, but being far smaller than Jupiter, I don't think it'd be as dangerous.

Edited August 2, 2017 by SaturnianBlue

[Kosmonaut]

9 minutes ago, SaturnianBlue said:

The dual-technique magnetometer seems to suggest that Laythe has a considerable magnetosphere, and I'd assume that at sea level, the atmosphere would protect a kerbal. That said, a submarine city is a pretty cool idea, perhaps it might look something like this?

 

I don't know if Laythe has oceans deep enough- besides, they're far away from Kerbol, and the whole point of spiral cities is to be farmable.

I was thinking of this:

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Drum

Some more basic info there isn't much

or this:

A portable mining facility from The Abyss

 

Read the comments

 

[SaturnianBlue]

@Kosmonaut Orbital mirrors might work for farming though, like Ganymede in The Expanse. Based on the reports from various submarine challenges, it seems like the oceans go down at least 2 kilometers, which should allow some interpretation of that design.

The other designs are quite interesting—I remember that Doctor Who episode.  Admittedly I don't really see how they'd be better than habitats based on the surface though.

[Cabbink]

An idea for you later in the series:

Terraforming of planets.

It's obviously possible, if not far from not (3000 passive years for us). It would be cool to see you take asteroid and throw them at planets at high speed to "terraform" them. With kopernicus and a planet remake mod or two, you could add water to every planet. It would be really cool to see Duna, Tylo, Eve, and the Mun terraformed somewhat. Best of luck to your story! 

[SaturnianBlue]

6 minutes ago, Cabbink said:

An idea for you later in the series:

Terraforming of planets.

It's obviously possible, if not far from not (3000 passive years for us). It would be cool to see you take asteroid and throw them at planets at high speed to "terraform" them. With kopernicus and a planet remake mod or two, you could add water to every planet. It would be really cool to see Duna, Tylo, Eve, and the Mun terraformed somewhat. Best of luck to your story! 

I've dedicated bit of the chapter on Laythe on a few terraforming techniques, coincidentally. I like the idea of asteroids—though one would certainly have to make sure it can't cause any harm when it hits. Either that, or asteroids/comets could get hurled into the atmosphere, and some gasses might get released during the flyby. 

A terraforming chapter is a good idea, I might do that, or add a section to each of the colonization chapters.

[Kosmonaut]

19 hours ago, SaturnianBlue said:

I don't really see how they'd be better than habitats based on the surface though.

Yeah the whole reason behind the underwater part was the radiation

Perhaps Laythe has a bad magnetic field like Io

Also there's just more room if u use the oceans. 

19 hours ago, SaturnianBlue said:

@Kosmonaut Orbital mirrors might work for farming though, like Ganymede in The Expanse. 

Yeah, but you know what happened to those mirrors

19 hours ago, SaturnianBlue said:

Doctor Who

Thoughts on the new doctor (without spoilering s10 pls I haven't seen it)

I'm a fan btw

 

[SaturnianBlue]

2 hours ago, Kosmonaut said:

Yeah the whole reason behind the underwater part was the radiation

Perhaps Laythe has a bad magnetic field like Io

Also there's just more room if u use the oceans. 

Yeah, but you know what happened to those mirrors

Thoughts on the new doctor (without spoilering s10 pls I haven't seen it)

I'm a fan btw

 

Laythe might have a stronger magnetic field—probably on par with Kerbin. If it does get bad tough, I suppose on the surface the volcanic sands would work just fine as a cover, or habitats could be built underground.

I agree with the ocean part—one of the concepts I suggested has that as on elf its points. 

I actually haven't seen Series 10 of Doctor Who, but in any case, I don't mind the change.

Edited August 3, 2017 by SaturnianBlue

[SaturnianBlue]

Colonizing Laythe

    The first Joolian moon in this series, Laythe is distant, but it is perhaps the best place in the Kerbol system to colonize. Presumably tidal heating, volcanoes, and greenhouse gases keep this distant moon warm enough for a liquid ocean at Kerbin temperatures.

Why Settle?

    Laythe would probably quite similar in composition to Kerbin, considering the two share many similarities. The surveys, for the most part, agree. For example, Laythe has a high amount of geothermal energy, which can be exploited by early colonists. Many of the islands on Laythe appear to be volcanic in nature, so igneous rock rich in metals should be easily accessible. Laythe also has good access to radioactive elements, so nuclear reactors should have little problem refueling, something quite difficult on smaller worlds.

    Laythe is perhaps the only world where the celestial body’s habitability in itself is a big advantage. First, Laythe’s gravity is at a comfortable 0.8 G, which should be more than enough to ensure the wellbeing of colonists. The pressure at sea level is at 0.6 atmospheres, which should allow buildings to be constructed in a fashion not dissimilar to that of Kerbin, and would very much lessen the risk of violent depressurization, and protects the surface from the dangerous radiation belts of Jool. The atmosphere should also allow aerocapture at lower velocities, as well as the use of both conventional and nuclear jet engines. Such conditions should make the operation and construction of equipment quite easy.

    The atmosphere of Laythe contains oxygen, and while the atmosphere in itself cannot be breathed by kerbals, likely due to a high concentration of carbon dioxide, this does mean that kerbals can get their own air in-situ. All that should be needed for survival on Laythe is a gas mask and perhaps a jacket.

Laythe’s oceans appear to be comprised of a mix of mostly water and ammonia, which would certainly allow the oceans to exist in frigid temperatures, though the temperatures at Laythe are warm anyway. Not only does this mean that water is available in vast amounts, ammonia is available for use in fertilizers, rocket fuel and more. The oceans also have heavy water, for collecting deuterium, which can be used for fairly achievable fusion.

    The magnetometer instrument suggests that Laythe has a magnetic field, which should partially protect orbital craft. However, it does not change the fact that getting to Laythe still requires transit through the radiation belts.

Issues    

    The habitability and access to large reserves of oxygen suggests a very big issue in colonizing the world—extraterrestrial life. Oxygen is unstable and reactive, which must mean that it is constantly being replenished. While possible that other processes are at play, life could be another reason for this. This significantly complicates the settlement of this moon, since said life may not react well to the presence of Kerbin life, perhaps to the point of extinction. If so, the colonists must take major precautions to protect life, or even quarantine the entire moon to settlement. If the life is quite similar and is safe to interact with, settlement should be ok, though opposition will inevitably exist. At worst, such a debate could devolve into an open conflict.

    The tidal forces experienced by Laythe no doubt results in major volcanic activity, which is likely the source of many of the islands. Though obviously not seen in-game, they’d certainly put any kerbals living on the shores and islands on edge. Perhaps the oceans may be an interesting alternative…

    Though Laythe itself should be quite protected from the danger of Jool’s radiation belts, getting there is another story. To get to Laythe, a ship still has to pass through the belt, which will require heavy shielding of the craft. Though Laythe may be the best place to live, it may be more expensive, since interplanetary imports will have to travel to Tylo, where the radiation isn’t as bad, before being shipped to Laythe via more shielded vessels.

    The atmosphere of Laythe is certainly quite welcome, but it also makes getting to space more complicated. Instead of a fairly simple mass driver placed level to the ground, a launch loop or a space elevator would be needed. Since Laythe is quite deep in the gravity well, it also takes more delta-V to get to the other moons as well.

    

Colony Designs

    Colony design would be interesting—with conditions better than Duna, yet not quite to the level of Kerbin.

    Colonies would probably not require radiation shielding, so building would be extremely simple. If it does, the volcanic sands should be a simple solution to the issue. The only major requirement necessitated for buildings are airlocks to prevent any toxic gas from seeping in. The surrounding atmosphere at sea level is at 0.6 bars, so with a slightly higher oxygen mixture than usual inside, the kerbals should be able to function as usual, and the habitat shouldn’t suffer from stress, and any punctures wouldn’t be immediately destructive. If that happens, air scrubbers could clean the air up, at least for a while. For larger designs, this also makes sabotage quite difficult, unlike the domes on Duna, which could probably be near-instantly devastated by a powerful laser strike.

    Due to the relatively few challenges faced with building colonies on Laythe, the kerbals would quickly expand, and even habitats not too distant would just be driven or walked too, instead of having a direct connection. As for the actual aesthetics of this colony, I imagine that the kerbals be quite liberal with their designs, without many stringent requirements. Perhaps cubes could be a popular design, as they could be utilized quite well, and could be quite easily stacked or connected. 

  Fusion reactors should be quite usable, with access to deuterium in the ocean and helium-3 from Jool. Helium-3 would have the least trouble being transported here, as Laythe is the closest moon, and has an atmosphere for aerocapture. Discounting that, nuclear, geothermal, and possibly wind and hydropower can also use sources in-situ. Any vessel in orbit can probably use power beamed by the electrodynamic tethers for their own power.

    In terms of life support, early colonies will quite easily be self-sufficient, with sources of water and air easily extractable, with fertilizer and energy to grow crops under artificial lighting.

 

    For a larger design, I can think of a few, such as the giant domes, explored earlier in multiple chapters, or maybe huge arcologies, but I wanted to explore a particularly unique design, so I picked the floating city.

    Such a design may have a few advantages, like being quite invulnerable to disasters like tsunamis and volcanoes, and they can better utilize much of Laythe’s surface, covered in water, so the land can be used for other purposes like mining. Many cities would be mobile, so they can be moved where their presence is most needed.

    However, an ocean city has to be built from the ground up (and the ground, too), and mining is more difficult, though the oceans are opened up to do so. However, cities based on mining will probably be stationary for long periods. In any case, let’s examine what such a design may look like.

    Placing this colony on the equator means access to the warmest possible temperature of about 296 K, and plenty of room to expand. Food is grown here on huge floating islands open to the environment, and receive their light from space-based orbital mirrors. The plants take in the vast amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and help increase the oxygen levels from 18.6 % to a more ideal amount. Though this reduces the greenhouse effect on the planet, the orbital mirrors also increase solar irradiance, so they should balance out.

    Water will have to be obtained by desalination and removing the ammonia that is in the ocean water. If fusion reactors exist at this point, the energy costs related shouldn’t be a serious problem.

    The residences will be located in one main skyscraper, so kerbals avoid the need for a sealed vehicle or a gas mask to get around. Home to thousands of people, the facility would give great views of the surrounding ocean and the moons, with everything located within walking distance. If Jool’s radiation belts start acting up a lot, dedicated shelters should protect the residents. Such colonies may be home to prominent biotechnology labs, with so many plants available, and to benefit terraforming efforts. Some colonies may attach themselves to the ocean floor to areas with significant access to resources, with resources and people working their way to and from the ocean floor by spiraling their way down in shuttles.

  

Would you live here?

 Ideally, these islands should be combinable to form larger communities that would sprawl for kilometers, and would therefore allow more specialization and even more islands to be built. Transportation to these locations and around Laythe will likely require the use of aircraft, or boats, which could carry massive amounts of freight around. A more extreme form of transportation would be trains, since they would require digging under the ocean for hundreds of kilometers to connect the various islands. Life in these colonies would be quite relaxed, since there is no fear of depressurization, falling, or fried—anyone living on Dres, for example, might be surprised by this.

 

The Progression of Laythe    

    Due to the distance from Kerbin, economic interest would remain low in Laythe, though scientific expeditions would reveal it’s habitability, and would be heavily researched. The reason for this is that Laythe’s thick atmosphere and location would make it difficult to access for mining, especially when other good moons exist. If life is found, it may raise objections to colonizing the moon, especially if they do not interact well, but this timeline we will assume that either no life exists, or can coexist peacefully.

    However, the atmosphere would encourage resource processing—the distant moons of Jool like Bop and Pol, and small nearby asteroids may not have the required infrastructure to do so. So why then, is Laythe’s atmosphere beneficial? It allows resources sent down to be aerobraked into orbit, where ships can send it off to the various moons around Jool. Ships can also use Tylo as a powerful gravity assist, especially if these ships are more about carrying a large supply of material, instead of speed.

    If it becomes reasonably cheap for a person to travel to another world, Laythe may be their first choice, besides Kerbin. Immigration to Jool would probably be driven mainly by Laythe, as it would be the preferred choice for settlement, and may benefit the entire Joolian system, since some kerbals may end up working on the other moons as well. Most would choose to settle on the islands near the equator, where the climate is quite temperate.

    It is possible that some mining will take place, but it may be more about sustaining the massive amounts of construction spurred by the habitability of the moon, compared to profit. With the establishment of cheaper launch methods like elevated mass drivers, however, it may be quite effective to export goods, like fuel, water, and yes, valuable metals.

    As the population increases, more habitation space must be built, and this could be somewhat intrusive to any mining operations near high areas of metal. It therefore makes sense to build arcologies, and by extent, floating cities. This would also provide lots of space for other purposes, like tourism, which would be fairly cheap inside the Joolian system. Laythe would probably become the social, cultural, political and economic hub of the Joolian system, and would likely dominate services. 

    On the other hand, the space around Laythe would be quite desolate, because the magnetosphere of Laythe would only go so far to protect the moon.

A populated Laythe, with cities on the ocean and land, and orbital mirrors.

    Being almost, but not entirely like Kerbin, Laythe would be the easiest world to terraform. As mentioned earlier, exposed greenery can grow with the use of orbital mirrors, heating up the planet, but also get rid of carbon dioxide in the air, so it would be somewhat cooled as well. Once the carbon dioxide levels are brought down to lower concentrations, kerbals will be able to walk around without the use of a gas mask, making Laythe even more favorable. Especially if carbon dioxide isn’t the only dangerous factor, the process of pantropy can be utilized, where the kerbals themselves are adapted to live in the environment. However, this would certainly make it harder for kerbals without such an adaption to visit Laythe.

Summary

Though distant and not necessarily the most profitable world, Laythe is an island of paradise; without it, there would be fairly little interest in the Joolian system.

 

Thanks for Reading! 

Next Chapter: Colonizing Vall

 

Edited August 11, 2017 by SaturnianBlue
Some more info in response to the feedback

[MatterBeam]

Lovely pictures. The effort you put into these posts shows!

A few notes about colonizing Laythe:

-A small moon with a thick atmosphere for aerobraking and oxygen to burn going back up means it is extremely cheap to reach Laythe and bring back its resources compared to other planets. 
-Having habitable conditions makes exploiting Laythe much more attractive and much cheaper than say, Duna or Eve, despite the 'distance'.
-Water and ammonia... makes for a basic solution. You wouldn't want to swim in that!
-High CO2 in the atmosphere can VERY quickly be adjusted by seeding the oceans with cyanobacteria. Breathing it should be as easy as attaching CO2 scrubbers to gas masks. 
-The main obstacle to colonizing Laythe will be obtaining cheap energy. Electro-dynamic tethers, geothermal resources, fission fuels and fusion reactors are difficult, expensive or complicated to use. If you have access to giant orbital mirrors, a instead of trying to scavenge the dim sunlight, better use for them would be to capture and focus lasers from beaming stations around Jool. 

An energy idea I thought up for Jupiter could be used here:

In low Jool/Jupiter orbit, a lightweight mag-sail is released. This sail latches onto the flow of charged particles around the gas giant. The strong magnetic fields follow the rotation of the planet, so they can reach very high velocities. The lightweight mag-sail accelerates quickly in this particle wind, to far above escape velocity. At a higher altitude, slightly to the right, a power station awaits. It is mostly a big magnetic ring.

Inside this ring, a bag of gas sits tethered by plastic strings, like a bag caught in a spider web. The bag is transparent to UV wavelengths.

The power station sits in the path of the mag-sail. Just before the sail impacts the bag, a very short pulse of UV laser ionizes the gas inside. On impact, the ionized gas is heated as it absorbs the mag-sail's kinetic energy, causing it to fly apart.

A charged particle moving inside a magnetic field causes an electric current to run through the ring's wires. This is how Magneto-hydrodynamic generators work: they slow down the charged particles moving through a magnetic field to create energy at high efficiency.

Around Jupiter, these particles reach 74km/s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)#Interaction_with_Jupiter.27s_magnetosphere). A 100 gram mag-sail would deliver 273MJ per impact, and the mag-sail release station could be stocked up with thousands of them. 

[SaturnianBlue]

2 minutes ago, MatterBeam said:

Lovely pictures. The effort you put into these posts shows!

A few notes about colonizing Laythe:

-A small moon with a thick atmosphere for aerobraking and oxygen to burn going back up means it is extremely cheap to reach Laythe and bring back its resources compared to other planets. 
-Having habitable conditions makes exploiting Laythe much more attractive and much cheaper than say, Duna or Eve, despite the 'distance'.
-Water and ammonia... makes for a basic solution. You wouldn't want to swim in that!
-High CO2 in the atmosphere can VERY quickly be adjusted by seeding the oceans with cyanobacteria. Breathing it should be as easy as attaching CO2 scrubbers to gas masks. 
-The main obstacle to colonizing Laythe will be obtaining cheap energy. Electro-dynamic tethers, geothermal resources, fission fuels and fusion reactors are difficult, expensive or complicated to use. If you have access to giant orbital mirrors, a instead of trying to scavenge the dim sunlight, better use for them would be to capture and focus lasers from beaming stations around Jool. 

An energy idea I thought up for Jupiter could be used here:

In low Jool/Jupiter orbit, a lightweight mag-sail is released. This sail latches onto the flow of charged particles around the gas giant. The strong magnetic fields follow the rotation of the planet, so they can reach very high velocities. The lightweight mag-sail accelerates quickly in this particle wind, to far above escape velocity. At a higher altitude, slightly to the right, a power station awaits. It is mostly a big magnetic ring.

Inside this ring, a bag of gas sits tethered by plastic strings, like a bag caught in a spider web. The bag is transparent to UV wavelengths.

The power station sits in the path of the mag-sail. Just before the sail impacts the bag, a very short pulse of UV laser ionizes the gas inside. On impact, the ionized gas is heated as it absorbs the mag-sail's kinetic energy, causing it to fly apart.

A charged particle moving inside a magnetic field causes an electric current to run through the ring's wires. This is how Magneto-hydrodynamic generators work: they slow down the charged particles moving through a magnetic field to create energy at high efficiency.

Around Jupiter, these particles reach 74km/s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)#Interaction_with_Jupiter.27s_magnetosphere). A 100 gram mag-sail would deliver 273MJ per impact, and the mag-sail release station could be stocked up with thousands of them. 

-I wouldn't exactly call Laythe small, but the point still holds. As for the habitability making things cheaper, I did kind of overlook that—equipment wouldn't have to be shielded much, making their operation and construction much easier. 

-If you look at the first drawing you can see that little domes beach resort thing—if the oceans were a bit more habitable, I probably would've just had it near the edge, mixing with the ocean. Do you have any ideas as to how the ammonia might be removed?

-The CO2 being the only issue for the air is quite helpful in the case of habitat breach, I'd imagine some CO2 scrubbers activating to keep everything working, and it makes sabotage of a big habitat less dangerous.

-Especially in the early stages, energy harvesting would be quite difficult, though by the time orbital mirrors get set up, wouldn't the construction of the more complex energy sources be more viable?

-Interesting idea! It would probably work in the Joolian system as well, though I suspect Jool's magnetosphere might not be as powerful, so it might not be as effective.

[The-Doctor]

Following

[MatterBeam]

5 hours ago, SaturnianBlue said:

-I wouldn't exactly call Laythe small, but the point still holds. As for the habitability making things cheaper, I did kind of overlook that—equipment wouldn't have to be shielded much, making their operation and construction much easier. 

-If you look at the first drawing you can see that little domes beach resort thing—if the oceans were a bit more habitable, I probably would've just had it near the edge, mixing with the ocean. Do you have any ideas as to how the ammonia might be removed?

-The CO2 being the only issue for the air is quite helpful in the case of habitat breach, I'd imagine some CO2 scrubbers activating to keep everything working, and it makes sabotage of a big habitat less dangerous.

-Especially in the early stages, energy harvesting would be quite difficult, though by the time orbital mirrors get set up, wouldn't the construction of the more complex energy sources be more viable?

-Interesting idea! It would probably work in the Joolian system as well, though I suspect Jool's magnetosphere might not be as powerful, so it might not be as effective.

Not having to use pressure domes for every living space is a massive cost saver. You can use simple positive pressure environments to keep out the external gasses instead of hermetically sealing everything too. And the coloniusts won't have to be scared! The psychological factor is often overlooked - not everyone is a steely-eyed former test pilot on a glorious mission to beat the Russians. The average colonist would be a white-collar guy with two degrees and debt to pay.

I think habitats would be quite in-land. Even if you keep every piece of equipment out of the water, there's still sea spray and mist to consider. These would be worse than the most damaging acid rains. Its the equivalent of a drain cleaner. To remove it... heat the water up? Ammonia in the water decomposes over time and leaves the water as ammonia gas. Heating the water accelerates this process. I'd be sure to boil the water if I plan to drink it though.

The problem with the other sources of energy I mentioned is that they consume a lot of energy to be developed. Geothermal energy requires deep holes into the ground, fission energy requires deep mines and centrifuges, fusion reactors likely need large, high-quality magnets made out of rare earth metals... If you arrive at Laythe with only the solar panels and RTG that powered your spaceship, you're going to have a hard time.

2 hours ago, The-Doctor said:

Following

It's good stuff.

[SaturnianBlue]

@MatterBeam I'd imagine a Laytheian culture would be pretty lax about a lot of things, especially with fairly little to worry about.

True, in-land habitats would probably be best, though in some cases this might increase their altitude and therefore their radiation dose. Now that I think of it though, would it be possible that the rain on Laythe might have ammonia in it? Ships and boats would be pretty hard to build, and I suppose the ocean colonies would need a barrier.

I suppose the energy sources could be imported, but that would certainly make it quite costly, and discourage some corporations from moving in.

Edit: In the Jupiter entry on Tough Sci-Fi you mentioned pykrete, but being ice, it perform best below freezing. Would another material be used for habitation spaces, where the temperature is higher?

Edited August 5, 2017 by SaturnianBlue

[Kosmonaut]

yes

[The-Doctor]

On 7/6/2017 at 10:46 PM, SaturnianBlue said:

Today I finished the Magneto Inertial Fusion and VISTA engines!

what did you use to make this ship? The mods? Specifically, where are those radiators from?

[SaturnianBlue]

26 minutes ago, The-Doctor said:

what did you use to make this ship? The mods? Specifically, where are those radiators from?

Just KSP-Interstellar Extended, I believe.

[The-Doctor]

1 minute ago, SaturnianBlue said:

Just KSP-Interstellar Extended, I believe.

Is that were the tokamak fusion reactors are from?

[SaturnianBlue]

Just now, The-Doctor said:

Is that were the tokamak fusion reactors are from?

Yep.

[The-Doctor]

excrements, now I'm considering playing with KSPIE. I wanna play GPP and explore the distant planets with lovely looking ships like yours with lovely reactor designs

[Skylon]

Not sure if this is the kind of thing you'd like to do, but maybe once you've finished all the planets/moons you could talk about potential politics of the Kerbal System; a Laythe/Jool independence movement may exist, maybe talk about the governments.

Without violating forum rules of course.

[SaturnianBlue]

1 hour ago, Skylon said:

Not sure if this is the kind of thing you'd like to do, but maybe once you've finished all the planets/moons you could talk about potential politics of the Kerbal System; a Laythe/Jool independence movement may exist, maybe talk about the governments.

Without violating forum rules of course.

I'd love to—though it's definitely a pretty broad topic. However, I want to cover space warfare (specifically on how it might be done using KSP) and alternative launch systems first.

Other ideas for chapters—the anomalies, and a general view on the various methods of how one might choose to depict scenes for a story they would write.

[MatterBeam]

On 05/08/2017 at 3:42 PM, SaturnianBlue said:

@MatterBeam I'd imagine a Laytheian culture would be pretty lax about a lot of things, especially with fairly little to worry about.

True, in-land habitats would probably be best, though in some cases this might increase their altitude and therefore their radiation dose. Now that I think of it though, would it be possible that the rain on Laythe might have ammonia in it? Ships and boats would be pretty hard to build, and I suppose the ocean colonies would need a barrier.

I suppose the energy sources could be imported, but that would certainly make it quite costly, and discourage some corporations from moving in.

Edit: In the Jupiter entry on Tough Sci-Fi you mentioned pykrete, but being ice, it perform best below freezing. Would another material be used for habitation spaces, where the temperature is higher?

The Laythian culture would first and foremost be RICH. It would be the central hub for all Jool-based industries, as both an industrial and administrative hub, because it would be so much cheaper to expand infrastructure and keep people alive on that moon than anywhere else in the Solar System. Combined with the fact that it is very easy to reach and depart the planet, and the money will just roll in!

Ammonia and water have different vapor pressure and evaporation points, so it is likely that a hot day will result in basic rains while a cool day will have a concentrated ammonia mist. Pure oxygen and nitrogen bubble out of the ammonia/water sea over time.

I think habitats would need to have air filters for the ammonia and acid sprinklers to neutralize the basic solutions that ammonia creates. Another option is to create ammonia-free zones by boiling a lake and building in the middle of it. Hotter areas will cause denser water vapour to rise and displace the lighter ammonia gasses, but the difference is so small (17g/mol vs 18g/mol) that it might not be a realistic option. On a larger scale, increasing the water temperature of the moon even by a few degrees will lead to a massive release of ammonia, where it will be broken down into nitrogen and water compounds in the air.  

For construction materials, I think simple concrete will be best. You have the rocks, air and water for decent cement. Water makes for an excellent glue, so you could potentially build dried mud walls with plastic or fibre sheets on the inner and outer surfaces to make them last much longer. 

2 hours ago, Skylon said:

Not sure if this is the kind of thing you'd like to do, but maybe once you've finished all the planets/moons you could talk about potential politics of the Kerbal System; a Laythe/Jool independence movement may exist, maybe talk about the governments.

Without violating forum rules of course.

It would be a fictional setting, so the 'politics' rule wouldn't apply.

1 hour ago, SaturnianBlue said:

I'd love to—though it's definitely a pretty broad topic. However, I want to cover space warfare (specifically on how it might be done using KSP) and alternative launch systems first.

Other ideas for chapters—the anomalies, and a general view on the various methods of how one might choose to depict scenes for a story they would write.

The problem with space war and alternative launches is that KSP doesn't handle them well. You can't model damage or non-physical weaponry, and even if you ignored that, how would you handle the constant updates and reactions to the movements two fleets of spaceships would have, alone?  

[ElJugador]

I c-b-a to check if this question has been asked before, but have you thought of covering the OPM planets, interstellar possibilities, or anything else of the sort?

[SaturnianBlue]

3 hours ago, MatterBeam said:

The Laythian culture would first and foremost be RICH. It would be the central hub for all Jool-based industries, as both an industrial and administrative hub, because it would be so much cheaper to expand infrastructure and keep people alive on that moon than anywhere else in the Solar System. Combined with the fact that it is very easy to reach and depart the planet, and the money will just roll in!

Ammonia and water have different vapor pressure and evaporation points, so it is likely that a hot day will result in basic rains while a cool day will have a concentrated ammonia mist. Pure oxygen and nitrogen bubble out of the ammonia/water sea over time.

I think habitats would need to have air filters for the ammonia and acid sprinklers to neutralize the basic solutions that ammonia creates. Another option is to create ammonia-free zones by boiling a lake and building in the middle of it. Hotter areas will cause denser water vapour to rise and displace the lighter ammonia gasses, but the difference is so small (17g/mol vs 18g/mol) that it might not be a realistic option. On a larger scale, increasing the water temperature of the moon even by a few degrees will lead to a massive release of ammonia, where it will be broken down into nitrogen and water compounds in the air.  

For construction materials, I think simple concrete will be best. You have the rocks, air and water for decent cement. Water makes for an excellent glue, so you could potentially build dried mud walls with plastic or fibre sheets on the inner and outer surfaces to make them last much longer. 

It would be a fictional setting, so the 'politics' rule wouldn't apply.

The problem with space war and alternative launches is that KSP doesn't handle them well. You can't model damage or non-physical weaponry, and even if you ignored that, how would you handle the constant updates and reactions to the movements two fleets of spaceships would have, alone?  

I could definitely see Laythe as being pretty rich, and the population would probably be several times more than the rest of the Joolian moons combined.

Alternative launch systems are difficult to do, certainly, though a mod for mass drivers does exist. I'd probably have to be depicted in other ways. Perhaps the Kerbal Konstructs mod could be used.

I've tried a bit of space warfare in KSP and it hasn't really gone great. I think damage is modeled in some level in BDArmory, but not much. As for the other issue, some mods exist for multiple ships to fly together, but it is nonetheless difficult. Missile fleets would probably be the most difficult, since any useful amount of missiles would up the part count well into the hundreds, and combined with the ships themselves, the game would perform quite poorly. The other problem is with the weapons systems, since BDarmory mostly limits weapon ranges to 10-20 kilometers, and I haven't found any mods with very powerful lasers.

I suppose that does make it a decent topic for covering though, since I'll have to come up with creative solutions to it all.

1 hour ago, ElJugador said:

I c-b-a to check if this question has been asked before, but have you thought of covering the OPM planets, interstellar possibilities, or anything else of the sort?

I'd like to, but for now the colonization series has dragged on quite a while. OPM's probably the most popular planet pack, but there's a few other major ones, and covering them would take a long time. That said, I might do a chapter on interstellar colonization in general.

Edited August 9, 2017 by SaturnianBlue

[Kosmonaut]

You should also get around to megastructures at some point. It would be quite cool.