SaturnianBlue

If you managed to have that kind of warp, couldn't you just as well colonize the entire galaxy? THE DUNA SYSTEM IN A COLONIZED KERBOL SYSTEM: PART TWO Chapter XXXV of Imagining a Kerbal Future War Scenario: Continued Kerbin has become more aware of the gradual independence and autonomy of Duna, and starts reinforcing its control before it gets too out of hand. The methods to achieve this? Strengthening the battle fleet presence around Duna, openly discouraging Duna from getting its resources from the asteroids, and instead from Kerbin (increasing their dependence). The reaction from Duna is independence. What does Kerbin want out of the war? They certainly have no wish to glass the planet pole to pole, Duna has valuable resources and that would be genocidal. Besides, it would be bad press. Rather, their goal is to restore control of Duna, and make sure that they remain dependent on Kerbin. They hope to win hearts and minds, and have the support base of the independence force collapse. Duna would seek full independence from Kerbin, and hopefully with reconciliation. The fleets of the two planets are very different. The combined fleets of Kerbin will outnumber the Dunan fleet to a huge extent, but it should be noted that this is a force meant to project power across the Kerbol system, so only a portion can actually be redirected to Duna. This would also mean that small ships would comprise a lot of the fleets, better suited to defending ships than attacking planets. Duna would also have many patrol ships of that size, but not as much, because they would not have to protect ships across the Kerbol System. Additionally, the combined fleets of Kerbin do not work under a single command, but rather of various nations, which may not necessarily want to join an allied war command. In order to invade Duna, these fleets will need a massive network of supply ships, which may even be in charge of propelling the fleet to Duna, to save fuel in the warships. The Kerbin fleets haven’t ever engaged in a conflict of this kind, but they have had considerable experience in various simulations and training exercises. A concept of a small Duna Missile Attacker, adapted for attacks on the much larger Kerbin force. The Dunan fleet would consist of ships in the Duna-based Kerbin fleets that are captured, some converted vessels, and a small array of covertly-built dedicated warships. These warships are not very burdened by delta-V requirements, instead having high acceleration or exceptional armor. The fleet has a major advantage in that it is fighting in home territory, where defenses can be set up with ease. Another feature of home territory is that the military command of Duna (which would be centralized) can send orders to all forces with very little communications lag, allowing the whole to respond to changed in the heat of battle. Assuming they defeat the fleet around Duna, Duna would be given time, albeit very little, to expand their fleet and defense arrays, and repurpose lasers/mass drivers as much as possible before the Kerbin fleets can reach Duna. As a result, it will be imperative for Kerbin to scramble as many ships near Duna as fast as possible. Another priority for Kerbin will be to prevent the asteroid colonies from trading with Duna. However, this could instead cause the asteroids colonies to join the fight with the DCA, at which point the Kerbin fleet would now have to establish a blockade, siphoning ships away from the attack on Duna. If the Kerbin fleet already at Duna is large, they will try to invade Ike and hold on to the most strategically important cities on Duna. However, the Kerbin forces are temporarily cut off. A smaller Kerbin force would probably try to escape as quickly as possible, and join up with the incoming Kerbin fleets instead. After this initial battle, the oncoming invasion would head for Duna. An important factor in this phase is how quickly the Kerbin forces can reach Duna. A journey of a few months would allow Duna to begin producing dedicated warships of their own, defeat the Kerbin fleet already there, and build a considerable defense network. A journey of maybe a week would give the defenders very little time to build anything at all, and anything that is completed will be no doubt crude. In the battle around orbital space, the invasion fleets would try to establish space superiority around Duna, and capture Ike if possible. Not only would this cut off Duna from any resources except anything on the planet, it also cuts off the orbital habitats, which will have to surrender or face great struggles. If Duna succeeds in beating back the invasion, then Kerbin will either try to organize another invasion, or perhaps try to negotiate a ceasefire as a result of the economic burden. However, I personally think the latter option is unlikely, at least for a first attempt at invasion—eventually, the economic burden of a war may finally force Kerbin to accept a peace with an independent Duna. If Duna does not succeed in beating back the invasion, then the planet may be invaded. The Kerbin fleet would have no interest in upsetting the Dunan people that they hope to be in control of after the conflict, so they will focus their bombardment on military outposts and supply lines. While this should succeed in destroying all anti-orbit defenses, I doubt that it will hamper the actual ground force, which will make an attempt to move their forces underground. As a result, an invasion would meet stiff resistance in combat. As I found out in the invasion of Eve, planetary invasions are frankly extremely difficult to carry out—bringing enough forces to occupy most of a planet is a tall order, and a resistance movement could continue. In the end, the Kerbin fleets might succeed in taking much of Duna, but they may fail to bring the other side to the negotiating table, unless the people of Duna are brought over to the side of Kerbin and against the resistance forces. Eventually, the resistance may give up, provided the terms of peace are not severe. Demographics Initially, I think most settlements will concentrate on two main regions. The first will be the polar regions, with the ice caps providing an excellent place for a constant supply of water to allow for some self-sufficiency. The second will be in a low-lying area near the equator. The reasons for doing so are the relatively high pressure for radiation protection, less delta-V for orbit, and solar energy is more available. These two distinct colony types might create a regional divide. If some terraforming takes place, Dunan Kerbals are highly likely to tweak themselves to the environment, given it is one of the easiest to adapt to. However, adapting to an unterraformed Duna would require some pretty radical changes to the Kerbal body. Other potential divides could include: Ikeians and Dunans Space Settlers and Surface Dunans New Arrivals from Kerbin and Older Colonists Corporate Colonies and Other Colonies Relations and Trade A product that Duna will export to the rest of the Kerbol system would be technology. Being somewhat distant from Kerbin itself, and being one of the first to be colonized, Duna would establish its own innovations to support their settlements—in contrast, the Mun would rely more on Kerbin. The licensed innovations on Duna (and likely on other planets) may be one of the few bargaining chips that they have against Kerbin—threatening to lock away access to key technologies might help Duna gain self-government. The colonists being sent will accelerate this process. Travel to Duna will, at least in the early years, be mainly restricted to skilled individuals, who will be especially suited for making such advancements. Presumably, their children would also be brought up to be skilled, continuing this cultural aspect. Dunans (and many colonists in general) will probably be seen as quite adept at problem solving in tough situations, as required by the environment. The following are my ideas for the approaches to planetary relations a Dunan government might take. Moho: Relations with Moho might not be unfriendly, but the two planets would not share very strong ties. Especially early on, Moho could potentially provide beamed power to Duna, but as nuclear fusion becomes more available, Duna would have gradually weaker economic ties with Moho. Moho would also provide metals. However, Duna has few resources to offer Moho, with the potential exception of various services and entertainment. Eve: Relations could vary, depending on the setting—they would certainly be complex. The two planets may find themselves in a rivalry between each other, as both are set to be the rising stars of the Inner Kerbol System and might host rival campaigns around the Kerbin system to attract migrants to each of the planets. Eve may have the upper hand early on, with its hospitality and energy, but they may slowly be outpaced as a Dunan space elevator dramatically cuts down transport costs to and from the surface. On Eve, a space elevator would be more difficult to build with the gravity involved, and a skyhook would only be fractionally as effective. Kerbin: Strong relations, but nonetheless complex as well. It would be in Duna’s best interest to keep close ties and trade with Kerbin, as Kerbin space is likely to be a strong trade partner (especially with a space elevator). It would also be in Kerbin’s best interest to be a strong trade partner, in order to gain access to Duna’s technological advancements. However, the planets may disagree on certain issues, such as the movement of Kerbals towards Duna at an alarming rate, and if they haven’t gone through it, independence. Dres and the (presumed) Asteroid Belt: Relations be powerful and positive, and the two powers may become the close allies. Duna is the best suited to stage resource exploitation and colonization efforts into the Belt, and would provide them with significant resources until they become more self-sufficient, establishing a friendly start. However, a more cynical view would be that Duna would help settle the asteroids, but also exploit them with not much benefit to the belters a la The Expanse. Once settled, the asteroid belt would provide relatively inexpensive access to precious metals, creating a valuable investment. In return, Duna will continue to provide personnel in exchange. As a result of Duna’s relationship, Dunan culture may have the biggest outside contribution to the culture of the belt. The Joolian System: In my opinion, relations will be quite strong. Just like the belt, Duna will invest in the system by sending personnel and equipment to the Joolian system, developing a strong relationship. However, as with Eve, there is the possibility of a strained relationship between the two powers. The main cause of this would be Laythe, as people flock to this ocean paradise far from Kerbol, people who might have settled on Duna. If Duna owns colonies on Laythe, the negative effects would be dampened, but this will not last if the colonies declare themselves independent or join a Joolian union. One Problem At A Time: A Duna Story One minute, Landin Kerman was enjoying an evening of Human Space Program, with yet another successful launch of his friend’s communication satellite. The next minute, he was coughing his way out of the rubble that lay all about him, and the sound that took him back to all those terrible disaster-preparation classes wailed all across the dome. The depressurization alarm. As he crawled out of the fallen blocks of concrete scattered about, he turned around and saw that Nelsen’s room hadn’t fared very well either. In fact, a huge, surprisingly clear-cut hole had been blasted along the wall. He leapt across the shallow hole, rubble piles left, right and center, and rushed into the dimly lit room with Nelsen in the middle, who was being squeezed together by two especially large, irregular chunks. That is when the notification flashed across his view. Landin had been assigned to be in one of the city’s many emergency response teams. However, he was only a backup, whose help would be appreciated but was not necessary. Besides, he knew that the domes could heal the impact of even large meteorites. In front of him, Nelsen was scratched and bruised. The priority was clear. “I’ve got you, Nelsen!” shouted Landin, straining every part of his body as he ever so slightly shifted the block. “Be careful!” “Hopefully this’ll get you out… hmmph!” “That… Didn’t exactly work.” croaked Nelsen. “Say, what’s that notification you’ve got?” “What?” “The emergency response one, right?” “It’s still there?!” “Yeah. Good luck—you have to do what you have to, right?” sighed Nelsen. Landin ran out into the lush trees that lined the roads of the city. The transport was already waiting, its avatar clearly not impressed with Landin’s lack of punctuality. It virtually poked Landin, droning, “You’re late! Get in!” The transport zoomed towards the dome access elevators, thin pillars that barely stood out from the gridding of the dome and the dusty red skies, spotted by wispy clouds. The trees all seemed to coalesce into a dizzying mess. The transport seemed to be aiming for a crash Landin was not going to survive, until suddenly, Landin felt as if he was being thrown out of the transport, only to have a tight grip slam him back into the seat. Oof! In any case, the transport had arrived onto the elevator platform. “Get your pressure suit on!” A panel directly above Landin slammed open, smothering him with a freshly-packaged dark blue suit with the words “APPROVED FOR CIVILIAN USE” emblazoned on the package, which Landin ripped open like an enormous bag of kerpatos. He stood up, clutching the instruction pamphlet, only to be sat back down by force from the acceleration of the elevator. The buildings all seemed to warp away from him. Groaning his way back up, Landin was able to don his suit with surprising ease, and the transport reached the little airlock, where Rodcan Kerman, the team leader, stared down at him, arms crossed. His face was that of disappointment and contempt. “Is there any reason you could not make it earlier?” Rodcan grumbled. “I was trying to help a friend out of the rubble.” “Listen, you’re only a backup but you should still do what’s best for the community as a whole.” “Alright. What should I do?” “The dome has been punctured... Quite badly in multiple locations. You’ll have to spread some tarp out over that hole over there. Once that’s done, make sure to create an airtight seal.” “Why didn’t the defense mechanisms stop the meteors?” “We’re not sure yet. The objects seemed to be particularly high speed, though.” “Why aren’t we simply overseeing the self-healing mechanisms?” “This impact was especially bad! It's incredibly improbable for a hit like this to happen in even a thousand years.” “What?!” “Get going! I’ll get you there. Duna Prime counts on everyone’s work, including yours!” Landin switched on the suit’s systems, and the displays showed everything as nominal and perfectly ok. He gave a thumbs up to Rodcan, who replied with a thumbs up of approval—he couldn’t exactly nod in his suit. Landin stepped into the airlock chamber with Rodcan, and the cycle went as reliable as one could hope. Up here, near the top of the dome, Landin could see the rusty Dunan landscape and the ancillary domes stretching around him, with the clarity not even the landscape observatory could provide,The transparent panels revealed below Landin’s feet an intricate arrangement of streets, which seemed to come together as some enormous pattern. His heart began to race... Now Landin recalled the other reason he’d delayed. He was not exactly comfortable with seeing the ground ½ a kilometer beneath his feet. He’d decided he would accept the job, and try to challenge his fears head on, but the heights seemed to be gaining the upper hand. “Here, catch this!” Rodcan tossed the brightly colored, somewhat crinkled tarp over to Landin. Just a couple dozen leaps away was one of the six holes. Donski, Mirner, and Haivin shuffled precariously on the edge of what the displays were marked as “generally stable”, and already seemed to have a few tarps stitched together over most of the hole. “Landin! It appears we have run out of duct tape!” Donski declared, with a hybrid expression somewhere between a cringe and a grin. “Seriously though, did you bring a bottle of aerospace adhesive?” Haivin asked. “I’ve got it!” Rodcan said, leaping from behind, and threw a bottle of Jeb’s Junkyard-Aerospace Spares Co. Space Emergency Simple-and-Easy-to-Use Bottle of SuperStick. Rodcan hopped over to the hole, and injected the adhesive onto Landin’s tarp, and pressed the sheets of tarp against each other with each of his hands. Donski screwed in the latches at the corners of the surrounding dome panels. Next, Rodcan passed another bottle over to Mirner, and they pressed the bottles against the fabric, all the way around the rim and then once more, as they extracted every bit of adhesive from the bottle. Then, Donski hooked the tarp with the latches, and pushed down on the tab, securing the tapestry of tarps. With that, they brought the fabric against the dome, and made sure the entire edge stuck to the dome. “How’s the seal looking?” Mirner asked, hands shaking. The hiss of leaking air slowed to a stop. “Looks alright. It’ll probably hold long enough till we get something more permanent in here.” Rodcan declared. “Job well done, everyone. Let’s get back and make sure that everything is all clear—” In a split second, the perfectly intact elevator was gone, replaced with a disintegrating one. Landin felt the dome shake a little. This time, however, it wasn’t just the depressurization alarm that wailed. It was also the ortillery strike alert. The observatory telescope feed popped into view, revealing warships—and not the small, but sleek ones of Duna. They were the huge brutes of the Kerbin Combined Fleet. It seemed that Landin would be stuck here, at a dizzying height of 500 meters, with nothing to accompany him but his team and a hail of railgun shot. Conclusion Like Eve, Duna is set to be one of the rising centers of power in the Kerbol System. Unlike Eve, however, it is a relatively self-sufficient world, making it a more able challenger to Kerbin's power. Challenger. That may be the "role" of Duna in a colonized Kerbol System. Dunans will be the one to challenge the conditions of Duna with technology and challenge the control of Kerbin. Thanks for Reading! Next: Dres In A Colonized Kerbol System

@The Minmus Derp How far is Valentina though? In any case, IAKF generally stays away from warp in the interests of plausibility.

Next chapter is coming up...

It's that time of year for some of us... Summer break! Here's a thread for talking all about it! For me, I plan on focusing on a lot of things I did not have much time to do during the school year. For one thing, I'd like to focus on trying to expand my extracurriculars by signing up for summer camps, working on competitions, and maybe work on getting an Astronomy club at my school set up. Additionally, I hope to work on hanging out with friends because this is certainly not something I've ever been able to do regularly for a long time. Another hope is that I try out random hobbies (like reading) that a combination of school and procrastination has really prevented me from attempting. Speaking of which, I definitely want to spend the plentiful time I have to work on gaining better habits and try to improve myself. Lastly, I certainly hope to get back into KSP, and possibly even revive some projects that I abandoned a long time ago...

Basically - the book covers information on movements/civilizations/wars/etc and starts from the Neolithic revolution all the way to the modern day (which, given my own textbook, is when I was born). There's at least a little on most continents, though I'd imagine some end up with more priority and focus than others. I guess one way to look at each chapter of the book is as a single, rather long Wikipedia article that fits together with the other chapters. Where I live we have a separate year for US history.

My world history teacher didn't even show up to proctor his own exam, and he won't be/hasn't been here this whole finals week. Second, not even the principal knows where or why he's gone! To top it all off, there was probably an entire chapter's worth of material on the test he certainly did not teach... The silver lining is that the exam was quite a breeze—a large part of this being that he wasn't here to pass out his section of the test (there was also the school district standard test, which I did take).

What was meant to be a week-long break has unfortunately stretched into a month-long hiatus. I meant to get back into IAKF after getting back from the ISDC, but I just couldn't find the motivation to start again. In addition, I have my final exams this week, so I have to study. Therefore, I won't be able to work on IAKF for the week. However, finals week does mean the end of the school year, so I'll be able to work on the series a lot more. I'll try to be more frequent in my uploads—I often faced a lot of perfectionism in writing the chapters, which really hurt progress, and I certainly don't want to spend much of my free time this summer on this alone.

Narita, 2016

Aletta has weakened as quickly as it strengthened—it has had much of its convection stripped off, leaving an exposed core. Tropical Depression 3-E (which is unofficially Bud, according to Tropical Tidbits) is already forecast to be a Category 2 storm, and given what happened to Aletta, it seems like there's room for it to go even higher, especially since it already appears to be rapidly intensifying. It's definitely a storm worth watching for, considering it is traveling towards Baja California. In the Atlantic, there is nothing of note in the forecast. However, the GFS has consistently predicted a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico for the past few days, that will approach the US coast in about a week from now. A week is too early for any real confidence, and the ECMWF (the other forecast model considered reliable) has practically no indication of any storm. However, what the GFS does predict is very concerning if it pans out, taking a hurricane (in the various model runs ranging from 948 mb to 979 mb) into anywhere from Texas (especially areas hit by Harvey) to Louisiana.

Given that final exams week was coming up, I decided I would sleep a little more than usual. With that, I realized that I probably haven't slept for 10 hours straight during the entire school year...

@ProtoJeb21 It's official—Aletta has undergone rapid intensification to become at Category 2 hurricane. Look like it has a serious shot at major hurricane status in the next day before it starts hitting cooler waters. To quote the NHC: The chance of a another 20-kt increase in the next 12 hours is just under 50 percent, so it's not out of the question that Aletta could reach major hurricane strength on Friday. The invest behind is slowly becoming more likely to develop.

End result of the drawing from a while ago.

@ProtoJeb21 Personally, I think the storms will be much, much weaker. The NHC forecast has been fairly reliable, and Aletta has only become slightly stronger over the past days, and it'll soon run out of time to strengthen before it hits cooler waters and wind shear. So my guess would be a category 1 hurricane. As for Bud, possibly a little stronger, but nothing major.

@tater Reminds me of this paper for just that sort of settlement, which also added that with adjustment, people could probably live with 4 to 6 rpm habitats, allowing for small ones that could be in the range of rocket launches.

A thread for discussing various matters related to the idea of people living in space. There has been a Mars colonization thread in the past, but there hasn't been a thread about space settlement in general, which would be quite useful to have given the differing directions of where and how space colonization should occur.

I've been meaning to write this down for a while now, but I was either busy with homework or procrastinating, but now that it's the weekend I think I have the time to write it all down. I went on a 5 1/2 day trip to LA for the International Space Development Conference, which I was invited to as one of the first prize winners of the NASA/NSS Space Settlement Contest. The day after flying to LA, I went to the California Science Center. Endeavour! I remember once spelling it this way on a test and having it corrected to the American spelling... The next few days were quite eventful... Things that happened at the ISDC include: The opening event, where the ultimate vision of the National Space Society was laid out and Tom Mueller recalled his experience at SpaceX. I even saw Buzz Aldrin, but he was up and gone before I could ever get a chance to meet him. One of the afternoon events, where I gave a presentation on my project, which went very well except for the fact that Eurostile (which I picked because it is the Sci-Fi font, after all) was not supported, and it had been switched for another font, which was oversized and modified the bullet points in an unpleasing way. That event was quite interesting, with discussions on space farming, proposal for a dumbbell shaped habitat for investigating the effects of zero-gravity, space dental care, and more! The next day, I presented a poster, which was quite expensive to print but the result was worth it. Importantly, I got to see Jeff Bezos and some of the cast from The Expanse! Left to Right: Naren Shankar, Cas Anvar (Alex Kamal), Steven Strait (Jim Holden), Cara Gee (Drummer), Wes Chatham (Amos Burton) The next day, I went to discussions like those on the Lunar COTS concept and a Cislunar economy. There were many exhibitions at the conference, one of the most interesting of which was a concept for a space settlement that could gradually grow in size, even while humans would inhabit the settlement. Freeman Dyson, who later laid out his concept of "Noah's Ark Eggs", for very low cost space settlement. Frank Drake was also there, but I didn't get a chance to speak to him. On the last day of the conference I got to see Robert Zubrin, with "The Case for Mars" in hand, literally. After that, I attended further sessions on the Moon, mainly focused on mining. I would have liked to see the afternoon events, but that was also when the award ceremonies were for the contest participants who came to the conference. It has been a few days since the conference, and I'd definitely like to go again next year. Unfortunately, that conference is scheduled right before exams week, speaking of which... Exams are in just over a week, and thus I better start studying...

That's pretty much what I saw there. Sadly didn't get to ask any questions.

ULA Chief Scientist of Advanced Programs, Bernard Kutter is at ISDC! I might be able to ask him questions, does anyone have any they might want to ask?

SpaceX's Propulsion Chief Technology Officer, Tom Mueller is speaking at the ISDC tomorrow. Since I'll be there, it's possible I could ask questions on this thread's behalf.

@Barzon Kerman A NASA contest where you submit a work (usually a design proposal) related to space settlement.

@Barzon Kerman Participants of the NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest (including me) are invited to the annual conference, where people in the space industry meet to discuss topics like technology, space settlement, etc.

Decided to follow a tutorial on coloring faces with a sketch I already had. I'll be honest, I'm quite surprised out how well the face has turned out so far.

I've been busy with preparing for the International Space Development Conference, so I haven't been able to work on IAKF for a few days, and I'll probably be busy attending the events there in a few days, so you might not see many posts for the next few weeks (with school finals on the horizon).

I suppose yes. Transportation in a colonized Kerbol system might move a bit faster, but in terms of communications, there is, in the grand scene of things, practically no delay.

THE DUNA SYSTEM IN A COLONIZED KERBOL SYSTEM: PART ONE Chapter XXXIV of Imagining a Kerbal Future We return to the red planet of Duna - a long time favorite destination for players of KSP. Government In thinking of government, one should consider who settles Duna. Corporations would be much more interested in developing the Mun, which has a stronger business case. As a result, some ambitious Kerbin governments, or a wealthy Elon Kerman might try their hand at colonizing Duna. With a government effort, I could imagine the settlement government resembling the colonizing government. On the other hand, a wealthy individual might do whatever they want, to an extent. In contrast to the settlements on the Mun, the early settlements on Duna will likely have more autonomy and be more self-reliant, given the light delay and travel times. Once a colony grows to a certain size, a council may be necessary. A few of the representatives might be from the Kerbin government, a few from corporations, and the majority being the actual colonists. Once settlement of Duna begins to take off, a pan-Dunan alliance or federation might be formed, making travel and other activities between the various colonies more convenient. This could eventually achieve independence. On the other hand, this might not be the case, and colonies would be controlled by various groups. Even with an alliance, there may be colonists that might start their own settlements, who remain quite independent of anyone else, except to trade. The Issues of the Duna System An issue of note that I haven’t covered that faces any colony is the choice of sticking to the old customs of kerbin, or if the new colony should start with a blank slate. This doesn’t necessarily mean a total breakaway from Kerbin. It could also be about making Duna a “fresh start” for Kerbalkind. This ideal might be a major motivation for individual Kerbals to come to Duna. Such kerbals will be especially disappointed, however, if they find that Duna is still host to a culture not unlike that of Kerbin. Perhaps such colonists may attempt to scrape together the resources for a settlement of their own on Duna. This might become commonplace on a terraformed Duna, speaking of which... To terraform or not to terraform Duna… An issue covered (through the real-life counterpart of Duna, Mars) extensively in works such as The Mars Trilogy, for example. Indeed, the direction and approach may set the course of Dunan history. Here is an exploration of certain viewpoints. In my opinion, I imagine that a couple elements from some of the approaches will be synthesized. Terraforming What will allow Kerbals to live in great numbers in the Duna system? The answer lies in terraforming. By completely changing the planet of Duna, a new oasis will be brought to life in the Kerbol system. Terraforming can very easily use the resources available on the planet for building the infrastructure to allow the project to happen. This is in contrast to settling space, which will necessitate the use of delta-V or space elevators to bring resources to the construction sites. There is something merely different about being able to walk out into the open air, instead of being trapped in a cylinder or under a dome. For one thing, there is a sense of great security without the threat of an asteroid or habitat breach resulting in asphyxiation for you and countless others. Even if certain infrastructure contributing to the terraforming efort are destroyed, the changes to the climate of Duna will surely be gradual, not near-instant. Terraforming may be a lengthy process, but certain methods can be used to make it less so. Kerbals can use genetics or robotics to allow them to walk on Duna, even if it is only partially terraformed. Effects On the surface, the main effect would be apparent—even if terraforming is only partially carried out, there would be large open farms and forests, in addition to lakes and seas. If genetic tweaks are implemented by much of the populace, we could see Duna become isolated from Kerbin, as it will be more difficult for them to interact in an environment that suits both of them. Since this approach is the one that takes the most action against the current state of Duna, it is likely to also be the one that sees the most opposition, which could manifest itself in various ways, with the extreme being outright sabotage of terraforming infrastructure. Paraterraforming Paraterraforming is the technique where pressurized habitats are built, eventually covering the planet. By changing Duna, we can more gradually make Duna more habitable. While terraforming is a lengthy process, paraterraforming allows some habitation very quickly, and according to demands and need. As a result, there will be more interest in supporting the project, since results can be seen relatively quickly. Second, paraterraforming is more efficient. While terraforming Duna requires the entire atmosphere to be changed, paraterraforming only requires enough atmosphere to fill the entire enclosure, which may be only a few kilometers high. This would allow it to be better adjusted according to the needs or taste of the population as well. Third, there is simply a better place for terraforming—Laythe, which is already quite similar to Kerbin, and therefore takes far less effort to terraform. A kerbol system-wide organization, if given the choice of dedicating their resources towards terraforming Duna or Laythe, would most likely choose Laythe. Lastly, paraterraforming has better control of what is affected on Duna. If life is discovered on Duna, then we can simply avoid covering that area, while terraforming might destroy it or require an enclosure to be built. As a result, paraterraforming provides Duna with a more effective alternative to traditional terraforming. Effects For both this scenario and the terraforming one, Ike is likely to be relatively unsettled, being host to robotic mining and manufacturing sites, connected to Duna by space elevator, but little more. Dunans in this scenario are unlikely to tweak themselves, aside from adaption to the gravity—going outside will mainly be for sightseeing, after all. As a result, Duna wouldn’t become isolated as quickly. This scenario is likely to yield Duna the highest surface population early on, since terraforming doesn’t provide new living space for most of the project’s duration, while the following approach is unlikely to give Duna much of a surface population at all. Settle Space Admittedly this is the one I favor the most, and the one I was simply able to rationalize the best. Indeed, the surface has resources, but living there requires one to put up with low gravity, and terraforming the place will be a lengthy process of many hundreds of years. Better option lie with cities in the space around Duna, where Dunans should instead live. The first main advantage of settling space is that there is a much quicker return-on-investment. As a result, you can slowly build more habitats to meet demand, while with terraforming, much of Duna is uninhabitable for the majority of the project. Another threat for terraforming is the potential for interstellar travel to become increasingly more viable. Instead of having to considerably change a world to live on the surface, colonists may instead have to wear minimal gear even when they land, and only a little effort may be required to make the planet fully habitable. As a result, the terraforming project may become an invalid white elephant before it even reaches completion. Second, space habitats have very high climate control. Both terraforming and paraterraforming are physically incapable of changing the gravity on Duna without some absurd measures. On the other hand, a space habitat only has to adjust their spin speed. Third, space habitats will be less expensive, consume far less resources, and be considerably safer. For example, terraforming may require comets to enter the atmosphere of Duna, which could be quite dangerous for ground inhabitants, if the trajectory is miscalculated. That comet may only contribute a slight bit to the overall terraforming effort, while that same comet could probably provide the water for entire cylinders. This would preserve natural features...like this. Fourth, we would preserve Duna as we know it. Many landscapes and wonders may be destroyed or affected in the process of terraforming, and even paraterraforming may also end with a similar result, since air can escape into the atmosphere, for example. Some sites can be preserved, but landmarks that may come to be of greater interests later on might have already been destroyed. In conclusion, it is clear that living in space is the way to go, not living on Duna. This does not mean that we cannot carry out activities on the world itself, of course—surely there will be mining installations and tourist sites. By settling space, Duna can dedicate its resources to asserting its power. Effects For one thing, this approach would probably lead to Duna becoming host to the second most space habitats, following only Kerbin. The planet itself would probably remain the same way it has always been, perhaps with only a few domed cities, not much more. The main export material for Duna will be water ice from the poles, for use in the space habitats. The Dunan physique would remain similar to that of Kerbin, having spent most of their time in similar environments. WIthout the relative isolation that living in different g forces might present, Dunans may feel more closely associated with Kerbiners, and this might delay the growth of a unique Dunan identity. In this Duna system, we will see a highly developed Ike. Ike would provide much of the material for the habitats, since it will be the most accessible source, especially since most habitats will orbit at Duna synchronous orbit just like Ike, in order to allow space elevator access to the surface. The demand for its resources will turn Ike into a single massive industrial center. In the far future, Ike might be deconstructed completely, having been converted into O’Neill cylinders. As I discussed in the previous chapter, there would likely be a lot of Kerbals headed off for other planets, and unlike the Mun, they may not come from corporations. It would be no surprise if many of them settled on Duna. This could be problematic in the eyes of the local authority in charge of Duna. For one thing, they may be unable to build enough housing areas to place the new arrivals in, perhaps forcing them to be temporarily located in bare minimum habitats, or altogether restrict travel from Kerbin. War Invasion Ike would be a major strategic target to bombard or conquer for an invading fleet. Ike, as a nexus between Duna and the rest of the Kerbol system, will store lots of resources in warehouses, including reaction mass, and life support—necessary for maintaining the fleet. Even if the resources are destroyed when Dunan forces escape Ike, it means Duna cannot use them, and they lose a key access point to space. While it is important, Ike is a difficult place to invade, and for that matter maintain control of—surface defenses on Duna will have little problem striking the fleet stationed there. Capturing Ike results in a reduced need for large, vulnerable supply ships like this one If a conflict begins on Ike, it is likely to spread or garner action from the rest of the Duna system. First, Ike is simply much closer to its home planet than the Mun is to Kerbin, making what happens on Ike of more immediate relevance to the people down on Duna. The proximity would also intertwine the two worlds, quite literally it a space elevator is built between them. Invading Duna itself would be not too difficult if the invaders had control of the space elevator. However, the cable will be almost certainly destroyed by the defending Dunans, forcing any invasion to rely on dropships. In a populated world like Duna, an invasion will be difficult, just like on Eve. However, an invasion force here will have full visibility of the ground, making orbital bombardment strikes more accurate and effective. In addition, the invasion force has no laser submarines to be worried about, and will not be hampered by higher-G forces. Fighting Between Space Settlements Two warships patrol the space around the settlements under siege If fighting ever breaks out against/between space settlements, the attackers will probably rely on a siege or blockade to force the settlement into surrender. Outright destroying a habitat with potentially a large amount of civilians on it would be hugely controversial, while an invasion is also likely to end badly, as the invaders may find themselves fighting a large, armed population. Fighting Between Ground Colonies One difference a ground battle on Duna might have compared to one on Kerbin is that aerial, close-in reconnaissance drones would be more difficult to use. The thin air will force designs to use large wings that would be easily detectable and consequently vulnerable to destruction. In general, however, I cannot think of any more major difference in ground warfare compared to Kerbin, aside from the fact that vehicles will have to be airtight and better-suited to low gravity. War Scenario: Introduction Let us start off with a classic—the Dunan War of Independence. Duna has been unified under the locally-based Dunan Congressional Authority, in order to reduce trade barriers. This has worked well for the various nations of Kerbin, as it has reduced the need for settlements to produce everything they have to, and has made business overall easier. However, this would only harm Kerbin powers if the DCA declares independence, since it will be an organized movement. Duna’s population has begun to bloom, and its industry is on par with the continental powers on Kerbin. The population has now reached 80 million, the majority residing in space settlements in the “Ike Belt” and on the planet itself, in massive cities under “tarps” and domes. Duna and the DCA are also closely associated with various asteroid colonies, which provide most of the resources that Duna cannot provide itself. At this point, Kerbin has begun to lose a lot of population to emigration—not a huge amount percentage wise, of course, but unfortunately, many of these Kerbals tend to be young or quite skilled. It has not helped that the DCA has campaigned heavily around the Kerbin System for new immigrants, offering various incentives for a fresh start. As the red planet grows ever more independent from Kerbin, the calls for independence grow slowly louder… Thanks for Reading! Next: The Duna System In A Colonized Kerbol System, Part Two