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

[SaturnianBlue]

The laptop is still acting weird, so I'll get it checked soon. I've started work on the next chapters, which means working on the various parts of society in the Kerbol system.

To summarize my points so far:

Government

A corporation-colonized colony appears to be quite likely. Therefore, a government with representatives from both workers and the corporation itself could be the way to rule, or possibly an AI-government, which might be more efficient.

"Ongoing" Events

-Local water resources may eventually come into scarcity on Moho

-Automation may result in a decreasing population, which would be low to begin with

-The energy advantage would be eroded by cheaper fusion, making it less profitable to manufacture on Moho

War

-Most types of habitats, with the exception of those buried underground at the poles would be prone to bombardment

-Equatorial habitats may have water supplies cut

-Access to energy might make for a dangerous superlaser

-Conflict may arise between corporations for metals and water

Demographics

-Low population

-Most would live on the surface, not space

-Taller kerbals due to gravity

Culture

-Likely connected with Kerbin, since colonization of Moho would take place later on

-Something to do with kerbol?

Infrastructure

-Trains in the poles, and wheeled vehicles in the equatorial regions, to service circumnavigating colonies

-Early on, skyhooks, then mass drivers, and lastly orbital rings

Trade

Industry: Metals, energy, manufacturing, tourism

 

What do you think about these? Are they reasonable? I'm kind of clueless with things like culture, and I'd like to cover things like that more, but without pushing a certain vision.

Edited November 15, 2017 by SaturnianBlue

[SaturnianBlue]

My Macbook Pro has been fixed—the problem was the RAM slot, which was broken. However, this meant that while one of the RAM cards was working fine, it couldn't be used (unless I wanted to replace the motherboard, which isn't cost effective for a 5 year old laptop). This meant that I had the RAM to run KSP and that was about it. So I bought one 8 GB card. Now I should be able to restart work on screenshots! I've finished the draft on Moho and gotten 1/2 way through Eve, so you should see posts quicker as well.

[SaturnianBlue]

I have not posted a new chapter for two months, but that changes now, with this chapter. I have the fusion ship lined up for a release in a few days, and the Moho and Eve chapters (which might be broken into parts) have a complete rough draft, with a Kerbin chapter in its early phases. Without further ado, let's get started!

WHO AND WHY WOULD KERBALS COLONIZE SPACE?

Chapter: XXVI of Imagining a Kerbal Future

Introduction

    For one to create a realistic future, one must consider what happened before that future. We must take a look at who colonized space, and why. Additionally, the motivation for colonizing space should include kerbals, since the sort of setting this series explores depends on having a lot of kerbals in space. In the next chapters, we will explore how these will affect certain worlds.

    The main hurdle to the beginning of space colonization is cost. For one thing, getting into space is difficult, with colonies requiring many launches of giant rockets, which will be no doubt expensive, even with reusability, or with a laser-launch system. Another way to get resources for the colony could be in-situ or from other sources, like asteroids. Without a lot of infrastructure, only a few resources can be utilized. Even with cheap launch systems like the skyhook, small groups of colonists simply could not scrape together the funds for a colony. Even in a heavily colonized space, a wealthy donor or a lot of people would have to fund the project.

    This effectively leaves large corporations, governments, and wealthy individuals as the initial drive for the colonization of space.

WHO?

Corporations

    One of the few factions with the money and means to guide space colonization would be corporations. However, there are two big things to consider. First, they will need a method of generating profit—without that, there is no incentive for money to be piled on for such a project. As it happens, any space colonization project will be extremely risky, due to the long-term, high-cost nature of such projects, requiring an incredibly good financial motive to fund the colony. Additionally, corporations would prefer the robotic operation of space colonies over that of kerbals, due to the high requirements for life support. Do keep in mind, however, that the massive infrastructure that may be required for a highly profitable industry may eventually require kerbals on hand to maintain the installation.

Most corporations will set their eyes on Kerbin orbit, the Mun, Minmus, and nearby asteroids. Why? The proximity to Kerbin means far more trips can be done in the same amount of time compared to interplanetary excursions, allowing small fleets of freighters to carry lots of cargo.

Governments

    In contrast to corporations, governments are not as much constrained by profitability and expenses. Therefore, placing kerbals on planets and moons could be a significantly higher priority than for corporations, but this can mean simply planting a flag, doing some science, setting up a couple on structures, and going back to Kerbin—certainly not settlement, and unfortunately what I see is the most likely scenario for a government-led effort to a planet.

However, a settlement could be justified by the ability to experiment and innovate new technologies in a unique environment where the harsh conditions would encourage such development. The government and/or the workers could then license the new products, which would support the colonies monetarily, and benefit the government with a technological edge. If these workers are colonists which will stay here permanently, this may be exactly what we are looking for. 

A major argument against governments spearheading such an effort is that funding tends to be inconsistent, due to ever-changing interests. Unlike a corporation, for them to suddenly cut funding in half for the colonization program would be less of a concern. However, one major freedom granted by writing in the Kerbal universe is that one is free to decide how such institutions are operated. Therefore, the governments of Kerbin may be willing to look into long-term projects such as an ISRU refinery on Minmus.

A Combination of the Two

    By having both government and corporation work together, they complement each other and cover up each of their flaws. Infrastructure too difficult or risky for companies to launch and build can be passed over to the government to set up, with various companies being contracted off of the infrastructure to set up profitable ventures. However, the government would need a sufficient reason to motivation to set up this system—but it doesn’t have to be too complex, and could be something like encouraging business, economic growth, or job creation.

The Idea for this logo: A stylized Mun since that's what the Authority controls, and the blue orbits represent the control of the orbital areas too. The column is about the stability and control the Authority brings, since it helps regulate and manage the area.

    Let’s explore one way how that might play out. The Central Authority of the Mun is created to balance the interests of the Kerbin government(s) and various corporations, which are interested in settling area beyond low Kerbin orbit. It will be responsible for settling disputes and encouraging a stable economic presence on the Mun, as well as balancing other interests like scientific exploration.

The Kerbal Union sets up a propellant facility on the Mun. This means that less fuel has to be brought for ships making round-trips between the Mun and Kerbin orbit, and it allows propellant to resupply ships in orbit as well.

    Additionally, a station is built around the Mun, as a location for payloads headed to and from the Mun to meet. Fuel brought up from the Mun can be purchased from the facility at a reasonable price. Instead of having to bring huge amounts of fuel into space, they can simply be filled at the station.

A freighter loaded with Ore and a heat shield for aerobraking into low orbit.

    With access to the Mun, Minmus, and the asteroids made drastically easier, it is now profitable to set up various industries such as mining, and manufacturing. The Authority can tax these industries and shipments to fund risky infrastructure. It is now much easier for services and payloads to be sent to the Mun. Serious competition can begin, making services increasingly cheaper—otherwise, the competitors would be driven out of business. The cheap services also benefit the governments, which can now more easily fund projects such as a kerballed mission to Duna.

The capsule was based on the Orion—a bit.

The transporter is based off of the ACES upper stage envisioned by ULA.

The Ares takes inspiration from the Mars Base Camp, though it isn't really the same design.
 

  Instead of having to build and pay for everything themselves, the Kerbal Union can now launch aboard the Kerbodyne KerbalX for a low price, since the demand for more launches to the Mun has made competition more fierce in the launch industry. The payload on this rocket is the crew-carrying capsule, the last step in the construction of the Ares. Once it arrives in orbit, it docks with the Praxis Munar Transporter for a trip to the Rockomax space station, where final checks and a fuelling-up of the Ares is done for a fee. With that, the Ares is free to head for Duna.

Here is the foundation for the idea of this scenario:

Other:

    There isn’t much set in stone in the Kerbal universe. That means that there are far, far more options that just the ones listed above—those assume a setting like real-life Earth. If the Glorious Order of the Snacks declares that we must go to Duna to harvest the great snacks at the base of a kerbanoid face, kerbals may find that to be a perfectly valid reason to colonize Duna.

WHY?

Now that we’ve explored who will likely be the ones colonizing space, it’s time to explore some of the reasons why. This is often difficult—the MacGuffinite page on Project Rho goes to show that there are few options that work well. The following list covers a few popular ones and my take on them.

Profit:

    Making money is probably the main motive for a corporation to contribute to the colonization of space. However, there is a large hurdle to making colonization profitable, which is that access to space has to be cheap and reliable.

    In this regard, Kerbin is significantly better than Earth—it is much easier to carry payloads into space, with the smaller planet and somewhat thinner atmosphere. However, costs are probably relative, so this may not encourage the colonization of space.

Here is the rocket that launched that first ISRU facility the Authority landed.

    The kerbal construction process is very modular, with parts conjoining easily. This allows production to be more assembly-line like, and makes production easier, driving down costs even more.

Though the Kerbal Space Program appears to get their parts from a large variety of contractors, it is possible that a SpaceX-like company produces their very own rockets, which makes access to space even cheaper since the company does not have to buy parts from subcontractors that have to make money themselves.

Even a cheaper way to reach low Kerbin orbit can make a tremendous difference. In terms of delta-V, if you are in orbit, you are literally halfway to anywhere… Well, anywhere in the Kerbol system. A cheaper way into space means that more infrastructure can be set up in Kerbin orbit, which can support missions to the Mun, and if the Mun can support itself, it can send down resources towards Kerbin orbit, contributing to missions to the Mun…

   Resources

Like the A-10 was built around the GAU-8, this lander was built around a giant ISRU refinery.

    Whether it be rare metals, monopoles or helium-3, sending people out to infinity and beyond in search of profit is always popular. Unfortunately, it is often hard to need kerbals for the task, and it might not be practical in the beginning. This might be the case for helium-3, which can be mined on gas giants and on the Mun. On the Mun, it would at best be a side product due to the low concentrations of it, and the production of helium-3 back on Kerbin with the use of fusion plants would make them unnecessary there. On gas giants, it could be somewhat profitable, with relatively high concentrations. However, these places would have fusion reactors of their own for helium-3 production and provided development progresses, many reactors will prefer proton-Boron for power generation, as it produces nearly no neutron radiation, instead of less.

I wonder if this asteroid has anything to do with Protogen...

    As for rare metals, they may be in short supply on Kerbin, certainly justifying the creation of bases and robots on asteroids, the Mun, and Minmus. However, even if crews are required on these bases, they may only be semi-permanent assignments, like oil rig workers.

    For the most part, this motivation would incentivize colonizing nearby places, perhaps with the exception of a place like Laythe, where equipment is easy to operate.

    Even with a profitable resource, the space economy would be fairly uniform—there wouldn’t be much trade going on aside from a metal or two.

A Vision

Change this a little, and you get a layout vaguely like the Beagle 2 lander...

    Maybe whoever is colonizing space isn’t doing it (just) for the money, and isn’t impeded by a tight budget. Maybe they are doing it for a vision, to explore space. Perhaps their vision is one of a spacefaring civilization, and they have the money to do it. A little like SpaceX’s ambition to send a million people to Mars. If the vision is to have kerbals live in space, if there are kerbals willing to sign up for it, and the means to do can exist, then that is a motive, irrational as it might be.

    A motivation like this is made easier by using kerbals, not humans in the story, since our expectation of rationality does not apply. If this is the main motivation for colonization, then we can expect to see more idealistic and utopian settlements, since such visionaries would likely have a vision for a better society, not just a colony.

With Time

The one @MatterBeam proposes.

Quote

 I think the 'answer' is time. Eventually we'll start start suffocating for new resources and openings for our increasingly educated population. Eventually technology will advance so that high energy propulsion becomes available, even if it was not the primary direction of research. Eventually... we'll reach a position where moving off-world is more a question of 'why not' and we'll think of it as no different than being asked to take a job in another country. 

Using the KSP universe once again makes a motivation easier, with the lower delta-V costs, lower travel times, etc. Will colonization take well... time? Yes. However, it is one that is plausible and will "eventually" happen. Perhaps through certain circumstances, space colonization will happen, eventually.                                                      

Moral Equivalent of War

    Instead of waging destructive wars, why not put those resources and energy into something that will better progress the Kerbal race? Kerbals are generally seen as a more peaceful species, so instead of expanding into other countries, why not into space?

    Like war, it also creates a lot of jobs, however inefficient it might be. Even if the project isn’t too useful or profitable, a government might willingly pour money into building a Mun base. Is this a “good” motivation? Not really, but probably better than war. However, it may create the initial infrastructure needed for space colonization to pick up in pace.

Destruction of the Planet

You might recognize this from a certain Graphic Novel...

    A popular one argument, one made by many for the colonization of space—that of colonizing space to act as a second home, in case the home planet is lost, or as a consequence of the planet becoming unlivable.. However, most apocalyptic scenarios still render Kerbin far more habitable than any other celestial body in the Kerbol system, with the possible exception of Laythe. It would just be better to build giant underground habitats, since far less infrastructure is required to build here than in space.     

    Even if life-extension comes into widespread use, meaning that a catastrophic event could happen in the lifetime of a kerbal, the average kerbal simply won’t bother with an issue that not concern them anytime soon.

    Many other motivations have been proposed, but I haven’t included them because either I don’t think they would work, or because I haven’t found them yet. If you’ve got an idea, tell me!

Thanks for Reading!

Next: The Role of Moho in the Kerbol System: Part One

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2018 by SaturnianBlue

[obney kerman]

YES! IT'S BACK!

[SaturnianBlue]

1 hour ago, obney kerman said:

YES! IT'S BACK!

Yep! And I have a few more chapters queued up!

[Vanamonde]

Some posts about politics have been removed from this thread. Sorry, folks, but that never ends well here. 

[MatterBeam]

Looking forward to more!

[SaturnianBlue]

The Uncatchable Swift, as a holiday gift, is now available for download! As another gift, I've been working on a little movie including this craft, though the project has had more than its fair share of bugs.

[SaturnianBlue]

 

MOHO IN A COLONIZED KERBOL SYSTEM: PART ONE

Chapter XXVII of Imagining a Kerbal Future

Moho, the innermost planet, is hardly the centerpiece in a colonized Kerbol system, but it still has a role to play.

Government

    The great mineral wealth, greater availability of energy, and cheap life support would make Moho an endearing target for corporations. The planet is unlikely to host a large population—there are better places to live. Additionally, the mining operations set up by the corporations would need fairly little Kerbal oversight. However, the resources and solar energy make it economically important.

    For governments, Moho isn’t a particularly interesting place to go. As for visionaries like Elon Kerman, why bother? It’s just a big metal ball near Kerbol—how about the ocean mun of Laythe instead?

If there is enough demand to profit off mining Moho, thousands of kerbals will be needed to run a large-scale, highly profitable operation, so direct control from elsewhere (likely from a board of directors) would be out of the option.

    A form of representative democracy may arise, with some corporate representatives thrown in. As the corporation grows in power and profit, it may start acting more country-like, as it creates what are effectively laws, a military force, and various services to the colonists. As this happens, it will become increasingly harder for the home country to keep the corporation “in check”.

AI may take over the job of government from lazy and unproductive kerbals, and hopefully the superintelligence of the AI will allow it to make wise judgements, with no opposition leading to ideally, effective leadership.

    However, an AI doesn’t have to be an all powerful leader—instead it could take roles in the government like:

    -Voting

    -A representative for AIs

    -Breaking ties or close votes

    -Acting as assistants and advisors to representatives and voters

    -Increase the efficiency and reliability of certain day to day operations, saving time and money

    Equator settlements may control a full belt around Moho, for circumnavigating settlements.

The Issues of a Colonized Moho

    Even if an ideal future awaits Kerbalkind, the colonists of Moho will face many issues. The issues explored in here are the economic aspects—cultural and social issues of the era are better left to the reader.

    Corporations will likely exploit the water resources already there. Assuming fairly low amounts and an unwillingness to trade, conflict may break out as the few remaining water resources are claimed.

    Advances in AI and automation will advance to such a point that Kerbal oversight will be almost unnecessary. In this situation, what do the Moho kerbals do? Will they go back to where they came from, or will they stay?

It’s not likely that kerbals would leave for more opportunity—automation would be taking over everywhere. A more likely motivation would be to return to where they came from, likely if the kerbal planned on returning anyway.

If kerbals do stay behind, an important question must be answered: how would they receive money? We could also assume that there is no money, but that is a big can of... snacks. With few jobs, a universal basic income is probably the main form of payment one receives.

  One of the early incentives for colonizing Moho is the availability of energy for creating products such as electronics. However, this incentive is eroded by advances in low-cost fusion and beamed power, making energy-intensive activities more viable in energy-poor places, and making low Kerbol orbit solar farms, which Moho will likely manufacture less profitable. Additionally, advances in inventions such as 3D-printers will mean that most products can be produced even on small asteroid outposts. Lastly, the increased size of many colonies like those in the outer planets will mean that they will not be dependent on supplies from the inner planets. These shifts threaten the colonization of Moho, and either most settlements go defunct, or will have to find another source of profit.

When such events happen will drastically change the course of Moho’s history—if the advancement of cheap fusion is swift, there may never be a significant presence on Moho, even of robots. If slow, Moho may be home to a few million kerbals, acting as a strategically important location in the Kerbol system.

Military and War

Preferably, there will never be a war among the stars. In that case, this section may be disregarded. However, a war in the stars is a popular backdrop for a story, so the scenario is considered.

Why would they fight?

The classic war of independence from an oppressive regime or megacorp doesn’t really work with Moho—the war would cost Moho customers or would be crushed. However, an independence war may work if it is part of a bigger independence movement across the Kerbol system, but only if those movements are able to unite. A power on Moho may also be drawn into the conflict simply by being in a larger group, where all members must aid an ally.

If control over Moho is mostly in the hands of megacorps, military groups may be created to defend assets. Subcontractors that already produce weapons for other groups can be asked to build for the megacorp instead, allowing more complex weapons to be created, such as space-based defenses and such. This would set the stage for a conflict, which could be sparked by a power play by the various corporations to try to take parts of Moho, and hopefully obtain targets like water reservoirs, forcing others to depend on them.

Another conflict could break out over a ring some kilometers across—this is an area where underground temperatures are perfect for kerbal living, which makes hosting the population on Moho much easier, especially if it is growing rapidly.

A badly damaged dome. Hopefully the kerbals inside either evacuated or rushed to the shelters. Regardless, justifying the destruction a total war would cause is hard to do.

    In my opinion, there are certainly ways Moho could descend into war, but a full-scale war would generally be too destructive for factions only on Moho to fight, promoting a non-aggressive stance. There’s plenty of space on Moho, so there isn’t much territorial motivation, with the exception of water ice reservoirs. Perhaps small skirmishes could break out, but not war.

Strategies and Weakpoints

The most important target will be the water supply of the opposing side, forcing water use to be cut back in order to survive, and forcing water-consuming operations to shut down. Therefore, water supplies will be heavily guarded with laser and kinetic defenses to take out incoming projectiles before such damage is caused.

Destroying or capturing the water supply will mean a greater emphasis on warfare near the poles—if the poles are conquered, the equatorial colonies will soon fall, without any access to water.

Regardless of the water supply, most equatorial habitats would be easy targets to destroy. Circumnavigating mobile colonies cannot be placed underground, without an expensive option like a tunnel. To armor them above-ground would increase weight. Lastly, their movement is visible and trackable from above and their movement is predictable because they must stay on the terminator.

Big and bright. Not exactly a stealth base, these mushroom habitats.

Another equatorial habitat design, the “mushroom” habitat, has a solar mirror that would reflect light in order to control heat during the intense Moho day. This means reflecting the light, making it extremely reflective and visible to satellites.

Once a significant fraction of water supplies are unusable for the enemy, the next priority will be the mass drivers or other large guns. Destroying mass drivers results in vastly decreased exports, resulting in much decreased profit. However, destroying them also means that they will have to be rebuilt, meaning that capturing the territory will of less value.

These would probably be the deterrent, at least in a world without nuclear weapons.

Any space-based mass driver is an ideal bombardment weapon that could launch massive projectiles that cause horrific damage, and would be nearly impossible to defend against, without the use of powerful defenses.

This brings us to the next target, space superiority. This is where all the orbits of the planet are controlled by a single faction, resulting in the orbital mobility of the ships becoming unrestricted, paving the way for the destruction of the opposing side’s orbital forces. Orbital lasers would not exist to destroy incoming kinetics, and surface lasers may be unable to easily stop a low-altitude attack from the surface, with the target only being visible for seconds above the horizon. With that, the losing side is highly vulnerable to attack, and it will be difficult to recover. However, this amounts to a blockade, which would upset third party groups on Moho, making its use questionable in most instances.

Defenses

    Lasers are probably the most dangerous thing to most of the habitats. Without an atmosphere to absorb the beam, there are no natural defenses aside from going underground. However, this also means that the defender has a stronger laser as well, and warships will have limited armor compared to the ground lasers.

    Kinetic defenses would not face atmospheric drag. Provided the target is close enough, and the defenses can shoot projectiles that reach very high velocities, they could deal serious damage to the stations in orbit, but so can lasers. A low speed would mean that the kinetics could be tracked and shot down, or they would be dodged.

    Missiles would be shot down due to their size, and would be the slowest of these options, giving plenty of time to target it.

 

This concludes the first part of the Moho chapter. In part two, I’ll explore how a war scenario may play out, along with demographics, culture, and trade.

Thanks for Reading!

Next: Moho In A Colonized Kerbol System: Part Two

Edited February 11, 2018 by SaturnianBlue

[Sorabh]

Your work is always a visual and intellectual treat! Thank you!

[MatterBeam]

Very cool, I loved this write-up, @SaturnianBlue!

While destroying colonies is very costly and diminishes the value of what you are capturing... intercepting all their exports and imports by attacking the spaceships they rely on is fair game!
Also, it is extremely unlikely that we will find any above-ground settlements. Most will protect themselves with a layer of dirt at the very least to protect them against meteorites and radiation. If you add a few additional layers, you've got cheap armor against most smaller projectiles that only needs time and a shovel to replace.

[SaturnianBlue]

6 minutes ago, MatterBeam said:

Very cool, I loved this write-up, @SaturnianBlue!

While destroying colonies is very costly and diminishes the value of what you are capturing... intercepting all their exports and imports by attacking the spaceships they rely on is fair game!
Also, it is extremely unlikely that we will find any above-ground settlements. Most will protect themselves with a layer of dirt at the very least to protect them against meteorites and radiation. If you add a few additional layers, you've got cheap armor against most smaller projectiles that only needs time and a shovel to replace.

Interception is even better if you can board the ships themselves, especially if something incredibly valuable, like intel of some sort, though boarding the ship would be very risky.

This will probably mean the polar regions with their water will be favored even more, since they don't need to deploy the countermeasures against heat that leave equatorial habitats vulnerable. 

[SaturnianBlue]

MOHO IN A COLONIZED KERBOL SYSTEM: PART TWO

Chapter XXVIII of Imagining a Kerbal Future

Welcome back everyone! This time I am fairly sure that I won’t be going on a multi-week hiatus. To start off, let us find out how a war scenario may play out on Moho.

The War Scenario

  800 Kerbin years have passed since the first travels into space began. Kerbalkind has spread to every single planet in the Kerbol system, including Moho. Two major factions are in control of most assets both on and around Moho: the Rockomax Consortium (RC) and the Kerbodyne Confederation (KC). Both consist of many small corporations, but each has a single major one. While both sides claim large swaths of the surface, only small portions of the surface are host to kerbal activity. There is plenty of space for expansion, but now the two factions wonder if capturing the establishments of the other side would be easier…

    The space around Moho is quite active. Several space settlements act as transportation hubs between the surface and interplanetary destinations. Aside from regular anti-debris defenses, these stations are unarmed—to do so would make them a military target. On the other hand, several stations do act as military bases, resupplying and upgrading older ships, and launching new ones. Heavily armed, these stations have giant lasers and kinetic weapons, which are viable with the abundant solar power.

    Both KC and the RC have defense and shipbuilding divisions. While some of the ships that they have built are sold to other factions or based at other locations in the Kerbol system, a small few remain at Moho. These vessels operate purely within Moho’s SOI, and act as patrols and a potential defense.

    The ships are built simple and cheap. The corporations would preferably use their resources towards improving their colonies and increasing profit. This means that while powerful, complicated fusion drives like those on the Uncatchable Swift are fairly widespread, the ships use older gas core fission drives instead. Since the vessels operate only in Moho’s SOI, the delta-V requirements are not so great that only fusion drives can be used. The greater priority is thrust, in order to intercept threats quickly. In addition, the only warships owned by the factions are patrol skiffs, so only one vessel type needs to be supported by the facilities in orbit, in turn reducing maintenance costs.

One hundred tons of armor, radiators, lasers, fuel tanks, and a big nuclear rocket.

    In this situation, water production plants should not be destroyed. Remember, the destruction of the water infrastructure would mean that the winning side would have to rebuild the infrastructure again, lest the kerbals die or evacuate. No doubt will this be expensive, and therefore would make simple expansion more cost-effective. A full conquest of the other side may also end in the same result, because they may completely sabotage the infrastructure in their evacuation, rather than have it be taken over. A solution that at least makes conquest more even to expansion is to blockade the water supply lines to the equatorial settlements. The water production plants are preserved, and the equatorial settlements should surrender with hopefully little damage. However, the opposition overall may not give up.

    Only some mass drivers should be taken out. A tactical strike on space-based mass drivers, intended for military purposes, means that the other side will have a more difficult time destroying the military bases, and should be pursued. On the other hand, attacking a mass driver on the ground meant for shipping payloads to other planets should only be done if the war is prolonged, long enough that the opposing side will be unable to sustain itself any longer. Such an operation should be combined with gaining space superiority and establishing a blockade. In the short-term, it is only more infrastructure damage.

They said bigger is better, so what resulted was a 750 ton monstrosity capable of carrying 250 tons of cargo AND about 60 passengers.

    If a side achieves some or all of the conditions above, the adversary should accept defeat, perhaps losing their equatorial holdings. Suppose, however, that they are more resilient than expected. Then it is necessary send in the “space marines” or whatever they are called. At this point, the defenses should be taken out through orbital bombardment, so landing near the objective will be fairly safe. The main benefit with sending drop ships to the target will be to put it under control and make it useful for the attackers, since a blockade will also make it unusable to the other side.

Demographics

    Moho is not exactly the most pleasant place to live in the Kerbol system, with its rather barren, airless landscapes. As a result, not many people would willingly move to Moho “because they want to”, so most of the population will immigrate to the planet mainly for work. At this point in the future, I do not think that too many jobs would be required for the mining operations, so the population will be small… Unless you change the definition of population. Synthetic organisms or AI could perhaps raise the population significantly.

You might not see the particle beam, but trust me, this is a beam liner station!

    Most Mohonians would live on the surface, not in orbit. In orbit, the extremely thick shielding to protect the habitat from Kerbol’s radiation would have to be lifted from the surface. However, some orbital settlements will likely exist. One of the roles could be a transport hub or as a beamliner station (see the Colonizing Moho post), offloading passengers from interplanetary transportation vehicles and transferring them onto vehicles travelling between the surface and the settlement. A second role would be to serve as a command center for solar power plants.

    Mohonians may undergo procedures to better adjust to the environment of Moho. One modification could be eyes that quickly adjust to changes in brightness, preventing kerbals from going blind from the powerful light of Kerbol. A second would be an adjustment to the lower gravity of Moho, which may be harmful to the Kerbal body. Since Moho’s environment is significantly harsher than worlds like Duna and Laythe, it is unlikely that kerbals will ever walk without protective layers on the surface. As a result, drastic changes to the anatomy of Mohonians are unlikely.

Culture

    Figuring out the culture of the world is an especially subjective topic. To figure out the culture of Moho, the cultures of Kerbin must first be figured out. We can assume that Kerbals from across Kerbin will comprise the population of Moho, so a blending of these is likely.

Trade

    Interplanetary trade would be Moho’s key to success, and would make the planet proportionally powerful. Losing access to trade with Moho would be devastating, due to the loss of energy and metals, and it would be devastating to Moho as well, promoting friendly relations with the powers on Moho to maintain trade relations.

    Likely Exports: Raw Resources, Energy, Transportation, Shipbuilding, Construction, Antimatter and Tourism

If you're wondering why I put a frying pan at the front there, it is because I figured that the dust at peak velocity would be pretty destructive.

    Beamliner stations require high amounts of energy, which Moho has. The fast travel these stations allow between planets may give Moho a considerable advantage in the speed of which colonization occurs. Provided something can be found to transport between the stations, the beamliners could quickly jump start the colonization of Moho. These stations could be effective enough for Moho to become well established before fusion becomes more useful than space solar power.

    A more futuristic export is antimatter, for which Moho is ideal as a base for such operations. By using massive solar collectors, which lose some of their profitability with the rise of fusion, particle accelerators are powered to create antimatter. Such a process is extremely inefficient energy-wise, but small amounts of antimatter can be used to catalyze fission and fusion fuel, and erases the need to use large, bulky equipment the mass of which could be used for cargo on spacecraft.

Specific Export Partners

    Eve—The purple planet is more likely to pursue asteroids as their source of water, with their low delta-V to reach, but Moho provides an alternative supply.

    Outer planets—Such planets will not have the infrastructure for a large industry, so they may get their complex equipment from Moho. They could also use any mirrors they might have to collect energy beamed from the solar plants near Kerbol.

Main Imports

Entertainment—The small population of Moho is unlikely to have a large entertainment industry, so a major import may be in the form of virtual reality shows, for example. The main supplier of entertainment would be Kerbin—with such a large population, it would generally retain its status as the center of Kerbal civilization.

An Example Moho

  For most of the early era of interplanetary colonization, the focus was in cisMun space, Duna, Eve, and Jool. Moho was relatively unpopulated, with only a small population of researchers examining the innermost planet. Once beamliner networks came online, it made sense to look to Moho. Moho was rich in resources and energy, and as a result, mining operations, much of them in the shadowed craters of the polar regions, were established. These operations were self-expanding—using the resources around them to build more complex equipment for more complex products. Using ground equipment, more and more solar power plants were constructed in orbit, allowing the resources from Moho to be shipped to other planets economically and quickly with powerful beamliners.

    Much of the colonies are located in the polar regions. The planet is host to only 2 million people, with about 90% of the population living on the surface. Two groups control Moho—the Rockomax Consortium and the Kerbodyne Confederation. The two groups are fairly decentralized, with most of the component companies conducting activities fairly independently.

Culture

    Much of the population of Moho came to the planet from other worlds fairly recently, and as a result the culture of Moho is quite diverse in nature. Most kerbals travel to the planet for work, generally by taking on an assignment from the major corporation they identify with. For this reason, an exceptionally high percentage of kerbals on Moho are employed, with many believing in a strong work ethic and competition.

A PSA: You'll need to buy a bigger rocket pack than that one, for a reason you might guess...

    Moho is host to several unique sports. One of the riskiest is Mohole jumping, which has several variants, such as jumping with a safety line attached, or jumping with only a minimal rocket pack for deceleration at the end. Another notable one is that of the terminator hike, where participants walk on the terminator between the day and night side of the planet, made possible by the extremely slow rotation of the planet.

Conclusion

  Moho is probably not where all the big action of the Kerbol system is likely to happen, as a result of its small population and late colonization, but there appear to be plenty of interesting world building and stories for a colonized Moho, with a stage for some conflict, unique crises facing the planet, and some rather extreme sports. Moho's real-life equivalent, Mercury, is often overlooked in the scene of Sci-Fi, but with this write-up it appears that there isn't much reason for Moho to suffer the same fate. This chapter has certainly helped with the world building for my Moho (which is different from the examples in this chapter), and I hope it will have helped with yours as well. In short, Moho is the energy powerhouse, the production giant, and the world that is more developed than it might seem at first.

Thanks for Reading!

Next: Eve In A Colonized Kerbol System

 

Edited July 6, 2018 by SaturnianBlue
I now have a way to describe Moho in short!

[obney kerman]

HE'S BACK! HE'S ALIVE!

[DAL59]

• 5 hours ago, SaturnianBlue said:

  Mercury, is often overlooked in the scene of Sci-Fi, but with this write-up it appears that there isn't much reason for Moho to suffer the same fate.

  It plays a major role in Rendezvous with Rama...

[SaturnianBlue]

2 minutes ago, DAL59 said:

• It plays a major role in Rendezvous with Rama...

I admit that I may have made a bit of an off the cuff statement. I also admit I haven't read Rendezvous with Rama, even though I certainly should. I was just sort of thinking in comparison to say, Mars, for example.

[DAL59]

1 minute ago, SaturnianBlue said:

I admit that I may have made a bit of an off the cuff statement. I also admit I haven't read Rendezvous with Rama, even though I certainly should. I was just sort of thinking in comparison to say, Mars, for example.

True.  In fact, thats the only example of Mercury in fiction I can think of...

[SaturnianBlue]

2 minutes ago, DAL59 said:

True.  In fact, thats the only example of Mercury in fiction I can think of...

The only other example I know of would be 2312 from KSR.

[Kosmonaut]

I'm working on a similar thing with the IRL inner solar system for a high school project, and I made Mercury a mainly Helium³ exporter- my system is economically state capitalist/socialist, [snip] and so all of the economic stuff is distributed as necessary to the colonies without worrying about trade. That way you can really specialize planets. Anyways, one of the big things I had was an unpowered Helium³ refinery. Mercury has a lot of Helium³, due to the lack of atmosphere and proximity to the sun, and to refine it, one needs to heat it to about 600^oC, and so with a refinery at the Mercury-Sun L1 Point (so that it's always in sunlight), and using a massive mirror array, can channel heat to a big tank circulating unrefined Helium³, the heat of the sun will be directed and concentrated on the refinery and can refine it without using electricity to refine it. Then a density sieve will take the refined from the unrefined and other materials, and boom, there's refined Helium³.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Vanamonde

[SaturnianBlue]

@Kosmonaut I'm not sure of the specifics of helium-3 refining, so I cannot speak for the refining process, but wouldn't helium-3 be at best a side product? I would think that the other material extracted from regolith would overall be worth more to the colony through sheer volume, especially metal ores and the sort.

[Kosmonaut]

2 minutes ago, SaturnianBlue said:

@Kosmonaut I'm not sure of the specifics of helium-3 refining, so I cannot speak for the refining process, but wouldn't helium-3 be at best a side product? I would think that the other material extracted from regolith would overall be worth more to the colony through sheer volume, especially metal ores and the sort.

So those would be taken right off the bat. My plan is to use giant crawlers who circumnavigate the planet in exactly 58.5 days to always stay on the night side, and they sift through and pull the dirt through. Rocks are separated out, and then when they get to the space elevators, the big stuff is pulled out before it gets to the refinery. I haven't done enough work on that yet, but still, it's a cheap refinery.

[SaturnianBlue]

1 minute ago, Kosmonaut said:

So those would be taken right off the bat. My plan is to use giant crawlers who circumnavigate the planet in exactly 58.5 days to always stay on the night side, and they sift through and pull the dirt through. Rocks are separated out, and then when they get to the space elevators, the big stuff is pulled out before it gets to the refinery. I haven't done enough work on that yet, but still, it's a cheap refinery.

How do you suppose the space elevator operates on Mercury, since the altitude for a stationary orbit is far above the SoI? I would imagine mass drivers or skyhooks being more adapted for use on Mercury.

[Kosmonaut]

21 hours ago, SaturnianBlue said:

How do you suppose the space elevator operates on Mercury, since the altitude for a stationary orbit is far above the SoI? I would imagine mass drivers or skyhooks being more adapted for use on Mercury.

Yeah superconducters to surf the magnetic field could work, but as long as the top goes to a geostationary altitude, it can be outside the SOI.

That's a problem I encountered a few weeks back and then promptly forgot about as I moved on to floating atmospheric harvesters on Venus

That one's a cool one too- the rockets used to transport materials all use Hydrogen and LOX, so the fuel can be extracted from the atmosphere. They launch, fall back/deorbit, but instead of parachutes they use balloons, and then can be picked up by the utility blimps on the floaters, and promptly reassembled and reused by the crew.

[SaturnianBlue]

The first part of the Eve chapter should be coming out in a few days. The chapter as a whole has been completely written up, so the following chapter should come out relatively quickly after the first one.

In the meantime, here's a screenshot of one the craft featured in the next installment! 

It may appear to be an innocent looking freighter, but as we'll find out in the next chapter, that is NOT the case!

[Kosmonaut]

I see no solar panels- battleship? Carrier?