NationStates Jolt Archive

The Chiron Multipurpose Conglomerate anounced today their intention to construct a new planet between Jupiter and Saturn. The first stage of construction was, in fact, begun several years ago with the construction of Chiron Station, and the Conglomerate now intends to use the engines of the Guild ship Herculaneum, placed on the surface of Chiron during construction, to move the Centaur planetoid into a new orbit. Following this action, several other Centaur planetoids are to be boosted into orbits that will cause them to collide with Chiron, eventually building up planet Centaur.

Interesting idea. Are you going for a spheroid planet or a rocky body? I'm quite interested in the details.

Science Advisor Sister Maria, OotMH

Interesting idea. Are you going for a spheroid planet or a rocky body? I'm quite interested in the details.

The intent is to stick the first two planetoids together in a dumbbell shape by putting them into close orbit, and then stringing nanofiber tethers and scaffolds between them. Then, the third planetoid will make a triangle, the fourth a tetrahedron, etc. with Chiron in the middle of the whole thing. Obviously, gravity will make sure that such a construct is extremely unstable, so the full tetrahedron will never actually exist, as bits of the first planetoids are transplanted to the surface of Chiron as the last planetoids are still moving into place.

There are several other possibilities for how to amalgamate all of the planetoids, and the plan is likely to change considerably as we get further into the project, but the basic idea of deconstructing each planetoid and moving the peices around will remain, as simply smashing them together would lead to unnacceptable loss of material, and likely be far too dangerous where the current inhabitants of Chiron are concerned.

(OOC: What? No screams of godmodding? Amazing....)

Why? It's a creative idea, far above the hidieous "I have an uber-ship" that gets people whacked around here. Good luck on the project - though this is outside of our expertise I am sure Sunset scientists will be watching with interest.

---Post deleted by NationStates Moderators---

(OOC: What? No screams of godmodding? Amazing....)

OOC: Yeah, once I had a whole pack of nutcases calling me a godmoder and threatening to go to war with me for merely asking whether I needed UN approval to dismantle a planet. I assured them that I would do nothing to kill any sentient being, but only dismantle an uninhabited planet. They insisted that dismantling a planet would send the whole solar system into chaos. So eventually we fired ignore cannons at each other and went our separate ways.

ooc:
Yes, this is something rarely done, but someone of your tech level could do it. I will assist you since I'm in SEACTO, would you like assistance?
OOC: Currently, this is planned to be a private project, although it's partially supported by the government. However, if you have a space-based corporation that would like to do business with the Chiron Conglomerate, that could make for an interesting RP.

Basicly you're just making your own gigantic asteroid. Not realy a planet. Planets tend to be spheres and if not a gas planet, have an multiple core mantles and such things. That's the reason why people are still debating if Pluto realy is a planet.
Good luck with your endevaor. We are looking forward to the results.

ooc: I'd add a bit more techno babble ;)

Basicly you're just making your own gigantic asteroid. Not realy a planet. Planets tend to be spheres and if not a gas planet, have an multiple core mantles and such things. That's the reason why people are still debating if Pluto realy is a planet.
Good luck with your endevaor. We are looking forward to the results.


If you don't call it a planet, call it a comet. Not an asteroid, as it will be composed of more ice than rock. The final construction will be spherical, and actually quite a bit larger than Pluto. Approximately double Pluto's radius, in fact. And internal structure really has no bearing on whether or not anything is categorized as a planet, with the current accepted definition being, quote, "A celestial body, larger than an asteroid and massive enough for gravity to pull it into a roughly spherical form, which revolves about a sun in an orbit of a moderate degree of eccentricity. It is distinguished from a comet by the absence of a coma, and by having a less eccentric orbit."

*Ahem*

After recieving permission from the nation of Scolopendra to engage in mining activities on a uranium-rich world discovered by their galactic exploration program, the Dwarf Star Fleet was deployed to collect said uranium for use in the Chiron project. Total acquisitions thus far amount to 20,000,000,000 tonnes, with the required ten percent being paid to Scolopendra in royalties, leaving the CMC with 18,000,000,000.

Some of this has been requisitiond for use in the Martian Terraform Project, but the bulk is to be used to make up the core of Planet Chiron, providing extra dense mass and therefore rasing gravity, but also providing a significant source of heat.

(OOC: Just a reminder that this is here, really.)

*this space reserved for later technical updates*

We must admit to being concerned at the effects such a creation will have, especially in respect of tides. The ability to simulate the results of the creation of a planet is going to be minimal and far from all-encompassing, and it seems needlessly dangerous to life as we know it.

We must admit to being concerned at the effects such a creation will have, especially in respect of tides. The ability to simulate the results of the creation of a planet is going to be minimal and far from all-encompassing, and it seems needlessly dangerous to life as we know it.

We find it unlikely that an object as far away as Centaur could have any noticeable effect on Earthly tides.

Progress Report:
Fissionables Recovered: 60,000,000,000 tonnes total, 54,000,000,000 tonnes useable.
Total Amalgamated Centaurs: 3, four is in place and ready for dissassembly.
Radius: 2260km
Mean Density: 2.4
Surface Gravity: 1.515876991m/s^2

Progress Report:
Heavy metal core in place. Average core temperature 2800K.
Total Amalgamated Centaurs: 4
Other Materials: 3 Asteroids, 7 Comets, 63,000,000,000 tonnes of imported fisionables.
Radius: 2262km
Mean Density: 2.4
Surface Gravity: 1.517218475m/s^2

Negotiations ongoing to acquire Snel spacebornes for artificial biosphere.

(*bump for viewage*)

Cool idea, we will be watching with interest.

BTW, how are you getting the core to stay that hot?

63,000,000,000 tonnes of uranium/plutonium. Rather radioactive too, but nothing that 2,000 kliks of ice can't solve.

I don't know if WV is on earth...

How much is a Centaur planetoid? One my of allies is intested in building a few new additions to his system, and he'd be very interested in these.

Semi-IC/OOC:

Interesting.

Wazzu once tried to increase the spin of Venus...on the absolutely terrible advise of one lazy scientist. It turned out that Venus was so massive that the energy cost was not just beyond Wazzu's then means, but probably beyond the entire solar system's. That scientist quickly found himself moving to a new nation in order to get a survivable wage flipping burgers.

So if it is so far beyond the abilities of Wazzu to spin a planet of mass and gravity high enough to hold a breathable atmosphere, I am curious how any nation has the ability to move planetoids from afar and create a planet.

I'm not saying it can't be done, just that I am curious as to how. Could you fill me in a bit?

-The Cardboard Avenger

OOC:
So if it is so far beyond the abilities of Wazzu to spin a planet of mass and gravity high enough to hold a breathable atmosphere, I am curious how any nation has the ability to move planetoids from afar and create a planet.

I'm not saying it can't be done, just that I am curious as to how. Could you fill me in a bit?
You do it very slowly, and don't aim for a large end product. It's basically the same idea as one would use to divert a comet for terraforming, except on a larger scale, and you're diverting all your comets into an empty rendez-vous point instead of towards a planet. What I'm imagining happening is that two or three ships consisting of little more than a honkin' huge fusion engine, an ice crusher, and an electrolysis tank land on the target body, bury themselves in the ice, and use the indigenous materials as propellant to nudge it into a transfer orbit over 18-36 months (whacked-off estimates based on moving comets; not sure what the actual exact times would be) depending on the mass of the body. Since centaurs, though small compared to a planet, are large compared to comets, there's enough mass available for a brachistochrone orbit rather than a traditional Hohmann orbit if you happen to be in a hurry [relatively speaking]. Meanwhile, solar-powered excavation robots wait until the centaur comes close enough to the sun or to a remote laser power station to begin deconstructing the planetoid, flinging off the chunks into orbits that will [eventually, as in several decades hence] put them in useful places, possibly at the site of the new planet, possibly somewhere else. Maybe a space station somewhere could use extra water and methane for something. Methinks you could get some extra thrust and ensure that all of you're material ends up back together at the end by accelerating the chunks into the same orbit as the planetoid being moved but in the opposite direction.

How much is a Centaur planetoid? One my of allies is intested in building a few new additions to his system, and he'd be very interested in these.
Several billion tonnes, usually. There are plenty left- go take one if you need one.