NationStates Jolt Archive

Empress Oronrà sat in her lavish office, drumming her fingers on the desk, obviously deep in thought. Her assistant, who stood only feet away, had seen her like this before, when she got lost in her thoughts, consumed by some decision she had to make. Usually, her train of thought was a total mystery; however, today was especially unusual. The Empress was faced with the decision of whether or not to reattempt the colonization of a Jovian moon. It was no great secret that the last attempt had gone down in a firey wreck, a major and international embarassement. Finally, obtaining a Jovian colony had almost become a personal vendetta for the Empress, and today she would have to decide to follow through or not.

She slowly started to shake her head, a moment of weakness, a rarety to say the least. "Mr. Haupt," she began, "You know what this decision means to me." Her assistant simply nodded and offered a weak smile. The Empress stared off into the distance and continued. "After the whole Io catasrophe this could be our real last chance at a successful colonization. If we fail again, I'm not sure another opportunity will ever present itself. This is the first time in a very long while where I have been truely afraid to make a decision. What should I do?"

"I can't answer that question. Only you can make that decision."

"Mr. Haupt, you have always been here to help me, I'm asking only for your opinion."

"My opinion is that your people view you as a living god, this is your responsibility and no one elses. If you can't make the decision, there is no one that can."

The Empress sighed inwardly. "Your very right. I know you are, its just hard." She paused and looked at him. "You know, if I could do this all over again, I wouldn't have this position for all the gold in the world...fetch me my scribe. Its time we obtained a Jovian colonly."

Haupt's face light-up for an instant and then quickly returned to the expressionless stare which had been there only moments ago. With an energetic bow he rushed from the room to get the Imperial scribe.

>>>Transmission to: [All Members of the Jovian System]<<<
>>>VIA {Largentian Diplo Networks} <<<
{From: The Office for Foreign Affairs}
{Subject: Formal Announcement of Settlements and Colonization}

On behalf of Empress Elwing Oronrá, representing the Ba'ath National Command of Largent and the united Provinces therein, it is with great pleasure I announce the Largentian colonization of two Jovian moons. From here on forth, the satellites of Himalia and Elara shall be inducted into the Ba'ath National Command and recognized as official Largentian territory and treated as such.

We wish to make it extremely clear that all Largentian presence within the Jovian system will be a peaceful one and hopefully will allow for greater prosperity through trade and/or alliances with out new-found neighbors. We are open towards meeting with any nation individually at their earliest convinience and discuss the future relations we could have and reassure them that we can be trustworthy neighbors.

I do declare this valid, given under my hand, Gregor Schelzi, Overseer of the Office for Foreign Affairs, acting on behalf of The Ba'ath National Command of Largent.

OOC: I did several forum searches and nothing turned up for either moon. However, I recognize that searches can be iffy at best sometimes and if anyone has a prior claim to these moons I will understand and would like to negotiate a possible purchase of some land.

The Oronrà Initiative

Giove Soldi: Himalia and Elara
The Jovian Colonies

The first satellite reached by colonial fleets was Himalia, dubbed Luminosa Largenti due to the fact that Himalia is the brightest of the outer satellites. Cities and defense measures were immediately installed with an initial population of near to five million. A population boom, as with all new colonies, is expected to take place over the next few months. All immigration and economic logistics will be handled by the JVI Colonial Commission [JCCVI]. With Himalia being the larger of the two colonies, it will become the military command center for any Jovian fleet. It has been suggested that Himalia become the civilian and military center of activity leaving Elara to more of a trade/buisness and research hub.

Elara, the second satellite to be colonized was dubbed Tityus Largenti in honor of the mythological son of Elara, as previously mentioned will act as a major trade outpost and research and development center. There will be few if any civilian centers and a spacestation, McAlpin Station, may be put into orbit close to the colony as a center for more commercial business necessities. Elara's colonization and possibly governing will be oversought by the JVII Colonial Commission [JCCVII] which will work hand-in-hand with the JCCVI to form the general Jovian Colonial Commission [JCC], headed by Nathaniel Kinneson.

Elara and Himalia are suggested to possibly serve another purpose. Staggering amounts of money have been poured into colonization efforts by mining companies. Few other colonies have turned up valuable mining regions. However, Jovian colonies could be the goldmine companies have been waiting for. If mining oppourtunities are uncovered the upcoming population boom will increase ten-fold, possibly making Giove Soldi one of the largest Largentian colonies in the system.

There are no real security concerns within the Jovian System. Largent has no current feuds with any Jovian neighbors. While there may still be remaining tension following the last attempt to obtain a Jovian colony, enough time has passed so that no forseable conflicts will arise, and Largent will be anxious to extend a hand of friendship to all its new neighbors regardless of the past.

It is estimated that all major colonization and immigration should be quieting down in the next few years barring any serious delays. There is enough national support close by to have all civilian areas to be finished well before the end of the next decade and all other instellations to be finished within five years following that milestone.

It is still far too early to determine for sure just what economic opportunities these colonies will present but the possibilites are truely endless at this point, and the option of terraforming has not been totally ruled out if the two satellites become the hub of activity they could potentially become. It is certainly a situation Largentian Authorities will watch with utmost interest.

a small bump until i can get up another post

It took hours of deliberation and debate before a proper course of action for the terraforming of Elara could be decided upon. The small rock would not be suitable for standard terraforming, yet Largentian authorities wanted the colonies as appealing as possible, so not terraforming was simply not an option. Thus, it was decided that an entirely new method of terraforming would be attempted. A massive 'worldhouse', to product of paraterraforming, would be built around the moon.

The first step in the building of this type of worldhouse is to determine the amount of volatiles a planet has and begin to form a livable atmosphere not different from Earth's. Some worlds may have too much or two little of a give element for proper terraforming. Once this is done figuring out what volatiles to add and what volatiles to remove is determined. In Elara's case, there were substantial amounts locked in rock and ice below the surface; however, more would have to be added.

Next six towers are built on the moon. These towers are roughly 25km in height and are located at six points on the moon's surface. One tower at is built at each pole and another at four points on the planet's equator. One or all of the towers are used as a base of operation for the terraforming project. They also serve as a framework for a magnetic orbital launch system or as the anchor for a space elevator. However, Elara is in a tidal lock with Jupiter making a space elevator a poor economical decision.

Once the towers are built the process of removing or adding volatiles begins. Nanites combined with large compressors and other structures in the tower begin releasing volatiles trapped in the rocks or converting excess atmospheric gases into inert solids, which are buried or launched into space. During this process the surface of the Moon can be resculpted to create ocean basins and continents if such formations do not exist. Since not all of the volatiles were found on the planet itself asteroids and comets will be diverted into the planets orbit. Orbital factories will grind the chunks of various ices into smaller chunks, which will then be rained down on the planet as micrometeorites. This prevents many of the problems of large-scale cometary or asteroidal bombardment.

Once the volatiles are balanced the construction of the worldhouse roof begins. Large hydrogen balloons are used to raise 25 km long tethers of carbon cable above the planets surface. These cables will serve as anchors for the worldhouse roof, which will be held up by hydrogen or helium filled cells combined with atmospheric pressure from the planet. Automated, high speed, and lightweight airships are then used to connect the individual tethers to the towers with thin cables. Once this web is completed robots begin climbing the towers weaving a denser web between the towers and the tethers. This denser web is the covered in a clear hydrocarbon self-healing polymer. Flexible hydrogen filled cells are then attached to the web starting at the towers. These are held in place by the reinforced polymer roof, which seems to grow from the six towers. A second layer of reinforced polymer is placed on the bottom of the hydrogen cells creating a flexible self-supporting roof that covers the entire planet.

Next nanites begin to grow thin lightweight flexible solar cells on the outer side of the worldhouse roof. These solar cells completely block the planets surface off from light. Some worldhouse roofs are covered in flexible rectenna that covert beamed microwave energy into electricity. While the rectenna or solar cells are coating the top of the world house roof a second series of helium filled cells are being attached to the underside of the roof. These cells have full spectrum lights at that are suspended in the cells core. These are what create the light for the terraformed planet. The undersides of the helium filled cells are made of a light-diffusing polymer, which spreads out the high intensity light creating gentler glow. The light can be turned on, off or varied in intensity as needed.

The entire Worldhouse roof if a gian electromagnetic sheild that helps to protect the planet from harmful radiation. Also, on the interior the lights are varied to create day and night cycles and the entire climate can be changed from region to region in order to suite the needs of the populace. The six towers will the the entrance and exit to the roof and will most likely act as centers for the populace.

The whole process should be completed within the year. In the mean time, immigrants from other regions of Largent will have to stay in prebuilt habitats until the terraforming is complete. It is likely that the late stages of the Worldhouse construction will be a major inconvinience and it may even be necessary to relocate large portions of the population for a time of up to two months. However, once complete, Elara will look and feel much the same as Earth.

On Himalia, standard terraforming is possible due to the amount of presence of enough volatiles and a large enough gravity.