NationStates Jolt Archive

[United City States of Kurtz]

It had been nearly a decade since the last war. The equitorial island chain of Kurtz was slowly becoming a peaceful place, a tourist attraction, again. Roughly twice the size of Hawaii in landmass, the 13 islands of the Kurtz chain were perfect places for a tropic getaway: Situated in the Hadley Cells, there was little violent weather. Dormant volcanoes and black sand beaches attracted vacationers, but the population had not always been so approving. Over the course of three wars Kurtz had been scarred by violence, until the populace grew sick of conflict and finally negotiated a treaty with the United City States.

The offshore bases were a sign of the times, if the UCSNE was at war, there would be more activity among the huge floating naval docks. But the carriers and their groups regularly departed for patrol and exercise, nothing more. However, these times were different.

Huge masses of freighters were streaming towards an area of water owned by the navy and defended by its 'Floating fortress' style offshore platforms. Usually such vessels would travel into one of the various ports throughout the island chains. Something big would be happening in the islands as the UCSNE moved to expand its power.

[Berliston Aerospace Regional Headquarters]

The office was being filled up, perched in perfect view of the construction site from the 2300 meter high arcology. It was a standard model in New Empire, a variation on the tilted half dome. Parts of it were covered in solar panels, various wind turbines and buildings protruded from the curving surface.

Project supervisor Roland Holberg looked out from the office, out towards the floating platform. It was newly constructed, modules towed in from BeAe and various other ports. The project was backed by the government and over 20 major corporations, funding had been completed. He mused about how much they were betting on this. It was a ridiculously high capital investment, the stock market and the nations economy would be riding on this.

And yet, he wished he wasn't building it in Kurtz. Sure, the bright seas and emerald-jade jungle islands were tourists spots now, but years of war gave him a nagging feeling.

[In Geosynchronous Orbit]

Over 35,000 km of microthin carbon-nanotube cable unspooled from the belly of the spaceplane, carefully guided by the crew. It was practically invisible, the cable itself was 20 tons, but it was covered with a filament that would also glow, in order to avoid collision. When it reached the ground, it would be secured onto the mobile platform. Soon, construction of the elevator and its systems would begin in earnest.

[OOC: I meet your space elevator and up it a space escalator. This has been a TAG.]

OOC: *Scratches head* Whats a "space elevator" and whats it for?! (I can only imagine). tagged

OOC: Nice, I wanna help! *TAGGED*

OOC: Space escalator? Oh please. My more affordable 'Space Stairs' will pwn it massively.

BTW, this is 2020-2030 tech.

IC:

[UCSNEWS: What you need to know.]
[August 28, 20**, Online Edition]
[Seed Cable laid on Kurtz Space Elevator]

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/5586/elev0ls.jpg
Artists impression of the Phase I space elevator on completion. It features fuel for spacecraft and a rotating habitat for its crew.

The first steps towards a working space elevator in Kurtz were completed today, as a government owned Mark Eight spaceplane deployed the first 35,800 kilometers of the space elevator. Surprisingly, this was only 20 metric tons. The filament is only .02 kg per kilometer of length, and it is coated with a glowstrip to avoid collision. The tower of light now dominates the skyline, which has sparked complaints with some about light pollution. However, the criticism was silenced after scientists demonstrated the danger of the cable to an unlucky aircraft. The hairlike cable, made of carbon nanotubes, is immensely strong (but expensive) material and could, in some areas, slice an airplane's wing right off the fuselage.

The space elevators cost is estimated at several billion, though taxpayers won't be paying much of the cost. The primary backer is defense and aviation/space giant Berliston Aerospace, and many other corporations have tagged along.

"A space elevator would cut down the price of transporting materials to high orbit and beyond significantly, opening the door for space industry." said NEAR (New Empire Aerospace Research think our equivalent of NASA, though with more private involvement) Director Alan Pollard, who also said earlier such an elevator could become a launch mechanism for spacecraft as well.

The elevator will feature three 'lanes' for climbers, which can each carry several hundred tons of cargo, at costs of around Au50 (roughly 100 dollars USD) per kilogram, a thousandfold improvement on the Mark Seven spaceplanes used by the UCSNE currently.

Next issue: The base: How the space elevator will leave its mark on the surface.

[Kurtz Senesa Naval Platform]

The UCSNE was no stranger to artificial islands. Built to protect oil reserves and sea lanes, as well as provide a layer of air defense and extended influence, the Senesa was a 10 mile long strip of man-made bases, docks extending from their main bases, weapons and sensors poking out from mounts. This base would oversee the construction of the platform. The amount of defense seemed unnecessary for a civilian project, but one never knew the dangers that could emerge from Kurtz, whether they be disease or combatants.

OOC: so whats to stop it from being destroyed by a couple ASAT missiles?

OOC: so whats to stop it from being destroyed by a couple ASAT missiles?


[OOC: The fact that if you do, you get pummelled by his military, and then he takes all the money and slave labor necessary to rebuild it.]

OOC: You'll see... I'm going to have a ridiculous amount of high powered lasers, SBR, and defensive weapons.

[OOC: The fact that if you do, you get pummelled by his military, and then he takes all the money and slave labor necessary to rebuild it.]
Pummeled by his military, huh? That would be quite a war.

[KSE Earthside]
http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/6451/kse6cw.png
Hollberg was standing on a miles long artificial island. The sound of the surf on metal and polymer could be heard from where he stood, on one of the airstrips floating on Transfer One. The two transfer stations were airports and seaports where any material that would be elevated in the future would be transferred to. For now, it was clogged with engineers overseeing the massive structure.

There was a monorail service, already up and powered by a bank of nuclear reactors. Sitting in a passenger car, the monorail hummed to life and took him across the Transfer One's bridge to the Kurtz Space Elevator's platform. Heavier layers of nanotube were going up, and you could see the warning-lit spire from quite some distance now. But the monorail continued, across another, smaller bridge towards the KSEA, the Kurtz Space Elevator Authority. A joint-stock, government backed company, the KSEA headquarters was a mass of shining office building, with a domed, park like area for various purposes. The monorail stopped at the KSEA building, under the building in a spartan hallway. He swiped a keycard, and the doors to the inside of the building swiftly opened.

Inside was a well furnished room, with pictures and flatscreens from cameras looking up towards the elevator. From the angles presented, it was like a temple to some god of science, extending up into the clouds. Some hardcase evangelical in the Eastern provinces was probably having a fit about the Tower of Babel or some silly thing like that, Roland mused.

He was here today for an important meeting with other corporations and the head of the Aerospace Force. The space elevator's applications were more than just commercial.

[OOC: The fact that if you do, you get pummelled by his military, and then he takes all the money and slave labor necessary to rebuild it.]

Considering the amount of damage several dozen thousand kilometers of cable falling from GEO could do to the surrounding orbit, you could probably justify nuclear retaliation.

OOC: The cable would burn up in the atmosphere, or if it did survive, it would drape itself eastward along the equator, which would hit (in my case) a few islands and some ocean, perhaps some other nations. It might hit a few satellites (The upper portion), but its unlikely I'd retaliate with nuclear unless my government gets really pissed.

I suppose the elevator has disabled access.... :D

"Spaceplanes!"
The Governor of Arêtê spat the word out like an expletive at the intelligence officer across the room.
"How did they get spaceplanes, and we didn't know about it? You're supposed to be up on these things! You are supposed to know everything that goes on down in Low Orbit before it even happens! And then your supposed to tell me!"
The officer started to curl up past neutral position, averting his eyes from the upset Governor. "Well, we're sorry sir, I don't know what to say. Maybe they're brand new? I mean, we can't really keep a watch on everything that happens on the ground, so if this is their first launch...."
"First launch and they start putting up an elevator? Oh, please, next you'll be telling me that you've found a nation that built a nuclear lightbulb booster before they tried chemical. Well, no use dwelling on it, we can't very well change the past so we'll just have to contact them now. But make it very clear to Director Minksk that there are to be no future screw-ups. So, what have you got on them?"
The officer loosened up a little. "Well, as I said, sir, this is the first we've heard of them, so not much. Their anchor platform is an artificial floating island, so that's good, but so far they seem to be going with a single-strand approach. Of course, that might change in the future, they did just start after all, we can ask them later I suppose. If they're not based there, they at least have control over an equatorial volcanic island chain, called the Kurtz Islands I think. Not as good a location as the Ecuadorian Coast, but aside from that and the usual Sargasso issues, they've got a pretty good spot. I'm surprised it's taken until now for them to start building. They appear to have a well developed military establishment, but we really can't tell much more about the nation itself, just what we can see of their architecture. Minksk has three other officers assigned to data mining, but probably it will be easier to just get on with contact and ask them the usual questions."
"Hah... Right. Well, off you go then. E-mail any further reports to my office, I'll star drafting a letter."
"Thank you sir, good day sir."

Two long-range, high collimation radio dishes were aligned to intitiate contact with the UCSNE- one focused at the geosynchronous anchor, one at the floating Earthside anchor station. The following text message went out on the 42cm band:

To Whom It May Concern,
Regarding the New Space Elevator Anchored in the Kurtz Islands

This message comes to you from the City-ship Arêtê, a City-ship of the Guild Phoenicia of the Intrasolar Republic of Spacer Guilds, in high Earth orbit. Your entrance into the space age is of interest to us, and we would like to meet with representatives of your government to discuss the possibility of mutually beneficial trade agreements.

Please respond on the 42cm band. This ship is to be found in a 96 hour equatorial orbit.

~Governor of Arêtê

[Berliston] (http://img344.imageshack.us/img344/7853/arco9ch.gif)

President Jan Smit looked over the communication with interest. He should have expected that, a full scale space elevator would certainly be bringing a lot of attention to the United City States. He contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and the following message was sent in reply.

[UCSNE DoFA]
[Arêtê Government]


The United City States would also be interested in any kind of trading relations. We invite you to visit our capital city, Berliston, where we can discuss this in detail.
[endcomm]

the tokera will help with the construction

[Governor of Arêtê]
[UCSNE DoFA]


We thank you for your invitation. If you could inform us of the location of the nearest airport equipped with at least one landing strip of one kilometer or greater length, and any relevant air traffic regulations, we will dispatch a delegation as soon as possible. If no suitable airstrip exists, please inform us of the location of the nearest conventional airport, and the appropriate arrangements will be made to deal with the situation. If this is the case, we would suggest clearing all runways of traffic for a one hour window around our arrival time to ensure safety.
[endcomm]

OOC: This is from Spacer guilds, he TGed me this as he couldn't post.
IC:

[The Berliston Military Arcology (Megalith 1) has a 2km landing strip that should suit your purposes. It is usually reserved for large transports and tankers, however, we can reschedule flights for your arrival. From there we will have our men bring you to the Old Fortress, the government owned area of Berliston.]

[Governor of Arêtê]
[UCSNE DoFA]

Thank you. A WaveRider will be dispatched immediately. Expect arrival in 25 hours, 30 minutes.*
[endcomm]

The spaceplane launched off of Arêtê with two crew and gear, and immediately began a powerful prograde burn. Despite thrusting backwards from the City-ship, however, the oss of orbital energy caused it to rapidly move forward against the drive flame and fall towards the Earth. When their perigee hit the atmosphere, the pilots cut the engines and began the long drift down.

A little over 24 hours later, the blue band of Earth's atmosphere was just visible at the bottom of the windshield. A short burn was executed to flip the ship over, so that it was upside-down and nose-forward, before it encountered the tenuous upper atmosphere. With the Earth now looming large above the windshield, the pilots opened the ramscoops for hypersonic flight, and the spaceplane sliced into the atmosphere. While upside-down, the feeble lift provided by the wings at this altitude held the spaceplane under the atmosphere, rather than letting it go skipping off out into space again. The spaceplane steadily decelerated under atmospheric drag and reverse thrust provided by the ramscoops until it began to drop into dangerously thick altitudes, at which point the pilots quickly executed a roll to bring the spaceplane upright, closed the ramscoops, and pitched the nose upwards to present the maximum underside surface area. The ceramic underside of the spaceplane began to glow dull red as it encountered heavier air at nearly mach 30, turning bright orange, yellow, and nearly white as it fell faster and faster into thicker and thicker altitudes, and then fading back to orange as its speed diminished and it finally entered a supersonic glide somewhere in the troposphere. The pilots now opened up the ramscoop configuration for supersonic flight, running the airstream over a set of impellers to store energy for later use. At 50 kliks range from the airstrip, the spaceplane was coming in at just under mach 1, and steadily decelerating under reverse thrust. The back wheels hit the tarmac screaming as the spaceplane released a drogue chute, followed shortly thereafter by three main deceleration chutes, with the engines opened full throttle to slow the massive craft down. Finally rolling to a stop just shy of a kilometer after touchdown, a huge cloud of steam billowed from the intakes, engine bells, and aft cooling vents. When it cleared, the chutes were in the process of being winched back in, and tiny nozzles had extended from the underside, spraying a upwards and creating a fine mist all around the spaceplane as they cooled the underside. Near the front, a seam opened and a ramp descended to the tarmac, held by four pneumatic pistons.

Down this ramp came two spacers- short figures with bug-eyed helmets, dressed entirely in shiny black, the support struts of their powered suits giving them a skeletal appearance.

[OOC:* One half of an orbit intersecting the atmosphere from an apogee intersecting the 96 hour orbit plus change for cruise and landing time.]