Thursday 13 September 2018

Politics. Peace. Intersolar Travel.

Politics. Peace. Intersolar Travel.



----------------------------------------
Google + is shutting down comments so.. putting this here:



I enjoyed writing this..

my daydream extended further..

After seeing what the American's had with Luna, EAS (English AeroSpace formerly BAS (British AeroSpace).. The English wanted that for themselves, Ceres was to be important for outer Solar mining, and so would become a fueling station, so EAS launched a small spacestation into earth orbit in 2039, it had a small ship attached, they then send up rectangular cubes, something like modular homes or sealed metal portacabins, each containing the things needed to study Ceres, 2044 they had assembled the parts into a spaceport/vessel, inside were remote controlled robots, controlled via VR on Earth (Tera), synced inside the server for any time delay. by 2049 Spaceport 'Jerusalem' safely landed and commenced sending sync signals to the server on Earth.

China once they realized how a much of a claim the Russians had on Venus, backed off, and 2040 launched their mission to Mercury, declaring IF they got curatorship of Mercury, this would also make them Curator of the Sun.. and while all were skeptical, this is certainly how this has worked out. They have ultra high density solar panels that charge vast batteries, they transport them back to Earth and exchange the power for natural gas, oxygen and nitrogen (as exchanging the batteries themselves would not be profitable) but all the vessels need electrical power, especially in the outer solar system (past the Asteroid Belt or as I dub it 'Sol Belt').. pretty much all vessels use their charging system as fuel is so valuable in outgoing missions, they have bases on Deimos, Vesta, and Himalia.

How did Scotland get Curatorship of Titan and Ganymede??
Ohw, it was kind of random luck, in June of 2042 the USA President withdrew all funding for extra solar bodies from NASA, which, as a knock on, hit SpaceX quite badly.. the morale around the world .. the hopes for outer solar mining and travel, sunk to an all time low, quite coincidentally Scotland's Fortitude probe destined for Ganymede launched in late autumn of 2042.. so in part big 'screw you' to the US from the World Council and part genuine gratitude to the 'Truth of Humanity'* towards Scotland's efforts, Scotland was granted special dispensation and Curatorship of Ganymede.. a year later and rushed launch and 'Fidelity' was on its way to Titan.. hopes returned, hearts elevated, and peace of all mankind again became a vivid reality in the making.. merely inches and moments away.
Not lifetime after lifetime of lazy politicians..
SpaceX and Elon Musk were great.. really amazing, but after the US pulled funding and started charging SpaceX for using the Luna Spaceport, SpaceX pretty much declined to staying on Mars, until the tragic death.. in 2058, one of the fueling seals blew, a value began shooting around inside the engine, the whole ship.. such a shame.. they name spaceports and great buildings after him, he is the JFK of Mars, pretty much always will be.
The EU had some meager bases that were contract licenced from SpaceX, no-one else had that kind of money at that time, as the majority of the return had been coming from the USA, who now weren't doing it.. although Russia put in a bid, but since they were already Curators of Venus, it was felt too powerful a thing to give them Mars also, that is our two closest neighbour planets. 
Sounds like I am chastising Russia.. I'm not, from day 1 of being Curator of Venus, they have shared resources and done the job they said they would do. A people of their word..The US pulling funding like that.. was devastating.. Russia did the right thing, providing troops for the (then new Service), what they couldn't give in money, they found elsewhere to enable and help others. Even backing down over the tensions of the mining rights/usage of Luna spaceport, just so we all could get *something* to prove the system *did* work. very noble.
Russians detest backing down.. but by doing so over time, we got to prove the US wrong.. these tensions remained until the Odessa Incident of 2085.
Not so much a 'cold war'.. but a 'cold shoulder', from the world to the US for 20-30 years.
As of 2130, the most populous people of the Earth are the ones you are most likely to meet on an intersolar body, The Chinese, The Russians, The Indians, The Americans.. the African Continent, has many peoples and yes you meet them from time to time, the World Council had some problems integrating some of the African countries, as some governments would not agree to punishment of their violent criminals.. it has been an ongoing discussion for over 80 years, with many African nations claiming it was barbaric to send violent criminals to die mining uncurated bodies.
South East Asia contributes many to the Service, particularly The Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar (Burma).
It's rare for me to meet a fellow Scot, except on Ganymede..
Commerce is alive and well.. if you make good money off world you can take those credits rent some land (from the Government of that country, not ownership) and have children here on Earth, raise them until they are whatever age you think they should be, then return to the intersolar body you made your fortune on.
Work isn't exactly as it was before.. you can work for 4 years, getting 5000 credits a week (plus if you make a profit you get to keep that.. there is no such thing as tax, the governmental bodies take the share from the resources, not from you).. if after the 4 years you decide not to work and to stay on Earth you still get 3000 credits a week.. and can live your life out doing whatever it is you want to do, that is lawful and within your means.
People on Earth live to on average to 140 years old now, at 65 they are given a choice if they wish to retire, many take the option not to retire, they are used to the extra money and perhaps they can gain something from working to ensure their children get a larger plot of land (if they are living with their children, a petition of an extra 5 or 8 years worked, might tip the balance for extra land) at 80 years old, they are respectfully asked to retire, they get the full 5000 credits for the reminder of their life having worked until 80. Many are granted a larger plot, regardless of their station of work.

What are conscripts? Is this national service?

Not National Service but.. I'll come to that in moment. Conscripts are members of the Service, but all members of the Service have *somewhat* of a choice where they are posted, an assignment comes and they are given the right to refuse.. however it's not that simple, they can only refuse one assignment at a time.. Russian Service persons usually elect to refuse going to Venus, as it's so hostile on the surface, Russia doesn't really expect them to go to the surface, however in times of crisis they *may* be expected to go into the upper atmosphere (Venusian Mesosphere), which itself can be dangerous, some vessels have irregular orbits and do not maintain their height regulation well, the Service are sent to warn the captains of the vessels.

A Serviceperson can also volunteer to go to a solar body they might like, or ask to work with a specific team working on .. something. They will be put on a waiting list and if their skills are required they will be first in line.

Countries who do not contribute engineering or scientifically, will have periods of National Service and National Conscription.. because of this some of these Service-persons burnout, but it's understood why. A great many see what it is humanity is doing and are inspired to stay on. minimum is 4 years.. that's why they get their own place on Venus or Mars, if they want something on Earth that will last them, they should do the 8-12 years. I say 8 to 12.. this is because if you are on Venus for 8 years, it gets recognised as worth 12 years anywhere else.. but you could serve 8 years in the Sol Belt with criminals, 8 years in the outer solar system, 8 years doing the Mercury runs.. counts as 12 for easier places. Ceres is still 12 years, but it's not hostile, just a spaceport for passengers, service and fueling.

What happens to Countries that refuse to provide *any* Servicepersons and do not contribute to the World Council via engineering or scientific discoveries.. who give nothing? 
Well.. harsh as it may seem, you give nothing you get nothing. If a country is very small and does not provide enough Servicepersons, and does not have the natural talent to contribute.. they ask that they, 1. adhere to all other rules of the world council that they are able to 2. use what resources they have for agricultural provision.. to provide food for the world.

We don't punish those who *can't* contribute.. only we exclude those who can and do not want to.
To date in 2130, only North Korea is the one nation whom will not cooperate with the World Council, the rest of the planet, every other nation sees the benefit of what we do for humanity.

Wait! Where does all the food come from? on Earth and off world??

On Earth.. just as we have been doing for millennia, we set aside land for the animals and fruit, vegetables that we wish to consume.. then we have overseers, who manage the bots.. the bots report back when a crop or cattle is sick and the overseer, who is a trained veterinarian & horticulturist, will cure whatever ails them.  
Off world.. people eat a LOT of fish heheh.. fish and rice! When I was in Space-Glasgow.. four months of fish and rice!.. y'see we found out in around 2050 with the Mars colonists that they were burning through food like crazy.. but rice is a natural constipatant .. so that slows down the bodies ability to burn food quickly.. ensuring every last bit of energy is extracted from the food before evacuation. Water is plentiful around the solar system, so we feed the fish rice that is enriched with algae and some other supplements*. .. humans don't eat the 'fish-rice' although I saw one guy trying to sell it near the Hexagon market.. everyone looked at him like he was totally gross!

They make it in big grotty tanks that are purposefully unclean, to make the algae grow. As money making schemes go.. no sale!

The rest of the food is shipped in, they use Maxpax.. I like MaxPax, their beef stew is sooo good! You can buy cheaper .. Corepax, nah.. never been a fan of them. The paxing companies reduce the size and weight of the meal to around the cubed size of your thumbnail, they remove the water and air and compress the food until its tiny. Over the years they have worked out how to make it go back to 'normal' once you add water and air back.
What about milk?

Well, we have a choice, dried milk from home.. or suppli-milk made on site, suppli-milks not too bad, but I'd rather have dried that was once real milk. suppli-milk can taste.. a bit chalky.. OK for tea or coffee.. but that's about it. But dried, yeah you can make ice-cream (iced-milk) milkshakes, cheese.. tastes good.

Sugar?

Ohw.. we have a specially created Dexterol (Glucosite), called DexTer, everyone.. even on earth uses that instead of sugar.. all of the energy and sweetness.. none of the fattening or rotting. People were going nuts when they first heard it was GM..but after 20 years of human trails they only thing extra they found it did was increase male sperm count.

It's not white like sugar, but you can have it in granules if you like.. it's orange. Most coffee and tea merchants off world have little dots on the lid of their cups, up to 6 mini DexTer tablets.. as the lid gets placed on the drink, the little dots open and fall into the drink. .. It's stupid.. but people dare each other to bite the mini ones haha.. like the cinnamon challenge.

Sugars the one place I think GM is OK.. coz if there's problems with sugar, and its a stable of our human diet.. I mean who wants to give up chocolate completely? etc.. other GM, I'm pretty against.

*(which is the maxim: Humans need resources. It is an inalienable Truth, beside the nobility of faith; it is the ultimate truth)

* We feed the supplements to the algae, then we feed the algae to the rice, then we feed the rice to the fish. (we drain the tank of water and plant the rice in the algae = feed the algae to the rice)
*(100% water only not nutrients or flavor! .. Maxpax slogan for 50 years!)

Who Curates Jupiter and Saturn?

As 'failed stars' they have special status, every nation owns them and can mine as they please, with the exception of any ecological disturbance. Essentially, the World Council curates Jupiter and Saturn.. giants are however an esteemed prize to Curate. With the Indians probably going to Curate Uranus, this will be the first Curation of an 'Ice Giant'.. with as of 2130 we have not yet reached Neptune with the Service. Lots of probes..no human contact. Once Uranus is controlled by the Service, then manned missions will start. The most outer moons are usually a spaceports, for quicker launching of vessels.. and with Oberon most likely being Cutated by Scotland, The Scottish Space Administration (TSSA) will be asked by the World Council to build a spaceport, so vessels can be launched to Iapetus, Curated by The South American Scientific Council (El Conselho Científico Sul-Americano, ECCSA) then to Callisto Curated by the Nordic Council (Department of Science)  then Ceres curated by English Aerospace (EAS), then Mars..

Wait! I get the idea, but why are there 'Councils' and 'Unions'.. doesn't the World Council manage things for the best coordination?

Well.. yes and no, it's the job of our politicians to get the best deal for those involved.. some countries decide to ally themselves to maximize scientific and engineering contribution and minimise conscription.. even separate partnerships.. Like Scotland is a member of the 'Raf-Fin'e Gauls' which has a partnership with Irish French.. we also employ Welsh and Cornish peoples.. but again Scotland is on the Nordic Council with the Scandinavian nations.. and again a member of the EU.. and a member of the 'Pan-Atlantic-AustralAsian Alliance'  which is the scientific branch of 'The Commonwealth'.. it's all very very complicated.. but to oversimplify it..

Working together gets you a share of incoming assets as stated, if you can contribute an IP to help another nation, you get a share.. Scotland owns many IPs, so we offer in exchange for a share.

The council, union or federation gets to complete their project without the cost of finding out if their idea would work/the whole project failing due to the part not working, knowing the IP already works and has been launched into space and does its job successfully.

The IP holder gets a share of the resources.

Normally Spaceports are run by a few nations working together, but Scotland is pretty rich, Praise The Lord! We do pretty well..

Curation by council bodies .. works easily as far as resources go, but as far as work goes.. the teams who make the IP.. well that's a bit more complicated, however, we don't have war so.. let people who enjoy arguing for better deals.. do their job. We civilians don't have to care..

How does the Mag-Suit work?

The Mag-suit has two parts, the clothing and the outer-shell.. The clothing has high density metal fibers woven through it, on Earth (Tera) it weighs 6 times the weight of the human that is to wear it, because on other solar bodies, the G is a fraction of 1.. meaning if you are on a body that is 1/6 the G-force of the Earth, you are weighted the same as if you were on Earth..The outer-shell is weighted to twice the weight of the human, why do it this way?.. because fabric is easier to manage, so when you take the outer-shell off, the acclimatization to the weight adjustment is easier.. means when you are on a spaceport/base you can take your outer-shell off and not be totally relient of it.

Now how this all works is..complicated to say the least..

Under the spaceport/base there is a giant electromagnet (Magnotron) that regulates the menial gravity (mG).. all things are weighted for the spaceport/base they are on.. this is yet another reason NOT to take things from that specific spaceport/base.. everything except food and consumable liquids. Stealing a ..pen might mean nothing to you.. but to it's owner it's weighted correctly for that solar body and enables them to do their job correctly.

Besides.. once you have a few souvenirs (I bought mine).. it seems very silly to own a snow globe or bobblehead that weighs say.. 10 kilos? nah.. like the Service tell you on Ceres.. don't buy out of the gift shops, its for suckers.

The 'metal supplements'.. man they are gross! The metal is mostly Iron as the body can absorb that the best..but again, it's not the best metal for the nanites to use..

What are nanites? do they create gravity?

Nooo.. The nanites are teeny tiny robots that repair the space osteoporosis, they fill the holes and line your bones with the metals you drink.. well I say 'metals'.. it's like the most gross milkshake.. steel tasting cocktail.. oh man! and the headache when the metal hits your stomach! ..but after a while those little nanites grab it all, repair your stomach from any damage and begin repairing your bones.. eventually over decades replacing your bones with perfect metal replicas.

When you come back to Earth, you feel stronger.. bones AND muscles.. this is because the Magnotron can't mG everyone, so it errs on the side of caution.

There is a standard called VmG.. which is used around the solar bodies.. Venusian menial Gravity .. the rule states that humans should be left with 1/10th Earth G 'give room' flexibility, this is a safety standard ..it's better to be able to move quickly, then be too tired to move quickly'.

You see signs up in spaceports when leaving Mars.. 'VmG ZONE!' and posters 'REMEMBER VmG!.. Do NOT wear Mars Mag-suits to the outer solar system.. exchange your suit today!' with a woman changing into another mag-suit 1940/50s bombshell style art on a poster.. bet that saved a few lives! Most men would remember that.. catches the eye.

G+ mG (+0.1G/-0.1G) = 30 cycles = L.G (Local Gravity)
       ~~                            per min
     VmG

Ends up for every 1 second your lighter then the previous second, gives a bit of work out.

hahaha.. hehe haha.. a rare time you see someone wearing a Mars Mag-suit in the outer solar system.. they are easy to spot because as they are the only blue ones and all the other Mag-suits are Orange gradient to red*... the amount of times the Service must've stopped that poor guy on Ganymede.. wooo!

How long does it take to get to Solar Bodies and how do you get there?

Ohw.. well.. my 4 months on Ganymede was a 14 month expedition (3.2 years total), you plan it.. like you would long haul flights, that are meant to join up.. The quickest vessels will get to Mars in around 3 to 6 months. back in the early days of space travel it was around a year, we had very limited thinking as to fuel/speed.. now that we can build in space, we can make ships as large as we wish and use much more fuel than previously..

You leave the Earth to the Luna Spaceport, takes around 3.5 days with cabin facilities, the wait time can be crazy for launch, but.. we're understanding about it.. I mean what's 3.5 days in the scheme of things?  The vessels are constantly coming and going.. delays are common.. check, re-check etc.. then the flight is around 2.8 days.. then some extra time for orientation and security.. your thumb print is all you need, everything else is provided.. your thumb print is both your ticket and wallet.. if someone else has your print (print fraud/identity theft) they take a sample of your DNA and check it with the Earth records.

Once on Luna, they are quite tight about launches, the vessels are pretty massive and can hold upto 2500 people per vessel..but the one I left on had just 300 or so people.. I think I heard one of the Service saying there was a delayed launch on Earth so.. the ship behind us must've been packed.. 1000 + people I would guess. Maybe 1200..?

With it being only 300 we didn't have to share cabins, nice and roomy.. whereas if it's packed you get four beds per cabin..hate the idea of that, prefer my personal space.. but since my off-world permit says 'Artist - (disabled)*' best I could hope for, not to get the dorm rooms. 4 roomer is not bad..but that was so lucky! got the room all to myself! .. dorm rooms are corridors you get a private bunk but.. it's a bit coffin like, you can close your panel, but open it and bam.. your in front of everyone.. not to mention being sanitary. In the cabins, people are polite and each takes a turn using it for their needs, whatever that is.. while the others are in the rec rooms or going for a walk in the gyro-garden.. 1 hour is polite for private use.

Service persons travelling get their own personal cabin, as does the flight crew who are also Service persons.

The flight itself is about 2.5/3 months with hard burn..used to be double that.. on Earth before we could create large enough vessels to stock as much fuel as we like so we can use more to go faster.. hmm..

You land on Mars, wow.. my first time on Mars.. everything is made of glass, 'Stardust City' is beautiful!.. the Musk Spaceport looks pretty much like Luna's because they were designed the same..but once out of the Spaceport.. wow.. gigantic glass domes within domes.. one solid piece of glass.. burnt from the Martian sand..

Wait! What?? How the flip??.. sounds Sci-Fi to me..

Ohw.. erm.. okay.. so they lay out a circle of pipes and lay the sand on top then they slowly superheat the sand into.. a kind of glass lava/magma, underneath they pump Gallium.. huge quantities of Gallium.. the Gallium 'eats' any metals in the sand, leaving only the glass..which is made into a bubble as the outer glass cools hardening and the inner pressure shaping it..the outer black glass is chipped away by an 'army' of bots.. the bots then laser heat the jagged areas.. much like sandpaper to jaggy wood. The whole process take around a year per dome and up to 4 years for a very large dome.. failure and cracks can happen, but those domes have no one in them, as they are tested for many many years before they are ready for humans.

Sooo.. anyhoo..you move dome to dome via underground walkways sealed with concrete. The third dome is huge.. you are offered induction to Mars, but it's optional. I went in because I was travelling alone.. and you never know when you might meet a hot Martian girl!

I had 8 months on Mars until the flight to Ceres was ready to depart, the flight from Mars to Ceres is around 70 days.. and Ceres to Jupiter 70 days to 4 months with good alignment etc.. bad alignment.. you could be waiting on Ceres for over 2 years...but if such situation arose, the Service would consider sending you home.. or at least to Mars or Vesta.. Pallas?*..Ceres has a very small population and small base, which they are trying to grow, but the allure of Jupiter.. is such a pull..

I was on Ceres for only a week, The English guys were friendly enough to me, saw a couple of Welsh guys; pretty distant.. guess they are still burnt we left the Kingdom.. Ceres has a small rec room and movie theater..tiny marketplace.. the upper deck was nice though, huge dome.. you could see all the Asteroids and Jupiter in the sky, like Luna from Earth but a 10th the size..

107 days later, I was on Ganymede in Space Glasgow, pretty rockin'.. they have a pub called 'The Barras' puts on shows.. the upstairs is the Barras venue in miniature.. pretty cool, some guy was doing tours of the surface in a buggy.. at first I was super nervous, but after I seen him come back 4 or 5 times unharmed.. I thought.. 'ah well.. why not?!' .. the underground complex was good for entertainment, bit of shopping in the market.. then world hopping to the other moons.. 4 months flew by!

 * Pallas is a penal colony, but.. it does have a spaceport. Pallas is Curated by the Thailandese, experts at putting the fright up you if you break the law violently. Being Scottish it should make me a bit nervous, however each country has its own laws on what is and is not violent, and ultimately the judge understands our own culture. Our portion of inmates come from drug dealing murderers..not so much genpop.

*Venusian Mag-suits are black.. and yes I imagine, the Service tease each other with Darth Vader references.. we found colour does NOT show up well on Venus as the light refraction rate
is vastly different than elsewhere in our solar system.

Mericurian Mag-suits are white iridescent.. to reflect heat. Everywhere else is orange to red, as orange is a highly visible colour.

* my off-world permit w/ photo:

Name: David Shaw
Country of Origin: Scotland
Occupation: Artist - (disabled)
Age: XXXX
License : XXXX-XXXX-XX
: 0 reprimands
DNA sync-code: oxoyoxx

Artists get 4 years per 10 years of contribution.. so my permit would say if not disabled; 'Artist - 2 terms.' 2 terms is enough for a very modest plot.. 4 terms is enough for a decent plot. 1 term is genpop. You don't need to contribute anything world changing.. so long as someone somewhere enjoyed what you did, it counts as a contribution to human culture.

People can work anywhere in the world they like, when I got my second term I moved to NYC for a couple of years.. great Art scene!.. like Glasgow used to be when I was younger.. bands, plays, gallery work, design..really liked it there. I have the suspicion if I had gone before my second term, they would have stuck me in genpop.. even though I am disabled and so exempt.. having that second term counts a lot with respect, means you didn't *just do the bare minimum*. So they gave me a sizeable apartment.. it was okay, really liked it.

I produced a couple of bands there.. if anyone in the next ten years or so buys their album/s it will contribute to my 3rd term, but not my 4th, as its limited to the previous term.

* Every extra-solar body has a spaceport.. however, the systems of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus.. eventually Neptune.. the largest most outer solar body (moon) of that system will have a 'main' spaceport, out-fitted more rigorously for more launches, this is so the launches are closer to their destinations, and can use more fuel to get to their destinations more quickly. Some Service Capt.'s might even slow the vessel down, if they think they can make the solar body come to them quicker.. it's trigonometry in action!

What if you miss your destination??

Well most planets have moons, it's not usual to miss the mark by that much.. but in the case of being off.. we could just land on the planets moon..?..I mean the Sol Belt has four worlds, pretty spread out, if the margin was great.. then stop and wait for the next one.. same for the gas/ice giants.. for Earth.. I support we could land on Hothree..??(joke).. but missing a destination in the inner solar system is not alarming.. because we could go on to Venus or Mercury.. land, recalculate, refuel.. and head off.. if it's the outer solar system, we would have enough fuel to get to at least one moon, but if we were judging it and it wasn't possible, then we would return to Ceres.. but.. it's silly to think a Capt. would set off FROM Ceres knowing we were going to miss our destination..no.. if coming into the inner solar system from Ceres.. the chances of missing.. Mars THEN Earth.. THEN Venus AND Mercury.. must be in the trillions to one..and out-going to the outer solar system.. like I said before..the planetary system have to be there before we leave..

*Fish don't care what's up and what's down.. gravity wise..that's why they are easy to keep off-world, they are already in water, which is very like a low gravity environment, naturally.
----------------------
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ESCALATION OF PEACE

Along long time ago.. two humans fought..but after seeing one dead .. the first human thought.. this could happen to me.. so the next human I will cooperate with..

Once there was 2 humans.. another human saw they had strength together and joined them, this kept happening until they were a village..

Each time they met another village they went to war.. but eventually they realized they could be family..then they became a town..

The towns saw the reason of peace and became cities and countries.. but the countries were too stupid to realize what they fought over.. until one day..

Many countries cooperated to gain near unlimited resources.. so that the world would never fight again.

Star Trek Uniforms (fanfic)

  Red = Command Yellow = Engineering / Security Blue = Science / Medical Green = Medical Specialist / Internal Affairs (internal police) / B...