On the Rocks

Between Mars and the gaseous giants which constitute the remote periphery of the system, far from the heat and the luminous benevolence of the sun, being an immense crown of small rocky, ferrous and icy bodies, some of the size of a grain of sand, and others larger than vast cities. If their herd bombarded all the worlds of this system over millions of years with internal collisions due to erratic evolutions, it was the result of the crumbs of planet formation in the youth of the system. It was therefore possible to find ferrous and mineral materials in very large quantities. Earth industry was not wrong, and in 2100-2200, more than twenty missions consisted of sending probes on asteroids considered interesting. The surveys obtained being in line with the most optimistic forecasts, the idea of ​​building mining stations in these dangerous areas made its way. Indeed, the profitability of these stations was prospectively 35% higher than the planetary operating systems.

The main pitfall was that of the survivability of such a large and complex industrial structure in such an unpredictable environment. The Shimagata Corp., created in 2156 to exploit the resources of Phobos and deimos, the "moons" of Mars, was able to offer the federation a station meeting the specifications. 650 meters long, 128 meters wide, and 58 meters high, equipped with all life equipment for an autonomous community of 280 miners, technicians and managers, it also had a system for "gripping" minor asteroids ( less than one hundred tons), to store them in a very fast plasma furnace, and to recover the cast iron in a centrifugal force funnel.

The main difficulty of the presence of the station in this hostile environment was regulated by the presence of self-healing shields (nanomachines), multi-sensor detection systems (more than 5000 targets followed in one second simultaneously) and laser firing systems against these astral bodies potentially dangerous. This is the first time that we have been experimenting with laser shooting devices. Chance and providence wanted this to be done peacefully. Finally, the station benefited from plasma propellants fed, as for all the rest of the energy of the edge, by a fusion pile. In the event of a potential encounter with a body too big to be destroyed, the station was able to leave its orbital position.

It should be noted however that the belt extends over several AU and that its density in astral bodies decreases with the distance. The most densely "inhabited" area of ​​the belt being the source of too many dangers, the outer belt was favored by the company. Shimagata Station, Kokestu-1, was operational in situ only after a 12-year journey, thanks to the diligence of a plasma turbine tugboat. Subsequently, between 2170 and 2650, it was joined by about 300 similar stations of different companies. There were incidents, stations lost to the requirement for operators to push the operation to maximum profitability, which made it get closer to the inner part of the belt and statistically multiplied the number of fatal collisions.

Around 2450, already 24 bases were identified on the most asteroids, mines at the mercy of a major collision, these large bodies of billions of tons orbiting in the middle of the belt, attracted nearby asteroids like magnets. Even if the bases were built in parts sheltered in theory from the tormented surface of these stars, and that systems of detection and shots ensured that nothing untoward happened, the terribly exposed position of these bases gave them a duration reduced life. It was estimated that a basic miner had about five months to live. It was better to be elsewhere when the irreparable happened, and the rotating teams and big bonuses were the only means found to overcome the fear of these miners often of low social condition. In fact, the bases were built with modules that were easy to produce and inexpensive, easily replaceable. The conditions of life were rather bad, but the presence of a relative gravity due to the fast rotation of these astral bodies slightly improved this situation. Some of these particularly massive bodies were dangerous on the surface, but the wandering NEOs were much less dangerous.

Tableau montrant les géocroiseurs majeurs détachés de la couronne et exploités :

Numéro	Nom	Taille	Distance (UA)
433	Eros	23 Km	1,13
4954	Eric	12 Km	1,10
1866	Sisyphe	8 Km	0,87
3552	Don Quichotte	8 Km	1,21
1627	Ivar	8 Km	0,99
5332	Bolivar	8 Km	1,18
5587	Van Dongen	8 Km	1,08
5751	Attila	7 Km	1,21
1580	Bétulia	7	0,96
3200	Phaéton	7	0,14
1980	Tezcatlipoca	6	1,09
5836	Bélénos	6	1,14
2212	Héphaïstos	5	0,24
4179	Toutatis	5	0,90

N°	Nom	diamètre (Km)	rotation (h)	révolution (années)	distance UA
1	Cérès	934	9,08	4,60	2,768
2	Pallas	526	7,81	4,61	2,774
4	Vesta	510	5,34	3,63	2,361
10	Hygiea	408	27,6	5,55	3,136
511	Davida	328	5,13	5,65	3,172
704	Interamnia	316	8,73	5,36	3,064
52	Europa	302	5,63	5,46	3,099
3	Junon	268	7,21	4,36	2,669
87	Sylvia	260	5,18	6,55	3,499
15	Eunomia	256	6,08	4,30	2,644
31	Euphrosyne	256	5,53	5,58	3,144
16	Psyche	254	4,20	4,99	2,922
65	Cybele	240	4,04	6,36	3,432
324	Bamberga	230	29,43	4,40	2,686
451	Patientia	226	9,73	5,36	3,062
48	Doris	222	11,89	5,49	3,111
107	Camilla	222	4,84	6,54	3,495
532	Herculina	222	9,41	4,63	2,777
45	Eugenia	214	5,70	4,49	2,721
29	Amphitrite	212	5,39	4,08	2,553
121	Hermione	210	9,24	6,38	3,440
423	Diotima	208	4,78	5,38	3,071
13	Egeria	208	7,05	4,13	2,575
94	Aurora	204	7,22	5,62	3,161
7	Iris	200	7,14	3,68	2,385

Phaaspa A et B, couple orbitant de concert et redus solidaires par des pitons en hexacarbone. Habités, servant de base-relai.
Ceci n’est qu’un petite partie des millions de corps orbitant dans cette vaste zone un peu perdue de tout. Par la suite, si des fonctionnels ont remplacés les hommes présents dans ces mines, ce sont aujourd’hui des systèmes automatisés qui s’en chargent. Mais à une époque, au tournant du 34ème siècle, on installa des pénitenciers et des dépôts sur certains de ces astéroïdes les plus sûrs, la population de la ceinture ne fut jamais vraiment recensée : A cette époque, il y avait environ 87 400 bases et stations de toutes sortes, pour une population estimée autour du million et demi. La ceinture, en 3600, fournissait prés de 68% des besoins en matériaux ferreux et minerais divers.

L’intense trafic qui se développa entre les géantes gazeuses et la partie interne du système, ainsi que la pauvreté parfois extrême des mineurs contribuèrent à la naissance de la piraterie spatiale. Le gros du trafic, des méthaniers, transportaient une cargaison principale de peu de prix. En revanche, leur petite cargaison annexe était parfois plu intéressante. Quant aux cargos, ils étaient la cible principale de ces pirates. Pour ces derniers, la ceinture constituait la meilleure des protections, encore fallait-il savoir manœuvrer avec suffisamment de dextérité. Cette piraterie eu pour conséquence la création de la première force policière fédérale, et des escadrons de chasseurs rapides et manoeuvrables furent envoyés avec leur aviso de soutien et de transport sur zone, garantissant les « passes » par lesquelles devaient s’écouler à présent le trafic. La guerre contre la piraterie fit rage pendant plus de deux millénaires. Les bases secrètes sitôt découvertes, trois autres étaient aménagées sur d’autres astéroïdes, à partir d’anciennes bases et mines réaménagées. Les petits vaisseaux manœuvrables étaient le fait de quelques petits chantiers clandestins équipés grâce à la capture des premiers petites navettes de transbordement et transformées par l’adjonction de puissants propulseurs. Cette piraterie se reproduisit plus tard dans la ceinture extérieure au système solaire, encore plus fournie en planétoïdes et fit recette avec le développement des systèmes stellaires voisins, Centauri, Trecomsah ( Lalande 21185 ), Barnard , Aldenia (Wolf 359), Sirius, Edinah (L726-8), Paducah (Ross 154), Shenandoah (Ross 248)…