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Description

Luna. Our first home in space.

Like the tides over which she ruled, Luna’s cultural and scientific impact on humanity was immense long before any man planted flag and foot on her surface. As the brightest object in the night sky, Luna loomed prominently in religious and cultural myths, and many societies made use of a lunar calendar based on the cycles of the moon rather than the more common solar calendar in use today (and in fact, some still do). As Sol was often associated with masculine traits and male deities, Luna was often associated with feminine traits and female deities, such as the Roman goddess Luna from which it gets its modern name.

Renaissance astronomer Galileo Galilei was the first to observe and take note of Luna’s varied topography, and subsequently, Luna was mapped via telescope with growing accuracy. Luna’s impact on terrestrial systems - most notably the tides - likewise became better understood with time. This era also established a nomenclature system for Lunar features, applying names to craters and features that are still used today.

During the First Space Age (hitherto, Luna was known simply as "the Moon") beginning in 1957, closer observation of the Moon was made possible through the use of remote-controlled probes in advance of manned missions. Efforts to land on Luna came part and parcel of the wider geopolitical and cultural rivalry between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, called the "Space Race", itself a chapter of the wider struggle of the First Cold War.

The clear victor of this race was the United States, when the Apollo 11 mission successfully delivered astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Lunar surface and returned them to Earth safely. The success of Apollo 11 led to the expansion of the Apollo program with several more scheduled missions. During this time, the United States held a near-monopoly over Lunar landings, but was not the only nation to land on the moon. In 1981, the USSR made its first and only Lunar landing with the Luna 1 mission, wherein cosmonaut Alexei Leonov landed and returned to Earth. Subsequently, the European Space Agency landed the Selene 4 mission at Mare Orientale in 1993, and the Japanese with Gekkō 3, landing at Mare Humboldtianum in 2001 - the first manned landing on Luna's Farside. While the Apollo program was shuttered in 1976 after the successive disasters of Apollo 25 and 26, the United States would return to Luna in the late 1990s under the auspices of the Artemis program, in 1999.

Interest in Lunar exploration would continue into the 21st century, with attention turning more to establishing a permanent presence on the Lunar surface. This would come to fruition in 2005, with the establishment of Horizon Base, jointly-administered by the United States, European Union, and Japan. Horizon would make great strides in understanding the effects of long-term human habitation on Luna until an incident in 2009 would result in the deaths of seven astronauts. This would cause the project to be scaled down while the United States and Japan created their own civilian bases, New Jamestown and Shunkai. It was in this era of Lunar exploration that the Eurasian Union established their own surface outpost, Korolev Base, in 2007.

Civilian colonization of Luna would prove to be a huge success, with the first civilian bases definitively proving the feasibility and sustainability of permanent human presence on the Lunar surface, including the viability of conceiving and raising children under Lunar gravity. This would lead to renewed interest in "Lunar homesteading" and a massive outpouring of support for mass-colonization. In 2020, the United Nations Space Administration, as well as those nations involved with the exploration and colonization of Luna, would sign the Luna Accords, a series of extensions and amendments to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The Accords stated that Luna would remain a demilitarized world, and set the standards for increased civilian settlement and development on and around Luna.

The 2020s and 2030s would see Luna's population and development explode. Within the first few years of the Luna Accord's signing, tens of thousands flocked to the Lunar surface to live and work in newly-established colonies, and various corporations would use the opportunity to set up mining operations, research stations, and private getaways all over the moon. By 2045, the Lunar population would surpass 100,000 residents. As the population grew, however, residents would begin to more strongly express their views on the lack of political representation and elected government under the terms of the Accords. The worker's strikes and political movements between 2025 and 2035 would prove extremely effective in establishing the eight Lunar extraplanetary holdings which persist to the present day.

Luna's economic growth continued into the mid- and late-21st century. Growth was classically geometric - as the colonies became more established, economic and industrial input would all increase, allowing for the establishment of more colonies, and so on. Luna's industrial output provided raw materials for the advent of Caelonesia, as Lunar materials were cheaply exported to Earth orbit to allow for the cost-effective construction of orbital megahabs. Lunar industries would also be pivotal in supplying the early colonization of Phobos and Deimos, and assisting in the terraforming of Mars, in the second half of the century.

As of 2110, Luna forms part of the "Holy Trinity" of mankind's interplanetary domain, along with Earth and Mars. Extraction of metals and helium-3 have made Luna an invaluable source of resources for use both off the moon and on it, along with providing fuel for ships traveling between Earth and other bodies in the inner Solar System. Luna is a thriving settler world, hosting sprawling cities and millions of humans, both recent arrivals and born-bred natives, and is currently the second most-populous inhabited body in the Solar System.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updated 3/17/2020 - New map.
2/1/2021 - New map and description, originals of both found here . Thanks to NK-Ryzov for proofreading and editing.

Description

Luna. Our first home in space.

Like the tides over which she ruled, Luna’s cultural and scientific impact on humanity was immense long before any man planted flag and foot on her surface. As the brightest object in the night sky, Luna loomed prominently in religious and cultural myths, and many societies made use of a lunar calendar based on the cycles of the moon rather than the more common solar calendar in use today (and in fact, some still do). As Sol was often associated with masculine traits and male deities, Luna was often associated with feminine traits and female deities, such as the Roman goddess Luna from which it gets its modern name.

Renaissance astronomer Galileo Galilei was the first to observe and take note of Luna’s varied topography, and subsequently, Luna was mapped via telescope with growing accuracy. Luna’s impact on terrestrial systems - most notably the tides - likewise became better understood with time. This era also established a nomenclature system for Lunar features, applying names to craters and features that are still used today.

During the First Space Age (hitherto, Luna was known simply as "the Moon") beginning in 1957, closer observation of the Moon was made possible through the use of remote-controlled probes in advance of manned missions. Efforts to land on Luna came part and parcel of the wider geopolitical and cultural rivalry between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, called the "Space Race", itself a chapter of the wider struggle of the First Cold War.

The clear victor of this race was the United States, when the Apollo 11 mission successfully delivered astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Lunar surface and returned them to Earth safely. The success of Apollo 11 led to the expansion of the Apollo program with several more scheduled missions. During this time, the United States held a near-monopoly over Lunar landings, but was not the only nation to land on the moon. In 1981, the USSR made its first and only Lunar landing with the Luna 1 mission, wherein cosmonaut Alexei Leonov landed and returned to Earth. Subsequently, the European Space Agency landed the Selene 4 mission at Mare Orientale in 1993, and the Japanese with Gekkō 3, landing at Mare Humboldtianum in 2001 - the first manned landing on Luna's Farside. While the Apollo program was shuttered in 1976 after the successive disasters of Apollo 25 and 26, the United States would return to Luna in the late 1990s under the auspices of the Artemis program, in 1999.

Interest in Lunar exploration would continue into the 21st century, with attention turning more to establishing a permanent presence on the Lunar surface. This would come to fruition in 2005, with the establishment of Horizon Base, jointly-administered by the United States, European Union, and Japan. Horizon would make great strides in understanding the effects of long-term human habitation on Luna until an incident in 2009 would result in the deaths of seven astronauts. This would cause the project to be scaled down while the United States and Japan created their own civilian bases, New Jamestown and Shunkai. It was in this era of Lunar exploration that the Eurasian Union established their own surface outpost, Korolev Base, in 2007.

Civilian colonization of Luna would prove to be a huge success, with the first civilian bases definitively proving the feasibility and sustainability of permanent human presence on the Lunar surface, including the viability of conceiving and raising children under Lunar gravity. This would lead to renewed interest in "Lunar homesteading" and a massive outpouring of support for mass-colonization. In 2020, the United Nations Space Administration, as well as those nations involved with the exploration and colonization of Luna, would sign the Luna Accords, a series of extensions and amendments to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The Accords stated that Luna would remain a demilitarized world, and set the standards for increased civilian settlement and development on and around Luna.

The 2020s and 2030s would see Luna's population and development explode. Within the first few years of the Luna Accord's signing, tens of thousands flocked to the Lunar surface to live and work in newly-established colonies, and various corporations would use the opportunity to set up mining operations, research stations, and private getaways all over the moon. By 2045, the Lunar population would surpass 100,000 residents. As the population grew, however, residents would begin to more strongly express their views on the lack of political representation and elected government under the terms of the Accords. The worker's strikes and political movements between 2025 and 2035 would prove extremely effective in establishing the eight Lunar extraplanetary holdings which persist to the present day.

Luna's economic growth continued into the mid- and late-21st century. Growth was classically geometric - as the colonies became more established, economic and industrial input would all increase, allowing for the establishment of more colonies, and so on. Luna's industrial output provided raw materials for the advent of Caelonesia, as Lunar materials were cheaply exported to Earth orbit to allow for the cost-effective construction of orbital megahabs. Lunar industries would also be pivotal in supplying the early colonization of Phobos and Deimos, and assisting in the terraforming of Mars, in the second half of the century.

As of 2110, Luna forms part of the "Holy Trinity" of mankind's interplanetary domain, along with Earth and Mars. Extraction of metals and helium-3 have made Luna an invaluable source of resources for use both off the moon and on it, along with providing fuel for ships traveling between Earth and other bodies in the inner Solar System. Luna is a thriving settler world, hosting sprawling cities and millions of humans, both recent arrivals and born-bred natives, and is currently the second most-populous inhabited body in the Solar System.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updated 3/17/2020 - New map.
2/1/2021 - New map and description, originals of both found here . Thanks to NK-Ryzov for proofreading and editing.