Kosmos

There are several space habitats in the Sixth World, ranging from orbital stations like the Zurich-Orbital, center of the Corporate Court, to the Shibanokuji zero-g resort. All of these places are corporate owned and operated. By 2070, there is even a permanent base on Mars.

History of Space Travel

Before the end of the 20th century, space programs were mainly in the domain of industrialized nations, primarily the United States and the Soviet Union, who used the space program as a contest of national superiority during the Cold War. As the 20th century drew to a close and with the fall of the Soviet Union, it became less of a contest and more of a program of cooperation as the industrialized nations of the world joined together to create the Internation Space Station Unity/Zarya.

However, the International Space Station ended in failure after only a year in operation. Russia sold their space station Mir to Harris-3M, the first time a corporation owned and manned a space station in orbit. Mir continued operation until 2008, when a meteoroid impacted it and forced the corporation to scuttle it. Later, the US sold NASA and its space station Freedom to a then budding industrial conglomerate known as Ares Macrotechnology in 2016. The corporate acquisition of Mir and NASA proved to be the beginnings of a corporate space race which continues to the present day, as various corporations try to outdo each others' exploits.

The first major leaps into space were made by Ares and Harris-3M. In 2017, the Halo, a geonsynchronous station, was built by Harris-3M. In 2019, Ares unveiled its own space station, Apollo, which became fully operational in 2020. The Space Station Freedom was sold to the Inter-Corporate Council and became the renamed Zurich-Orbital. In 2027, Ares began construction of the Daedalus. By that time, Harris-3M had built Angel Station and Nerva.

In Europe, the European Space Agency was beginning to have the same financial problems as NASA, and they sold their assets to Saeder-Krupp in 2025. In Japan, Mitsuhama started a space-faring subsidiary called Shibata, and began launching satellites from Kagoshima in 2023. A dozen other companies followed, privatizing much of the space around low earth and geosynchronous orbit.

The Crash Virus of 2029 changed all that, causing many space stations and satellites to fail. Less than half of the manned space stations survived. Only the megacorporations with diversified interests - Ares, Mitsuhama, and S-K - survived the ensuing financial fallout, and all of them were forced to scale back their space operations. Harris-3M fragmented and dissolved, and was bought out by Fuchi in 2038. Ares managed to maintain their space stations, and Daedalus was spared the brunt of the Crash Virus due to being under construction at the time.

Saeder-Krupp remained ahead in the space race, while Ares maintained the most off-world research stations. In 2060, Yamatetsu moved to Russia, and was granted access to the Svobodnly Cosmodrome, making them a new player in the space race. They would eventually land a manned mission on Mars in 2064. The dissolution of Fuchi in 2059 gave Renraku many key space assets, which were bought out by Mitsuhama's Shibata, making MCT a major player once again.

The passing of Halley's Comet proved to be a revitalizing factor after the post-Crash troubles and corporate war of 2059, as every major megacorporation and several minor ones engaged in a contest to try to be the first to land a probe on the comet. None of the probes on the first pass were able to make it to the comet intact, although Yamatetsu was able to land a probe, being the first corporation to do so. Ares eventually claimed the honors of landing a successful probe and sending telemetry back to Earth.

Locations

• Apollo
• Camelot
• Daedalus
• Darkside Junction
• Helios
• Himmelsschmiede
• Mars
• Shibanokuji
• The Spindle
• Zurich-Orbital

Źródła

Główne źródło: Corporate Shadowfiles, s.87-89.
Drugie: Target: Wastelands s.66-84.
Odniesienia do wielu kolonii i habitatów: Neo-Anarchist's Guide to Real Life, s.26.
Loty z Pueblo na stacje orbitalne: Native American Nations Volume One, s.105.
Fotografie Marsa zrobione przez NASA: Portfolio of a Dragon, s.29, 35.
AresSpace ma pięć orbitali, i szósty w drodze, oraz dwie bazy na księżycu (cd s.39). Mają także habitat na orbicie słonecznej (yotc s.14)
Saeder-Krupp ma tyle samo orbitalnych fabryk co Ares orbitalnych habitatów (cd s.86). Jeden z tych orbitali nazywa się Himmelsschmiede (yotc s.15).
Mitsuhama opracowuje roboty przeznaczone do pracy w Głębokim kosmosie deep space (cd s.61).
Fuchi Orbital staje się własnością Novatech (cd s.70). Novatech ma kilka orbitalnych habitatów (dwa z nich są ważne) i liczne sieci satelitarne (yotc s.16). Jeden z tych orbitali nazywa się Darkside Junction, a drugi (stacja badawcza) nazywa się Camelot (yotc s.16).
Starania Renraku zmieniają pozycję korporacji na tym rynku z "żadnej na niemal przeciętną" (cd s.80).
Saeder-Krupp jest jedyną korporacją prowadzącą księżycowe operacje wydobywcze (cd s.86). SK ma również sporo ilość satelit (cd s.87).
Background count zwiększa się, gdy zagłebia się w próżnię (mits s.86).
Yamatetsu posiada Angel Satellite Constellation (tm s.8-9). Jest również właścicielem orbitalnej stacji turystycznej Shibanokuji (yotc s.18).
Satelita Asgard jest data haven (rajem danych)/domem aukcyjnym (tm s.35-37).
Następcą Teleskopu Hubble'a jest Hubble II (Teleskop Hubble'a II) (yotc s.10).
Niektóre orbitale są otwarte dla cywili (yotc s.13).
Proteus w sekrecie buduje stację w punkcie L1 LaGrange point (yotc s.16).
Aztechnology zakontraktowała Shibatę, prowadziła habitat Spindle (yotc s.17).

Metor uderza w stację Mir w 2008: Shadowrun: Third Edition, s.25 (also cd.18).
Ares kupuje NASA w 2016: Shadowrun: Third Edition, s.31, Corporate Shadowfiles, s.89, Target: UCAS s.49.
w roku 2020 stacja Freedom zmienia nazwę na Zurich Orbital: Shadowrun: Third Edition, s.31, Corporate Shadowfiles, s.89.
Sąd Korporacyjny przenosi się do Zurich Orbital w 2033: Shadowrun: Third Edition, s.31, Corporate Shadowfiles, s.89.

Related Links

• Thor shot

See Also

Category:Countries of Space

External Links

• Wikipedia article on Mars

This page forked from Wordman's The Sixth World: A geographical index to the world of Shadowrun