 | ||
| Homestead | ||
|---|---|---|
| System | Helet/HD 85512 | |
| Type | Planet | |
| Astronomical Classification Index | TTLCT/H-3E | |
| Habitable | Yes | |
| Affiliation | Colonial Administration of Homestead | |
| Location | Vela | |
| Natural Satellites | Wächter | |
| Artificial Satellites | Goodwood Station, Semannsruhe Spaceport, Manta Platform | |
| Discovery Date | August 17, 2011 | |
| Population | 4,962 | |
| Equatorial Radius | 4296.315 km | |
| Gravity | 1.4 g | |
| Atmosphere | N2, O2, He | |
| Rotational Period | 23h, 56m, 04.09s | |
| Axial Tilt | 23° 26'10.62' | |
| Mass | 3.6 M🜨 | |
| Tidally Locked | No | |
| Orbital Period | 91.197 years | |
| Orbital Speed | 11.66 km/s | |
| Orbital Eccentricity | 0.103 | |
| Aphelion | 32.0061 AU | |
| Perihelion | 32.0061 AU | |
| Inclination | -0° 53'07.82' | |
Homestead, officially known as HD-85512b, is a terrestrial planet located in the Helet (HD 85512) system in the constellation of Vela. A largely barren, rocky planet, Homestead was the second habitable exoplanet to be charted by the Final Frontier Project and has since concluded settlement, with numerous stations, cities and working infrastructure on the planet. Homestead hosts serviceable conditions for human settlement with an atmosphere that, while not optimal, requires minimal breathing apparatus on the surface and can be processed into easily breathable air within colonies.
Homestead was first surveyed and mapped by the HSF-144 Pleione and SFG-22 Cyrene between October 19th and December 8th 2103, and initial settlement concluded on August 23rd, 2107. The planet is governed by the Colonial Administration of Homestead with the United Nations in executive command.
Planetary Information
Homestead is a lacustrine, barren, rocky planet three times larger than Earth riddled with crater impacts that make up and define Homestead's environment. Homestead hosts multiple lakes of liquid freshwater contained within the most massive of Homestead's craters. The majority of the small crater lakes that dot the surface of Homestead are located around the equator, with water turning to ice at the poles. These lakes are the only locations on Homestead where life can thrive, surrounded by sparse tropics on top of mountain ranges formed by the impacts of ancient asteroids. These tropics are home to various xenoflora that are closely intertwined with abundant microbial life and multicellular life inhabiting the lakes of Homestead, with the two in symbiosis allowing them to survive on the largely barren planet.
The largest lake on the planet is located just above the equator and is known to the colonists as Mirror (or The Mirror), inspired by the high water clarity and reflection of the night sky. The Mirror and some of the largest lakes on Homestead are strewn with small islands, many formed from volcanoes as Homestead is a planet with particularly present volcanic activity and plate tectonic movement. One of the most famous sights of Homestead, the volcano Natue, is located on the upper end of the Mirror.
Homestead possesses only one natural satellite, Wächter, and three major artificial satellites: the AXIOM Corporation Goodwood Space Station, a mineral refinery and residential station, the Sol Defence Corps owned and administrated Semannsruhe Checkpoint which oversees all cargo and colony arrivals and departures, and the Manta Construction Platform, a Minos Brothers mobile construction platform contracted by the SDC to assemble a skyhook for transporting colony modules onto the surface of Homestead.
Panspermia on Homestead
The Mirror and the other lakes play a large role in spreading life across Homestead through precipitation. Clouds and rain are present on Homestead, but most water ends up evaporating or diffusing if not deposited into crater reservoirs in large concentrations. This is how the majority of lakes on Homestead are formed - large rainfalls from the larger lakes fill in other craters over time, establishing new hotspots of life. Of course, for flora to thrive, the aforementioned multicellular insect-like xenofauna must also be present, and possess a particular method of transit by use of these rainclouds. Using air sacs filled with helium, lighter than air, it allows extremely small bugs to be lifted up by precipitation and remain in the clouds using both helium acquired on the ground and the 9.03% helium present in the atmosphere (a result of generations of panspermia) until they are rained back down with other microbial life and water, allowing them to germinate and populate new lakes, allowing entirely new ecosystems to sprout of the ground.
However, this panspermic method of spreading life is not always so successful - if rain does not fall into crater, which often occurs, the life the clouds are carrying dies out and the water evaporates. It is because of this there only a number of lakes on the surface of Homestead.
History
Homestead was first discovered on August 17th, 2011 and for a long time was a disputed candidate for habitability prior to the Space Age, and became a disputed candidate for colonisation around the time of the Final Frontier Project's founding. Being situated just within the inner edge of Helet's habitable zone and 3 times the mass of Earth, many people speculated that it may be a mini gas giant or a barren, inhospitable rock. Nevertheless, it's 39 lightyear proximity to Sol made it an early candidate for charting when the FFP released their colonisation roadmap, being the second mission to reach their assigned exoplanet after the mission to Lacaille and Saltillo.
Upon arrival, many tests of Homestead's environment were conducted and many believed that colonisation of the planet would end up being scrapped. However, the atmosphere of Homestead was just optimal enough to make qualifications, and the liquid water alongside a functioning ecosystem all allowed Homestead to make the cut in colonisation. Since it was less favourable compared to other colonies such as Lacaille, or later colonies such as Concordia or Ballad, the main attraction of colonists to Homestead were two things: one, the study of a scientifically valuable ecosystem utilizing alien methods of panspermia, and two, a heretofore rare planet that just scraped the qualifications of hospitability and therefore could be used to more effectively test various colony technologies catered towards surviving more harsh environments. Homestead, as a result, was one of the first planets placed under SDC scientific-technological blockade right from the start, with the majority of initial colonists and colony vessels during the blockade timeframe being employed strictly by the SDC. It was during this period that many discoveries were made about Homestead's persevering ecosystem and the two first colonies were properly established - Kähnenburg and Teneo, which would end up becoming two of the four major cities on Homestead.
After the SDC blockade was lifted, non-SDC colony vessels flocked to Homestead with promise of scientific research and a testing ground for environmental tech. Homestead saw a huge burst in population and the appearance of two new cities alongside Kähnenburg and Teneo, those being the AXIOM-owned company city of Helmholtz, and the AXIOM-funded city of Castilla. Kähnenburg and Teneo saw the largest populations and the most prominent research into Homestead's panspermia and expansive residential quarters while Helmholtz and Castilla, being products of AXIOM's interests in Homestead, focused primarily on industry and residential. AXIOM, the SDC and other companies also established the four major artificial satellites during this time. Aside from the four major cities, numerous small colonies focusing on research, agriculture or simply residence are dotted around the shoreline of the Mirror, islands within and other nearby lakes.
Homestead was originally contributed to Starship Roleplay by user HikariGlace. View their original article here.