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Submitted: October 24, 2010
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The Reefby *MikeDoscher

Digital Art / Drawings / Sci-Fi

The Reef is the name given to a vast squatter colony sitting at the L4 Lagrange Point in Neptunian orbit. Originating with wildcat salvage operations at the close of the Minute War, the Reef soon became a magnet for outcasts, dropouts, and a rogues gallery of questionable business interests.

Originally made from derelict freighter hulls and bulk containers, the station has grown to impressive size with a lushness that seems to almost imitate a living organism. The L4 is in a unique position that makes it relatively simple to bring additional mass to it- Objects are 'captured' by the gravitational pull of Neptune, and can be diverted here for a relatively low cost in time and fuel. This (as well as lack of legal oversight) makes it a useful venue for processing ore mined from the L4 and L5 Trojans.

It is the opposite of Titan City is almost every respect.

$:iconfractalfiend:$

*fractalfiend Mar 9, 2012

Are they siphoning methane and hydrogen from the upper atmosphere for fuel?

*MikeDoscher Mar 11, 2012 Professional General Artist

Generally, no. The Reef isn't in orbit *around* Neptune, but rather in the same orbital path, so the atmosphere of Neptune isn't particularly close at hand. My original description was a little muddy, I'm afraid. Most reactor technology is based on the fusion of Helium-3 in a powerful magnetic field for the most part. Reaction mass is usually derived from ice asteroids among the Trojans, which also cluster at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points.

$:iconfractalfiend:$

*fractalfiend Mar 11, 2012

So you're looking at a form of tokamak reactor then? Interesting ... Is there a particular reason why they chose Neptune over another gas giant? Its remoteness within the Sol system?

*MikeDoscher Mar 11, 2012 Professional General Artist

Yes. Probably some form of tokamak or spheromak would be the most common containment type. I'm taking as an assumption for the setting the existence and commodification of compact fusion reactors. Of course, there are lower limits to the size one can make such a thing before you need ridiculous Gauss strengths to hold it all together. Essentially I want a setting where energy is cheap enough that you can go to Mars in about two weeks and spend most of the trip at one gee.

You're right about the remoteness. The mining interests in the Trojans were central to a secessionist movement a century before that ended in open conflict. Most of the issues that led to the conflict remain unresolved, and relations with the governments of the inner planets is at best chilly. There are pilot plants for mining the Neptunian atmosphere for He-3, but it will be decades before these are viable, let alone profitable. Most of the current income for the inhabitants is from either asteroid mining proper, or herding metallic asteroids into controlled trajectories towards the processing facilities near Saturn.

It's also a good place to do work without an audience.

~DSil Jan 19, 2011 Student General Artist

Sweet. I love the wall of mechanical intricacy in the background. Very Akira.

~Regulus36 Oct 26, 2010 Professional General Artist

Very cool! The L4 point? that's way out in the boonies! Have you ever 'mapped' out this universe? It'd be interesting to see it all, and how all your diff places relate to each other.

*MikeDoscher Oct 26, 2010 Professional General Artist

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. The more I think about it, the Neptunian L1 might be more appropriate for this, or possibly the L2. The L4 would probably be better for some sort of largely automated mining operation, with L5 having something mysterious going on in it (due to the difficulty of clearly imaging it from the inner planets).

The mapping is something I'm working on right now, if only in a broad sense. I've got two different epochs in my continuity, separated by roughly 100 years. The first part is dominated by exploration and commercial use of the solar system, and is based on improvements in basic materials, computing, and widespread use of He3 fueled fusion. The second part involves antigravity and the possible implications of this.

I've just gotten to the point where I know how little I know, so a proper physical and chronological mapping of the major elements will require me to learn more about orbital mechanics than I can pick up from 'Planetes'. XD

~Regulus36 Oct 27, 2010 Professional General Artist

Yeah the L1 or L2 are what I would think of as the most feasible for something like this, of course i don't know what kind of propulsion you're talking about (ie trip times there and back) so maybe it's a moot point. I really like the idea of something strange going on out at the L5, you've got to keep some mystery going

I've always been fascinated by building believable universes... and I'm enjoying yours

What are your long term plans with it? do you dream of writing a book? games? movies?

Have you ever read Ben Bova? his Grand Tour books (15+ books) describe something similar in terms of colonization of the solar system, although what I've read focuses a lot on people and not the technology as much, still they're good books

*MikeDoscher Nov 1, 2010 Professional General Artist

For the earlier part of the continuity, the only real strain I'm putting on credulity is the commonplace nature of clean fusion power- modular (and commodified) reactors, clean power via He3, and a range really only limited by reaction mass. L1 and L2 really could become competing/complimentary mining interests, and I would probably place a space elevator in a near orbit to extract He3 via centrifuges.

I haven't read those books, and I'm a little leery of most fiction. I guess I've just got my own picture of the flavor I want, and I'm happy to let reality do most of the heavy lifting.

I'm very glad you like my work. Yours is very inspirational as well.

~Regulus36 Nov 1, 2010 Professional General Artist

Interesting (can't wait to buy my own clean fusion reactor from Walmart

)...Seriously though that's one of the things I love about your work, so much is grounded in reality.

How come you are leery of fiction? Personally I'm into "hard" scifi almost exclusively, stuff based off of actual tech, and I get loads of ideas from it; I just have to be careful not to copy them, unless I'm doing a scene or something directly from a book. BTW Bova originally worked on the Vanguard project and in a research lab, and I believe he qualifies as "hard" sf if that makes any diff

Anyway thanks and keep it up!

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