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I'm writing a setting where humanity is colonizing the Solar System, and I'm wondering whether a Entrepot on Ceres, a la The Expanse would make sense? For context, most of the human population still lives in the Earth-Luna system.

The rationale for colonizing Ceres was because of the increasing depletion of the ice craters on the Moon, such as Shackleton Crater. What I'm wondering is whether it would even make sense to have Ceres as a major trading hub, since the destination of most of the imports coming from the Belt and Outer System will be headed for Earth-Luna.

On Earth, trading hubs are viable because ships will go past them, and only have to slightly change their course to reach them, it doesn't cost them much. And they have to keep their engines running in order to move, and so they have to pick up fuel mid-course if they don't have enough to reach their destination.

But in space, ships will have to expend a lot of delta-v to divert their course to a port on Ceres, and even more to match speeds with the asteroid. Ships can just coast across the Solar System all the way to their destination without needing to stop and refuel. And it is not closer to the asteroids in the Belt at all times, since the asteroids' positions change relative to each other all the time, and can often be closer to Earth or Mars than Ceres much of the time.

Would a trading port on Ceres make sense, with ships from across the system stopping there on their way to deliver cargo to/from Earth-Luna? Or would it just be more logical to set up mining/refining operations there and ship the propellant straight to Earth-Luna, along with the rest of the exports?

Thanks!

I'm writing a setting where humanity is colonizing the Solar System, and I'm wondering whether a Entrepot on Ceres, a la The Expanse would make sense? For context, most of the human population still lives in the Earth-Luna system.

The rationale for colonizing Ceres was because of the increasing depletion of the ice craters on the Moon, such as Shackleton Crater. What I'm wondering is whether it would even make sense to have Ceres as a major trading hub, since the destination of most of the imports coming from the Belt and Outer System will be headed for Earth-Luna.

On Earth, trading hubs are viable because ships will go past them, and only have to slightly change their course to reach them, it doesn't cost them much. And they have to keep their engines running in order to move, and so they have to pick up fuel mid-course if they don't have enough to reach their destination.

But in space, ships will have to expend a lot of delta-v to divert their course to a port on Ceres, and even more to match speeds with the asteroid. Ships can just coast across the Solar System all the way to their destination without needing to stop and refuel. And is not closer to the asteroids in the Belt at all times, since the asteroids' positions change relative to each other all the time, and can often be closer to Earth or Mars than Ceres much of the time.

Would a trading port on Ceres make sense, with ships from across the system stopping there on their way to deliver cargo to/from Earth-Luna? Or would it just be more logical to set up mining/refining operations there and ship the propellant straight to Earth-Luna, along with the rest of the exports?

Thanks!

I'm writing a setting where humanity is colonizing the Solar System, and I'm wondering whether a Entrepot on Ceres, a la The Expanse would make sense? For context, most of the human population still lives in the Earth-Luna system.

The rationale for colonizing Ceres was because of the increasing depletion of the ice craters on the Moon, such as Shackleton Crater. What I'm wondering is whether it would even make sense to have Ceres as a major trading hub, since the destination of most of the imports coming from the Belt and Outer System will be headed for Earth-Luna.

On Earth, trading hubs are viable because ships will go past them, and only have to slightly change their course to reach them, it doesn't cost them much. And they have to keep their engines running in order to move, and so they have to pick up fuel mid-course if they don't have enough to reach their destination.

But in space, ships will have to expend a lot of delta-v to divert their course to a port on Ceres, and even more to match speeds with the asteroid. Ships can just coast across the Solar System all the way to their destination without needing to stop and refuel. And it is not closer to the asteroids in the Belt at all times, since the asteroids' positions change relative to each other all the time, and can often be closer to Earth or Mars than Ceres much of the time.

Would a trading port on Ceres make sense, with ships from across the system stopping there on their way to deliver cargo to/from Earth-Luna? Or would it just be more logical to set up mining/refining operations there and ship the propellant straight to Earth-Luna, along with the rest of the exports?

Thanks!

Source Link
TerranGames
TerranGames
  • 389
  • 1
  • 9

Would a spaceport on Ceres make sense?

I'm writing a setting where humanity is colonizing the Solar System, and I'm wondering whether a Entrepot on Ceres, a la The Expanse would make sense? For context, most of the human population still lives in the Earth-Luna system.

The rationale for colonizing Ceres was because of the increasing depletion of the ice craters on the Moon, such as Shackleton Crater. What I'm wondering is whether it would even make sense to have Ceres as a major trading hub, since the destination of most of the imports coming from the Belt and Outer System will be headed for Earth-Luna.

On Earth, trading hubs are viable because ships will go past them, and only have to slightly change their course to reach them, it doesn't cost them much. And they have to keep their engines running in order to move, and so they have to pick up fuel mid-course if they don't have enough to reach their destination.

But in space, ships will have to expend a lot of delta-v to divert their course to a port on Ceres, and even more to match speeds with the asteroid. Ships can just coast across the Solar System all the way to their destination without needing to stop and refuel. And is not closer to the asteroids in the Belt at all times, since the asteroids' positions change relative to each other all the time, and can often be closer to Earth or Mars than Ceres much of the time.

Would a trading port on Ceres make sense, with ships from across the system stopping there on their way to deliver cargo to/from Earth-Luna? Or would it just be more logical to set up mining/refining operations there and ship the propellant straight to Earth-Luna, along with the rest of the exports?

Thanks!