Solar System (Grid 535000)
Sol, the Home System, birthplace of humankind has a special place in the emotions of all humans. It is also the most developed and most densly populated star system in known space.
Regional Government in the Solar System
Off Earth, the political framework is more varied. Within Sol System regional power is devolved a great deal, since conditions are political reality in the outer system is quite different. Also, the various colony worlds (especially the Jovians and Belters) won considerable autonomy last century during a series of particularly unpleasant rebellions.
Main Planets
Mercury
Only minor mining bases. Too close to the sun.
Venus
Well developed and old domed colonies. Terraforming still underway - but it will be a long time yet before the planet is freely habitable. Population c400 million. The terraformers of 'Old Venus' became the first colonists of New Venus, now the capital of the Venerian Republic.
Earth
Heavily developed both above and below oceans. Large numbers of orbital factories, O'Neil tubes, trading stations, military bases etc, mainly located in high earth orbit, or at Earth L4 and L5 orbits.
The majority of the population of 10 billion live in the megacities, and the average Earther is still very unlikely to leave the planet during their lifetime. The vast majority enjoy relatively comfortable lives, with a short working week and a wide range of cheap forms of entertainment keeping the bulk of the population at least reasonably contented.
The planet is far from covered by cities, as it has the most advanced food-producing industrialised farming zones in the universe, generating high quality nutrient foods and drinks for the whole population. That said, luxury foods are a major item of interstellar import to Earth to add variety for those inclined to afford off-world cuisine.
Luna
The dwarf planet Luna in orbit around Earth is heavily industrialised, with large number of orbital utilities. Economically strong links with L4/L5 communities. Population 1.2 billion.
Mars (AKA Old Mars)
Terraforming well developed. Only minimal protection needed on the surface. Cities are still domed (a legacy from pre-terraforming days) but the domes are not absolutely essential and there is an increasing amount of open housing on the surface.
Well developed and industrialised. Population 900 million. Politically part of the Empire, but with strong links with New Mars and the Martian Association of Free Colonies. They would probably secede if they could, but this is unlikely to be practical. Lots of orbital indusries.
Deimos - Naval base.
Phobos - Detection stations - hubbles and space traffic control radars and navbeacons for the inner system.
Asteroids
Well developed, and home to a large population of miners and factories (known as 'belters'. This has some political autonomy within the Empire, although officially a 'dependency'. The belters are tolerated due to their economic importance strategic location and history of being tough fighters. Estimated population 1.5 billion (although reliable census data is hard to come by).
The dwarf planet Ceres is widely regarded as the Belter's unofficial capital.
Jupiter
Uninhabited.
Jovian Moons Minor moons have leisure and research stations but not much else.
Io - Orbital Military base - Marine Academy and Marine Training Facility. The settlements here are basically of the garrison town variety. The Marine Facility is very large. Permanent population approx. 3.5 million
Europa - Jovian colony world. Population 5.3 million
Ganymede - Jovian colony world. Population 3.7 million
Callisto - Jovian colony world. Population 1.2 million.
Achilles Trojan Asteroids (Jupiter L4) - mainly mining communities, with strong links to the belters. Est. population 7 million
Patroclus Trojan Asteroids (Jupiter L5) - mainly mining communities, with strong links to the belters. Est. population 3.4 million
Saturn
uninhabited
Saturn's Moons - Minor moons have leisure and research stations but not much else.
Tethys - Outer mining operation. Population 3.0 million
Dione - Privately owned. Est. population 250,000
Rhea - Outer mining operation. Population 2 million
Titan - Major Shipyard facilities. Population 0.5 million
Iapetus - Civilian Shipyard facilities. Population 0.5 million
Uranus
Mostly uninhabited.
Uranus' moons
Titania - Outer Fleet Base. Large supporting civilian population (approx. 2 million)
Oberon - Minor colony world. Population 250,000
Neptune
Uninhabited.
Neptune's Moons
Triton - Outer System fleet training establishment. Pop 200,000
Pluto
Dwarf planet. Small scientific bases only.
Cerberus
Micro black hole, 77 au from Sol, 2.1 degrees above the plane of the ecliptic. This is a known navigational hazard of no significance (other than to astronomers and the personnel of the deep space research station orbiting it). Its M25 zone is 9.5 au.
Hyperspace Trasmission Stations (HSTS)
A large number (around 50) of HS transmission stations used for Hyperspace Communications are located in stellarstationary orbits +90 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic some 28-32 au from Sol. These stations are operated by military, government and private commercial operators.
Early Warning Stations.
The Earth System has a number of detection stations in Solar orbit, usually at Lagrange points. Each detection station consists of a number of hubbles and active radar systems. Every settlement has active radar for navigation purposes. Earth has several hundred hubbles, as has Mars, Luna and the Belt. Neptune has quite a few hubbles also.
These are to cover 'doppeganger points' (the term for blind spots) to prevent approaches using Sol as a shield. The Solar System Defence Net (which links reports from all sources, including patrol ships) claims to be able to report on 97% of all emergences from Hyperspace within 40 au of earth within 8 hours, and 99.99% of all in-system incursions within the orbit of Pluto with 24 hours.