The Human Diaspora

By Christopher Duro

This short book contains a description of the future history of the human expansion into the Solar System, leading to the events in the novel Hero of Terra. The events, technologies, and sociological developments are intended to be plausible and based on real science and history. In other words, this is speculation, not fantasy: something like this could become reality!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christopher Duro
• Release date: Feb 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215308301

Christopher Duro

Christopher Duro is a former professional astronomer and current engineer and outdoorsman. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and teenage children. An avid reader of science fiction, he has often considered and occasionally attempted to write it. Hero of Terra is his first novel.

Book preview

The Human Diaspora: A Brief History of the Settlement of the Solar System, with special attention to the Compact Space Meta-Civilization

Copyright 2023 Christopher Duro

Published by Christopher Duro at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. A Very Condensed Future History

3. Critical Technologies

4. The Design of the Worlds

5. The Peoples of Compact Space

6. A Menagerie of Forms found in Terra’s Local Space

7. Worlds in Terra’s Local Space

8. The Compact Space Meta-Civilization

9. Relations with Other Civilizations and Meta-Civilizations

10. Terra

About the Author

1. Introduction

This little book was written in response to a reader’s request for more information on the backstory which is partly revealed in the novel Hero of Terra. You’ll find no plot or characters here; if it’s a proper story you’re looking for, you’ve come to the wrong place. If, on the other hand, you’ve read Hero of Terra and were left with questions about it, or you’re looking for the author’s take on an exciting and plausible future for our human race, then welcome aboard!

2. A Very Condensed Future History

It took centuries, but the dream of settling worlds beyond Earth came to its first fruition in the early 22nd century AD. This was a period of great distress as the rate of technological progress outpaced society’s ability to adapt, resulting in a series of outrageous abuses that were both a symptom and a cause of social and political instability. The first mass outward migrations were driven largely by the desire to escape the mess that Earth had become and the doom that appeared imminent.

Luna proved both too difficult to settle and too deeply in Earth’s orbit (both physically and socially) to be viable. Martian settlements were more successful, with the planet’s greater distance from Earth being both the most important barrier to settlement and one of its greatest attractions. Mars also offered a more Earthlike environment, an abundance of accessible natural resources, and a surface gravity just strong enough to allow for long-term human health and safe childbearing. Cities grew in the southern mid-latitudes, where the comparatively dense atmosphere made landings easier and mitigated the radiation environment.

But Mars is a small world, and not all of its real estate is desirable. Within half a millennium its population reached a billion souls, and crowding created a strong pressure to look beyond for more living space. Within a few centuries the net outward migration swelled to millions of souls per year. Their destinations were almost all in the Main Belt of asteroids, and Ceres in particular.

Ceres offered resources in great abundance, combined with easy extraction and a small gravity well that made it practical to build gigantic structures in the space around it. The most important of these were bubbles of water ice thick enough to reduce