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Stars near Sol - Exploration and Colonisation

The Local Neighborhood

OA local space colonisation
Image from Arik
Animation of the major early exploration efforts in the Solar Neighborhood (click to activate)
Early exploration and colonisation of the stars near Sol started in 300 AT with the first missions to Alpha Centauri and Tau Ceti. The Alpha Centauri mission was an automated one, intended to prepare the system for later manned missions, but these were never launched. The Tau Ceti mission, on the other hand, carried human colonists, who established the first interstellar colony, Nova Terra.

OA Map 1
Image from Arik
Stars within 30 ly of Sol
Most of the local stars near Sol are M-dwarfs, which were often overlooked in the first wave of colonisation.

Early hu exploration
Image from Arik
Early manned colony missions
Colony missions were sent to Ran, Alsafi, Gatlida, and other nearby stars; these used a variety of methods to reach interstellar speeds

Early exploration AI
Image from Arik
Early interstellar missions by (mostly independent) AI craft
Many of the local stars were explored and colonised independently by autonomous AI craft, often belonging to the so-called A-Human faction that believed that humans were an irrelevant factor in the development of mindkind.

Early AI/Hu exploration
Image from Arik
Early interstellar exploration, including manned missions and AI-only missions
The first wave of exploration was interrupted by the Technocalypse and the Great Expulsion, which led to a Dark Age several hundred years long. The newly established colonies lost contact with Solsys during this period, except for refugee arks fleeing the Solar System. But the Dark Age did not last forever.

OA Map 14
Image from Arik
By 1500 AT The Federation of Sophonts had established transport routes between many of the local stars, often using beamrider technology.

Wormholes in Solar Neighborhood
Image from Arik
Wormhole Routes in the Solar Neighborhood established after 2200 AT
After the fall of the First Federation, the AI Gods began to develop new methods of transportation between star systems, including traversable wormholes, connecting several stars in the Local Neighborhood to each other, and to more distant locations.

 
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Appears in Topics
GalactographyInner SphereMaps of the Terragen Sphere
Solsys Organization
 
Development Notes
Text by Arik
Additional material by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 27 July 2016.

 
 
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