The Floating Refineries and Cities of the Union

The Floating Refineries and Cities of the Union

Jovian planets or the more accepted standard term Gaseous planet (Gas Giant) have been largely ignored by most spacefaring civilizations. While a few civilizations do consider them scientifically and a few known civilizations equip their ships with skimming equipment to scoop gaseous matter from a gas planet (as an emergeny fuel resource) It was the Human Terrans who actually installed floating refineries. Facilities that float in the upper tiers of gas giants to siphon variety of gases and process them into MOLGAS products.

The fuel need of of United Earth and later the Union was steadily increasing and the amount of fuel produced in the Union is truly astronomical. It made gas planets a source of almost inexhaustible fuel gasses such as Hydrogen, Oxygen and Helium [1].

Artigrav and shield technology allowed the construction of floating refineries and the habit of utilizing gas planets that way is now a common Union practice. Something that new member species and observing non Union societies often find utterly amazing.

This practice of looking much closer to Gas giants also led to the discovery of several sentient and non sentient life forms that inhabit gas planets as their natural habitat. First and most prominent of course the Bellebees.

While not all refineries turned into cities, new constructed pump stations are now designed to be cities from the start.

Some of the Pump refineries have rediscovered the old space elevator technology, not for passenger transport but to transfer refined fuel into orbital fuel depots.

[1] Hydrogen and Oxygen was and is refined into MOLGAS-W and pure water. Since hydrogen is the best substance for  molecular compacting due to the shape of the atom and it is there in virtually limitless quantities. Helium is a close second candidate and almost equally abundant in the general make up of gas giants. ISAH Engines of the third generation onwards function equally well on Helium (and technically on any other gaseous matter. (As any matter will produce the required energy when it comes in contact with anti matter))It was the Anti matter process and the fuel handling systems that needed to be adapted, which they are from about 3100 onward when the so called 3rd generation of ISAH engines became available.

MOLGAS-He had never really caught on much,mainly due to the fact that the Fleet prefers MOLGAS-W, but it is still produced and mostly used by robotic ships and freighters as they buy whatever is cheapest and MOLGAS-He is usually available at Floating Refineries at a cheaper price.