SEVENTY YEARS after the conquest of the moon, space's unregulated traffic lanes are congested with man-made craft.

Lunar mining corporations try to outrun space pirates. In 2010 the Japanese began mining helium-3 from the Tsiolkovsky lunar crater; now many groups mine substances abundant on the lunar crust but scarce on Earth. These include gallium, which has replaced silicon in the making of chips, chromium, aluminium, iron, oxygen, gravidium and super-hard titanium. In 2025 trade almost collapsed as conflicts raged at the Clavius mine for control of lunar ice, vital in sustaining settlements.

On-moon mission turnaround times have been revolutionised by the maglev electromagnetic relaunch railgun system: the high-speed mass drivers propel craft along an 8km track at 6,500kmh. The first tourists enjoyed drinks at the Sky Bridge Hotel in 2029, and by 2036 man had landed on Mars, found fish swimming on Jupiter's moon Europa and seen the catastrophe of an asteroid hitting Frankfurt. SC