Boltzmann Solar-system

• Orbital Distance:  0.85 AU
• Orbital Period:  0.8 Earth-years
• Keplerian Ratio:  0.96
• Radius:  7,894 km
• Day Length:  60.5 Earth-hours
• Atmospheric Pressure:  2.35 atm
• Surface Temp:  165 °C
• Surface Gravity:  1.9 g
• Mass:  2.889 Earth-masses

Wheeler is a sizable rock planet. Its atmosphere is a hostile mix of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which poses little hazard to remote robo-mining. Modern equipment can easily tolerate the planet’s temperatures and gravity. Wheeler’s crust is rich in bauxite and other light metals used in fabricators the galaxy over.

• Orbital Distance:  1.8 AU
• Orbital Period:  2.4 Earth-years
• Keplerian Ratio:  1.013
• Radius:  6,050 km
• Day Length:  21.3 Earth-hours
• Atmospheric Pressure:  1.17 atm
• Surface Temp:  43 °C (mean) 25 °C (habitable zone)
• Surface Gravity:  0.9 g
• Mass:  0.804 Earth-masses
• Colony:  human
  Capital:  Milgrom, founded 2158, population 5,425,000

The recipient of the first wave of Earth’s colonization efforts, Bekenstein’s founders had a decidedly less agrarian plan than Eden Prime. The mission of Bekenstein’s first colony was to become Earth’s off-planet manufacturing base, ingratiating humanity into galactic culture by producing needed goods. Meeting with mixed success for the first generation, Bekenstein then leapfrogged its competition by producing high-quality luxury goods that went straight to nearby markets via the Citadel. Today, Bekenstein is known as “the humans’ Illium,” a place where new-money tycoons flaunt their wealth and the have-nots are rarely spoken of.

Codex Entry

“More glittering than diamonds, more expensive than surgery,” is how travel agents describe this planet behind closed doors. Given the opportunity to colonize planets after the First Contact War, the Systems Alliance chose Bekenstein to be their trading arm, producing goods to be sold on the nearby Citadel. Cracking the vast galactic marketplace proved difficult — the first human products sold on novelty alone, then lack of demand hit Bekenstein’s economy hard. Only in the second generation of colonists did the planet find a sustainable niche in high-quality entertainment and luxury goods. Once brand awareness sunk in, aliens flocked to Bekenstein’s many spaceports. The planet today boasts more millionaires and billionaires per capita than any other human colony.

Though its crime tends to be white-collar and nonviolent, Bekenstein is not without its dark side. Both its suicide rate and inflation are extremely high compared to other worlds. Unemployment is artificially low because few people immigrate to the expensive planet without having a job lined up, and the cost of living is so great that unemployed workers typically leave for kinder planets after just a few months. Those who stay see themselves as tougher, sharper, and more skillful than the rest, as well as capable of getting respect and employment on any lesser planet. As a popular song says, “If you can make it on the Bek, you got ’em by the neck.”

• Orbital Distance:  3.6 AU
• Orbital Period:  6.8 Earth-years
• Keplerian Ratio:  1.009
• Radius:  3,247 km
• Day Length:  34.2 Earth-hours
• Atmospheric Pressure:  1.88 atm
• Surface Temp:  −5 °C
• Surface Gravity:  0.2 g
• Mass:  0.051 Earth-masses

Technically named T’hooft [sic] (Dutch for “the head”), Thooft is a dwarf planet with a moderate carbon dioxide atmosphere and rich deposits of periclase. Originally put on the star charts when a human scout ship needed to discharge its drive core and wasn’t able to reach the system’s gas giants in time, Thooft has seen some development by Hoshichiri Heavy Industries. Periclase from the asteroid can be found in common industrial products, such as industrial cable insulation and fire-resistant prefab housing walls.

• Orbital Distance:  7.1 AU
• Orbital Period:  19.0 Earth-years
• Keplerian Ratio:  0.991
• Radius:  61,755 km
• Day Length:  14.0 Earth-hours
• Atmospheric Pressure:  _ 0.44 atm
• Surface Temp:  _ 1,157 °C
• Surface Gravity:  _ 0.66 g
• Mass:  _ 0.78 Earth-masses
• Colony:  human

A hydrogen-helium gas giant, Veltman is home to the koshiroten, enormous storm cells that appear as whitish spots and are visible as far away as Bekenstein. As with most other colonized gas giants, Veltman’s orbital space sports a variety of helium-3 refueling stations for merchant vessels. Of particular note among the orbital stations is the Dynamis Corporation’s facility for manufacturing metastable metallic hydrogen, despite the risks involved in manipulating the powerful mass effect fields needed to do so. Citadel warships, which use the substance in their thrusters, can frequently be seen docking at Veltman as a result. This makes the Boltzmann system one of the most heavily patrolled in Citadel space.

• Orbital Distance:  15.2 AU
• Orbital Period:  59.4 Earth-years
• Keplerian Ratio:  0.995
• Radius:  40,196 km
• Day Length:  16.9 Earth-hours
• Atmospheric Pressure:  N/A atm
• Surface Temp:  N/A °C
• Surface Gravity:  N/A g
• Mass:  N/A Earth-masses
• Satellites:  24

A hydrogen-methane gas giant, Feynman is of far less interest to the colonists of Bekenstein than its moons. All 24 are under heavy development by three rival firms, Hoshichiri Heavy Industries, Guanghui Solutions, and the Dynamis Corporation. These three firms are under ironclad contracts to sell their raw materials exclusively to corporations based on or orbiting around Bekenstein, a situation which has led to heavy investment on Bekenstein from manufacturing corporations looking to get a piece of the action. Feynman itself has been relatively untouched by the mining concerns as its strong magnetosphere and great dark storm cells create a barrier to all but the newest generation of scanners.