Asteroid Habitats

The asteroid habitats have always been the most common form of habitat in the Zambarau Concord. They are easy to make, robust, are built close to solar systems and the excess material from their construction can be used in industry. The average asteroid habitat has a population of around 30,000, though this can vary wildly depending on race, function, asteroid size etc.

In the building of an asteriod habitat a suitable asteroid must first be found that is fairly large (on the scale of kilometres) and robust; detailed analyses usually take place to make sure the asteroid is not unstable and is made up of suitable materials for construction. Sometimes powerful solettas (giant mirrors) are used to focus sunlight to melt the asteroid together to make it more robust, but it is nearly always easier to just find a better asteroid.

Next, the asteroid is hollowed out robotically, the hollowed out region usually resembles a cylinder with a cone on each end; material from hollowing out the asteroid is either used in industry, deposited on top of the asteroid or accelerated using mass drivers to adjust the asteroids orbit. At this point the asteroid is usually also 'spun up' to provide simulated gravity on the inner surface of the hollowed-out cylinder via centripetal force.

Finally a habitat can be made within the asteroid. It may be a land, water or air habitat (depending on the intended environment). In land habitats synthetic soil is usually used, in most habitats a long tube is usually run right down the long axis of the hollowed-out cylinder that lights up to illuminate the habitat.

Asteroid habitats are the single type of habitat that house the most people in the Zambarau Concord; while planets have a total population of 620 billion, the total population of habitats within the Concord is 1.2 trillion.