Chapter 3 Part 1

Corn Goddess

“Ice is but water in suspended animation. Nature warms it and it gives us life in all its glory.”

– Dag Harlow 

August 2, 2239 

Years before construction of Ellie 5 archipelago, mining of the Asteroid Belt began. Unimaginable resources existed beyond the orbit of Mars. Everything humankind would need was in the Asteroid Belts. In the center Belt (M-Type) the planetoid Ceres provided close access to all 3 major belts and their mineral resources. The belts were separated from each other by Kirkwood Gaps created by gravitational effects from Jupiter. The inner belts (S-Type) consist of mostly silicates and numerous metals such as nickel, cobalt, gold, platinum and rhodium. The asteroids in the middle belts (M-Type) where Ceres was located could have ten times the metal content of the S-Type asteroids. However, those asteroids are not as numerous. The outer ring is called the Carbonaceous ring (C-Type) asteroids. Those asteroids with their high carbon content could be thought of as large chunks of coal. 

Planets and planetoids must have formed between the orbit of Jupiter and Mars by collision and coalition of debris as the Solar System formed. The molten planets and planetoids gravitationally segregated the heavier materials from the lighter. Once cooled they collided, fragmented then separated into bands. The existence of these distinct species of asteroids would prove highly beneficial for the Space Settlement Program. 

The planetoid Ceres has a diameter of approximately 939 kilometers and a very significant water content. As the largest planetoid within the Type M asteroid belt, it was ideal for a station that could process asteroids.  Raw materials could be sent to the Earth-Lunar-Lagrange 5 location for the construction of the first Space Island Archipelago.  On August 2, 2239 the space ship Corn Goddess (named after Ceres the Goddess of Harvest) arrived with a contingent of scientists and engineers. Like all long-range spaceships, the Corn Goddess rotated to create 1 gravity. Essentially it was a Ferris wheel at the fore with crew quarters located around the periphery. Propulsion motors were attached aft on the central axis tube. Surrounding the axis was a cage of the same diameter as the crew ‘Ferris Wheel’.  The central axis tube extended to the fore beyond the Ferris Wheel crew quarters. Docked to this extension were 3 short range space ships. Attached to the outside of the cylinder cage were 26 fully fueled robotic propulsion motors being delivered to site. 

As the Corn Goddess entered orbit around Ceres, Director Dag Harlow climbed up the tube from his pod to the central axis. He was one of 3 engineers who had not been placed in hibernation.  He floated along the tube pulling on handholds until he reached the first spaceship. Then he entered the hatch, took the controls, detached and flew the ship a short distance away alongside the Corn Goddess. He could see its entire length. It was a long, ungainly skeleton of a spaceship containing individual crew quarters, mechanical, life support and food storage. There were no common areas. Dag then flew his spacecraft back and forth along the cage as it rotated before him inspecting for any damage before ordering inflation. 

“OK Earl, are you at the helm? Let’s get this godawful monstrosity inflated and habitable so we can bring the rest of our crew out of hibernation.” 

Slowly the giant double membraned bladder began to inflate filling the inside of the cage. Once Dag confirmed inflation was proceeding normally, he returned to the docking port. It would be 2 days before inflation was complete. As it reached full inflation the double membraned bladder bulged between the mesh squares of the containment cage. The resulting structure resembled a huge corn on the cob turning on a spit. When the inflation was complete Dag returned to the spaceship and travelled back to inspect the bladder and framework. He wanted to ensure there were no folds or tears and that each ‘kernel’ was perfectly formed as they would become structural elements. 

“The damn bladder is yellow! It looks like an giant ear of corn! Dag reported to Earl and Salvadore who had just entered the helm. “This is some assholes idea of a parting joke?” He said, then heard some stifled chuckling from the bridge.  

“Yea I think I know who those assholes are.” He mumbled as he directed his spaceship back and forth along the length of the transforming spaceship, inspecting every bulge and every frame member. When he was finished, he ordered a hardening substance pumped between the double membranes to fix its shape before the addition of other structural materials, asteroid regolith and cement to the inside surface. Shortly thereafter Earth atmosphere was added from tanks of compressed gas replacing the carbon dioxide used as the expansion gas. Dag docked his spacecraft and joined Earl and Salvador on the Bridge. 

“We’d better fire up the heaters and cure resin. It will need curing before we can add  the concrete and regolith.” Earl and Salvadore looked expectantly to him. “And no! I did not take any pictures for publication. There will be no pictures of this station as an ear of corn. Any pictures of the exterior will be gunmetal. And there will be a stream of pictures and holographs of the interior as it is completed.” 

“I take it Dag, that we don’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing completion of their joke.” Salvadore remarked. He looked at Earl and grinned. 

“That’s right. You both think it’s funny. I don’t! Whoever colored this station yellow will waste their time searching for pictures of a giant ear of corn. They will never find them. As soon as we convert this monstrosity into a habitat, I will re-christen it. Something prosaic like, ‘Ceres Station’.” 

“’Ceres Station’. Yea that’s appropriate.” Earl commented. He glanced at Salvadore. 

“I know you guys wouldn’t be the assholes, would you?” Both Salvadore and Earl looked back at Dag with huge grins. “None-the-less you will both be tasked with changing the color to intended gunmetal.” 

Within a couple of weeks Ceres Station was ready to support human occupancy. The hibernating crew members were revived and after several days in rehabilitation in the makeshift gym, reported for duty. The crew quarters were maintained as they were in the original spaceship. The crew members under the guidance of Earl and Salvadore began the finish construction of the inner surface of the habitat. They gradually converted the surface to working and recreational areas. They framed small offices, laboratories, conference rooms, a restaurant, theater, and gymnasium from prefabricated panels and beams. This was done with minimal robotic help. The engineers would later construct a versatile fleet of robots. However, initially their labor was required to assemble the improvements. They designed several sports courts, and a small park for later construction. The design engineers were given a lot of freedom in configuring their working spaces. However, their sleeping quarters were much as before, cold and cramped. 

All mechanical, environmental, and food production systems were contained within the habitat cylinder close to the central axis to reduce stress on the rotating hull. Cyanobacteria and diatom growth were maintained in containers there as well, to produce sufficient oxygen. Isolated in other pods dispersed among the limited natural landscape, were hydroponic tomato, pepper and herb gardens. The primary nutrition was produced in tanks of genetically engineered microbes, the products then isolated and combined with isolates from other tanks. 

Dag and his astrogeologists often wandered among the Asteroids using the 3 spaceships.  They could easily reach a variety from Ceres Station. However, the distance from the station to Ellie 5 was staggering. Raw materials coming from the Asteroid Belt could take less than 1 year to 4 years or more to arrive depending on relative alignments. Launches to Ellie 5 were normally held at the Station until favorable launch alignments occurred. Raw materials were compressed in large nets to which a transport motors could be attached. The first launches from Ceres Station occurred on September 11, 2239. They arrived at the Ellie 5 construction site on July 4, 2242, just as that construction project was beginning. From that early time the need for an Asteroid Processing Structure was very evident to Dag and all the scientists in the project. Finished raw materials could be manufactured with an Asteroid Processing Structure (APS) thus reducing the mass of payloads to be transported to Ellie 5. Reduced mass would translate to the ability to increase transport speed. The APS had been approved by ESO, but funding was, though continuous, just a trickle. Eventually Dag and his men would find a way to circumvent the ESO bureaucracy.  

Over the years there were several shipments to Ellie 5. The shuttle service provided by Endeavor and Eternal Hope spaceships had rotated scientists and engineers between Ellie 5, Ceres Station and NASA Mars Base. The opportunity to change venue every few years offered some relief to the crew at Ceres Station. Duty at Ceres was spartan to primitive. Dag knew his men needed a better living and working environment. He silently vowed to himself to do something to improve their lives.