human Mars: Asteroid Belt

Sunday, June 30, 2024

Pallas, the origin of the Free Navy, in "The Expanse" TV series

Pallas, located in the Main Asteroid Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is the third-largest asteroid in the Solar System (~512km in diameter). It has 22% the mass of Ceres, the largest asteroid in the Solar System, and gravity of 0.021g (2,1% of the gravity force on Earth). With an orbital inclination of 34.8°, Pallas's orbit is unusually highly inclined to the plane of the Asteroid Belt, making Pallas harder to reach by spacecraft.

In the universe of The Expanse TV series (a political sci-fi drama set in mid-24th century when humans have colonized the entire Solar system) Pallas hosts one of the oldest stations, Pallas Station, in the outer planets, refinement stations for the mining operations in the Asteroid Belt and the largest fuel refinery in the Belt.

In The Expanse TV series Pallas has a population of 9 to 13 thousand, but is also known for its extremist Belter splinter groups among its colony. One of those splinter groups eventually form the core of the Free Navy. Pallas is the birthplace of Marco Inaros, Naomi Nagata and their son Filip.

In late season 5 of the show the acting Secretary-General of the United Nations David Paster orders an uncoordinated missile strike against the Pallas Station, destroying one of its habitation rings and killing thousands of Belters.

Here you can view some of the few shots of Pallas Station exteriors in the show:

Pallas Station in 'The Expanse' TV series

Naomi Nagata's ship at Pallas Station docks:

Ship at Pallas Station docks in 'The Expanse' TV series

Destruction of one of the habitation rings of the Pallas Station:

Destruction of Pallas Station in 'The Expanse' TV series

Ceres, the capital of the Belt, in "The Expanse" TV series

Ceres, located in the Main Asteroid Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is the largest known asteroid (~940km in diameter) and the only dwarf planet in the Inner Solar system. In the universe of The Expanse TV series (a political sci-fi drama set in mid-24th century when humans have colonized the entire Solar system) Ceres acts as the de facto capital for the Belt - one of the three competing powers in The Expanse, along with the United Nations (based on Earth) and Mars.

Ceres naturally has a gravity of 0.029g (2,9% of the gravity force on Earth), but in the universe of The Expanse it has been artificially spun up to 0.3g of centrifugal force (so the "gravity" points in the opposite direction, not towards the center of the planet). There is a population of around 6 million in Ceres Station which consists of tens of thousands of kilometers of tunnels bored deep into Ceres. Ceres Station is the most important spaceport in the Belt, 800 to 1'000 ships are docked on Ceres every day, so along with the 6 million permanent residents there are an extra one million transiting through at any given time. Ceres Station was initially governed by the United Nations, but during season 1 of the show Outer Planets Alliance (OPA, a fractured sociopolitical movement trying to unite the Belt) takes control.

The life on Ceres is depicted in season 1 and season 6 of The Expanse. Here you can view some of the best shots from locations on Ceres Station (part of them downscaled from 4K UHD screens for better image quality) as well as some concept art for Ceres: