More on Dara

In Rome's Revolution, Rei Bierak questioned Rome several times as to why they elected to build their starbase on a moon instead of free-floating in space. To him, building a base at the bottom of a gravity well was counter-intuitive. It required energy to go into space, energy that could have been preserved if you were up there in the first place.

In an earlier post, I explained that the thin atmosphere of Dara was sufficient to allow for aerobraking. Rome also explained that building the star base within an atmosphere made it easier to secure and maintain. However, there was one more reason which Rei only learned about when he and Rome were taking their first training flight together. It went something like this:

     Rei felt a vibration as the massive hangar doors pulled open allowing him to look at the surface of Dara for the first time. The pressure differential caused air from the hangar to rush out, creating swirling eddies of dust and dirt during the process. Beyond that, the ground was brown and reddish, illuminated by the lights of the hangar bay.
     “For some reason, I was expecting it to be all gray and cratered, like Earth’s moon,” Rei said.
     “No, Dara has a substantial atmosphere and weather,” Rome said. “That is why we picked it. It reduces the engineering requirements that we’d need for a vacuum. Plus aero-braking is easiest when you have an atmosphere to rub against.”
     “Still, you have to take off and land every time you need to do something. Wouldn’t a space station be better?” Rei asked.
     “No,” Rome answered. “Most gas giants like Skyler’s World usually put out gigawatts of lethal radiation. We need the atmosphere of Dara to provide some shielding. Plus it undergoes rhythmic gravitational contractions which causes it to radiate IR which is trapped by the moon. It makes it easier to maintain a comfortable temperature.”
     “But the gravity well?” was all Rei could counter with.
     “The gravity well would only be an issue on take off. It is not an issue for landing,” Rome answered.

From my perspective, putting the first part of Rome's Revolution on Dara allowed for the dramatic final scene when Rei thought he had lost Rome forever. That was good enough for me.