Delta-V (Delta-v, #1)

by Daniel Suarez

“Founded a blockchain nonprofit.”

“One more.” An instant laugh and this time a raised eyebrow and quizzical smile next to his nonplussed face. Flash. “Got it.” She walked off without another word, head down and thumbing her screen. Tighe recalled the Kayapo tribesmen of Brazil. They hated to be photographed. He felt a sudden kinship with them as he feared for his social media soul—then remembered he didn’t have one.

Joyce had risen from middle-class obscurity to become a billionaire at a young age, first in cryptocurrencies and then when one after another of his tech startups (none of which Tighe had heard of or understood) were bought out by tech giants. Now in his late thirties, Joyce had controlling interests in dozens of closely held enterprises in new media, real estate, biotech, aerospace, and renewable energy.

Baliceaux Island shed some light on Joyce’s modus operandi. For centuries this place had been an undeveloped 320-acre speck in the Grenadines.

“For example, when a new mortgage is originated, that money does not come out of a bank vault. Instead, the money is created as a result of the loan. The bank supplies it to the borrower as a bank credit, with the borrower promising to repay the principal plus interest at a future date. This new debt is registered with a federal reserve or a central bank to the commercial bank’s account, allowing it to now loan out more money based on a multiple of that new loan—usually at a ratio of ten or more to one. So the more money the bank lends, the more it has available to lend.” Tighe frowned. “Hold on. How can that be?” “Because in the modern world money does not represent value, Mr. Tighe—money represents debt. And the more debt that is created in the world, the more money there is.”

Korrapati looked grim. “So at the very time that climate change threatens to destroy human civilization, our economic system compels us to pursue ever-greater business growth—which will eventually become impossible.”

“Cislunar? What is that?” “It’s the region of space just beyond Earth’s atmosphere reaching out to a point about 65,000 kilometers past the Moon. You might consider it the local celestial neighborhood.”

“NewSpace is an unofficial term used to describe private space entrepreneurs that are commerce focused rather than government focused.”

For this reason no nation would win any conflict in low Earth orbit. The wreckage from even modest hostilities would likely impact other satellites, creating clouds of lethal debris, which in turn would hit still more satellites. This could ultimately result in what’s been called the Kessler syndrome—where the area above Earth’s atmosphere becomes blanketed by debris that denies access to outer space to all of humanity for generations.”

CEO of both Catalyst Corporation and Asterisk Holdings.”

“It was really something. I posted the pictures on Facebook. I don’t know if you saw them.” Tighe didn’t have a Facebook account.

It showed they were at 32 meters’ depth and breathing 30 percent nitrox—a mix of nitrogen and oxygen intended to stave off rapture of the deep (the layman’s term for nitrogen narcosis), a false euphoria that could blunt a diver’s awareness and lead to death.

But the problem with breathing a lot of helium was its thermal conductivity—twenty times that of normal air; a diver lost body heat much faster while breathing helium. Tighe watched the screen as he and Oberhaus partially inflated their dry suits with argon gas to insulate them.

a disproportionate number of you share what’s known as the ‘wanderlust gene,’ DRD4-7R. This gene is highly correlated with a desire for novel experiences. Many of the world’s greatest explorers, adventurers, and entrepreneurs have this gene. Its

Joyce shouted over them. “We shouldn’t just accept that we’re destined to live on whatever planets have been dealt us. If you solve the problems of living on Mars, then you’ve only solved the Mars problem, but if we learn to build habitats in open space, then we have solved the entire future of the human race. We can harvest materials”—he pointed to Goff—“from asteroids, for example.”

Eric Reyes, an ex–US Air Force test pilot who hadn’t been able to find civilian work due to the spread of autonomous aircraft.

“J.T., that’s Isabel Abarca—the Argentinian mountaineer. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of her? She’s a legend.”

“After fifteen years of technical diving, if there’s one thing I know, it’s air. Point zero four percent CO2 is normal, but most people can deal with 2 or 3 percent. At 4 percent most people get uncomfortable. Six percent and people start passing out. Ten percent is lethal.”

The western edge of the lawn opened to a broad view of Ascension Island from on high, with a brilliant sunset over the Atlantic.

John F. Kennedy said these words: ‘There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.’”

This conversation was quite possibly the most interesting one under way on Earth at the moment.

“As for the EU, the grand duchy, and the FAA—I’m not going to ask permission. Here on Earth you lawyers say that possession is nine-tenths of the law. Well, Lukas, in space I think possession is going to be more like 99.99999 percent of the law. Space is a goddamned frontier. What’s the use of going to a frontier if it has rules?”

“Asteroid 162173 Ryugu.” A label faded in as he said it. “Discovered in 1999, it is a rare C- and G-type near-Earth asteroid. Roughly 900 meters in diameter and 450 million tons in mass, it contains tens of millions of tons of nickel, iron, cobalt, nitrogen, ammonia, and water—worth an estimated 106 billion US dollars.”

However, Ryugu also contains other vital resources—ammonia, nitrogen, and metals. What makes these resources so valuable is their trajectory above Earth’s gravity well. . . .” The hologram panned away from Ryugu and zoomed in toward Earth once more. “Even with today’s reusable launch systems, it currently costs seventeen hundred dollars per kilogram to lift a payload into low Earth orbit.” A holographic rocket barely climbed off the Earth. “It costs over twice this amount to lift a kilo of payload to a geostationary transfer orbit—or GTO—36,000 kilometers above Earth.”

in real life: a flight to LEO on a Falcon 9 rocket with a reused first stage costs about $50 million for a 15,600kg maximum reusable payload; meaning the price per kilo to LEO is about $3,205.

“That is because at present we need to bring all the fuel required for any space voyage up from Earth’s surface. This is why placing anything into orbit around the Moon costs at least 6.6 million dollars per ton.”

“Because asteroid dust is an extreme biohazard. It must never get inside your ship. Asteroid regolith is five times finer than talcum powder, with particles as sharp as broken glass. If breathed in, they can enter your bloodstream directly—resulting in death. If taken into the lungs, they can penetrate deep enough to cause silicosis—stone grinder’s disease—resulting in death. Regolith also sticks to and shorts out circuit boards and jams valves and seals—causing equipment failures that can also lead to death.”

Jin shook his head. “No one has built a ship such as this.” “I’m surprised. Spinning a spaceship to create artificial gravity makes sense.” “Only if the radius of rotation is at least 200 meters. Otherwise, the Coriolis effect can sicken the occupants. Imagine gravity changing dramatically whenever you sit or stand up.”

He wasn’t normally fond of the beach scene, but Whitehaven Beach was different—part of a marine park, it was pristine, perfect, and unpopulated. There wasn’t a house or building anywhere on the island—just 5 kilometers of tranquil sand.

Harris turned to Yak. “Why was it so important to watch that film last night?” “White Sun of the Desert? Wery important film.” “It had nothing to do with space.” “It is tradition.”

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the visionary genius behind the rocket equation, and the first human being to envision asteroid mining as well as artificial gravity way back in 1900.”

“It’s called ‘space’ for a reason.”

“Hard. Fucking. Core.”

“Microgravity sex is awful.”

They both rounded out the tour by inspecting the secure storage compartment—which held the time-release lockers. Part of Dr. Bruno’s “psych regimen,” these would be opened at intervals by the ship’s system or by the mission control managers. The lockers contained goodies, surprises, and other items of interest to keep up crew morale.

Morra glided next to him and looked at the labels on the vacuum-sealed packages. “I suppose when it costs six thousand dollars a kilo to bring anything up here, choosing the good brand doesn’t bump up the price much.”

Consider this: for decades humanity has possessed the capability to expand into our solar system—but we have not.” He let his words sink in, looking from face to face. “It’s not because explorers like you weren’t willing to shoulder the risk. Instead it was a blindness among our leaders that prevented them from seeing the true risk. And yet on Earth, we spend a trillion dollars on war without blinking an eye. With each passing year, the chance of a global catastrophe mounts—the climate, an epidemic, a financial crash, or a war that shrouds Earth in space debris and prevents us from reaching space. Possibly ever again. Humanity’s future depends on going—now, not later.

cube sats from the Hayabusa2 mission back in 2018, circling 10 kilometers above Ryugu’s day-night terminator.

Forty-seven and a half seconds later: “MECO.

main engine cut off

sat around the galley table sipping freeze-dried coffee

lol this is just instant coffee

The scanner was a box the size of a refrigerator. It detected “coulomb scattering” of subatomic particles to derive imagery inside solid objects. The same technology had been used to locate hidden burial chambers in the Egyptian pyramids.

Joyce stared at the screen for several more moments. He looked down as he said, “I have lied to investors in my other companies. I have falsified tax returns and SEC filings. I have embezzled. I have begged, borrowed, and essentially stolen the money required to make this expedition happen. An expedition that officially does not exist because no one was willing to fund something this risky. No one had faith that it could work—and they still don’t. Investors gave me money to do more of the same bullshit that billions of dollars are wasted on every day here on Earth. And I took their money, and instead I did this . . .” He gestured to the screen—to them.

“I used to polish stones as a child. I even took gemology courses.”

a lone bottle of Suntory Hibiki thirty-year-old whiskey.

If you have any chance to make Earth, you will need to remain focused and follow Ade’s radioed instructions closely for as long as you’re in range. Emotion comes later.”

Asteroid Mining 101: Wealth for the New Space Economy by John S. Lewis (Deep Space Industries)

My gratitude to Cyrus Foster who, during his time at NASA’s Ames Research Center, developed the Trajectory Browser—an online tool that helped me identify the key spacecraft trajectories used throughout this story.

I’m grateful to exceptional space-themed YouTubers Isaac Arthur, Curious Droid (Paul Shillito), and Scott Manley for hundreds of hours of informative videos on all things space, which informed this book in countless ways. May their Patreon subscriber count continue to grow.

Free people have a natural advantage on frontiers. Authoritarian subjects wait for permission, but free people take action and innovate.