With the recent advacements of private space flight in OTL, especially SpaceX, I have been wondering...
How did companies like SpaceX, Armadillo or Bigelow fare in Fenspace? Did they just end up going up in flames because its easier to pay some fan with a truck go haul their sat into space? Or did they somehow manage to pull through in some way or another?
Okay, Bigelow may be able to get through with inflatable habs.
Virgin Galactic would most likely offer transportation service with a couple of waves ships or planes.
What about any other company?

I spent the last week or two with Dartz working on a concept for the 2020-2025 time period.
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The Frigga Factory Complex

»What do you mean with ‘what do you plan to build there? Everything both you and us want, of course!«
- Lisa asked by Jet about the planned factory

History
The Frigga Factory Complex is housed in one of the old mining excavations on Frigga's surface. Starting towards the end of 2022 Catgirl Industries enclosed the pit with a pressure cap at surface level and began initial structural and framing work for the factory. The final fitting out was completed sometime in early 2025, though the plant had been basically operational for over a year prior.

The complex is Catgirl Industries first attempt to replicate their production techniques outside their own space stations, so that other people can start using them to build and invent on their own.

During normal operation many components are bought from other parts of Fenspace to ease the production of new hardware, but in theory the factory complex can build everything itself if supplied with the necessary raw materials.

Both Cortana and Serina are present in the factory, alongside an ‘emergency operation system', which could run the factory at a lower efficiency without a direct AI control. Replacing all the aware Exocomps with different models may also lead to other problems.

The Factory appears on Frigga's books as a contracted tenant, paying for oxygen, power and defense in raw material and through shared use of the factory itself. Frigga and Survival Shot normally use the factory to save on the cost of spare parts. While the MZ-105 is technically available for sale, only the MZ-23 Judy has sold in anything like numbers.

Structure of the factory

The factory and its support infrastructure are housed in one of Frigga's old mining excavations, a leftover of the time when Frigga was mined for resources. Because of the size of the site, it's still mostly empty.

The cave of the complex is separated from the outside of the asteroid by two 50m doors that form a spaceship sized airlock. Multiple smaller airlocks allow small vehicles, persons or even Exocomps to enter and leave the cave without using the main doors.

The airlock leads into the open space of the factory floor. The factory complex itself is built onto the walls of the cavern, simplifying access The catgirls have installed enough accommodation for 80 people, following a similar -if slightly more spacious - layout to the quarters on Jenga..

The main factory area can accommodate projects up to 100 meters long, with an upper limit on usable volume of about 250,000 cubic meters. This is usually split among smaller projects over multiple removable levels. The first time the whole area was used for a single project was during the building of the Exelion.

It is designed specifically for maximum flexibility, being able to produce everything used in the factory itself, firearm components, parts for Exocomps, Makos, Kodiaks, Judys or even something as large as a full-scale Gundam replica or a Normandy class cruiser. The factory can also produce copies of its own hardware,

The factory is connected with the main living area on Frigga by a 20 kilometer long tunnel left over from the original excavations.

Power and communication

Two separate lines of optical fiber run along the tunnel between Frigga's living space and the factory to keep both areas in contact. One fibre for normal email, voice or video communication and the second one for the Red Telephone between the control centers of both areas.

Frigga's TITANIC system is specifically isolated from the factory, both for safety and security reasons. The two cables are the only direct lines of communication between both sectors, and are specifically islanded from any computer systems in either sector. The only communication that can travel from one network to the other one are some simple chat, voice and video protocols over two specialized proxies on both sides.

Power is provided by Frigga's 4 main reactors (Blackly named after nuclear disasters, considering the plant was left behind by the original owners due to radioactive contamination making it uneconomical to remove); 2012-era Stellarators burning a Deuterium-Tritium mix, generating steam to drive 4 main turbines on a direct cycle. Each turbine outputs a maximum of 1.21 GW of electricity at 60Hz. This power is supplied to the factory by a high-voltage 3-phase line.

The factory itself also has it's own backup fusor generators capable of supplying emergency power (at least the catgirls say its just for backup).

The first product manufactured by the Factory were FR-15 rifles, to replace a few worn AUG's damaged by careless use. The initial ten were built in July 2023, as a test of a composite fabrication printer.

Products Designed by Catgirl Industries on Frigga:

• Exelion-type carrier-frigate (extended length Normandy class)
  
• M-35 Mako all terrain vehicle
  
• UT-47 Kodiak Shuttle
  
• Exocomps with built in mining tools
  

• Survival Shot spare parts.
  
• Frigga 15 rifles for Survival Shot. (The first thing ever produced.)
  
• Structural hardware for Frigga itself.
  
• MZ-23 Judy and derivatives. (Alternatively known as the Bahamode or Pokémech)
  
• MZ-105 custom series. (Flexible production technology demonstrator. Only built)
  
  

• Standard working crew consists of 48 catgirls and more than 500 Exocomps of all sizes
  
• The last parts of the factory were the Eezo creation particle beam system and a factory for holographic circuits.
  
• During the final construction phase of the Exelion nearly 130 catgirls temporarily worked in the factory.
  
• The factory has a dedicated Interwave node connected with Jenga
  

...over how many people will post some expression of envy as a response to this:
Tonight, Peggy and I saw, essentially, MST3K live, on-stage, at McCarter Theatre in Princeton.  Joel, Trace, Frank, Mary Jo Pehl (and a substitute for J. Elvis Weinstein, who couldn't be there that night) went to town on a film called The Astral Factor.  For those who don't know, they comprise Cinematic Titanic, basically MST3K's offpsring, and they both release stuff on DVD and tour live.  They made it clear they would be back next year, and we had such a great time that we will be, too.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

From a full-page advert printed in the Daily Prophet:

Quote:An open letter to the self-styled Lord Voldemort

A few days ago, we faced each other once more in the ongoing disagreement over the state and future of the so-called Wizarding World, and a prophecy concerning the two of us. As I have decided to make every effort to avoid becoming like a certain secret hoarding old man of our mutual acquaintance, I share this now freely:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can die while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..."

I find that the idea of living forever greatly appeals to me.

Therefore, I propose the following agreement between us: That I shall relocate to the southern hemisphere, and we two shall avoid each other for the remainder of our mutually unlimited days. To insure the sanctity of such an agreement, I offer that each swaer to the other the following oath:

Firstly, that not you, nor your sworn followers, nor any who act on your behest or behalf, shall attack myself, or my sworn followers, or those who act on my behest or behalf, save that they have made invasion of your hemisphere of influence.

Secondly, that all those within your hemisphere of influence who are found to be of disagreeable blood status or ideology shall be allowed free passage to my own, with whatever of their goods and chattel as may be rendered portable within a period of reasonable notice not less than seven days and not more than one lunar month.

Thirdly, not you, nor your sworn followers, nor any who act on your behest or behalf shall endeavor to make mischief on the inhabitants of my hemisphere of influence or beset them with disaster or make the land or the water or the sky unpleasant in which to live and go about their affairs.

If you are agreeable to such an oath, your usual methods should suffice to arrange a more private discourse by which to decide a time and place that it may be sworn in mutual safety and convenience.

Most sincerely,
Harry James Potter, Boy-Who's-Had-His-Fill

The much anticipated sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender has begun and it's awesome. Set 70 years in the future from the first series' finale, it follows the adventures of Korra, the headstrong and ripped as hell Avatar as she begins fulfilling her destiny.

Oh yeah, the city she's in is a hodgepodge of 1920's New York, Shanghai, and Vancouver with cars and zepplins and triads.

During a psuedo-Marxist revolution.

Also Polarbear Dogs.

And episode recaps are done in sepia toned news reel style.

And there's this.



The first three episodes (third one came out his morning) are all on Nick.com in their entirety.

Watch this show. It's already looking to be better than its predecessor.
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

... but nothing's going to stop Doug from getting through this gate. Fire, earthquake, the Sixth Fleet... none of them can stop this gate from being used.

Colin James: Travellin'

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/As4QC ... 3&hl=en_US
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I keep seeing them out of the corner of my eye... it's really freaky. I should probably get some sleep now.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Bob Schroeck Wrote:This + Handwavium = awesome, or terrifying?

Proginoskes Wrote:Both terrifying and awesome, naturally. They'll probably uplift with a sapient hive-mind, like (if I'm recalling her details correctly) Dee.

Star Trek the Next Generation was the only Trek series without a Mirror Universe episode.

What if there was, and the crew had mutinied under the leadership of the weapons officer? That would give us Space Pirate Captain Tasha Yarrrrr... er, Yar.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Levon Helm of the Band died of cancer.
Greg Ham (who rocked the flute on Land Down Under) of Men at work died under currently unknown circumstances.  (The dead part they are sure about; the rest is unknown-but non suspicious).
If this is Dick Clark doing one of those top 25 countdowns, colour me less than impressed.