Timeline of the Confederacy Of The Suns
1947: Somewhere towards the end of April, an alien spacecraft landed in the vicinity of Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is generally accepted that the alien race was drawn to Earth by the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945?representing a significant step forwards for the Earth's technological level. The U.S. Military, working out of Fort Francis E. Warren, was alerted to the landing and a unit was dispatched to investigate. Upon finding the spacecraft, the soldiers almost immediately engaged the occupants, who had exited the craft, killing all three of them. The craft itself was secured by the military and taken to Fort Warren, which was quickly taken over by the Air Force, under the pretext of making it a training site. Air Force engineers and scientists began studying the spacecraft, trying to learn its secrets, reverse-engineering everything they could from it. In order to keep the general public unaware of what was going on at Fort Warren, the military manufactured the Roswell Incident, drawing attention to New Mexico.
2065: The secret to the alien spacecraft's Slip drive (the term was coined by one of the scientists, because the engine allowed the craft to 'slip' out of normal space and travel faster than light) was finally unlocked, and a human-engineered prototype was constructed. On May 18th, 2065, the Slip Drive was tested for the first time, sending an unmanned spacecraft named Magellan from earth's orbit halfway to Jupiter in a single, 15 minute flight. Magellan's flight was spotted by an Eridani research vessel passing within a few light-days of the Solar System, which then diverted its course to investigate, leading to Earth's first contact with an alien race. The Eridani are a technologically advanced, but largely peaceful race, and were delighted to encounter a race on the verge of developing interstellar travel.
2065-70: Contact with the Eridani, combined with the suddenly accessible solar system through use of the Slip Drive ignites a storm of space-related ventures on Earth. Plans are made for asteroid mining, colonizing other worlds and, with the help of the Eridani, interstellar trade.
2070: The first permanent off-planet human colony is established on Mars. The colony, called Schiaparelli after the nineteenth-century Italian astronomer who first discovered the canals on Mars, is created almost entirely without help from the Eridani; Earth?s governments felt it was important the endeavour be seen as a human one, although the Eridani were consulted throughout the process, as they were already a race with multiple colony worlds. The domed colony on Mars served to establish the human race as a space-faring species, as well as giving them a platform on which to begin developing terraforming techniques.
2081: The first Slip-2 drive is tested. At ten times the speed of the original Slip Drive, a ship can now cross the entire Solar System in a single hour.
2093: The Slip-3 drive goes into production, allowing travel to the nearest star systems in a matter of months.
2097: The first extra-solar colony is founded in the Alpha Centauri system. Called Nova Angelus, this colony demonstrates that Humanity is no longer confined to their own home solar system. In the following decades, there is a rush of colonization in the other nearest systems, but Nova Angelus remains notable as Man?s first steps away from the Sun.
1947: Somewhere towards the end of April, an alien spacecraft landed in the vicinity of Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is generally accepted that the alien race was drawn to Earth by the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945?representing a significant step forwards for the Earth's technological level. The U.S. Military, working out of Fort Francis E. Warren, was alerted to the landing and a unit was dispatched to investigate. Upon finding the spacecraft, the soldiers almost immediately engaged the occupants, who had exited the craft, killing all three of them. The craft itself was secured by the military and taken to Fort Warren, which was quickly taken over by the Air Force, under the pretext of making it a training site. Air Force engineers and scientists began studying the spacecraft, trying to learn its secrets, reverse-engineering everything they could from it. In order to keep the general public unaware of what was going on at Fort Warren, the military manufactured the Roswell Incident, drawing attention to New Mexico.
2065: The secret to the alien spacecraft's Slip drive (the term was coined by one of the scientists, because the engine allowed the craft to 'slip' out of normal space and travel faster than light) was finally unlocked, and a human-engineered prototype was constructed. On May 18th, 2065, the Slip Drive was tested for the first time, sending an unmanned spacecraft named Magellan from earth's orbit halfway to Jupiter in a single, 15 minute flight. Magellan's flight was spotted by an Eridani research vessel passing within a few light-days of the Solar System, which then diverted its course to investigate, leading to Earth's first contact with an alien race. The Eridani are a technologically advanced, but largely peaceful race, and were delighted to encounter a race on the verge of developing interstellar travel.
2065-70: Contact with the Eridani, combined with the suddenly accessible solar system through use of the Slip Drive ignites a storm of space-related ventures on Earth. Plans are made for asteroid mining, colonizing other worlds and, with the help of the Eridani, interstellar trade.
2070: The first permanent off-planet human colony is established on Mars. The colony, called Schiaparelli after the nineteenth-century Italian astronomer who first discovered the canals on Mars, is created almost entirely without help from the Eridani; Earth?s governments felt it was important the endeavour be seen as a human one, although the Eridani were consulted throughout the process, as they were already a race with multiple colony worlds. The domed colony on Mars served to establish the human race as a space-faring species, as well as giving them a platform on which to begin developing terraforming techniques.
2081: The first Slip-2 drive is tested. At ten times the speed of the original Slip Drive, a ship can now cross the entire Solar System in a single hour.
2093: The Slip-3 drive goes into production, allowing travel to the nearest star systems in a matter of months.
2097: The first extra-solar colony is founded in the Alpha Centauri system. Called Nova Angelus, this colony demonstrates that Humanity is no longer confined to their own home solar system. In the following decades, there is a rush of colonization in the other nearest systems, but Nova Angelus remains notable as Man?s first steps away from the Sun.