Jupiter Ignition Project

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"We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still."

This content is a part of Borealis Universe.

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Jupiter Ignition Project

Meta

Scope

Borealis Universe

Setting

Sol System

History

Date

Proposed July 5, 9999 CE

Cause

Desire to terraform Galilean moons by providing natural stellar heat

Effect

Project scrapped; technology used elsewhere

Part of

Stellar Engineering Initiatives

Location

Location

Jupiter, Sol System

Involvement

Perpetrator

UFSS scientific community (proposed)

Target

Jupiter

Victims

None (project cancelled)

Outcome

Casualties

None

Reported Property Damage

None

The Jupiter Ignition Project was a proposed endeavor by the UFSS scientific community to turn the planet Jupiter into a brown dwarf.

Origins

The idea of turning Jupiter into a second sun is an old one, going far back to the 20th Century. The idea became popular in the science fiction novel 2010: Odyssey Two. The idea gained traction near the turn of the tenth millennium when a team orbiting a J-Class planet Occam managed to successfully 'ignite' the planet and turned it into a dim brown dwarf, which in turn made a few of Occam's moons habitable and terraformable.

Resurrection

With the success of Occam's Star, many others began refining the technology and successfully ignited other suitable J-Class worlds, including a few rogue planets. On July 5, 9999, a motion was put on the ballot during the Federation campaigns that would allow for the ignition of Jupiter. The ignition would mean that heat would warm the four Galilean moons more naturally.

Controversy

Controversy surrounded the proposed project. Many who opposed the project pointed to the Metallica Incident in which a botched ignition caused the disruption of the entire star system, including a populated human colony world. Many of the planets in the system were thrown out of orbit. Others pointed out that Jupiter was a historic landmark, so to speak. It was one of the oldest worlds known to humanity and many believed igniting it would be akin to destroying something like the old Statue of Liberty on Earth.

Outcome

Due to the controversy and opposition, the project was scrapped. Instead, the technology was used to continue and ignite many large gas giants, creating new inhabitable worlds out of the moons.