La Lune (the Symphony That Never Ends)

The key to French power, now that they have lost their monopoly on orbital space, is their control over the moon. Lunar manufacturing is less profitable than that done in orbital space, but mass drivers offer a cheap method of export to Earth. The mass drivers also serve as the French contribution to the balance of power, capable of doing as much damage as a nuclear strike ~ admittedly, only over a greater period of time, but then their arsenal is much larger. The total population of La Lune is about 900, of which about 100 have physiologically adapted to low gravity; the rest rotate back to Earth regularly.
== Mass Drivers ==
One non-rocket means of space transport is used exclusively for sending freight from the moon. The lunar mass drivers use a long row of electromagnets to accelerate a metal-jacketed package to escape velocity, in essence throwing it into space. With lighter gravity and no air, the lunar mass drivers are sometimes less expensive to use than rail transit. Mass-driver packets are sent to land in the ocean (usually the North Atlantic) for retrieval. While mass drivers could theoretically be used for passenger traffic, existing technology would probably kill anyone who attempted to hitch a ride. In any case, packets sent by the mass drivers contain no life support.
Category:The moon
Category:The Symphony That Never Ends