Clarified Ionian Contribution to the Solarian (System) Energy Economy

[zha everything broken]

Lore Impact (Small/Medium/Large): Small

Team Purview: Human

Short Description: Io is described as providing "upwards of 15% of energy consumed in the system". The surface implication is that Io is somehow a grid exporter of geothermal power, except that Io is an angry ball of dough being kneaded every 42 hours, and maintaining any sort of permanent infrastructure there (given our current knowledge of the conditions themselves) would, even with the advantage of sci-fi handwaving, be massively economically infeasible with the existence of more realistic alternatives. This LCA expands the three paragraph detail available on Io to four paragraphs that clarifies its geothermal infrastructure as temporary facilities dropped on-site for short campaign periods to perform high-intensity industrial operations that would be hugely wasteful of energy if performed elsewhere, before they are launched back into orbit for repair, refit, and redeployment. This re-frames its contribution to the Sol system's total energy budget not as a grid function but a conversion function; Io displaces marginal load (reduces demand on the grid that would otherwise be fulfilled by more expensive energy sources) on the overall energy economy (about 600% less insane). We still get geothermal plants in superhell, they just pop off to the mechanic's after a job.

How will this be reflected on-station?: Won't be unless someone starts playing a Solarian economy wonk who's really that desperate for talking points.

Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: Lmao.

Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team? Yes.

Long Description: Full proposed replacement for Io's blurb:

The innermost of the ancient Galilean moons is by far the most volcanically active object in the solar system. This has made Io a lucrative, if brutally hazardous, energy world. Early survey efforts were largely delayed by the moon's unpredictable tectonics and catastrophic vulcanism. Due to this the first colonization efforts on Io were made later than Jupiter’s other moons, and only began in the mid 2200s. This late start has, however, not stopped Io from becoming one of the main contributors to the Sol system's energy economy; it is estimated that upwards of 15% of the Sol system's total energy budget stems from Io, a remarkably high amount for such a small galactic body.

Unlike traditional grid-export worlds that rely predominantly on direct long-range transmission of locally produced energy, Io is foremost a high-intensity (predominantly thermochemical) processing hub: almost the entirety of Io’s contribution to the Solar energy budget is embodied energy in its exported industrial products and intermediaries. These are produced in situ during groundside deployment of specialized temporary facilities, or 'dropsites'. These modular, robust geothermal installations are deployed from orbit in rapid campaign cycles, used to power high-intensity industrial processes in their integrated facilities, and before the moon's hellish conditions obliterate them, they are re-launched, stripped, refitted, and eventually redeployed as conditions and contracts shift.

There are no official permanent settlements on Io due to its extreme vulcanism, and teams are cycled in and out with its groundside facilities usually on a monthly basis due to the extreme danger working on the moon poses, the highly traumatic work tending to damage crew as much as equipment over long periods of exposure. The hardship of life on Io has, despite its lack of permanent settlements, led to a the development of a somewhat insular, elitist culture in dropsite crews. This culture tends to revolve around the camaraderie shared between the men, women, and rare IPC placed in such danger, and the belief that the engineers of Io are the best anywhere in the Orion Spur. In the eyes of a worker from Io, nobody else could work in such a dangerous environment and hope to last a day.

This is, at least, an attitude somewhat justified by prevailing economic attitudes: workers from Io are prized throughout the Orion Spur for their engineering abilities, and are highly sought-after by corporations such as Einstein Engines, Hephaestus Industries, and NanoTrasen.

Edited February 13 by zha everything broken
Awkward phrasing re: current RL understanding of io ground conditions, not current technological limitations

[Shimmer]

More Jupiter lore yeAAAH!!1!!1