We're still working on implementing lots more places to build around the solar system.  For version 0.19, we probably won't have them all (dwarf planets and asteroids may have to wait), but we'll have at least all the planets.

But we're currently struggling a bit for a consistent nomenclature for regions of space that include the planet and its moons or rings.  For Earth, the standard term is cislunar space, and that's cool.  Similarly, Jupiter is the center of a whole little mini-solar system of its own, and "Jovian space" sounds fine for that.

But then Mercury and Venus have no moons at all, so it seems silly to say "Venusian Space" or... what's the adjective form of Mercury?  Mercurial?  Mercurian?  Seems pointless in any case.

And going outward, it starts to feel a bit silly again: Saturnian Space, Uranian Space, Neptunian Space?  Bleh.

So, we back up.  How about: Jupiter System, Saturn System, Uranus System, Neptune System?  And since there are no moons for the inner two, we could say just Mercury Orbits and Venus Orbits.  For consistency, I guess the Mars region would be Mars System, though that seems a little aggrandizing for a small rock orbited by two tiny rocks... but maybe that's OK.

And maybe Earth is special: we keep that as Cislunar Space, by tradition, and because nothing else really fits (one moon barely makes a "system," even if it is an especially large and important moon!).

This is the best we've come up with so far... but if anybody has any other suggestions, please speak up!  There's still time to get changes into 0.19.

A flight through a large Stanford torus.
https://youtu.be/9PYOgQEiBu4

Another Stanford torus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD3GMwg4qZo

A flight through the "Rama" from Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama
https://youtu.be/zBIQCm54dfY

A Carousel Space Habitat.
https://youtu.be/QCitVw8GP2o

And yet another Stanford torus.
https://youtu.be/oazFe2jbMxw

I recall having found one showing a Bernal sphere a couple years ago, but I can't seem to locate it any more.

EDIT: Ah, here it is -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQP_7rJgBkk

Here is a website that deals with the same problems.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/11/warka-water-tower-self-driving-cars-sunlight-water/

Tensegrity structures have interested me since I read Buckminster Fuller's experiments with it. Here are a couple of space colony possibilities using them.
http://www.nasa.gov/content/growth-adapted-tensegrity-structures-a-new-calculus-for-the-space-economy/#.VQHdOHvzPGz
https://www.skyframeresearch.com/

Hello! I'm William. Joe invited us on the Space Settlers yahoo group over here.

In northern California. I've been interested in space exploration and space settlement, ever since I was a kid back in the 1970's. Nice to be here; both for said thing, and that the forum type provided here beats the heck out of that one. I'll be here mostly on the Real Space forum, discussing "real space" things.

A colleague and I were talking this morning about how spectacular the view is in LEO (low-Earth orbit).

I've always assumed that you can't really get great viewing from the 1G areas of your habitat, but would instead go to some zero-G observation deck/bubble.  (Hmm, we should probably add such an observation deck as a part in the game!)  Even if you did have windows in your habitat, if you're rotating at say 2 RPM, I think viewers would get a bit dizzy watching the Earth and the rest of the universe rotate by.

But perhaps I've given up too easily.  Can anybody think of some clever geometry that would let you sit comfortably in 1 G, and yet watch the Earth (or whatever else is outside) without it appearing to spin?

And no fair suggesting a display screen or VR helmet... displays are certainly getting better all the time, and maybe someday they will rival a real view out the window, but for the sake of this discussion I'd like to keep it to optics — mirrors and glass, the sort of thing you could look at through binoculars to get an even better view.  Maybe mirrors or prisms that spin at the same rate as the habitat, in such a way that they produce a stationary virtual image?

Any ideas?

This article shows the most advanced farming practice.

http://www.sciencedump.com/content/new-trend-urban-farming-thats-faster-using-less-water-and-no-sunlight

A few of you may know me already as a moderator over on the Kerbal Space Program forums. I happened to see the thread the developer posted over on our forums by happenstance, and the concept so intrigued me that I bought the game rather quickly after playing around with the demo for a bit. (In fact, I'm still waiting for the transaction to process as we speak )

Anyway, I'm hoping that I'll have as many memorable hours designing and managing my own space station in High Frontier as I do designing and flying rockets in KSP. I've been rather fond of both space simulators and city management games in the past, and seeing something like this that combines the two (and, furthermore, that's based on real scientific principles that we could in theory apply starting tomorrow) naturally presses all the right buttons for me.

!My older son hangs out on the KSP forums a lot, and told me about a claim he'd read there that the Martian atmosphere adds up to something on the order of 10 tons per square meter.

If so, then you would get substantial protection against cosmic rays just from the mass of the atmosphere.  I've been going around claiming that cosmic radiation is a serious problem on Mars, so this surprised me quite a bit.

So today, while preparing for my New Worlds 2015 talk, I decided to investigate.  Using NASA's Mars Fact Sheet, and a bit of math, it's easy to divide the total mass of the atmosphere by the surface area:

2.5*10^16 kg / (144.8*10^6 km^2): 172.7 kg / m^2

Hmm... Nope!  172 kg per square meter isn't enough to make the cosmic rays even notice.  It'll help against solar particles, maybe, but cosmic rays will zip right through.

Incidentally, here's the same calculation done for Earth:

5.1*10^18 kg / (510.1*10^6 km^2): 9998 kg / m^2

So down here, we really do have 10 tons per square meter over our heads.  And, a strong magnetic field too!

Moral of the story: if you're going to live on Mars, be prepared to stay underground (or under a very thick dome) most of the time.  Significant surface time would result in infertility, cancer, and death.  (Sounds like a Surgeon General's warning, doesn't it?)

G'day all,

I learned about High Frontier via the Kerbal Space Program forum. This looks like a pretty excellent project, and I'm looking forward to giving it a shot.

Just one thing worries/bothers me..

You guys are aware that the name "High Frontier" is already owned by Phil Eklund/Sierra Madre Games, since 2010, aren't you? I'd hate to see you get tangled up in litigation, down the track..

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172737/high-frontier-3rd-edition
http://www.sierra-madre-games.eu/about_us_en.html