PCBaller World/Byzantine Space Agency

The Byzantine Space Agency is the official government department concerned with space exploration and technological research in regards to space exploration. Yearly, it receives 1% of GDP as funding, or around 300B$/year as of now, however this figure is being increased as Byzantium begins to pivot towards the stars. =Project New Frontiers= Project New Frontiers is an official Byzantine Space Agency project with the goal of creating a habitable Martian world, where humans can breathe without requiring astronaut suits. While there are currently around 200,000 Byzantines on mars, the BSA wants to increase that number to 5 million and beyond.

New Frontiers is already underway, as artificial gravity has been established in the Byzantine section of Mars, with there also being Greater Illinoisan colonies on the red planet. Greenery has been brought into the areas of Mars where humans currently live, allowing for oxygen to be put into the Martian atmosphere. Although, the creation of a magnetic field, while there have been methods developed, are still costly and have been reserved for the last step.

The project is set to be finished in around 50 years, as by then Mars would be currently terraformed and we will have a potential new planet to settle and explore, allowing us to learn more about a world outside of our own. =Kyriakos Tamvakis Telescope= The Kyriakos Tamvakis Telescope is a Byzantine Space Agency-created telescope with the goal of finding and discovering habitable exoplanets, along with their atmospheric composition. While its goal is to not directly find intelligent life, it still is important in finding planets which could suit it.

So far, it has discovered 1,406 habitable exoplanets, up from the current number of 1,279, which is a record number, however it is far from the estimated amount of habitable planets, at around 550 million exoplanets in our galaxy alone. The possibilities of an advanced alien civilization with FTL technology are just vast and the probability is too low that we're the first ones to unlock it.

The telescope has cost the Byzantine Space around 5B$ over a 2 year span, so around 2.5B$/year. However, its repairing & maintenance costs are not that high. The telescope could prove to be vital in discovering habitable worlds for us to settle in and it will continue on its quest for around 15 years.

=Wow! Project= The Wow project is a Byzantine Space Agency project meant to look out for extraterrestrial life in the Sagittarius constellation, 10.600 light years away from our Solar System. The Byzantine Space Agency has launched the Jerry Ehman Probe, a faster-than-light probe named after Jerry Ehman, the man who first picked up the Wow signal back in 1977. Its goal however is to not just look for life in that constellation but also in nearby star systems. The probe has been camouflaged extensively to match the cosmic environment, so it isn't detected by any alien ships/satellites.

It is currently in the TRAPPIST-1 star system and the Jerry Ehman Probe has detected life on the planet Trappist-1e and has picked up information about its culture. It turns out that they have all united, have found world peace and are all just a bunch of hippies who worship the sun. It also turns out they have nationalistic and socialistic beliefs. It could be possible that the tidal locking of the planet to their star could be the reason why they're worshipping it. It is not known how they talk or how they even look. We have given a name for this civilization. That name being Solara.

The Jerry Ehman Probe is set to soon leave after exploring the Trappist-1e planet extensively and other planets, while concluding Trappist-1d does not have intelligent life (but microbial life nonetheless) and that the other planets are too hot or too cold for any actual life to develop.

[[File:IvAnt.png]] Solara [[File:IvAnt.png]]
Solara is the official, world civilization discovered on the planet of Trappist-1e. So far they haven't noticed the Jerry Ehman Probe through the few satellites they have in their orbit. It is indicated that their satellite technology is similar to ours in the 1980s. The year on the planet is 2023. Heliolaterism is their official religion, and it is a form of sun worship.

Here's the list of political parties, as gathered by the very advanced Jerry Ehman Probe (and radio communication in the planet, which was picked up by the probe):


 * [[File:IvAnt.png]] Peace & Prosperity Party (379/700)


 * [[File:Contrarianism-Icon.png]] Wake Up Movement (253/700)


 * [[File:Envi.png]] Green Left Party (59/700)


 * [[File:Spaceexplor.png]] Beyond Our Planet Party (7/700)


 * [[File:Hopeismsmall.png]] Good Hope Party (2/100)

It seems like in this world, the new counter-culture movement seems to not come from hippies, but rather from their world's version of Reaganite conservatives. We all knew this world would be different, but not this different.

The Jerry Ehman Probe has reported that the aliens on Trappist 1e are humanoid in nature, having a similar height, only that they have a different biological look than us, due to some other factors. The planet's atmosphere is similar to our own, meaning they'd mostly be ok to breathe from our atmosphere and vice versa. The aliens are around 7 feet and are skinnier on average, thanks to their slightly lower gravity.

While it is 2023 on their planet, the level of technological advancement seems to closely correlate our level in the 1960s and 1970s, as they have 1960s satellite technology and in general computer technology as their go with the flow and other hippie sentiments meant a slowing down in technological growth (also because they're high on LSD and marijuana). Their war technology is also pretty much stagnant, especially after world peace was achieved, rendering military completely useless. Their tech level is that of the 1950s in this regard. This means that our nearest aliens are by far weaker than us. Although, this could not be al aliens.

The construction of the Jerry Ehman Probe was around 50M$, with most of the expenses going towards the quark fusion reactor meant to propel it at speeds faster than light perpetually. Other costs of it number at around 5M$, so the Wow! Project requires some tens of millions of dollars per year to continue operating.