January 2025Trans-Newtonian industrial conversion began with great enthusiasm from all involved. XCOM authorities had developed a comprehensive plan to modernize the industry of all 16 Council Nations and a few other key allies. 7,200 existing industrial facilities would be essentially rebuilt to the new standard, with the following types:
4,320 Trans-Newtonian construction factories
2,160 mines capable of extracting Trans-Newtonian elements (TNEs) from the Earth
360 financial centers with TNE-enabled communications and high-performance computing
120 sorium fuel refineries
120 small spacecraft factories
120 ordnance factories
XCOM scientists continued their tireless efforts to discover new applications of Trans-Newtonian science. Of particular interest was a project led by Dr. Lillian Joffrion to develop a ship-based sensor capable of detecting TNE deposits in a celestial body from orbit. This project, if successful, could lead to new mineral discoveries on extraterrestrial bodies, which in turn would fuel interest and development of Earth’s spaceflight industry.
Project SkylightDr. Joffrion published the report of her research collaboration on so-called Geological Survey Sensors on 28 May 2026. With this breakthrough, XCOM engineers were able to finalize blueprints for a new type of spacecraft under the code name “Skylight”:
Project Skylight class Survey Craft 500 tons 12 Crew 120.6 BP TCS 10 TH 10 EM 0
1000 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 HTK 2 Sensors 1/1/0/1 DCR 0-0 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.03 Years MSP 100 AFR 100% IFR 1.4% 1YR 32 5YR 484 Max Repair 100 MSP
Lieutenant Colonel Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
X-10 Gravity Wave Drive (1) Power 10 Fuel Use 223.61% Signature 10 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 19,800 Litres Range 3.2 billion km (36 days at full power)
EM Scanner (1) Sensitivity 1 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 7.9m km
Thermal Scanner (1) Sensitivity 1 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 7.9m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per HourProject Skylight was a design very loosely based on the Firestorm hull, with the weaponry and one propulsion drive ripped out to make room for the new survey sensor and expanded living space for a crew of twelve XCOM spacers. The reduction of propulsion units by 50% meant the craft would be quite underpowered and slow compared to the Firestorm, but due to the gravity wave technology it would still be much faster than any conventional-engined craft. The design range of 3.2 billion km was far greater than any Earth astronaut’s wildest dreams in the conventional era, and while rather paltry compared to later generations of survey craft it would be sufficient to explore the inner system and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
With traditional XCOM industriousness, Project Skylight was rapidly put into production, with the first survey craft launched into orbit on 29 June and a second on 23 July. These were named Discovery and Endeavour, the first named spacecraft in XCOM’s short history as a spacefaring organization, and sent out to survey the innermost planets and moons of the solar system. Project Skylight would thus become known as the Discovery class after its lead vessel.
The results of the inner system survey were largely disappointing, with no TNE deposits found on the moon, Venus, or Mars. The notable exception was Mercury, where Discovery reported significant deposits of five minerals buried within the crust of Mercury, with duranium and boronide at high accessibilities. Even so, compared to the deposits on Earth this was hardly a groundbreaking finding, and the lack of exciting early returns did much to dampen enthusiasm for Project Skylight. While the two survey craft would go on to give excellent service by surveying the asteroid belt and the Jovian and Saturnine subsystems, their popular reputation would remain decidedly mixed.
Mercury Survey Report: 12 October 2026
Duranium 267,912 Acc 0.7
Corbomite 3,348,900 Acc 0.1
Boronide 3,906,157 Acc 0.9
Mercassium 2,672,571 Acc 0.4
Uridium 2,438,595 Acc 0.1
A severe weakness of the Discovery class was revealed on 13 June 2028, when Lieutenant Colonel Mino Lukusa of Endeavour reported irreparable failure of the craft’s geosurvey sensor. While the Discovery class was designed with enough spare parts to fully repair the sensor, there was no further margin in the design, and having used some spare parts to repair a previous breakdown Endeavour lacked sufficient components to effect shipboard repairs. Unfortunately, by the time she reached Earth orbit three days later, the sensor was too badly damaged for shipboard repairs to be possible, and Endeavour would be effectively confined to Earth orbit for the remainder of her career. A third survey craft, Voyager, was launched on 3 August to make up the numbers, and XCOM engineers would take the lessons learned to heart in future ship designs.
Ultimately, no follow-on survey craft in the Discovery class would be built by XCOM, leaving the class total at only three examples. The decision was made in part due to lukewarm attitudes towards the ships themselves, but more so for lack of any great need, as two craft by themselves could complete mineral surveys of all bodies within their fuel range at a reasonable pace. Indeed, even the need for a third survey craft to replace the crippled Endeavour had been a topic of mildly contentious debate. Furthermore, Project Skylight was considered largely a scientific curiosity and engineering accomplishment for its own sake at this time, as XCOM lacked any spaceborne infrastructure to exploit any resources found on other bodies.
Project Skylight came to a close on 25 October 2030, as Voyager returned to Earth after completing her survey of the Saturnine moons. With this, every significant body within Saturn’s orbital distance from the sun had been surveyed, an estimated 64% of all eligible bodies in the solar system. Aside from Earth itself, 48 other bodies in this range were found to possess some quantity of extractible TNEs. Perhaps most surprisingly, both Jupiter and Saturn possessed significant quantities of sorium within their atmospheres, in a gaseous form which some XCOM scientists theorized could be refined into sorium fuel
in situ by specialized harvesting modules. Despites its checkered reputation, Project Skylight had been an excellent success for XCOM over the course of its four-and-a-half-year duration, and dedicated engineering teams were contracted to determine how best to build on these results to conduct a survey of the far outer system in the near future.
Jupiter Survey Report: 11 June 2029
Sorium 538,466,500 Acc 1
Saturn Survey Report: 18 April 2030
Sorium 542,430 Acc 0.8
Spacers who served aboard one of the three Discovery class survey craft, along with researchers who participated in the Geological Survey Sensors collaboration, received the Discovery Ribbon to commemorate these accomplishments.
The Trans-Newtonian Industrial RevolutionXCOM Headquarters issued a public report on 21 October 2031, stating that conversion of Earth’s industrial base to Trans-Newtonian standards was effectively complete. In less than 7 years, Earth’s industrial production capacity had increased sevenfold and resource extraction throughput more than doubled. This sharp improvement would also enable construction and launching of new large orbital shipyard complexes, allowing XCOM to deploy more capable spaceships than the 500-ton limit on groundside-built craft could allow. Two such facilities were officially launched into orbit on 23 December: the XCOM Orbital Projects Facility was intended as an assembly site for classified military projects, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was the first corporation to invest in orbital commercial spacecraft construction. Both facilities were launched undersize and immediately set about expanding to suitable capacities for large vessel construction.
New industrial and shipbuilding capabilities brought about significant excitement for extraterrestrial colonization, and the Council of Nations soon impressed upon XCOM leadership their intense desire to see human colonization of the inner system in particular. Plans were developed which would see populations emplaced on the moon, Mercury, and Mars, with proposals for Venus colonization being roundly dismissed as economically worthless. The moon would serve as a testbed for human colonization of low-gravity environments, and was planned to host 10 million people. Mercury would serve as XCOM’s first extraterrestrial human-operated mining operation, and was also expected to host 10 million colonists initially with room for future expansion. Mars was envisioned as humanity’s greatest extraterrestrial colony with an initial population outlay of 25 million, and XCOM planners expected Mars to become the site of the first planetary terraforming experiment in human history.
Author’s note: human gravitational tolerance at this time was estimated to range from 0.3 to 1.7 G, thus colonization of Luna would require specialized low-gravity life support infrastructure. For colonization of Mercury and Mars, both with gravities of 0.38 G, only standard-issue life support infrastructure was necessary.XCOM leadership therefore issued construction orders for life support infrastructure in anticipation of these missions. For lunar colonization, 5 million tons of specialized log-gravity infrastructure were ordered. For colonization of Mercury, 10 million tons of non-specialized infrastructure were ordered. Finally, the largest production order of 15,625,000 tons was placed to support colonization of Mars. Beyond life support infrastructure, the new Trans-Newtonian industry was put to good use by an order of new hyperwave relay tracking stations, which would be used to expand XCOM’s deep space monitoring network on Earth and to place new stations on each solar colony.
Otherwise, a general expansion of supporting service installations would be necessary to support colonization of Sol. To this end XCOM ordered significant expansions of the international research sector (25 new research facilities), the officer training school at XCOM Headquarters (tripling its current capacity), and establishment of XCOM trooper training facilities in the territory of selected Council Nations (4 new training facilities in the United States, Russia, China, and Germany).
On New Year’s Eve 2031, XCOM celebrated thirty years of service from Major General Grigoriy Sokolov, the longest-tenured member of XCOM leadership. In a series of brief remarks for the occasion, General Sokolov commended the unprecedented level of international cooperation and friendliness which had been built during and since the Long War, and expressed optimism for the future of human spaceflight and extraterrestrial colonization. Such was the mood, both within XCOM and internationally, as the page turned to the new year of 2032.
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Ship Construction3x Discovery class Survey Craft: Discovery, Endeavour, Voyager
ResearchPressurised Water Reactor: Jimena Arias Arenas, 29 Jan 2026
Geological Survey Sensors: Lillian Joffrion, 28 May 2026
Nuclear Thermal Engine: Jimena Arias Arenas, 20 Nov 2027
Fire Control Speed Rating 2000 km/s: Lillian Joffrion, 1 Sep 2028
High Density Duranium Armour: Cécile Crèvecoeur, 1 Nov 2028
Construction Rate 12 BP: Cécile Langlois, 22 Aug 2029
Pebble Bed Reactor: Jimena Arias Arenas, 16 Jan 2030
Beam Fire Control Range 32,000 km: Lillian Joffrion, 18 Jul 2030
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OOC Notes: And now we have begun advancing time! This update is likely on what will become the shorter side, not much goes on in those early years after a conventional start after all. The following updates promise to be rather more complex and hopefully also interesting.
The combination of no starting shipyards and the XCOM lore focus on small interceptors has led me to try something I've not really done much before in using survey fighters for the early mineral surveys. I expect this fighter focus to persist as the AAR goes on, though I will not be pulling a Garfunkel and using fighters exclusively, as we shall see in the following update.
