History of Tau Ceti

The Tau Ceti star system . . .

Pre-Colonial Era

Pre-History

Tau Ceti itself formed some eight billion years ago. As its planets were forming in those first fifty million years, a cataclysmic event took place depositing magnetic monopoles across the star system, with the rocky bodies coated in newly formed monopolium. The explosion of monopoles is thought to have coincided with immense gravitational waves passing through the young star system, shuffling and ejecting some of its planets and moons.

Known in Antiquity

Tau Ceti has been visible to the naked eye from Earth, with an apparent magnitude of +3.5 as a member of constellation Cetus.

Bergman's Comet

Bergman's Comet was of interstellar origin, discovered in our Solar System during the end of the 21^st century. Subsequent observations of the comet confirmed it had something unusual about its composition. Once the comet began to form a tail at about 5 AUs away from our Sun, an excessive amount of a material with the same spectral lines as helium came to make up a significant portion of the comet's dust tail, not its gas tail as it should for true helium. It was this inexplicable material that initiated sending a spacecraft to examine the comet directly. Buzzard 6 tested and brought back kilograms of ore from the comet.

The ore was taken to CERN, where it was analyzed, confirming Buzzard 6's finding that something undiscovered was making up the comet, something not present in our Solar system: monopolium. After rigorous testing, that magnetic monopoles can catalyze room temperature helium-3 fusion astounded all the major powers on Earth in 2099.

Since such energy generation has no radioactive properties, the point of origin for Bergman's Comet became an all-consuming focus during the final year of the 21^st century. While taking the comet's trajectory in reverse led back to Tau Ceti, many scientists were skeptical of the conclusion that Bergman's Comet then came from Tau Ceti, since any rogue massive body between our Solar system and the comet's point of origin would throw off the trajectory entirely.

Spectroscopy of Tau Ceti

X-ray spectroscopy of Tau Ceti revealed traces of monopolium in Tau Ceti's corona, exactly at the 15.1 keV spectral line found in the analysis of ore from Bergman's Comet. As plans went immediately underway to develop starships that could extract and return monopolium to Earth, spectroscopy of other nearby stars was done, to see if Tau Ceti was unique in our local group of stars.

Since red dwarves often have X-ray flares, stars like Wolf 359 were among the first to be studied after Tau Ceti for a strong 15.1 keV spectral line. Unfortunately, no such line was found from any red dwarf within 12.5 light-years of Earth.

By the 2130s, Tau Ceti was the only star within 20 light-years with monopolium's X-ray spectral line. As a consequence, only two starships launched during this decade, both headed for Tau Ceti.

Crewed Starships

Main Articles: ESAS Cetus and CSS Tianlong

Two starships made the 98 year journey across 11.9 light-years: the ESAS Cetus and the CSS Tianlong (天龙). The former was backed by both European powers and Commonwealth nations, like Canada and Australia. Canada and Australia were crucial in acquiring the fissile material needed for the Cetus propulsion system. The latter was an entirely Chinese project, developed independently from the Cetus.

To Be Completed . . .

Early Colonial Era

To Be Completed . . .

Modern Faction Era

To Be Completed . . .