Asteroid Belt

The ring of countless Asteroids, famous for its richness of Materials and Industry. It is said, the Asteroid Belt is the saviour of Earth as most of the planet's industry moved to this area of the Solar System. In 2091, nearly all of Earth's production of metals and minerals were imported by private companies from the Asteroid Belt. This helped the people of Earth to reclaim much of the land from industrial areas and turn them into green spaces once the pollution was cleared up.  

Extraction

The material that is mostly found within these Asteroids is stone; however, there are many that contain veins of Iron, Nickle, Gold, Platinum and other metals.   Large mining vessels travel between the Asteroids to drill, and even scoop up, large asteroids to gather the materials for refinement.  

Dangers

Altering Trajectory

Ships can accidentally 'knock' an asteroid and alter its orbital path around the sun. In 2101, Earth had a near-miss of an asteroid that Astrophysicists had claimed it came from an asteroid that had somehow altered it's course. This prompted the formation of the Belt Watch, a specialised group who tracks the paths of these asteroids. The Belt Watch are still in service today, saving at least one Cataclysm every year. However, people are still critical of this group as they did somehow miss the Dark Asteroid that hit Earth in 2182.