Moon

The Moon, also known as Luna, is the Earth's only natural satellite. A Lunar "day" takes approximately 2 Earth weeks.

Background
Fueled by a collapsing Earth ecosystem and degenerating society, the Moon was first colonized in 1997, with the foundation of the Euro Space Agency (ESA) colony Tycho. Luna has since become colonized with various permanent bases, founded and maintained by allied nations of the ESA. With the existence of gravity and ability to soft-land machinery, along with heat drills to form glass-like tunnels, Luna was far easier to colonize than open space. Buried ice was mined for air and water, plants were brought in to create viable ecosystems, and the Tycho mass driver was modularly dropped and reassembled to construct and later utilize to catapult raw materials towards the Crystal Palace construction at the time. While the original bases were simple pressure domes and workshacks planted by Orbital Transfer Vehicles (OTV), by 2020, they expanded via nuclear and solar laser drill-created subterranean tunnel networks. Water is mined through lunar ice, and recycled heavily, while air comes through underground hydroponic gardens lit by large surface shutters.

The Moon is mined heavily for raw materials utilized in orbital colony constructions at the Lagrange points. Three mass drivers allow a stream of Lunar material to Earth's orbit.

By 2077, both Arasaka and Militech have mining operations over the Moon's surface.

Major Cities
Two permanent cities exist on the Moon: Tycho and Copernicus, both controlled by the Euro Space Agency. As both cities were built underground, their construction required blasting and nuclear-powered heat smelters to form park-like caverns, eventually being topped with smelted lunar sand pressure domes to provide air and recycling.

Tycho
Tycho, with a population of 18,000 by 2025, is the larger of the two cities on the Moon. Originally only supposed to be a small base for orbital transportation and resources, it grew over time into a small bustling city. It maintains control over two mass drivers used to boost Lunar rocks and ores out to the L-5 (O'Neill One) constructions. In 2008, during the First Orbit War, the colony was responsible for the destruction of Colorado Springs, dropping a two-ton rock on the city.

Copernicus
Copernicus, with a population of 12,000, is slightly smaller than Tycho. Much of the area is dedicated to mining for resources, however that doesn't stop them from living comfortable lives. Due to only having control over one mass driver and being a smaller city in general, the population here are usually more friendly and outgoing.