Tycho is the largest human colony on the Moon. Its sister city is Copernicus.
History[]
1997 - 2010s[]
Founded at the bottom of the eponymous crater in 1997 by the European Space Agency, Tycho was originally planned to be a small base for orbital transportation and resources, but this idea was soon expanded to create a permanent colony on the Moon.
Over the following years, the outpost was increased in size by using atomic laser drills and controlled explosives, hollowing the ground and creating a network of subsurface glass-like tunnels and caverns. The ceilings were reinforced with layers of molten lunar sand that was also used to create the glass covering the geodesic pressure domes found at the top of the caverns. With the terrain ready, colonists began to mine for lunar ice which was subsequently recycled to be potable. Plant life was brought in to create hydroponic gardens to provide oxygen, allowing the sunlight to rain over the plants by opening and closing huge shutters on the surface.[4][5][2]
By late 1999, modular sections of a mass driver were soft-landed and reassembled. Buried deep within the crater rock, this infrastructure would later allow raw materials be catapulted into space to construct the Crystal Palace.
In 2002, the settlement of Copernicus — Tycho's sister city — was founded. Both colonies, owned by the European Space Agency, became the only permanent settlements on the Moon at that time.[4]
During the First Orbital War of 2008, the ESA used the colony's mass driver to drop a two-ton rock on the city of Colorado Springs in the United States of America, causing its complete destruction and the death of the majority of the US Armed Forces command, bringing an abrupt end to the conflict.[5][4][1]
By the early 2010s, Tycho had grown into a small bustling city that maintained control over two mass drivers which were used to boost lunar rocks and ores out to the Lagrange points construction sites around the Earth.[4]
2020s - 2040s[]
Ever since the destruction of Colorado Springs, both Erich Kessler (IEC) and Saburo Arasaka knew Tycho was a menace to their plans of expansion, and wanted to either destroy or permanently disable its mass drivers, or simply let Tycho fall in the hands of their allies. By 2020, the colony had its suspicions on both corps, but they had always managed to conceal their plans.[6]
At some point during the Time of the Red and before 2045, the European Space Agency lost control of both Moon colonies to the Highrider Confederation, a group who had formed in the 2020s after gaining their independence from the ESA, and with their homes in the O'Neill One and Two space colonies.[1] Ever since their independence, the ESA and the Highriders have tussled over the political and economical control of the space around Earth, including the Moon and its colonies.[7]
2070s[]
By the 2070s, Tycho was a popular touristic destination. The city offered multiple services: transpiration to and back from Copernicus, tours and space flights around the Moon (including Tranquility Base), a small but fascinating museum about space colonization, wine tasting from the local vineyards, shopping, restaurants and much more.[8] The colony was also known for its steady mining business, with the mass drivers allowing transportation of raw materials to the nearby Crystal Palace and Earth.[5] The Lunar colonies were not as secure as the many space stations around the Moon and Earth.[9]
In 2077, the Swedish company Solvind was expecting to soon supply all of Tycho with electricity by the usage of solar wind farms.[10]
If V decides to help Songbird:
- If V helped Song So Mi board the space shuttle at the NCX Spaceport, she reached the city of Tycho.[11] After supposedly getting cured, Song wrote a message to V with the location of a container she had sent from the lunar colony, which included a unique cyberware and a souvenir from Tycho.[12]
Database Entry[]
TYCHO
Tycho was founded in 1997 by the European Space Council. The Moon was chosen as the site for the first human settlement in space for obvious reasons: the presence of natural gravity and the relative softness of the ground. The city is located at the bottom of an awe-inspiring impact crater bearing the same name that measures 53 miles wide and nearly 3 miles deep. By 2020, most of Tycho's structures had been moved underground. A network of caves and tunnels was hollowed out with atomic laser drills, and the ceilings were reinforced with molten lunar sand. Within the cave system, settlers created reserves of oxygen-producing plant life that accounts for most of breathable air in the community today. According to data from 2075, Tycho boasts a population of approximately 40,000, and is the largest of two populated settlements (the other being Copernicus with a population of approximately 18,000 people). The transportation of raw materials from Tycho to Earth and to the nearby Crystal Palace space station is done via mass drivers. Two of these drivers are located in Tycho, the other at Copernicus. During the so-called First Orbital War in 2008, which lasted six hours, a 2-ton moonstone launched from a Tycho mass driver struck Colorado Springs. Most of the commanding officers of the NUS[sic] armed forces perished in the explosion, bringing an abrupt end to the conflict.[5]
Layout[]
Map of Tycho (2025)
Tycho is an underground lunar colony built at the bottom of a 85km/53.4 mile-wide and 4.7km/2.9 mile-deep impact crater of the same name. Its many infrastructures includes:
2020s[]
- 2 mass drivers
- Landing pads
- Factories
- Hydroponic gardens (greenhouses)
- Laboratories and scientific areas
- Living quarters
- Main business district
- Main control, atmosphere plant and administrative offices
- Main gallery
2070s[]
- 2 mass drivers[2]
- Spaceport
- Tycho North
- Tycho West
- Hydroponic gardens[5]
- Vineyards[8]
- Ice mine[2]
- Museum of Space Colonization[2][8]
- Buzz Aldrin's legendary footprint[2]
- DSS Pathfinder memorial[8]
- Restaurants & shops[8]
- Spas & pools[8]
Associated Shards[]
- A guide to your weekend in Tycho.
- Ad Astra - A magazine for stellar pioneers
- Book Your Dream Holiday with Warder's!
- Death from Above: Mass Drivers as Weapons of Mass Destruction
- TYCHO - itinerary!!! <3
- Welcome Aboard! Your Guide to NCX
Notes[]
- The Tycho Database Entry image for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty shows the Tycho metal pin souvenir.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 PONDSMITH, M. Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2020. (pp.238–9,263)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 A guide to your weekend in Tycho., Holophone Messages
- ↑ PONDSMITH, M Near Orbit. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1989. (p.6)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 PONDSMITH, M. Deep Space. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1993. (pp.5–8,12,65,68,71)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 CD Projekt RED. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Video Game, Multi-Platform. Poland, CD Projekt S.A., 2023. (Tycho Database Entry)
- ↑ MOSS, W. Corporation Report 2020 Volume 1. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1991. (pp.16,54–55,76–77)
- ↑ Extraterrestrial ménage à trois
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 TYCHO - itinerary!!! <3
- ↑ Outer Space! My Life in Orbit
- ↑ Ad Astra - A magazine for stellar pioneers
- ↑ The Killing Moon
- ↑ From Her to Eternity
