Chronological index of Gyrealm history. Dates given here are those fixed by the record; periods still unfixed are marked as such rather than approximated.
Opening of low Earth orbit#
| Date | Event |
|---|
| 2 March 2062 | Cicada shuttle enters production at Grueberry Space Transport |
| 5 April 2062 | First Cicada flight, cargo only |
| 7 May 2064 | Cicada certified for human spaceflight on its 2,149th flight |
| 2065 | Amendment to the Outer Space Treaty; the Natural Resource Trust gains licensing authority over space resources, including extraction from Earth’s atmosphere |
| 17 October 2075 | Cicada production ends after 34,485 airframes |
Settlement#
The development of practical self-replicating factories drove the cost of manufactured land down exponentially and began the migration. Coriopolis, the first true gyrealm, was completed in this period and every later habitat descends from its design. Roughly fifty years of scale-up followed, during which the autopoietic industry built thousands of further habitats.
| Date | Event |
|---|
| 2112 | Over 2.3 billion people live in space, across more than two thousand habitats. Cumulative nitrogen export stands at some 35 trillion tonnes, and mean sea-level atmospheric pressure on Earth has fallen by about one percent |
The Coriopolis Bombing Crisis#
| Date | Event |
|---|
| Months preceding | Gaia Preservation Front operations shift from Earth to L5; three atmospheric scoops destroyed in one month; a thermospheric scoop is cut from its tether by a weapon disguised as a meteor. See atmospheric scoop attacks |
| 17 October 2118 | Coriopolis Bombing Crisis. Demands issued; first device detonated; demands reiterated; second device detonated. 389 killed, 1,842 injured, over 853,000 displaced. The third device is located and neutralised by the L5 Special Response Unit |
| December 2118 | Repairs to Coriopolis complete, two months after the attack |
| 2119 | The Effective Monitoring of Manufacturing Act (EMMA) passes, tightening monitoring and reporting on automated manufacture of nuclear, biological, and nanotechnological materials |
| Following years | The atmospheric skimmer fleet is scuttled; the Trust expands its outer-system licensing schedule and the transition to gas-giant-derived nitrogen accelerates |