Prosperity Space Station

The Prosperity Space Station initiative was an ambitious space-faring program spearheaded by Shops Island and the SIA from 2013 to 2015. This program sought to construct and launch a fleet of small space stations into near-earth orbit for continuous use by the SIA for both scientific and military purposes. The Prosperity Space Stations were known for their compact size and efficiency, although they were prohibitively expensive to build. The project was funded primarily by the Shopper government, although nations such as Castilla, the Seal Islands, Amataria, and South Joseon also helped to fund and build it. All four models are under the jurisdiction of the SIA's space flight division, although both the military and foreign scientists use the space stations frequently. Each Prosperity Space Station was built at a cost of 9.5 billion WB$ a piece, with launching and in-space assembly costing billions more.

The original aim of the Prosperity Space Station program was to construct a whopping sixteen vessels and to have them all operating concurrently. However, significant cost and scheduling overruns continually plagued the project, and the program was eventually scrapped in 2015 during an economic crisis with only four stations having been built. Maintenance of the space stations is taken care of jointly by Shops Island and other nations who opt-in to use the space stations and their services.

History
Plans for the Prosperity Space Stations were laid out and finalized throughout late May and early June of 2013, after months of pre-planning by the SIA for a coordinated fleet of space stations to be launched into low-earth orbit for scientific and political purposes. Construction commenced in June, as new technologies were being finished in their development, all of which were necessary for the ambitious space station program to proceed. On August 28, in the midst of the Asiapelago War, the first vessel SV Prosper was completed. The first segments of the space station begun the voyage into space mere days later. The modular nature of the Prosperity Space Stations allowed for quick and cheap in-space assembly. The second vessel was launched in September 2013, and the final two were launched in 2014.

By this point in time, the project had significantly overrun the original cost estimates, and the sheer cost and scope of the program was causing a major strain on the SIA's budget, with almost all available space-related funds being funneled into the project. As an economic downturn struck Shops Island in early 2015, the government hastily canceled the program with only four of the space stations having been completed.

All four of the constructed space stations are still in active use, although cost-cutting measures taken in the design of these space stations mean that they are all expected to be defunct by the year 2030.

Usage
The Prosperity serves many purposes. Its main purpose is a spaceport and a viable living headquarters, as well as a center for communications. There are many other uses for the station, one of which is battle; the Prosperity Space Stations are each equipped with a small range of arms to enable tactical strikes from space, both for offensive and defensive purposes. The space stations are also equipped with powerful imaging equipment, which scientists and spies both use to map the earth. In times of extreme duress and war, such as during the Fall of Nexon, the Prosperity Space Stations were used at times to harbor important Shopper diplomats and generals.

Shops Island isn't the only country to use the Prosperity Space Stations; due to the extreme cost of the program, Shops Island gave other countries the choice of opting into the program to help cover the costs of construction in exchange for free use of the stations as they saw fit. The following countries are sponsors of the Prosperity Space Station program, and use them for scientific purposes:


 * AxlePowers.png Axle Powers
 * ShopsIslandFlag2013.png Shops Island
 * Ed Island Flag.svg Ed Island
 * Culldromeislesflag.png Culldrome Isles
 * Munijoch.jpg Munijoch
 * Flag of the Seal Islands.svg Seal Islands
 * Flag of Castilla.png Castilla
 * Amataria Flag.png Amataria
 * SouthJoseonFlag.png South Joseon

Design
The Prosperity Space Station is much taller than it is wide. The station stands at about 100 feet (~30 m) in height, with its width is only 30 feet (~10 m) across. The station generally tapers into a smaller diameter as one goes down the structure.

These vessels are well-known in the space industry due to their modular style of construction, which allowed for quick successive launching of components into space, which coupled well with quick and simple construction once the components arrived in space. The designers of the space stations put particular emphasis on lightweight design, often pushing the materials used in the structure to their absolute limits; lightweight building materials such as aluminum and carbon fiber are widely used due to their incredible strength-to-weight ratios. The downside, however, is that both aluminum and carbon fiber are prohibitively expensive, and as such the widespread use of these materials was one of the main contributing factors to the cost overruns associated with the program.

Current

 * SV Prosper, the flagship vessel. Launched on September 1, 2013
 * SV Imperialism, Launched September 27, 2013
 * SV Conquest, Launched November 28, 2013
 * SV Determination, Launched February 12, 2014

Under Construction
These vessels were under construction at the time of the program's scrapping in 2015. These two vessels were planned to be much larger than their four predecessors, and as such extra time was allotted for these vessels to be constructed. However, neither of them could finish construction before the program was terminated.


 * SV Vonkouver, Commenced October 10, 2013
 * SV Integrity, Commenced November 4, 2013

Scrapped
These vessels were originally ordered by the Shopper government, but were initially delayed due to scheduling overruns caused by the previous space stations. These vessels were struck from the order list altogether in 2015 after the whole program was scrapped.


 * SV Liberation
 * SV Industry
 * SV Mito
 * SV Pallinn
 * SV Democracy
 * SV Dancing Penguin
 * SV Behemoth
 * SV Colonizer
 * SV Vanquish
 * SV Civilization

Gallery
 File:Proseperity2.png|A Prosperity station, SV Conquest, circa October 2013. 