NEBULAR Collection 1: The Triton Base: NEBULAR Issues 1-5

It is an era in which nation states are a thing of the past. United in the Solar Union, Humanity faces its last great challenge: the exploration of the outer Solar System.

The Union Fleet already maintains scientific outposts on the distant moons of the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Private companies are mining for raw materials and large spaceships are travelling between the inner planets. The causes of earlier civilisational setbacks, such as wars, diseases and poverty, have been overcome.

Around ten billion Union citizens populate the Earth, with another 250 million humans settling in the growing colonies on the Luna and Mars.

The furthest outpost from Earth is located on Neptune's moon Triton. It is an icy cold world where mainly scientists and private companies are based. The crew's main task is to explore the Kuiper Belt, also known as the Outer Ring, with its numerous dwarf planets.

Astrophysicists are using the remoteness of the celestial body to advance the search for extraterrestrial life. The scientists of the new SETI project use their receiving antennas to examine the neighbouring stars for potential radio signals from alien civilisations. A total of around two thousand humans are working on the Triton Base.

Space travellers from Earth have seen the ice deserts on Jupiter's moon Europa, the dust storms of Mars and the primeval hydrocarbon seas on Saturn's moon Titan with their own eyes, but so far they have not found any extraterrestrial life.

One of Humanity's most important goals remains to make peaceful contact with alien civilisations in space. Unconsciously, most scientists hope that these life forms are similar to us and that communication is possible. So far, the search has been unsuccessful, but this does not rule out the possibility that they exist in the infinite expanses of space and are already watching us.