Primary:
Thurn, spectral class K7V. ICN S4K0610K7V. Mass 0.538 standard. Stellar diameter
0.559 standard. Luminosity 0.027 standard.
Planetary System: Four major bodies. One Inhabited world (Datinar, I). Three gas giants In system.
I
Datinar: Mean
orbital radius, 29.92 million kilometers (0.2 AU). Period, 44.54 days ... No
satellites ... Diameter, 7,245 kilometers. Density, 0.99. Mass, 0.124 standard.
Mean surface gravity, 0.5 C_ Rotation period: 38 hours, 5 minutes, 22 seconds.
Axial inclination, 21°10'2.2" Albedo, .20 ... Surface atmospheric
pressure, 0.38atm; composition, standard oxygen-nitrogen mix. Respirator
required to breathe atmosphere. Hydrographic percentage, 17%; composition,
liquid water and water-ice. Mean surface temperature, -2°C.
Remarks:
Datinar
is evidence of the dangers of relying on a one-crop market. The world was
colonized in the wake of a major platinum-iridium strike nearly 200 years ago
and the population expanded by leaps and bounds as production of ore grew every
year. Just over a decade ago, however, two of the planet's three largest mines
shut down as the veins they were exploiting gave out; the cost of further ore
exploration was pronounced prohibitively expensive by the corporations involved.
Equipment and personnel were withdrawn ... and a massive recession set in as a
result.
Some mining continues, of course, but production is down to the lowest ebb since
the planet was first opened for settlement. Without the mines, the remainder of
the population (and it is quite a large one, Datinar attracted a very sizable
number of immigrants during the boom years) has been economically ruined. The
population is capable of
Matters have not improved since High Justice Daldreem invoked emergency powers
to dominate the Carrillian Assembly.
Just when the economy was hitting a low ebb, ruinous Assembly taxation undid all
of the attempts of four successive administrations to shore up the weakened
fiscal situation. Recruitment of Assembly Peacekeepers provided some work, but
the colony still teems with unemployed, hopeless citizens.
Several other worlds of the Assembly have been contributing voluntary aid to
relieve the economic crisis on Datinar and traders can pick up good money and
free fuel running charter cargos in to the world. Meanwhile, some hope continues
to sustain the planets inhabitants - the hope of discovering new ore deposits to
attract minerals firms back to Datinar. Rumors of such a find in the remote and
rugged country of Lakharr far to the northwest of the capital has caused an
upsurge of hope, but the man who claimed to have found this new site died in a
knife fight in a startown tavern and his information was lost. Further attempts
to locate the new mines have thus far been fruitless.