Laplace
Space colony operated by the Earth Federation that served as the residence of its prime minister.
Laplace was a Stanford Torus-type space colony built by the Earth Federation in Earth orbit. It served as the official residence of the Federation’s prime minister before its destruction in UC 0000.
Design
The colony comprised a central torus residential block with two rings of solar panels positioned above and below. These panels generated power for the colony and reflected sunlight into the torus interior.
The residential ring rotated every seventy-five seconds to generate artificial gravity equivalent to lunar gravity. Four spokes connected the ring to a central hub, serving as transport corridors. The hub experienced minimal artificial gravity, making it ideal for spacecraft docking. A non-rotating axis attached to the hub housed zero-gravity industrial facilities.
History
The Earth Federation constructed Laplace in the late Common Era as an orbital bridge between Earth and space. It served as the residence of Federation Prime Minister Ricardo Marcenas.
The Federation held a ceremony at Laplace to mark the transition from the Common Era to the Universal Century. During the event, Prime Minister Marcenas delivered a speech introducing the new Universal Century Charter, with each constitutional law being laser-engraved onto a stone tablet as he spoke.
However, a group of terrorists, hired by Ricardo’s son George Marcenas, attacked the ceremony. They reprogrammed the upper solar panels to focus concentrated solar rays onto the residential block. This caused the torus walls to melt and rupture, leading to explosive decompression that killed everyone inside, including Prime Minister Marcenas.
The terrorists’ escape shuttle exploded due to sabotage, killing all except Syam Vist, who discovered the original charter tablet drifting in space. George Marcenas succeeded his father as prime minister and modified all public copies of the charter to remove a crucial law regarding spacenoid rights in governance.
The Federation blamed spacenoids for the attack, leading to harsh restrictions on space colony rights and mandatory Federation control over all colonies. The prime minister’s residence was declared a restricted zone, though Syam Vist used the original charter—later codenamed Laplace’s Box—to blackmail the Federation and establish the Vist Foundation.
A section of the residential block survived for ninety-six years, passing over latitude zero, longitude zero at an altitude of 200 kilometres daily. In UC 0096, the remnants were destroyed during a battle between the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam and MSN-06S Sinanju, with the debris burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Behind the scenes
The name “Laplace” likely references Pierre-Simon Laplace, a French mathematician known for his work on gravitational theory and celestial mechanics.
Appearances
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (novel)
External links
- Laplace on the Gundam Wiki