Chapter 2: Some Details About the Universal Century Universe!
Earth Federation: The Earth Federation was established in A.D. 1999 with the aim of eliminating war and poverty, overcoming resource and environmental crises, and building a better human society with a brighter future. Accordingly, from the very beginning of its existence, the Earth Federation government spared no effort in carrying out humanity’s space colonization program. In A.D. 2045, the first space colony was completed in low Earth orbit above the equator, and the first wave of human settlers moved into space. The Federation government announced that a new era would begin in A.D. 2046, renaming it the Universal Century, abbreviated in English as UC. Thus began the UC calendar.
The core of the Earth Federation consisted of the former G8 nations. Without their union, the Earth Federation could never have come into existence. The Federation’s highest civilian administrative body—the “government,” or “cabinet,” in the narrower sense—is the Supreme Federal Administrative Council. It consists of one chairman responsible for the government’s overall affairs and five general affairs councillors responsible for specific areas of administration. Military authority, however, is excluded from its jurisdiction and remains under the control of the G8.
The Earth Federation is organized as a federation. There are eleven states on Earth and seven in space—the spaceborne states being the colonies from Side 1 through Side 7. The lunar cities belong to autonomous federations. Under the federal system, each member state has its own laws and government institutions and may exercise foreign affairs authority in accordance with regulations established by the federal government.
In practice, however, this arrangement applies only to the seven states in space. The eleven states on Earth continue to be administered directly by the governments of the member nations that make up the Federation. The seven space states enjoy a high degree of economic and administrative autonomy compared with those on Earth. Yet because the colony clusters still depend on Earth in many respects, their autonomy, though formally recognized, remains far from complete.
Space Colonies: These are groups of space colonies and asteroid bases constructed around the Lagrange points. Most of the artificial colonies depicted in the animated works are based on the real-world O’Neill Cylinder Island Three concept. Each is a cylindrical structure approximately six kilometers in diameter and thirty to forty kilometers long, rotating once every two minutes to create artificial gravity.
Their outer shells are divided into two types. One is an open design with transparent outer walls on one side, allowing sunlight to be collected by external solar mirrors. By adjusting the mirrors, the cycle of day and night within the colony can be altered. The other is a sealed design in which the entire outer wall serves as habitable space, with no transparent sections. Its residential area is twice that of an open colony of the same length. This design is used in locations that receive no direct sunlight, such as Side 3. Because of its enclosed environment, Side 3 also has the highest incidence of depression among the colonies.
At present, the Earth Federation possesses seven space colony clusters, numbered Side 1 through Side 7. Each Side has its own major industries. Side 3 and Side 7, for example, are centers of heavy industry. The former gave the Principality of Zeon the confidence to launch its war, while the latter serves as an important base for the Earth Federation Forces. The Prototype Gundam was also completed there.
A schematic diagram of the space colony layout: Side 7 is located in the L3 region of space.