Up, but not Out? Discussing the lack of exploration fics.

[HRogge]

To get them moving, there would have to be a Need. Or moving would have to be easier. Probably both.

Yes... but lets not forget about the "writer perspective"... you need a plot to talk about.

2) Unintended Consequences
Think about what the Fen have achieved in the post Boskone War period, and what having the Whole Fenspace Catalog publicly available will do. Workable, reasonably cheap Fusion power has solved the possible energy crisis on Earth, as well as knocked any number of climate issues on the head. Huge medical advancements have taken longstanding assumptions of health and tossed them in the shredder. All the life support technology in use by the Fen can help keep all those little villages clean and healthy. Recycling technology can clean up the planet. Growth mediums to vat grow meat and vegetables will cut land use by farms drastically.
We’re not talking population explosion; we’re talking population NOVA.
We don’t have anywhere to PUT these future people at the moment, and building all those homes and infrastructure will take time. Space habitats won’t cut it due to the extras needed (atmosphere, gravity, space safety systems) slowing them down. Then there are all the people who’d be complaining about losing all that land just to build homes.
But look! All those empty planets that you don’t need to terraform (too much). Wouldn’t they be easier targets?
And that’s just one possibility.

I think solving "population growth" problems on Earth with space-tech would NEVER work... Earths population is growing too fast. Just to keep the current population constant, you would need to make 100.000+ people leave Earth... per day.

So yes, technology will have solved quite a few issues (and will clean up a few more over the next century), but a lot of Earths problems have to be solved there.

3) Resources
There are plenty of resources not found in the Solar System in practical amounts, or at all. Alien technologies are also a resource, but the Gate metals are probably the ones everyone wants.
In Candle in the Dark, Elerium could be used to make Battletech-style Jump Drives of insane utility (33 ly every 33 mins, and fits in a standard Space Shuttle’s payload bay), replacing germanium. What could the other Gate metal Skuldium do? After all, the Gates were likely built on site, so these elements must exist in relative abundance nearby.

And most necessary resources (practically all of them ^^) are available in insane amounts in the Solar System.

4) External Events
When M Fnord detailed the Soviet’s lives and changes to 2024, he signed off with ‘Then the Fire Nation attacked’. What if it DID? Depending on the capabilities of an attacking force, many may try to run from a Solar System at war.

Yes... an external "threat" would make a lot of people move, but do we want to change Fenspace and the Sol System into a warzone in the late 2020 or early 2030s?

Solar weather may threaten Earth and Fenspace. We can only protect so much, why not go elsewhere?

Fenspace yes... to move the population of Earth "off world" sounds beyond insane. At least within less than a few centuries.

A cloud of Dark Matter has been found approaching the Solar System. The gravitational effects will disrupt space travel for decades. We have some time to get people out-system before we’re practically cut off.

What would we gain (story wise) from this scenario?