Comments on B5/Earth Alliance Technology and Socio-Political Situation with relevance to Earth today and tomorrow:

The Earth Alliance, in the Babylon 5 universe, was initially set up in 2085 by several ‘Global North’ nations to co-operate in the colonizing of the planet Mars over the next twenty years. By the period around 2267, the EA is second only to the Minbari in terms of technology and military capability, partly due to events during and after the Last Shadow War, when the Narn military was all but wiped out and the Centauri Republic was forced to pay reparations after its trade war, and partly due to further introductions of useful alien technology.

The colonizing of Mars had two consequences, one immediate and one later. The first was that the resource-poor nations that initially made up the Earth Alliance no longer had any need to exploit the Global South nations, who could then develop in their own way and become richer as a consequence. The later consequence was that two underclasses came into existence in the 22^nd century-the poor of what was the Global North, who were now the poorest on Earth not including subsistence farmers etc, and the descendants of the original Martian colonists. The first group became likely recruits for Earth Force but more importantly provided manpower for the extra-solar colonies Earth had established, often being an itinerant work force, moving from outpost to outpost for work and often ending up at the Babylon 5 diplomatic station. The Martians, if we can call them that, were even more exploited due to the vagaries of interstellar economics: Earth would be afraid of aliens exploiting Mars’ resources so it was never terraformed/ the terraforming process was abandoned (this would have involved hundreds of factories producing inert greenhouse gases to warm up the atmosphere with plant life being introduced to produce oxygen). This meant that the inhabitants of Mars had to live in pressurized domes while Earth mega-corps strip-mined the planet. The Martians became yet another working-class minority, scapegoated for apparent preferential treatment as Earth Alliance taxpayers paid for atmospheric processing and water reclamation. In order to further prevent invasion, or the possibility of Martian collaboration with alien governments, the ‘Earth’ jump gate, needed for interstellar travel, was constructed some time around 2160/70 near Io.

Technologies like jump gates and engines are far beyond what any of the younger races could have produced in less than a thousand years, and this is very much the point/philosophy of B5, but many technologies used by the Earth Alliance are explainable if not believable. Solar power is used to initiate and maintain rotation in the Babylon 5 station (conjecture) and to run some essential systems, but most of the energy used on a day-to-day basis inside the station is provided by a Fusion Reactor situated at the bow (conjecture). The exact reaction is not described (i.e. D-D, D-T or D-He3), but Earth Alliance appears to use a variety of methods in different circumstances. This may be due to a problem with each.

For example, D-T (fusing heavy hydrogen with tritium) is feasible, with a 10,000 year supply of lithium supplying the tritium, but each reaction produces neutrons which creates radioactive waste and eventually destroys the reactor. D-D is when deuterium is fused with deuterium (heavy hydrogen). This has an abundant supply, but produces an eighth of the D-T reaction and produces neutrons with every other reaction. According to the B5 Online Technical Guide, “gelled deuterium” fuels the four fusion reactors aboard an Omega-Class Destroyer. It is possible that this is some form of “cold fusion” and it is possible that this also powers the fusion plant aboard Babylon 5. The online guide confirms this. A reactor such as this would carry enough fuel for 20+ years, but would need regular maintenance over this time span.

The final reaction is deuterium and helium-3. This produces almost as much power as the D-T reaction but there is no radioactive waste or emissions. However, helium-3 is in short supply on Earth and so would have to be obtained off-planet. There is believed to be 500 years worth of He-3 on the Lunar surface, but obviously this would run out eventually.

The B5 Online Technical Guide mentions the reaction being the basis of Earth Force’s PPG rifles and hand guns, in the form of “fusion batteries”. It is therefore difficult to imagine one form of fusion being a dominant future power source, especially on Earth itself as radiation is less of a problem in space. The fusion batteries described probably power personal vehicles, factories and are used to heat homes, but a greater use of wind and solar would probably be essential. Actual fusion plants may only exist aboard starships or in less densely populated areas on Earth or off-world colonies. Traditional sources of heat and light, like wood burning, may continue in some parts based on convenience (or lack) of supply.