Astroengineering: Difference between revisions

{{Status|Canon}}

[[File:TerminalArkArray.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Installation 00|The Ark]] and the [[seven]] [[Halo Array|Halo rings]].]]

Only civilizations with a minimum [[Technological Achievement Tiers|Technological Achievement Tier]] of 2 can construct such megastructures. As a Tier 3 civilization, the [[United Nations Space Command]] lacks known astroengineered structures.

The Forerunners are renowned for their mimicry of natural environments, but it is their engineering achievements that stand as monuments to their extraordinary prowess, centuries after they have passed on. Their [[Halo Array|Halo Installations]], [[shield world]]s, and [[Installation 00|the Ark]] are all artificial habitats on a vastly larger scale than anything that either [[human]]ity or the [[Covenant]] could have accomplished. Forerunner megastructures were typically designed by members of the [[Builder]] [[rate]] and constructed by the [[Huragok]] as well as a wide range of automatons ranging from diminutive [[Constructor]]s to colossal [[Retriever Sentinel]]s. Meanwhile, the [[Miner]]s were tasked with stellar and planetary engineering.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum'''</ref>

This shield installation was representative of a smaller variation of the shield world concept. Known as a conservation sphere,{{Ref/Reuse|evg}} the facility consisted of a hollow spherical shell with a terraformed inner surface and an internal sun. The installation's outer surface was heavily infested by the [[Flood]].

The Forerunners also constructed massive Dyson spheres, such as the shield world known as [[Trevelyan|Shield World 006]] held within Onyx. With a diameter of 2 astronomical units,<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 380''</ref> this shield world was encapsulated in a [[Slipstream space|Slipspace]] field to protect the occupants from the Halo Array as it activated. Essentially a sphere, with its habitable surface on its internal surface rather than external, these "micro" Dyson spheres are also equipped with their own stars,<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 379''</ref> providing warmth, light and energy to the installation. Originally intended as a way to circumvent the Halo effect, the shield worlds were not put into use by the Forerunners due to the rampant actions of [[Mendicant Bias|one]] of their own AI constructs.<ref>'''Halo 3''', ''[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminal]]s''</ref>

The interior of [[Trove]] was essentially a variation of this concept, albeit on a far smaller scale and not enveloped in slipspace.

[[File:H3 Installation00 Full.jpg|250px|thumb|[[Installation 00]]]]

[[File:Artificial sun.jpg|thumb|250px|The Ark's artificial sun]]

The Forerunners had the ability to harness the energy output of an entire star by using containment and collection fields; dozens of stars had been harnessed for energy production this way.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 243''</ref> Forerunners stellar engineers nicknamed "[[plasma jockey]]s" also experimented with controlling young stars, attempting to "tame" them for future use.{{Ref/Reuse|c221}}

The Forerunners could also either create artificial stars, or move existing stars across distances of thousands of light years, either of which would be a tremendous technological feat. Additionally, they were able to extrude whole stars into slipspace. One star was used in the construction of the [[Shield World]], [[Trevelyan|Shield World 006]], while an artificial star, created just for it, orbited [[Installation 00]]. [[Trove]] also had a miniaturized artificial star in its center.

High Charity was the Covenant capital city prior to 2552. Presumed to be built around a chunk of rock taken from the [[San'Shyuum]]'s home planet, it was not only an artificial planet, but capable of traveling through slipspace, powered by a surviving [[Keyship]] known to the Covenant as the [[Anodyne Spirit|Forerunner Dreadnought]]. It was the largest known Covenant artificial planetoid, at 348 kilometers in diameter, as well as the home of the majority of the [[San'Shyuum]] population, and was infested by the Flood, and eventually destroyed in the [[Battle of Installation 00]].

The ''Unyielding Hierophant'' was a mobile space station used as a fleet command center and refit platform. Approximately 30 kilometers long and 10&nbsp;km in circumference, with two bulbous sections joined by a docking ring at the middle, it was a significant Covenant military base in the region, capable of resupplying up to 500 warships and carried thousands of Covenant personnel internally, including Banshee and Wraith pilots. It was destroyed by members of Spartan [[Blue Team]] during [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]].

Despite being a Tier 1 civilization, [[Ancient humanity]] was not as experienced in the fields of megascale engineering and [[slipspace]] technology as the Forerunners. For example, they were seemingly unable to construct megastructures on the scale of a [[Halo Array|Halo installation]].<ref name="p257">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 257''</ref>