What Planet Is This-?!
In the time of Bebop, interplanetary travel is already very much possible with the help of the hyperspace gates. To go through the gates, you must pay a toll first. Check out how much it costs:
The gates allow for quick entry and re-entry to certain points in the solar system. Although the gates made it possible for humans to settle on other planets, it is also responsible for leaving the earth a ruined shell, making travel to other worlds practically a necessity.
->> Mercury
As far as I know, they still haven't figured out a way to make Mercury habitable. I don't think any technology will allow for humans to live on a planet which has an atmosphere that can probably melt skin off bones.
->> Venus
Because of Venus' notoriously noxious atmosphere, it's hard to believe that life can thrive on the planet that exemplifies the greenhouse effect. However, Venus was terra-formed with the help of strange plants that float around in the atmosphere, using up all the excess carbon dioxide and making the air breathable. Unfortunately, the plants cause an "allergic" reaction called Venus sickness in some people, which may cause severe illness, blindness, and -- according to the flight attendant -- even death, so if you have sensitive health, it is not advisable for you to go there, especially since the only antidote, Gray Ash, costs a whopping fortune.
->> Earth
Due to the infamous "Gate Incident" during which a hyperspace gate went kablooey in the center of the moon, Earth is merely a shadow of the world it once was. It is mostly ruins, surrounded by old abandoned satellites and fragments of the moon, and home only to "some weirdos," as the Bebop crew often say. They're probably right, if the inhabitants are anything at all like Ed. Meteor showers also seem to have become a normal occurence, making mapmaking or landscape monitoring a lively occupation.
->> Mars
Spike's homeworld, Mars is -- as we think nowadays -- the perfect substitute for Earth. It's the new "land of milk and honey" it seems. The big city, the one that we see a lot, is sort of covered in this clear dome-like structure. Mars is a wealthy planet, and is apparently the place to be and might be considered the center of civilization during their time. It is certainly more sophisticated than Venus or other settlements on moons and asteroids.
->> The Asteroid Belt
The Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter also houses several colonies. TJ (as Spike calls it), or Tijuana, is located somewhere here, as are several casinos. Asteroid colonies seem to be centers for crime and corruption and they are often depicted in various levels of poverty. The asteroids seem to be home to the poor, the outcast, gamblers, wanderers, and criminals.
->> Jupiter
The planet Jupiter, which is made mostly of gases and would float above water, clearly is not habitable, so we have to make do with its moons instead. The habitable moons include:
->> Callisto. Callisto is a VERY cold place. We get our first look of this tundra paradise in Session #12 (Jupiter Jazz Part I) and it's all shiny ice, blanketed by snow that seems to be perpetually falling. There are NO women in Callisto, so I suggest that the ladies look elsewhere for a vacation spot lest they get mobbed by dozens of men. Satellite shots of Callisto (and I'm talking the real world now) do in fact show that Callisto is nothing but solid ice. The most varied moon of Jupiter (in terms of landscape) is Ganymede (below).
->> Ganymede. I think we first visit Ganymede -- or a place near Ganymede in Session #4 (Gateway Shuffle) where the Bebop crew picks up Faye again. At least, the sea rats in the restaurant Spike and Jet were supposed to eat in are endemic to Ganymede and are served as a delicacy there. Ganymede is Jet's homeland, where he grew up and eventually worked as part of the ISSP before things with Alisa went bad, I suppose. Ganymede seems to be mostly water, with a panoramic view of Jupiter taking up nearly the whole sky. However, studies in the real world show that Ganymede's climate is actually rather similar to Callisto's. We can assume that at some point, however, the ice was melted.
->> Saturn
Nothing seems to happen in Saturn, naturally, because just like Jupiter, it is less dense than water, being made up entirely of gas. However, Gren and Vicious participated and first met in a war on Titan, one of Saturn's moons, which is depicted as some sort of desert planet. Odd, since Saturn is much too far for the sun to reach. Titan, by the way, is the only Saturn moon with a thick enough atmosphere and is one of the biggest moons in the solar system, along with Jupiter's Ganymede.
->> Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
There is no mention of colonies residing on these planets, though they appear to have some sort of communications network and I think a prison? It is more likely those are on the moons, as Uranus and Neptune are gas planets and Pluto is ice (like a comet in a less speedy orbit).
->> UP ONE LEVEL <<-