History
Earth in the Noon Universe is set in an alternate future, where the Soviet Union has managed to realize the ideals of communism proclaimed by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin in the second half of 20th century, and spread these ideals peacefully over the planet. Soon afterwards the entire planet was united, all wars ceased and a (seemingly) utopian future began.
First of all, it was marked by extensive exploration of Earth's own secrets such as those the ocean and deep underground. However, more fascinating were the studies of space. At the beginning they were limited to exploration of the Solar System (see The Land of Crimson Clouds ), but with the invention of the photon engine, inter-stellar flights became possible (see Ruzhena). Simultaneously, due to various technological advances in other fields, by the end of the 21st century Earth was capable of satisfying all material needs of its citizens including spaceships for amateur exploration of the galaxy.
For more information about 22nd century, see Noon Universe Chronology.
Organizations
World Council
The World Council is the main governing body on Earth as well as on its colonies all over the Noon Universe. However, each of the colonies has its own World Council to handle local problems, while the Earth's one usually only suggests the overall policy. On Earth, the Council determines the distribution of energy and other resources between various institutions like institutes, laboratories and universities. Famous members of the World Council include: August-Iogann-Maria Bader, Leonid Gorbovsky, Gennady Komov and Rudolf Sikorski.
Independent Reconnaissance Unit
IRU (or FSG - Free Search Group) was a label for all non-professional explorers who went into space to discover and study new planets and stars. According to the authors of "The time of the disciples" (Время учеников), a collection of stories by authors other than the Strugatsky brothers set in the Noon Universe, the IRU existed during the period between 2114 and 2193 AD. To become a member of IRU one needed mere a piloting license and a flight registration issued by COMCON. After that, one was free to visit the planet he decided to and study it, unless there was a native civilization on it in which case he or she was supposed to leave the planet immediately after destroying all traces of one's presence.
COMCON
Committee for Contacts with Other Civilizations (ComCon or COMCON) is an organization that directs the diplomatic negotiations between Earth and alien civilizations as well as the progressors' actions towards human ones. Officially, the Earth World Council makes all decisions, but usually it's up to COMCON to decide which actions should be discussed there and which not.
COMCON-2
Committee for Control of Scientific Achievements was founded in 2137 AD to ensure the safety of the human civilization on Earth. Unlike COMCON-1, COMCON-2 is surrounded by much more mystery, which inevitably leads to a certain suspicion from the general public of Earth and even casual comparisons with Soviet KGB. The first COMCON-2 chief was Rudolf Sikorski (until 2178 AD) and after that - his apprentice, Maxim Kammerer.
Galactic Security Council
GSC is a security organization like COMCON-2 founded in 2142 AD. While COMCON-2 deals with extraterrestrial threats to Earth and mankind, GSC deals with civilizations that were potentially influenced by Wanderers, such as Saraksh or Saula. Following the events of Prisoners of Power , GSC made the Land of Fathers its protectorate.
Institute of Space Physics
Founded in 2110s on Kotlin Island (Gulf of Finland) ISP always concentrated on the most difficult and nearly unsolvable problems of modern physics. Some of these include: gravitation problems, deritrinitration, theory of discrete space, etc. The latter problem was the leading one in 2130s when the scientists tried to prove the theory of intersecting universes with the help from the "readers", a handful of people who were able to read others' thoughts. See Noon: 22nd Century for more info.
Institute of Experimental History
After half a century of idle, importance of IEH rose drastically with the discovery of Saula and other human planets. The specialization of this Institute is the history of human civilizations and means to speed it up (to "progress" it). The field agents of IEH are therefore referred to as "progressors". In the middle of the 22nd century IEH studies were considered to be the most important ones (along with null-physics) on Earth. See Hard to Be a God for more info.
The Fermi paradox, named after Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy and various high estimates for their probability.
Known Space is the fictional setting of about a dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by Larry Niven. It has also become a shared universe in the spin-off Man-Kzin Wars anthologies. ISFDB catalogs all works set in the fictional universe that includes Known Space under the series name Tales of Known Space, which was the title of a 1975 collection of Niven's short stories. The first-published work in the series, which was Niven's first published piece was "The Coldest Place", in the December 1964 issue of If magazine, edited by Frederik Pohl. This was the first-published work in the 1975 collection.
An overwhelming majority of fiction is set on or features the Earth. However, authors of speculative fiction novels and writers and directors of science fiction film deal with Earth quite differently from authors of conventional fiction. Unbound from the same ties that bind authors of traditional fiction to the Earth, they can either completely ignore the Earth or use it as but one of many settings in a more complicated universe, exploring a number of common themes through examining outsiders' perceptions of and interactions with Earth.
Maxim Kammerer is a fictional character in Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's series of science fiction novels set in the Noon Universe.
The Uplift Universe is a fictional universe created by American science fiction writer David Brin. A central feature in this universe is the process of biological uplift.
The Noon Universe is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The universe is named after Noon: 22nd Century, chronologically the first novel from the series.
Fictional representations of the planet Venus have existed since the 19th century. Its impenetrable cloud cover gave science fiction writers free rein to speculate on conditions at its surface; all the more so when early observations showed that not only was it very similar in size to Earth, it possessed a substantial atmosphere. Closer to the Sun than Earth, the planet was frequently depicted as warmer, but still habitable by humans. The genre reached its peak between the 1930s and 1950s, at a time when science had revealed some aspects of Venus, but not yet the harsh reality of its surface conditions.
Saula is a fictional planet described in "An Attempt to Escape" by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so-called Noon Universe and presents a world in an early feudalistic stage. The planet was named after Saul (Savel) Repnin, one of the space explorers who discovered it in 2141 AD.
Rainbow is a fictional planet described in Far Rainbow by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This planet is a part of the so-called Noon Universe and presents a planetwide experimental laboratory used by null-physicists. It isn't clear when it was discovered but, presumably, somewhere between 2146 and 2154 AD.
Progressors in science fiction are people of an advanced space-faring civilization who facilitate progress of less advanced civilizations. It comes from a perspective very much the opposite of what motivates Star Trek's famous Prime Directive.
Gennady Komov is a fictional character in Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's series of science fiction novels set in the Noon Universe.
Leonid Gorbovsky is a fictional character in Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's series of science fiction novels set in the Noon Universe.
Noon: 22nd Century is a 1961 science fiction book by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, expanded in 1962 and further in 1967, translated into English in 1978. It is sometimes considered an episodic novel, collection of linked short stories or a fix-up as some parts had been published previously as independent short stories. It relates several stories of the 22nd century, while providing the background "feel" for the style of life which gave birth to the Noon Universe.
Escape Attempt is a 1962 science fiction novel by Soviet writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, set in the Noon Universe. The English translation was published in a single volume with the other Noon universe stories Space Mowgli and The Kid from Hell.
Space Mowgli, also known as The Kid, is a 1971 science fiction novel by Russian writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, set in the Noon Universe.
Beetle in the Anthill is a 1979 sci-fi novel by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky set in the Noon Universe.
As one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky, and the closest-known star system to the Sun, the Alpha Centauri system plays an important role in many fictional works of literature, popular culture, television, and film.
Ancient astronauts have been addressed frequently in science fiction and horror fiction. Occurrences in the genres include:
Death’s End is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. It is the third novel in the trilogy titled Remembrance of Earth's Past, following the Hugo Award-winning novel The Three-Body Problem and its sequel, The Dark Forest. The original Chinese version was published in 2010. Ken Liu translated the English edition in 2016. It was a 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel finalist and winner of 2017 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
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