Damara is one of the Good Moons, major inhabited moons of Carlisle (New Europa VII). It is part of the Arthurian League, a constituent state of the Free Confederation of Allied Worlds.
Physical Planetography
Damara is rocky moon of 2940 km diameter with a tenuous (0.01 bar) atmosphere mainly of water vapor, and dissociated hydrogen and oxygen with traces of ammonia and nitrogen. Its gravity is 14% g. Its relatively thin surface is composed mainly of ices, varying in thickness but about 500m on average, though there are places where the water contacts the tenuous atmosphere through gaps, and depending on ocean temperature conditions, sometimes boils. (These places tend to evolve relatively rapidly, geologically speaking, vaguely similar to volcanism on Earth.) Some of the water vapor crystalizes out as ice, some will be struck by photons in the atmosphere and dissociate into oxygen and hydrogen, too light to be retained permanently by the moon's weak gravity. The ice is relatively, but not entirely, stable. It is has a subsurface liquid water ocean, which is saline and heated by tidal forces. The ocean contains reducing chemical species in slight excess (e.g. hydrogen sulfide), produced by geothermal processes in deep volcanic vents. The Damaran oceans are relatively shallow for an ice moon of this general type, about 30-40 km deep (pressure roughly between 400-500 bar, less than half the pressure at the bottom of the deepest parts of Earth's oceans despite being triple their depth - owing to the lower gravity).
The atmospheric pressure of Damara is declining over time, and the moon is experiencing global cooling. In relatively recent geologic time, it experienced a large asteroid impact, which altered its orbit, but the relatively active crust had obliterated all visible traces of the impact long before its discovery.
The moon has a large solid core of rock and metals, which is mined by deep-submergence submarine drones for metals.
History and Culture
The moon was colonized only after the fall of the Empire, by Singularitarian religious-political separatists from Heidelberg and Rosmerta. To this day, it has many monasteries and communes inhabited by singularitarian groups. In recent years, the moon collected many immigrants from Rosmerta and Sirona seeking less-crowded conditions. (Transportation within the Carlisle moon system is considerably cheaper than transportation to Heidelberg.)
Most Damarans live in tunnels and domes melted from the ice of the crust. Breathable-atmosphere-space is actually quite abundant on Damara, with many thousands of square kilometers of inhabited floorspace across several major settlements. Although the ice is relatively stable, it is not completely unchanging, and settlements must be adjusted from time to time to accommodate crustal movements. Needless to say, the interior of spaces is quite chilly to avoid unwanted melting. Most Damarans simply dress accordingly, though insulated warm spaces for habitation have obvious cultural relevance.
Chemotrophic genetically-engineered organisms are used for food production, feeding on chemical nutrients available in the water. They require oxygen to survive, but no light; the oxygen is obtained by electrolysis, so an artificial energy input is still required. Phototrophic organisms, including algae and higher plants (a premium food item) are also grown and generally preferred.
A small population of Biran live on Damara, though not in the ocean, which is not chemically suitable for them. They, rather, live in polymer domes on the bottom of the ice, containing chemically appropriate water, or in underwater bag colonies.
Economy
Damara is self-sufficient, but imports luxury foods from Heidelberg and some high-tech manufactured goods from Sirona and Rosmerta. Damara refines and exports propellant to orbit, it being more economical to deliver water ice on slow but efficient transfer orbits from Damara to Sirona orbit than to manufacture propellants on Sirona and bring them into space. (Especially given that Sirona is comparatively volatiles-poor.) Mass drivers are used to launch chunks of ice from Damara. Damara is also involved in a terraforming project, exporting ices to Sirona itself for environmental modification.
Energy is partly obtained by fusion, and partly by the exploitation of abundant, but inconveniently accessible, submarine geothermal resources. The latter sector is growing as technological expertise with deep submergence automation grows; it promises to be cheaper than fusion in the long run and reduce Damara's reliance on high-tech fusion reactor component imports (particularly, plasma-facing metamaterials).