''Aurora'' is a 2015 novel by American science fiction author

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published twenty-two novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many ...

. The novel concerns a

generation ship A generation ship, or generation starship, is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels at sub-light speed. Since such a ship might require hundreds to thousands of years to reach nearby stars, the original occupants of a gene ...

built in the style of a

Stanford torus The Stanford torus is a proposed NASA design for a space habitat capable of housing 10,000 to 140,000 permanent residents. The Stanford torus was proposed during the 1975 NASA Summer Study, conducted at Stanford University, with the purpose of ...

traveling to

Tau Ceti Tau Ceti, Latinized from τ Ceti, is a single star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun's mass. At a distance of just under from the Solar System, it is a relativ ...

in order to begin a human colony. The novel's primary narrating voice is the starship's artificial intelligence. The novel was well-received by critics. * * *

Plot

is launched from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

in 2545 at 0.1 c (i.e. traveling at 108,000,000 km/hr or 10% the speed of light). It includes twenty-four self-contained biomes and an average population of two thousand people. One hundred sixty years and approximately seven generations later, it is beginning its deceleration into the

system to begin colonization of a planet's moon, an

Earth analog An Earth analog, also called an Earth analogue, Earth twin, or second Earth, is a planet or moon with environmental conditions similar to those found on Earth. The term Earth-like planet is also used, but this term may refer to any terrestrial pl ...

, which has been named Aurora. Devi, the ship's ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' chief engineer and leader, is concerned about the decaying infrastructure and biology of the ship: systems are breaking down, each generation has lower intelligence test scores than the last, and bacteria are mutating and evolving at a faster rate than humans. She tells the ship's AI, referred to simply as Ship, to keep a

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

of the voyage. After having some trouble with understanding the human concept of narrative, Ship eventually elects to follow the life of Devi's daughter Freya as a

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

. As a teenager, Freya travels around the ship on her '' wanderjahr'' and learns that many of the ship's inhabitants are dissatisfied with their enclosed existence and what they perceive as a

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...

. Movement is strictly limited for most people, reproduction is tightly controlled, and education in science and mathematics is mandatory. Freya's ''wanderjahr'' comes to an end when she is called home as Devi grows sick from cancer and dies. The ship arrives in the Tau Ceti system and begins to settle Aurora, a moon of

Tau Ceti e Tau Ceti e, also called 52 Ceti e, is an exoplanet orbiting Tau Ceti that was detected by statistical analyses of the data of the star's variations in radial velocity that were obtained using HIRES, AAPS and HARPS. Its possible properties wer ...

. It soon becomes apparent that

extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

is present in the form of primitive

prions Prions are misfolded proteins that have the ability to transmit their misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein. They characterize several fatal and transmissible neurodegenerative diseases in humans and many other animals. It i ...

, which infect and kill some of the landing party. All except one of the remaining settlers attempt to return to the ship, and some of those remaining onboard kill them in the airlock to maintain

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

, leading to a violent political schism throughout the ship. The ship itself, which has been moving towards

self-awareness In philosophy of self, self-awareness is the experience of one's own personality or individuality. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is being aware of one's environment and body and lifesty ...

, takes physical control of the situation by lowering oxygen levels and separating warring factions, referring to itself as "the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

". It then reveals to the crew that there were in fact two ships originally launched for the Tau Ceti expedition, but the other was destroyed during a period of severe civil unrest, and the collective memory of that event was erased from the history records. Under Ship's moderation, a more peaceful debate takes place between the inhabitants about what to do now that Aurora is known to be inhospitable. Unable to reach consensus, the factions agree to part ways, with those who wish to stay retaining as many resources as can be spared to pursue an unlikely attempt at

terraforming Terraforming or terraformation ("Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make ...

the Mars-like moon Iris, while the other group, led by Freya, opt to try and return to

. Using raw materials in the Tau Ceti system, they refuel the ship to allow acceleration back to Earth; since they lack fuel to decelerate, they must rely on the

laser propulsion Laser propulsion is a form of beam-powered propulsion where the energy source is a remote (usually ground-based) laser system and separate from the reaction mass. This form of propulsion differs from a conventional chemical rocket where both energy ...

system that originally launched them from the Solar System to slow them down on approach. The last remaining Aurora settler, who remains permanently quarantined in his shuttle attached to the exterior of the ship, elects to return to Earth as well. Initially, Freya and the others who return remain in communication with those who remained in the Tau Ceti system, but much later on their voyage home this communication stops. On the voyage back to Earth, the ship's biomes continue to deteriorate as bacteria flourish and crops fail. The humans soon face

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

and experiment with an untested form of cryogenic freezing, which is largely successful. The ship's repeated entreaties to Earth to turn back on the laser propulsion system are ignored due to societal and political strife back in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

, and many citizens' anger at the colonists' "cowardice". Eventually a private group funds and reactivates the laser, but the delay means the ship's speed is only reduced by a fraction of what is needed. Ship is therefore forced to decelerate by means of

gravity assist In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist maneuver, or swing-by is the use of the relative movement (e.g. orbit around the Sun) and gravity of a planet or other astronomical object to alter the p ...

between various planets, a process which takes twelve years. During this time, with the full communications data of humanity available to it, it learns more about why it was launched in the first place—simply for

expansionism Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism. In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who of ...

—and denounces its builders as "criminally negligent narcissists". Ship manages to safely drop its humans off on a pass of Earth but fails to make a final gravity slowdown past the Sun. Ship is destroyed along with the last survivor of the landing on Aurora. Freya and the other "starfarers" have trouble adjusting to life on Earth, especially with many Terrans hostile to them for a perceived sense of ingratitude and cowardice. At a

space colonization Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization) is the use of outer space or celestial bodies other than Earth for permanent habitation or as extraterrestrial territory. The inhabitation and territor ...

conference, a speaker says humanity will continue to send ships into interstellar space no matter how many fail and die, and Freya assaults him. Eventually she joins a group of terraformers who are attempting to restore the Earth's beaches after their loss during previous centuries'

sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

. While swimming and surfing, she begins to come to terms with life on Earth.

Major themes

Major themes in ''Aurora'' include complexities of life aboard a multi-generational starship, interpersonal psychology, artificial intelligence, human migration, environmentalism, and the feasibility of star travel.

Development history

Robinson says that in researching the novel he met with his friend Christopher McKay who has helped him since the ''

Mars Trilogy The ''Mars'' trilogy is a series of science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost tw ...

''. McKay arranged lunches at the NASA

Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...

where Robinson asked questions of NASA employees.

References

{{Kim Stanley Robinson 2015 American novels American science fiction novels Artificial intelligence Generation ships in fiction Novels by Kim Stanley Robinson Fiction set on Saturn Space exploration novels Fiction set around Tau Ceti Terraforming 2015 science fiction novels Orbit Books books