Players represent space-faring factions of Earth. These factions bid for patents in the form of space technology cards and boost them into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). These are then assembled into rockets and their cargoes. Once fueled with water tanks (WTs), these rockets fly to promising industrial and science sites (planets, asteroids, etc.). If prospecting succeeds, a claim is made. A claim can be upgraded to a factory to produce useful new technologies. By extracting water from a site, a rocket can refuel (WTs are used both as rocket propellant and as currency). The winner is determined by the number of his off-world claims and factories, the resource value of his industrialized sites, and his exploration achievements (ventures and glories).
The full-sized, full-color, mounted map shows the spaces (i.e. the orbits in the Solar System where a rocket can “halt”), and the routes between the spaces. Spaces include Sites (planets, moons and asteroids that can be landed on), Intersections (the intersection between two routes), Burns (Lagrange Points and Lander points), Aerobrake Routes (routes that have special coasting rules) and Heliocentric Zones (these divide the solar system into concentric zones to mark the decreasing solar energy as you move further away from the sun.)
