Self-replicating expansion through seed ships
The requirement cards on this page govern. Seeding and crew launch wait for operator consent. FPL-v1 and RSS-v1 are upgrade paths. Hand-over does not move command off the IPLS-5.1-002 chart.
Inter-Planetary Link Ship • Guildford, Surrey, UK
To define the functional requirements for colony-seeding ships that enable safe, self-replicating, operator-controlled expansion of the IPLS infrastructure to new asteroids, planets, and star systems, turning every established colony into an autonomous seeding hub while preserving full command authority and ethical guardrails (Section 5.1).
All seeding operations remain under explicit operator consent (Section 5.1). Replication, sentience detection, and supersession decisions require human/post-biological review. Cultural and ethical continuity is preserved via real-time portal network linkage.
Requirement: Colony-seeding-ship construction follows IPLS-3.1-015. Seeding waits for operator consent under IPLS-3.1.4-006. The functions carrying N+3 on a seeding ship and N per function are unset. Whether NWM-v1 is a dependency at Lane B is unset under IPLS-3.1.13-003.
Rationale: Turns each successful base into an autonomous seeding hub, enabling exponential growth of the interstellar civilisation while preserving full operator control.
Open Questions: None at v0.7
Requirement: Each replication cycle waits for operator consent under IPLS-5.1-002. What counts as one cycle is unset. On sentience detection the IPLS-5.1-003 halt applies. A kill-switch follows IPLS-3.1-008. Restarting replication after a halt is a replication and waits for operator consent. Pinhole-probe verification follows IPLS-4.2-002. Its pass criteria are unset. Verification can block replication and cannot grant it. IPLS-SRS-SEED-v1 has no defining card. SRS-v1 promotion to this section is unset. The seed swarm population ceiling and the 3.1.20 tier of seed units are unset.
Rationale: Enables rapid, autonomous establishment of new colonies using only local resources.
Requirement: Nacelle integration uses UMP-PROP-001. RSS-v1 is an upgrade path. The baseline transit shielding, the exposure duration it is sized to, and its dose limit are unset. The number of nacelles that may fail with deceleration still achieved is unset. Whether 0.1 to 0.2 c is a minimum, a band, or a design target is unset.
Rationale: Provides safe, reliable transit to target systems while protecting the seed payload and crew.
Requirement: Crew launch waits for operator consent under IPLS-5.1-002. Whether IPLS-3.1.5-001, IPLS-3.1.5-006 and IPLS-3.1.5-008 apply to seeding ships is unset. The 1 g tolerance and the rotation-rate limit are unset. Digital minds follow IPLS-3.1.22-004. Standing is unset.
Rationale: Maintains physiological and psychological health during long-duration seeding missions.
Requirement: On arrival the ship joins the 3.1.19 network. FPL-v1 and PIS-v1 are upgrade paths. Entanglement is not a link. The baseline link and its latency are unset. On loss of link, life-preserving functions continue inside the IPLS-5.1-002 envelope. The IPLS-3.1-014 hold applies to other actions. T is unset. Paths per link are unset.
Rationale: Eliminates remote-mission isolation stressors and enables instantaneous governance and support.
Requirement: TSP-v1 readiness criteria are undefined under IPLS-3.1-016. Supersession waits for operator consent under IPLS-5.1-002. Self-sufficiency is undefined under IPLS-3.1-015.
Rationale: Prevents obsolescence of seeding assets as frontier technologies advance.
Requirement: Irreversible acts follow IPLS-5.1-002. Each replication cycle waits for operator consent. Reversible and life-preserving actions act inside the IPLS-5.1-002 envelope and are logged and reported to the operator. Overrides follow IPLS-3.1.4-007. How a physical override is authenticated is unset. The holder follows the IPLS-5.1-002 succession. A seized credential is not consent. The list of critical seeding functions is unset. Mission retarget and kill-switch reset wait for operator consent under IPLS-5.1-002. A kill-switch follows IPLS-3.1-008. On loss of link, life-preserving functions continue inside the IPLS-5.1-002 envelope. The IPLS-3.1-014 hold applies to other actions. T is unset. Whether consent to a replication cycle may be given before launch is unset.
Rationale: Preserves absolute human/post-biological command authority and ethical oversight during expansion.
Requirement: Service life follows IPLS-3.1-016. Life-critical systems remain at the 500-year figure in IPLS-3.1-016. Whether ship elements that feed life support are life-critical is unset. Degradation order, the parts repairable from ISRU spares, and the life-test acceleration basis are unset. The spares an in-transit ship carries are unset. Replication to restore a unit waits for operator consent under IPLS-5.1-002.
Rationale: Supports repeated seeding missions or long-duration transit even if upgrades are declined.
Requirement: Seeding waits for operator consent under IPLS-3.1.4-006. Each replication cycle waits for operator consent. Hand-over does not move command off the IPLS-5.1-002 chart. The automated gate can block hand-over and cannot grant it. Self-sufficiency is undefined under IPLS-3.1-015. Whether the IPLS-4.2-010 criteria are the hand-over gate is unset. Whether first occupation of a daughter colony is crew arrival under IPLS-3.1.4-012 is unset.
Rationale: Ensures every new colony immediately restarts the proven chronological infrastructure build-out while maintaining seamless operator oversight during transition.
Requirement: Durability follows IPLS-3.1.17-008. Supersession readiness follows IPLS-3.1.17-006.
Rationale: Supersession waits for the operator under IPLS-5.1-002.