As more robots touched down on the surface, the construction of a massive railway network began.
"The foundation of all prosperity is a good road"—a universal truth that applied to any planet.
The plan called for two to three thousand scattered mining sites. Building smelters, power plants, and transit hubs for every small mine was wildly impractical. It would only cause massive resource waste without actually boosting industrial output.
Instead, major mining zones needed to be linked by rail. This way, raw ore and semi-finished materials could be shipped to a central hub for efficient processing.
Nuclear-powered trains remained the most cost-effective mode of transportation.
The track-laying technology was highly advanced and fully automated. Operators only needed to map out the routes on a computer, and the heavy-duty robots handled the rest.
Meanwhile, the next major phase of the plan began: the colossal space elevator project!
