AVTR

Resources Development Administration

A propaganda poster for the Resources Development Administration, the leader in pioneering outerspace development.

The largest single non-governmental organization in the human universe, the Resources Development Administration (RDA) has monopoly rights to all products shipped, derived, or developed from Pandora and any other off-Earth location. These rights were granted to the RDA in perpetuity by the Interplanetary Commerce Administration (ICA), with the stipulation that they abide by a treaty that prohibits weapons of mass destruction and limits military power in space.

With millions of shareholders, the RDA is the oldest and largest of the quasi-governmental administrative entities (QGAEs). But its origins are far more modest. The entity that would become the RDA was little more than a Silicon Valley startup in the early 21st century, when its founders borrowed money from friends and family to begin the company.

After only a few decades, the company had the capital and stature to propose the construction of a world-spanning rapid transit system that would allow entire population groups to conveniently commute hundreds or even thousands of miles to perform work where it was needed, without impinging on the cultural values of host populations. This led to the current global network of maglev trains that require the superconductor unobtanium for their continued operation.

The company's early expeditions to Pandora were seen as a colossal risk; the construction of the ISV Venture Star alone put an enormous strain on capital resources. But with exclusive mining rights to unobtanium (which is valued at $40 million per kilo), and potential profits from countervirals, biofuels, and cosmetics, the enormous capital investment has paid off.

This poster promotes the SECOPS sector of RDA.  SECOPS stand for Security Operations, these are the men and women who serve in RDA’s private military, keeping the miners and scientists safe from the dangers of Pandora.

Exopack

Developed from civilian rebreather technology, the exopack is a lightweight atmosphere filtration system that allows humans to survive on Pandora with a minimum of equipment.

Avatar Compound

Description: Facility in the Hell's Gate (RDA ESC 01) complex on Pandora

Function: Enclosed area containing unpressurized quarters and recreational facilities for use by Avatar Project field agents

Notes: Basketball is most common sport within compound. To allow for both low gravity and the extra height of avatars, the hoop is set at a height of 4.87 meters or sixteen feet.

Originally intended to help acclimate new avatar controllers to Pandoran conditions, the Avatar Compound provides an intermediate stage between the Earth-like environment within most of the Hell's Gate complex and the highly dangerous Pandoran jungle.

The Compound includes a palisade constructed of Pandoran native timber, erected inside the Hell's Gate electrified razor wire safety fence. This is partly for visual purposes, to remind avatar operators that their duties will entail work in defensive positions in a jungle setting, and partly for safety. Avatar recreational activities sometimes include team sports and there is a real danger that avatars might come in contact with the safety fence.

A guard tower of 30.48 meters (100 feet) was constructed to supplement the standard automated towers on the Hell's Gate fence line. It can be occupied by avatars or humans, and provides spectacular views of the surrounding landscape.

The most prominent building in the Compound is the longhouse. The open-plan building contains cots on which avatars can be parked for rest when not in use. Other sections of the compound include a recreation area with game equipment and a fully equipped gym; a meeting area; a kitchen and commissary, where instruction in the capture and preparation of food species in the Pandoran wild is given; sanitary facilities; scientific equipment; and an airlock and tunnel leading to the main Hell's Gate laboratories. Nearly all furniture and equipment in the longhouse structure is scaled to suit the avatars' average nine to ten-foot height. Equipment such as video screens in other parts of the compound are modified to match height and other requirements.

The avatars are also provided with an oversized obstacle course, partially modeled on Sec-Ops training protocols, and an outdoor weight-training facility. Avatar physiology has been found to respond to weight training similarly to humans, and avatar operators are required to include such conditioning as part of their maintenance program. (Human controllers? bodies tend to degrade during their service in the Avatar Program). The obstacle course reproduces some of the conditions that may be encountered in the Pandoran wild and is used by both avatars and Sec-Ops forces.

OPS Center

Description: Facility in the Hell's Gate (RDA ESC 01) complex on Pandora

Function: Offices, communication center, meeting rooms and living quarters used by RDA executive staff

Notes: Located near Armor Bay and Sec-Ops barracks

The RDA operations center, or  OPS Center, occupies the largest building in the main Hell's Gate administration complex. It is the nexus for communications and operational control on Pandora. Fortified tunnels connect the center to the communications array, with three large antennae and a space resonator for communications outside the local system, and five smaller antennae for accessing Pandoranet communications and geolocation satellites.

At the heart of the OPS Center is the control room, where a continuously updated holotable display gives a summary of conditions over the entire Hell's Gate facility and much of Pandora, including Hometree, the center of the Omaticaya clan of the indigenous population, the Na'vi. Supervisors monitor all mining, refining, transport, and security conditions on Pandora, as well as conduct flight tracking from the control room.

Ample reinforced windows give the control room a spectacular panoramic view from the plateau where the base is situated, out over the river used for cooling and to dispose of waste, to the distant hills beyond.

Armor Bay

Description: Facility in the Hell's Gate (RDA ESC 01) complex on Pandora

Function: Armory and motor pool for equipment used by RDA Sec-Ops staff

Notes: Located adjacent to the Hell's Gate landing facilities, the Armor Bay also incorporates barracks for Sec-Ops personnel assigned to Pandora.

Designed for security and rapid force deployment, the Armor Bay is the core of Hell’s Gate’s defenses. Housed inside its large, fortified hanger and at the ready are Dragon Assault Ships configured for battle domination, Scorpion Gunships, Samson Tiltrotors, heavy duty, Model 10 Slash-Cutters, and an array of AMP Suits, among other attack craft, support vehicles, and battle-ready machinery.

The Hell's Gate Armor Bay and its munitions stockpile is believed to be one of the largest concentrations of light to medium weaponry outside Earth. The Armor Bay is constructed with meter-thick walls of concrete and fused local rock. Its doors are made from reinforced, magnetically actuated titanium alloy. The roof is constructed of three-meter-thick reinforced concrete with a surface layer of glassified local rock for additional strength and protection. Its specifications are believed to be sufficient to resist physical assault by the largest known Pandoran megafauna.

Much of the Armor Bay was originally designated for mining equipment stowage, civilian vehicle parking and maintenance, and additional recreational facilities. Instead, the fabricators brought out for mining equipment maintenance were repurposed to make ammunition and razor wire; the mining machines themselves were used to dig defensive earthworks or fitted with armored cabs and giant knives and sent OTW (outside the wire) to engage Pandoran megafauna.

Unobtanium

Unobtanium has a unique magnetic field and properties of superconductivity, causing it to levitate as captured in this photo.

Hell Truck Schematic

Schematic of a Massive Truck from user's manual that is used to transport kilos of Unobtanium from the mines back to Hell's Gate. This truck is so Massive that the average man on Pandora is only three quarters the height of one of its tires.

Map Table

Overhead of one of Hell's Gate's central operations rooms shows multiple sets of computer consoles surrounding the Map Table in the center. The Map Table offers 3-D holographic displays of Pandora's landscapes.

RDA Mining Update (Eyes Only)

Mining operations at ESM 01 (the main mine on Pandora) have proceeded according to plan, despite casualty rates running somewhat higher than anticipated.

Continuing reports of miners feeling strange tactile sensations and distortions in vision and hearing- likely result of electromagnetic field. Some report disturbing thoughts or compulsions, irregular heartbeats, limb paralysis, muscle tremors, or vertigo and nausea.

Excavation has been carried out with standard non-ferrous beryllium copper and tungsten carbide fusion-electric powered mining equipment modified with sealed operator cockpits and atmosphere filtration units.

A typical mining cycle involves placing chemical charges above an ore deposit using satellite-positioned drill trucks, detonating the charges to loosen the overburden, then removing the overburden with excavators and dozers. After the ore has been exposed, it is carefully removed with diggers and trucks; if the ore is pure enough to spontaneously levitate, special belt diggers feeding into covered trucks are used instead.

The mine and refinery complex is relatively untroubled by Pandoran life-forms, with 50-cal sentry guns on guard towers easily able to cope with marauding ground and air attackers. Regular effluent sprays around the perimeter of the complex keep vegetation in check.

Vehicle cabs are shielded against toxins; mining personnel are advised not to spend more than 20 minutes per day outside their vehicle cabs and are routinely decontaminated before they are allowed into Hell's Gate.

Hell's Gate

Description: RDA compound on Pandora

Function: Base of operations and housing for all human activities on Pandora

Notes: Properly, Resources Development Administration Extra-Solar Colony 01 (RDA ESC 01) but universally known as Hell's Gate. In constant state of siege because of toxic environment and dangerous animals.

A pentagonal perimeter fence (each side 2.3382 km or 11.69 km--7.264 miles--total) encloses 9.406 sq km (approx. 3.6317 sq miles). Major weapons towers at each apex provide heavy munitions defense against surface and air intrusions by large hostile Pandoran wildlife, while four smaller towers spaced two hundred and fifty meters apart along each side handle intrusions by smaller life forms, including burrowing attacks. A cleared, thirty-meter-wide strip surrounds the base, which is regularly patrolled by automatic plant-clearing machinery that keeps the jungle at bay through regular administration of acidic mining byproducts.

Slightly more than a third of the site is taken up by the shuttle runway, VTOL pads, hangars, equipment storage areas, and garage structures. A similar area is occupied by the armor bay, vehicle storage sheds, and a light industrial plant mainly used for fabricating parts for mining equipment and ammunition for base defense. The unobtanium refinery complex takes up the western side of the facility.

The remainder of Hell's Gate is composed of administrative structures, a barracks for Sec-Ops staff, studio-style apartments for technicians and mine workers, and an airtight condominium for senior staff, as well as Sci Mod that is part of the utilitdor-connected Hab Mod, OPS Center structures.

Recreational facilities such as the base commissary (popularly known as Hell's Kitchen) are shared, except for an unpressurised section between the research labs and the landing zone mainly used by members of the avatar program for athletic training and field sports.