Orbital Boundaries

In the Orbital Era calendar, the Orbital Boundaries (軌道境界, Kidō Kyōkai) refers to the combined regions of space occupied from Mercury across the inner solar system towards the Asteroid belt and the outer planet Jupiter. The massive majority of human activity takes place within the boundaries, with four governing bodies overseeing their own rings within. It is featured in Mobile Gear Gundam Blues.

Overview
The four governing bodies of United Earth, Colony Union, Asterisk Ring, and Jupiter Front all have their own region within the Solar System; with each segmented like a ring due to the locations of their colony clusters along the orbital path of their respective planets. The Orbital Boundaries gets its name from this, being based on the agreed upon borders each group inhabit and watch over. The area containing the Sun and just outside of Mercury remains neutral territory that cannot be claimed, along with the rest of the Solar System outside of Jupiter (known as The Outer Frontier).

Each of the bordered regions are called Rings, for their general shape. Asterisk Ring was the first to use this term, referring to both the governing body and their Ring, which spread out to the other three Rings. United Earth and Earth itself makes up  the Terran Ring, Colony Union and its placement near Mars makes it the Martian Ring, and Jupiter Front (from the Asteroid belt to Jupiter itself) makes up the Jupitris Ring. Asterisk and Jupitris are also called the Inner Ring and Outer Ring. There are gaps in space between the borders of each Ring, called Edges, which operate as neutral space.

With the massive growth experienced over the millennium since the Boundaries's establishment, human activity is abundant and common to find, with most spaceships active across the Rings being civilian-crewed transport or luxury vessels. There are also many civilian-owned locations within the Rings and the Edges, either as junction points for long haul vessels or recreational stations. The vast majority, however, are mining colonies funded by one of the four groups that attempt to retrieve vast amounts of minerals for each group's economy.