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Tethys

|< < Prev #3259 (June 15, 2026)

Title text: In order to carry the necessary crafting supplies, they built the ships at 12:1 scale.

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Explanation

Tethys, the fifth moon of Saturn, has a diameter of 1,060 kilometers, almost exactly 1/12^th that of Earth's, which is 12,742 km. This scaling is a common one used for modelling, perhaps because of the relative simplicity of converting all real-life measurements directly from any given number of feet in the real life subject to exactly the same number of inches in the model version.

This comic alludes to a fantastical scenario in which artists who produce miniature scale models of existing structures decide to use Tethys to produce a 1:12 scale model of the Earth. This is a patently absurd undertaking: all the difficulties of terraforming, already a monstrously hard task, would be exacerbated by the need to precisely recreate Earth's features, as well as by some particularly unfavorable traits of the Saturnian system. Tethys's distance from the Sun is too great for Earth's surface conditions to be recreated without artificially increasing insolation, likely through the use of orbital solar mirrors. These would be especially difficult to erect around Saturn, with its many moons (292 at last count) and ring system causing severe gravitational interference. In addition, it would be difficult to get the necessary rockets, as it would be unlikely that any space agency would be willing to aid this thoroughly ridiculous project.^{[citation needed]}

However, there is some good news: Tethys' large native water stores eliminate the need to ship in more, and the nearby moon Titan's atmosphere could be harvested for nitrogen, which is necessary to recreate Earth's atmospheric composition. Being very far away from Earth also means that there is no risk of nesting - having the model include a miniature version of itself, which includes an even more miniature version of itself, which includes....

The description refers to it as model builders' final project. This implies that once the Earth is recreated, it will be such a grand project that it will be the final miniature model ever made, implying that, if it was successfully completed, any further model projects would seem worthless by comparison. Perhaps because in order to accurately model the Earth, that model would itself contain 1:12 models of all modellable things on Earth.

The title text says that the ships used in the construction effort are built "at a 12:1 scale" (i.e. 12x larger than normal, however "normal" is defined). If this is with reference to the model they are building, this would mean that they would end up back at 'normal spaceship size'.

Transcript

[An image of a planet, presumably Saturn, showing prominent rings as well as three distant moons (one to the apparent right of it, the other two at the left) and one close, large moon. In front of the large moon is a line of spaceships dwindling into the distance toward the moon, or perhaps toward an orbit around it. Each spaceship has prominent rocket nozzles aimed toward the viewer and away from the large moon, as well as what appears to be a pile of material on "top" of the spaceship, with tie-down ropes holding it in place.]

[Caption below the panel:]
After learning that Tethys is exactly 1/12^th the size of Earth, the miniature art model builders launched a fleet of ships to begin their final, greatest project.

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