Asteroid belt

From Turtledove

The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets. The asteroid belt region is also termed the main belt to distinguish it from other concentrations of minor planets within the Solar System, such as the Kuiper belt and scattered disc.

[edit] Asteroid belt in "La Différence"

Early in the 21st Century, a dispute over mining rights in the asteroid belt between Japan and United Europe led to open war.

[edit] Asteroid belt in Worldwar

The asteroid belt is a region in the "Tosev" system between the fourth and fifth planets where a solid ring of debris orbits the Sun. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, it was heavily mined and developed by American, German, and later Soviet spacecraft. The human nations developed weapons out of asteroids by equipping them with engines which would allow them to ram a planet's surface at very high speeds.