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.

div xmlns=http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtmlpA propaganda poster for the Resources Development Administration, the leader in pioneering outerspace development./p

pa rel=lightbox-BlogImages href=http://www.avatarmovieblog.com/.a/6a0120a5d82bb3970c0120a5d4317b970b-pi style=display: inline; title=AVTR – RDA 25img alt=AVTR – RDA 25 class=asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a5d82bb3970c0120a5d4317b970b image-full src=http://www.avatarmovieblog.com/.a/6a0120a5d82bb3970c0120a5d4317b970b-800wi title=AVTR – RDA 25 //a/p

pThe 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./p

pWith 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./p

pAfter 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./p

pThe 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./p

pa rel=lightbox-BlogImages href=http://www.avatarmovieblog.com/.a/6a0120a5d82bb3970c0120a5d43235970b-pi style=display: inline; title=AVTR – RDA 25 shield final pathsimg alt=AVTR – RDA 25 shield final paths class=asset asset-image at-xid-6a0120a5d82bb3970c0120a5d43235970b image-full src=http://www.avatarmovieblog.com/.a/6a0120a5d82bb3970c0120a5d43235970b-800wi title=AVTR – RDA 25 shield final paths //a/p

pThis poster promotes the SECOPS sector of RDA.nbsp; 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./p/div

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

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.

div xmlns=http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtmlpstrongDescription:/strong Facility in the Hell’s Gate (RDA ESC 01) complex on Pandora/p

pstrongFunction:/strong Offices, communication center, meeting rooms and living quarters used by RDA executive staff/p

pstrongNotes:/strong Located near Armor Bay and Sec-Ops barracks/p

pThe RDA operations center, ornbsp; 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./p

pAt 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./p

pAmple 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./p/div

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.