Shubin Interstellar is a major corporation headquartered on microTech (Stanton IV) in the United Empire of Earth (UEE). Founded as an investment group, it acquired the terraforming conglomerate Worldmaker in the late 25th century SEY, and Fulcrum Mining Associates in the mid-26th. It sells mining equipment and operates mining facilities, factories, support pipelines, and other industrial centers in nearly every UEE-held planetary system. Their current CEO is Gavin Arlington.
HISTORYShubin Interstellar was founded in SEY 2410 by a group of investors led by Martha Shubin, whose company, Alanko Northal Consolidated Construction, had greatly profited during the terraforming boom that marked the first decades of the Human Colonial Expansion Era. Seeking to further capitalize on the settlement of new worlds, Shubin Interstellar operated by providing capital and other credit lines to a variety of terraforming concerns and was able to see massive returns on the group's investments. By 2480, Shubin Interstellar had acquired a controlling interest in Worldmaker, then the third largest terraforming conglomerate in the United Nations of Earth (UNE), and took on the terraforming process themselves.
As Shubin Interstellar acquired more contracts, they found themselves with a quickly increasing overhead cost. Once the terraformation process was complete, the equipment they built up in a system had to be sold, often at a considerable loss. In 2554, Fulcrum Mining Associates, a growing mining concern, reached out to Shubin Interstellar to purchase standing corporate assets in the Centauri system as a part of a development project there. Shubin Interstellar instead purchased Fulcrum outright, beginning a three-decade effort to retrofit their terraforming efforts to a mining focus. The company split into two divisions: one that specialized in planetary engineering, and the other in mining. By the 27th century, mining made up 60% of Shubin Interstellar's net worth.
PRESENT DAYWhile Shubin Interstellar continues to invest in terraforming projects, mining remains their primary focus, and Shubin mining stations can be found around the galaxy. The company makes an effort to keep all of the mining process in-house, and manufactures its own mining stations, mining equipment, and crew training facilities, and has even begun to oversee agricultural efforts to supply their workers with food. While Shubin Interstellar works to re-use their equipment and facilities whenever possible to cut costs, it is not uncommon for larger bases to be abandoned when they can not be moved.
Shubin Interstellar's current CEO is Gavin Arlington. Under his leadership, corporate headquarters have been relocated to microTech (Stanton IV), and the company has transitioned from hiring permanent workers to employing external contractors.