Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, slightly closer to Mars' orbit.

Composed of rock and ice, Ceres is estimated to compose approximately one third of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. Ceres is the only object in the asteroid belt known to be rounded by its own gravity.

The CERES Foundation

Ceres is the single largest material object in the asteroid belt, consisting mostly out of a water-ice layer and a deep rock-core. Globular in shape and pierced through and through with boreholes designed to both supply water and expose the rich veins of rare elements that the Federation had commissioned the CERES Foundation to mine out c. 2141.

The mining activities on CERES itself never were too profitable, but instead, it became a launchpad for expeditions into the asteroid belt and came under the moniker "Belt’s Watering Hole" in the following years.

Present Day Ceres

The surface of Ceres is mostly used for mining and water-recovering facilities while various orbital facilities are used, tethered as they are with simple, low-gravity space-elevators to the dwarf planetoid. The CERES Foundation retains legal rights as a Core Colony within the federation, complete with a representative to the Core Chamber. This voice is often chosen between the many subsidiaries of the CERES Foundation that are the multiple bases active within the asteroid belt banded together as the Belter Mining Unions.