Here is a description of a few places in our near-future solar-system
Earth
Very vibrant colors, no more north pole, very blue and yet very green, many trees having been replanted, and natural habitats preserved. Many satellites can be seen with the naked eye, bright lights orbiting the planet.
Today more than 1000 space stations stand above, as you get closer, you can slmost see the space elevators. On the ground: busy streets, cars are all automated of course, no more people staring at smartphones, everyone watching in their hud-contacts.
In a given appartment, there is no key, authorisation is granted using in-skin chips, used to pay for things, as id, and used to track you. (Very sought after by hackers.) Most people work from home, with ear-buds so small they’re imperceptible, and hud-glasses, AR-tech makes the office come to you. Computer-based work is now easy with as many screens as you wish.
There are now robots doing most manual jobs. Unemployment is high and thus many go on to exploratory jobs, payed to create, explore, and learn. Not everyone though, mark is a programmer. He connects to his office’s quantum computer for more computing power, and tries to improve the current algorithm.
AI assistants are everywhere, any and all interactions work through them. (Surface level thoughts: (thinking in words) moves muscles imperceptibly, this is picked up to have AI follow instructions without having to speak aloud).
Androids can be seen in quite a few places, replacing clerks, cachiers, etc… They are also found in pleasure houses. Nuclear fusion energy is the most in use, powering everything through electricity, even planes use it.
Moon
Previously illuminated only one side at a time, now it’s dark side shines a thousand lights, much like the earth.
There are many lunar colonies, and while they may be permanent, the residents are not. They frequently move in and out for health reasons.
Mostly filled with scientists, engineers, and logisticians, here is where most space-research is based. A body easy to leave and reach, in short distance of the earth.
Here is also located the High Command for Asteroid Security: H-CAS. With many many observatories on the moon, they are the center of the asteroid mining, and protection operation. Most mining companies have HQs there, and bring resources to the moon before dispatching to Earth.
Sun
Previously alone, there is now a swarm of tiny probes near it’s surface: A Dyson swarm. Each with solar panels of 1 sq km, storing massive amounts of energy, and then relaying the batteries on “solar highways” back to the asteroid belt, where they are the most requested.
Very few humans are there, the closest being on the cold side of the tidally-locked mercury. They make sure the operation runs smoothly.
Asteroid Belt
Now filled with space-stations and ships, small and large, mining away all the precious resources of these space-rocks. Space stations here are among the largest, they are large-long term ring-shaped hangars, using the rotation for artifical gravity aboard. Most mining is done by automated robot ships. People are there to solve issues, send in helpers, and direct the operation without buffering. They also monitor any and all asteroids coming in and out of the inner-solar system.
Some small stations hide behind asteroids: Pirates. They come in to steal the mined resources from automated ships, this is easier than trying to comandeer delivery vessels on their way to planets, out in the open space, where police can catch them. (Yes there is police, most of their HQ are in the large stations)
On the outermost layers of the asteroid belt are exploratory missions and stations. They stand for most expeditions to the outer solar system. They also have many many telescopes looking out into the night sky, and send most probes exploring away. There also lie most prototypical constructions, like the great solar-sail ships that are planned to send people to Proxima-centauri and back.
Mars
Upon the red planet now stands a powerful civilisation. Martians have recently declared soveriegnty and ceceeded from Terrestrial command. This is upping tensions and the first space-war may start soon. Rumors of conflicts upon the surface of Mars are already surfacing. The current leader of the maritan army: Ares, stands ready to protect his home world. He is part of the so-called “low-borns”, humans born on Mars, and not on Earth. Today they have enough resources to be independent from Earth.
The beautiful ring-cities of mars scattered on it’s surface shine. The capital, Olympus, situated near the fabled volcano, shines the might of the martian people: called the Red Jewel. Near the north pole, the Great Mirrors, made from the environing asteroids, shine the sun’s light upon the poles, beginning the process of terraforming.
Mars is home to millions, having it’s own culture, famous atheletes, with low-gravity versions of marital arts, and basketball, or gymnastics getting particular attention even back on earth. Much like the wild west, land is up for the taking. Any man with enough resources to make his home, may do so.
People often walk out, even on the surface. Suits have now been made very lean, and very reliable, with many safety measures in place, like an emergency shelter button, which ejects a shelter-tent from your back, which surrounds you, and is air-tight using a backup pressuirised air cannister. Enough to last a few hours waiting for help to come.
Automated vehicles roam here, much like on earth. While sand-riding with buggies and tanks is enjoyed by most, most inter-city travel is done on now-paved roads, these have gas-air stations which fill up energy, and oxygen, though they are much more common than the scarcity of oxygen demands, for safety. A few trains have even been made.
Most habitats use oxygen-farms, which beyond creating oxygen, create food. Genetically engineered species are used for their low use of oxygen, and high production rate, they also use very-little water (this was used to solve famines back on earth).
Phobos and Deimos
Smaller than our moon, these two martian satellites are still home to a few bases. Namely used to relay communications before, they also serve, much like the terrestrial moon, as docking bays for large interplanetary carriers to unload, park and get fixed.
Interplanetary Space
Very empty, there are still a few space stations orbiting the sun in the earth-mars area. They are there for purposes of emergency aid and maintenance for the large carriers that bring people, energy, and resources from the asteroid belt to the sun and back again. These large carriers are immense, often shaped with concentric rings carrying large cargo bays in their center, and passengers in the rings. Trips have been brout down to a month or less for earth-mars travel.
Any large carrier has an onboard oxygen-farm. This makes the environment not only more enjoyable for the passengers, whom live in something akin to a in-space jungle, but also means the ship has much longer travel time possibilities.