In the 21st century, the enlightened nations on Earth realized the need for an offsite backup of their awesome collective achievements. Impossibly fast they constructed and launched to a point beyond the reach of Earth-launched missiles, a living microcosm of civilization, named Spaceship Earth Beta. After a global disaster on Earth, Beta ceased to be the backup, and became the primary high-functioning technological society. With limited materials and fixed energy input from the Sun, the population of Beta sustains the ship and itself, preparing for Earth to regain its capacity to support a global technological civilization.
-- Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth Beta