the Monolith

“The monolith is the name given by humans to the mysterious black slabs found scattered throughout the Solar System. The monoliths were created by an unseen alien race, known only as the “Firstborn” 

They are capable of many different functions. TMA-0 (the retroactively numbered monolith discovered in Africa) and the Europa Monolith served as a catalyst for evolution, encouraging the development of sentience in lifeforms. 

TMA-1 was a sort of “burglar alarm,” alerting the aliens that the humans had left Earth. TMA-1 reported to its “brother,” TMA-2, found in orbit around Jupiter. Humans were able to identify the signal sent from TMA-1 towards TMA-2, alerting the humans to the existence of TMA-2. 

This was the catalyst for the Discovery One and later, the joint US-Soviet Leonov missions. While the monoliths remain mostly a mystery to humans, it is hypothesized that the magnetic anomaly on the Moon, and the signal sent upon the Sun touching TMA-1 for the first time after its excavation, were purposely done by the unseen alien race to compel humans to explore farther and encourage space travel. 

The Jupiter monolith served as a gateway to a transit system, opening up when a decided specimen was found; in one case it was David Bowman, who was pulled into the monolith and was turned into the “Star Child”, an entity of pure energy who functioned as a probe for the Firstborn.”