Base Time
Chiron's day-night cycle is completed in eighteen hours. Operations Director Guan has devised a work schedule of only six hours and three shifts: early, mid, and final. The reduced work day will help colonists adapt to the added exertions they will need to perform in Chiron's relatively intense gravity. Six of every colonists' remaining twelve hours are "programmed," meaning that organized educational and recreational activities are available, but only two are mandatory. In other words, colonists can choose whether to work six, socialize two, and rest ten or to work six, socialize six, and rest eight.
This is interesting from a technical standpoint, because it means we need less energy storage in solar powered systems due to the shorter night time.
Gravity
Chiron is a third again more massive than Earth so that, even factoring for Chiron's larger radius, gravity is a third again as strong. For humans, every motion on Chiron requires 130% the mechanical effort that would have been required on Earth. Expect to consume a heavy caloric load and rely on machinery to do many more tasks than you would ordinarily.
This has a host of interesting implications.
Health wise, we're talking endemic arthritis (because of the increased load on the joints) and heart conditions galore (because of the increased pressure the heart needs to exert).
Expect hip replacements to be pretty standard operations, perhaps even performed in a preventative capacity in the Supremacist leaning colonists. Likewise with
Ventricular Assist Devices to lessen the load on the heart.
Spending time in water will likely become a favoured activity as a way of escaping the constant drag of the high gravity via buoyancy. The Datalinks say that the Peacekeepers are known for their reading rooms, but I suspect public baths and pools will make a resurgence among all the factions as recreational facilities.
People's endurance will be terrible, and
soft exoskeletons like those being tested to improve the endurance of soldiers would likely be a part of everyday life in order to reduce the loading on the skeleton. Trips and falls would also be more serious, so expect a lot of things designed for old people on Earth such as sitting showers to be standard.
Reclined seating positions would also likely be standard in order to reduce the pressure differential the heart had to pump against.
On the mechanical side, land travel becomes more annoying, and water and air becomes more attractive transport mediums.
Vehicles will need to be built stronger, but adding reinforcement also increases weight so there comes a point where you hit diminishing returns. Maintenance requirements on load bearing moving parts also become more pressing.
Water on the other hand lets you exploit buoyancy.
We'll talk about aircraft later.
Atmospherics
Chiron's atmosphere is eight parts Nitrogen, slightly more than .08% Oxygen, and just .09% Carbon Dioxide.
Sea-level pressure is 1.74 atmospheres, or nearly twice what it is on Earth. Humans will need years to become accustomed to breathing unassisted. Currently, those without mechanical breathing assistance, including supplemental oxygen, will experience Nitrogen narcosis within just fifteen minutes—less, if physically active.
As on Earth, it is hotter near the planet's equator. Temperatures decline toward either of the planet's small poles.
Rain falls abundantly on Planet, so there are fewer arid environments. Clouds form more easily and in greater abundance. You will be lucky to spot the suns through the clouds one day in ten.
So, Aircraft. Lift is proportional to atmospheric density divided by two. Now, Chiron's atmosphere is 1.74 times denser than Earths, but an aircraft only weights 1.3 times as much. Taken together that means that aircraft on Planet actually need smaller wings - proportionally, than ones on Earth - and makes flight very easy indeed. I would expect that Locusts of Chiron can get quite large indeed. Larger than most flying species on Earth today.
The lack of atmospheric oxygen also means that it's very easy for us to smother fires - simply let the outside air flow into the compartment. Or better yet - keep flammables under a tarp outside. Unfortunately it also makes internal combustion engines
much more difficult to use, since you would have to carry both fuel and oxidizer. Electrical is the way to go. This does mean that the Hooded Lantern's jet powered heavy lift vehicles would probably make more sense to be retconned into using helicopter like blades - or at least electrical ducted fans.
Now, we could of course continue to use lightweight electrical motors to turn propellers, but an even more rugged and energy efficient means of propulsion is available to us due to the high atmospheric density:
electroaerodynamic propulsion. Their thrust is proportional to atmospheric density, and are very efficient at turning electrical power into kinetic energy of an airstream. In the absence of large amounts of atmospheric oxygen, they also do not have to worry about generating ozone 'exhaust' as they do on earth, and their poorer performance at high speed is mitigated by the fact that the higher atmospheric density makes high speed flight inefficient due to the greater drag incurred. They also have literally no moving parts, which is a big boon for reliability.
But wait, there's more! Higher atmospheric density also makes lighter than air flight MUCH more attractive, especially since the lack of atmospheric oxygen means we can use hydrogen lifting gas (which is cheap to produce) without fear of going up in flames ala Hindenburg. In fact, the higher density of the atmosphere, means we can use smaller gas bags. Plus, lighter than air craft don't need any kind of runways to land, so I suspect solar powered blimps with EAD propulsion that fly above the cloud layer are going to be great.
Unfortunately, weather is very much more of an issue for us, winds will blow harder, and the higher water content will make storms more powerful, so we would want our aircraft to be able to fly above the weather were possible. RADAR will likely be the primary means of detecting things on the ground and in the air due to rampant cloud cover.
Speaking of, that cloud layer means solar is not ideal for anything ground based. Efficiency will be greatly reduced without clear skies. We should focus on wind, tidal, and geothermal renewables, or preferably - fission. Fission allows us a steady supply in a highly concentrated package, and by this time, safety should basically be a non-issues due to advancements in technology.
I'm going to push back against the nitrogen narcosis bit through. On Earth, nitrogen narcosis typically doesn't become an issue until 30 meters down when diving, that's about 4 times atmospheric pressure. I know that the partial pressure of nitrogen will be higher on Chiron, but I'm not sure it'll be high enough to induce narcosis at only 1.74 atm.
Oceanography
Oceans are warmer, sweeter, and much more active. Oxygenation patterns favor higher depths, so life is more abundant in the shallows.
Sweeter as in less salty, or literally 'there's sugars in this water'?
Assuming it's lower salinity, then that's good for us because that means submerged metals won't corrode quite so fast as they do on earth.
Biosphere
Planet's soil is silica-poor, frequently sandy, and alkaline. Overall, the quantity of arable land globally is much less. What Planet does have in abundance is nitrates, a natural fertilizer that should more than compensate.
The high heat and low oxygen levels on Planet are conducive to natural carbonization. Spectrographic analysis predicts with high confidence that Chiron boasts large reserves of fossil fuels. Your problem will be access: Planet's nitrate-based plant economy has accumulated many feet of organic detritus ("biomass") that must first be cleared to begin drilling. Carbon emissions on an industrial scale will massively stimulate plant growth on Chiron but amplify the greenhouse effect.
The water-table is predictably nitrate-infused. Drinking water not blasted by ozone is deadly.
Plentiful hydrocarbons are somewhat less useful due to the low partial pressure of oxygen, making them less competitive as a power source. But they are useful for making plastics and so on.
Flora
Most of the land surface of Chiron is thick with a dense carpet of tall, green vegetation built up over the nitrate spoilage undisturbed since its geological birth. Shallower seas are likewise clogged, discouraging wave effects and permitting the practical extension of the land-based ecosystem over huge spaces from which it would ordinarily be excluded. The floating, toadstool structures produced in this way are spongy to the point of being dangerous.
Another strike against ground based transport. Spongy terrain means you need wider wheels to support the weight of the vehicle, which typically means maintenance hungry treads. Combined with the greater weight of the vehicle due to higher gravity, airships are looking more and more attractive.
