SOL EXPLORATION LOG 1
14 Jun 2021Alexander Rozhenko
14 June 3307Some would think me mad. Some would think this little sojourn boring. Me, I call it sentimental...but maybe a little crazy.
Whatever gave me this idea...take a tour of Sol. You'd think the best exploration would be out in the black, but how many people actually take the time to look around their own backyard...
I'm sure many, but hey, it's something to do.
There's a whole lot to look at around Sol. After all, it's the 'cradle of humanity'. I was just checking out the latest updates in Stellar Cartography and realised there's a lot of stuff out there I didn't even know existed. So, let's go take a look. Me and my trusty ship's cat.
For exploring, you really want an explorer's ship. I have a few, but my favourite is my trusty Asp Explorer, the Argo II. I reckon it has the best view of any ship out there. It's big enough to haul a buggy and a few cargo racks in case I find something I want to lug back. And...it's blaaaaack
So, where to start. Well, Sol of course.
Isn't she beautiful? Well, bright anyway at this range.
Not far from here there is a tourist beacon which lists some of the more notable (according to someone) Presidents of the Federation. Some names on this 'notable' list include Isaac Gellan, who is listed as 'disgraced', Olaf Smith, Eugene Cooper who was supposedly unpopular (how does one get elected if unpopular?), Jasmina Halsey who disappeared and then reappeared and the present president Zachary Hudson.
Mercury
Distance from arrival: 69 million km
Atmosphere: none
Volcanism: none
Radius 2,440km
Gravity 0.38g
Surface temperature 129o C
First landfall planet is Mercury. Rather small and without much going for it except for some minerals and positively scorching summers (well, it doesn't have summers but, it gets bloody hot). Rather spectacular sunrises though, since it's only 69 million km from the sun.
I found the remains of some poor sod's crashed Anaconda on the surface at Lat: 71.3721 Long: 6.1400. Some skimmers hanging around but they're no problem. Managed to salvage some gold and palladium which I sold locally.
Mercury doesn't have much else but there are a few ports:
Ehrlich City, an industrial economy city on the surface.
Furukawa Enterprise is an industrial economy, medium sized surface installation.
Walz Depot is another medium sized surface installation.
Daedalus is a refinery economy Orbis Starport in a high orbit above the planet.
Like I said, not much to see here, but at least Daedalus gave me the opportunity to pick up the Surface Scanner I had left in storage back on the Valley Forge in Wolf 636.
So, I've stayed at this unremarkable little world longer than I had planned. At this rate, it'll take a year to do this tour of the solar system. I bet my ancestors back in the 21st century would think that impossibly short, hehe.
Lay in a course to the next waypoint, Venus, Earth's twin.
-- Close log entry --