Log #002 - Life among the stars
04 Dec 2018Leo Keatonn
=============================================================CMDR Leo Keaton, Log #002, December 3, 3304
Landed on Planet Kepler-62 f in the Leonardis
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Its out here among the stars that you can view some of the most amazing things. Away from all the politics and daily squabbles in our small corner of this galaxy. Everything out here is so...peaceful.
Today I landed on the planet Kepler-62f, one of the first super earths discovered by the Kepler telescope back in the 20th century. When they call this a super earth, they really mean it, its only 1.3G's but man you can truly feel the difference. Its like having bricks tied to the bottom of your boots. If I had grown up on a planet like Mars or Titan where the gravity is a lot lighter then I don't thing I'd be able to walk at all. Granted I am wearing a light mech-suit in order to make exploration a little bit more enjoyable.
Despite all of this, this world is truly a sight to behold. The beautiful wine colored seas fill almost every inch of its surface. There are only a few spots of dry land that dot the equator of this planet. Presumably this is due to volcanic activity as the tectonic plates scrape past each other.
Having sampled the soil, it currently lacks any nutrients for plant life to take advantage of. Either this spot that I've landed on was only just formed recently or, the atmosphere of this planet isn't strong enough to shield the surface from its sun's solar winds.
However, after sending a few probes deeper into the ocean, its clear that this planet isn't totally barren. Near the bottom of this world is a vast ecosystem of extremophile bacteria that live in the boiling depths fueled by the fresh geothermal energy that spews from the cracks in the planet's crust.
I'm definitely going to have to do some more exploring once I finish charting the system. This planet is something I really want to come back and study.
This is CMDR Leo Keaton, signing off.