JOURNEY OF A COMMANDER PART 16
14 Aug 2022Ni6h70wl
Earth-like worlds
An Earth-like world is a terrestrial planet that has active water-based chemistry and indigenous carbon and water-based life. As the name implies, the planet Earth in the Sol system is the standard to which all celestial bodies of this type are compared. Naturally occurring Earth-like worlds are very rare and occasionally host indigenous intelligent species in various stages of development. Universal Cartographics offers some of the highest payouts for the discovery and mapping of previously unmapped Earth-like worlds.
The previous minimum and maximum limits for naturally occurring Earth-like planets is:
- Mass 0.213 M⊕ - 4.97 M⊕
- [Gravity 0.4 G - 1.94 G
- Radius 3,784 Km - 11,914 Km
- Pressure 0.354 atm - 4.871 atm
- Temperature 260 K - 320 K
Humanity has the technology necessary to terraform certain terrestrial planets. However, this also includes Earth-like worlds with ecosystems that are, for example, unsuitable for human agriculture and animal husbandry or on which humans cannot breathe without protective equipment because either the oxygen content is too low or other gas concentrations are too high.
Thanks to the technological achievement of terraforming, acceptable conditions for humans can be produced on a terraformable planet within a few decades. On Earth-like worlds, the process is completed much faster. In general, depending on planetary conditions, invested materials and energy requirements, one can assume about 10 - 40 years.
All terraformed Earth-like worlds are located within the core systems. In the early days of interstellar colonisation, terraforming destroyed numerous alien species, such as the Mudlarks of Capitol, as well as entire ecosystems. In the 34th century, both terraforming and the colonisation of Earth-like worlds are heavily regulated by strict environmental laws.
The Mudlarks were a sentient species native to Achenar 6d. Today, the planet in the Achenar system is known as Capitol, the Heart of the Empire.
At the time of first contact, the Mudlarks were a pre-agricultural species just beginning to develop a language. They were already using clay to form simple objects, but of no practical use, which may have been an early form of art. Tragically, the Mudlarks were wiped out in the early 24th century by bacteria introduced by human colonists. However, rumours persist to this day that Emperor Henson Duval deliberately exterminated the Mudlarks to make room for his colonial development plans. The extinction of the Mudlarks became a pretext for the Federation's failed attempt to conquer Achenar.
Terraforming
Image source: WikipediaTerraforming is the process of changing the environment of a planet or moon. The aim is to make an uninhabitable planet or moon suitable for species and other life forms. Terraforming can change the atmosphere, topography, temperature and ecology.
Humans have terraformed many planets and moons in the galaxy into Earth-like worlds.
Atmospheric processors and land enrichment systems are used for this purpose today. These are large facilities, usually with a high-performance reactor at their heart, designed to process and stabilise breathable planetary atmospheres. Various mixtures of carefully engineered archaebacteria, lichens and microfauna and their delivery devices are used as land enrichment systems.
Sirius Corporation and WorldCraft are the main players in the terraforming business. A number of planets and moons, such as Rho Phoenicis 8 a, have been actively terraformed since the 34th century. In most cases, these bodies are still decades away from becoming Earth-like worlds, but their systems usually have terraforming economies, and local stations demand the goods necessary for the process.
In systems where population size, available resources or planetary conditions are insufficient to support a full terraforming programme, artificial biospheres can be built instead to adapt small portions of the planet's surface for humans.
The term "terraforming" was first coined by Jack Williamson in the science fiction story Collision Orbit, published in Astounding Science-Fiction in 1942. Early terraforming typically used genetically engineered biological processes to convert the atmosphere of a suitable world into a breathable atmosphere over many decades, using energy generated by the star through biological processes. This process was both slow and expensive (it consisted of several stages) and only a small number of worlds were suitable for it. The idea of direct chemical conversion on a large scale was available but impractical because of the enormous energy requirements.
Mars was finally terraformed into an Earth-like world in 2286 and 2291. The whole process had taken almost 100 years before humans could walk and breathe on the surface without oxygen suits or breathing devices.
18:30
After mapping the other two "precious" planets with the detailed surface scanner, we finally reached the Earth-like world.
Moihea NK-C d14-95 B5, has only a third of the Earth's mass and a radius 2,000km smaller, but the planet has a higher overall metal content which explains the calculated 0.73G.
The oxygen content is almost 29.5%, but due to the lower pressure of 0.53 atm, the remaining concentration that we humans are used to is 15.8%. Without an oxygen mask, you won't be able to breathe without your head buzzing and feeling dizzy.
Not to mention far worse symptoms.
A day on B5 lasts as long as 1.8 days on Earth, but the Earth year on the planet is shorter, a whole 70 Earth days.
A B5 year therefore lasts 164.6 B5 days, very interesting. The axis is tilted by 3°, which means that the seasons we know should not exist. The average temperature is 289 K, 1 K above the Earth's average. Even though I was considering a landing, the intention is an expedition to the remotest corners of our galaxy. We can't stay on every planet for weeks.
We stayed in orbit around the planet for a few more days and carried out various measurements and scans of the surface. In order not to work in weightlessness, I put the ship into a rotational movement about its longitudinal axis and deactivated the flight assistant beforehand. The radius of the Novara is about 26m, at 6 rotations per minute a centrifugal force of a little over 1 G can be achieved.
09.10.3307 - Novara Expedition Day 16
---Hyperspace jump in 4... 3... 2... 1... engage---
"Arriving in system Flyaurps WL-W b56-0 - Discovery scan in progress..." "Hoooonk!"
The discovery scan, once charged, performs a subspace scan within one second, marking all star and planet locations. The range here is a whopping 0.5 light years.
The result was two stars and 5 celestial bodies. In addition, after the hyperspace jump, our ship was in the neighbourhood of an asteroid cluster, which had already been detected by the near-field scanner.
While now scanning the system with the full-spectrum system scanner, I immediately noticed an incomparable spectral signature - an Earth-like world.
"Another one? Are we just lucky on our journey," I hoped I didn't speak my thought aloud.
I set course towards planet A3, it is at an easily traversable distance of only 211ls or 0.42AU (astronomical units).
During the approach I already checked the first measurement data.
Oxygen content again lower than on Earth, 0.5 Earth masses and a correspondingly lower gravity. The temperature averages 298K, which is due to the proximity to the star. This star is a red dwarf star of the M1 class and has slightly less than half the mass and a radius one third smaller than Sol. This class of star, is the most common class encountered in the galaxy, this type makes up almost 70% of all stars.
Flyaurps WL-W b56-0 A3 is at such a close distance to the star that its rotation is bound by the star's gravity, so the same side always faces the star. This means that on the day side we can expect more of a scorching desert and on the night side a frozen landscape.
When the Novara reached the planet, this fact was confirmed. The surface scans detected life in the transition zone.
Once again, I did not want to take the time for further investigations and we jumped on after completing the system scan and its mapping.