JOURNEY OF A COMMANDER PART 25
08 Nov 2022Ni6h70wl
17.01.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 116_17.01.2022_17_49_52.png)
After the break on the Earth-like world, the Novara reached a planetary nebula that we had already spotted from afar. It was Xothuia UD-T e3-107, which hosts a neutron star in its centre.
The bright colours of the nebula are breathtaking and once again invited us to linger.
22.01.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 121
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In the late afternoon we reached the system Xothuia NH-D d12-2111, now we are exactly 35,000 light years away from Beagle Point and have also passed the galactic half. There is no stopping us now, we are going through with this expedition.
23.01.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 122
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"Wow!", that was all my first officer could produce. Even my mouth was open at this discovery.
"A ringed Earth-like world, our first."
"Yes, our first, among these worlds the ringed ones are even rarer. We stay a little longer in this system and map the entire system. We would have needed it then for our tourist beacon."
The ring was formed from a rocky celestial body about 800m in diameter. After it crossed the Roche boundary, the celestial body was destroyed by tidal forces and the remains spread out over the years to form a ring around the planet. While 6,400Mt sounds like a lot, on a cosmic scale this ring is small and thin.
Lyaisio OD-T d3-2729 3 is 2.5% larger and thus 27% heavier than Earth. Nevertheless, the atmospheric pressure is 35% lower and requires an increase in oxygen concentration.
We stayed in the system for some time and enjoyed the view, but eventually flew on towards Beagle Point.
27.01.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 126
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The Novara reached the system Hypiae Chrea XB-C d13-502, a relatively large and resource-rich system. All raw materials for a premium feed of the Frameshift Drive could be found. Among explorers, such a system is called a "Green System" and is noted in the star map of the Galactic Mapping Project.
My attention was focused on planet 9a, the measurements showed that the atmosphere consists of water vapour. And where there is water, there must be life.
"What do the measurements show, my dear?"
"The computer is still calculating, you should be right, the planet harbours life forms. And is producing... Yes, six biological signals."
"Actually, I expected more, but looking at the data, I'm surprised anything grows there at all."
Planet 9a is a rocky world with a water atmosphere, yet this planet is subject to massive temperature fluctuations. On the day side it gets up to 493K like a humid oven and on the night side temperatures are well below freezing, down to 252K in places.
According to the calculations, the atmosphere of this planet goes through different states every "day", which consists of 3.8 Earth days. Due to the bound rotation, almost half of the planet is in darkness and the atmosphere snows down. Small parts at the transition areas get partial starlight, moderate temperatures prevail there and it rains, and the remaining part is exposed to starlight for three quarters of the "day" and heats up accordingly.
Fascinating conditions and even under these, 6 life forms could develop.
After I had made the final preparations and we touched down on the surface of the planet, the outdoor mission began.
This deep blue sky looks beautiful, yet I don't want to do without my Artemis suit in almost 200°C temperatures.
The first life form I encountered was a Cactoida species, subtype Vermis in the colour variation green. This subtype looks like a large cluster of cylinders connected by a wavy membrane and topped with a spiny crown. They often have a spiny life form attached, which is thought to form a symbiotic relationship with the larger organism, although the nature of this relationship is currently unknown.
The next life form is a Clypeus species of the Lacrimam subtype in the orange colour variation. This subtype forms a broad, tear-shaped shield to protect the delicate organism from extreme sunlight. The ribs of the shield help to channel water droplets into the ground. It is somewhat reminiscent of a mussel. The "flesh" has been removed and is being examined at Novara, possibly we are dealing with a delicacy.
Bacterium Cerbrus - Yellow, strange. Why does this type of bacterium occur on this planet, apparently not only on worlds with sulphur dioxide. This fact must be reported to the exobiology lab, the metabolism of this bacterium is most interesting.
Probably the most striking biosignal is Osseus, subtype Discus, here in the colour variation aquamarine. This subtype, appears as half-buried discs with radial patterns and can resemble natural crow formations from a distance. They absorb geothermal energy from underground as well as available heat sources above ground.
Naturally, this planet has occurrences of a species of fungus, Fungoida Stabitis in the colour variation white. This species of fungus feeds on geothermal energy and forms towers of closely spaced cylinders up to two metres high.
The last life form was Concha Renibus, in the variation red. This is a concha species that depends on heat sources for survival. As the bisected growth grows, it sprouts a single stalk with a row of bright fronds to facilitate metabolism.
Once all the samples were collected, I returned to the Novara and handed the sample containers to the research team. I then returned to the cockpit and headed back into orbit.
In the late afternoon, I decided to go to Planet 10 I. According to the spectral analyses, this planet has an oxygen atmosphere and harbours a life form, probably a bacterium.
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Landed, the sight of the ice rings circling around you is gigantic and beautiful at the same time. The species of bacteria was Volu, which is dependent on an oxygen atmosphere. This species of bacteria creates random, swirling patterns on the ground. After collecting the three samples, I enjoyed the view that this ringed ice planet offered.
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Late in the evening, we could visually perceive a bluish glow, according to the galactic map it should be a planetary nebula with a stellar black hole sitting at its centre. The distance from our current position was just 47 light years. A jump, this small diversions is justifiable.
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The dark blue molecular cloud is beautiful to look at and at its centre is the 2.54 solar mass black hole, relatively small with a radius of 7.5km. The planets that remained after the supernova have all cooled down and have an average temperature of only 35K. A dying system in which there is no life, perhaps there once was. With this oppressive feeling we left Phoi Chrea WE-R e4-2656.
03.02.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 133
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---Temperature critical, taking heat damage---
All warning lights inside the ship came on, announcing that something was wrong. The temperature inside the Novara rose abruptly and it felt like jumping into an oven.
"Damn, we jumped through a star on entry and took some of the plasma with us. I'm activating the heat sink launcher..."
---Heat Sink deployed---
The temperature dropped and directed the heat into a special disposable block of carbon, this can absorb 90%-100% of the ship's maximum heat capacity. After reaching capacity, the disposable block was ejected.
"What is the ship's condition?" impatiently I awaited my officer's report.
"Several modules were damaged, the hull remained intact and the temperature has returned to normal."
"Understood, failure mode analysis, what the hell happened exactly?"
"According to the system logs, we jumped into the Glaichoe QN-I c10-7 system. The exit from hyperspace was through the secondary star 6 light seconds away, hot plasma was pulled along and this 'haze' heated up the ship's hull."
After this short report, I got an overview with the help of the system map.
Indeed, the secondary star was in such a dense orbit that it orbits the primary star every 0.4 days. At the time of our hyperspace jump, the secondary star was exactly in front of the primary star and thus in the jump vector of Novara. You have to be unlucky, but that is one of the risks of an explorer.
Nevertheless, the damage suffered by the modules had to be repaired, the ship's hull also had to undergo an assessment, it could be that the ship would be more easily damaged as a result. That's all I needed, and the day after my birthday. Nice cosmic gift.
I landed in the star system Glaichoe HR-M d7-28 right on the first planet and in the shadow of a crater so as not to be exposed to the radiant heat of the star.
Now the external mission began, with the jetpack I transported myself onto the ship and examined the hull and the modules, which partially protruded from the ship.
The thrusters had only suffered minor damage from the fly-through, but the fuel collector, the cargo hatch, the planetary vehicle hangar and the sensors had taken a much worse hit. Fortunately, this damage was repaired by the Automatic Field Maintenance Unit (AFMU) and the journey could be continued.
04.02.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 134
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After the incident of the previous day I decided to take a break, we landed in the system Sutchaa SE-Q d5-4 on the planet A 4 a. A rocky celestial body whose atmosphere and surroundings smell like rotten eggs. That damned sulphur. According to the latest calculations, it is only 16,300 light years to Beagle Point.