CMDR PAUSANIAS - THE SHIP OF THE MIND EXPEDITION - DAY 104
21 Nov 2020Pausanias
PRASINUM SINUOUS TUBERS FOUND & THE CARL SAGAN PARKED NEAR A NEUTRON STARHi Cmdrs,
Having slept in the orbit of a planet for two nights running it’s nice to be back at the Carrier and to be able to use my own bed tonight.
On the way here I found this Ammonia World which had white clouds, which is unusual, they don’t usually have clouds of this colour. They appeared to be at high altitude.
I got to the target system which had a Neutron Star at its core. I scanned the system and found a planet with Biological Signals on it so I set course for it straight away. This was the view as I approached, high, jagged mountains and a very uneven surface.
The Biological Signal turned out to be PRASINUM SINUOUS TUBERS but they were in an awkward place to land the Asp, up the side of a mountain surrounded by extreme terrain, so, the best I could do to start with was to hover the Asp as close to the ground as I could and take these images.
This is a close up taken from above, note the strange shape of the ‘buds’ on the ends of the stalks . . .
Before flying away to another site I took this image of the area showing the terrible terrain and how they are spread out over a wide field. I just didn’t fancy even attempting to land and deploy the SRV.
I went to a second site and the terrain was slightly better but I still had to land the Asp 4km from the actual signal. This meant that the Asp left me behind when I was 2km into the trip, it was up hill on really poor terrain but I eventually got to the field. I took this image of the radar showing the steepness of the hill. It had been worse than this!
I didn’t find much, or get about much either because of the surface up there, so I decided to leave. I recalled the Asp and although it tried to land close to where I was it just couldn’t get a footing. I sent it away and went down the hill for a kilometre or so to some ground that looked a bit flatter and tried again. The same thing happened again, the ship came down but couldn’t complete the landing cycle, I sent it away again.
Now I was getting worried, I didn’t want to be stranded down there. I decided to go much further down the hill. Oh, did I mention it was pitch black too? All I could see was what was in my lights. Night vision helped with that. Upon reaching the bottom the ground still wasn’t that great but this time the Asp landed, phew!
I tried a third site but on the sunny side this time. This site also turned out to be flatter. I landed safely and went out exploring. I took this image of the field of Tubers. Look at the planet and other moon as a backdrop, amazing.
I took this shot as I returned to the Asp . . .
I left the moon behind and went back to The Carl Sagan.
MORE PERIL! - The Carrier had parked really close to the Neutron Star! Only 2.5megametres away! As I approached it the Star was getting perilously close and I was convinced I’d hit the heat barrier of the star before reaching The Carl Sagan, miraculously I made it to the Carrier and landed. I handed in 6,000,000 credits. Shut the Asp down and went straight to the Carriers bar for a stiff drink!
I’ll be glad to be sleeping in my own bed tonight and the Carrier, despite being so close to the Neutron Star, seems to be in no danger.
Total Ship jump distance so far: 76,294
Total planets Level 3 scanned: 28,437
Total exploration data: 756,500,000 credits
Total systems with my name on: 3624
My Ship is now 36,546 ltyrs away from Sol!
Distance to Beagle Point: 39,282 ltyrs
I now need a new destination to aim for . . .
P