Logbook entry

(5,302 hours) - Phase 2 - Norma Expanse, Trojan Belt & The Veils

25 May 2020Evolution
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| Overview |
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The overall mission can be found here.

The log is structured into the following sections:
  • Overview
  • Phase - explaining the exact route with specific notable entries and images. At the end of every day, the progress is shown in green.
  • Progress stats - giving the phase totals and overall totals for the expedition.
  • The Plan ahead - outlining what the next phase will cover.
  • Ship details - the spec of Viatorem with links to the ship in INARA and Coriolis.

  • ------------
    | Phase 2 |
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    This phase has taken 46 hours effort since the Phase 1 update.

    At the start of this phase, I noticed my ship's computer didn't have the route filtering option enabled for star types so that was switched back on.
    I set a course for the FLYAI FLYUAE YJA C1 system which was 19,933.22LY and 428 jumps away.
    This phase will take me out of the Norma Expanse region, through Trojans Belt and into The Veils region.

    At only 3 jumps in, I saw my first Neutron star of the entire journey. I hadn't seen one of those for just over 4 years (April 2016).


    A ringed Ammonia world was found after 12 jumps - in the system DRYEAE AOWSY CB-X D1-95 4:


    Another 12 jumps later, a Terraformable world was found orbiting a Gas Giant in the system DRYEAE AOWSY FS-K D8-11.


    With 58 systems visited, 33 mapped planets and 855 scans, I stopped off by a water world in the EOWYG AUB SG-K C22-41 system for the night.


    The next day, I covered 45 jumps (103 total), 727 scans (1,582 total) and 35 planets mapped (68 total).

    A pleasant Earth Like world was found in the system HYPOI FLYI JT-O D7-207 where I rested for the night:


    The following day and after 28 jumps (131 total), A rather unique water world was found in the system SCHREANG PJ-O D7-95. It had an interesting looking metal rich ring system, 15 Earth masses and 129 atmospheric surface pressure - so it's not exactly somewhere you'd like to go fishing! The world was so large that the efficiency mapping max target was 9. The system also has a ringed Ammonia world nearby although I've only included an image of the ringed water world for the log, taken after leaving it's asteroids for some supplies:


    I finished the efforts for the day in the system HYPOI PRI TY-Y DA-109 which left only about 865LY remaining until I entered the next galactic region - Trojan Belt. I'd covered 44 jumps (147 total), 665 scans (2,247 total) and 26 planets mapped (94 total). I noticed as I was flying and also clearly by today's numbers, that the systems were becoming less dense.

    For my last night in the Norma Expanse region, I settled down with a scenic view of an asteroid field around a class Y Brown Dwarf:


    I arrived in the Trojan Belt region the next day and then restricted my galaxy route mapping systems further, by filtering out K and M type stars, which added more jumps for this phase.

    46 jumps in, I arrived in the system PHREIA PRI VJ-Q E5-8 which has mostly Gas Giants and only one landable planet. The planet is 1.5 times the mass of Earth and the temperature is 498 Kelvin (or 225 C / 436 F) even though it's 1850Ls from its star. I decided to map the planet and discovered one Geological site on the surface. I enabled my shields and headed down to land on the 1.32G world:


    Viatorem was landed to investigate the area. Sulphur Dioxide Gas Vents and element clusters were found on the planet which you can see below and various element capacities were topped up at the site:


    Looking into the data collected so far, the scan value obtained from Phase 1 and up until this point had just crossed the 500m value mark. After a short break, it was time to return to the void:


    I found a cloudy Terraformable world in the UMBAITS FM-U D3-13 system and took a fly through the exosphere layer of the atmosphere before returning to orbit to switch off the engines and head back to my cabin.


    I'm glad to say there had been a lot of progress today with 116 jumps (263 total), 1,625 scans (3,872 total) and 72 planets mapped (166 total). Although a lot of distance had been covered in this phase (12,963.43 lY), there was another 7,439LY left until I reached the FLYAI FLYUAE Nebula. I was around mid way through the Trojans Belt region so I aimed to hopefully arrive the day after next.

    After 27 jumps, I saw a planet on my FSS scanner which looked like a ringed Water World in the system DRYAE GREE BV-X D1-13. Viatorem's computer classed it as a Heavy Metal world and didn't recommend it for mapping (EDDI). It looked like a scenic place to have a break so I headed out 3,709lS to have a look. After mapping the world, the Atmosphere showed it was 1/3 Ammonia, Methane and Nitrogen, which reminded me of the moon Titan from Sol due to it's Methane rain.


    ^Although the hull and all internal modules had 100% health, the paint was another story! I felt like it was a shame I couldn't program a few Limpets to give it a respray!

    26 jumps later (53rd of today), a nice looking Metal Rich Lava world was found in the system DRYAE GREE HN-A D14-8 which has slightly more mass than Earth (1.0692) but 1.78G and was the only body orbiting star B at 10LS away,


    When the progress for the day was done, a lot of distance and scans had been covered - even more than yesterday! The end of day report contained 123 jumps (796 total), 2,229 scans (6,101 total) and 63 planets mapped (229 total). I found a Terraformable planet which had a nice blue scattering effect from its atmosphere to enjoy overnight:


    31 jumps in and 43 jumps from the phase 2 target destination, the system HYPAA GREE LM-D D12-5 had 7 mapping candidates. The system is just over forty thousand light years from Sol and the 7 mapped planets were worth 13,779,103 credits. The types of planets were:
    5 Terraformable
    2 Terraformable Water World

    Planet A7, one of the Terraformable planets is below which is overlooking the destination nebula:


    14 jumps left, I disabled the ship's star filters so I'd be less likely to visit previously explored systems as I got nearer the nebula and so I'd be jumping more directly. That shortened the route by 3, to 11 remaining jumps.

    With only 4 jumps to go, I found a beautiful location with two moons in close proximity, orbiting a gas giant in the system TEGNAE EF-D C26-0:


    I stayed for a while and visited moon B first and then moon A. Here's an image taken from moon A, with Viatorem next to a cliff above a Silicate Vapour Fumarole Geological site, with massive mountains, the Flyai Flyuae Nebula behind and the moons sister planet to the left:


    I was lucky with one jump left as I found an unmapped Terraformable world 4,581LS from the star (thanks to EDDI), although strangely, other planets had been mapped by other commanders which were 300k LS away.


    I finally arrived at the phase 2 destination of FLYAI FLYUAE YJ-A. Planet 2 hadn't been mapped by anyone so I headed there. I missed the value notification from Viatorem's computer but was able to look at ED discovery. it showed it to be worth 143k credits so not too bad, considering I didn't expect to find any unmapped planets.


    From this location, I'm 41,448LY from Sol, 32,603LY from Colonia and 33,839LY from Beagle Point. Today's effort to get here had amounted to 71 jumps, 1,148 scans and 61 planets mapped.

    -------------------
    | Progress Stats |
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    The progress values for Phase 2 were:
  • Jumps: 457
  • Distance: 21,467.57LY
  • Scans: 7,249
  • Planets Mapped: 290
  • Value: 585,305,747
  • Average scans per system: 15.86


  • Combining the totals from Phases 1 & 2 gives the overall progress of:
  • Jumps: 867
  • Distance: 42,494.62LY
  • Scans: 13,374 (27% of target)
  • Planets Mapped: 411
  • Value: 819,807,704
  • Average scans per system: 15.42


  • ---------------------
    | The plan ahead |
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    Phase 3 will be to continue along the Scutum Centaurus galactic arm (as originally planned) and continue through The Veils and into the Formorian Frontier Region.
    Plotting a course to THUECHAEI JN-A D1-6 for Phase 3 is 19,995LY away and 473 jumps. The number will slightly change between stages when the ship's computer needs to re-plot itself. Phase 3 will be in progress soon o7.

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    | Ship details |
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    Exploration ships are usually as light as possible which sacrifices some usage when they reach their destination.
    Although Viatorem is an exploration ship, it can also be used for other aspects as well. Some features of Viatorem include:

  • 70.5LY max / 68LY unladen / 63 laden jump range.
  • Operating heat level of 17% when exploring.
  • Its build is suited to kinetic resistance, giving 3,524 kinetic hitpoints - for extra protection when visiting high gravity worlds.
  • 6 fighters - for added protection and to explore scenery.
  • 4 SRVs - as it's always good to carry a spare (or three!).
  • 1 large efficient beam laser with heat vent - to keep temperatures down when using...
  • 3 large lightweight multi-cannons with incendiary rounds.
  • 2 medium lightweight multi-cannons with incendiary rounds.
  • 1 small lightweight multi-cannon with incendiary rounds.
  • 1 small mining laser - to collect materials if ever they're needed.
  • Kill Warrant Scanner.
  • Frame Shift Wake Scanner.
  • Refinery.
  • Repair Limpet controller.
  • Collector Limpet controller.

  • The ship description and full information can be found on INARA here and Coriolis here

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    Thank you for having a read through. Feel free to give me a shout if you have any comments or questions.
    Stay safe and fly safe.
    o7, Evo
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