NationStates Jolt Archive

TO: Extra-solar Exploration Command
FR: von Neumann Exobiology Probe / Sagittarius Arm
SJ: BDS-12409+7

1. Successfully contacted ESEC and continued survey mission.
2. Completed intial surveys and begna more detailed survey of BDS-12409+7a.

> a. Primary is a 25,750 kilometer radius gas giant.
> b. Moon system consists of two regular moons, two irregular moons, and a set of ice rings.

BDS-12409+7a:a is terrestrial. It is 2,237 kilometers in radius and orbits at an average distance of 1,102,540 kilometers from its primary. Its atmosphere is composed primarily of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulphide, with trace amounts of water vapor, and hydrogen chloride. The lithosphere is composed of primarily silicates, iron oxides, aluminium oxides, and sulfur. The hydrosphere appears to be composed of molten sulfur, lead, and tin. There is evidence of extreme vulcanological activity.

BDS-12409+7a:b is terrestrial. It is 3,126 kilometers in radius and orbits at an average distance of 1,310,365 kilometers from its primary. Its atmosphere is composed primarily of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and hydrogen sulphide, with trace amounts of water vapor, carbon monoxide, ammonia, carbonyl sulphide, and hydrogen chloride. The lithosphere is composed primarily of silicates, carbonates, iron oxides, aluminium oxides, potassium, sulfur, tin, and lead. There is no visible hydrosphere, but underground deposits of liquid water are possible. There is evidence of extreme vulcanological activity.

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This is a great time for science! The possibility of a totally new form of life, living in the clouds of a gas giant, has pur new life into our exobiology department, and an expedition is being organised to investigate 1. if such life actually exists, and 2. what it looks like if it does.

~DS Control

Miren floated quietly in the cockpit of an Aquilla-class science vessel, checking all of the dials and displays. Satisfied, he ran his finger along a row of toggle switches, powering up the jump drives.

"Engineering, course identified and calculated. Powering up CCs. Check."
"Control, we are go for subluminal. Releasing CCs in 5, 4, 3, 2, A-B bubble initialized."
"Confirmed. Gravitational lensing is consistent. Negative on causality horizon."
"Check. Increasign relative velocity to .9c. Go for superluminal in tee-minus 2 hours."

As Miren watched the vertical lines that represented stars outside, a light began to blink on the console.

"Engineering, BRG on superluminal."
"Check. Go for superluminal."
"Releasing CCS now."
"Check. Causal horizon confirmed."

Even as he watched, space seemed to fold over on itself, isolating the ship from the rest of the universe as it went superluminal. When the horizon formed, the exterior went totally black- no stars at all.

"Check. ETA?"
"Roger. Subluminal in 54 minutes."
"Time till orbit?"
"Estimate 109 minutes."
"Roger. Out."

The trilaterally-symmetric science vessel popped back into the universe in orbit around BDS-12409+7, just trailing the yellow gas giant, BDS-12409+7a. Powering up its EK thrusters, it had soon established a stable low orbit around the extremely interesting planet.

"Searching for VNP- Found."
"Confirmed. Pinging VNP."
"Check. Handshake recieved. Downloading now."

Information from the von Neumann probe began pouring into the ship's computers, enough to keep them busy for years if they tried to analyze it all. The crew met in the small dining room to go over it all.

"Big news, dudes! We were right! We've isolated a wide potentially habitable zone, extending from approximately 65 kliks to 25-hundred kliks deep. Gravity is just under 1g all the way through that zone, and pressure at the top averages out to approximately 850 millibars, with some variations due to storms of up to 200 millibars. Down at the bottom, pressure soars to several hundred bars, like the bottom of the ocean. Anything we find there should be pretty interesting, but I don't expect anything to actually be down there. Most everything should be bouyed into the upper layers. Temperatures are pretty favorable, too. The only problems with supporting humans are the lack of ground and a poisonous reducing atmosphere. Anyone feel like taking down a shuttle? Even if every system aboard fails, we'll float in the atmosphere. Cool, eh?"

(Bump for edits correcting gravitational calculation errors.)

"Right-o. I'm all for a little up-close action, but what do we know about the moons? B seems like a prime candidate for life, high levels of ammonia and carbonyl sulphide. We could have a Venus scenario- suited for the development of life at the beginning, but then losing equilibrium and turning into something far more hostile. No major dark-outs in the UV maps, but the geological data suggests that it could harbor subsurface life. A looks far less appealing, though. Lakes of sulfur? reminds me of Io."

"I concur. It's doubtful that life could've originated in the atmosphere of the sub-giant. Going on our current knowledge, you need a large amount of continous liquid water, or some other solvent perhaps, to generate protocells. Thus, assuming that it is life which is creating the strange conditions, and not some as yet unknown abiotic chemical process, it probably started on one of the moons and was transported to the gas giant later on. The Venus scenario looks good."

"OK. So, do we agree to investigate B as well? Land, or robot probe?"

"Probe!" "Probe!" "Robot!" "I ain't visiting that furnace... The surface is melted and reformed every few months!"

"Aglia, you're thinkin' of A. B is only every few years."

"Still. We go with the robot."

"Good. It's decided. Everybody who wants to see the giant up-close, to the shuttles."

Three of the scientists piled into the the shuttle Spindizzy and launched from the mothership. After locating a dark patch in the UV maps, the shuttle began to fall into the gas giant's atmosphere. Multicolored clouds of yellow, red, white, brown, and every other hue painted a beautiful scene beyond the windows, not made the least bit less enjoyable by the knowledge of its toxicity.

The shuttle fell for several minutes before suddenly being bombarded by tiny blobs of goo.

"What the fraggin' crap are those things?"
"No idea. Sinkers, anybody?"

The crew chuckled, but perhaps it was true. No need to worry now, though; they couldn't do much damage.

Soon, all doubts were put to rest as they came across the upperside of a large red stormcloud.

"What the heck?"
"They look like jellyfish!"
"Kilometer-wide jellyfish...."