20:52 (Universal Time)
Monday, December 10, 2317
Bridge of AMS KOSTROMA
19 million kilometers (0.127 AU) from Eris
Tina Forster, sitting in her bridge command chair, eyed the display screen attached to her chair via a swivel arm, reading the latest sensors data on Eris. After four months of deep space travel, most of it spent coasting along their calculated trajectory, they were finally getting close to the dwarf planet, decelerating on gravity sail power while a small army of astronomers, astrophysicists and planetologists studied Eris via the long range telescopes and sensors of the ship. Already, the close observations had brought a few surprises, as well as many questions. Of nearly the same diameter than Pluto at 2,320 kilometers, Eris had also been known to be more massive, with a density of 2.52 compared to Pluto’s 2.03. Astronomers had also known for three centuries that Eris was covered with methane ice and some nitrogen ice and that water ice was also present. It had one small, irregularly-shaped moon named Dysnomia, which measured from 100 to 250 kilometers and orbited around Eris in 15.77 days. That had until recently been the basic knowledge about Eris. Now, however, close visual and spectral studies had revealed a few new, intriguing points about the dwarf planet. For one thing, what appeared to be geysers of methane, nitrogen and water ice at multiple points of the surface had been detected by the telescopes of the KOSTROMA. Those geysers apparently helped keep the planet’s surface smooth and highly reflective. There was also a total absence of surface outcropping of rocks, suggesting a deep ice crust over the whole of Eris. Those two points had made the scientists on the KOSTROMA wonder what was powering such geysers, despite Eris being bone-chilling cold, with a mean surface temperature of 42.5 degrees Kelvin, barely above the absolute zero. The biggest surprise had however been the detection of a magnetic field around Eris. Since only the presence of a molten metallic core could explain the existence of such a magnetic field, the planetologists and astrophysicists on the KOSTROMA were now deep in conjecture, with new theories being advanced nearly every day. Unfortunately, only a detailed study of Eris made with the help of surface measurements could settle for good the many questions now floating around about the dwarf planet. In any case, it now seemed that the launching of the expedition had been fully justified.
Looking at her watch, Tina saw that Renée d’Argenteuil, the ship’s second pilot, would be about to arrive to relieve her and take control of the bridge. The French woman effectively arrived two minutes later, wearing her usual ship coverall and ball cap.
‘’Good evening, Tina! Anything special happening?’’
‘’Apart from new imagery of Eris being taken, nothing worthwhile, Renée. We are still coasting towards Eris and will arrive in orbit in two days. That’s when the real work will start. Don’t hesitate to wake me, though, if anything significant happens. I will be in my day cabin.’’
D’Argenteuil nodded in understanding: the Captain’s day cabin was a small cabin just under the bridge complex that allowed Tina to rest and wash up while staying close to the bridge, allowing her to be available at very short notice during critical periods. Getting first a cup of hot coffee from the small relaxation lounge adjacent to the bridge, Renée then took place in the command chair and reviewed the latest data on Eris with intense curiosity.
16:44 (Universal Time)
Wednesday, December 12, 2317
Bridge of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA
In low polar orbit around Eris
‘’Our orbit is now circularized at an altitude of 430 kilometers over the poles, Tina.’’
‘’Very well, Frida. Shut down the gravity sails! Main generators to idle! Secure from maneuvering stations!’’
Tina Forster next switched her intercom to ship-wide mode and spoke up in her microphone.
‘’To all aboard, this is the Captain! We are now in a stable polar orbit 430 kilometers above Eris. We have arrived at our destination.’’
The crewmembers on the bridge cheered loudly at that announcement and Tina was sure that the same was happening all over the ship at this moment. Letting a few seconds pass to give a chance to the celebrating to die down, she then spoke again on the intercom.
‘’The scientific staff of the Eris Station, along with the heads of the Eris construction crew and of the ship’s astronomy and astrophysics departments, are to assemble in thirty minutes in the main conference room of the Bridge Deck, in order to discuss our work program. Captain out!’’
Stepping out of her command chair with a sigh of relief, Tina had a last look at the picture of Eris that filled half of the viewing screen before heading towards the main conference room, situated on the same deck than the bridge complex. For any neophyte, Eris would appear to be only another large, icy moon like there were many in the Solar System. However, the observations made during the approach had already indicated that it was peculiar in many ways, on top of harboring a huge quantity of frozen methane that would be able to sustain the human needs for hydrocarbons for centuries to come. Grabbing first her laptop computer in her day cabin, Tina then walked to the main conference room, a large compartment able to sit up to twenty persons around its oval table, plus up to forty more persons on seats along the walls. When she arrived there, a few of her ship’s officers and scientists had already arrived, along with a couple of scientists from Eris Station. After another twenty minutes, the room was filled to near capacity, with a total of 56 persons present on top of Tina. Rising from her chair, she looked around while smiling to the others sitting at the table.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally arrived at our destination. However, this marks only the beginning of our mission, which is to study in depth Eris and to establish a manned research station on its surface, or rather just below its surface ice. I will now ask Doctor Ulianov to resume for all of us what is known of Eris to date. Doctor?’’
‘’Thank you, Captain!’’ Replied the planetologist and head of Eris Station before making a picture of Eris appear on a large wall viewing screen, with lines of data on one side. ‘’As you all know by now, Eris had a few surprises in store for us as we were approaching it, not the least being the presence of a magnetic field around it. Another surprise were the multiples geysers spewing methane, nitrogen and water ice, which indicate some serious geothermal activity inside the dwarf planet. Finding clues and answers about those two mysteries will obviously be part of our priorities. Another priority will be the complete mapping of Eris, including in-depth seismic echo-sounding and a study of its crust’s composition. My opinion right now is, as already stated in our mission brief, that we should wait until we better know Eris in depth before choosing a site for our research station and before putting it in place.’’
‘’I agree with Doctor Ulianov.’’ Said Mireille Cartier, the head astronomer of Eris Station, sitting two chairs away from Tina. ‘’Starting to establish our base before we know what Eris has in store for us would be foolish. I am thus afraid that your construction specialists will have some more free time on their hands, Mister Stennis.’’
Jake Stennis, the big manager of the space habitat construction crew responsible for assembling and positioning the future research station, smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
‘’I don’t think that they will mind having more free time to spend at the Jupiter Sex Club, especially while being paid the double salary of deep space contracts, Doctor Cartier.’’
Everybody around the table laughed briefly at that, with Ulianov then speaking again.
‘’While the KOSTROMA maps the surface from orbit, I would like to send as soon as possible geological teams to the surface, in order to start studying the innards of Eris and to drill for ice samples.’’
‘’My shuttles will provide you maximum support, Doctor.’’ Replied Tina. ‘’If you wish so, we could send the first surface teams tomorrow morning, once our first revolutions will have helped us build preliminary maps of Eris.’’
‘’That would suit me just fine, Captain.’’ Said Ulianov, pleased. ‘’I thus suggest that I meet again with you and Doctor Cartier tomorrow morning at eight, so that we could study your preliminary maps and choose the first landing spots.’’
‘’Agreed! A word of caution first to your planetologists and mapping specialists: don’t burn yourselves up right at the start with all-nighters. We are due to stay here over Eris for at least two months, so we have ample time to do the job properly without exhausting ourselves. Enthusiasm is fine, but long term staying power and persistence is better…and avoids mistakes brought by fatigue.’’
‘’Hum, a sensible advice, I would say, Captain, and one I will personally have to heed. I will make sure that my specialists establish proper work shifts.’’
‘’How many teams could you send and sustain at once on the surface, Doctor Ulianov?’’ Asked Alan Ashford, the senior shuttle pilot of the KOSTROMA.
‘’I have enough geologists and geophysicists to form up to six complete surface teams. However, I would prefer to send only four teams at a time, so that I have specialists left aboard the ship to receive and analyze their data in real time.’’
‘’Then, I can provide you four shuttles on a long term basis, Doctor.’’
‘’Excellent! I think that we will be able to do good progress once we start tomorrow. I would suggest that we break this meeting soon, so that our people rest properly before the start of the work tomorrow on the surface.’’
‘’A good idea.’’ Said Tina. ‘’On my part, I will go prepare and send a message to Callisto, to say that we are now in orbit around Eris. Does anyone have any more questions or remarks? No? Then I wish you all a good evening. And don’t go party too hard at the APEROSSIMO or at the JUPITER tonight, people!’’
That brought again a few laughs as the participants rose from their seats to disperse.