Voyage to the Stars

by GB Weber

  "Observe through the telescope the magnificent colors reflected in the icy surface", says Colonel Walter to Doctor Shunli.

  "Ah yes, I can see it," says the Asiatic woman. "According to information received in the optical lens, the temperature at ground level is -382 degrees Fahrenheit.

  "That is too much cold," continued saying the man. "Watch now the area of the visible face that looks clear and bright over the north of the equator line."

  "The Tombaugh Regio," she says, while reading the data in her glasses."

  "That’s correct," the European agrees. "It was named after the astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930. The place is also nicknamed 'The Heart.' Can you recognize its shape?"

  "Oh, yes."

  The spherical bodies pass through the large window and vanish behind the Humanitas. But today's show is not over yet. The Head of the Mission on board sends his order to the Flight Commander. The giant ship turns around 90 degrees, placing itself behind the Pluto-Charon system. From that position, next to the binary system, a small solar circle can be seen in the distance. It's our King Star. And although it would be impossible to detect with the naked eye, we all know that somewhere, much closer to our sun, there is a small, pale blue dot. The panoramic view that is being contemplated in silence by the astronauts, is the same image that was taken by the vidicon tube camera of the Voyager 1, at the request of the astronomer Carl Sagan on February 14, 1990. That tiny pixel, at a distance of 6 billion kilometers, was referred by Sagan as: "That's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives... The only home we've ever known." The spaceship turns once more, like a satellite circling around Pluto-Charon, and taking its last look at the planetary system, set forth on its final destination at the edge of the Universe.

  Kepler Mission - Day 6

  The second stage of the expedition beyond our solar system has started. The powerful antimatter engines begin to propel the vessel until reaching 47% of the speed of light in the coming months. The group sends the last greetings to their loved ones on Earth, and prepares for a long phase of slumber.

  The cryogenic capsules are opened, waiting for the future occupants. Men and women enter the hibernation room and settle down into the corresponding habitats. The system, controlled by Humy and supervised by the other droids, will keep the bodies of the company for a period of 44 years (OBT)—On Board Time—in a state of preservation called 'suspended animation,' similar to that experienced by warm-blooded animals during the phase of hibernation. Throughout this process, the vital signs—such as heart rate and pulse—will remain weak under cold temperatures, and digestion will almost halt. A special serum will maintain the bodies hydrated and will provide the necessary substances needed for the conservation of life. As a safety mechanism, any abnormal event that may occur on this stage would trigger an alert and the process of cryonics would stop, waking the crew. If everything is working normally, the freezing eon is scheduled for completion three years before reaching the Gliese system.

  The Individual cabins are closed and the star explorers begin a long idle. Eva and Shin will keep the Humanitas' course at their posts in the cockpit, and will make periodical check-ups and maintenance. Since the trip will affect their circuits, the humanoid robots will also spend a lapse of time disconnected. Humy will be the only automated system that will remain on alert, functioning along the entire voyage.

  Kepler Mission - Day 16,077

  The colossal galactic ship sails solo through the cold, dark ocean of stars, in the constellation of Scorpio. The gloomy aisles across the Humanitas are deserted. The whole vessel is cloaked in deathly silence. Inside the cockpit, there is no pilot. Suddenly, a light turns on in the control panel. The third part of the journey has begun. The time capsules get opened, and gradually, the astronauts and androids wake up from their prolonged sleep.

  During an extensive breakfast, the team conducts a vote to give a final name to the planet. By simple majority and oppose by the Asians, it is decided to name Gliese 667 Cc with the new official designation: Nova Terra.

  After taking the meal, each group member is checked by the Dr. Shunli before begin the assigned duties. The Russian couple, along with the Irish scientist, will be responsible for studying and analyzing the planet data. Gliese 667 is not far away. The Galileo telescope has been observing the triple star system while the crew was hibernating. The astronomer and astrophysicist Boris Karpatov will concentrate on analyzing its chemical composition by studying the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, using data from Galileo. Meanwhile, geochemistry specialist Augusta Byron will undertake a deeper study of the composition of the chemical elements, determining their abundance and distribution on the planet. At the same time, the astrobiologist Tanja Dyaglieva will consolidate the contributions of biology, geology, and chemistry, to evaluate possible life forms on it. The presence of certain elements in the atmosphere, like carbon monoxide, could confirm the existence of intelligent life in Nova Terra.

  Elsewhere in the G1 module, the radio astronomer Mary Alen prepares the equipment to start sending radio waves to the 3 worlds in the habitable zone of the star Gliese 667 C, using the radiotelescope on board. If there are intelligent life forms, perhaps these civilizations may be able to broadcast response messages. For this purpose, the directional radio antenna installed next to Galileo will capture and measure the power and timing of radio frequency signals that may be emitted by these celestial bodies of the Gliese system.

  All these investigations are included in a phase of study of Nova Terra, while the ship is located at some distance from the globe. When the interstellar ferry reaches its orbit, there will be a new level of deep exploration of the unrevealed world, prior to landing.

  John Arlen has begun to work on this subject. He will be responsible for design, build, and pilot, an unmanned space vehicle (USV) that will fly by the sphere, in order to find a suitable place to descend and settle down.

  The conception, planning, and construction of the first colony are responsibility of the architect and civil engineer Wang Dan. Using a 3D printer, he will shape small buildings and accessories needed for habitability, applying a material that can be solidified as steel when printed. At this stage, the Chinese architect designs these structures using holographic projections based on information that will be provided by the group that studies the planet's composition.

  The two androids also have chores to do. Apart from keeping the ship in flight and do maintenance inside the Humanitas, they will also do repair work outside, once they reach the orbit of Nova Terra. In addition, all crew members collaborate on a daily basis with the development of the space garden that will provide food for themselves and future generations, once it is relocated on the surface. The cargo includes several tons of soil and seeds for growing large plantations, in case there is no vegetation on the planet.

  Every day, for the next three years, all the explorers—including the automata—will hold team meetings. Like in a military base, after completing the tasks, each soldier has to report to the Superior Officer—in this case, to the Workflow Coordinator: Colonel Ulrich Walter. The Head of Mission is responsible for including all the information which will be gathered by the group, and after receiving relevant advice, he will take the necessary decisions to complete the operation successfully.

  The ship continues its journey across the Universe, heading for the constellation of Scorpio. Soon they will arrive to their new home, 23.6 light years from Earth.

  Kepler Mission - Day 17,167

  Another great day has arrived. After 47 years traveling through the cosmos, the ISS Humanitas has successfully reached the triple system Gliese 667. The star system A & B do not have planets, but its third sun—Gliese 667 C—has 4 earths, but only one within the habitable zone. This would be the future home of the human pioneers.

  The giant vessel continues reducing its speed and correcting its position until reaching a
geostationary orbit over Nova Terra. The third phase of the Kepler Mission is successfully completed.

  Next, the voyagers meet in the observatory to watch, once again, the panoramic view of the new planet. Its atmosphere seems to be sufficiently dense and cloudy. In the twilight zone, between the daytime hemisphere and the one in shadows, extensive areas of liquid water and dark brown can be observed. The illuminated region, however, allows only to perceive a red mantle through the black clouds, without any visible sign of water. No lights are detectable in the dark area, so if there are intelligent beings, they have not yet discovered how to create an artificial source of illumination.

  Later, the group of astronauts gathers in the dining room—which has been the meeting spot for over three years—to listen to Colonel Walter giving a speech about the mission accomplished. For this occasion, they have reserved two of the four bottles of champagne Bollinger, La Grande Année 2090, brought on board and aged for almost 50 years.

  "I want to celebrate with you on this glorious day. The significance of getting here has been the result of the work of thousands of people from across our beloved Earth. I know you all are eager to descend on the new home planet, but you know as well as I that we still have much work to do before taking that action. In this fourth stage, we have to analyze all the data collected during the last three years to confirm how, where, and when to begin the colonization. We will also send a probe, and will being to unveil uncertainties. But first, I have asked Mary to send a missive to Earth to inform of our arrival. Since we began this long journey, 53 years have passed on our planet. By the time-dilation effect, we have reached Nova Terra in 47 years. Now, our friends at home will have to wait another 23 years to get our message. Again, mankind feels isolated; separated from their land by long distances that can only be covered by moving through space-time. We are like those early explorers who sailed through the vast seas for months, with only clear, blue waters on the horizon, and one day arrive at a paradisiacal shore to start a new life in a new world. We have found our New World. We will start a new life here.

  Greetings, Comrades!"

  Kepler Mission - Day 17,168

  As planned, Eva and Shin open a hatch to venture outside the ship to perform various repairs and other extravehicular activities (EVA). Even though they don´t need oxygen to live, they wear spacesuits as a precaution to protect their mechanisms from low temperatures and radiation from the dwarf star. Meanwhile, in the cockpit, John, Boris, Cao, and Ulrich, observe through the monitors the progress of the spacewalk on top of the cargo module. At some point, Shin notices that several panels covering the Canadian space crane—folded and hidden at one side of the ship—appear partially detached and the robotic arm security system unlocked.

  "Shin to Control. Crane shield is compromised. We will initiate repairs, over."

  "Here Control. Copy that. You may proceed, over and out," replies the Colonel. And looking at the dashboard, he observes that no alert signals had been activated. "We'd better find out what had happened and resolve the problem," he continued saying, looking now at John.

  "I will fix it at once, Colonel."

  At the same time, outside the Humanitas, Eva begins to weld one of the defective protection panels.

  "Be careful! The crane came loose from the safety hook," Shin warns her over the comm.

  "Don't worry, I have everything under control," responds Eva.

  In that moment, the loading arm trembles and begins to extend, hitting her hard. The impact causes Eva to be pushed back, ejecting the droid out of the ship in the direction of the planet. Shin informs about the unfortunate event, though it was not necessary. The crew saw on the monitors what just happened.

  "I will use the probe," says John loudly.

  He immediately puts the vehicle to work, moving it quickly towards the figure of Eva, suspended far away in space and getting dangerously close to the limits of Nova Terra's upper atmosphere.

  "I will come to you Eva," Arlen says as he accelerates the small ship. "I will not let anything happen to you."

  John's plan is to use a robotic arm of the space probe to catch her, before entering the planet's exosphere.

  "The mathematical calculations of velocity, acceleration, and distance, confirm that the effort is futile," says Eva. "You cannot reach my position in time."

  John begins to understand that she's right. The eyes of the crew observe the tiny dot far out on the horizon of the globe, until a light flares briefly, revealing that the worst has occurred. One of the androids has been disintegrated in the atmosphere of Nova Terra.

  Inside the space vessel, the team remains silent a few minutes, stunned, while the pilot of the unmanned craft—equally shocked—doesn't know what orders to give to the machine.

  A few hours later, at the joint task group meeting, men and women remain silent, waiting to hear the words of the Head of Mission:

  "We all deeply regret the loss of our Medical Co-Pilot Eva. She represented a very important part of the crew and was essential for the achievement of the mission. Although she was an artificial intelligence being, we all considered her as human, like any of us. What had happened should serve as a lesson. We must work together to avoid tragic incidents like this in the future. Now we have to go on with our objective: the colonization of the exoplanet technically called Gliese 667Cc. I am sending the first planetary data report. You will receive it in your smart lenses," says the Colonel, before starting his statement: "I'll begin talking about Gliese 667C, one of the three suns visualized in the sky of Nova Terra. As you know, we are referring to the most common type of star: a red dwarf M-type, with a solar mass of 0.31 Ms and a solar radius of 0.42 Rs. Due to an extremely slow nuclear fusion in its core, this type of star have life spans far longer than any other body in space. Its disadvantage, however, is that the degree of brightness the planet receives from it is lower than 90% of the light the Earth gets. Worse still, much of that light would be located in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is invisible to the human eye, so we'll need to adapt to the lack of illumination. We will complement it with artificial light energy, among other technics, to make our plants grow.

  The luminescence problem could also be a detriment to the development of aquatic life. This is something we'll find out using the drone, when we have settled on the planet. As for the temperature on its surface, we'll find 3 well-defined geographical zones: The dark region, frozen at -85°C; The bright zone, where the thermometer reaches 55 degrees Celsius; and the area, which I call it 'Ideal location' for our base, at a temperature between -5°C and 30°C in the twilight zone. Despite the lesser heat received, these thermic conditions are achieved due to the proximity of the planet to its star. If it were at a greater distance, Gliese 667Cc would be uninhabitable for us due to its extremely low temperatures. But the fact of being close to its star brings two main difficulties: inadequate atmospheric protection from UV rays—although it is correctable—, and the fact that the planet is tidally locked by its sun's gravity. It's like the Moon, where its rotation and orbital periods are synchronized; as a result, the same lunar hemisphere is always seen from Earth. This is called: synchronous rotation. Hence, the night in Nova Terra is permanent and very cold; and living in the daytime hemisphere at high temperatures—and under the effects of UV rays—would be very difficult too. But thermic variances could be even more perceivable if there wasn't intense cloud formation on the illuminated face. Its dense, dark layers attenuate the global thermal flux and drastically reduce equilibrium temperature differences between the two sides of the planet. I guess we all agree the logic spot for descend would be located in the diffuse ring or 'grey line' forming the twilight zone—also known as terminator—where the gradual transition occurs between light and darkness, within nighttime and daytime hemispheres; Then, we would be able to see a permanent sunset and a sunrise. In addition, in this part of the continent there are signs of liquid water and some kind of vegetation, that's why it's our best option. An
y question?"

  "Yes Colonel, I have a query," says Mary Arlen. "Has the possibility of intelligent life on the planet been ruled out?"

  "Well, at least it can be confirmed that there are no intelligent life forms with advanced technological level," says Ulrich Walter.

  "I know that Earth—nor did we—never receive radio waves coming from this region," continued saying the American female astronaut, "but I want to know if there have been other signs that discard or leave open that possibility."

  "Well, it was also not found sufficient amounts of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere, so the combustion of wood and fossil fuels is discarded. That is why we do not believe there is a human-like specie on the planet. Besides, there's another fundamental issue that has to do with its star: Gliese 667C has an estimated two billion years old, and it's for this reason that it wouldn't have had time for evolution of a similar life-form as developed on Earth. Before concluding this meeting, I want to complement the data collected in this report with the following chart, where you can appreciate the similarities between Nova Terra and our home planet. Although its mass is almost four times that of Earth, gravity will not be a problem, but we will need to adapt to feel heavier than normal."

  There is much expectation among members of the mission regarding the reconnaissance flight that will be carried out by the probe over the twilight area of the planet. Through videos and photographs taken on Super Maximum High Definition (SMHD) and projected holographically in 3D, they will be able to observe in detail the mentioned area to find the exact spot where to descend.