The end of the first month of waiting was bleak. After three months, few believed the astronauts to still be alive. After six months, NASA publicly confirmed the Stellarium-12 mission had failed. The crew never returned, and their deaths were made official. America gained three new dead heroes.
In that same announcement, under intense pressure from society and the U.S. Congress, NASA confirmed the Stellarium space program would be suspended. Researchers began conducting new studies about how to send humans through wormholes in a safer way. A cohort of scientists tried to develop theories about what might have gone wrong, so society could at least understand their fate.
Five years later, with little support from the government and discredited by public opinion, the Stellarium Space Program is definitely closed and forgotten. The entire team is relocated; the equipment taken apart; the documents archived. NASA returns to its plans for missions to Mars. A strong sense of failure and regret is felt throughout the agency.
And, so, the world moved on.
Image 07 – Capsule of NASA’s Orion spacecraft.
(credits and details on the final page)
Chapter 8
The Orion-II had only been in Draco for a few hours. Inside, a nervous crew worked frantically.
“Can we turn the telescope back on? Is there any way to set it up so that it will scan the area every half hour?” Russell suggested to Allison.
“I’m already scanning every fifteen minutes. There isn’t anything visible to the naked eye, either, but the probe captured images of it, so it must be on the other side.”
“How long does this planet’s orbit take?” asked Russell.
“I’m not exactly sure, but from the few images we’ve received, we calculated that a complete orbit could last about one thousand days on Earth,” responded Allison.
“So, if the planet Sater really is on the other side, the mission is over. We have no way of getting the probe to the other side of Valkiria. There’s no way for us to steer it there remotely. We would lose all communication as soon as it eclipsed behind the star,” Russell concluded.
“And we don’t have any way of getting to the other side, do we, Allison?” asked Frank.
“It’s too risky. If we were to start moving around in space, we would have a hard time opening up the wormhole to return home. We would have no way of guaranteeing that our location in space at any given time would take as back to where we came from. The only thing we know for certain is that, when we left from the jump point, the wormhole brought us to this exact spot. If we activate the wormhole from here, it will take us back there. But, if we leave here and try to make it around Valkiria, we’ll really be risking it. We might never find our way back to our solar system,” Allison explained.
“Okay, we’ve been looking for this planet for seven hours now. We can wait for two more hours, and if we haven’t found it by then, we should abort the mission and return,” suggested Russell, and everyone agreed.
At that moment, Allison began to work with the telescope data and the images captured by the cameras. Frank checked the status of the systems and regulated the temperature inside the ship. Russell visually mapped everything he could see through the front window.
“It’s a little hard to see because of how dark it is, but there’s something in that direction. It might be too small to be a planet,” said the commander.
“Yes, those are asteroids. I saw them in the telescope images a few hours ago. They appear to be orbiting Valkiria. If you look up a bit, you can see that there are several of them, which form a belt,” explained Allison.
“That’s amazing...” said Russell, as Frank tried to look out the same window.
It was a very long belt. There were hundreds of asteroids of all sizes. They were all very close together, but at a safe distance from the ship.
Finally, the two hours of waiting came to an end. They all started getting ready for their return. Frank had already performed the necessary procedures and checked the systems. Allison had collected a ton of images, and did not seem too disappointed with the cancellation.
Russell was relieved. Something about this mission had worried him from the beginning. Despite feeling more confident than before, he knew that going back was the right thing to do.
And, so, they turned on the accelerator. The monitor counted down from ten minutes. They all sat in silence, watching Valkiria. In the final minute, as they had gotten used to, the images outside started to become distorted. Valkiria became a huge blur. The green light on the panel lit up, indicating that the process had finished. However, they hadn’t jumped.
“That 50% probability again…” said Frank, as they all looked toward the star, confirming that they had indeed failed to jump.
“Initiating proceedings for a second attempt. Frank, activate the accelerator when I say so,” Russell said.
At that moment, an alarm starts to go off inside the ship. Allison and Frank look at each other, while Russell immediately aborts the procedure. Frank tries to figure out what is causing the alert. Allison runs toward one of the windows.
“It’s the asteroids! They’re coming in our direction, fast!” she warns, pointing to the images from camera three, as she looks through the window again and tries to judge how much danger they re in.
“The gravity we generated with the accelerator attracted them to us. We’ve got to get out of here!” she exclaims.
“Hang on... buckle up, Allison! Starting engines in three, two, one...”
Russell fires up the engines and the ship takes off at maximum thrust. They suffer intense turbulence as the ship gets faster and faster. Once again, the astronauts are pressed against their seats. The alarm is deafening. A few of the larger asteroids can clearly be seen through the windows.
Suddenly, the ship is jolted by a huge shock and starts to rotate. Apparently, a fragment has hit the front tip of the Orion-II, causing it to spiral. The centripetal acceleration is extremely strong, causing both Allison and Frank to lose consciousness.
The commander is still conscious, fighting off the strength of that rotation as best he can. Before going unconscious, as well, he is able to shut off the engines and activate the automatic stabilization. It’s the last thing he does before he goes out. The futures of all three astronauts lie in the hands of the autopilot function. If the ship were to stabilize quickly, they would regain consciousness.
A few minutes later, the engines finish shutting down. The ship is finally stabilized. However, it sped up so much in this process that it moved farther and farther from its initial coordinates.
One by one, they start waking up. It takes them a few seconds to realize what has happened. They are able to look around and confirm that they did indeed escape, but they aren’t exactly sure where they are.
Allison calculates their location, which Russell uses to correct the ship’s position. He then turns the engines back on, placing the spacecraft in Valkiria’s orbit and preventing them from being pulled in by the star’s gravity.
“All systems operating as expected. What do we do now?” asked Frank.
The astronauts sat in silence as they thought Frank’s question over. Finally, after looking at his colleague for a few seconds, Russell said: “We’re going to activate the accelerator and go home before we get any farther from the jump point.”
“Get any farther?” mocked Allison. “We’re already really far away. We need to go back to where we were before and then create the wormhole from there. Can we do that, Russ?”
“Given our current position, I think that would only be possible if we completed a full orbit around Valkiria.”
The crew fell silent for a moment. Russell wasn't sure that was a good idea. Nonetheless, the ship had traveled a great distance while they were all unconscious. Plus, if they chose not to go around the star, they would have to brake the ship with the thrust and use the engines to get back to their original location, a maneuver which could very well end up using all of their fuel.
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“According to my calculations, it would take us about three days to orbit the star. We would hardly use any fuel,” said Russell.
They all agreed and starting preparing for the journey ahead. They would go almost all the way around Valkiria. Russell would monitor their position in relation to the star and correct the orbit whenever necessary.
Allison would take advantage of the trip to scan the space around them with her telescope, capture and analyze images from the cameras, and try to observe as much as possible through the windows of the ship.
And, so, they left. After 10 hours of traveling through space, Frank was visibly worried. He had remained silent since they had made the decision to orbit the star.
“Frank, is everything okay?” asked Allison.
“Yes,” he replied shyly.
“You haven’t said a word all day. I understand why... but if you need to talk...”
“It’s just that, for as long as I’ve been an astronaut, I’ve always considered the possibility of not going home,” he said, beginning to vent his feelings. “But I’ve never experienced anything this real. I’m not ready to not go home, Allison.”
“And you don’t have to be. Everything’s going to be okay. In two days, we’ll be back to the spot where we’ll perform the jump. Everything is going to be fine,” said his colleague, attempting to comfort him.
“Allison, can you come here, please?” interrupted Russell.
“Is that your planet?” asked the commander, pointing out the window to a dark area with a slight shimmer of light. The light seemed spherical in shape. And although it seemed small, given how far away it was, it was actually a huge body. It was located a bit above the horizon, and was quite difficult to see because of the light radiating from the star.
“I think so! It has to be!” exclaimed Allison, as she headed straight for the computer that controlled the telescope.
Soon after inputting a few coordinates and adjusting the zoom on the telescope, the first images appeared on the display monitor.
“Guys, check this out. That’s our planet, Sater!” said Allison joyfully as she pointed to the screen.
The planet was magnificent. It was a reddish blue color. The rings around it were bright and clearly visible. A short while later, they were close enough to see it in greater detail.
“Let’s send the probe,” said Allison.
“No. Mission aborted. We’re staying on course until we can jump back, as planned,” said Russell.
“Russ, this planet is the only reason we came here. We have to complete the mission!” she argued. “With the data we have now, Frank could set up the probe to travel to and orbit the planet. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to get some images before losing contact on the other side of Valkiria. Then, we’ll arrive at the jump point as planned, and we’ll still be able to take something back to Earth.”
“Okay, let’s assume that we launch the probe and it’s able to get to the planet. What happens if we don’t have enough time to capture any images? We’ll have to go back to Earth with no images and no probe,” argued Russell.
“That’s fine,” responded Allison, “the probe would orbit the planet until the next mission could go and capture that data, without having to launch a second probe. In any case, there’s no reason for us not to continue with the mission. The planet is practically right in front of us!”
At that point, Russell pensively looked toward the planet. He didn’t want to go home with his first failure, especially since this was NASA’s biggest mission to date.
“Frank, let’s launch,” he said, smiling at Allison.
“Okay, I’m going to need about 15 minutes to set up the new parameters,” Frank answered.
The rings around the ship are realigned. As the probe undocks, the crew inside the Orion-II feels a slight tremor. Allison positions the telescope so that she can monitor its journey. Frank remotely opens the solar panels on the probe. Shortly thereafter, he activates its engines.
In silence, they all watch as the small vehicle makes its way to Sater. Little by little, it becomes nothing but a shining spot in the dark sky. A few minutes later, even that beam of light becomes invisible. The planet takes over one of the windows. Russell makes the necessary adjustments to compensate for Sater’s gravity, which is slowly pulling the Orion-II out of orbit.
And so, in astonishment, the crew fought for a spot in the leftmost part of the capsule, looking out the windows of the Orion-II to view the striking images of a planet never before seen.
After some time, the planet started to fall behind the ship. It was only visible on the spacecraft’s cameras. Frank continued monitoring all of the probe’s navigation data, while Allison focused on the monitors, waiting for the first images to come in.
“Confirmed, the probe is in orbit!” Frank announced excitedly after receiving verification on the computer.
“Excellent!” said Allison in celebration. “Russell, how long until the probe is out of sight and we lose contact?”
“Probably no more than three hours...”
He is suddenly interrupted; the cabin goes dark. Unexpectedly, the ship turns off completely. All of the lights, computers, and even the on-board life support systems switch off.
The crew is enveloped in shock and concern. A moment later, after coming to the obvious conclusion that the ship has suffered a mechanical failure, Frank turns on his flashlight and unfastens his seatbelt. Russell starts pressing a few buttons in the cabin, trying, unsuccessfully, to restart the systems.
“Frank, what happened?” he asks.
“We may have experienced an overload. The solar panels must be capturing a huge amount of energy. Or maybe the Valkiria star is giving off too much heat. I’m going to manually restart the systems.”
Frank opens one of the panels on the ship floor. He reaches into a compartment filled with a variety of electronic circuits. Confidently, he unplugs one of them, and then plugs it back in. The ship comes back to life.
“I’m going to adjust a few parameters on the computer so the ship will be able to manage the electrical load generated by the emissions we’re receiving from the star. It shouldn’t happen again,” says the engineer.
Allison breathes a sigh of relief.
At that very moment, to the surprise and fascination of the three astronauts, the first images from the probe begin to arrive. A beautiful, enigmatic Sater is revealed for the first time ever.
Chapter 9
It would be dawn if they were on Earth. However, days ago, the basic concepts of night and day had stopped making sense to them. Over the last few hours, as they orbited the red giant, there were few external references to give the crew any notion of the time of day.
Frank had realized the Orion-II was rotating very slowly on its main axis, causing Valkiria to line up with the center of the ship every six hours. This helped to create a point of reference which they could call “daytime,” but it was still very far from what they were used to.
Either way, they all had watches, and they did their best to stick to a sleep schedule like the one they had on Earth. To achieve this, they followed a very strict routine: at 10:00 p.m., they lowered the lights inside the cabin and didn’t turn them back on until 6:00 in the morning. None of the crewmembers were able to sleep the whole “night” through, but they came pretty close to doing so.
They also tried to eat three meals per day. They had to follow this routine as closely as possible, not just to remain well rested, but to stay somewhat connected with Earth. At dinnertime, for example, Frank thought about his family—his wife and two children sitting at the kitchen table, giving thanks for their food. He also liked to imagine himself kissing his daughter on the forehead as he carried her off to bed. Frank pictured himself brushing his youngest son’s teeth, while the kid swallowed a chunk of toothpaste, smiling at his dad with the silly face of someone who knows they’re doing something wrong.
Frank had kept up with this routine since leaving Eart
h. Because, as exciting as the trip had been so far, he constantly thought about how hard it was to be so far away from his family. He hadn’t felt this way during his eight months aboard the International Space Station. Maybe that was because he had been able to communicate with them via text messages or streaming video on a semi-regular basis. Or maybe it was because he could see Earth from the ISS, and he was put at ease knowing that they were safe down below.
Allison had noticed the tears on her partner’s face the first night of the trip, when they were still traveling through the solar system. She, on the other hand, was in a totally different state of mind. There wasn’t much on Earth for her to miss. And the discoveries they would make on this mission would have a huge impact on the field of astronomy. It was a strange and frightening sensation, but orbiting that star in Draco, more than 250,000 light years away from Earth, felt like "home" to her. She was at peace.
That "night" in particular, no one followed their routine. It was 3:00 a.m. and they were flooded with data from the probe. In a span of just two hours, after completing a full orbit around Sater, the probe had already sent more than 3,000 photos and more than one hour of video, in addition to numerical data from its atmospheric composition measuring instruments. Fully focused, Allison analyzed the information and took notes. Russell, silent and objective as always, concentrated on the ship’s orbit. He took advantage of that time to write in his diary:
Today we completed day seven of the mission. The launch from Earth was amazing. The vibration caused by the rings on the Orion-II was much less intense that I had imagined. The SLS placed the ship very close to the expected path, but I had to correct the course shortly after the completion of the second stage.
The first five days of travel were arduous. Frank suggested that NASA send a few board games along on the next mission, because it was hard to find ways to make the time pass. He was obviously joking, playing without gravity would be quite strange. It’s great to have Frank on the team. He’s very intelligent, and he manages to keep a positive atmosphere, as well. Allison is also amazing; she’s incredibly determined and has an impressive knowledge of astronomy.
Stellarium (Origins): A Space-Time Adventure to the Ends of our Universe Page 5