Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1)

by Gregory Gates

  The Sheikh nodded. “Yes, we do. You have more than fulfilled our agreement, and I will be forever grateful.”

  “Likewise, sir. We could not have done it without your most generous assistance.”

  “Admiral, I will relate this conversation to the Emir, whom I am certain will be most pleased. I would hope that sometime in the near future, you and your people will visit us. I believe the Emir would be most pleased, and very grateful.”

  “I look forward to it, Sheikh. Your world and mine need to learn how to cooperate. And you and I have shown that it can be done.”

  “Indeed we have, Admiral. Indeed we have.”

  For the most part Jeff and Gabe retired to the quiet life at Wrentham House, out of the public eye, raising Margherita and occasionally racing their 95’ sloop, ‘Ghita.’ They also learned to play golf and enjoyed a simple social life at the Newport Country Club. However, after a few years Gabriel decided she wanted to do something that would keep her a bit busier. First she accepted the position of organist at Trinity Church in Newport. Then she began performing as a guest piano soloist with various orchestras throughout New England, including the Boston Symphony. That being insufficient to keep her brain busy, she accepted a position as Adjunct Professor of Applied Mathematics at MIT. She was later nominated for and accepted the position of Mallinckrodt Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard. Simultaneous with that she occasionally lectured in astrophysics at Cambridge, all the while conducting joint research projects in both applied physics and mathematics at MIT, Harvard, and Cambridge. In time she was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics and the Fields Medal; the only person to have ever received both awards. In 2031 Time Magazine ran a cover article on her entitled, “The World’s Greatest Mind?”

  Susan remained at Wrentham House with Jeff and Gabe for most of a year, monitoring Ghita’s health and development. During that time she wrote a book on space medicine. It was eventually translated into more than 60 languages, and for decades to come was considered the quintessential work on the subject. She eventually went to work for NASA, in time rising to the position of Chief, Space Medicine Division. In 2032 she was nominated by the President to the post of Surgeon General of the United States, and unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

  Immediately upon their return, Abby took a vacation. She bought a bikini – much to Jeff’s surprise – and went to Bermuda, where she spent six months on the beach, getting a tan, and drinking cocktails with fruit and little pink parasols. Eventually bored with the beach, she returned to active duty in the Navy and applied for the NASA Astronaut Program, into which she was promptly accepted. She quickly rose to the position of Chief Astronaut, and in 2033 was appointed by the President to the position of NASA Administrator, and promoted to Vice Admiral. During her time at NASA Abby flew five missions into space. She was the first human since Apollo 17 to set foot on the moon. Her first words upon stepping onto the lunar surface were, “Humph. What a miserable little rock.” She was the only person to twice be awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

  Jeff, Gabe, Abby, and Susan were swamped with requests for a book and movie rights. Having no idea how to approach the project, they turned to Abby’s parents, Brad and Diane, already best-selling novelists with several award-winning films to their credit. Following six months of interviews and pouring over data and photographs, they produced a volume that immediately skyrocketed to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. The following year they produced a feature film based on the book that won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

  Three months after splashdown, Chrissie received a call from the White House. President Caldwell was now midway through his second term, and his press secretary had resigned, electing retirement over the pressure of press briefings. Though reluctant to leave Jeff, Gabe, and Ghita, Chrissie accepted the position of White House Press Secretary, and served as such for two years. During that time she married Dr. Robert Vandergriff, Ph.D., one of the Newport MCC volunteers and then a member of NASA’s Space Launch System development team. Afterwards the couple returned to Newport and Chrissie resumed her responsibilities as Jeff and Gabe’s personal secretary, while her husband took over as director of the Ares Mission Museum at Quonset Point Airport. When her father, Scott, retired as the Chair of the International Relations Department at the United States Naval Academy, her parents bought a house on the beach next door to Chrissie and Robert on Conanicut Island.

  Heidi also went to work for NASA, initially as an engineer in the Space Launch System program wherein her work on Jupiter rockets proved invaluable. Eventually she moved into the Kennedy Space Center launch facility, where she quickly rose to the position of Chief Launch Director, overseeing the Launch Control Rooms and supervising every launch from Kennedy for more than fifteen years. Throughout KSC she was notoriously known for her stern disposition and tight-fitting black leather outfits, and reverently referred to as, “Rocket Lady.”

  Ghita turned out just fine, perhaps better than fine. By her 18th birthday she was 6’2” tall, had hip-length blonde hair like her mother, was stunningly beautiful, had learned to fly, had appeared on the cover of every major magazine in the world, and was enrolled at Caltech as a prospective astronomy major. When asked by her mother, “Why astronomy?” She replied, “I figure I could get a job with SETI. You know, give them an example of what to look for.”

  GLOSSARY

  AFB: Air Force Base.

  AGC: 1. Apollo Guidance Computer. 2. Automatic Gain Control.

  AGS: Abort Guidance System.

  AGT: Ascent Ground Track.

  AOS: Acquisition Of Signal.

  Aphelion: The point at which a body orbiting the sun is farthest from it.

  Apoapsis: The point at which two orbiting bodies are most distant from one another.

  Apogee: The highest point of an orbit around Earth.

  Apollo 11: First lunar landing. Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. Launched July 16, 1969. Landed on the moon July 20, 1969.

  APS: Ascent Propulsion System.

  APU: Auxiliary Power Unit.

  Ares: 1. Greek word for Mars. 2. Grey Aerospace Mars mission name.

  ARIA: Apollo (in this context, Ares) Range Instrument Aircraft. A KC-135 outfitted with the necessary communications equipment to relay signals and data between the splashdown area and Houston (or Newport), as the capsule is now out of communication with the DSN.

  AS: Approach Stage (on the Mars lander).

  ASS: Approach Stage Separation.

  AU: Astronomical Unit. Mean distance of Earth from the sun. Approximately 93 million miles.

  Balls: Sometime slang for zeros. Thus three balls = 000.

  BECO: Booster Engine Cutoff.

  Birdfarm: Navy slang for aircraft carrier.

  BLM: (United States) Bureau of Land Management.

  BMAG: Body-Mounted Attitude Gyro.

  BP: Blood Pressure.

  Bubblehead: Slang term for a submariner.

  Canberra: Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, Canberra, Australia.

  Canoe Club: Slang for United States Navy.

  Cape: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

  CAPT: Captain, United States Navy.

  CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  CDR: Commander, United States Navy.

  Centaur: Rocket stage.

  CEV: Crew Exploration Vehicle (similar to Apollo era Command Module).

  CH4: Methane (gas).

  Chaos: Martian area of chaotic terrain featuring canyons, ridges, cracks and plains all jumbled together.

  CM: Command Module.

  CMC: Command Module Computer.

  CO: 1. Carbon monoxide. 2. Commanding Officer.

  CO2: Carbon dioxide.

  COMM: Communications.

  COMNAVSPECWARGRU 3: Commander, Naval Special Warfare Group 3 (SEAL Team 3).

  Conjunction: Mars solar conjunction. Mars is on the opposite side of
the sun from Earth.

  CONUS: Continental United States.

  CRO: Combat Rescue Officer (United States Air Force).

  Cryo: Cryogenic.

  CSM: Command and Service Modules.

  Curiosity: MSL rover (Gale crater, Mars).

  DAP: Digital Autopilot.

  dc: Direct current.

  Deimos: The smaller of Mars’ two moons.

  Delta-V: Change or difference in velocity.

  DFC: Distinguished Flying Cross (U.S. military decoration).

  DHCUS: Delta Heavy Cryogenic Upper Stage (rocket stage).

  DOI: Descent Orbit Insertion.

  DPS: Descent Propulsion System.

  DSKY: Display and Keyboard. The interface with the navigation computer.

  DSN: Deep Space Network (Goldstone, Canberra and Madrid).

  EDS: Earth Departure Stage (rocket stage).

  ELS: Earth Landing Subsystem.

  EMP: Electromagnetic Pulse.

  EMS: Entry Monitoring System.

  EOD: Explosive Ordinance Disposal.

  EODGRUONE: EOD Group One, Coronado, California.

  EVA: Extravehicular Activity.

  FAA: Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C.

  FCR: Flight Control Room.

  Fossa: Long narrow depressions or troughs on Mars (plural fossae).

  fps: Frames Per Second.

  FSI: Flight Safety International, Wichita, Kansas.

  G&N: Guidance and Navigation computer.

  GALCIT: Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology.

  GDC: Gyro Display Couplers.

  Goldstone: Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, Barstow, California.

  Goddard: Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

  GTC: Guidance Thrust Command.

  H2: Hydrogen (gas).

  Hab: Mars habitat.

  HARM: High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile.

  H-dot: Vertical velocity (the time derivative of altitude).

  HiRISE: High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on the MRO.

  IMU: Inertial Measurement Unit. Used to determine the CSM attitude with respect to an inertial star-fixed system.

  IR: Infrared.

  ISS: 1. International Space Station. 2. Inertial Subsystem.

  Jett: Jettison.

  JPL: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

  Johnson: Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.

  Kennedy: Kennedy Space Center, Orlando, Florida (KSC).

  Kilo: Kilogram (about 2.2 pounds).

  Klick: Kilometer.

  LCC: Launch Control Center.

  LCDR: Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy.

  LCH4: Liquid methane.

  LED: Light Emitting Diode.

  LGC: LM Guidance Computer.

  LH2: Liquid hydrogen.

  LM: Apollo era Lunar excursion Module (aka LEM).

  LMST: Local Mean Standard Time (at Grey Station on Mars).

  LN2: Liquid nitrogen.

  LOS: Loss Of Signal.

  LOX: Liquid oxygen.

  LR: Landing Radar.

  LZ: Landing Zone.

  Madrid: Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, Madrid, Spain.

  Mag: Magnification.

  Magnum: Many meanings, but in this case it is the code word for the launch of a HARM. U.S. fighter pilots make a radio call when they launch a weapon. This enables their controller to maintain an inventory of what weapons have been utilized and what remains on the aircraft.

  Marshall: Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

  MAV: Mars Ascent Vehicle.

  MAXQ: Maximum dynamic pressure.

  MCC: Mission Control Center.

  MDS: Mars Descent Stage.

  MECO: Main Engine Cutoff.

  MER: Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit and Opportunity). Launched June 10 and July 7, 2003

  Mic: Microphone.

  Mil-spec: Military specification.

  MMRTG: Multi-Mission Radio-Thermal Generator (a Boeing-built RTG).

  MOC: Mars Orbiter Camera on the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

  MOI: Mars Orbital Insertion.

  MOLA: Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter. An instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor.

  Mons: Martian mountain or volcano (plural: montes).

  MRO: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Launched August 12, 2005.

  MSD: Mars Sol Date. Running count of sols since December 29, 1873 (birth date of astronomer Carl Otto Lampland). To obtain LMST, multiply the MSD decimal portion by 24 and subtract one (the station is in Mars’ –1 time zone), then multiply the resulting decimal portion by 60 to obtain minutes. (Example: MSD 50844.691, LMST is 1535, or 3:35 p.m.).

  MSL: Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity). Launched November 26, 2011.

  MTC: Coordinated Mars Time. Mean solar time at Mars’ prime meridian (the center of crater Airy-0).

  N2: Nitrogen (gas).

  NAB: Naval Amphibious Base.

  NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C.

  Nav: Navigation or navigational.

  Navy Cross: Military decoration for valor, second only to the Medal of Honor.

  NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland.

  O2: Oxygen (gas).

  O&C: Operations and Checkout Building, Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

  Opportunity: MER rover (Meridiani Planum, Mars).

  Opposition: Mars solar opposition. Mars is on the same side of the sun as Earth and at its nearest point to Earth for any given orbit.

  ORB: Orbital Rendezvous Burn.

  P52: An AGC program used to check and realign the IMU utilizing two star sightings in the CM sextant.

  PA: Public Address.

  PAD: Data sent to the crew from ground, written on preformatted sheets in pads.

  PAM: Payload Assist Module.

  PDI: Powered Descent Initiation.

  Periapsis: The point at which two orbiting bodies are nearest one another.

  Perigee: The lowest point of an orbit around Earth.

  Perihelion: The point at which a body orbiting the sun is nearest to it.

  PGNCS: Primary Guidance, Navigation, and Control System.

  Phobos: The larger of Mars’ two moons.

  Planitia: Low Martian plains.

  Planum: High Martian plains or plateaus.

  PLSS: Personal Life Support System.

  PROCEED: Button on the DSKY that switches the navigation computer between standby and normal operation modes.

  PSI: Pounds per Square Inch.

  PTC: Passive Thermal Control. (The ship is in a slow rotation around its long axis for even heating by the sun.)

  Pyro: Pyrotechnic. Usually explosive bolts.

  Q-1 maintenance: Maintenance performed once each quarter (every three months).

  RADM: Rear Admiral, United States Navy.

  Rags: (Also ragheads.) Derogatory word for Arabs.

  RCRS: Regenerative Carbon dioxide Removal System. (CO2 scrubbers.)

  RCS: Reaction Control System.

  REACQ: Reacquisition. (High Gain Antenna mode.)

  Red Shirt: Aviation Ordnanceman on an aircraft carrier (also firefighter and EOD).

  Regolith: Martian soil. A mixture of loose sand, dust and rocks that covers the underlying bedrock.

  R&D: Research and Development.

  R-dot: Rate of change in range (the rate of approach).

  REFSMMAT: Reference to Stable Member Matrix. A numerical definition of a fixed orientation in space, usually defined with respect to the stars. It is used by the primary guidance, navigation, and control system (PGNCS) as a reference to which the gimbal-mounted platform should be oriented. P52 option 3 will check the current REFSMMAT.

  REPRESS: Repressurization.

  RR: Rendezvous Radar.

  RTG: Radio-Thermal Generator (plutonium-powered micro nuclear power electrical generator).

  S-IVB:
Saturn V third stage.

  S65 AMG: Top of the line Mercedes sedan.

  SA-8 Gecko: Soviet surface-to-air missile.

  Sabatier: Chemical reactor for producing water, oxygen, and methane from hydrogen and CO2.

  Saturn V: Rocket utilized for Apollo missions.

  SECO: Second Stage Engine Cutoff.

  SEP: Separation.

  SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

  Sim: Simulator.

  SM: Service Module.

  SOI: Sphere of Influence.

  Sol: Martian solar day (24 hours 39 minutes 35.24409 seconds).

  Sphere of Influence: The region around a star, planet, or moon in which that body’s gravitational pull dominates the orbit of surrounding smaller objects.

  Spirit: MER rover (Gusev crater, Mars).

  SPS: Service Propulsion System.

  SRT: Stanford Racing Team (builders of the Mars rovers, Amos and Andy).

  Tau: 1. 19th letter of the Greek alphabet. 2. Optical depth or thickness. A measure of transparency defined as a negative natural logarithm of the fraction of available sunlight owing to atmospheric conditions. The higher the Tau, the less sunlight there is reaching the planet’s surface. On Mars a Tau of 4.7 means that 99% of normal sunlight is being blocked by dust in the atmosphere.

  THEMIS: Thermal Emission Imaging System on the Mars Odyssey orbiter.

  TEI: Trans-Earth Injection. Departing Mars orbit for Earth.

  TGO: Time to Go (from current time to desired condition).

  TIG: Time of Ignition.

  TMI: Trans-Mars Injection. Departing Earth orbit for Mars.

  UHF: Ultra-High Frequency. Radio frequency of 300 megahertz to 3 gigahertz.

  USGS: United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.

  UTC: Universal Coordinated Time (formerly Greenwich Mean Time)

  Vallis: Martian valley. (Plural: valles).

  VHF: Very-High Frequency. Radio frequency of 30 to 300 megahertz.

  Viking: Mars exploratory missions, 1975-76.

  VIS: Visible light.

  VOX: Voice-operated relay.

  WILCO: Will Comply.

  ∆V: Delta-V.

  MAPS

  Mars USGS Topographical Map

  Margaritifer Terra USGS Topographical Map