He hit his buzzer again. “Dana, find out who our top climatologist and geologist on staff is at present and get them there this evening for that meeting with the President.”
He found himself cursing Congress and past Presidents. NASA had been jerked around on a chain so often the past twenty years that the whole organization was a mere shell of what it had been back in the glory days of the moon landings. Every President had their own idea of what NASA should be and Congress was always cutting their budget. It was amazing that the organization even existed anymore.
The private sector still had some promise for space exploration. Space X and several other young aspiring companies were developing the ability to put payloads into orbit and were even on the brink of putting astronauts back into orbit on private rockets. At the moment however, NASA still depended on Russia to transport astronauts to and from the space station at sixty million dollars a seat. Well, Congress was soon going to see the folly of their micromanaging and knee jerking in a most abrupt way. As bad as this was going to be, he could at least get a little satisfaction from that.
David sat for perhaps twenty to thirty minutes trying to prioritize and making notes as to what he felt would be immediate needs. He knew that the upcoming battles over the cost of what he was going to propose were going to be many times worse than the financial budget battles of the past ten to fifteen years. At least this time there would be a little fire under the damn politicians’ feet as they tried to tap dance around the issue. The big question was how much cooperation could be expected from the European Space Agency, the Russian Space Agency and a few of the other minor players in space exploration. That was a question that would probably have to be answered by the intelligence agencies. When the leaders of some of those countries learned what was coming their way there were too many possibilities and variables to accurately guess how they would respond. He needed to bring that up tomorrow also, he guessed. We have so much to do now and only twenty seven years to do it, he sighed. As he worked on his notes his thoughts kept going to the world his granddaughter would grow up in. He started his To Do list and was amazed at how fast it grew.
David was working on the third page of his urgent needs list about three hours later when Dana his secretary informed there was a “Bobbi” on the phone for him from JPL in California.
“Put him through right away,” replied David.
“Uh, Sir, it is a woman” said Dana.
“Ok, ok, I don’t know why they have to have the same sounding names. Some mothers idea of a joke I guess. Just put her through.”
“Doctor Honstein, this is one of the computer geeks you were referring to out here on the west coast earlier” the woman said with sarcasm dripping from her voice. “We have that future projection data you wanted. We also roughed in the probable results of the various interactions and final orbital variances. Be aware that due to the myriad possibilities of interactions in the Oort cloud, this is a rough estimate. The data and estimates will firm up as we gain more information on the exact mass of the Brown Dwarf and its gravitational field. There is a lot that we are just theorizing at this time. Robby and I think this probably has about ninety five percent accuracy. Mary Beth has already looked it over and agrees. I am sending it to you via encrypted email right…now. I hope it helps.”
“Thanks guys for working this up so fast,” he replied.
“No problem sir, that’s what us geeks do.” She broke the connection.
David had just opened the data package and was looking it over when his intercom buzzed.
“Doctor Honstein, the Gulfstream G-9 with Doctor Banscott and Peter Rockwell just landed.”
“Crap,” he thought, I will have to look all this over on the way over to the White House. He downloaded the data to his secure laptop and headed toward the door. “Dana, please call my car around for me.”
“Wait Doctor Honstein, wait. I have a Doctor Carlos Francisco on the phone from Spain. He says he is with the ESA and needs to speak to you immediately.”
David looked at his watch. It was after midnight over in Europe. “What the hell?” he thought.
David took the call right at Dana’s desk. “This is Doctor Honstein. Yes, Carlos, I know what time it must be there. Why are you working so late? Yes, I am aware that the ESA had been scheduled for use of the Hubble for the past week. I understand that it being down for some attempted repairs is causing some problems for everyone. No, we have not resolved the problems; the entire set of gyroscopes is still offline. Ah, I see, they may have gotten it back up then and have been running diagnostics. No, I cannot say why they have been running diagnostics on it for three weeks now. You say that you have information that it has been up and transmitting telemetry the entire time. You also have information that it is maintaining position and orientation to observe the same area of space continuously. Yes, I know that the Air Force launched two X-37Bs, oh, and you say that was about the time that the Hubble went down with a failure. Yes Carlos, that does sound sort of odd and co-incidental to me also. I will look into it and get back to you as soon as I can find out what is going on. No, Carlos, I am not privy to what was on those Air Force space planes. I understand your frustration Carlos. I will see what I can find out. What? From an infrared scope in Spain? Have you determined what it may be? Oh, you want the Hubble to try and help determine what it is. I will see what I can find out Carlos. I will be back with you in a day or two. Yes, she is growing like a weed Carlos. Goodnight Carlos, say hello to your wife for me.”
David carefully handed the phone back to Dana. He looked at her and said, “The proverbial shit is about to hit the fan.” He picked up his laptop and headed to his waiting car.
Chapter 15
April 25th, 2016
Washington DC
Doctor David Honstein arrived at the White House at approximately eight pm. Donald Masterfield was waiting for him and opened his door. “Everyone is here, David, you’re the last to arrive. I am not quite sure why the three additional guests that you requested are here. I was under the presumption that this information was still being kept under wraps.”
“Not for very much longer,” David replied. “Shall we get started?”
Donald led David to the briefing room. David nodded at Mike Banscott and took a long, hard, and serious look at Peter Rockwell. So, this was the young man who was the bringer of such ill tidings that had started all of this scrambling and secrecy almost a month ago. The kid looked bright enough. They were certainly going to need a lot of intelligent young people like him in the coming years. The other two men at the table wore NASA badges as well as a White House visitor’s badge. He assumed that they were the climatologist and geologist that he had asked to be here.
“Elliott Dewey entered the room and announced, “Gentlemen, the President of the United States.” President Montgomery came in and sat down. She looked around the table and spoke. “This is a little late for a briefing, don’t you think Doctor Honstein?” She turned and directed her gaze at David.
“I apologize for the late hour Madam President, but you had said that you wanted to know as soon as we had more detailed information on the Brown Dwarf. As you requested, I have some very important information for you.”
She glanced around at the others and said, “There are some new faces here. I would like everyone to introduce themselves so we all know who is who.”
They went around the room standing and introducing themselves and their position: Elliott Dewy – Chief of Staff, General Preston – Director NSA, Donald Masterfield – Whitehouse Science Advisor, Doctor Nicholson – Climatologist at NASA, Doctor Desmond – Lead Geologist at NASA, Doctor Banscott – Research Team Leader at JPL, Peter Rockwell – Assistant at JPL, Doctor David Honstein – NASA Director.
The President’s eyes had stopped on Peter Rockwell and she continued to gaze at him. He tried to avoid her stare but finally looked up and returned it. “So this is young Mister Rockwell,” the President said. “It seems Mr. Rock
well, that you are the cause of us all being here instead of at other places that are much more appealing this time of the day. I hope you find this briefing interesting. I do not believe there have been very many twenty two year old men in this room for these types of meetings before. Doctor Honstein, I believe it was at your advice that we kept this group as small as possible but now you are bringing two more people in on this briefing. Is there a reason for this?”
David nodded. “I think that their input will be most informative later on in this meeting. Although, at the moment, I am sure they are totally lost as to why they are here.” Both new comers nodded their heads in affirmation. “So with your permission, I will get started Madam President.”
She nodded her head and was about to speak when Peter’s stomach gave out a loud rumble. Peter turned apple red and meekly said, “I am sorry, we just got off the plane and it has been over twelve hours since we ate. I will try to keep it under control.”
General Preston rolled his eyes and the others at the table were doing their best to not snicker or laugh. The President gave Peter a look of amusement and turned to Elliott Dewey, her Chief of Staff. “Please have someone scrounge us a few pizzas and some soft drinks. I get the feeling this is going to be a long night, and we cannot have Mr. Rockwell starving to death on us, can we? Doctor Honstein please proceed.”
David stood up and began. “At our last briefing we informed you that Mr. Peter Rockwell had discovered a Brown Dwarf, a failed star, apparently very close to our solar system. The small amount of data we had at that time allowed us to roughly guess that the object was moving in our direction and would pass fairly close to our solar system.” David nodded at General Preston. “With the help of some additional resources put at our disposal by General Preston and the NSA, we now have a much firmer picture of how close this object is, what its trajectory is, and what effect it will probably have on us as it passes.” David paused, looked at his notes, and looked over at Peter. “Mr. Rockwell, working with a team under Mike Banscott has collected the best data that we have available for the moment and I am here to present that to you.” David paused again, and gathered his courage.
The President leaned forward. “Well Doctor Honstein, we are waiting.”
“The Brown Dwarf has the mass of about twenty one Jupiter sized planets. It is a midsized Y Class Brown Dwarf. It is about zero point zero five four Light Years distant. It is moving toward us at about one million and three hundred and forty mph. That is approximately two tenths of one percent of the speed of light. We know its surface temperature is approximately seventy three degrees Fahrenheit. At its present rate of approach it will reach the proximity of our solar system in about twenty seven years.”
General Preston interrupted David. “Please elaborate on the word proximity Doctor Honstein.”
David took a deep breath. “Madam President, gentlemen, in twenty seven years this Brown Dwarf will enter our solar system.”
The President’s hands were visibly trembling as she reached for a glass of water. She knocked it over and Peter jumped up to wipe up the pool of water before it spread. She sat back. “Doctor Honstein, are you telling me that in twenty seven years this Brown Dwarf Star is going to hit us?”
“No, Madam President. We pretty much can say with confidence that the Brown Dwarf will not hit Earth. We do know that it will influence our planet in passing and that is why I have invited our two specialists here for their opinion. First, let me show a diagram that I have drawn up. In twenty seven years the Brown Dwarf will enter the solar system about here. It will come in about four degrees above the ecliptic. At that time...”
Elliot Dewey had raised his hand like a school boy. “I am sorry; could you please explain what ecliptic means?”
Certainly, said David. “The ecliptic is the plane that most of the planets orbit the sun in. Most of them formed originally from a disk of dust that was in the ecliptic plane circling the sun. All but one still follows that same original ecliptic pattern. Pluto, although it is no longer classified a planet, is in a very elliptical orbit that is inclined about eighteen degrees off the ecliptic. Because of that, we do not think Pluto was one of our original planets but was captured later by the sun as it passed by. Although it could have possibly obtained that orbit that way due to some other circumstances, we are just not sure how it ended up in it’s present orbit.”
“As I was saying, it will enter our solar system right about here. The planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars will all be on the opposite side of the sun at that time. We expect that it will have very little effect on those inner planets. Earth will be about right here. The Brown Dwarf will pass at its closest point to Earth right about here. It will be about forty four million miles from us and it will follow a somewhat curving path due to the suns gravity affecting its trajectory. The closest it will approach the Sun is about the orbit of Mars or we figure about one point four six AU. As it continues passing through the solar system it will be traveling in the same direction that the other planets orbit. From the time it enters the proximity of the Oort cloud on one side of the solar system until it exits on the other is going to be approximately seventy six days. It will have its greatest effect on our planet for about three to four weeks. As you can see it will not hit Earth.”
David could almost feel the tension ease in the room. A White House staff person entered and put three pizzas on the table as well as a bucket of ice, cups and plates. Another brought in a tray of soft drinks. General Preston stood and served the President a piece of pizza and then took one for himself. Peter poured the President a Coke and handed it to her, receiving a look of gratitude in response.
David continued his lecture. “Some of the outer planets are not going to be as fortunate as the inner planets. The dwarf will pass just above the asteroid belt and about ten million miles in front of Jupiter as it passes though Jupiter’s orbit. Due to the high mass of both planets and their gravitation influence Jupiter will be swung rapidly around the Dwarf as it passes. With the data we have at the moment, we think that Jupiter will be accelerated onto a new trajectory that will eject it from our solar system. Some of its moons will hit and be absorbed by the Brown Dwarf while the others will probably remain gravitationally locked into orbit around the planet Jupiter.”
Mike and Peter were both in shock, they had not seen this data yet as it came in while they were still on the plane in route to Washington. “The Dwarf will also have its trajectory changed during the encounter with Jupiter. We have calculated that it will swing around the sun in this new trajectory and head out of our solar system.”
The President interjected, “Doctor Honstein, with that new curve you just added it looks as if Saturn is right in the path of the dwarf.” That is correct Madam President. “With the information we have, we believe that the Dwarf will either graze or hit Saturn as it approaches it from behind. Since Saturn is only thirty percent of the mass of Jupiter, we believe that the two will collide and probably merge together. We still are not sure what type of core Saturn has, but it will probably be absorbed by the Brown Dwarf as will most of Saturn’s gaseous atmosphere. We also believe that all of the moons of Saturn will either be destroyed or fall into the Brown Dwarf. This collision with Saturn is going to be catastrophic enough to cause intense heat on the dwarf and for about a month it may seem as if we have a second, much smaller, and much cooler sun in the sky. The dwarf will then pass through the Oort cloud and continue on out of the solar system to once again roam across our galaxy.”
“But it will not hit Earth?” the President whispered again. David nodded his head in affirmation. “Thank God,” she sighed.
David let everyone absorb what he had said so far. “There are however, repercussions to the Brown Dwarf passing so close to the Earth. The events that will take place farther out in our solar system will also have an impact on our planet. The Brown Dwarf will pass in front of Earth as it crosses the solar system. Due to its size, mass, and associated gravity, it is going to have
some pretty dramatic results on our planet. Astronomically speaking, the Earth’s orbit is going to become more elliptical or elongated as you can see on this second diagram. The Earth’s closest approach to the sun or its perihelion is still going to be around one AU or astronomical Unit. That is about ninety three million miles from the sun. Due to elongation of its orbit by the Brown Dwarf, however, there is now going to be an aphelion or farthest point of orbit at about one point two four AU or about one hundred and twenty million miles.
There are going to be some far reaching consequences because of this and that is why I have asked Doctor Nichols, our Climatologist, to be here today. This new aphelion is about half the distance between Earth and Mars. The Earth will probably take almost five hundred and seventy days to orbit the sun instead of the present three hundred and sixty five days. During the three weeks or so when the Brown Dwarf is in closest proximity to Earth, it is going to cause some strong gravitational stresses to the Earth’s crust. Doctor Desmond, our Geologist, may be able to expound on exactly what those stresses will mean to us.”
David motioned toward the newcomers and said, “Doctor Nichols, can you give us a brief explanation what the new orbit of Earth will mean to our planet?”
Dr. Nichols slowly stood. It was easy to see that he was still trying to digest the information he had just been made privy to. Finally, he spoke. “If what Doctor Honstein has told us comes to pass, we are in for some very unpleasant times ahead. I am winging this, because it will require some pretty extensive computer modeling to give a really good evaluation of the effects the orbit change will have on our climate.”
“Doctor Nichols, please just make your best educated guess for us,” the President told him.
“Very well then,” he said. “Let’s start during the actual approach and passing of this object, or Brown Dwarf as you are calling it. It will have little effect on our weather itself during the two to three weeks of proximity with our planet.” He thought for a moment. “We will probably see massive ocean tides unlike any that have been seen in mankind’s history. I would hazard to guess that tides would be at least ten times greater than what we are accustomed to. I would imagine that low lying areas such as the major river basins of the Amazon, Nile, Yangtze, Mississippi, etc. would all be completely flooded at high tides. In our country, Florida, New Orleans, probably all the major coastal cities and areas will be flooded during high tides until this object passes. Overseas, the Ganges Delta, most of Denmark, the Pacific Islands, all the low lying costal zones would be completely submerged at high tide until after the passing.”
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