Around Hi'iaka?

[Jazzlvraz]

[Cross-posted from The Planetary Circumnavigation Club]

Dateline: Hi’iaka, a trans-Neptunian moon in Sol system, 5 March 3304

Having followed CMDR Nick Sticks's adventure, I decided to take on a circumnavigation of my own...starting from a position of nigh-utter ignorance about SRVs: I had 2.6km on the clock before I began, and nary a worthwhile material in sight for refueling or repairs. Who cares about that stuff?

I landed on Hi'iaka last night (why Hi'iaka? Well, I was in Sol system, it was the smallest body I found, and I wanted to start driving), without bothering to pick a particular site...okay, because I haven't much practice at that yet, and I wanted to start driving...so I found myself at -59 degrees latitude, 75.5 degrees longitude. I set off on a heading of zero degrees...and, because I wanted to start driving, without grabbing a shot of my starting position; this was such an auspicious beginning.

This is, I told myself (sans evidence), a typical icy moon, and I found just enough rocks, of just the right sizes, to keep me from relaxing or accelerating beyond 15. Even then, I’m dodging to avoid leaving behind bits of my lovely yellow paint-job; I can’t afford to risk attention from the planet-guardians for polluting the pristine surface with anything except tyre-tracks.

100 kilometers later, I stop for a quick commemorative shot:

. I’ve managed to grab enough materials for a couple of refuellings, but I’ve decided the Ghods of Randomness will determine whether I make it all the way around. Hi’iaka’s reported as 160km in radius, so 1005km without deviations…good luck with that…will see me around.

One degree is about 2.8km, but I have no idea how useful that will be, so once I calculate it, I just. keep. driving.

Stopping Point One (without a nice campfire, it’s hard to call it anything else), 164km of 1005:

I now have 18 refuellings left, so I'm probably set on that point.

Future tasks:
1) learn to take photos. I’ve played with the cameras, but have yet to find anything worth sharing. I especially need to learn how to fly the camera as far out as the amazing explorers who set my feet on this path.

 

[Kris]

Like i said on other thread - good luck

 

[varonica]

Like i said on other thread - good luck

Same here, but just a helpful tip, keep in mind that tiny moon has an unusually high gravity for its size so take care when jumping down into canyon and things, other than that have fun.

 

[Alec Turner]

Aha! Found you ... I take it this is your new circumnavigation travelogue thread. I'll link this to your entry in the Planetary Circumnavigation thread.

Again ... good luck!

 

[Macedonica]

Subbed!

 

[Nick Sticks]

Excellent stuff.
You're a long way from civilisation - no mistakes with your SRV!

 

[Jazzlvraz]

Day Two

Dateline: Hi’iaka…again, 6 March 3304

Hi’iaka is nothing if not non-descript. Here’s today’s start, and the road ahead:

Remember that picture.

Once again, icy surface, 0.4G, and just enough rocks of just the right sizes to require constant attention and less than half-speed. So, too empty, but also not empty enough…the universe giggles.

I’m now comfortable-enough with driving here that I was able to increase speed from yesterday’s 15m/s to today’s blistering 17m/s pace. 18 was right out, as yellow paint on rocks proved…a lot.

A landmark passed today: the equator. Unfortunately, the equator on Hi’iaka proved to be more of a mathematical construct than anything else:

A lovely sight, all around, unfortunately it’s only the one lovely sight. One electrical failure in the SRV and I’d be completely lost.

I stopped today at the one-quarter mark of the circumnavigation, even though that’s far less progress than the first day. 2m/s makes an astonishing difference in fatigue.

Remember the picture from the start of the day? I promise the end-shot isn’t the same, but it’s terribly difficult either to believe or to prove:

Sleep beckons in the safety of my lovely ship Brouillard.

Yes, she’s a Mk IV; yes, I like her; and yes, that makes me one of those people.

 

[Alec Turner]

I stopped today at the one-quarter mark of the circumnavigation, even though that’s far less progress that the first day.

I hate to ask but what do you mean by "the one-quarter mark"? I fear a truly hideous miscalculation but hopefully I've misunderstood.

 

[Jazzlvraz]

Travelling from -59 degrees latitude to 31 degrees, on a constant longitude, should've taken me one-quarter of the circumference, unless I'm facing the truly hideous miscalculation?

EDIT: your avatar, by the way, is truly un-nerving, no matter how often I see it .

 

[Alec Turner]

Travelling from -59 degrees latitude to 31 degrees, on a constant longitude, should've taken me one-quarter of the circumference, unless I'm facing the truly hideous miscalculation?

Hang on, let me do my sums ...

Hi'laka radius = 160 km

Circumference = 1005 km

At a speed of 17m/s that would take 16hrs of solid driving so 1/4 would take 4hrs.

OK, it seems the miscalculation is mine (I just kinda thought that if I took a week "fliving" at roughly 60m/s that you'd be doing this for about a month but I guess I failed to take into account the smaller moon and longer play sessions).

Carry on.

EDIT: your avatar, by the way, is truly un-nerving, no matter how often I see it .

True story: I used to have a massive wall poster of it. When our first child was born my wife made me take it down. It's been in the attic for the last 20 years! [haha]

 

[Jazzlvraz]

I find myself glad Hi'iaka has an odd G-value...Ghod only knows what its core is made of, but I'd not mind mining and selling it...because I am so *completely* incapable of fliving at this point of my surface practice. The acrobatics the experts show us are both entertaining and terrifying.

 

[Eros]

I use a Mark IV, well i just started using one for my latest run out

 

[Kris]

Good pace you have.

I find (for my experience) these are great to practice SRV driving skill. I already think i'm better at driving than i was at the start.

 

[Jazzlvraz]

Another consequence of essentially zero preparation is that I'd done no math before heading out for the drive. In retrospect, this won't prove to be either particularly challenging in distance--only just over 1000km in a straight line--nor impressive in sight-seeing--a small dip in the horizon is a big event on this drive, and there've been only four appearances of skimmers so far--but considering how little practice I had SRVing, it may've worked out in my favour, at least in increasing my odds of survival and completion.

 

[Jazzlvraz]

Hi'iaka Day 3

Dateline: Hi’iaka, 7 March 3304

There are two types of tyre-sounds here: near-total silence, when I suspect I’m driving on whatever stony regolith there is, and the ominous crunching of the ice most of the time, reminding me of the words of the ancient philosopher Clarksonius, 4th Century BCE: “It’s like driving on a crème brulée. If you break through that crust, you will get stuck, and you will die”; no one knows what happened to him, but his most-famous saying is “how hard can it be?”

Not words to take comfort from.

The sun is more than five light-hours away, so there’s no bottomless ocean under this ice, but we’re not all that long from cave-dwelling, so the old survival instincts are pretty-well still bred-in. I’m back down to 15m/s .

Today, we happen upon that happiest of events: a happening! It’s a sudden, massive, change in terrain:

Okay, by the standards of any other exploration, it’s a dip, but here, it’s utterly remarkable!

All the shots you’ve seen so far have been in the full, clear light of the Milky Way; I’ve not needed headlights yet. As I continue northering, however, at around 83 degrees, we encounter the first shadow worth noticing:

I begin to wonder what my speed’ll be on the long dark side.

I end today at the north pole:

What strange confluence of random geology and planet-formation led to a straight line cutting right through the pole of a moon, I’d love to know.

 

[Alec Turner]

Brilliant write-up! Driving around planets for hours on end really seems to bring out people's creative instincts. Perhaps it's something to do with the isolation and endless miles of unforgiving rock stretching out as far as the eye can see in front of (and behind) you?

 

[Nick Sticks]

That dark picture with all the rocks just sitting there is spooky.
Like they are creatures just waiting for you to get close!

 

[Jazzlvraz]

Yes, turning off my lights to get a good look at the HUD...navigation's somewhat washed-out most of the time, so plenty of guess-work and correction (yes, and over-correction) occurs...is a bit un-nerving, especially when almost all the rocks are about the same size. When my latest post goes up, you'll see I had unexpected cause for some real, honest (okay, probably not really) sneaking last night.

 

[Jazzlvraz]

Hi'iaka Day 4

Dateline: Hi’iaka, 8 March 3304

Oh, the dark.

It was tempting to make that the whole report, but I suppose readers might prefer a bit more.

There. More. Okay, not so much “more” as “see what I mean?” It’s like this for almost 60 degrees today…tonight?

The “almost” is the most-interesting thing that’s happened on this moon. Someone is up to something, but what?

It’s amazing how far away you can see those lights. I killed my own, because they have to be watching, don’t they?

Sneaking along, in the dark, shields up, weapons ready…nothing. I was approaching in the full view of three defence turrets, sure they’d open up at any moment…perhaps when I hit one of the darned rocks that’re hunting me in the dark…nothing.

I snuck around to the back side of the…can we really call something so simple a “complex”?...to find they’d left a rather noticeable gap in their perimeter, so I took a look at the data they were leaking; it turned out to be a public data-tower.

THEN WHY THE GUNS?!?

They gave me no answer…and the universe giggled. That rock over there in the corner of my eye took a step toward me, so I turned my lights back on and drove away, mystified and un-nerved.

Latest stopping-point, 60 degrees south of the pole:

See? I told you up top: “more of the same”.

At least those distant galaxies have climbed a bit further above the horizon, so I have a bit of evidence I went somewhere.

 

[Kris]

Great pics

btw how are you handling ice driving? I love ice planets, but so little i have driven on ice it is very slippery. But i guess practice makes perfect as saying goes (goes for me too).