I have to say, SvennoJ, I'm really enjoying these logs.
My expedition to the far rim has hit a problem though. My progress won't be as efficient as it has been due to fitting an entirely new flight control system in some well earned down time. However, I think it was a mistake.
I suspect I'm going to have to rip the entire column out and retro fit the original Throttle and Stick assembly. I hope to have completed the work in around 36 hours assuming I've still got all the screws.
Only then can I continue onward to the rim.
One more thing CMDR, rest assured, this Wolf is both unarmed and house trained. I pose no threat to your mission.
Day 35 Back on the edge
.
Today I'm expecting to hit the edge of the spiral arm I'm following. It won't be long until I have to start looking for a point to cross over.
First up, an earth like planet with an even bigger ice cap, demonstrating the effects of long winters together with a 29 degree axial tilt.
Almost 35% of the planet is covered in ice with winters lasting longer than a full year back on Earth. There must be some great migrations going on among the wildlife.
PYRU THUA AT-U D2-5 [-5323, 49, 59410] SagA 33,934 ly Sol 59,648 ly
After arriving at the edge I have lunch above the belts of a Nitrogen atmosphere planet while watching a ringed gas giant set behind the planet.
PYRAEA THUA AZ-S D3-2 [-4321, 24, 59425] SagA 33,805 ly Sol 59,581 ly
Now begins the hard task of locating a point where I can cross. The density between the arms is still too thin here, so I start following the edge East South East.
The route planner is showing its difficulties again with planning routes near the edge. I can only plan a couple jumps in advance with many detours.
After finding another Ammonia world I decide to take a little bit of distance from the edge to try again in a few thousand light years.
The ammonia world itself is fairly average, orbiting a class K star. A nice quiet world, marking my 20th discovery of terrestrial ammonia based life.
PYRAEA THUA HS-W C1-0 [-4077, 17, 59210] SagA 33,561 ly Sol 59,350 ly
I wasn't paying attention entering a system. Doing my usual scan, then as I turn another star looms up into view while the heat alarm goes off.
There's a radar screen in front of me for a reason. I should look at it more often.
Luckily only minor damage. A reminder of the dangers of getting too comfortable around here.
Then my 30th earth like planet find this trip. Orbiting a class G star, tidally locked to a terraformable high metal content planet.
It looks very inviting but I must go on. Still a long way to go before I can attempt the crossing.
04-05 20:57 EOWRAILT AF-A C0 [-3800, 30, 59100] SagA 33,418 ly Sol 59,221 ly
Next up a class F system with 2 water worlds and 1 ammonia world.
SLAIYOOE GC-D D12-2 [-2143, -19, 58871] SagA 33,042 ly Sol 58,910 ly
The ship's computer informs me the closer one is a terraform candidate. It's pretty damn hot at +66c, but that can be fixed by scrubbing most of the 50.7% CO2 out of the atmosphere.
At only 0.57g it will be a fun water park some day. The waves must be gigantic.
The ammonia world is small and cold in a near 13 year orbit.
I decide to park above the water world, see if I can spot some waves in between the stormy weather.
Tomorrow I'll attempt the crossing to the now outer spiral and will need my full concentration for the task. Getting stranded in between is no option.
Approximate distance travelled: 116.8k ly
I have to say, SvennoJ, I'm really enjoying these logs.
My expedition to the far rim has hit a problem though. My progress won't be as efficient as it has been due to fitting an entirely new flight control system in some well earned down time. However, I think it was a mistake.
I suspect I'm going to have to rip the entire column out and retro fit the original Throttle and Stick assembly. I hope to have completed the work in around 36 hours assuming I've still got all the screws.
Only then can I continue onward to the rim.
One more thing CMDR, rest assured, this Wolf is both unarmed and house trained. I pose no threat to your mission.
The best of luck with your repairs. I am glad the Anaconda has 3 flight control stations, plenty of spare parts around.
I apologize for thinking the worst of you. After I came to my senses I realized no pirate is brave enough to venture out this far. And once they do, they'll realize life is too precious to waste.
I think I have my space madness under control for now. The real test will come when I pass the 40k ly from Sagittarius A* point again.
Currently I'm traversing the badlands between the two outer spirals, requiring my full attention as the route planner is useless out here.
Fly safe. Maybe we'll meet one day. Don't worry, I have dismantled my array of booby traps inside docking bay.
The 0% is indeed still a problem with my broken hull damage indicator since my accident on day 9.
The analog readout hasn't moved since then. So I guess it's still at 95%, the last valid reading I got before Day 9.
/ooc
Actually the 0% bug is protecting me from further damage. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=124520
I crash to desktop when I get an emergency stop near a star or crash into rings and I haven't made contact with any asteroids yet.
Heat damage to modules still occurs but I have stayed under 150%, so I think my hull is still in great condition although the outside view suggests otherwise.
.
I believe I've managed to get past the worst of the crossing. -1543 is the furthest East I had to go before being able to continue North and currently North West.
I will post the details later, but beware, it did involve a jump slightly over 40 light years at some point.
Day 36 Crossing the canyon
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Today is the day. I turn the ship North determined to start my crossing.
It isn't long until I have to switch to manual route planning again, 120ly at a time on average with detours to go forward.
After a few hours I hit a wall, or rather a canyon. I can see a higher density of stars across but a 50ly to 60ly gap separates me from them.
EOWRAIRKS NJ-X C28-0 [-1859, -22, 60340] SagA 34,491ly Sol 60,369 ly
I start testing the gap high and low and decide to follow it to the West to find a place to cross.
A couple more hours pass with some difficult jumps. At one point I have to jump back and forth between a couple systems to burn off fuel so I can make a 40.73ly jump.
I really should get that dump fuel valve fixed. The jump is successful yet only allows me to continue further along the edge of the canyon.
The narrowest point of the canyon I can find is 42.67ly across. So close, yet so far. 41.17ly is my absolute maximum.
Eventually, 252 ly (in a straight line) from where I started, I give up as the distance is only getting wider while the canyon pushes me South.
EOWRAIRKS FO-X C28-0 [-2100, 17, 60338] SagA 34,504 ly Sol 60,375 ly
I turn back keeping my distance a bit to the South and cross my own path at
EOWRAIRKS IC-D D12-2 [-1911, -25, 60176] SagA 34,331 ly Sol 60,206 ly
I keep following the canyon due East for a couple more hours, only finding dead systems. Barren rocks, ice balls and the occasional unremarkable gas giant.
It's a real desert out here, many stars not having any planets at all. Still 1543 light years West from Sagittarius A* I believe I can cross the canyon.
EOWRAIRKS BF-G C24-0 [-1543, -24, 60140] SagA 34,275 ly Sol 60,160 ly
I actually have to venture back West 53 light years before finding a path North.
EOWRAIRKS NC-D D12-0 [-1579, -18, 60146] Jump 37.0 ly
EOWRAIRKS MC-D D12-2 [-1610, -18, 60146] Jump 31.0 ly
There it is, the path forwards, 3 light years above Sagittarius A*, 1610 light years West of Sol
EOWRAIRKS MC-D D12-3 [-1645, -18, 60162] Jump 38.5 ly
EOWRAIRKS CL-E C25-0 [-1662, -18, 60181] Jump 25.5 ly
EOWRAIRKS GR-C C26-0 [-1660, -18, 60219] Jump 38.1 ly
PYRA EOP ME-E D13-1 [-1647, -44, 60234] Jump 32.7 ly
I come upon a more densely populated pocket of stars. It's still a barren wasteland but easier to cross now. I navigate further via
EOWRAIRKS LX-A C27-0 [-1598, -22, 60277] SagA 34,415 ly Sol 60,298 ly
There are still many big jumps involved, 39.1 ly. I take a shortcut via a 40.26ly jump and continue on towards:
SYNEAYOEA WA-A C0 [-1730, -25, 60393] SagA 34,538 ly Sol 60,418 ly
Along the way I get a hail from CMDR Maia Posidana, facing the same struggles in the outer arm on the opposite side of the galaxy.
We had made a pact earlier to measure the diameter of the galaxy. A task I neglected for a while after succumbing to space madness and fleeing back hub wards for a few thousand light years. However I fully intend to honor our agreement and have been making my way back outwards. Now that I've found the path to the next spiral we can start measuring in earnest. It shouldn't be long until I'm back to the outer reaches. Thanks to QESA-R I can locate CMDR Posidana on the galaxy map and we make a precise distance measurement.
I'm amazed that CMDR Posidana can still get around out there.
I continue on. There is still a lot of back and forth involved in planning routes, 1 step forward, 3 steps all around.
The star systems are getting a little bit more interesting but nothing worth reporting yet.
By nightfall I find a little oasis of M class stars. I climb to the top to a lone class G star, situated right between the two galactic arms.
The system contains a rather unremarkable water world, second rock from the sun. Good enough to spend the night.
SYNEAYOEA DF-R D4-0 [-1840, 14, 60830] SagA 34,976 ly Sol 60,854 ly
The system actually resembles a key. I take it as a good sign. The key to the new world, or outer arm in this case.
Approximate distance travelled: 119.8k
Day 37 Heading counter clockwise
.
I leave the oasis of M class stars behind and follow a general North West course. It will be another long day of planning small routes at a time.
It's generally a barren landscape between the arms with not a lot of choices of where to go.
The stars are thin, jumps are long, and most systems are nothing more than a few small barren rocks.
Late afternoon I finally make an interesting discovery. A trinary system of water worlds, all three ready to be terra-formed.
PYRA DRYE RA-U D4-0 [-2503, -34, 62058] SagA 36,246 ly Sol 62,108 ly
I decide to take a closer look at the middle one.
Imagine living there, looking at a whole other world just through a basic telescope.
If that's not an incentive to hurry up a space program I don't know what is. Sadly, as usual, no intelligent species to be found.
An hour later I find a tiny Ammonia world, only 0.1163 Earth masses or 0.48g, breaking my previous record holder from day 25.
04-07 01:21 PUWAAE AX-E C11-0 [-2676, -7, 62161] SagA 36,361 ly Sol 62,218 ly
A stark contrast to the monster I found on day 29 with 3.11g. I wouldn't want to meet any beings that evolved under 3 times earth's gravity.
And then finally, an very nice looking Earth like planet, archipelago world, in a 4.85 year orbit around a class F star.
It has a binary pair of terra-formable worlds one orbit lower, one of which a water world.
The air is rather thick to breathe, 3.67 atmospheres, with only 4.9% oxygen. It could use some terraforming itself before settling in.
PUWAAE TX-L D7-0 [-2794, 20, 62351] SagA 36,560 ly Sol 62,414 ly
A nice place to call it a night, put up my feet and relax a bit after a long day of navigating switchbacks.
Approximate distance travelled: 121.7k
It's a bit of a process, but I manage to extract the data and narrow visual band low res 2D image separately from the zettabyte 11 dimensional M-scan.
I've become quite adept at lining up the virtual camera for the perfect shot.
Lastly I combine all the elements in an ancient program I found in the archives. I'm amazed it still runs in this age.
Day 38 There and back again
.
Another day another dollar. I have no clue what a dollar is, it's one of those things people say. Bright and early I set out to continue my course North West. Star systems are still largely uninteresting out here between the arms. Predominantly simple star systems with at most a small single water world here and there. As the morning progresses I get the nagging feeling that I'm following a narrowing valley of stars.
I knew things weren't going to be this easy and after about 650 light years of traversing switchbacks I run out of stars. The gap to the North is simply too wide and there isn't much further West from this point either. 468 ly West, 444 ly North of where I camped I have no other option but to turn around and head back.
PUWAAE GR-N E6-0 [-3263, 4, 62795] SagA 37,041 ly Sol 62,880 ly
.
Travelling the same path back through these barren systems brings back dark memories from the time before my trip. After my first tour around the Nebulae South of Sol failed to improve my mood I was contemplating ending it all. Of course that is rather pointless since I'll just get revived and then get to face murder charges. At best I'll be consigned to a mental hospital if not jail time. The only real way 'out' before the age of mental decoherence is to commit suicide on a planet that still carries capital punishment, however screwed up that may be. And although I said before that I don't really believe it is 'me' that gets recreated in the revival process, I'm not that selfish to put 'new' me in a psych ward or worse to spend years on termination row.
.
There is the accidental death option, and I have to admit the thought did cross my mind as I watched my ship burn on Day 9. Heck I might have done it before already come to think of it. Maybe that Type 7 crash during my trading career wasn't entirely accidental after all. However survival instinct kicked in and I'm glad I survived. Things are already looking much better now.
Which brings me to the next point. If a fatal accident does happen out here and you/I, 'new' me, is reading this, you/I can be sure I tried everything to survive. Being out here has changed me / will change you. Definitely use the insurance money to set out on a new expedition, just maybe not go to where my/your last log came from.
Well look at that, day 38 and I'm bona fide talking to myself, a hypothetical self at that. And I hope you/new me, stay hypothetical, as the rebirth process after that Type-7 crash wasn't all that pleasant and very disorienting. Nor do I want to lose all the progress I made out here, both scientific and psycological.
.
I continue on following the valley hoping to find a way to cross. I pass my previous campsite less than 200 ly North of it.
Not long after I find signs of terrestrial life on a heavy earth like planet (1.25g) in a 5.4 year orbit around a class F star.
It looks very inviting and at 22c a perfect place for a picnic and some exercise, if not for the thin atmosphere.
PUWAAE FQ-G D10-0 [-2863, -16, 62540] SagA 36,753 ly Sol 62,605 ly
The ship's computer identifies another water world at the binary class K star. It's 216k ls away.
I better keep going if I want to find a way out of this valley before night fall.
.
Finally 660ly West from where I got stuck, nearly 200ly West of where I camped last night, I find a way North.
PYRIE EURK KF-N C20-0 [-2602, -20, 62503] SagA 36,697 ly Sol 62,557 ly
Invigorated, I head straight North for 600 ly then turn North West again, hoping not to run into the same problem again.
SYRE THAA ZF-R C4-0 [-2627, -5, 63169] SagA 37,363 ly Sol 63,224 ly
I decide to make it a late night, happy to be making forward progress again, and get rewarded with some nice discoveries.
First this candidate for terraforming, a high metal content planet that stands out because of it's striking contrasts.
SYRE THAA JC-D D12-0 [-3179, -19, 63978] SagA 38,212 ly Sol 64,057 ly
Next I check out this massive ring system around a brown dwarf.
SYRE THAA GJ-X C28-0 [-3422, -20, 64178] SagA 38,433 ly Sol 64,269 ly
And finally, deep into the night, I decide to call it at this heavy Ammonia world, sharing its orbit with a Jovian gas giant circling a class F star.
IORASP TY-S D3-0 [-3661, -24, 64541] SagA 38,817 ly Sol 64,645 ly
It has rings!
I carefully back out of the rings, park in orbit and head off to bed after a gruelling 4,700 light years traversing the badlands.
Approximate distance travelled: 126.4k ly
Ah, yes that does seem rather tedious. But your work is exemplary considering the medium.
You'd think that if we had been able to develop faster than light travel, we would have also created a way to transmit full spectrum holo-graphs with even the most basic of sensory stimuli. What do expect from a star-faring civilization that still uses sorry text blurbs to transmit news and events?
Anyway, you've been more than tolerant with me using up your uplink's bandwidth.
I look forward to more updates from your feed!
As an aside, perhaps if you signed up for a sponsorship deal with one of the entertainment developers, like GalSim, you could get better technology on your next expedition!
Day 39 Climbing up the mountain
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It's another day of traversing the switch backs. I feel like I'm climbing my way up a mountain.
First I keep going North-West although it's already starting to look pretty barren in that direction.
I make it about 240ly further when I find a small Earth like planet, 0.74g in a 2.6 year orbit around a class F star.
It's a bit chilly at -9c, yet situated in a nice stable system 64.9k light years from Sol.
IORASP ZK-P D5-1 [-3753, 10, 64755] SagA 39,038 ly Sol 64,863 ly
That's about as far as I can go here to the North West and I decide to follow the ridge North East.
I hit another snag 300 light years to the East which forces me in a South-Easterly direction.
IORASP HH-U C16-0 [-3381, -12, 64960] SagA 39208ly Sol 65,048 ly
Travelling along the edge here is like traversing a series of narrow gorges extending into the steep mountain to the North.
I can't get very far up the gorges and the route planner wants to send me back down all the time to plan a big detour to the next gorge.
Sometimes I can override and jump directly East to the next gorge with a 40.6ly jump, avoiding having to go all the way around.
200ly further East I find this nice looking system with an Ammonia world wedged in between 2 gas giants.
It's quite a big one at 2.21g with a very thick atmosphere, 33 times as dense as Earth's, comparable to being 323 meters under water on Earth.
The heavy 89% CO2 atmosphere makes it a very hot place to be for an Ammonia world, +46c.
IORASP LR-N D6-3 [-3182, -15, 64792] SagA 39,024 ly Sol 64,870 ly
After the Ammonia world I'm able to gain ground again in a Northerly direction, although not 180ly afterwards I have to go back on my previous North-East course.
I keep going from gorge to gorge and finally manage to break the 65k ly North of Sol mark. A dimly lit water world, orbiting a binary class M pair, marks the occasion.
Despite its thick 63% CO2 atmostphere its still a cold world, -17c, due to a long 3.46 year orbit.
IORASP AQ-G D10-1 [-3209, -22, 65101] SagA 39,334 ly Sol 65,180 ly
There is actually another water world way out from the main Class F star, even colder in a nearly 8 year long orbit.
.
I also take the time to estimate the distance to CMDR Posidana's current position.
Unfortunately Comms seem to be down, unable to connect is the only response I get. At least the position update is still working.
Maybe we can get in touch later. We should be able to break the 80k ly barrier if things keep going all right.
I keep going, now mostly East along the mountain ridge, progress further North impossible for now.
Path finding is not easy out here with the route planner often coming up with 20 jumps or more just to go 120ly further East.
Still 2861 light years West of Sol I call it a night at another fine Earth like specimen orbiting a Class G star.
A fierce storm is tormenting one of the continents on this otherwise very comfortable 0.98g / 21c world.
3 atmospheres will make it harder to breath but I guess it also compensates a bit for the low oxygen content.
IORASP FQ-G D10-2 [-2861, -2, 65129] SagA 39,335 ly Sol 65,191 ly
I do believe this breaks the previous distance record for EL planet from Sol. I'll wait before submitting my report until I'm forced back South.
Other notable discoveries in this system are a water world sharing the next orbit up together with a high metal content planet.
And a gas giant with ammonia based life that spins so fast for its size (9.4 hour days) its distorted shape is easily recognizable from a long distance away.
Approximate distance travelled: 127.6k ly
That's a great story. I also love Helliconia from Brian Aldiss, about the rise and fall of civilizations on a planet in a binary system, circling the weaker star that is itself on a much longer elliptical orbit around the hotter star. Long great winters and decades of heat all year round in cycles of about 2000 years.
I don't know if I found a candidate yet, I don't have orbit lines on and the system map view is sadly inadequate to spot such a system.
Day 40 Shuffling along the edge
.
Eureka, it seems the ship's computer has finally been able to fix the glitch with the hull damage indicator.
It's no longer stuck on 0%, instead it now displays 50%. Also the analogue indicator has gone from 10 blocks down to 5.
I'm not sure what to make of it. Is it simply averaging the 2 values, how can it be 50%. The last known indication was 95%.
Maybe I did sustain a lot of hull damage on day 9, although I'm pretty sure I got away before the hull started to burn.
I guess I should run another diagnostic and better be careful for now. I still don't feel I can trust the damage reporting.
Oh well, the glass is still half full and this expedition is far from over. I'm not heading back any time soon.
I continue my effort to climb further North. It's a real fight for every extra light year further away from Sol.
Head up a path only to get stumped and be forced to retreat back the same way. Try again a little further East.
I keep my fuel tank low all the time now, scooping just enough to get by. The occasional 40.6ly jump to the next branch can save me an 18 jump detour.
There is still plenty of life this far away. Before noon I run into a nice little system with both and Earth-like planet and an Ammonia world.
Co-existing peacefully side by side. Although I wonder what will happen once intelligence arises on one of them, most likely bad news for the other.
IORASP ZN-S C17-0 [-2818, -9, 64980] SagA 39,183 ly Sol 65,041ly
The ammonia world is cold (-82c) with a heavy atmosphere, 20 times thicker than Earth's, containing 18.7% Argon.
The EL planet however looks near perfect. 0.74g easy on my space bones. +16c average temperature. 0.66 atmospheres with 31.4% oxygen.
That's comparable to an altitude of 3300 meters above sea level on old Earth, low enough to avoid altitude sickness. The extra oxygen will prevent that anyway.
I wish I could land and relax for a bit. Go out mountain biking, that ought to be fun in 0.74g, big jumps.
Light weight re-usable planetary landers or capable thrusters could become reality in the near future, which will make travelling the galaxy a lot more popular I bet.
I guess I should be glad I beat the rush and get to see all these pristine worlds before fast food chains pop up everywhere.
.
A couple hours later I find a trinary system with 3 water worlds and an earth like planet. The EL planet circles a Class G and M binary pair, together with binary water worlds. The 3rd (terra-formable) water world orbits a class M star which in turn orbits all of the above.
MYEIA THAA TP-G D10-1 [-2488, -5, 65129] SagA 39,304 ly Sol 65,177 ly
At 0.85g a bit bigger than the last one, a nice beach planet at +32c. Duel sunset, reminds me of the happiest times in my life.
I don't want to linger too long, best to keep going before the sadness creeps up on me again.
.
Another small cold Ammonia world, -89c, circling a Class A star in a 14.9 year orbit.
The water world closer in is perhaps more interesting, although there is no land to be seen. It would be frozen over if it weren't for the 85% CO2 atmosphere.
CEECKAEA CY-F D12-0 [-2130, -102, 65259] SagA 39,418 ly Sol 65,293 ly
.
Next I find a candidate for the loneliest planet. 1 star, 1 planet, right on the edge, 39.4k light years from Sagittarius A*.
The planet is a closer match than the previous candidates yet still not conducive to live, at least not in a form we know of and can scan for.
CEECKAEA YR-H D11-0 [-2118, -40, 65254] SagA 39,412 ly Sol 65,288 ly
.
A valley of M class stars has opened up behind me. I decide to cling on to the hill side, exploring the edge.
I guess it's one of those old survival traits. Humans have always preferred to live at the edge of something, a forest, the coast, a lake.
Keep your escape options open and differentiate in available resources. Useless out here though, nothing out there in the void.
Unless you count that thing staring back from the dark. Luckily I have been too busy to pay it any notice.
Then something new. An ammonia world that's a moon of a regular high metal content planet.
It's also the smallest Ammonia world I've found so far. Still much bigger than Earth's moon, sitting at 0.43g
Tidally locked to the planet makes the Ammonia world's days last 35.6 of Earth's days, 24 very long days to its year.
MYEIA THAA ZK-E C25-0 [-1782, -8, 65303] SagA 39,444 ly Sol 65,327 ly
.
As the day draws on I manage to reach my furthest point from Sol.
MYEIA THAA RI-B D13-1 [-1575, -17, 65349] SagA 39,481 ly Sol 65,368 ly
It's a simple Class F,M binary system, marking the furthest point I can reach 65 thousand 368 light years from Sol.
There are stars further out yet I can't reach them, the next closest star is 56.67ly out. I have contemplated using super cruise to close the gap and get into jump range.
While only powering the essentials my ship uses 620kg of fuel per hour and reaches a max speed of 2001c. That means it takes 4 hours and 23 minutes to travel 1 light year by frame shift drive. It would take 2 days 19 hours and 51 minutes to close the gap by 15.5ly to be able to jump the rest of the way. However my 32t fuel tank only lasts for 2 days 3h 37m, or 11.79ly max super cruise range. (8.84ly since I still need 8t to jump)
Maybe if I could convert my cargo bays into additional fuel storage it would be possible to go there in super cruise mode. Without the auto field maintenance units, and a 4A fuel scoop instead of 7B, I could potentially carry 432t of extra fuel in the cargo bays. That would make a total of 464t of fuel, extending my total range to a whopping 208.5 light years! 168.0 ly in super cruise burning 456t + 8t left over for another 40.5ly jump at the end. http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=606,,2-3IA09Y8S2CD88I,0Bk0AA0AA0AA08c08c08c0724_w2jw2UI
That would require a whole new level of patience though. The 23 minutes to fill up the tank will be over in a flash compared to the full month's worth of super cruise travel, 30 days 15 hours and 29 minutes to be exact. The Lakon heavy type 9 transporter could even become a viable exploration vessel with a total fuel capacity of 576t. It has less than half the jump range however, and I don't know how much fuel it burns to keep the 7D thrusters going.
Closing the gap technique is unfortunately not (yet) possible in the game, neither is flying to other stars in super cruise.
.
I don't have the patience to watch the clock tick down for a month, moving on one jump at a time instead.
This rocky ice world catches my eye. It's always weird to find ice on a planet with a surface temperature of almost 2000 Celsius.
It is 1:1 tidally locked so I imagine most of the ice is on the backside. At 160k atmospheres, 99% water, it's one hell of a sauna down there.
MYEIA THAA JR-C C26-0 [-1543, -24, 65338] SagA 39,469 ly Sol 65,356 ly
The 2 water worlds next door are a more suitable destination.
.
A nicely pastel colored system with an Ammonia world will be my campsite for the night.
The ammonia world is hot and heavy, 2.05g +42c, in a 16 year orbit around the Class F star.
MYEIA THAA JW-E D11-1 [-1566, -15, 65179] SagA 39,311 ly Sol 65,198 ly
I decide to park next door above the rings around a Class II gas giant.
Approximate distance travelled: 129.3k ly
Day 41 Furthest Earth like planet from Sol
.
The red valley of M class stars has opened up a lot behind me. I'm not just searching for paths to the North at the center plane any more.
I'm literally searching high and low to find ways to the furthest reachable stars. The stars here are clustered mostly below the center plane.
I'm finding paths as low as 123 light years under Sagittarius A, only as high as 45 light years above.
Yet no matter how hard I try, occasionally blind jumping 40.6ly to get a little further, my 65,368 ly record remains undefeated.
I come close a couple of times yet after passing the center line (at the time of writing) I'm getting slowly pushed back towards Sol.
.
Before that happens I first have a couple of discoveries to report.
First up, the ugliest Ammonia world of my career. It's big, it's cold -141c, no atmosphere, yuck.
IORANT WV-E D11-2 [-1290, 24, 65239] SagA 39,360 ly Sol 65,251
.
A bit later I get to within 11 light years of my distance record at an empty Class G-M-M trinary system.
IORANT PQ-C C26-0 [-1027, 10, 65349] SagA 39,463 ly Sol 65,357
It's not easy getting into these paths. To give an idea of what it's like to travel along the edge, here's a simple plot to move 60 light years sideways.
And that's an easy one, usually it involves a lot of up and down as well, up to 20 jumps, followed by having to go back via the same path.
Again I get pretty close to my record with a gas giant that contains ammonia based life. Life on the edge.
IORANT WK-E C25-0 [-610, -2, 65320] SagA 39,423 ly Sol 65,320
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Day 41 ends at this lovely earth like planet. Very welcome after that ugly monster at the start of the day.
CEECKIA OL-N C23-0 [-351, -144, 65250] SagA 39,353 ly Sol 65,252 ly
It's tidally locked to a terra-form candidate making its days last over a month long.
There is another terra-form candidate in a lower orbit and a gas giant with ammonia based life 2 orbits up.
The cold air on this slow revolving planet provides awesome looking weather patterns.
At 65,252 light years from Sol, this currently is the most distant known Earth like planet.
Approximate distance travelled: 124.0k ly
Day 42 Dreaming about intergalactic travel
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I passed the center line passing through Sol today and made a couple of blind jumps only to fall 3 light years short of breaking my distance record.
By the end of the day I'm leaving the red valley of M class stars behind while the edge of the galactic arm is most definately pushing me back towards Sol.
It's a shame, I wanted to go further on. I've been staring at the 2 Magellanic clouds underneath the galactic disk, dreaming about visiting them.
The large Magellanic Cloud is 'only' 163k ly from Sol. 2.5x as far as I'm now, only 40k ly further than I have already travelled.
It would be do-able if it wasn't for the lack of stars in between which renders the hyper space jump drive useless.
There have been several ideas for intergalactic travel, yet non are feasible yet:
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Option 1: Travel by star
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Design plans have been proposed in the past to build sub-light generation ships. They even went as far as proposed stellar engineering.
The idea is quite simple in theory. Divert and accelerate the material output of a star in one direction to create a slow but steady acceleration. Park a planet or system of planets in the right spot so the acceleration vector cancels out the gravitational pull and the planet(s) get towed along.
The star will provide energy and shield the planet(s) from any hazards. Divert the plasma in a cone shape, so the planet(s) can sit safely inside not bothered by the relativistic plasma shooting by. The acceleration doesn't need to be big. For Sol 0.0059 m/s/s is enough to cancel out the gravitational pull on Earth, keeping Earth in the same spot, always falling towards a Sun that's accelerating away. It would take 47 seconds to speed up 1 km/h, 431 days to double the Sun's current velocity of 220 km/s, only 622 days to reach escape velocity from our Galaxy (537km/s).
Although going from 0 to 100 km/h in an hour and 18 minutes is horribly slow for a space craft, it's pretty unthinkable for a star. On the otherhand, our terra-forming abilities are improving all the time, the planets don't have to be in the classic habitable zone. A well engineered greenhouse effect together with concentrating stellar output towards the planet(s) makes it possible to put habitable planet(s) much further away. 10 times as far cuts the required acceleration by a factor 100. Sure, now you're looking at 170 years to reach escape velocity, 16 thousand years to reach 1/10th the speed of light.
Yet it's not like the sub light journey isn't going to last millions of years anyway. The Andromeda galaxy is 2.5 million light years away.
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Actually thanks to relativistic effects it will take less time for travellers. A small M-class star will be easier to accelerate, and can be accelerated faster. Pick one that's already on an escape vector in the right direction to speed things up even more. Some stars have been clocked at over 1 million m/s. You are still looking at anything in the order of a hundred thousand years for travel time. Plus jumping on and off a star moving at near relativistic speeds has never been tested.
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The best case scenario, a generation ship capable of constant 1g acceleration for half the journey and reverse the rest would cut the experienced travel time down to 3100 years. Protecting, maintaining and fuelling a ship for 3100 years at relativistic speeds are only a few of the hurdles standing in the way. And any civilization left behind will now be several million years ahead. They might have already fully settled the Andromeda galaxy by the time you arrive.
Going anywhere at sub light speed simply sucks.
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Option 2: Super cruising all the way
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What if you could take enough fuel along to fly there by frame shift drive. None of those pesky sub light speed side effects.
The closest sattelite of our Galaxy is the Magellanic Cloud, 163k ly from Sol. You could be there in 81 years by super cruise travel, but it would require 443 kilo tons of fuel. The Andromeda Galaxy is quite a bit further away and would take 1280 years to reach by fsd, requiring 7 million tons of fuel. (In comparison the great pyramid of Giza is estimated at 6 million tons)
Of course the drive required to tow that kind of weight would also use a lot more fuel, the classic problem of space travel. Yet you don't need to take all the fuel for the entire trip along. Merely enough to span the largest gap between stars, or satellite dwarf galaxies. As we build observation platforms on the edges of the galaxy we'll be able to spot more dwarf galaxies and maybe even rogue stars in between to use as fuelling stations.
The current biggest frame shift capable ship is the Laken type 9 transporter, which I calculated before can get you a bit over 200 light years when converted to one big fuel tank. That's not anywhere close to what's needed to hop through the void, yet improvements happen all the time.
Wouldn't it be something if we could one day envelope a small solar system inside a frame shift bubble. That's travelling in style.
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Option 3: Hyper space long jumping
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For most people the prospect of a 1200 year oneway supercruise trip is not in any way practical either. Human lives are getting longer all the time, yet it would still take 5 generations to get there. Plus human patience hasn't increased alongside, the reverse actually.
So what would be needed to jump all the way.
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Jump range increases by a factor of 1.3, each time you double the fuel amount.
If I could burn 16t of fuel in one go, my Anaconda could travel 51.96ly in a single jump.
Burn all 32t of fuel in one go and I could make it 66.58ly in one hyper space jump.
That would allow me to reach some more distant stars, if it weren't for that fact that the generated heat doubles as well. The drive and my ship would burn to a crisp while charging up. A break through in power plant technology is needed first.
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Ignoring the heat factor (and ignoring the decrease in range by the weight of the fuel) what do you hypothetically need to jump to the Large Magellenic Cloud based on the best technology we currently have. A 136k ly jump would require 9.9 E+27 tons of fuel (1.3^31 x 40ly, 8t^31 fuel), that's nearly 5 Solar masses!
Let's take it beyond the extreme and jump straight to Andromeda 2.5 million light years away. That would require about 9 E+37 tons, which is nearly 8% of the mass of the Milky way Galaxy. A small sacrifice?
Hmm, maybe our universe is what came out of the tailpipe of an advanced civilization jumping to the next universe...
On a smaller scale, perhaps we should check for straight line patterns in unexplained supernova explosions. An advanced species could have been causing those to pass through our Galaxy, 1k to 10k light year hops at a time. The evidence might be all around us.
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Back to reality. Apart from sticking my thumb out to any passing advanced aliens, there's not much I can do to go any further. I'm stuck with our little Galaxy for now. So lets first map this small patch of the universe before moving on.
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My first attempt to break my distance record, a 40.46ly blind jump to a system with a 99% oxygen atmosphere planet. No smoking allowed.
CEECKIA OE-E D13-0 [-218, -104, 65339] SagA 39,440 ly Sol 65,339 ly
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Another big jump, 40.17ly, pays off big time. A system with 4 water world, 1 terra-formable.
IORANT FF-G C24-0 [-102, -20, 65259] SagA 39,360 ly Sol 65,259 ly
From this system I can reach a few new systems, almost reaching my distance record, 3 light years short.
CEECKIA PE-E D13-0 [-130, -43, 65364] SagA 39,465 ly Sol 65,365 ly
A lone class G star marks the spot, a good place to observe the Magellenic clouds from. (see the picture above)
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I pass the center line through Sol which also prompts the outer galactic arm's slow curve inwards.
Nearby I find this interesting terraform candidate, a rocky moon of a hot high metal content planet.
Tidally locked in a 52.5 day rotational period it only has 11 days to a year.
IORADY XV-E D11-2 [64, 7, 65241] SagA 39,342 ly Sol 65,241 ly
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Back and forth, high and low I go, to no avail. I'm definately on the retreat to Sol now.
I take a break and watch a sun set over a Class IV giant before leaving the zero line or galactic spine behind.
IORADY YV-E D11-1 [154, 26, 65242] SagA 39,342 ly Sol 65,242 ly
The departure from the center is marred by barren worlds. Not being able to find a nice world to overnight at I finally give up at a M Class system full of icy planets. 700 light years East of the center, right on the 65k ly mark, I park at the only warm planet in the system.
HYIA EOHN SA-V B36-0 [700, -60, 65000] SagA 39,106 ly Sol 65,004 ly
Approximate distance travelled: 125.2k
