Enceladus
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Enceladus
When the decision was made to build a third colony Enceladus was the first option, just as Europe is an ocean moon with a frozen surface, but its size and gravity are smaller, a factor that was considered was the proximity to Titan where There was already a very advanced colony.
Saturn's moon was an even more inhospitable place than its neighbor Titan, its almost non-existent atmosphere and the seventy-five degrees Kelvin of its surface made it literally uninhabitable, however, just as Europe, under the thick ice shell, lies an ocean of liquid water, heated by the tidal forces that Saturn exerts on the satellite, the gravity of the gas giant stretches and twists the small moon, warming its core allowing it to have an ocean of liquid water.
The ship Hyperion, approaching the low orbit of Enceladus, Captain Reynald, set out to adjust the orbital parameters to begin the deployment of the descent module.
-Module Isis, is online, you can undock when you want, Reynald said through the radio.
-Discovering, see you in a month Hyperion- replied John Carter, captain of the descent mission.
Isis descended slowly on the frozen surface of Enceladus, the module had a shape that resembled that of a bowl upside down, around, had a ring that would inflate as a lifeline to approach the frozen crust, the purpose was to cushion the descent, then I could not brake with the thrusters, to avoid sublimation of the ice sheet and thus prevent a possible accident.
About ten meters from the surface, the module cut off the thrusters and deployed the life preserver, hit the ice and bounced a couple of times on the same spot, before stopping completely.
The three crew members of Isis, would aim to define the location of the first stage of the colony, and set the base of descent for the first robotic transport ships, which loaded with materials for the construction of the first housing modules, should arrive in twenty days. The last task would be the reception of a tank ship that would transport fuel for the construction tasks that the first settlers would carry out.
After the first twenty days, the work had been completed without incident, just in time for the arrival of the three transport ships, the descent was as planned, the material modules were unloaded and the ships took off on the way to Mars where they would be replenished.
During the entire installation process that lasted twenty-five days, the communication between the Isis and Hyperion module was constant, finally the time had come for the descent of the fuel tank ship, which should descend to the side of the tanks that had been installed by the crew of Isis.
The pilot of the tanker descended without mishap on the platform previously installed, the crew of Isis would take charge of the installation of the pipelines through which the fuel would be transferred to the cisterns, while the pilot would control the process from the cabin of the ship.
About three hours after the operation, when a crack began to form in the ice sheet under the tanks and the platform, the ice under the tank ship collapsed suddenly, not because of the weight of the tank, but as an unfortunate consequence, harboring a fault, which was not detected in the location selection procedure, and coincidentally initiated a tectonic movement that in addition to collapsing the base, produced a water eruption driven from the interior ocean of Enceladus and that ejected two of the crew of Isis who were manipulating the ducts, were projected by several hundred meters vertically to fall violently on the ice, perishing instantaneously.
Reynald, was the first to notice the death of Captain Carter and engineer Paul Márquez, when he stopped receiving his vital signs in the Hyperion monitoring station, tried in vain to contact them, and then noticed through the monitoring cameras, that a cloud of steam poured from the pipelines, which had been broken during the incident, and dispersed a mixture of gases, including oxygen and acetylene, which condensed in a fine mist all over the place.
-Cooper you must get out of there as soon as possible! - he shouted to the communicator.
The pilot of the tanker that had not noticed the gas that had dispersed, when seeing that it began to sink in the crack ignited its thrusters to level itself and a ball of fire engulfed the place, the flames spread, through the pipes broken, inside the tank ship making it explode violently.
In Hyperion, Reynald watched in horror the whole scene, his attempt to warn Jane Cooper the pilot of Isis was unsuccessful, the events happened too fast for her to have time to escape, now her monitor of vital signs showed no activity, all three descent capsule crew, had perished within minutes of fulfilling all the objectives of their mission, Reynald recalled with regret the words of Carter to start his descent to Enceladus, "see you in a month Hyperion."
The project to start a third colony in Enceladus was discarded, setting as the new destination of this Europe, a larger moon and less tectonic activity, although it was distant from Titan and Mars, had similar conditions to those of Enceladus, so original plans, to start with a transition colony on the crust, which would then migrate to a gigantic submerged city, could have continuity with a few changes to adapt them.
Thank you all for your attention, I am attentive to your comments and observations, until next time.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://materia-oscura.mipropia.com/2019/03/15/enceladus/
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