First off, Zarbon continues to top themselves with each patch. Before even reading the image caption, I was thinking to myself "while containing elements unique to itself, it's clearly a continuation of the design aesthetics of the previous patches, and works in-universe along with them."

Hera’s crew would marvel at the world before them, and at the same time, feel moderately underwhelmed.
This line got me in a particular way. On the one hand, a new world!! Excitement!! On the other - not quite what this moment was built up to be in our heads after hearing the stories from the first Mars mission. I can imagine the bittersweet feeling of not being as excited as one hoped to be in a moment that is, in every imaginable way, incredibly important in the grand scheme of things. And then that feeling is punctuated by the decision to not push as much focus onto Venus missions as Mars. These two elements work very well together narratively, in my opinion.

Very excited to see what the new millennium brings us.
...the age of Flags and Footprints on Mars would end, and the start of permanent operations on the planet would commence...
As well it should :)
 
Chapter 24.5: Image Annex
Chapter 24.5: Image Annex

Hi everyone, I really don't have too much to say today other than giving a huge shoutout to Jay for the images he gave us last week, and how excited and grateful I am for his continued support of Proxima. Next week, as I said in the prelude to Chapter 24, we've got some familiar and new faces supporting the project who I'm super grateful for and I can't wait to showcase what they've got. Now, this week I've got something really special for you, the absolute majesty of Venus in all of its glory. While missions to Venus in real life may seem kind of off the table for now, they've long been discussed when thinking about the next steps of human exploration, as far back as the Apollo program. The Apollo Venus flyby mission was one such proposal, using a wet workshop S-IVB to support 3 astronauts on this journey. In Proxima, the utilization of NTR enables us to do much more, and have the MTV (or in this case, VTV) act as a scientific platform for the deployment and observation of spacecraft in orbit of another world.

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Hera begins to orient herself for Venus orbit insertion, having completed the relatively short transit from Earth.

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Lighting her 3 Valkyrie engines, the great craft slows down, bringing with her the first human crew to observe the Veiled Planet directly.

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Completing the final few seconds of the burn, Hera prepares to settle into a comfortable low orbit around the planet, ready to begin a 30 day observation campaign.

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Her maneuvers over, Hera can re-orient herself with the cupola facing the planet, revealing... not a whole lot. The variety of sub-probes deployed from the ship would provide more data than just the eyes of the crew.

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Hera would also use her own instruments to analyze the planet, including a radar suite and magnetometer cluster. These readings would help to determine the physical composition of the planet, and look for any active geological processes.


 
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Chapter 25: Perseverance
Hi all, happy Monday! I'm so very excited to showcase what we have in store this week, which will be an exploration of a space program we haven't really touched on yet - China. Writing about the Chinese space program is often difficult because so much of the engineering and history is not readily accessible, but I will do the best I can with what information I can find. We're also gonna be trying out some footnote stuff, which might help folks understand what's happening a little better. I wanna thank 3 wonderful people this week who've helped me get some beautiful images your way: Steven, Jay and Ben, who have given us a view into the universe of Proxima as a whole. Please make sure to check out their other work!

Chapter 25: Perseverance

The Gobi Desert was not as it once was - a great force had shifted the sands of the once still plain, and a thundering crack pierced the tranquility. Rising over the horizon on the morning of January 25, 2001, a white and blue vehicle thundered skywards, carrying with it the hope of a nation. Shenzhou 5, the long awaited first crewed flight of China’s human spaceflight program, rose higher and higher into the morning sky, on the back of the Long March 2F rocket [1]. The vehicle, much like the Soyuz vehicle that would inspire a majority of its design, would soon shed its boosters and proceed on its core stage, thundering into the ever blackening sky. Onboard, there was one crew member, astronaut Yang Liwei. Yang was a People’s Liberation Army Air Force veteran, and one of the most senior pilots in China’s military. The rocket he rode was emblematic of the rapid pace of technological advancement that China had taken on to bring their own astronauts to orbit. Soon, the second stage of the Long March rocket would shut down, and the Shenzhou capsule would be floating free, coasting towards the horizon. The success of earlier flights enabled the planning groups within the China National Space Administration to push forward with their own crewed flight, becoming the third agency globally to do so. In orbit, Yang would record videos, perform experiments in the rather cramped capsule, fly the United Nations and Chinese flag, and address the world. In his historic speech, he would extend an olive branch: “I have come here, in this divine ship, to advance our species’ understanding of the stars. I invite all of those who wish to participate in joining hands and taking this journey together. We, the people of China, are ready to enter the age of space.” The leaders of space faring nations were equal parts impressed and stunned. Rumors of a potential flight of Shenzhou had persisted, and satellite intelligence had not predicted a crewed flight so soon. Yang would complete 16 orbits in his capsule, transmitting telemetry about the operations of the spacecraft, and his personal wellbeing. Soon, the mission would come to a close, and like the Soyuz that came before it, the descent module would plunge through the atmosphere, and come to a stop on the plains of Mongolia. Leadership from around the world would soon congratulate their new, orbital comrades. The speed at which the Chinese program had advanced both concerned and intrigued agencies across the planet, and soon, curious programs would begin to extend their feelers to gauge the interest of CNSA in collaboration.

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Spreading her wings, Shenzhou 5 makes history, making China the third independent nation to launch crew after Russia and the United States. With her, she carries the dreams of the Chinese people, looking towards a bold future in the cosmos.

Olympus 6 would catch sight of Mars in mid spring, and the pull of the planet would guide Minerva ever further towards her destination, the Red Planet. Well ahead of her, the two logistics modules for Olympus 7 hurtled towards their destination, casting off their cruise stages as they passed within the orbit of Phobos. Soon, the ionization of the atmosphere would lick at their heat shields, aiming for a landing in Chryse Planitia, an area rich in geological interest and rumors of water. The crew onboard Minerva could only watch as these two vehicles streaked towards their landing site, being imaged from as many orbiters as possible. The twin landers would streak through the Martian sky, their heat shields forcing the Martian atmosphere out of the way. Soon, their supersonic parachutes would deploy, yanking the twin modules out of their bioshells, and exposing the strange landing apparatus for the first time. These vehicles were about to become the second heaviest objects ever landed on the planet Mars, and did they look strange. The 3 chutes would continue to slow the craft, and the pumps on landing engines would soon begin to spin up, ready to set the vehicle down on the surface. The six landing engines, arranged like an insect’s legs around the module, would soon roar to life, stabilizing the whole assembly with mechanical precision. The vehicles would stabilize themselves and begin to look together for their landing site, a safe place to set both vehicles down [2]. Mechanical eyes and all looking radar would enable a precise landing on the unforgiving Martian terrain. After a roughly 2 minute period of powered flight, the winches onboard the sky cranes would start to unfurl, as the vehicle lowered their delicate cargo to the surface, engineering cameras capturing every moment of this historic and unusual landing. Soon, the wheels of the mobile logistics vehicles would make contact with the ground. Their onboard sensors working overtime, the landers would fire pyros onboard, separating the bridles that connected them to their payloads. This went off nearly perfectly, with one of the load bearing cables snapping and striking Logistics Module 2. This was documented on the engineering cameras in only three frames, not nearly enough for the teams back on Earth to make a judgement call. The atmospheric sensors onboard the module immediately took readings, looking for a leak. With the sky cranes now rocketing away towards their demise, it would be up to the Olympus 7 crew when they arrived a little over two years from now to determine whether or not the structures were safe for use.

As for Olympus 6, the crew would soon settle into their initial orbit, and subsequently come to a comfortable berth at the Mars Base Station. Some of their initial tasks would be to outfit the station with additional sensors internally and externally - and prepare for the first expansion planned for no earlier than 2005. This expansion would see a new node added to enable docking of multiple ships, and the addition of more solar power. It would be a slow conversion process, but the overall conversion would be deemed crucial for the continued and expanded use of the facility as an integral component of architecture. Olympus 6’s lander, Draco, would soon dock to the station, and the crew could prepare for the third and final short stay as part of the Olympus program. The short stays, while good first steps towards a future on Mars, still relied heavily on the crew in orbit for problem solving, and a whole crew expedition would test their ability to work independently from Earth. Draco, on arrival at Mars, had shown some signs of MMOD [3] damage to the hull, so the landing was pushed back a week while the crew ventured outside to inspect the vehicle. Some of the thermal blankets had experienced minor pitting, but was not a major risk for the ultimate goal of landing on the surface. Soon, the time for their surface sortie would come, and the landing team would take their seats in the cockpit, ready to take the next great steps for humanity. Kensworth, Trinh, Detrik and Matsumoto would soon begin their descent to Amazonis Planitia, a bold new world for humanity to explore. Descent would begin about 2 hours after separation from the Base Station complex, as the atmosphere began to lick at their lander. Navigating through the early phase of descent, Draco’s landing software began to look for its landing site and logistics lander, Henrietta Lacks. The turbulence of the atmosphere would soon shake the crew’s bones, as the RCS and air brakes worked to steer the vehicle towards its landing site. And then, blackout. The crew onboard the station could only track the lander to the best of their ability with the onboard scopes, calling hopefully for the lander and its crew. Every second that passed by was another source of anxiety for the crew on the station, a reminder that not everything would go to plan in spaceflight. Then, the time of AOS would come and go. The crew on station, full of tension, would thumb the red tabs on their checklists, desperate to not have to open that part of their binders. The possibilities of what had happened filled their minds, images of a crew unable to communicate, a fearful last few moments… Soon, a crackle. A voice from the planet below, albeit an electronic one. The lander was there, sitting pretty on the surface, scanning its environment around it with its electronic eyes. But still, no voice from the crew. Seconds turned to minutes, as the crew on station would attempt to raise their comrades. Soon, a crackly transmission from Kensworth, barely audible, but there: “Basecamp, this is Draco… I apologize for the communications delay, we’re working some issues with our antenna... We’ve made it safely to Amazonis Planitia, and we’re ready to start the next phase of discovery. Preparing for data uplink.” Both crews were elated, the third human landing on Mars had proved that this was not only possible, but repeatable, and set the stage for the future of long duration stays on the surface. Amazonis Planitia was not the most beautiful of landing sites, a vast desert ruled by the patterns of dust storms. However, it was not entirely bleak. The crew would voyage to Medusa Fossae, a vast geological feature visible from orbit, and collect some of the first samples of what appeared to be water weathered rock formations. During their time on the surface, they’d explore the variety of geological sites, and practice techniques for the upcoming transition to long stay architecture. To some, Olympus 6 was the last experimental flight of the program, the inefficient 40 day stay thrown out in favor of long duration. But to those who flew on them, they were the beginning of a new age of humankind, one where humans could walk on other worlds and truly call themselves multi-planetary.

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Draco makes her descent to the planet's surface under her ballute, carrying with her the crew of Olympus 6, the last short stay crew on the Martian surface. Following in her footsteps would be the long duration missions that the Olympus program was ultimately building towards.

In orbit of the Earth, a Phaeton upper stage separated from the core of a Jupiter-OPAV stack, sending 2 communications satellites on their way to geostationary orbit. The core stage, its job done, would separate from OV-202, Perseverance, and begin to ready itself for entry. But something wasn’t quite right. During ascent, ice from the external tank had been seen falling and impacting the lifting body engine pod, but the immediate damage was not quite clear. Cameras on the tank were not angled correctly to image the underbody of the vehicle. Tension had been high in mission control, issues like this had been addressed in the Shuttle program, with foam strikes all those years ago, but Jupiter-OPAV was a whole different beast. Anxiously, the crews in mission control moved around the room, desperate to assess what they could. Perseverance was in a low orbit, by design, and could not remain there long if they wanted to attempt to make the landing site. They had about 90 minutes, as the stack coasted towards the entry corridor. With word from Rockwell, the flight control team would make the call: Perseverance would proceed with her scheduled landing at White Sands. The teams of flight controllers would glue themselves to the console, gathering as much data as possible, and the fleet of WB-57s in service with NASA would take to the skies, pointing their heat seeking eyes at the heavens, ready to attempt to catch the pod as it headed back towards Earth. The first sighting of the vehicle would come on these heat seeking scopes, showing OV-202 screaming through the atmosphere, with something going considerably wrong. The heat shield, an upgraded form of the silica tiles found on the space shuttle orbiters, had been damaged, but the extent of the damage was not yet clear. Flames seemed to be licking at the exposed guts of the pod, and as the plasma blackout came to an end, alarms would trip across mission control. The vehicle was damaged, but core flight systems were still functional, they were nearly through the worst of it. The vehicle would begin to turn towards the launch site and get ready to deploy its parafoil, enabling the vehicle to come to a stop. High quality cameras could begin to image the vehicle, and the damage was clear. About 6 tiles had been removed completely, and the undercarriage of the pod risked damage. It was not clear if this was caused by the impact, or the shearing forces of entry. Soon, the pyros of the parafoil would fire, blowing the cover for the chute off the vehicle. The engineers breathed a sigh of relief as the vehicle turned lazily, heading for the runway in the gypsum sands. As the vehicle crossed through 200, and then 100 feet, the engineering team felt they could relax. The gear deployed, and at the moment that they felt as though they were in the clear, a line in the parafoil assembly snapped. The vehicle dipped to the left, its body starting to scrape against the sand, and beginning to tumble. The lines of the parafoil tangled around the vehicle, ripping and tearing as the vehicle kicked up a cloud of dust. In mission control, engineers stood at their consoles, astonished at what just happened. Perseverance came to a stop, tangled and smoking, as the sands around the vehicle turned to glass from the sheer heat of the vehicle. A long scar in the snow-like soil and a twisted wreck would be the only thing that would remain of the second OPAV pod off the line.

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Her tumultuous journey completed, Perseverance lays in the dust at White Sands. Her APU burning, the immediate steps would be to extinguish the fire and recover the black box, before beginning the painstaking steps of securing the vehicle.

In the weeks that followed, a committee was formed to determine the cause of the accident. Olympus operations hung in the balance once again, fearfully awaiting an answer. Reviewing the prelaunch footage, an anomaly was immediately detected. Icing was forming on the external tank where it hadn’t been observed before, and the crews immediately looked to investigate. Something had been leaking, very minutely from the external tank, and forming ice along the intertank section. How this had gone unnoticed remained a question, and the attention of the investigation turned to prelaunch operations. At Rockwell, Perseverance was brought back and the painstaking process of reassembling the vehicle could begin. The impact in the sand had warped the airframe, and all but destroyed the SSMEs onboard. The APU fire made the process of reconstruction toxic and difficult. It was to say the least, a crushing sight. The investigative committee, after 3 months of work, had determined that pressure to turn the Jupiter-OPAV system around fast enough to support not only Olympus and other NASA led operations, but commercial payloads, had lead to gaps in ground handling procedures and stacking operations. Due to mishandling of the External Tank, cryogenic fluids had been allowed to leak slightly and build up in areas where they absolutely should not have, and ultimately struck the vehicle during ascent. The heat that the vehicle dealt with during descent resulted in massive internal damage, and failure of the parafoil lines. Several members of the ground handling teams would be severely disciplined, and engineers quietly felt relief that something like this hadn't occurred on a shuttle flight. Ultimately, new safety procedures were put into place, including additional oversight of pad operations, and launches of the Jupiter-OPAV system could continue after a five and a half months stand down. Additionally, the upgrade program for the Jupiter-OPAV system would be accelerated, with the aim of flying higher performance engines and lighter solid rocket motors. Ultimately, Rockwell would donate OV-202 to the Smithsonian, rebuilt with stand-in components and display it in front of Space Shuttle Enterprise at the Udvar Hazy Center. Rockwell would immediately begin work on converting a structural test article for the OPAV system into a fully fledged member of the fleet, and promised to deliver OV-205 Tenacity by 2003 at the earliest.

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[1] This vehicle is largely unmodified in this timeline, save for the solar arrays mounted on the orbital module. Tests of the free flying orbital module were not conducted unlike in the real world. Our flight is also conducted approximately 2 years earlier than the real life Shenzhou 5.
[2] This technology is a scaled up version of Skycrane landing technology, developed for MSL Curiosity and used on M2020 Perseverance, with further applications planned on the upcoming Mars Sample Return architecture. Enables adequate ground clearance and low risk of local contamination due to hypergolic propellants.

[3] MMOD - Micro Meteoroid Orbital Debris, is both natural and artificial debris and can impact spacecraft in a variety of ways. MMOD risk is present in nearly every aspect of spaceflight.
 
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Great stuff, Shenzhou's launch in particular is very compelling! Poor Perseverance, though I'm glad to see she lives on at Udvar-Hazy.
The footnotes are a welcome addition, I think they work well to provide useful info outside the narrative. Looking forward to this week's image annex!
 
Great stuff, Shenzhou's launch in particular is very compelling! Poor Perseverance, though I'm glad to see she lives on at Udvar-Hazy.
The footnotes are a welcome addition, I think they work well to provide useful info outside the narrative. Looking forward to this week's image annex!
thanks very much! It's been a very fun chapter to write, i really feel like we are gearing up for something big with the long stay crews. the augmentation landers are some of the core elements of prestaging and i'm glad we have the capacity to get them there with Jupiter OPAV
 
I hope we get to see more of Yang (and I'm sure we will :) ) I felt the anxiety reading Draco's landing, but even more so this OPAV incident. And I second bcasi, the footnotes are a very welcome addition!

As always, there's a line that sticks with me in each chapter. This week, it's this one:
But to those who flew on them, they were the beginning of a new age of humankind, one where humans could walk on other worlds and truly call themselves multi-planetary.

Well done :)
 
I hope we get to see more of Yang (and I'm sure we will :) ) I felt the anxiety reading Draco's landing, but even more so this OPAV incident. And I second bcasi, the footnotes are a very welcome addition!

As always, there's a line that sticks with me in each chapter. This week, it's this one:


Well done :)
That line really stuck with me as well, and I'm glad the footnotes have been a hit. Yang is a character I can't wait to explore more, and how the Chinese space agency evolves and grows in the face of everything
 
Chapter 25.5: Image Annex
Chapter 25.5: Image Annex

Hi all, good morning! I hope you enjoyed our chapter from Monday, and are stoked for the images I've got for you all this week. Today, we're gonna be looking in detail at the 3 missions we conducted, and taking a further look at what's coming up. A lot of my inspiration for this accident came from a timeline I read several years ago dealing with landing a shuttle orbiter autonomously, and what that might look like. Again, I'd really like to thank Steven, Jay and Ben who have been absolute legends in getting amazing imagery out there for us, and I am so grateful to have them on my team for this project. One thing I love about Proxima is that it's a story that shows what's going on not only in text but in images, and I think that works out really nicely for us. Now, let's take a look at what we have in store!

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Shenzhou 5 would be a dramatic achievement for China, showing to the world that they were just as capable a space power as those that came before them. Their next steps would showcase their tremendous speed with which they would proceed through the goalposts of human spaceflight.

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One notable feature of Shenzhou 5 was the deployment of a small camera from the ship, enabling images of the craft to be broadcast to the world. Such a feat would soon become common for the Chinese Space Program, and result in tremendous images unmatched by other agencies.

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In orbit of Mars, Olympus 6's MSAV Draco casts off from the MTV-Basecamp Complex, ready to begin her sortie to the Red Planet - the final Block 1 short duration stay of the program as a whole.

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Now in her descent orbit, the crew, commanded by the UK's Sharon Kensworth, can prepare for what's coming at Amazonis Planitia, one of the great plains of Mars. All that stands between them and the surface is 7 minutes of terror.

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Her ballute having served its purpose, Draco begins the propulsive phase of descent. Steering for this portion of descent is conducted by her 5 LE-57M engines, RCS and airbrakes mounted on the interstage.

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In the final moments of arresting her horizontal velocity, Draco and Olympus 6 prepare to become the 3rd human crew to walk on the Red Planet.

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Despite a myriad of communication issues, Draco would touch down successfully, bringing the next four humans to walk on the Red Planet. Their stay would see a multitude of scientific experiments conducted in support of the program's goal of discovering the past life of Mars.

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With her sortie on the planet completed, the last Short Stay crew would take off, and return to their other four crew members waiting on the Base Station in orbit. The next human crew to walk on Mars would do so for well over an Earth year, and push the boundaries of human exploration.

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After a nominal ascent to orbit, Olympus 6's activity on the planet draws to a close, ready to begin the next phase of human exploration.

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As the investigation around Perseverance continued, it became clear that the damage to the vehicle could have been much worse, potentially not allowing it to survive re-entry. This image taken from a WB-57 showcases the extent of the damage to the pod as it maneuvered its way through the atmosphere, awaiting its fate in the desert.
 
Continuously impressed with all the images made for this project. The Shenzhou images existing in-universe, as well as the distortion on the visual, is a very nice tough :)
 
Continuously impressed with all the images made for this project. The Shenzhou images existing in-universe, as well as the distortion on the visual, is a very nice tough :)
thanks very much! steven is a fucking legend for the work on Shenzhou, very excited for some more stuff coming your way related to that
 
Chapter 26: An Aggressor From Other Worlds
Hi everyone, happy Monday! I hope you've all had a pleasant week, and are looking forward to our next chapter. This week, things are getting interesting, as we cycle out Mars crews, and are reminded of the sheer power of the Solar System - Something that perhaps our crews have taken for granted so far. I have a lot of people to thank today, all familiar faces who I'm super excited to have on this project - Ben, Tracker, Zarbon and Jay, who have all provided really incredible content for us today. The trend of footnotes will continue, and I'll make sure to keep doing that in the future as we go forward.

Chapter 26: An Aggressor From Other Worlds

An explosion had happened somewhere on the moon, and all of the international astronomy community knew it. The night of April 15th, 2002 had been quiet for telescopes all across the world, broken only by an alarm from asteroid detection arrays, something was crossing into the Earth-Moon system, and fast. Electronic eyes all across the planet turned to attempt to catch the object and as it streaked through the gravity well of the Earth and Moon. It was just past four in the morning when the alarm was triggered, and the subsequent movement of the telescopes was not quite fast enough to capture what would come next. A plume of dust, rising off of the lunar surface, would glint and tumble, and the astronomers on the ground would take stock of what they had just witnessed: the largest impact directly observed on a planetary body. The next few hours saw arrays across the world scan the skies, looking for any potential impactors that could follow along, and objects on trajectories that would impact Earth. Their search found no additional hazards, and residual impacts continued on the lunar surface as debris from the event found its way to the surface. The Apollo seismic experiments, long dormant, would continue to pick up impact after impact as the lunar surface would be bombarded with debris. The rest of the world would react in shock: something had truly snuck up on the Earth-Moon system, and packed the kinetic power of thousands of pounds of TNT. To those in astronomy, this had been something on the radar for a long time, and close calls had been reported on before. Congress would immediately convene, to begin to take steps on advising NASA on their next steps [1]. Once the world could begin to communicate on the issue, telescopes all over began to scan the lunar surface. The impactor had struck Mare Imbrium, and as the dust began to settle, the extent of the damage became clear. A massive scar now lurked on the lunar surface, a menacing reminder of the power the solar system contained. Several years ago, an asteroid hunting program had been stripped from the budget in order to keep Olympus on track when it looked as though the original nuclear engines were struggling. Now, in light of this event, many felt that a restart of an international effort could be useful in underscoring the importance of planetary defense. NASA and their partners would soon begin to get to work on a new wave of mission plans, designed to help ensure safety for planet Earth, while doing cutting edge research to understand the origins of our solar system.

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An artists rendition of the impact, showcasing the immense plume that became visible from Earth in the following hours. This impact would be one of the most violent impacts recorded in inner solar system history.

The first probe launched as part of the newly formed Planetary Defense Program was not originally assembled and planned for it. JPL had been planning a study of the short period comet Encke for some time, and now the Cometary System Analysis Mission, or CSAM, was being prepared for launch aboard a Delta III. The probe consisted of multiple parts - the Orbiter, which would act as a mothership for the variety of internationally provided microprobes. The CSAM Orbiter would hang back from comet Encke as the variety of other, smaller probes got closer to the relatively active icy world, and would act as a relay [2]. The first microprobe would be PlumeDiver, a shielded spacecraft that would dive into the cometary tail to collect images of the close up plume action. The probe was a CalTech build, and contained a chip containing the names of all who worked on her. The next probe was the Experimental Comet Rover, a small cold gas powered vehicle that aimed to bounce around the low gravity world and discover what the system had to offer. The probe would depart from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and soon be on its way to the icy world, ready to help humanity categorize these types of small bodies. On Earth, the formation of the new Planetary Defense Program would soon bear fruit - signatures would come from ESA, NASDA and CSA, reaffirming their commitment to defense of Planet Earth. The program would soon begin to look at early plans for an interceptor mission, and categorization missions that could enable early detection and test deflection technologies as part of an effort to keep the planet safe. One such concept involved targeting a binary asteroid and quite literally smacking the probe into it to test deflection techniques, a strategy not yet before tried. Whatever the final outcome was in the Planetary Defense Program, the people of Earth were determined to protect their home world, whatever it took.

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The creation of the Planetary Defense Program, using Delta, Shuttle, and the upcoming next generation Atlas vehicle, would enable cooperation to seek out and assess threats to Earth with years of advance knowledge.

In LEO, a plethora of activity was taking place. Despite the resonating uneasiness that the Impactor Event on the moon had generated, work on Olympus and other activities would continue. Odyssey had been one of the first assets in space to turn their attention to the moon - human eyes. Images from the station would circulate around the world, and help scientists better categorize what exactly had happened. The Russian station Zarya had long performed its function as a testing ground for activity that would later be carried out in deep space. Cobbled together from components originally planned for a station known as Mir, but would form the backbone for training astronauts in how to live and work in space for extended periods of time. While not as expansive as the facilities onboard Odyssey, the station would prove vital in training astronauts and cosmonauts with how to deal with problems. The European Space Agency had long wanted to extend their cooperation with the former Soviet Union, as they retained a special closeness in their relationship since the days of the Paris Agreement. In the spring of 1999, European representatives had approached their Russian colleagues about a proposal, and laid out a roadmap for the future of Russo-European relationships in space. The Russians, having not participated in Odyssey, were eager to expand their relationships and build bridges with the West. Europe, looking also for additional research opportunities, would soon reach a deal. Their plan was to launch a European built node with an additional PMA and Russian probe and drogue port onboard an Ariane V, and dock it to the station, setting up for the future expansion of the station, and eventual servicing by an upgraded Liberté vehicle. On August 1, 2002, the Donatello node was lofted to the station by an Ariane V, along with a new robotic element - the European Robotic Manipulator. The module would come to rest at Zarya, and the small tug that shepherded it there would commit to a deorbit burn. Work would start almost immediately on commissioning the module, with the Russo-French crew on station working to outfit the new module. Initial work would be done to establish connections to the module, and secure it for long term station operations. The next task, and arguably the most arduous one, would be the activation of the station’s robotic arm. The arm, derived from one of Odyssey’s Canadarms, would be used to support new modules and logistics vehicles to the station, and help the station prepare for potential expansion. One such idea called for a new Russian deep space telescope to be staged out of Zarya, and brought in to service it once every four years. This, however, would not come to fruition, at least at Zarya, as the station’s age and relatively limited docking space would limit them from fully expanding the station into as strong of an aggregation platform as her larger sister - Odyssey.

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Zarya stands in her newly upgraded configuration, ready to begin a new age of European cooperation in space. The Donatello node would allow for expansion and further cooperation from European partners, and could even support American modules.

Olympus 7’s crew would be lofted into space close to the end of the year, as the window for Mars opened. The first 8 person landing, they had a considerable amount on their minds as they prepared for their departure. The successful return of Olympus 6 earlier in the year, the last short stay mission of the program as a whole, had given the crew much hope for a successful mission to the Red Planet. After Draco’s successful operation on the surface and the loiter in Martian orbit, the crew of Minerva had made the voyage back to Earth, weathering a minor solar flare on the way. Their quick thinking ensured their safety, and proved that the storm shelter onboard the MTVs was up to snuff. Minerva had proved herself as the fleet leader, with not a single problem cropping up on the cruise back. During their return to Planet Earth, they were fortunate enough to conduct a flyby of the Moon, a unique opportunity to image the impact site that had been generated by the bolide that had struck it. What the crew found was shocking - Mare Imbrium was changed, a deep scar exposed the dark volcanic rock below the surface, and a new layer of dust had settled around the planet. Images from the mission, as well as orbiters around the moon confirmed the settlement of a layer of regolith in new areas. The crew, under Commander Sharon Kensworth’s command, completed Earth orbit insertion and were retrieved by Intrepid, bringing with them samples and experiments that had been conducted during their stay in space. On Earth, upgrades to the MSAV system, designed to enable wet workshop operations of the second stage, had proceeded on schedule, enabling the Olympus planners to confidently fly Olympus 7 as the first long stay mission. The cargo landers for Olympus 8 had also been dispatched, launching on dual Jupiter-OPAV flights towards the landing site at Jezero. The mission’s lander, Scorpius, sat attached to its transfer stage alongside Hera - recently out of a refit from her mission to Venus. The mission’s commander, NASA’s Michael “Mitch” Diaz, had been with the agency since missions to Mars had begun, and now had the opportunity to command a whole new breed of mission. The MTV pilot, NASA’s Gabriel Foust, had taken advantage of new virtual reality training to prepare for operations onboard Hera, and upgrades during her refit would allow for uncrewed operations in Martian orbit. The mission’s surgeon, Dr. Luca Bianchi from ESA, would finally get to put his training to the test, having practiced wilderness medicine north of the Arctic Circle. Russia’s Tekla Soloyova and ESA’s Catarina Hammond of the Netherlands were the mission’s Hab technicians, responsible for assembling and integrating the two logistics modules already on the surface. John Ryder of NASA, Misa Takahashi of NASDA and Mikkel Fischer of ESA would be in charge of surface operations once the crew had landed and set up their home away from home.

As the crew got their ship ready in orbit, and Intrepid backed away for departure, the time for analysis came. The crew knew that a cable had struck their habitat Augmentation Module, and the pressure vessel’s condition was uncertain. The last measurements had indicated all was well, but the crew would not be able to assess the situation until they got to the surface and investigated. In the event that the pressure vessel had indeed been compromised, they would board their lander and return to the Base Station-MTV complex, and perform their mission at Mars in orbit. It would be, to many, a great disappointment - knowing they had come so close to making great strides on the planet only to be limited by technical issues. Nevertheless, contingency plans were well underway by the time their lander had committed to departure. Lighting the single Valkyrie on her transfer stage, Scorpius would cast herself towards the red planet, with the crew of Hera preparing to do the same. Strapping into their seats, the crew would tackle their pre-departure checklist, aligning the moving parts on the outside of the spacecraft. Soon, they would be go to commit to trans Mars injection, propelling the crew towards a future on the Red Planet. As the engines lit, and the crew felt the force of the three Valkyrie engines pushing them into their seat, the geiger counter ticking away. There had been some discussion of removing the geiger counter on upcoming flights, now that the safety of the MTVs had been accurately assessed, but crews had protested, citing their psychological benefits. The tick of the geiger counter would fade as the engines shut down, and the crew could begin their coast phase. Much as the crew of Olympus 6 had, the crew of Olympus 7 would take the time to observe the moon, and take in the majesty of Earth’s celestial neighbor, still freshly scarred from impact. It was a solemn sight for the crew, something seemingly so cosmically massive taking such a blow, but it underscored for the crew the reasons why they would push so hard to go to Mars, to go to and discover what lay out there, and what other threats Earth faced.

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Slipping between the Earth and the Moon, the Olympus 7 crew would catch a glimpse of the scarred lunar surface, documenting with human eyes one of the most violent impacts in recent memory, a reminder of the sheer power of the solar system.

The first two months of cruise were uneventful, and communications with Earth would soon drop to uplink and downlink. The crew would take this time to relax, and prepare themselves for the coming expedition. Routine governed the crew’s day to day, and Hera threw no major issues their way during the outbound journey. Careful choreography was the name of the game, ensuring that the crew would not be left in a place of boredom. Boredom was the enemy here. On flight day 90, as the crew were getting ready to eat dinner, an alarm on the flight deck sounded: FLARE WARNING. SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. The crew left their dinner, and worked to prepare the cabin for shielding operations. Learning from experience on Olympus 6, which was a much smaller flare, the crew donned their dosimeters, shielded vests, and moved into the storm shelter, a water shielded compartment in the aft of the spacecraft, and positioned the vehicle so the hydrogen tanks of the vehicle could provide some protection. Donning their radiation vests, the crew sealed the compartment, getting cozy with one another as the klaxon would continue for another 40 minutes. The alarm finally would come to a stop, and the crew could exit their cocoon and begin to inspect their ship, and get them back in the correct attitude for cruise. The storm on Olympus 6 had been nowhere near this intense, and the crew began to take stock of the damage done. Communications had survived, and Hera was still transmitting health data, but internal electronics had been damaged. Several experiment racks were completely offline, and personal equipment was fried. The radiation hardening of the ship had helped somewhat, but personal computers would need to be taken apart and replaced, and electronic equipment would need to be reset. Over the next few days, the crew would work to slowly reboot the ship’s systems, and figure out the status of their lander, Scorpius. The MSAV vehicle would have assumed the same attitude, and a general health check showed that Scorpius was in good condition to continue the mission. For now, they were safe - able to proceed with their mission and make the landing site, but it served as a reminder to the harsh reality of space as a whole. The crew were shaken, understandably so, and the uncertainty of their habitat’s condition on the surface sat in the back of their minds - but they were on their way, determined to finish their task at hand and do what they needed to do.

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[1] While we had no impactor, Congress did advise NASA on the creation of Planetary Protection programs, which resulted in a dedicated funding line that went to probes like DART, the Double Asteroid Redirect Test, and NEO Surveyor.

[2] Comet Encke was the target of the ill fated CONTOUR mission, which broke up during a phasing burn out of Earth orbit.
 
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The balance to be struck between relaxing into earned levels of comfort through repeated success against remaining vigilant is an interesting idea to explore, and I enjoy the notes of it in this chapter (crews fighting to keep the Geiger counters, the flare Olympus 7's crew faces) keeping that idea present. Curious to see if/how the experience will shape how they approach their long-term stay.

Line of the week for me (and, beautifully, it's the last one of the chapter) -
but they were on their way, determined to finish their task at hand and do what they needed to do.
 
Also, yes I know this is edging into ASB territory with the Lunar Impactor, but I think it is just as likely as some other activities in space. We have near misses all the time, and I think it's a perfectly viable exploration of what humans might do in this circumstance - enjoy none the less!
 
All eyes are on the moon....
This was a super fun event to illustrate, and I'm excited to see how its ramifications cascade as we continue on in the story! I'm also looking forward to the long-stay Olympus 7 mission, I think it'll be really interesting to explore a more sustainable architecture going forward. Hopefully they can work through any issues from the flare incident....
 
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