Mass effect mission to the moon. As a side effect, a Mass Effect fanfic fanfiction. Getting to know the universe
BioWare is a legendary RPG company. Its employees are responsible for such masterpieces as Baldur's Gate, Newervinter Nigths and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The studio also owns Jade Empire, but the combination of role-playing elements and real-time combat system was not to everyone's taste. And the simplified role-playing system (only three parameters) did not please too much. But, fortunately, the masters of the genre did not fail - magnificent characters, an interesting plot, a huge number of tasks and non-linearity brought the game fame and success. For a while there was a lull, and then the company announced the development of an exclusive for the Xbox 360 - RPG Mass Effect. Beautiful videos and bright screenshots gave the game the status of a "hit" even before the release. The PR campaign was thought out perfectly, and the release of the project turned out to be like an explosion. Dozens of awards around the world, the title of "Best game of the year "and" Best RPG "at various exhibitions - all this went into the pocket of developers and publishers. Xbox 360 owners rejoiced in their happiness and quietly chuckled at the owners of the PC. Critics, on the other hand, argued that there was nothing to laugh about - the project would definitely be released on a computer. Few believed, but many hoped. And their hopes were justified. Soon there was an official statement about the transfer of Mass Effect to the kingdom of the keyboard and mouse. The fans held their breath and crossed their fingers. And now the bomb exploded again. As it turned out, much stronger than the first time ...
Getting to know the universe
The year is 2148. Humanity is developing, taking small steps to master the solar system. First, the Moon was colonized, then Mars, and then the unexpected happened - people stumbled upon the remains of the ancient Prothean civilization. Before this event, there were no contacts with extraterrestrial races, but here earthlings found evidence of the existence of life in space. As time passed, mankind climbed a little further and received a "package" from an extinct people - a device called Mass Relay. It made it possible to move in space with superluminal speed. People rushed to new worlds. The first destination is the Earth-like planet, Eden Prime. The colony is founded - the development of the territories continues. It turned out that in the depths of the universe, haughty guests were not welcome. People encountered another race - the Turians. A fierce war began, humanity was unable to oppose anything to the technologies of the future. Having suffered defeat, the earthlings concluded an agreement with the "owners", and the guests were allowed to stay. As the years passed, the galactic empire developed. She owed much to the heritage of the Protheans. The Citadel space station was destined to become the center of the world. The first races - the Salarian and the Asari - founded the Consulate there. It carefully monitored what was happening around, maintaining a balance between all races. It was impossible to allow the dominance of any civilization, since this is where democracy ceased to exist. The main staff of the Consulate are Spectra. They are special government agents, superbly trained and trained. They have immunity, and their clan is a powerful force in the universe. Their main task is to fulfill government assignments. Spectra are always and in everything right, even if they are wrong. The slightest disobedience to their orders could result in jail time or even death. The year is 2183. Civilization is developing, more and more races are coming into the world. Democracy fades into the background. Along with the prosperity of the empire, chaos is taking place, and tremendous power is in the hands of terrorists. In this rather troubled time, a strange race of robots, the Geth, appears on the map. They move menacingly towards the outpost of humanity. And then - applause, the curtain rises - the main character enters the stage.The first steps
Traditionally, we start our journey with character generation. You are free to do whatever you want with him - add a mustache, choose a hairstyle, cover your body with scars, and so on. The Commander is the commander of the Normandy spacecraft. And also - an employee of the Consulate, the same spectrum. There are six classes to choose from - three main and three secondary. Engineer (Engineer) - a lover of technology, but weak in close combat. Adept is an adherent of paranormal abilities. And finally, the Soldier is a rude warrior without fear or reproach. The three remaining categories are combinations of these classes. And we recommend taking a closer look at them. Also, after completing a side mission on the moon, it will be possible to choose one of the additional six classes. Having decided on the path of development, we can safely rush into battle. The action is gaining momentum on a planet colonized by earthlings. She is attacked by the former spectrum, and now - the renegade Saren (turian by origin). It is unknown how, but he takes control of the robots and tries to find the Prothean artifact. A colony of people is under attack, most are killed, some are turned into zombies. The Commander is trying to stop what is happening ... The Consulate finds out about the incident, but cannot believe the guilt of one of its agents. Before the court, Saren proves his innocence. An old racial conflict reignites and people leave in disgrace. The valiant captain is unable to close his eyes to this and begins to dig under the traitor, trying to find out the reasons for the betrayal and find out accomplices. The character is initially “correct”. But this does not mean that he is obliged to be kind. On the contrary, Shepard can become a bastard and a liar, but all his actions will be regarded as correct. Before him all the time there will be a moral choice - the developers did not hesitate to present it in almost every mission. Choosing a good or bad solution to a problem, the main character gets points in one of two scales. Moreover, a good deed will not get rid of negative points, just as villainy will not affect the amount of humane points. Most decisions are made in very unusual dialogues. Forget about long boring remarks and minutes looking for the right phrase. Now you watch an interactive movie, occasionally choosing the "color" of the words. A short sentence develops into a lengthy conversation, and you enjoy it, since the characters are excellently voiced. The only blunder is that the aliens speak a completely understandable language - English. To be precise, in its various dialects.Moment of truth
Having talked to the people around you, it's time to get down to business. Fortunately, the commander is not alone along the winding path - he is accompanied by six companions. Each belongs to one of the nations, has its own specialization, opinion about what is happening and is always ready to chat. Friends give out tasks and themselves participate in their implementation. We monitor the development of assistants independently, endowing them with new skills and abilities. The role-playing system is made quite interesting. It consists of twelve parameters, each of which includes twelve stages of development. Very often, in order to reach a certain part of the ladder, you have to acquire unnecessary skills. But this is offset by great bonuses. As for weapons, they are divided into five classes - pistols, machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles and grenades. Each species has three characteristics that can be improved. The upgrade system is well developed - the better the barrel and armor, the more holes for additional materials. The battles take place in real time. The camera hangs over the shoulder of the protagonist, and the project turns into a third-person shooter with tactical elements. On the battlefield, you can take two partners and give each of them orders. All battles are very dynamic and exciting. They are diluted with occasional trips in an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a cannon and a machine gun. An off-road vehicle can easily drive where a tank would have slipped.Home stretch
Completing Mass Effect takes an average of 25-30 hours. During this time, you have enough time to admire the world around you, shoot and listen to philosophical conversations. There are no abstruse conversations on the topic of Good and Evil. And, by and large, there is no division into good and bad. Everyone is right, even the negative character Saren. It's just that everyone has their own truth. BioWare was once again able to bring fans a great game with little or no flaws. The only negative is not the most successful optimization. Undoubtedly, Unreal Engine 3 produces an excellent picture, but textures take too long to load. But this problem is nothing compared to the pleasure that you get from traveling to distant stars! Our rating: 9.5 out of 10| Graphics | The picture is great. The detail of the world defies description, and the quality of the facial animation of the characters deserves only praises. Unreal Engine 3 did a good job, however, there were problems with long downloads and intermittent frame rate drops. |
| Sound | The voices of the actors, their intonation and their lines are perfectly calibrated for Mass Effect. They are as high quality as the game itself. True, it can be funny to listen to aliens who speak English dialects. As for the music, it is very good, the orchestra did its best. Sound effects are also "on the level", and at a very high level. |
| Originality | A new variation of interactive cinema-style dialogues - an original solution. However, so is the merger of a tactical third-person shooter with an RPG. Anyway, Mass Effect is original in its very existence. Even the eternal "correctness" of decisions is exclusive. |
| Control | Very convenient and comfortable. Porting from new generation consoles went completely unnoticed. The mouse is supported in the same way as the keyboard. All the movements of the characters are perfected, and the distribution of tactical commands is simple and straightforward. The same goes for managing the development of heroes. |
| Single gameplay | Delays for a long time. The plot is great, it wiggles from side to side and constantly presents new surprises. The world is huge and multifaceted, the characters hold many secrets, the missions are interesting and non-linear. |
| To replay | A very interesting option as it is one of the best RPGs in recent memory. After the finale, I want to go over the planets again and resolve conflicts in other ways, more humane or, on the contrary, cruel. |
| Multiplayer gameplay | Not provided. |
| General impression | Before us is one of those games that has not been removed from the hard drive for a long time. And not because it has not been passed yet, but because it is a pity. This is a hit, a masterpiece, a project of great quality. No wonder BioWare staked on it and planned a trilogy, the second part of which has already been announced for PC. You just have to see it! |
"All good things in this world have one common flaw - they tend to end." So Laura Shepard thought as she packed her bags. Their wonderful and long-awaited desert vacation has come to an end. It was time to return to the Normandy and continue preparing for future battles.
If it were in her power, Laura would order time to stop, freeze, plunge into stasis forever and never leave ... But, even Liara, the true master of creating stasis, could not stop time forever. How quickly those thirty days passed ... Thirty short and at the same time - incredibly long days, spent by her only with Thane - the only creature in the entire galaxy for whom Shepard went into battle at the Collectors Base. For Thane, she would gladly give every drop of her blood, and her life itself, too, on that damned base ...
She still could not fully believe that Thane loved her, that his heart, soul and body belonged only to her. Laura was jealous of the drell's own shadow and the sunbeams that caressed his body. Heat was her rival, which took Shepard's beloved for almost the whole day. But, she could not fight this, and she did not even try to deceive Thane with a forced smile - it was simply impossible. His eyes, huge, like the Universe, always looked directly into her heart and read her soul, like an open book. Laura could not lie to Thane, because where there is love, there can be no place for lies, and therefore she simply left him in the afternoon alone.
Drell was grateful to her for this, because he saw and understood perfectly well that the hot and dry climate of this planet was clearly not a resort for a woman-man. Thane knew that Shepard had done it solely for his sake, in order to fulfill his cherished desire - to see the desert. He saw that her "urgent matters" were far-fetched, but pretended to believe - it was better for both. The differences between their races only grew sharper and clearer in the sultry desert afternoon. But how happy he was on these hot days, how glad he was to the touch of the burning rays and the healing dry air, which the drell could breathe in at least a little, but easier ... Or did it just seem?
For several days Thane had been listening carefully to himself and could not understand - is this actually happening to him, or did he come up with an apparent remission? In any case, it became easier for the drella to breathe, the pain in his chest was not so annoying. Kalahira, but he did not feel it at all - that oppressive weight that threatened to soon take his life from him. Unbeknownst to Laura, Thane returned to his usual workouts and exercises, and found that even the increase in load did not torment him as much as before ...
No, it's impossible, Thain kept repeating to himself, easily performing lightning and deadly moves. "Laura has no hallucinations, so they started with me?"
The increase in speed of movement made the heart beat faster and made breathing harder, but the excruciating pain that every drell with Kepral's syndrome felt was not there.
“I must definitely go to Mordin, - decided Krios, - it looks like the disease got to the brain, and I imagined that it was getting easier for me.”
Shepard has seen Thane behave strangely over the past few days. She constantly listened to his breathing, watched the drell anxiously, but found no signs of deterioration. Or didn't you want to see?
"As soon as we return to the Normandy, it will be necessary to urgently send Thane to Chakwas and Mordin. I need to know what's wrong with him. Know the whole truth, whatever it may be," Laura decided.
The team greeted them in a festively decorated dining room. Shepard was incredibly happy to see them all again, and they were sincerely happy that the captain was back. Miranda bumped into Laura, hugged her and spun like a girl:
How glad I am to see you! You are so prettier! Tanned like a chocolate bar! And the eyes shine! Miri looked at the captain in admiration. “Listen, maybe I’ll have a drell myself, eh?
Miranda nodded in the direction of Thane, whom Garrus was patting on the shoulder in a friendly way, and asked him something, handing Drell a glass of champagne. Thane smiled back, but his eyes were serious, and Krios did not take his gaze from Mordin, who finally emerged from the laboratory with an extremely concerned expression on his face.
Try, start, - Laura smiled at her friend, but could not deceive her.
Is he worse? Miranda asked quietly, leaning towards Shepard's ear.
I don't know, I don't know anything, Miri. Something is happening to Thane, but what?
I would not say that he is worse, he shines like a brand new coin, the terminally ill do not look like that!
Your words, yes to Amonkira's ears, - Shepard finished her champagne. - I can't do without him, you know?
I know, don't be upset in advance, okay? Find out the opinion of the doctors, and then you will draw conclusions, okay?
Agreed! - Laura smiled and turned to Chakwas, who was in a hurry to hug her:
Finally! I miss you so much, my captain!
The hunter and the beast ... Shepard hugged the doctor. - I need to talk to you urgently.
Something happened? - Chakwas' eyes instantly became serious. “I have news for you too. Will you listen tomorrow when you rest?
No, if this is about Thane, I have no time to waste. We still have it ...
Let me interfere with your conversation. I have to explain something urgently. And to confirm some guesses, - Mordin materialized nearby, grabbed Shepard by the hand and literally dragged him towards the laboratory. She managed to notice how Chakwas, smiling sweetly, took Thane's arm and led him into the medical bay.
Here's the thing, - Mordin showed the captain strange medical diagrams, - I took your blood test before departure, if you remember ... and some other tests.
I remember - she was slightly embarrassed, remembering that Mordin ordered Chakwas to conduct a full gynecological examination of her body, and take the appropriate samples for research.
Again, human disgust! - the salarian threw up his hands, - I did it for a reason. I did the same with Mr. Krios. I was wondering how your organisms might react to the interpenetration of fluids into each other. After all, you know that with close ... contact, microtrauma of the mucous membrane invariably occurs, through which various viruses can enter the partner's blood?
Are you saying I could have infected Thane with some nasty thing? But after my resurrection, I had no time for men!
Exactly! - Mordin interrupted her, - after the resurrection! That's the whole point! Your body does not respond to drell the way that a normal woman does. Accordingly, we can conclude that during your reconstruction "Cerberus" slightly changed something in you. I wondered if your modified blood could have a positive effect on Thane's blood? Even viruses can not only harm, Shepard, but here we are not talking about viruses, but about mutual ...
Professor! - She grabbed Mordin's arm, forcing him to interrupt the verbal waterfall. - What have you learned?
I can't say anything yet! First, I must conduct new blood tests on Mr. Krios and yours. Only then will I be able to draw conclusions that refute or confirm my hypothesis.
The hope that had flashed in Shepard's eyes faded, and Mordin quickly took another blood test from her and said:
Send Thane to me, captain. I will announce my conclusions tomorrow!
They began to speak at the same time, interrupting each other, and involuntarily laughed. Laura buried her forehead on his shoulder and muttered:
Mordin sent me for you.
And me after you - Chakwas, - answered Thane, squeezing her hand.
Well, if so, let's not keep them waiting. ”Shepard tried to speak calmly.
Don't worry, whatever that means, while we're still alive.
You're right, - she lightly touched his lips and hurried to Chakwas.
Did you want to see me? Everything is bad? Shepard blurted out, barely crossing the threshold of the med bay.
Who told you that? - smiled Chakwas, handing the captain a glass of water. - Sit down, drink and calm down! I'll tell you the main news tomorrow, when all the results are ready, but for now, I'll just say that miracles still happen, Laura.
The glass fell from Shepard's hand and shattered to smithereens, splashing the captain with water, but she didn't even notice.
You want to say...
Yes, all signs indicate that the disease has receded.
Shepard felt her legs give way and sank helplessly into the chair.
This happens with almost any disease. Stress, strong feelings can not only harm, but also force the body to mobilize and give a powerful rebuff even to an incurable disease. This has happened in all ages, and medicine shrugged its shoulders. I can't tell you exactly how Thane is doing at the moment, but I will find out in the next day, when the results of all the studies are ready. So far, I can only say with certainty: Thane is feeling better. How much - you will know tomorrow. Now go and rest, you will need strength!
Chakwas helped her up and escorted her to the door. Shepard went up to the cabin, noticed that someone had left her travel bag at the doorstep, mechanically picked it up and threw it into a corner. There was a bottle of wine and two glasses on the table. Laura uncorked the bottle, poured a full glass, and drank half of it in one gulp.
Join in. ”She poured wine into a second glass and handed it to Thane. He approached, took the glass in one hand, and the other drew Laura to him:
Don't worry, "the drell kissed her forehead." Anyway, we can't change anything. It is what it is. Sooner or later we will both go overseas.
I don't want to, - Shepard raised her eyes to Thane, feeling that treacherous tears still flow down her cheeks, - I don't want to, you know! I don’t want to lose you ... I can’t ... understand, Thane, that I don’t need this world, this ship, all this, if you are not by my side ...
Don't cry, Siha, - Thain put an unnecessary glass on the table and hugged her with both hands, - I know that you are not easy with me, and in the desert you had a hard time. Shut up! - he put his finger to her lips, not allowing to object. - I saw everything. I saw how you suffered from the heat, how you invent non-existent things.
I didn't want to disturb you, ”Shepard said through her tears, the first tears since the resurrection.
And I also know that, - Thane lightly kissed her trembling lips - now it was his turn to feel the taste of human tears. - You gave me not just a month in the desert, it was a month in paradise, is that what your people call the happy world of eternal bliss?
Yes, - she sobbed, hiding her face on his chest, - but how can I survive until tomorrow? What will they tell us - Mordin and Chakwas?
I don’t think this will be bad news. Thane handed her a glass. - Drink, it will calm you down.
Thank you. ”She finished her wine, and then Thane sat Shepard on the bed, brought a bottle and glasses, and they drank it sitting next to each other, hugging each other, and without saying a word.
Then Laura stretched out on the bed, the drell hugged her, but they could not sleep. They lay close to each other, listening to the beat of their own hearts, and counting the hours until morning. Shepard was afraid to believe in a miracle, she wanted to hear the final diagnosis, and Thane was waiting and afraid of this diagnosis no less.
Finally, the longest night of their lives ended, and they both emerged on the doorstep of the med bay, equally frightened and awaiting judgment. Chakwas instantly realized that that night neither Laura nor Thane closed their eyes for a second, shook her head and pointed to the chair:
So, so, my dears! I see you've been harassed all night! Is it possible? - She looked reproachfully at Laura. - You defeated Saren, destroyed the Collector base, and then you could not pull yourself together? Ashamed, captain! I told you that miracles happen, remember? I can confirm this. Look both here. ”Chakwas called up holographic 3D images of Thane’s lungs and the whole body, and began to explain:
See, a month ago, metastases were here, here, and here? Now they are gone. I cannot explain why this happened. This sometimes happened in the twentieth century with cancer - a deadly and terrible disease of the time. What was the reason for this in the past, and what is the reason now - I do not know. But you see for yourself - the disease has stopped. Of course, a destroyed lung will not become healthy, but what continues to work will be enough for you, Thane, to live normally for many more years. The process of destruction in the second lung, - Chakwas pointed to the diagram, - stopped. Something has become a powerful mobilizing impetus for your body, Thane ... But just now?
Let me explain, colleague! - when Mordin managed to enter the medical bay, none of those present noticed. Chakwas enthusiastically explained what had happened to the drell, and Shepard and Thane followed her every word.
I ask you, professor, - Chakvas smiled, - I am interested to know this myself.
The fact is that yesterday I did all the research again. And he made an amazing discovery. Perhaps this will save not only you, Thane, but also many of your kindred. This will counterbalance the genophage. If, of course, it is confirmed.
Professor! Laura and Thane exclaimed pleadingly.
Yes, that's the point. I suspected that the reason for your improved health, Thane, lay in Shepard's blood. My hypothesis was brilliantly confirmed! I will not bore you with an abundance of terms. I’ll just say that one of the components of your blood, the captain, brought by “Cerberus” during your resurrection (they replaced the missing elements with analogues unknown to me) entered Thane's blood. It happened during your intimacy. I told you about microtrauma of the mucous membrane, captain. Your blood triggered a powerful response from Thane's body. This explosion just burned out all the metastases. The contacts were quite frequent, because you, captain, did not have any symptoms that hinder you - allergies and hallucinations. For the same reasons. Let's call this a side effect of Project Lazarus. As a result, you, Thain, developed antibodies that completely blocked the development of Kepral's syndrome. Metastases have been eliminated, and lung destruction has been stopped. The disease can be considered defeated.
I don't know yet if the elements that I have isolated from your blood will work on other drells, captain, but it's easy to find out empirically. If my hopes come true. ”Mordin's face lit up with a smile. “I can think of myself as the savior of an entire race. The genophage was necessary, but it is not easy to come to terms with the title of the killer of the unborn. This vaccine will help me find peace. There isn't much left for me, ”the salarian threw up his hands,“ I’ll be happy to devote the rest of my life to saving your race, Thane.
Are you saying that I won't die? Thane spoke these words slowly and difficultly, without taking his burning eyes from Mordin.
I didn't say that! - the professor smiled, - we are all mortal, and we do not lead the most peaceful way of life. So, I cannot guarantee you a long life. But I'm pretty sure you won't die of Kepral's syndrome! In addition, we have almost finished work on the artificial lung. This is how Chakwas, Miss Lawson and I planned to extend your life. Now everything has been simplified. The operation will give us the opportunity to replace the affected lung with its artificial analogue. After that, you will have almost full lung capacity, corresponding to the parameters of your race. We will perform the operation in a couple of months. We need to finally be convinced of the correctness of my conclusions and bring the transplant to perfection. I want everything to be perfect!
So I won't die! Thain repeated as if in a dream, and then he sighed convulsively and covered his face with his hands, wanting to hide the tears of mistrust and joy running down his cheeks. Drell, like a child, buried her head in Shep's chest, and she hugged him and pressed him to her pounding heart. Laura stroked Thane's quivering shoulders, not noticing that the same tears were streaming down her cheeks.
Are you cheating on us, professor? she asked, reading the answer in Mordin's shining eyes and in the triumphant smile of Chakwas, who said:
I told you miracles happen, Laura. Not only bad things have to happen to us. You deserve the right to be happy more than anyone in this Universe. ”Chakwas touched Mordin on the shoulder, and they both left the medical bay, leaving Thane and Shepard alone with their unexpected and great joy.
I didn’t think it’s possible to cry not only from pain and fear, ”Thane raised his eyes to the captain, which still showed disbelief.
You can, '' Laura gently ran her trembling fingers over his cheek, kissed him, feeling the bitterness of his tears again, as she did before Omega 4, when they first became close:
Forgive my weakness, Siha ... I shouldn't be like that in front of you, - Thane took her hand in his, squeezed tightly, - I am ashamed ...
Do not be ashamed, Thane, - Shepard pressed against the drell, feeling a nervous tremor pierce him, - not every day you find out that you have been pardoned. That life won't end in a year. That there is still a lot to come ...
I know, - Thane touched her lips, - I just have already come to terms with the fact that I have a little left, that nothing keeps me here, that everything is over. But then you appeared, Siha. You gave me back my son and life, gave me your love and all of yourself. We survived that battle, but my judgment did not allow me to fully enjoy my happiness. I was afraid to look into the future, even Kolyatu did not say anything about you and me.
Not scary. ”She smiled. - There will still be time. Now we can talk about everything with your son, there's nowhere to rush, Thane.
What a lovely phrase, ”the drell said. - The gods showed me mercy and gave me another chance.
You deserve it. ”Laura rested her head on the drell's shoulder.
WE deserve it, - Thane smiled, - without you all this would be impossible, Siha.
It doesn't matter who gave us this chance, it is important that we have it. ”She looked into his eyes. - The rest doesn't matter.
The logical continuation of the story in the story Mother and Stepmother.
This article will focus on our solar system. It seemed that it was already quite well studied, however, scientists admit that in fact they know little. It just so happens that information from the Mass Effect Code is mixed with real data here, but I'm sure you can easily distinguish reality from fiction.
We will not talk about Earth, because such a story will go far beyond the scope of this article. As the saying goes, refer to the Alliance Standard Galactic Encyclopedia for details. It can only be recalled that the population of the Earth reached 11.5 billion people by 2186. "Mysterious" people so dirtied the planet's orbit that at an altitude of over 85 km ships are recommended to use a kinetic barrier. In the fourth and fifth libration points, there are more than 20 large space stations, with an average population of about 10,000 people each. (The libration point or Lagrange point is the point at which a celestial body with a low mass (for example, a space station), moving under the influence of the attraction of two other bodies of significant mass (for example, the Sun and the Earth), can be in a state of relative equilibrium with respect to these two bodies). These stations were built from materials found on the moon. We will go there now.
About 400,000 km from Earth, three days of travel in a spaceship at the beginning of the 21st century.
The moon, a quarter of the diameter of the Earth, exerts a strong gravitational influence on our planet. It keeps the angle of the earth's axis unchanged. If it were not for the Moon, the angle of inclination of the Earth's axis over a long time would fluctuate from 0 ° to 85 °, which would lead to dramatic climate changes: in one part of the Earth, the temperature would rise rapidly, and in another, it would drop sharply. The moon is very important for life, it ensures the stability of the climate and the change of seasons.
Up close, the Moon resembles an empty battlefield after being bombarded by millions of meteorites and asteroids. But now it was quiet. Obviously, there have been no major collisions here in millions of years.
It brings back memories - the Apollo 11 lunar module, the first tracks of Neil Armstrong. It seems that they were made yesterday, there is no air here to change them. They must remain for many millions of years.
Today there is a theory that the Americans did not land on the moon, and, oddly enough, this theory originated in the United States itself. In addition, even now some do not know or forget who first set foot on the lunar surface. One American journalist approached passers-by on the street and asked who was the first person on the moon. He received different answers and even this: "Armstrong walked on the moon, but I think it was Russian, I'm not sure." Be that as it may, in 2069, the Armstrong base in Shackleton Crater became the first human settlement on the moon, most likely it was founded by the Americans. The official opening ceremony took place on July 24, exactly 100 years after the first landing on the moon. The base's population has already reached 4.1 million. At one time, the Moon was one of the first sources of helium-3, but at the moment it produces materials used in space construction.
I would also like to note that in 2183, at one of the Alliance training complexes, located, probably in the southern part of the Sea of \u200b\u200bCrises, near the landing site of the Soviet automatic station "Luna-23", the VI went out of order, as a result of which 17 infantrymen died. but soon the Alliance managed to get the situation under control. It was rumored that the security systems of the complex were neutralized by a team of only three people, but this is simply impossible! According to some estimates, to capture the base, it would be necessary to involve special forces before the platoon.
But let's keep going. A friendly face emerges from the darkness, the goddess of love is Venus.
It is located at a distance of 0.72 AU. e. from the sun. Venus rotates in the direction opposite to its orbital rotation. The sun here rises in the west and sets in the east. Venus rotates very slowly on its axis. It takes more time for one revolution than it does to fly around the Sun; a Venusian day lasts longer than a year. The planet's spectacular yellow clouds reflect sunlight, making Venus the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon. Venus and Earth are similar in size and gravity, but the Venera Express spacecraft tells us that these dazzling clouds are made of deadly sulfuric acid, and the planet's atmosphere is filled with carbon dioxide. Venus is an evil goddess.
The atmosphere is poisoned, the pressure is unbearable (90-100 atmospheres), hot - about 500 ° C. If we stayed here for a long time, our body would be corroded by acid, we would suffocate, we would be crushed and fried. Nothing can survive here. Like this machine. This is the Soviet robotic probe "Venus", its sturdy casing was damaged by the special atmosphere of the planet.
So attractive from Earth, this planet is scary up close. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps the heat of the sun, and global warming is raging here. If Venus was quieter before it took over the planet, then Venus's present could be the future of our planet.
Due to such horrific conditions, only a few research balloons are present on Venus, the planet's population is 800 people (probably only in orbit). But on the other hand, the atmosphere of Venus was perfect for testing the Alliance shuttle "Kodiak", which turned out to be very tenacious and well protected.
Something tells us that we do not need to stay here for a long time and it is better to continue our journey. The planet scorched by the Sun is Mercury.
This is what happens when you get close to the Sun (0.39 AU): here the temperature changes rapidly, at night it drops to -170 ° C, at noon it rises to 400 ° C. This is the widest temperature range among the planets in the solar system. Burnt, frozen. Look at these scars, a sign that Mercury had a violent past.
Mercury is the smallest planet in the terrestrial group. Its radius is only 2439.7 ± 1.0 km, which is less than the radius of Jupiter's moon Ganymede and Saturn's moon Titan. The interplanetary station "Messenger" tells us something strange: for its size this planet has a powerful gravity, it must be heavier than it seems. The planet resembles a huge ball of iron covered with a thin layer of rock - the core of what was once a much larger planet. Perhaps some wandering planet crashed into Mercury and destroyed its upper layers. Entire planets flying freely are capable of destroying anything in their path, even other planets.
The period of revolution of Mercury around its axis is 2/3 of the period of revolution around the Sun. As a result, in one Mercury year, Mercury manages to turn around its axis by one and a half revolutions. The speed of rotation of Mercury around its axis is very small, and the speed of movement in its orbit is uneven, and on some days the orbital speed of the planet becomes higher than the rotational one. Being at this time on the surface of Mercury, you can see that the Sun stops and moves in the opposite direction. For an observer at certain longitudes, the Sun rises (or sets) twice.
There are no seasons on Mercury like on Earth. This is due to the fact that the planet's axis of rotation is at right angles to the orbital plane. As a consequence, there are areas near the poles that the sun's rays never reach. One study suggests that there are glaciers in this cold and dark zone. The glacial layer can reach 2 m and is covered with a layer of dust.
One of the most noticeable features of the surface of Mercury is the Plain of Heat (Latin Caloris Planitia). Its diameter is about 1550 km, larger than the British Isles. It is one of the largest impact craters in the solar system. The impact was so strong that seismic waves, passing the entire planet and focusing on the opposite point of the surface, led to the formation of a kind of crossed "chaotic" landscape here. We know that the crater must have been formed in the early history of the planet, as its surface is also badly damaged.
Several solar power plants exist at the "peaks of eternal light" at the south and north poles of Mercury. By the way, today some scientists have calculated that if three interconnected solar power plants, a couple of hundred km2 each, were created on Earth, placed somewhere in Australia, Africa and Latin America, then it would be possible to satisfy the needs of all mankind in electricity and transfer all coal, gas and nuclear power plants to the category of reserve ones. Such a global solar energy system would generate electricity around the clock and evenly throughout the year. On Mercury, unfortunately, the further development of stations is complicated by the planet's proximity to the Sun and its high orbital speed; the population is only 340 people.
There was a little bit about the Sun in the article, but there is much more to add. Our planet receives only one two billionth of the energy emitted by the Sun. Scientists have calculated that the total amount of energy produced by the Sun is enough to support more than 30 trillion Earth-like planets. If we collect all the energy that the Sun releases in one second, then it would be enough to provide the United States with the same amount of energy for the next 9,000,000 years as they consume today. Day after day, the Sun maintains this phenomenal level of energy production by sending light and heat to all corners of the solar system. It is a colossal fireball, in the center of which the temperature exceeds 15 million ° C. The temperature and pressure on the Sun are so high that it is not a solid, not a liquid, and not even a gas. The sun exists in a form of matter called plasma. It is so hot that its atoms are literally torn apart. At its center is a source of energy that seems inexhaustible. The sun is so large and its core so dense that it takes millions of years for nuclear energy to come to the surface. If the Sun at the moment suddenly stopped producing energy, this would have a significant impact on our planet only after 50,000,000 years.
And it all started, one might say, out of nothing. These are clouds of hydrogen molecules - some of the coldest zones in the Galaxy.
Temperature is very important because it is a measure of how fast objects are moving. These clouds are so cold that they move very slowly. Only in such extreme cold can gravity capture the particles that make up these clouds. Over the millennia, they thicken. The smallest particles are condensed into a ball of enormous density. This, one might say, is the "embryo" of a new star, but stars are born in tens of millions of years. As the hydrogen clouds thicken, the pressure builds up. They start to heat up and finally get hot enough in the center for the hydrogen atoms to fuse into helium atoms. Nuclear fusion takes place. The center ignites, the clouds cease to be black, the life cycle of a new star begins. Our star, the Sun, was born more than five billion years ago. According to estimates, the age of the universe is 13.73 billion years, that is, the sun exists for almost a third of the life of the universe itself.
But we'll come back to it later, but for now let's go in the opposite direction. This comet has come too close, it is burned by the heat of the sun, and it leaves a tail that stretches for millions of kilometers. The tail of a large comet can be larger than the Sun in volume, while its mass is only a few thousand tons.
The comet is the icy waste of outer space.
But look at all this steam, geysers and dust. It is again the Sun, which melts the frozen "heart" of the comet, something that looks like a huge snowball smeared with tar.
Almost all of the comet's mass is concentrated in its core, which, in all likelihood, is the size of a small asteroid. As a result of the disintegration of cometary nuclei, meteor swarms arise, upon encountering which "rains of falling stars" are observed in the earth's atmosphere.
The orbital periods of comets can reach millions of years. Only the orbits of a few comets are so disturbed that they become short-period. One of the brightest of these is Halley's comet; the period of its circulation is close to 76 years. The total number of comets in the solar system is estimated at hundreds of billions.
We go further, beyond the Earth's orbit (1.52 AU). The red planet is undoubtedly Mars.
For centuries we have been looking for company on Mars, traces of life. Somewhere there may be an extraterrestrial civilization. Mars occupies our imagination more than other planets. What if there really is something here? If it exists, it lives on a dead planet. The red and dead planet Mars is a giant fossil. Interestingly, the southern hemisphere is higher and has a more complex topography. The Northern Hemisphere is, on average, five kilometers lower and the surface is younger because there are fewer impact craters. Sandstorms are huge, larger than the largest tornadoes on Earth.
Here the wind blows, and where there is wind there is an atmosphere. But the air is too thin to breathe, it is full of carbon dioxide. There is nothing here to protect Mars from ultraviolet rays. Water is present at the poles, even in the atmosphere as snow. But it's cold here - 80 ° С. It's hard to believe that there is something alive here. On a dead planet, there is no geological activity to replenish minerals and nutrients in the soil, there is no heat to melt frozen waters, and through this dust it is difficult to see where we are going.
But we can't miss this - Mount Olympus.
The huge ancient volcano, the largest in the solar system, is three times higher than Everest (24 km). So wide that it would occupy almost the entire territory of Spain, its diameter is more than 500 km, it is framed by a sheer cliff 6 km high (this is a suitable name for some new class of dreadnoughts - the Olympus class dreadnought). From the moment it was discovered in the 70s of the twentieth century, it was declared extinct. It seems that something is happening on its slopes, as if lava was flowing along them.
But the lava flows have long been frozen and blotted out by meteor showers, if, of course, after all this monster still did not survive, if liquid magma is not found under the upper layer now, this changes everything. Volcanic activity can melt frozen water in the soil, restore minerals and nutrients. Against the backdrop of this giant canyon, our Grand Canyon is nothing more than a crack in the asphalt. This canyon continues, it stretches for a distance similar in size to the whole of North America, and its depth reaches 8 km. It is the largest canyon in the solar system. There are signs of activity here: erosion and what resembles a dry river bed at the bottom of a canyon. It is possible that volcanic activity once melted the ice in the soil and sent water through a huge canyon. Maybe we have the ability to find flowing water. NASA's Opportunity Mars rover moves across this desert landscape, finding traces that these empty plains were once ancient lakes and oceans.
As probes orbiting Mars pass over these crevices, they continue to notice new ravines. Much evidence proves that Mars is alive and changing, that water may be flowing beneath its surface, creating these ravines.
Mars, which we thought we knew a lot about, no longer exists. He was replaced by this new active, changing planet. And if we don't know Mars, the most studied planet in the solar system, what else do we not know?
Although by the end of the XXII century, scientists had not found life on Mars, they found traces of it. Yes, such that it was necessary to rewrite historical books, break scientific works and turn our world upside down.
In 2103, the European Space Agency built the city of Lowell on Mars, which became the first permanent human settlement. Within ten years, the United States and China also built their permanent settlements.
A small digression: I don’t know if I’m right or not, but it seems to me that by that time Russia, Ukraine, Belarus (and maybe many others) had already joined the EU long ago. I don't know what could have happened to different countries in 90-100 years, but everyone somehow unites, the North American states and the Chinese Federation are formed. It will probably be difficult alone. In addition, the EU, SSSH and KNF not only founded cities on Mars, they also discovered the planet Watson almost simultaneously 62 years later. It seems that apart from them no earthly coalitions are actively exploring space, but someone is creating such capitals as New Yekaterinburg in the colonies, and “Altai miners” are successfully working on the planet Dobrovolsky. On the one hand, it will probably be difficult for Russia to establish colonies on its own, on the other, it seems unlikely that the EU, without such new members, would found a city on Mars 10 years earlier than America with Canada and Mexico, and China, without some very important technologies - before Russia.
Let's go back to Mars. The part of Prometheus Land located at the south pole was soon compared to the Bermuda Triangle. The satellites recorded scattered mass accumulations and displacement of magnetic fields. In 2148, exploration geologists working in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Deseado crater discovered an underground complex that turned out to be a Prothean observation base. The anomalies were caused by the operation of the Core, which continued to function, despite the fact that it was abandoned fifty thousand years ago. This news shocked the earthly population. The existence of alien life was obvious. The complex turned out to be an observational biological laboratory. The Protheans' targets could not be established, but transcribed records indicated that the complex was constantly connected to automatic observation platforms located in Earth orbit and the visible side of the Moon. The six mass-powered spacecraft found in the complex were most likely intended for personal observation. A refined element zero was also discovered here, which allowed humanity to create the first generators of the mass effect field and go into space at superluminal speed.
After the discovery of the possibility of travel at faster than light speeds, the development of Mars, once intended for colonization and terraforming, came to a standstill. At the south pole of the planet there is a historical reserve created on the site of the Prothean ruins found there. Settlement and development is limited as the search for Prothean artifacts continues. The planet has a population of 3.4 million people, the distance to the Sun: 1.52 AU. e.
I will not describe in detail the satellites of Mars - Phobos and Deimos. These are two "cobblestones", only about 25 and 15 km long. In total, there are from 145 to 177 planetary satellites in the solar system, depending on how they are counted.
Beyond Mars, at a distance of 2.8 AU. That is, from the Sun, the asteroid belt is located - a place of accumulation of millions of stones, ranging in width from several centimeters to hundreds of kilometers.
This one is about 30 kilometers long. And look - there's a space exploration rocket on it.
Don't just park on an asteroid traveling at 80,000 km / h. It takes a lot of effort to find the desired ledge, a ledge that constantly collides with something, breaks off and falls to Earth in the form of meteorites. It turns out that it was these protrusions that collided and created the planets. After figuring out the age of the meteorites that we find on Earth, we learned that the planets were created 4.5 billion years ago.
The belt consists of several million asteroids, but they occupy a huge space and if you put them together, the resulting formation will be smaller than our Moon. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, the space in the region of the asteroid belt is extremely rarefied, the likelihood of not only collision, but just a random approach of a ship with any of the asteroids is extremely small, the distance between two asteroids can reach 1.5 million km.
However, among these stones is a large spherical object - Ceres.
It is a giant stone 950 km in diameter, the mass of which is equal to a third of the mass of the entire belt. Asteroids are lumpy, but Ceres is different. It is so large that it has enough gravity to take the correct shape. The structure of Ceres, unlike other asteroids, resembles the structure of the terrestrial planets. Inside is a rocky core surrounded by an icy mantle that is covered in thin dusty crust. Therefore, in August 2006, when the International Astronomical Union introduced an intermediate link between planets and asteroids - dwarf planets, Ceres received a new status, turning from the largest asteroid into the smallest dwarf planet. Dwarf planets cannot be considered regular planets if they do not dominate their orbit and cannot clear space from other objects. For quite a long time it was believed that at the site of the asteroid belt was a planet that was torn apart during some catastrophe, but now we know perfectly well that the planet could not be here, it simply could not form. Something must have stopped these stones, something very strong ... Jupiter.
Jupiter at a distance of 5.2 AU. That is, from the Sun - a real monster. At least 1000 times the size of Earth. The planet is so huge that it can accommodate all other planets. Something that big should have a significant impact on the neighbors. Jupiter's gravity prevents asteroids from turning into a planet. Jupiter is great.
But everything down there may not be what it seems. This huge planet is almost entirely made of gas. As soon as we land, we begin to sink into its layers and may never reach a solid surface. The atmosphere of Jupiter is so dense, and the force of gravity is so strong that when diving 20,000 km deep into the planet, the pressure will be two million times more than on the surface of the Earth. That Jupiter looks so good is the product of unusually violent processes. The planet rotates very quickly, raising winds that rush at a speed of several hundred km / h, twisting clouds into stripes, funnels and vortices. All these foaming clouds create an electrical storm. Just one lightning here is 10,000 times stronger than any lightning on Earth. And the legendary Great Red Spot is the strongest and most violent storm in the solar system, at least three times more sizes Earth.
It was discovered almost 350 years ago, but it is possible that this storm has been raging even longer. The Great Red Spot is in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter and rotates counterclockwise. This is an anticyclone, so high pressure is created there. It is possible that it was once white, but with an increase in the speed of rotation, it began to absorb matter from the depths of the atmosphere. The red color is most likely due to chemical compounds including phosphorus and sulfur. The storm rises 8 km above the planet's cloud cover. Winds traveling at a speed of 500 km / h are much faster than the most powerful winds generated by a tornado here on Earth.
It seems safer to observe Jupiter from a distance, it's just beautiful. But the Geiger counter goes crazy, it seems that even the instruments are in danger of the radiation that is carried from space by the powerful magnetic field of Jupiter.
And here is the multi-colored satellite of Jupiter - Io.
These pleasant colors are actually molten stones and sulfur, volcanoes spewing air, hot ash and sulfur up to 500 km. The satellite literally breathes the heat of volcanic activity. One of its many lava lakes generates more heat than all of the Earth's volcanoes combined. It is the most volcanically active object in the solar system. Io is constantly changing shape. It always faces Jupiter on one side, like the Moon to Earth. However, the gravitational fields of Jupiter and its other moons are constantly pushing and pulling Io in various directions up to 100 m. As a result of the resulting friction, the temperature inside Io is very high. This is the most volatile place that we have met since the Sun.
How strange this place looks, and at the same time suspiciously familiar.
A bit like the Arctic with its ice, underwater rocks and cracks. This is Europe, and perhaps, like in the Arctic, this ice drifts on water, liquid water. This is an intriguing thought, but we are 800 million kilometers from the Sun. Of course, Europa is a frozen solid, unless Jupiter's gravity creates deep friction somewhere that prevents Europa from freezing completely. The depth of the liquid ocean under the ice can reach 100 km. If these assumptions are correct, then tiny Europa has twice as much water as Earth. Until people sent a ship to drill the ice (and it most likely had to be drilled, but melted, since the ice of the ice may be several hundred meters thick), Europe remained one of the greatest mysteries of the solar system.
However, Jupiter's strong gravity and deadly radioactivity prevents the study of its moons. The largest human outpost remains the Nautilus of the Binary Helix Corporation, located under the ice sheet of Europe. The population of all Jupiter's moons is 9,100 people.
9.6 a. e. from the sun. This planet has captured our imaginations, it often appears in our dreams. And here it is, spinning before our eyes. Saturn is the jewel in the solar system's crown.
There is something magical about Saturn. It is a giant ball of gas, so light that it could float on water. It has the lowest density among the planets in the solar system (0.7), less than water. All four gas giants have rings, but Saturn's rings are the most prominent. These impressive rings can stretch from Earth to the Moon, but they are only a few hundred meters deep. The rings of Saturn, named alphabetically from A to G, are composed of a huge number of narrow "rings" containing about 35 trillion tons of ice and dust, which is about 26 million times the amount of water on Earth.
Even more remarkable, scientists have counted 62 moons among the rings of Saturn, and these moons change the height of the rings. When we look at the rings of Saturn from Earth, they seem flat, smooth, but there are regions where what can be called "mountains" are formed on the rings, comparable in height to the peaks of the Alps. The moons interact with Saturn's rings, raising their material above the ring or lowering it as they orbit that coincides with the position of the ring itself.
The Cassini spacecraft is picking up ghostly radio emissions, possibly caused by auroras around Saturn's poles. He also tells us that perhaps these rings are all that remains of a satellite or comet destroyed by the planet's gravitational field. An incomparable beauty created through total destruction. Billions of ice floes, some as tiny as ice cubes, others the size of a horse. They collide, break, and again form large ice floes. It's like a snapshot of our solar system as dust and gas entered the orbit of the newborn Sun. Once every few years, Saturn's rings seem to disappear. As the planets move relative to each other, sometimes the Earth crosses the plane of the rings. And since the rings are less than a kilometer thick, they are very difficult to see.
But we have to break away from this spectacle, we still have a lot to learn.
This satellite, tightly wrapped in clouds, is Titan.
It seems to have an atmosphere. There is wind, rain, even seasons, and look at these rivers, lakes and oceans. Rain on Titan must be a spectacular sight. Due to the density of the atmosphere, which is 4 times denser than the earth, and the weak gravity of the satellite, raindrops reach a size of a centimeter and fall to the surface as slowly as snowflakes fall to the surface of the Earth. From what we have seen, this place most resembles Earth.
Only this is not water, but liquid natural gas. There is hundreds of times more gas here than the reserves of oil and gas on Earth combined. If we could only get it home, it would power our cities and fuel our cars for thousands of years. Or they could have used it to maintain a settlement here on Titan. This is the Huygens probe, launched from the Cassini interplanetary station, and it reports that the soil contains organic matter. But it is very cold here, -180 ° С.
In 2137, the Eldfel-Ashland energy corporation demonstrated to everyone how to extract helium-3 from Saturn's atmosphere, and since the 2150s, Saturn has been the source of helium-3 for fusion reactors.
Now Titan is producing those very hydrocarbons (that's when, probably, the share price of some "Gas-Mass-Prom" soared), and it also serves as a training ground for survival in extreme conditions for the Alliance infantry. Here is the Charles Ufam Fort, where Ashley Williams received part of her training.
Most of the moons of planets in the solar system are geologically dead. Enceladus, with a diameter of only 500 km, looks like such a quiet planet. But suddenly, colossal geysers of water and ice burst out through cracks on its surface.
Enceladus is Saturn's most amazing moon. The processes taking place on it are different from volcanism on Earth, where hot magma comes out from under the surface of the planet. On Enceladus, liquid water rushes to the surface, the jets of which rise many hundreds of kilometers into space at a speed of more than 2000 km / h. Scientists have counted at least 30 geysers located among geological formations called "tiger stripes", which are located in the region of the south pole.
Hot water rushes out of the underground voids in a powerful jet. When it encounters ambient cold, it freezes into ice particles. Substances leaving Enceladus replenish Saturn's E ring, or even form it.
Tidal energy may be one of the factors causing volcanism on Enceladus. Enceladus orbits Saturn in an elliptical orbit. When it flies close to Saturn, the planet's gravitational field has a huge effect on Enceladus, and when it moves away from Saturn, a process with the release of energy takes place in the bowels of the satellite. These orbital vibrations help melt the rock in the bowels of Enceladus and keep the water liquid. In addition, the internal structure of Enceladus is possibly heated by the decay of radioactive elements. The mystery is how much water is contained under the surface. Some scientists believe that since geysers require a constant source of water, an entire aquatic ocean may be located under the surface of geologically active regions.
Population of Saturn (in orbit and on Titan): 117,000 people. Capital: Huygens dome
We are at a distance of about one and a half billion kilometers from Home and are already losing visual contact with the Earth. We are standing on the edge of a cliff, looking at the mysterious outer expanses of the solar system. To reach the next planet, we need to take a jump. It is almost the same distance from Jupiter as Jupiter is from the Sun.
19.2 a. e. from the sun. A planet invisible from Earth, unknown for most of history. We are at the edge of the outer solar system - it's like diving into the depths of the ocean. These rings ... From Uranus, the Sun's disk looks 300 times smaller than from the Earth.
It seems that Uranus is so named because of its axis, an overturned wandering planet. The equatorial plane of Uranus is tilted to the plane of its orbit at an angle of 98 ° - that is, the planet rotates, "lying on its side". If other planets can be compared to spinning tops, then Uranus is more like a rolling ball.
During Voyager 2's first visit to Uranus, the south pole of Uranus was facing the Sun. The designation of this pole as "south" was established by the International Astronomical Union, which was guided by the fact that the north pole should be higher than the plane of the solar system. However, there is an agreement that when Uranus is mentioned, the "right-hand rule" is used when it comes to its poles. Using this method, Voyager 2 “saw” not the southern, but the northern pole of the planet. As a result, the rotation of Uranus is the opposite, like that of Venus, but it is performed in different ways.
Due to its "supine position" Uranus, moving in its orbit, turns out to be facing the Sun either in the equatorial region or at one of the poles. Therefore, for a long time, almost an entire hemisphere of the planet can be illuminated by the Sun. At the poles, days and nights last, for example, for 42 years. Unlike other planets, the maximum amount of light and heat on Uranus is received not by the equatorial, but by the polar regions.
Uranus' magnetic field is unusual in that it is not directed from the geometric center of the planet, but is deflected almost 60 degrees in relation to the axis of rotation. Perhaps inside Uranus, it forms at relatively shallow depths.
Uranus's own rotation period is approximately 17 hours. The existing scatter in determining the values \u200b\u200bof this period is due to several reasons, of which two are the main ones: the gas surface of the planet does not rotate as a whole and, in addition, no noticeable local irregularities were found on the surface of Uranus that would help to clarify the length of the day on the planet.
But after the invention of the superluminal engine, helium-3 production began on Uranus, which was facilitated by low (for a gas giant) gravity. Today Uranus is the primary source of Helium-3 for the Alliance.
Population: 371,000
Capital: station "Sakharov"
30.1 a. e. from the sun. Another "monster" rises from the depths - Neptune. Since its opening in 1846. to our time, it has completed only one revolution around the sun.
Scientists believe that there are diamond rains on Neptune. Yes, yes - rain of diamonds. As a result of modeling the atmosphere of Neptune, carried out recently at the University of California (Berkeley, USA), diamond dust was obtained. So, some scientists believe that due to the presence of carbon in the atmosphere of Neptune and the incredible pressure, it literally rains from huge diamonds, and in the depths of Neptune, according to one of the hypotheses, there is a whole ocean of "diamond liquid".
Neptune's blue color is largely the result of the absorption of red light by methane in the atmosphere, but there is also an additional as yet unidentified chromophore that gives the clouds their rich blue tint.
Like Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune has an internal heat source. It emits two and a half times more energy than it receives from the sun.
This slick is a storm the size of Earth, driven by wild winds that reach 2,000 km / h. Closer to the Earth, the sun controls the winds, while Neptune is too far away. Something else must be causing these fierce winds, but no one knows exactly what exactly. Our solar system is huge, it warns us how little we really know about it.
We dive deeper. Finally, there is something to cling to. After all the gas balls in front of us is a solid satellite - Triton. Solid but unstable. Look at these geysers - space "pipes" through which strange "soot" comes out.
And this satellite revolves around Neptune in the direction opposite to the rotation of the planet. The huge force of gravity on Neptune pulls Triton, slows it down, twists it. One day Neptune will crush its satellite ...
Despite the fact that Neptune, like Uranus, is rich in helium, its remoteness made it difficult to start mining before the invention of the superluminal engine. The only permanent habitat for people here is the research station on Triton.
Population (Triton): 70
At a distance of 39.5 a. That is, Pluto is located from the Sun. The International Astronomical Union awarded Pluto the status of a planet in May 1930 (then it was assumed that Pluto is comparable to Earth).
But this ice ball is not very similar from what we know: all the planets move in a circular orbit, and he does not, all the planets are located in the same plane in relation to the Sun, but not Pluto.
The orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Pluto even has its own satellite, Charon. It is unusual in that it is the largest satellite in relation to the main planet. Both celestial bodies revolve around a point that is closer to Pluto, but outside of it, so Pluto / Charon is often considered a binary planetary system, rather than just a planet with a satellite. Due to the close masses and the small distance, the forces of gravity between Pluto and Charon led to the fact that they both always face each other on the same side. That is, on one side of Pluto facing Charon, Charon is visible as a stationary object, and on the other side of the planet Charon is never seen at all.
Since 1992, when the first object in the Kuiper belt was discovered, Pluto's status began to be questioned, and in 2006 Pluto was transferred to the category of dwarf planets, and in 2008, when the concept of "plutoid" (or "ice dwarf") was introduced , he finally lost the status of a planet.
Pluto is distinguished from the rest of the "ice dwarfs" only because in 2149 the translation of Prothean information on Mars brought earthlings to Charon, which turned out to be a relay leading to the Arcturus system. Pluto is the gravitational anchor for a transponder previously covered in ice and considered a natural satellite. But in 2157, Pluto's orbit flattened out as a result of an operation to retrieve the transponder. The Sun is so far away from Pluto that it appears slightly brighter than a bright star.
Population (stations at the repeater): 9 300 people
Previously, it seemed that Pluto was alone and there was nothing behind it, but new frozen worlds were discovered. They form the Kuiper belt - the region of the solar system from the orbit of Neptune to a distance of about 55 AU. e. from the sun. Although the Kuiper belt is similar to the asteroid belt, it is about 20 times wider and 20-200 times more massive than the latter. Unlike asteroid belt objects, which are primarily composed of rocks and metals, Kuiper belt objects are composed primarily of volatile substances such as methane, ammonia and water. The number of known Kuiper belt objects has reached 1,100, and it is estimated that more than 70,000 more with a diameter of more than 100 km have not yet been discovered. In total, according to theoretical estimates, there are several billion.
At a distance of about 80 astronomical units (12 billion kilometers) from the Sun is the station "Gagarin" - the largest space station built by earthlings in deep space. Its construction began in 2142. The station was built to test some theories that made FTL movement possible, but only in interstellar space. The second, unofficial, name of the station was "Zero Leap", since it was assumed that it would become the starting point of the expansion of earthlings into the Galaxy. However, shortly after its completion, Prothean ruins were discovered on Mars, which called into question the feasibility of the entire project. After a decade of unsuccessful attempts to generate income from the station in 2159, it was sold to the Systems Alliance for an amount that covered only a fraction of the cost of its construction. The Alliance retooled the station to become a biotic education and training center that had been opened shortly before. In 2169 the biotic training program was closed and the Gagarin station became a research center. Its remote location and deliberate lack of access to the extranet make it a prime location for dangerous research, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence. Eliza, the first stable AI developed by the Earthlings at the request of the Alliance, reached a reasonable state precisely at Gagarin Station in 2172.
At present, the permanent population of Gagarin station is 9000 inhabitants. A program was proposed to move the station to the Lagrange point of the Pluto-Charon system, which would turn the station into an intermediate point between the solar system and Arcturus station. The high cost of the project, caused by the large mass of the station, postponed the terms of its implementation indefinitely.
The most distant object that orbits the sun is another small ice world named Sedna, discovered in 2003.
Some researchers attribute Sedna to the Kuiper belt, but even the point of its orbit closest to the Sun is far beyond the belt. The nearest point is 76 AU. e. ~ 11 billion km (20 AU farther than the Kuiper belt and only 4 AU closer to the Gagarin station), and the farthest point of the orbit is 960 AU. e. ~ 144 billion km.
Now let's go back to the Sun again. The Sun has a strange atmosphere - a rarefied layer of charged particles, protons and electrons. For unknown reasons, the Sun's corona is much hotter than its surface. The temperature here exceeds a million ° C, which is about 200 times the temperature of the visible surface of the Sun.
Every day, the most energetic corona particles are lifted from the very top of this atmosphere. The sun emits almost 7 billion tons of corona matter into space per hour. These are gigantic hot streams of torn apart atoms, traveling at a speed of 400 km / s. They are called the solar wind. The solar wind - the breath of the Sun - begins its journey, penetrating into the depths of the solar system. Although the flow of the solar wind reaches the Earth, being already rather diffused, it rushes very quickly, there is enough energy in it to rip the atmosphere off the Earth and carry it into outer space. Life on earth would not have survived under this deadly rain, if not for the miraculous protective properties of our home planet. She has a shield - a magnetic field generated in the depths of the planet's core. This wall, formed by the lines of force of the geomagnetic field, called the magnetosphere, pushes most of the deadly solar wind far into space. But our planet cannot completely avoid its influence. When the solar wind stream collides with the Earth's magnetic field, it compresses the field on the day side and pulls it into a long tail on the night side.
In this case, the magnetic lines of force behave like a rubber band, they stretch under the influence of the solar wind flow. Gradually, the energy accumulates and the lines of force of the magnetic field going into the tail are stretched out so that the tail of the magnetosphere can no longer remain in its former form. Suddenly, energy from it splashes out in the form of a stream of electrically charged particles, which fire at the lines of the Earth's magnetic field near its poles. When these particles reach the atmosphere, the northern lights are generated.
And beyond the Earth's orbit, the solar wind continues its flight into the interior of the solar system, and wherever it meets planets with a magnetosphere, the aurora borealis appears.
Northern lights on Jupiter
As the solar wind approaches the distant planets of the solar system, it becomes thinner, however, scientists believe that the northern lights exist on both Uranus and Neptune. Finally, far beyond the orbits of all planets, having flown 16 billion kilometers, the last remnants of the Sun's breath begin to disappear. Incredibly, in this distance is a sensor that can determine exactly where the great journey of the solar wind ends.
The Voyager probe was launched in 1977. This is the device with the longest flight range ever sent by humans into space. He travels with the solar wind. More than thirty years after launch, it is still regularly transmitting data to Earth, being 16 billion kilometers away.
Voyager reports that it has approached the end of the solar wind stream, it has found signs of the heliopause - the boundaries of the invisible shell that separates our solar system from interstellar space.
Voyager found the end of the solar wind stream. But even so far from the Sun his "empire" does not end yet. The main power of the Sun exists due to its very size. Our star is much larger than other objects in the system. The mass of the Sun is 99.866% of the mass of the entire solar system, the remaining 0.134% is all planets, comets, meteorites and asteroids. The fact that the sun has a gigantic mass means that its gravitational force extends incredibly far, capturing distant objects.
One researcher who studies comets while at a roadside cafe gave an illustrative example. In the center of a small table, he put a lighter, and this is what he told. Comets are objects that are controlled by an invisible source of attraction that has tied our solar system together. Let's imagine that the lighter is the sun. From the Earth to the Sun 150,000,000 km. This is the so-called astronomical unit. Let's place the Earth one centimeter from the Sun (he put a small candy one centimeter from the lighter). From Neptune to the Sun 30 AU. That is, we put it at 30 cm. The Kuiper belt - a strip of objects made of minerals and ice, where many comets were born that we see inside the solar system, is located at 50 AU. e. from the Sun, at the edge of the table. This is how he portrayed the solar system. The Voyager spacecraft - the most distant man-made object in space - by 2009 flew 110 AU. That is, in the heliopause, that is, a little further than a meter from the center of the table. The sun's gravitational influence extends there, and persists much further. Beyond the heliopause, space is a mixture of extremely rarefied gases and dust. However, from time to time there are large blocks of ice flying in huge orbits. They need millennia to fly around the sun. At the very edge of the solar system there is a cluster of special objects - comets. This cluster is called the Oort cloud. It is from there that comets come from, from there they fly to us. The Sun's grip is so strong that it also attracts the Oort cloud, located at a colossal distance. This scientist left the cafe, got into the car and drove half a kilometer away from the cafe. Coming out of the car, he said: "At this distance from the Sun is the Oort cloud on the scale of the solar system we have depicted." As you remember, the distance from the Earth to the Sun is 1 cm, and here it is half a kilometer (about 1 light year). This is how far the sun's gravitational pull extends. It was this gravitational power that created the "Empire of the Sun". Our star is surrounded by a giant flock of comets, which it keeps in their orbits with extremely weak gravity.
The sun, like the solar system, is not nearly as large in comparison to other stars and stellar systems in our galaxy. For example, if you imagine the Sun in the form of a ball, only 1 cm in size, then the star Arcturus will be about the size of a basketball, Gakrux in the constellation Southern Cross - a little over a meter, etc. The largest known star, hypergiant VY Canis Major, will be a huge ball, 21 meters in diameter. Its diameter is 2,100 times the diameter of the Sun! If VY Canis Majoris is placed in the place of the Sun, then the star will reach the orbit of Saturn. The density of the star is approximately 0.000005-0.00001 kg / m³ (for comparison, the air density at 0 ° C is 1.2929 kg / m³). The most massive known star is 265 times heavier than the Sun, and the most powerful has a luminosity of more than 38 million luminosities of the Sun.
:Journey to the edge of the universe
The Planets. Different Worlds
7 Wonders of the Solar system
Series of films "Wonders of the Solar System"
Great Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius
Wikipedia
Innovative renewable energy technologies. D.S. Strebkov
Game Code and Planets Description
Design and editing:
The first impulse of Colonel # Forius, the squadron commander, was the desire to suppress by force the violation of one of the key laws of the Citadel's space - the prohibition on activating any repeaters until the Council's permission was obtained, which is possible, of course, after studying the systems behind the repeater. However, the small, fifty meters long ##, the ship did not pose a significant threat: it had neither an axial gun, nor any visible guns at all. Only the smallest kinetic weapons and lasers could be hidden under the uneven, elongated cylinder-shaped body, unsuitable for flying in the atmosphere. Zarik Forius was still a fairly young and unrestrained turian, but he would not have been appointed to command so early if he had not been able to control his emotions. He decided not to spoil the first contact with an unknown species with conflict ... at least until the need arises. After all, one ship is smaller than a corvette and a squadron of a cruiser, three frigates, and sixteen fighters in the hangars - the aliens must be suicidal to ignore a direct order.
Send to the unknown ship the standard data packet for the first contact and the message: “You are in the space under the control of the Citadel race alliance. Immediately stop activating the repeater and prepare the ship for inspection. Do not try to hide, otherwise we will be forced to use weapons. " Most likely, this is a still unknown civilization that has not come into contact with the Council, - this is how the colonel explained the order to the signalman. “Their ship is pretty primitive, so it is possible that they will still be unable to decipher the message. Prepare programs for decrypting the language, we are waiting for their message. Do not open fire without command.
Foriusu did not order the kinetic weapons to be prepared for firing only because they were already ready. As harmless as the ship of this civilization looked, caution at the first contact became a key rule even after the start of the Rakhni Wars, long before the turians entered the Citadel space.
Commander, their ship has shrunk in size! - a loud voice from the observation post sounded over the communications; on the screen, the colonel saw Captain Gurak. She looked scared and confused. - Sensors record a fifteen percent decrease in mass ... The ship is crumbling into dust!
Open fire! - Forius immediately ordered. What happened was exactly what should have been feared in the first place when contacting a new race: unknown technologies, the principles and consequences of which it was impossible to assume.
The alien ship carried out an evasion maneuver, due to the high - too high, in comparison with the available citadels - acceleration was able to avoid the first shots. However, the very first successful hit pierced their shield and smashed the nose of the spacecraft; the subsequent shot from the cruiser's axial gun broke the ship into two unequal parts, and they ceased fire.
“At least we have stopped the violation of the Citadel's laws. We have done everything in accordance with the Charter and did not make mistakes, ”- Zarik Forius tried to calm himself down from the excitement caused by such an unexpected and unsuccessful first contact. "Send the recording of the encounter to headquarters immediately, continue broadcasting until the operation is complete," he commanded. - Frigate "General Adork" - search for survivors.
"The command will have nothing to reproach me for."
Forius thought it was only left to pick up survivors from the escape pods, if any. He could not have expected the fractured hull of a ship to suddenly disintegrate into many thousands of ultra-small aircraft - each smaller than a newborn turian! - and most of them will go straight to the squadron, maneuvering with unthinkable overloads.
The fire! - ### anti-missile lasers began to shoot down enemy drones even before the colonel's order.
Another fifty seconds #### ago, almost calm, Forius felt the approach of panic. The lasers were almost unable to damage the enemy - there were too many drones, and they were too evasive. No organic could control them, and no virtual intelligence could maneuver with such efficiency. Yes, no organic matter would fit in drones ...
The conclusion was obvious - the ship was controlled by artificial intelligence, similar to the geth. And it doesn't seem like the hits did it damage. If the ship from the very beginning consisted of a huge number of drones linked together, the turian cannons only destroyed some of them.
Go to SSD #####, now! - Now Zarik could only save the squadron, even at the cost of a shameful flight. And is it a shame to step back from the soulless machines that will certainly not blame the turians for their lack of military prowess?
"Now ... Now ..." thought Forius. "Why don't the engines ..."
A monstrous blow threw him face down on the dashboard. Several seconds passed before the colonel got to his feet and wiped the bluish blood from his face.
Report! - Still trying to look confident, Forius commanded, looking at the screen, splattered with his blood.
The engines are damaged! Going faster than light is not possible! - but the senior engineer of the cruiser with the rank of captain could no longer contain a panicky cry. - Something penetrated the protective field and exploded the engines!
The following messages from other ships of the squadron showed that this was not an accident. They also lost their way, and now continued to uselessly shoot back with lasers, unable to either retreat from the AI \u200b\u200bdrones, nor defeat them.
“Attempt to break into the ship's network,” a computer security message flashed in red on the screen. Forius saw how the virtual intelligence increased the threat level.
The colonel finally calmed down. He could not win this battle, and there was no way to retreat. All that remained was to die with honor, not allowing monstrous robots to be captured.
## - Naturally, length was named in the system of measures adopted among the races of the Citadel.
### - The first who thought of calling space rockets torpedoes will burn forever in hell. There are no torpedoes in space! Torpedoes float, missiles fly!
#### - In the space of the Citadel, a day is twenty hours (while the day itself is longer than earthly), in an hour 100 minutes, in a minute 100 seconds (canon). As a result, 50 seconds roughly corresponds to our 25 seconds. It should be understood that “hour”, “minute”, “second” are precisely the approximate translation of the names of time intervals into the nearest earthly analogues.
##### - Superluminal motion.
