Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets Page #4

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Let's get some rocks.

I wish I could see Mars without a visor

in front of my face. I wish I could...just taste it.

From what I understand, John, what

you'd taste is your saliva boiling on your tongue.

0K, I've got another...

(NINA) We're getting some false positives here.

0ur second bore hole is dry. Moving on.

..fine-grained, fairly solid...

(NINA) Drilling bore hole number three.

(J0HN) Probably dust. Perfect kidney-shaped

crystals. I wish I could get the dust off it.

(TOM) Distinct metallic lustre,

millimetre-sized crystals...

(ZO) Aries Pegasus.

(TOM) Reading you. Go ahead.

(ZO) Storm brewing in the western end

of Marineris heading east.

- How big?

- Most of it's still on the night side.

I think it's a canyon storm, not a global event,

but it's got potential to reach you.

OK, roger that.

- (BLEEPING)

- (NINA) Charlie's drinking!

(BLEEPING)

(J0HN) Water on the third bore hole.

- (ZO) What's your status?

- We did it!

We're just wrapping things up.

- How long till we get it back?

- Four hours. Anchors released.

(J0HN) Do we wait?

(NINA) We might not get another chance.

(T0M) That is a big storm.

Look, the wind's blowing Charlie off course.

(J0HN) This planet is jinxed.

(NINA) What are we standing here for?

(Z0) You shouldn't be travelling

when this hits you.

This isn't a dust devil, it's a storm.

It'll wreck your guidance systems.

Copy that. We have a visual on Charlie.

(ZO) It's well over 10 metres per second

advancing east.

- We're collecting the water sample from Charlie.

- Gotcha!

(ZO) It's obscuring our view.

Expect some com interference.

Aries Pegasus, what's your position?

(T0M) Just parked up.

You should've let me drive!

(NINA) Can't see a thing. Where's the ladder?

(ZO) Hope you enjoyed the ride.

The forecast says you are grounded.

(YVAN) This is your local weather forecast for

the next two days, and it's dust and more dust.

Count yourselves lucky it wasn't a global storm.

You'd be stuck inside until spring.

(T0M) What a mess.

(LL0YD ) People say

why not do the whole mission with robots?

Without people to wipe their solar panels,

those robots would be dead.

They're great for certain tasks,

but you can't program initiative.

They don't respond to that glint

on the horizon or subtle change in rock colour.

You can't beat eyes, a hand and a hammer.

(J0HN) 0K, this is cricket now.

(T0M) Season one in the Martian league.

Hang on, hang on!

- 0h, come on!

- 0K, bring it on!

I call this my Martian curve ball.

(GRUNTS) Pretty good!

- What do you call that, huh? Home run!

- Wow!

(YVAN) No need for any gyro conversation.

You're cleared for take-off.

(NARRATOR) Of all the planets, Mars is

the most likely to support a human colony,

but without a magnetic field, they'll have to find

another way of protecting against solar flares.

(ZO) Radar gives 90 metres.

(TOM) Stand by for pitch and yaw.

Over to you, Zo,

(ZO) One metre and closing.

Soft dock and...hard dock.

(NARRATOR) Mankind's first tour

of the inner solar system is complete.

Now the crew of Pegasus prepare to journey on

towards Jupiter and the outer solar system.

The fastest route is to fly by the sun

and use its enormous gravity

to accelerate them to 300 kilometres per second.

We're not doing this fly-by just to pick up speed.

It's a unique opportunity.

We'll be analysing a star closer than ever before.

It's one of the last unexplored regions

of the solar system.

From Earth, we can only see the surface,

the photosphere.

Pegasus will pass through

the outer atmosphere, the corona.

- We'll get our first samples from a star.

- (J0HN) Readings follow. Tom has 230...

(NARRATOR) During the solar fly-by, Pegasus

needs extra protection, her own magnetic field,

to repel the sun's lethal high-energy particles,

but nothing can protect the crew

if they encounter the awesome power

of a solar flare this close to the sun.

What about these flares?

Even at solar minimum, we're bound to get some.

The magnetic shield won't help us against that.

- How about if the field generator fails?

- If that fails, it's a loss of crew.

We've looked into every aspect

of energy management on this...

(NARRATOR) It's not just during the fly-by

they have to worry about solar radiation.

It's a constant risk once they leave

the protection of Earth's magnetic field.

(J0HN) 0ver the course of the mission, we get

the equivalent of eight chest x-rays a day.

These dosimeters will change colour

if our own personal levels get too high.

These bubble tubes let us know how much

radiation is passing through the cabin here.

A bubble forms each time

a charged particle hits the gel.

Some radiation will get through. We minimise

the effects with special dietary supplements.

(CAPC0M) We have the descent path through

from Santa Claus at the North Pole and he's...

Hi, Claire. I've been taking another look

at our cumulative doses.

Looks like some of the radiation got through

the shield and into the flight deck.

I've increased my supplements and taken blood

samples for analysis. I'd love to hear your view.

(MAN) Merry Christmas, Pegasus. I hope Santa

gives you everything you ask for. Control out.

(NARRATOR) Pegasus will pass

the sun's closest planet,

but there will be no landing on Mercury.

It's not lack of interest. There's a big

metallic core and a mysterious magnetic field.

Its surface temperature goes from around

420 degrees centigrade to minus 170 at night.

So even that close to the sun,

there could be ice at the poles,

but if we landed there we'd lose so much speed,

it'd put another year on the mission, so next time.

Generating a magnetic field powerful enough

to shield them against the sun,

even at a distance of five millions miles, means

diverting power from all non-essential systems.

Centrifuge is offline. 0.5G.

0.3G. Zero G.

- What was the final word on the air-con?

- Sorry, we gotta power it down.

(TOM) OK, let's batten down the hatches.

(YVAN) Swing round to the negative X axis.

(NARRATOR) As Pegasus

nears the point of closest approach,

she rotates 180 degrees

and uses her disk as extra protection.

(TOM) Coming up on 40 degrees.

(YVAN) Shadow in 10 seconds.

(NARRATOR) Of all the bodies

Pegasus will encounter,

none are more important than the sun.

All life depends on it.

(TOM) We have totality.

Magnetic field is going up.

- Aurora Pegasalis.

- (J0HN) 0ur very own northern lights.

(FLIGHT) 0K, this was the last call to abort

the fly-by. Let's have your assessments.

We have the final report in -

flare activity's expected to remain low

with less than 1% chance of proton events

at the closest approach.

Flight, all systems are nominal.

Shield temperature is 2,300 degrees.

(SIZZLING)

God said, ''Let there be light.''

Good luck, guys.

It's been a pleasure working with you.

(C0NTINU0US STATIC)

(LL0YD ) They're in the outer atmosphere

of the sun.

I'm not hearing them any more, Flight.

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