(In orbit Ross 128 b)
/Meeting in the Committee on Planetary Development/
/Chief, assistant – Strokov, biologist – Litovskaya, physicist – Klarsen, chemist – Ji Li/
– First, I want to congratulate you all on the success of our mission and the achievement of our goal. It may be finite, or maybe intermediate. We are the fifth generation of forced travelers. We all come from planet Earth. Our predecessors cherished the memory of her. They passed on the knowledge accumulated by the humanity of the Earth, preserved culture, literature, and art. We will keep this knowledge forever, without it we will not survive in the vast spaces of space. We will always treat with great appreciation to those people who prepared the expedition and built ships. Billy spent a huge effort to organize mass flight
Now we are at the first point of our target and it is the planet Ross 128 b, which revolves around the red dwarf Ross 128.
Our ancestors could not determine with certainty whether it was possible to make this planet our home. We have to decide and draw conclusions about the possibility of staying there. All of you have sufficient knowledge. All this knowledge has been accumulated on Earth and carefully transferred to you. Now you have a great responsibility. We will not hurry, it is not necessary. The slightest mistake will be very expensive.
We have already sent robots to the planet. In the first stage, they will explore the planet and gather the information we need. Some of the information has already arrived, and your task is to handle it.
It has been three months. The Development Committee met for a preliminary meeting.
– I ask you to provide a general characteristic of the planet Ross 128 b, – said Mr. Saripov. Let us start with the chemistry department. Please, Ji Lee.
The chemical composition on the planet is not the same as on Earth and it was expected. The composition of the air is about 2% – oxygen, 90% – nitrogen, 2% – carbon dioxide. This composition of air was on Earth about 300—400 million years ago.
– As a biologist, I can explain the small amount of oxygen, – Litovskaya said.
– There is water on the planet, although not in large quantities. There are algae and on the rocky surface found primitive plants in the form of lichens. They give such a small amount of oxygen. However, the composition of the air suits us quite well. We have technical solutions to bring it to normal. Something else is unpleasant. Ross 128 b has only one side facing its Star. In addition, it is hot on this side. Solid stone deserts devoid of water. The opposite side is covered with ice, as in Antarctica on Earth. Only a strip of 2—3 thousand kilometers wide is of interest to us.
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