Flash Fiction - "Enceladus Exploration Mission Log: Entries 47 - 49"
For this project, we had to create a short piece of fiction that incorporated the physics we had recently learned in class. For my short story, I decided to work on the physics for a moon of Saturn, Enceladus. Writing the story itself was a fairly simple task, and it didn't take me terribly long to come up with an intriguing twist. However, it was fairly difficult to incorporate the physics concepts in a diegetic and natural way. That is why I decided to incorporate the crash landing. This way I could easily write about Enceladus' gravity and its effect on the spaceship. For this project, I was able to learn how to calculate gravity using the universal constant for gravity. Also, when doing research, I was able to learn a lot about the complexities and difficulties of space travel, especially regarding storage. Overall, I've become more interested with space travel in general, especially with people like Elon Musk making such strides in the industry.
Enceladus Exploration Mission Log: Entries 47 - 49
Entry 47:
It's been four months since we landed on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, and one thing's for sure; it's too damn cold. Jokes aside, things are looking pretty bleak. We lost radio contact with earth at some point when it was out of sight and now some space debris has begun interfering with Phoebe's electromagnetic generator. Okay, maybe bleak is the wrong word. Just very, very, very inconvenient. Otherwise, things are going smoothly. We just started forming embryos and Titan, Dione, and Rhea's generators are all working perfectly. The disconnect with Earth is disconcerting. I'm not sure what happened, but there doesn't seem to a problem on my end. Tomorrow, my mind will be on other things: optimizing the generator.
Entry 48:
My whole body is numb. I'm in a state of shock. It's gone. It's all gone.
I should probably give you some context. Hell, I don't even know what “you” is any more. Whatever. I need to write this down. The day started out just as any other day. I had taken the pod to Phoebe. Unfortunately, some unexpected debris collided with my ship as I was just leaving Enceladus, 1000m away from its surface. At this point, Enceladus' gravity still dragged me down at a rate of 0.112 m/s^2, not to different than its surface gravity. Fortunately, since Enceladus' gravity is so low and the new EVA pod’s are so light, I only hit the surface with a force of 56 N.
As soon as I hit Enceladus' surface, I hit the emergency beacon. My map told me that I was about a kilometer away from home base. The rest of the crew would here within an hour to bring me and my pod back home. I was content to sit back, twiddle my thumbs, and just stargaze until I noticed part of the debris that had crashed into me. It didn't look like any space debris. It looked charred and ashy, but almost felt familiar.
After a while, my curiosity became insatiable. I had to know what it was. I suited up and jumped out to analyze the debris. When I came close to it, the otherworldly sense of familiarity only increased. I collected a sample and stared at it for what seemed like an eternity until I came to a sudden realization.
I rushed back to the pod. If the molecular analyzer wasn't damaged in the crash, then I'd be able to confirm my suspicions. Fortunately, it was working. I placed the debris sample into the analyzer and waited. I knew that if I was right, nothing would ever be the same.
The tests came back positive. I was correct. It was from Earth. I went to the pod's high powered telescope, hoping with all my might that I was wrong. I mean, the fact that the debris from Earth could have meant anything. There are a myriad of explanations for…
It didn't matter how many explanations I had. I was right. The Earth was gone and in its place was an ashy core, slowly falling apart.
Enceladus Exploration Mission Log: Entries 47 - 49
Entry 47:
It's been four months since we landed on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, and one thing's for sure; it's too damn cold. Jokes aside, things are looking pretty bleak. We lost radio contact with earth at some point when it was out of sight and now some space debris has begun interfering with Phoebe's electromagnetic generator. Okay, maybe bleak is the wrong word. Just very, very, very inconvenient. Otherwise, things are going smoothly. We just started forming embryos and Titan, Dione, and Rhea's generators are all working perfectly. The disconnect with Earth is disconcerting. I'm not sure what happened, but there doesn't seem to a problem on my end. Tomorrow, my mind will be on other things: optimizing the generator.
Entry 48:
My whole body is numb. I'm in a state of shock. It's gone. It's all gone.
I should probably give you some context. Hell, I don't even know what “you” is any more. Whatever. I need to write this down. The day started out just as any other day. I had taken the pod to Phoebe. Unfortunately, some unexpected debris collided with my ship as I was just leaving Enceladus, 1000m away from its surface. At this point, Enceladus' gravity still dragged me down at a rate of 0.112 m/s^2, not to different than its surface gravity. Fortunately, since Enceladus' gravity is so low and the new EVA pod’s are so light, I only hit the surface with a force of 56 N.
As soon as I hit Enceladus' surface, I hit the emergency beacon. My map told me that I was about a kilometer away from home base. The rest of the crew would here within an hour to bring me and my pod back home. I was content to sit back, twiddle my thumbs, and just stargaze until I noticed part of the debris that had crashed into me. It didn't look like any space debris. It looked charred and ashy, but almost felt familiar.
After a while, my curiosity became insatiable. I had to know what it was. I suited up and jumped out to analyze the debris. When I came close to it, the otherworldly sense of familiarity only increased. I collected a sample and stared at it for what seemed like an eternity until I came to a sudden realization.
I rushed back to the pod. If the molecular analyzer wasn't damaged in the crash, then I'd be able to confirm my suspicions. Fortunately, it was working. I placed the debris sample into the analyzer and waited. I knew that if I was right, nothing would ever be the same.
The tests came back positive. I was correct. It was from Earth. I went to the pod's high powered telescope, hoping with all my might that I was wrong. I mean, the fact that the debris from Earth could have meant anything. There are a myriad of explanations for…
It didn't matter how many explanations I had. I was right. The Earth was gone and in its place was an ashy core, slowly falling apart.