Stellarium (Origins): A Space-Time Adventure to the Ends of our Universe by Fabricio Simoes
Authors: Fabricio Simoes
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an
immense force. They started accelerating toward the black hole. Russell had to
make slight adjustments to the course as the gravity of the singularity pulled
them in directions that he hadn’t anticipated in his calculations. Allison
strapped into her seat as the ship accelerated. This seemed much worse than the
launch, despite the fact that there was no vibration or noise like before.
A while later, Frank continued
monitoring the temperature of the engine, as well as the ship’s fuel level. The
internal batteries were down to almost three percent, enough for one more hour.
He wasn’t too concerned because he knew that they would turn off the thrust in
about 40 minutes, at which point he would have 20 minutes to open up the solar
panels and recharge the batteries. He was, however, worried that the solar
panels might not resist the gravitational force of the black hole for that
long.
Although there weren’t any large
stars around, there was a lot of light. The light attracted by the black hole
reflected off of the dust clouds on the horizon. He thought it would be enough
to keep the Orion-II running at minimum power until the end of those eight days.
By the time they got back to Draco, Valkiria would be crucial for them to get
their batteries back to 100% again.
“Russell, Allison, I want to make
a suggestion, but it has certain risks. I think we need to talk it over and
make a decision,” Frank said.
“Go on, what is it?” asked
Russell.
“The forces that we’re being
subjected to are increasing by the minute. I'm worried about the ship’s rings.
I don’t think they’re going to be able to handle so many days under such
intense acceleration. They’re long and thin, and they might break if we leave
them open while traveling in these conditions,” the engineer explained.
“So, are you suggesting that we
stow the rings and return to the same configuration as when we launched from
Earth?” Russell asked.
“Yes. The problem is that the
Orion-II wasn’t designed for its rings to be stowed. They were made to be
opened just once, after exiting Earth’s orbit. However, I can rewrite the
module’s controller program and force them to be stowed,” Frank responded.
“And what are the risks?” Allison
asked.
“After so many days, subjected to
such intense acceleration, there’s always the possibility that some mechanisms
might be damaged, which could potentially keep us from being able to reposition
the rings. But the risk of damage to those mechanisms is lower than the risk of
damage to the rings,” he responded.
“If that were to happen, we’d be
trapped here forever. Without those rings, there’d be no way for us to create a
wormhole and jump back,” Russell said.
“That’s why we need to make this
decision as a group. If we don’t do anything, our structure might not resist
these forces. Given these two options, I think the less risky choice would be
to stow the rings,” Frank said.
“I vote for stowing them, as
well,” Allison said.
“Okay, let’s do that. How long
will it take, Frank?”
“It should take less than 30
minutes.”
“Proceed,” the commander said.
Image 12 – Unidentified galaxy observed by the astronauts.
(credits and details on the final page)
Chapter 14
The plan was relatively simple:
they would need to speed up, a lot, both so that they could get to the other
side in eight days, and so they wouldn’t be swallowed up by the black hole.
Contrary to what intuition would indicate, they weren’t fleeing from the black
hole, but rather, they were headed toward it at full speed. This was the only
way for them to speed up. The acceleration of the thrust itself, in addition to
the acceleration caused by the gravitational pull of the singularity, resulted
in a gravity four times greater than that on Earth.
At a certain point in the
trajectory, once they were going at full speed—which, in this case, would be
about 80% light speed—they would activate
immense force. They started accelerating toward the black hole. Russell had to
make slight adjustments to the course as the gravity of the singularity pulled
them in directions that he hadn’t anticipated in his calculations. Allison
strapped into her seat as the ship accelerated. This seemed much worse than the
launch, despite the fact that there was no vibration or noise like before.
A while later, Frank continued
monitoring the temperature of the engine, as well as the ship’s fuel level. The
internal batteries were down to almost three percent, enough for one more hour.
He wasn’t too concerned because he knew that they would turn off the thrust in
about 40 minutes, at which point he would have 20 minutes to open up the solar
panels and recharge the batteries. He was, however, worried that the solar
panels might not resist the gravitational force of the black hole for that
long.
Although there weren’t any large
stars around, there was a lot of light. The light attracted by the black hole
reflected off of the dust clouds on the horizon. He thought it would be enough
to keep the Orion-II running at minimum power until the end of those eight days.
By the time they got back to Draco, Valkiria would be crucial for them to get
their batteries back to 100% again.
“Russell, Allison, I want to make
a suggestion, but it has certain risks. I think we need to talk it over and
make a decision,” Frank said.
“Go on, what is it?” asked
Russell.
“The forces that we’re being
subjected to are increasing by the minute. I'm worried about the ship’s rings.
I don’t think they’re going to be able to handle so many days under such
intense acceleration. They’re long and thin, and they might break if we leave
them open while traveling in these conditions,” the engineer explained.
“So, are you suggesting that we
stow the rings and return to the same configuration as when we launched from
Earth?” Russell asked.
“Yes. The problem is that the
Orion-II wasn’t designed for its rings to be stowed. They were made to be
opened just once, after exiting Earth’s orbit. However, I can rewrite the
module’s controller program and force them to be stowed,” Frank responded.
“And what are the risks?” Allison
asked.
“After so many days, subjected to
such intense acceleration, there’s always the possibility that some mechanisms
might be damaged, which could potentially keep us from being able to reposition
the rings. But the risk of damage to those mechanisms is lower than the risk of
damage to the rings,” he responded.
“If that were to happen, we’d be
trapped here forever. Without those rings, there’d be no way for us to create a
wormhole and jump back,” Russell said.
“That’s why we need to make this
decision as a group. If we don’t do anything, our structure might not resist
these forces. Given these two options, I think the less risky choice would be
to stow the rings,” Frank said.
“I vote for stowing them, as
well,” Allison said.
“Okay, let’s do that. How long
will it take, Frank?”
“It should take less than 30
minutes.”
“Proceed,” the commander said.
Image 12 – Unidentified galaxy observed by the astronauts.
(credits and details on the final page)
Chapter 14
The plan was relatively simple:
they would need to speed up, a lot, both so that they could get to the other
side in eight days, and so they wouldn’t be swallowed up by the black hole.
Contrary to what intuition would indicate, they weren’t fleeing from the black
hole, but rather, they were headed toward it at full speed. This was the only
way for them to speed up. The acceleration of the thrust itself, in addition to
the acceleration caused by the gravitational pull of the singularity, resulted
in a gravity four times greater than that on Earth.
At a certain point in the
trajectory, once they were going at full speed—which, in this case, would be
about 80% light speed—they would activate
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