Greater Exposure, Greater Comprehension (GEGC)- Mission to Vall

[Lithium-7]

Note: Sorry for the pagestretch! Could someone tell me how to resize the images?

It started as a simple flyby- Inquirers 1 and 2, a pair of space probes destined to fly by Vall and Laythe. They would take snapshots of the surfaces of both these moons of the great green wonder, Jool.

None of the scientists in the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory division of the KSP could have anticipated what they saw in the first snapshots of Vall. But the first to fly by would be Inquirer 1, assigned to the then-thought-to-be-significantly-more-interesting-and-less-dead Laythe, took the following picture:

Everyone had thought it was bound to have vast quantities of life, until they discovered one thing: On the small probe Inquirer 1 launched, the Geiger counter went insane. The atmosphere had been holding all the radiation that Jool was emitting, not insulating it, and Laythe was so bathed in radiation that the small and weak probe eventually lost contact ten minutes before it even crashed.

Disappointment filled the control center, and everyone was certain that there was no hope of discovering life after all. At the press conference, it was said that no, life was indeed very unlikely on Laythe because of its radiation-based greenhouse effect. But then, not one day later, Inquirer 2 arrived at Vall and began to take pictures. The scientists had expected to find a heavily-cratered, lifeless surface. What they got was this:

A comparatively-smooth and non-cratered lifeless surface. To the scientists at RPL that had only one sensible scientific explanation. Vall's core was active and hot, melting the ice into a 2-kilometer thick sheet. What ice was melted was a global ocean of liquid water. And where you have insulation from radiation (The sheet of ice was sufficient for the amount that Jool was emitting), heat, water, oxygen, and a little organic matter, you get life. Scientists rejoiced and cheered. They couldn't wait for the press conference the next day.

They later threw parties and had more beer than one might consider healthy, and the public reaction wasn't far off. It would be another five years before the RPL launched another mission- this time, a mission to put a small drilling probe on Vall. It was christened "Greater Exposure, Greater Comprehension (GEGC)", and would drill deep down underneath the surface of Vall to explore the ocean below.

The craft had made it into low Kerbin orbit now, and prepared for the transfer window to take them out to Jool. Another hour later, the engines fired up and shot the probe out into interplanetary space, on an encounter course for Jool. It would take some time before it arrived, but before then, it prepared course correction to give them an aerocapture in Jool's immense atmosphere.

The maneuver was a success, and it was in Jool orbit. The craft then prepared for the burn to bring the probe onto an encounter with Vall. After the burn was complete and the periapsis reached, the craft circularized and completed several orbits around Vall to take photographs and map the surface. An ideal landing site was located and the de-orbit burn began. That completed, and the landing stage separated from the Joolian-transfer stage.

It slowed its descent, unfolded the landing gear, and finally made touchdown on the surface of Vall. Deploying a small tube, the GEGC itself was lowered down to the surface and immediately began digging, while the lander performed scientific studies of the ice and taking the first-ever photos from the surface of Vall. The view of Jool and the specks that were its moons was fantastic indeed. Some days later, the GEGC finally broke through the ice layer, and began to send back its footage up through the ice to the lander. Its light was activated, and it plunged into the depths of the alien sea. It performed studies of the surfaces of the rocks located on the raised seafloor, and searched for life in the warm waters. What it saw stunned and fascinated all.

It had discovered alien phytoplankton. Vall had life. Moreover, the first-ever discovered extrakerrestrial life was found. GEGC had found EK. The scientists back at RPL had more parties; they sung and danced and drank and hugged. It was the most important thing Kerbalkind had ever discovered.

The world lit up with this discovery. Scientists and space/UFO enthusiasts across the globe rejoiced. But that was not all to be found.

Photos revealed bio-luminescent creatures, multi-cellular organisms. The scientific world of Kerbin was in a frenzy. Xenobiologists fainted. Regular biologists fainted. And the Kerbals continued to explore the stars, driven by this discovery, into the farthest reaches of space.

Tell me what you think, and remember I'm open to criticism- but not flaming. Refer to this page for what defines criticism and what defines flaming.

Edited August 24, 2013 by Brixmon

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

Very good, better then anything I could make

[Scorpi15]

Never thought of Laythe's atmosphere making it irradiated before. I guess you took the common knowledge of Laythe being a second Kerbin and Vall being an inhospitable wasteland and turned it on it's head.

[KSK]

Never thought of Laythe's atmosphere making it irradiated before. I guess you took the common knowledge of Laythe being a second Kerbin and Vall being an inhospitable wasteland and turned it on it's head.

Wish this kind of stuff was in the game! I know Squad have said no aliens but there's a difference between an alien civilisation and sending a probe to photograph phytoplankton.

Nice story anyway!

[Lithium-7]

Never thought of Laythe's atmosphere making it irradiated before. I guess you took the common knowledge of Laythe being a second Kerbin and Vall being an inhospitable wasteland and turned it on it's head.

Well, gas giants emit lots of radiation. Realistically, nothing could live on Laythe. The atmosphere might make it even worse. Vall's sub-surface ocean (it must have one) would be insulated from the radiation by the thick ice.

[bellino]

Now i feel bad for saying "Its ok" since no one else did.

The text is confusing.