Читать книгу Coiper Belt - Valery Konstantinovich Bulygin - Страница 4

– Commander, – Ivan asked. We are already in the Coiper Belt. Have you already chosen the landing site?

– Yes, – Scan replied. Our stop on Dysnomia, Eris’s satellite.

– Is that the one behind Pluto – Ivan said.

– Are the sizes of Dysnomia good for us? – It is somewhat big.

– What to do, we did not have much choice, – Scan agreed.

– Beautiful name, Dysnomia.

– It is like honoring the goddess of lawlessness. We do not need lawlessness. Is she far from Eris?

– About 30,000 km. It is 10 times closer than the moon from Earth. Think of it next to you.

Our main ship came close to Dysnomia. Now begins a complex, time-consuming and responsible work. For all ships of the expedition it is necessary to drill deep wells in the satellite, so that the ships could enter deep into Dysnomia and there to gain a foothold.

– Yes, I know, – Ivan said.

– We have been assigned that task on Earth.

Powerful passing shields approached the Eris satellite and started work. The diameter of the main well should be more than 3 km, and the depth of 5 km (this is for the main ship). The other nine will be smaller.

It has been six months. The wells are ready. Tunnels have been tunneled between the wells to communicate with other ships. Tunnels were also pierced to the surface of the satellite for the output of various equipment (telescopes, radio telescopes, etc.).

The meeting of representatives of all ships decided to hold on the network. It was necessary to listen to the report on the work done, to put the task in the future.

Dysnomia’s choice was not accidental. Outside the solar system, the flight will be at a speed of 30,000km/s. This is about a tenth of the speed of light. You cannot go faster; the power of the engines will not allow it. At this speed, interstellar gas and dust will simply destroy the ship.

It was decided to hide the ships in the satellite of Eris and under the protection of the surface to fly into deep space. All the bombardment will have to surface the satellite, and it, pushed by our engines will fly like a comet or an asteroid.

Fuel supply takes place on Eris. There is a lot of frozen methane. On Eris itself, a methane processing station was installed in the fuel we needed. The shuttles are constantly plying between Eris and Dysnomia. Ships are able to recycle any useful substance into fuel. In the first stage, this is enough.

Scan looked at the stellar environment for a long time. Somewhere out there, our Sun is far away. It is still visible; after all, we are still in the solar system. True behind the Coiper Belt is the Oort cloud, but there will be no more planets, only stones and chunks of ice. Then the black emptiness and the cold. It is hard to be aware of uncertainty. While living on Earth, Scan was engaged in mountaineering. More than once, he climbed undefeated peaks. There was clarity. You know the route. You have pictures from space, weather forecasts. In any unforeseeable case, a rescue team will come to the rescue. In addition, here? Who is coming to the rescue? The route is conditional.