The Marathon wiki

Intel: Planetary Science

Exoplanet Candidates

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FILE TYPE: Scientific Summary
PERIOD: Pre-Expedition
TOPIC: Exoplanet Colony Candidates
SUMMARY: Excerpts from a study on potential exoplanet sites, with Tau Ceti IV emerging as the best possible candidate due to limited terraforming requirements. Megacorps supplying the mission had significant influence over the choice of Tau Ceti IV.
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Candidate: Enceladus

Description: Sixth largest moon of Saturn within the Sol system

CANDIDATE DECLINED. Despite relative proximity to Mars and an abundant subsurface ocean, Enceladus's trace atmosphere cannot support human agriculture without centuries of terraforming or sealed aquaculture environments. A NuCaloric Agriculture panel asserts that neither option is practical, and Traxus logistic specialists concur.
  
Candidate: Proxima Centauri b

Description: Tidally locked planet in the habitable zone of the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, 4.2 LY from Sol

CANDIDATE DECLINED. Habitability criteria are favorable in a narrow band. Nascent terraforming technologies are insufficient to expand outside this zone. Agriculture in a red dwarf star system is uncertain; all plants from Sol evolved in a G-type yellow dwarf system. Potential stakeholders assert no confidence in this candidate's long-term profitability.

Candidate: Tau Ceti IV

Description: Terrestrial planet in the habitable zone of the G-class star Tau Ceti, 12 LY from Sol

CANDIDATE APPROVED as mission target. Habitability criteria are favorable in at least one major landmass. Atmospheric analysis confirms abundant carbon-based plant life capable of sustaining fauna. This candidate likely requires no long-term terraforming to be agriculturally self-sustaining. A joint panel of UESC physicists[1] and NuCaloric agronomists strongly assert that a more compatible target is unlikely to exist.

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[1] See ADDENDUM 1.7.7.1 for further details about likely presence of [REDACTED] in the Tau Ceti system. All further discussion of [REDACTED] must be formally submitted to the Mission Special Projects Committee.
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TAGS: nucaloric; tau ceti iv; uesc

Report from Orbital Satellites

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FILE TYPE: AI Data Analysis
PERIOD: Colony Era
TOPIC: Tau Ceti IV Satellite Data
SUMMARY: Information from environmental satellites in orbit around Tau Ceti IV, deployed from the UESC Marathon shortly after its arrival. This data helped colonial leaders identify the location for New Cascadia. Annotated by colony and shipboard AI.
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Analysis requested by: Reed, Galea

CETI-TEMP: Temperature and emissivity surface images

High priority mineral resources: none detected.

Volcanic activity: none detected.

Projected infrastructure efficiency: moderate to low.[1]

Projected groundwater usage: low.

CETI-SM 1 through 3: Soil moisture and evaporation

Drought vulnerability: very low.

Climate: temperate, humid warm-summer subtype.

Flood risk: moderate. Recommend investing in crop-specific countermeasures or flood-tolerant cultivars.

Extreme weather risk: low. Seasonal storms are comparable to non-cataclysmic weather on Earth.

CETI-IRIS 2: impact event and debris disk monitoring

Projected continental impact events within the next century: 2

Impact event severity: minor. Debris is unlikely to survive Tau Ceti IV's atmosphere.

Civilizational impact risk: Low. Using data from IRIS-1 and 2, Tycho has identified an unexpected gap in the Tau Ceti system's debris disk. Tau Ceti IV orbits the star within this gap.[2]

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[1] Bastion: This site is best for agricultural cultivation. Recommend placing military and administrative hub elsewhere.
[2] Tycho: Devoting significant computational effort to find a plausible hypothesis for the debris gap.
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TAGS: bastion; new cascadia; tau ceti iv; reed; tycho; uesc

Ecological Best Practices

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FILE TYPE: Training Pamphlet
PERIOD: Colony Era
TOPIC: Native Tau Ceti Ecology
SUMMARY: Essential reading for all drone operators performing ecological surveys before New Cascadia's foundation. Despite similarities between Earth and Tau Ceti's environments, important differences in animal ecology soon emerged.
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Fauna Interactions

Compared to Earth, Tau Ceti IV has relatively low megafauna populations and diversity. Early scans show no land mammals, though a few amphibious specimens resemble monotremes. The largest fauna currently catalogued in the Perimeter and Dire Marsh regions are arthropods colloquially known as ticks. Avian species are varied but pose no discernable threat. Low megafauna population has significant implications for planetary ecology and potential survey sites.

Waste treatment and disposal:

There are no native scavengers for human waste or discarded food material. All proposed habitation sites must have space for fully contained Sol-grade waste treatment facilities. Releasing untreated waste material has serious consequences, including but not limited to: aggressive swarming, sudden emergence of coprophagy in native arthropods, explosive bacteria growth, habitat disruption, and invasive pathogen introduction.

Ambient tick population:

Although ticks are not hostile toward airborne drones, the xenobiology team has reported increased tick swarming on foot. Please update Bastion's database with ambient tick population estimates regardless of the principal purpose of your survey. Maintaining live, up-to-date tick numbers is crucial for avoiding unnecessary complications.

Animal husbandry potential:

Until New Cascadia reaches sustainable conditions for megafauna, reanimating and releasing specimens from biostock is strictly prohibited. Corrections for premature release of biostock include but are not limited to: specimen termination detail, revocation of survey license, corrective reassignment, hab unit demotion.

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TAGS: fauna; new cascadia; tau ceti iv

Drone Modifications

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FILE TYPE: Technical Documentation
PERIOD: Colony Era
TOPIC: Geological Drone Surveys of Tau Ceti IV
SUMMARY: List of unauthorized modifications to geological survey drones, compiled by senior technician Z. Christoforos shortly after the colony's founding. Drone missions suffered significantly lower attrition rates during Christoforos's tenure, and colonial administration largely ignored these breaches of protocol.
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Airborne: TOI Exo-Matrix A9

QIDAR errors are a huge problem. Best guess is that we've got uncharacterized Minkowski space perturbations, but only beneath the planet's surface. Fortunately, it doesn't disrupt old-fashioned LIDAR, and the mounting points are similar enough if you know what you're doing. Replace the expensive quantum suite with optical and double-check battery compatibility.[1]

Underwater: TOI JJ Capsule Pro

Good out of the box, but Traxus was too stingy. They didn't send enough of this model with the Marathon, so we can't conduct deep surveys at scale. Also, something down there mistakes our drones for prey animals; the JJs often surface with almond-shaped sucker marks. Alternating rows of titanium spikes and hypercobalt lights keep the critters at bay, even if it looks like a demented holiday ornament.

Subterranean: TOI Exo-Matrix S4

Whatever is messing up our QIDAR also causes subterranean drones to fail. Explosively. In narrow, dark tunnels and shafts. Handheld, non-networked tools still work fine, and signal doesn't penetrate through rock. We are back to human surveying; bring extra personnel and feed the results into Bastion's database after returning to the surface. Wear earplugs, take anti-hallucinogens, and don't mind the lingering whispers; BOBs say they're not real, and all credible sensor data agrees.

Multipurpose: TOI AP Flex V7

A solid all-rounder. Reliable SLAM even under sub-optimal flight conditions, good amphibious conversion mode, capable of shallow bathymetric surveys to offset our low underwater drone count. Major weakness is the composite rotors; toxic pollen tends to stick to the blades, and we do low-altitude sweeps over potential agricultural sites. Disable the proprietary enforcement lock (duct or electrical tape) and replace rotors with alternatives.[2]

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[1] Z.C: Admins notice when a drone unexpectedly combusts mid-flight.
[2] Z.C: Purple ones from NuCal's toy line are best.
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TAGS: new cascadia; tau ceti iv

Early Survey Work

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FILE TYPE: Conversation Log
PERIOD: Colony Era
SPEAKERS: Engineer [ID: DNOR], UESC Officer [ID: BHER], Xenobiologist [ID: JJUR]
TOPIC: Ecological Adaptation
SUMMARY: A recording of a conversation between two survey specialists, establishing infrastructure for New Cascadia prior to the colony's official founding. Specialists were woken before civilian colonists based on technical expertise and the colony's emergent needs.
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[JJUR]: You're not usually up this early.

[DNOR]: Double shift to rewire a prefab panel. Ticks keep snipping through the insulation.

[JJUR]: Well, at least they're not aggressive.

[DNOR]: Trying to eat our hab units seems pretty damn aggressive to me.

[JJUR]: Tobias says it's just… what was the phrase? "Non-territorial experimental foraging." They're taking nibbles of our stuff to see if it tastes good.

[DNOR]: Yeah, and Tobias is a weirdo who loves giant bugs. No thanks.

[JJUR]: Ticks aren't giant; they're still under a meter.

[DNOR]: That's still too big! No bugs should be cat-sized!

[JJUR]: During the Carboniferous period, Earth had giant, dog-sized dragonflies.

[DNOR]: Can we talk about literally anything else?

[JJUR]: Hey, we're just as alien. I mean, look at us. Bipedal gait, flat feet, no carapace, feathers, or fur to speak of. Teetering skulls on skinny necks.

[JJUR]: To the native creatures of Tau Ceti, we probably look like giant fleshy freaks. We're something out of their nightmares.

[DNOR]: God, how did you make it worse?

[door opens]

[JJUR]: At least we're trying to be harmonious aliens.

[heavy bootsteps]

[BHER]: Keep it movin'.

[DNOR]: Most of us.

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TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [X]
TAGS:  fauna; luttero, t.; new cascadia; ticks