Steady Progress.
Dbx "Alexei Leonov" NH-16DThaikaei TE-F d12-15 Planet 6bDistance from Sol: 16,300 ly.
Three weeks and two days into the expedition. After some frustrating delays we’re back on track and catching up to the schedule again. Leonov is performing nominally again after repairs.
This last two weeks have not been easy on myself and the Leonov.
After the drama with the SRV things seemed to be getting back on track, but I didn’t reckon on equipment malfunctions shortly after leaving the last waypoint. Leonov’s flight control systems (including manual controls) started to malfunction, necessitating that I heave to in deep space and shut down for repairs. With the help of some emergency spares and some hard work we’re flying again, and hopefully the problems won’t beset the ship again (at least for a while).
I found an Earth-like world in (to my knowledge) an undiscovered system slightly off the beaten track which rewarded me with spectacular eclipses as we launched probes to scan its biosphere.
I’ve also mapped many water worlds and terraformable planets in the last week, and my mapping and scanning data is beginning to build up – current estimates of the value are around the Cr64 Million mark, which is pretty good considering that I haven’t been really trying to search out valuable discoveries.
I’ve now arrived at the Point of interest mid-way between waypoint 3 and 4, and have been taking in the many ringed worlds in the system, including one planet with the most extensive ring system i’ve seen for a long time – this gas giant even has another gas giant for a satellite, itself with a ring system. Something spectacular must have happened here in the youth of this system to create such a view!
I decided that I and the Leonov needed down time so we moved inward of the system and put down on the northern pole of a moon around a binary gas giant mini-system – it was tricky, the pole is particularly mountainous but the view is worth it.
I plan to stay a day or so and catch up on my sleep before pushing on to waypoint 4.