Science Moon-E

Overview

Moon-E is an outpost world of the Emissariate of Bolusca, approximately 2000 parsecs coreward of Bolusca and less than 300 parsecs from the Krai border. It is home to a small scientific colony.

Planetary Characteristics

Moon-E is the fifth satellite of a gas giant orbiting a cool K2 star. The moon has a mean radius of 3000 km, approximately half that of Bolusca, and a mean density approximately two thirds of Bolusca, giving it a surface gravity of 0.4 Boluscan standard. It has a thin nitrogen/methane atmosphere.

The gas giant, designated K2760/7, has a mass of 2.4x10^28 Boluscan tons, which puts it very close to the limit of deuterium fusion, the point at which a body becomes a self-sustaining star.

History

A scientific colony has been located on Moon-E since Cy. 1590. The number of personnel varies between 20 and 60, including scientists and support staff, and rotates regularly. The colony is typically isolated for long periods, with supply ships arriving approximately six times a cycle.

The purpose of the colony is to monitor the gas giant and chart any transition to deuterium fusion, a phenomena that has rarely been observed closely in real time. The colony is equipped with a number of autonomous sample return vehicles, designed to capture gas and plasma from various depths within the gas giant atmosphere.

In Cy. 1602, the colony made contact with an intelligent life form, designated "Plasmoids", that lived deep within the gas giant. Though the initial contact was hostile, it soon became apparent that the Plasmoids were seeking assistance to escape the coming catastrophe of their home becoming a nuclear furnace. A viable new home world was located, and Boluscan fleet units transported the entire population of Plasmoids to the new world.