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[VoidSlayer]

Procyon 2 System

Procyon A - A large white-yellow main sequence dwarf star, 50% more mass then Sol with 7.5 times the brightness.  The star's activity has been observed to be on par with our own.  It's habitable zone is estimated to be between 2 and 4 AU.

Procyon AS-1 - 0.531 AU from Procyon A, this airless, tidally locked world is much smaller and less massive then Earth with .75g.  It has no visible volcanic activity, the hot side has been blasted flat although there is one particularly large crater.  The dark side has significant impact craters and may still have ice thanks to the -192.7° C average temperature on that side of the planet.

Procyon AS-2 - 0.828 AU from Procyon A, this airless world is smaller then Earth with 0.85g.  Day surface temperatures average 242.9° C with sub zero temperatures during the night.  Significant numbers of impact craters are found across the planet.  Ice may still exist at the bottoms of the craters, though it is unlikely.

The planet has a small moon in a highly eccentric orbit.

Procyon AS-3 - 1.241 AU From Procyon A, although of comparable size and mass to Earth, this world has a thick atmosphere believed to be caused by excessive volcanic activity.  Estimates are that the temperature is so great that liquid iron may be present on the surface.

Procyon AS-4 - 2.108 AU From Procyon A, this green-blue sub-Jovian gas giant has 9 detected moons.  It has a thin ring not visible to the naked eye.  The small closest moon the size of Pluto was likely captured recently and is within range to be torn apart by tidal forces.  The furthest 7 are spread out and range between 55 km and 8 Km in size.  Other moons are probably out there waiting to be detected.

Procyon AS-4b - This moon is close enough to be tidally locked to the gas giant.  At under half the mass of Earth and 0.76g.  The planet has 0.134 atm and a normal temperature range between -84 C and -14 C.  The planet has a high inclination and one pole which receives little light is covered in ice.  A short planet wide storm is observed during approach to the system.

Procyon AS-4c - This moon also is about half the mass of Earth with 0.8g and a high rotation of 16.5 hours.  The planet has 0.16 atm and a normal temperature range between -93.2 C and 6.8 C.  The atmosphere is mostly Argon and Carbon Dioxide.  80% of the planet is covered in ice and estimates are that there are extensive oceans underneath.  There is evidence of volcanic and tectonic activity on the surface.

Procyon AS-5 - 3.158 AU From Procyon A is slightly smaller and less massive then the Earth with 0.85g.  It has a Nitrogen-Helium-Carbon Dioxide atmosphere 0.491 atm but it likely has significant contaminates from the volcanic activity present.  There are two active volcanoes visible.  There appears to be extreme tectonic activity as no craters are visible from a distance.  Temperatures range between -33.5 C and 49.4 C, with small ice caps, thin seas covering 35% of the planet and extensive cloud cover.  Both global storms and super hurricanes are observed during approach.

The planet has 3 small moons.

Procyon AS-6- 3.78 AU From Procyon A about three quarters the size of Earth with 0.6g.  It has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere at .356 atm with temperatures between -78 C to 12 C.  The planet is covered in 80% ice with a few small areas of water showing, although a few mountains are present it is likely most of the planet has an ocean under the ice due to varied glacial land-forms present.

The planet has a large moon about 3/4 the size of the Earth's moon with significant ice deposits, no atmosphere and lots of craters.

Procyon B - A white dwarf star with about 60% of Sol's mass and measuring less then 10,000 miles wide.  It baths the system, and in particular it's close planet, in significant UV and X-ray radiation. 

Procyon BS-1 - 2.87 AU from Procyon B this planet has 7.8 times the mass of Earth and 1.2g surface gravity.  It has a thin Argon-Ammonium atmosphere and temperatures between -234.0 C to -185.9 C.  The surface has no visible ice but significant numbers of craters may contain some.

Procyon P-1 at 27 AU from the A-B mass center this gas dwarf has nearly 12 Jupiter masses.  Although not massive enough to fuse hydrogen the small diameter and high density results in low level heat emissions.  The gas dwarf has it's own dust ring and asteroid belt along with over a dozen small ice-rock planets.

[tryrar]

Ok, so AS 1-3 are right out(little to no ice, extreme temperatures, etc.), though we MIGHT be able to find a spot on A-1 that has a reasonable temperature and access to ice, but that woulds likely just be for later mining ops. A-3 is a super-Venus that would kill us in seconds, so that is even more out.

The two moons of AS-4 we see are an interesting choice, ,since they both have at least somewhat reasonable temperatures for an ice world, and masses at least closer to Earth than Mars. They might be choices if we didn't have two better candidates right now.

AS-5 is very tempting since it has nitrogen and carbon dioxide, which means we only need to process for oxygen. The .5 atmo means we might be able to get away with simply breathing masks instead of full enviro-suits(unless volcanic contaminants are severe enough to make that a no-go), but the tectonic activity  and harsh storms worries me. Still, I like this choice to at least look at.

AS-6 Has free oxygen, which is exciting since that means we just have to compress and process that for our air, but the lack of detected carbon dioxide worries me as that might mean it doesn't have carbon, which would be a dealbreaker. Otherwise, we can handle the low pressures and glacier world nature. Still a better choice than the moons though.

My recommendation? We see how much reserve we have right now, and swing by 6(Which I'll call Jökull). If that doesn't have any carbon we can detect easily, then we go to 5(Which I'll call Kára) and set up there. We can deal with tectonic activity and storms if we have to.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Dense atmosphere is a mixed blessing. It will make landing harder and local winds more dangerous.

I actually like the AS-3s moons more than planets. They are safer to land, have more and look less natural disaster prone. They have low mass and thin atmospheres making launching back to space way easier.

[tryrar]

Dense atmosphere is a mixed blessing. It will make landing harder and local winds more dangerous.

I actually like the AS-3s moons more than planets. They are safer to land, have more and look less natural disaster prone. They have low mass and thin atmospheres making launching back to space way easier.

Heh, yeah we seem to have a surfeit of choices. I mean, 4 viable choices with extensive presence of water? Cha-CHING! Though I like the planets better than the moons myself

[Aseaheru]

  Personally, I think that AS-6 is our best bet.

[10ebbor10]

The presence of an oxygen atmosphere is strange though. I mean, that rarely happens.

[tryrar]

The presence of an oxygen atmosphere is strange though. I mean, that rarely happens.

Which makes at a target to at least investigate. Maybe we have some cold-adapted plant life providing some oxygen?

On a side note, AS-6 has a lot of glaciers, so we might have a bit of trouble digging to an actual rock layer depending on how thick it is. I agree with Aseaheru though, AS-6 should be our first choice, With AS-5 being second.

[TopHat]

On a side note, AS-6 has a lot of glaciers, so we might have a bit of trouble digging to an actual rock layer depending on how thick it is.

it is likely most of the planet has an ocean under the ice due to varied glacial land-forms present.

Yeah, quite a bit of trouble. I prefer AS-5 myself, easy access to carbon is good, helium & extra gases from volcanic emissions are a small bonus, Oxygen should be almost as easily obtained, temperatures are nicer, liquid water and rain are good for possible long-term agriculture. The extreme storms should be weatherable through a combination of underground living and warning from our weather sat (assuming we remember to launch it , though aboveground operations will be more risky). The only other problems I can see are that we might need a more robust oxygen extractor (depending on the volcanic contaminants) & the tectonic activity, which should be fairly easy (if potentially resource-consuming) to design around.

[tryrar]

Oh, I forgot about the probable subsurface ocean! That makes Kara the better target

[VoidSlayer]

The ship can swing by Jökull for basic information and decide whether to proceed on to Kara, this will take one month to get to Kara as you will not slow down.

Alternatively you can make orbit around Jökull, put out satellites and get more information, but the transit time to kara will increase to 4 month.

You take more direct routes thanks to long term acceleration.

Also give me a bit to work up an updated status.

[escaped lurker]

Oh, I forgot about the probable subsurface ocean! That makes Kara the better target

it is likely most of the planet has an ocean under the ice due to varied glacial land-forms present

We~ll.. VoidSlayer, if you might be so kind - do these "glacial land-forms" include any actual landmasses? Or would that need a sattelite / closer look?

Because else, I can't think of any reason why we would want to be on a planet with a "global aquifier", and no way to reach anything that isn't water or ice. (Though, we possibly could reach the "land" by the poles, after digging through x kilometres of ice.)

[tryrar]

The ship can swing by Jökull for basic information and decide whether to proceed on to Kara, this will take one month to get to Kara as you will not slow down.

Alternatively you can make orbit around Jökull, put out satellites and get more information, but the transit time to kara will increase to 4 month.

You take more direct routes thanks to long term acceleration.

That's pretty helpful actually, cause I suspect we'll need a closer examination to spot actual rock under the glaciers. If we can't with a simple pass, I don't think we should waste our time with a deeper scan and simply hit Kara.

My Plan:Pass by Jokull and give it a closer examination. If we find somewhat easily accessible land formations, make orbit and deploy the satellites. If we can't, move on to Kara and orbit there, deploying sats as well.

[VoidSlayer]

Oh, I forgot about the probable subsurface ocean! That makes Kara the better target

it is likely most of the planet has an ocean under the ice due to varied glacial land-forms present

We~ll.. VoidSlayer, if you might be so kind - do these "glacial land-forms" include any actual landmasses? Or would that need a sattelite / closer look?

Because else, I can't think of any reason why we would want to be on a planet with a "global aquifier", and no way to reach anything that isn't water or ice. (Though, we possibly could reach the "land" by the poles, after digging through x kilometres of ice.)

Most of the surface of the planet is ice it is hardly flat and has been shaped by subsurface forces, very likely an ocean.  Mountains that are large enough to be unlikely to be ice also do exist.  Very rough estimates are 80%-95% ocean.

[tryrar]

Ouch, that really doesn't leave much to work with. I still support my plan, but we'll likely move to Kara and not stop at Jokull.

[TopHat]

That's pretty helpful actually, cause I suspect we'll need a closer examination to spot actual rock under the glaciers. If we can't with a simple pass, I don't think we should waste our time with a deeper scan and simply hit Kara.

My Plan:Pass by Jokull and give it a closer examination. If we find somewhat easily accessible land formations, make orbit and deploy the satellites. If we can't, move on to Kara and orbit there, deploying sats as well.

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