The telemetry was wrong again, but it didn’t make sense. When his computers compared their data to the data from Marshall Space Flight Operating Center in Huntsville, the readings were different. There had to be something wrong with his computers or the orbiting satellites. He would have to reset ISS’s computers, essentially a re-boot.
“Damn,” he exclaimed under his breath, realizing he was going to spend more hours than he wanted, coordinating with Mission Control Center in Houston to reestablish a baseline. This work was the kind that R.T. found tedious, even if it was necessary. Still, it was better than being on Earth.
He looked at his mission clock, amazed at how quickly the time on this mission flew. It was his tenth “evening” in space. He just wished this mission didn’t have all of these insipid technical problems, especially the last couple days. He was going to head home in less than five Earth days, and then, who knew when he would get another opportunity to go into space, maybe never.
He wanted to take in every moment of his normal work, and not deal with computers. He didn’t like dealing with his computer at home, and he certainly didn’t want to mess with one in space. Naturally, this was the one big drawback of the ISS. Each of them did multiple jobs. With NASA, everything was about backup and backing up the backup. At any moment, there were fifteen ground-based technicians tasked with dealing with the shuttle’s computers. Instead, he, a commander of three shuttle missions and this mission as Mission Commander, was doing menial computer testing.
Hearing a soft exhale of frustration, he looked to the left through to the next pod and saw Melanie, deep in her work. His whole demeanor changed.
Dr. Melanie Sinclaire was an astro-microbiologist with PhD’s in astrophysics and microbiology. She was onboard to study the effects of solar radiation on human tissue. She too was chosen over many potential scientific studies submitted to the International Space Agency. Besides being a knock out, she made her field of study interesting. Plus, she also liked working late nights, analyzing her data and setting up the next group of experiments before they were to experience the sixth sunrise of the day. When in orbit, they averaged one every hour and a half. Mostly, he enjoyed working with Dr. Sinclaire.
“Evening R.T.,” Melanie called out down the corridor between her pod and the main pod of the space station.
“Evening, Doc. How bad was the sunburn on Romeo & Juliet?” She named her rat pairs after famous couples, although he couldn’t remember if the two she was looking at were Bogie and Bacall.
“Ha. That’s good. I’m actually not as concerned about Samson & Delilah as I am about the radiation readings.” Melanie rotated 180 degrees in her swivel chair attached to the side of the laboratory module so that she was staring at her computer screen. “Have you seen any of the recent radiation readings?”
“Hang on, all my computers are being reset, so I’ll come to you,” R.T. said. He pulled himself up and over, sending his fit 185-pound gravity-free frame towards the port exit of the USOS, connecting to Melanie’s laboratory pod. He then pulled himself to the entrance, poking his head through.
“Permission to come aboard?” said R.T., playfully chiding the formality of several of his fellow astronauts, who seriously asked this question each time before entering another’s module.
“Here, look,” she said, pointing to her computer screen, ignoring the levity of his comment.
He pulled himself beside her, enjoying their closeness. He only wished he could take in her fragrance too. The physics of space voided that sense and therefore that possibility.
“See? The readings are way out of the norms. You’d have to be three times as close to the sun to get these kinds of readings. I’m actually a little concerned about us. Have your computers given us any radiation warnings at all?” She asked, looking up at him.
“No. In fact, I’m having problems with my computers. I doubt this is a coincidence. I guess it’s time to wake up MCC. You mind lending a hand?”
“No problem. Always happy to help my Commander,” adding her own playfulness to cut through their pending computer tedium. “Besides, I want to get to the bottom—”
“Whoa, look at that!” He cut her off.
Melanie looked up and saw that he was pointing to her left out the aft porthole window. She turned and they were both witnessing the most beautiful multi-colored aurora either of them had ever seen.
A sinewy river of green, red, & blue undulated and danced on top the Earth’s atmosphere below them. The green part of the river expanded and grew past its invisible banks, like a time-lapse video of a flood, appearing to wash over the whole atmosphere. Most of it appeared over China.
“Wait, that’s not the Aurora Australis, is it? Hold on. What are we looking at? Isn’t that China? How is this possible?” Melanie asked. Her face was contorted in an exaggerated expression of both awe and concern. “That’s nowhere near the poles.”
“I believe we have a bigger problem than you thought.” R.T. expressed what was on both of their minds.
4.
Dr. Carrington Reid
Dr. Carrington Reid was predestined for this work, or at least it seemed this way. Like him, both his father and grandfather were solar astrophysicists, and were fans of Dr. Richard Carrington, an amateur astronomer who recorded the flare event on September 2nd 1859 that bore his name. He was such a devotee that his father even named him Carrington. His father would take him all over the world to exotic locations and observatories to study solar flares, pulses, and coronal mass ejections or CME’s. Carr, as his father often called him, loved the excitement of the travel, but most of all, he loved the science. Exploring science today was as the New World was to explorers Perry and Livingston; full of all the thrill and adventure of making new discoveries.
His interest in the science and the thrill of new discoveries was indeed part of his genetic makeup, but his passion and drive were born from a desire to prepare humanity for a much anticipated cataclysmic event. Reluctantly, he was the biggest cheerleader and promoter of his own discoveries and theories, many of which were not shared by his peers, due to their eschatological bent. His actions earned him a bit of a reputation, most of which was not good. He didn’t care, as long as he achieved his goals of preparing the world and providing ample warning of the next Carrington-sized CME. This was why he had formed the CME Research Institute.
His thinking was that, if he brought in other scientists and students, who shared a common focus of study, coronal mass ejections and solar flares and their deleterious effect on Earth’s inhabitants, they would be able to learn more about the science and continually warn the world so it could prepare for the inevitable. Science was the necessary part of CMERI’s mission, and it included creating new advances in notifications when new solar flare or CME events occurred, as well as simply making new discoveries.
Dr. Reid’s first notable discovery was on April 9, 2008, when he recorded an amazing cartwheel CME. He remembered it as if it was yesterday. A billion-ton cloud of gas launched itself off the surface of the sun and then did a cartwheel. It pirouetted out of the sun’s limb in full view of the Kit Peak National Observatory in Arizona, first doing a cartwheel and then a backflip; a gymnastic routine, which had never been witnessed before in recorded history.
He was the first scientist to show that the magnetic flux tube expelled from the sun began to heal itself, a magnetic reconnection also a new first in recorded science. The data recorded from their Solar Dynamics Observatory or SDO, and from several satellites, along with their twelve scientists and students from the local university formed the basis for his Institute in Salt Lake City, and the many discoveries he had made since.