ANALYZING…   FILE TYPE: Marathon Archives Entry PERIOD: Colony Era TOPIC: UESC Marathon Mission Overview SUMMARY: Annotated overview of mission objectives written by UESC Marathon Captain Clemente di Roxas during the voyage to Tau Ceti IV. Notes and errata present in original document. =================================================================== ORIGIN: Mars orbit, Sol DESTINATION: Tau Ceti IV, Tau Ceti DISTANCE: 11.91 LY SPEED: .079c PURPOSE: Colonization; Exploration; Scientific Discovery [pass through DOC for cleanup] Preparing for the UESC Marathon's 300-year journey required decades of planning and advancements, both technological and social. It required enormous expenditures of capital, bitter sacrifice, and selfless cooperation to achieve. [DOC please don't scrub the "sacrifice" piece] The voyage itself would be a monumental undertaking. It required harnessing the Martian moon, Deimos, as a source of raw materials for the almost continuous expansions and repairs the Marathon would require during the arduous, centuries-long journey. Though a lot of people thought the Marathon was constructed from the moon itself, actually the most materials came from the old asteroid belt. [DOC this section feels familiar, please cross-check with earlier summary and eliminate redundancy] Everybody who volunteered for Project Marathon understands that, success or failure, it's going to be a one-way trip. These explorers have dedicated themselves to making a new life under the light of a new star: Tau Ceti. Once the UESC Marathon enters the Tau Ceti system (still more than a hundred years from now), the next phase of its journey will begin. The ship will spend two years in orbit above Tau Ceti IV, mapping and observing the planet in exhaustive detail. We'll observe its weather, its seasons, the flow of its tides. Our scientists will study everything to ensure it's completely safe before a single Sol-made object is allowed to enter the atmosphere. [check that we don't send probes or make sure they don't count] Sites for the colony will have to be considered. Plans that were drawn up back in Sol will surely have to be altered to fit the realities of whatever we will discover. Until then, our journey continues. —Captain Clemente di Roxas =================================================================== TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [ ]