0107 - 2024.06 Ice storm approaching (Ganymede )

Of the Jovian moons one can say there is plenty of variety, and not be wrong.

But like the Confucian saying of “may you live in interesting times“ that is a very broad statement. Small, cold and bathed in the eerie light of Jupiter, none of them offered any real hospitality.

As the largest moon, Ganymede offered the most promise, relatively speaking. With a semblance of an atmosphere, enough gravity and cracked ice mountains there was the promise at least of water, or something similar that would yield hydrogen and oxygen for the planned Jupiter factories.

Manufacturing in outer space had become a thing, and while Mars had the minerals there was no ready supply of energy, and the Martian population were nervous of nuclear reactors above their heads.

So the geological explorers had skipped the asteroid belt. Plenty of useful minerals, but also dangerous. Having snagged a 1000 kiloton lump of rock, where did one take it?

Initially they had gone to earth but a few near misses when trying to do an orbital insertion made certain powerful people realise that destruction of the planet was just one failed rocket booster away. So plans were afoot to go to Jupiter, set the factories up there, scoop the planet for gas and check out the moons for other source minerals and compounds.

The first mineralologists had it tough. It is one thing photographing from above, the image tends to flatten the vertical and make it look less high. Ten metres looks nothing on a map, but it could be impassible.

So it turned out to be. Even in reinforced space suits and exoskeletons any work on the surface was extraordinarily difficult.

If it wasn’t the terrain, slippery with sharp diamond hard edges, it was the ice storms. Flying granulated ice pieces would generate more debris with each impact, creating a whirling dervish of flying blades. All of this in a pale green/ black light, reminiscent of hail storm weather back on Earth, that preyed on the mind

Definitely nasty.

So much so that they abandoned Ganymede for industry, and left it to extreme tourism.

As the travel guide would later, generously, say:

“Ganymede is cold, dark and what little atmosphere there is blows ice shards relentlessly towards the unwary. Not a nice place even for hardened mineral hunters. Be one of a select few to experience the ultimate in wild places.”

Technique: #tetra_etch
Style: #abstract #landscape
Highlight colour; #green

Series: #mini-sci-fi #space