Astrogeophysics Revisited

As I have stated on previous occasions, I write hard science fiction. When you are committed to writing hard science fiction, it means (pardon the double negative) you can't write about something you know not to be true. That has been my guiding principle from the very beginning of the Rome's Revolution trilogy through the present (or rather upcoming) The Milk Run.

When I started thinking about what was then Book 2 of the VIRUS 5 series, I knew that Rome and Rei were on their way to Tau Ceti. I had no idea what they were going to find when they got there. To build a realistic world, based on facts I had to start researching the astrogeophysics of the Tau Ceti star system so that I didn't contradict anything that was known to be true.

The first thing I learned was that scientists have observed that the Oort Cloud surrounding Tau Ceti contained more than 10 times as much dust and debris as compared to the solar system.

That simple fact pretty much determined everything about the story. For example:

- It set up the reasoning behind the Ark II colliding with an asteroid and flying off toward Tabit.
- It gave me the excuse to find Captain Keller's sarcophagus floating around at the edge of that star system.
- It told me that Deucado, the only habitable planet in the star system, would be subjected to a higher-than-normal bombardment from meteors, asteroids and the like.
- It told me that the life forms on that world would have to be very adaptable to withstand such a pummeling.

So that's where I started. Deucado, the "little world that could" had to be able to withstand the continuous cosmic bombing and form the centerpiece for all that was to come.

Over the next few days, I'll give you the stellar and planetary characteristics of the Tau Ceti system, the world of Deucado and the set up for the rest of Rome's Revolution.