Could Captain Keller really have survived out there?
Three days ago, we reviewed the scene from Rome's Revolution whereupon Rome and Rei stumbled across Captain Keller's sarcophagus. The freezing chamber was floating blissfully among the boulders and asteroids, part of Tau Ceti's inner Oort Cloud. The question arises, could Captain Keller really have survived floating out there for 13 centuries? What about micrometeorites? What about radiation? How would he stay frozen?
Let me answer these questions in reverse order. First, why wouldn't he have stayed frozen? After all, the entire premise of the Ark program was that the crew compartment would be opened up to the vacuum and cold of space during their long voyage to eliminate the need for refrigeration. It has been estimated that the average surface temperature on Pluto is 44 Kelvin (-229 Celsius or -380 Fahrenheit). The inner Oort Cloud is much, much farther out than that so it stands to reason that if anything, it is even colder.
What about radiation? Well, again, the sarcophagi were made of ceramics, specifically hardened to minimize damage due to cosmic rays, gamma rays, x-rays and other types of ionizing radiation. The thin shell of the Arks was never designed to stop space radiation. That was the job of the sarcophagi. So we can conclude that Captain Keller was subject to no more radiation that the other occupants still inside the Ark II.
The hardest thing to defend would be protection against micrometeorites. We know that several colonists died en route because of just such collisions. Well, interestingly, Captain Keller was actually more protected from punctures than the other colonists. Why? Because after the Ark II slammed into the asteroid, it broke off a significant number of rocks and boulders. The clump of rocks (and the sarcophagus) stayed together and formed sort of a cocoon around Captain Keller. That is how they found him, nestled among a sea of boulders. So, yeah, he really could have survived out there for that long. I mean, it's science fiction. Why not?
Let me answer these questions in reverse order. First, why wouldn't he have stayed frozen? After all, the entire premise of the Ark program was that the crew compartment would be opened up to the vacuum and cold of space during their long voyage to eliminate the need for refrigeration. It has been estimated that the average surface temperature on Pluto is 44 Kelvin (-229 Celsius or -380 Fahrenheit). The inner Oort Cloud is much, much farther out than that so it stands to reason that if anything, it is even colder.
What about radiation? Well, again, the sarcophagi were made of ceramics, specifically hardened to minimize damage due to cosmic rays, gamma rays, x-rays and other types of ionizing radiation. The thin shell of the Arks was never designed to stop space radiation. That was the job of the sarcophagi. So we can conclude that Captain Keller was subject to no more radiation that the other occupants still inside the Ark II.
The hardest thing to defend would be protection against micrometeorites. We know that several colonists died en route because of just such collisions. Well, interestingly, Captain Keller was actually more protected from punctures than the other colonists. Why? Because after the Ark II slammed into the asteroid, it broke off a significant number of rocks and boulders. The clump of rocks (and the sarcophagus) stayed together and formed sort of a cocoon around Captain Keller. That is how they found him, nestled among a sea of boulders. So, yeah, he really could have survived out there for that long. I mean, it's science fiction. Why not?
No comments have been added yet.
Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
- Michael Brachman's profile
- 21 followers
