It was not easy to get hold of a planetary geologist on such short notice, just before Foundation day. During this major holiday most places are closed and folks go home to celebrate with family and watch fireworks in the park. But talking to a capsuleer -the rarest of breed- is always enticing and opens doors.
My next expert is dr. Torayedeh Vavari of the Gammel Geophysical Society. She is a young postdoctoral researcher in planetary sciences, specializing in the seismology of rocky planets. We met at the library of the society, she brought her child (she recently became a mother). Like many young researchers, she is quite ambitious and full of projects and ideas.
The lava fields and large cracks in the planetary crust are recent. That can be seen from the cooling rate, as well as from motion of the surface as it settles back down after a shock. The original hypothesis is that the planet suffered a catastrophic meteor impact not too long ago. The small square in the image below shows the estimated point of impact. Close-by ridges circle it, and geologists identify at least four "rings of fire" of wide lava canyons and cracks partly circling it at larger distances, thousands of kilometers.
The radius of the largest ring of fire is commensurate with the planet's radius, and dr. Vavari tells me that this is one of the signs that have put into question the hypothesis of a meteor impact. An impact gives a very directed energy with a clear signature on the opposite edge of the planet and scattering off the inner core. The patterns for this explosion are more in line with something that happened on or below the planet's surface, rather than a projectile hitting it from the outside.
There is something not quite right with the radiation levels on the planet either. Just like the cooling rate temperature of the magma tells you it is still fairly young and hasn't been around for ages, the activity of radioisotopes can tell you something similar about these nuclei. The incident that devastated the planet coincides with a surge in radiation, compatible with an Isogen-5 explosion.
I cannot help but connect this in my mind to the Sani Sabik colonists. Although no technology available at that time could destroy a world, it seems too much of a coincidence to me that a natural cataclysm of such magnitude would take place exactly around the time they would have made it to the planet. Dr. Vavari is sceptical and tells me that often the most simple hypothesis turns out to be the correct one - and certainly early-space age colonists blowing up a planet is very contrived.
That will not deter me to go and have a look at ground zero for this event. But first, I must return to Mehatoor for Foundation Day celebrations.
