Chapter 23: Chapter 23: ATLAS – Under the Ice of New Europa

Atlas sat in his lab biting his lower lip, trying to come up with a solution for his fungus. He needed a distraction so he called out to Ship. “Ship, where are we at with the mirrors?”

The reply came through the speakers. “Our biggest constraint is finding enough metals in this system. We have kilometres of mirrors pointed at the planet, but it’s just not enough to warm it.”

That was the problem Atlas was struggling with – the system he had picked lacked resources. Or rather it lacked easily accessible resources. New Europa had plenty of resources beneath that ice, but getting them into orbit was impossible without a steady fuel source.

Atlas turned his head toward the speaker. “So how do we do this, Ship? Without enough mirrors we won’t get the runaway greenhouse effect. New Europa will keep freezing the ice we melt.”

This was part of the challenge Atlas had with the fungus he created. Genetically engineering something to withstand the negative temperatures was very hard. But combining that with engineering something that could handle the lack of a breathable atmosphere was next to impossible. He was onto the 212th genetically engineered version of the fungus, and just like the fungi before them, they did not survive long on the planet.

He needed to distract himself from the challenge. “Talk me through your idea. How would we use a drifting moon to change the orbit of New Europa?”

Ship replied through the speaker. “There’s a few moons that if we give just the right push ¼”

As Ship spoke Atlas realised it couldn’t be a moon. “You realise a moon was only a moon when it was orbiting a planet?” he interrupted. “Any rogue object travelling through the star system was either a planet or an asteroid.”

Ship appeared in the room then. “Yes, I understand that. Lex labelled it a planet. I was trying to give you a sense of the size of the planet. It’s quite small.” Atlas couldn’t help but notice a touch of annoyance in his voice.

“So there is a ‘dwarf’ planet that is drifting through this star system,” continued Ship, emphasising the word ‘dwarf’. “It isn’t in a stable orbit around the sun. If we exploded something big on it, we could adjust its orbit enough that it headed towards the centre of this system. Towards this planet.”

Atlas nodded, taking it all in. “So you’re saying if we caused the dwarf planet to come close to New Europa. It would shrink New Europa’s orbit – bringing it closer to the star?”

“Exactly,” Ship affirmed, “and it has a 78 per cent probability of working.”

“Hmm.” Atlas thought about it for a moment. “Do we have enough time to make this happen?”

“Yes. Sort of. It’s orbiting further away from us now. We have less time than before,” Ship explained.

The risk was too great, Atlas thought. Yes, 78 per cent was high. But it was 100 per cent with enough mirrors and enough time.

Atlas shook his head. “It’s too risky, what if the two planets collide. I trust your probability, but too much can go wrong. We have to push the dwarf planet in just the right way to make it come towards this planet. Then it needs to interact with this planet enough to shrink its orbit. Then that orbit change needs to be enough to warm the planet. It’s all a cascading series of events that are less likely than the first.”

“But ¼” Ship started to counter with more data from Lex.

Atlas cut him off. “Occam’s Razor, Ship. The simplest option is always the best. And that idea is way too complicated.”

And then a new thought popped into Atlas’s head. His mind went off on a tangent, the idea of cascading sequences sparking a possible solution. “We don’t have enough mirrors to heat the planet, but we do have enough to focus on one area.”

“Do you want to build a dome? And heat up one area?” Ship asked.

Atlas shook his head. “Not quite. I want to use the ice surrounding the entire planet as a dome.” 

Ship cocked an eye. “I don’t follow, Atlas. Won’t the mirrors simply melt a hole through the ice?”

Atlas grinned. He thought the idea could either be genius or stupid. So telling Ship and letting Lex crunch the numbers would be the test, to see if the plan could actually work. “Do you know what electrolysis is?”

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Atlas knew full well Ship knew what it was.

“Yes, it’s the process of splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.” 

“Exactly, Ship. What I want to do is use the mirrors to focus light on solar panels. Then, using the energy, I want us to do electrolysis under the ice. That will create pockets of oxygen beneath the ice.”

Atlas could see Ship was puzzled.

“I don’t understand, Atlas. Oxygen isn’t a warming gas. If anything, it cools planets.”

“Yes, but oxygen is what I need for my fungus. They are struggling without an atmosphere. If we make one under the ice then, boom! we’ll create our own Cambrian explosion on this planet.”

Ship tried to clarify. “You’re suggesting we melt the ice from the inside?”

“Exactly, Ship. Now you and Lex tell me, can this work?”

Ship went quiet for a moment. Atlas knew he was processing it.

Lex was the first to respond. His orb turned red, then blue. Then green. Then back to blue.

Atlas looked at the orb. “Why are you unsure?”

Ship replied for Lex. “He doesn’t have enough data on the fungus you created.”

Atlas shrugged. “Assume the fungus can survive under the ice.” Atlas knew the fungus would survive under the ice. He had already engineered a strain for that. He would just need to re-engineer it to turn oxygen into greenhouse gases.

The orb turned green.

Ship nodded in agreement. “It will work. Assuming the fungus grows underneath the ice, Lex gives it a 94 per cent probability. Even though he won’t tell you that.”

“Brilliant,” Atlas said with a smile.

“Atlas, how did you get that idea from moving a planet? I don’t see how it’s relevant?”

Atlas patted Ship on the shoulder. “Simple. I stopped thinking about the mirrors as a way to warm up the planet and started thinking of it as the first step in a cascade of events.”

The team began the process like a well-oiled machine.

Ship was placed in charge of digging through the ice to place hundreds of electrolysis machines – which was basically just two wires in the water. In a stroke of good fortune, they found that the water beneath the ice was pure and unsalted, saving the need for desalination.

Lex was tasked with sending a fabricator to the planet with raw pellets. He would then take the pellets and produce solar panels to power the electrolysis.

Atlas got back to his project. He started reviewing the different strains of fungus he had created before, as one of the previous generations had already proved it was capable of thriving in cold environments. And now with the electrolysis providing the oxygen, there was no need to figure out how to make the fungus anaerobic.

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