Frank Boensch

Mr. Ruppel
Advanced Physics
10/11/16
Tomb of Eris
I looked out the window. The beautiful rocky ice dwarf planet
of Eris was right in front of my eyes. The frosty white reflected the
lights from our ship and made my heart skip a beat. This moment was
not prepared, but it seems as if I had been preparing for it all of
my life. I looked down at my white knuckles grabbing the wheel. The
brownish tan hair on my hands stood straight up with excitement. So
far everything had gone well, but the most difficult part was yet to
come. It seems like it had just been a few hours since we left
Earth, but as I looked up at the time since launch (TSL) posted above
my head, it read 17.3 HOURS SINCE LAUNCH. We had been working full
steam, non stop for the whole length of the journey. It isnt easy
being captain on the first manned ship to the unknown dwarf planet of
Eris. But after the Supervolcano eruption back at home, there was no
option but to leave now. I had no idea what was ahead of me, but it
certainly would be better than the certain death at home. As we
approached closer and closer to the planet, I prepared for the final
touchdown. The gravitation was minimal on Eris, and according to the
numbers given to us when preparing for the mission, comparing the
mass of Earth to the mass of Eris is like comparing the size of an
elephant to a mouse. But looking out on Eris I was suddenly shocked.
One may be slightly fatigued after a 37.9 AU journey(equivalent to
5.67 trillion meters), but I knew for a fact that the radius of the
Eris I was looking at was much smaller than the radius the engineers
had calculated beforehand. They had told us to expect a radius of
500km, and based on nothing but my eyes and the experience behind
them, it looked much closer to 1000km. I looked down at the big red
button in front of me and raised my hand to sound the alarm. But as
my hand was about to press it, I stopped myself. Yes, pressing it
would call all of earths best engineers to solve the problem. But if
I pressed it, all of the inhabitants of our new community would know
that we were in trouble. They would all stop trusting not only their
captain on the ship, but the emperor of the new settlement. I moved
my hand, that was hovering over the alarm button, back on the
throttle. I needed to figure out the amount of energy used by our
engines to make a safe descent to the surface of Eris. Due to the
small value we used for the radius, the actual gravitational
acceleration caused by the bigger radius will override our landing
thrust and cause us to smash into the surface of the planet. The

engineers that carefully calculated the route for us only gave us a

little extra fuel, but not enough for a complete landing miss and
reattempt. This would be our only shot. My mind was filled with
numbers, but none of them added together. No time for calculations, I
would just have to eyeball the landing. I heard the soft voice of my
co-captain Cheryl speak into my ear through the headset resting
around my neck, We are now passing by the moon of Dysnomia, prepare
for a landing on the surface of Eris. I pressed the intercom button
to speak to the whole ship, all 5,000 inhabitants. This is your
captain speaking, and thank you for the wonderful ride. We are
approaching Eris and I can not wait to start all of our lives down
there. We have been through a lot as a civilization in the past few
months, and now it is time to start all over again. See you all on
the ground in 20 seconds. Please brace for the landing. As I heard
the clicking of seatbelts and harnesses all around me, I wiped a
stream of sweat running from my brow to my cheekbone. I lifted up on
the throttle, ever so slightly, and I heard the thrusters kick into
power. The white mass of Eris was lit up with the light of our
thrusters, combatting our initial velocity heading towards the planet
as well as the slight, but significant gravity of the planet. Ten
kilometers till impact I heard from Cheryl as I pulled up on the
throttle a little more. From this distance I could see the small
mantle of ice covering the surface of Eris, we were really getting
close. Five kilometers till impact Steven Cheryl said into the
headset. Were approaching a little fast, are you alright? I double
checked all the gauges on the dashboard and sighed. I took of my
headset, put it on the floor, and began meticulously working the
throttle. Whatever happened now it was all up to me. My hand inched
the throttle up and I began to come to a realization. Another stream
of water ran down my face, but this time it was not sweat. I picked
up the headset, and spoke into the intercom. I tried my best, I love
you all, it's been a pleasure being your captain. The screams of my
set to be future civilization mates filled the air for a second, then
there was complete silence. The ominous glow of Eris, farther than
imaginable from our home on Earth, was the perfect graveyard for
those who like to rest in peace.