Chapter 13 Chapter 9 Mount Zeus

The Europa VI observation satellite has been in orbit for fifteen years and is well past its design lifespan.Whether it needs to be replaced is the subject of debate among Gurneymede's team of scientists. Europa VI is equipped with data collection instruments and an image processing system that is practically useless now. Although it still works normally, what it most often shows is only the dense cloudscape on Europa.The overworked science team at Gurneymede is skimming through observations from the Europa 6 observation satellite every week.These raw data are then sent back to Earth; all in all, if Europa VI is no longer operational and its constant stream of uninteresting data can be stopped, they can relax a bit.

Now, for the first time in several years, something interesting is happening. After evaluating the latest data, the deputy director of astronomy called Van den Berg to report to him. He said: "On the orbit of 71934, if you go deep from the backlight side, you can see Mount Zeus, but after another ten For a second you can't see anything." The screen was pitch black, but van den Berg could imagine frozen land moving in waves a thousand kilometers below the clouds.The sun will be there in a few hours, as Europa rotates on its own axis every seven days.The so-called "backlit side" should really be called the "transition side" because half the time it has enough light, just not heat.But this incorrect appellation has become customary because it has some emotional element: Europa knows the sunrise, but never the magic star.

Now that sunrise is approaching, the speed of the probe has been accelerated a thousand times, and when the horizon emerges from the darkness, there will be a burst of dazzling light that divides the screen into two. The light came so suddenly that van den Berg almost thought he was seeing the glare of an atomic bomb explosion.In a fraction of a second it took on a rainbow of colors, then as the sun hit the top of the mountain it was pure white, and then, when the auto-filtering line popped in, It just disappears completely. "That's it. It's a pity that there was no operator on duty at the time. If there was an operator, he could move the camera to the best angle so that we could see Mount Zeus more clearly. I know you will be interested to see Its, even if it doesn't match your predictions."

"How doesn't it match?" Vandenberg said, more confused than annoyed. "When you play it in slow motion, you'll see what I'm talking about, those beautiful rainbow effects aren't the atmosphere, they're the mountains themselves. Only ice can do that, glass can, but That doesn't seem like it." "It's not impossible, volcanoes can also produce natural glass, but it's usually black." "real?" "Basically, I don't want to jump to any conclusions until I've seen the data. But I guess it might be rock crystals, it might be clear quartz, and you can make beautiful prisms and lenses out of it. There's still a chance to make more Do you observe more?"

"I'm afraid it's impossible. This time it's all a coincidence. The sun, the mountain, and the camera work together seamlessly. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." "Thank you anyway, can you give me a copy? But not in a hurry because I'm going to Parani for a field visit and I won't see it until I get back." Vandenberg smiled apologetically. "You know that too. If it's really a rock crystal, it must be a fortune. It may help us solve our financial difficulties..." But of course this is an illusion.Whatever wonders (or treasures) Europa may contain, Discovery's final message has banned humans from approaching it, and despite fifty years, there's still no sign that the ban has been lifted.