53rd Squadron – Athena Squadron

[Johnathan Nox Carter]

Socorro Survey (53-57213117-M)

Solar Grid Location: 5F
DIAMETER: 3,837 km
MASS: 3.23 x 10e24 kg
TERRAIN: N/A
TEMPERATURE: N/A
ESCAPE VELOCITY: 15.42 km/sec

Brief

---

Situated in quadrant 5G, is orbiting the Salina at an approximate range of 14 clicks, tide locked to the giant , forcing the moon to face the Coronado Sun. The moon is experiencing on the half of it’s surface extreme temperature , while the side facing the Salina is below the freezing point.
The satellite is having present a thin atmosphere of Carbon Dioxide and Argon, not having enough atmosphere to allow mining operations on the whole moon.
The moon is experiencing high levels of earthquakes in the deep and magma flows on the surface, as the planet core is instable and the crust is thin. However, the magnetic field that is encircling the moon is not strong enough to block enough radiation to attempt a terraforming attempt.
The soil composition is rich in minerals as it is going to be presented in the second section of the survey.
The formation of the planetoid is not clear but there are theories which present a cataclysm that occurred millions of years ago and involved the direct interaction between two larger moons of Salina.
Due to the presence of the Gas Giant and with the high gravity well of the planet , the current asteroid belt and the moons were formed around molten cores of minerals.


Mineral Survey

---

The planetoid presents a surface riddle with lava flows on the surface.
53rd initiated a week survey of the satellite with LRM-31 Probe and HAR-18 Buoys. The following map was created.

The main sites were discovered on the dark side of the moon, showing promising results for a mining situation.
Ten sites were marked, each one having a higher concentration of Iron and Nickel, with bauxite and small deposits gold and rare materials as rhodium, platinum and Soccoro Crystals.

Site N-68 is and iron deposit that is near the surface and can be mined by automated miners and it presents in depth a very long vein of the said mineral.
Sites N-69, N-67 is presenting veins of rhodium and platinum but a deep scan could not be concluded. The 53rd squadron recommend the usage of shielded drones as the sites are near magma flows and the same units to be used for a more hand on approached in the caves resulting from the initial mining.
Model AUM-72 is recommended.
Site N-66 is presenting with crystalline formations that can be used in the data storage or in the development of computers. The crystals seems to be similar to the ones used in Crayterian technologies before the Exodus.

Sites M-55 and M-54 is presenting traces of Gold and alloys. The veins presented seems to go deep in the planetoid crust.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Sites A-12, A-11 and A-13 have high concentration of Nickel. The deposits are closely to the surface and relatively easy to mine.
A-09 is containing Nickel-Copper-Platinum Ore which can be smelted on the factories on Pecos, Tellurian region.

Extraction

---

The 53rd is recommending of building a low orbit station on the dark side of the moon, or in the case an “Arturos” class facility in one of the less seismic area on the satellite. In case of the second recommendation a set of buoys needs to be dispatch on low orbit for the control of the mining drones.
For the mining operation, shielded mining drones AUM-72 , AM-13, AM-28 to be used. Utility droid AIA-28 to be utilised on the Drone Command Centre for coordination and adjustment.
Celestra and small freighters should provide the logistics needed for this operation.

Disclaimer: write-up belongs to @Atreides2. I added pictures and formatted the post.