Page 24 - 26_Q1 3306

The Orion expedition Even though it is the same spiral arm ous expeditions into this region (like The waypoints are also intended to
The Orion that contains the Bubble, the Orion- Mercury 7, also organised by Yanick) serve as rally points for both expedi-
Orion the hunter is one of the old- Cygnus Arm feels underexplored have already discovered many inter- tions where commanders can meet
est constellations to be mentioned Expedition’s aim is when looking at the markings on the esting sites. Those, however, might up and share the stories of their jour-
in human history. Its bright stars are to fill in the gaps galactic map. Only a few stellar and only scratch the surface of this treas- ney.
easily visible to the naked eye from planetary features are catalogued ure trove of possible discoveries.
Earth, and because it straddles the on the map. in this region. One Guardian ruin The Orion expedition departed from
celestial equator it can be seen from is known to be out there, but there For this reason, most of the expedi- Betelgeuse on January 12th 3306.
every habitable part of the planet. could be many more discoveries to tion’s waypoints are located in the There are fifteen waypoints, start
As a result, it has had many names The development of better astronom- be made, perhaps even of human conflux region to offer the possibility and end points included. The end-
throughout history. The Sumerians ical instruments led to the discovery colonisation projects. of thorough surveys. point for the expedition will be Ex-
conceived of it as a sheep, the Egyp- of other well-known objects in this plorer’s Anchorage near the centre of
tians saw their god Osiris, and the constellation: Barnard’s Loop and the The Orion Expedition’s aim is to fill There are many activities planned the Galaxy. The scheduled arrival at
germanic tribes saw a plough. The Horsehead Nebula. The former is no- in the gaps on the map. Starting at for the different waypoints along the the last waypoint is April 27th 3306.
Ancient Greeks called it Orion, the torious for being close to the Col 70 the aforementioned Betelgeuse, way, most of which include surface
great hunter, who was changed into a sector, from where the Thargoids are the expedition will head north along reconnaissance vehicles (SRVs).
constellation after his death. We still rumoured to originate. the Orion-Cygnus arm. Expedition These games include racing (SRV
refer to it by its Greek name. organiser Cmdr Yanick stated that and ship-launched fighter), cliff jump-
Several of the stars in the constella- the ultimate goal would be a thor- ing, mountain climbing, and general
tion of Orion are well known. Betel- ough investigation of the vast Orio- shenanigans.
geuse, Alnitak, Mintaka, Rigel and Persean Conflux. This region, where
Bellatrix are reachable by explorers the Orion-Cygnus and Perseus arms
without specifically outfitted ships of the Galaxy meet, has a high star
because of their proximity to inhab- density and is, in the wording of the
ited space. expedition’s description, “vast and
essentially under-explored”. Previ-

24 ISSUE 26 | q1 3306 ISSUE 26 | q1 3306 25