Abstract
What could be more innocent than a last minute trip, on a privately-owned jet, to a privately-funded research facility, in northern Alaska to see the magnificent auroras? After Matt’s best friend and college roommate, Bartholomew Jacob Hunt, the third, convinced him that it was the chance of a lifetime, they would surely find out. During their flight to Alaska, the boys are notified that Halley’s Comet’s orbit has been altered by the sun’s photosphere and is headed straight for the research station’s space elevator. There is no time to bring in additional scientists, so Matt and Barty must be willing to help. Using a chemical rocket and magnetic sail, three of the scientists at the research center will enter space and attempt to change the orbit of Halley Comet, while Matt and Barty operate the command center with the help of the lead scientist. This is the day they single-handedly saved two planets and created a new habitable environment on Mercury’s surface.

[Student’s Name]
[Professor’s Name]
[Class Number]
[Today’s Date]
The Day We Saved Two Planets
10:20am. “It’s 2068! It is a mistake to ignore an occurrence that only transpires once every 11 years. Do you know what an aurora is!? I’ll tell you what an aurora is. An aurora is a disturbance in the magnetosphere produced by solar winds (source). You see, the electrons… remember electrons, Matt? They are the charged particles we talked about in chemistry. Right. You see, the electrons collide with atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere. When the electrons collide with oxygen, they create spectacular green and red lights (source). Magnificent. That’s what it is, magnificent. We can’t miss this opportunity. My colleagues contacted me late last night. It’s at its peak. Do you know what that means, Matt? I’ll tell you what it means. Intensity of the auroras depends highly on solar activities (source). The conditions are perfect! Visible only at the earth’s northern and southern polar regions (source), we’d have to go to the Alaskan research center. It’s an 11-year solar cycle (source), Matt. You will be old and married in eleven years and I will be busy discovering the cure for aging. We have to get to the research center by tomorrow. I’ve put a call in to my secretary already. Sue will see to the arrangements. She will contact my pilot and, you’ll see, by tomorrow morning…”
That’s my best friend, going a mile a minute without taking a breath. Bartholomew Jacob Hunt, the third. As in, Hunt University and Research Institute. As in, the university we are attending as we speak. Valedictorian of his high school senior class, captain of the chess team and a self-pronounced geek. Me? I barely made it through high school, was captain of the football team, which got me a scholarship to said university, and a self-pronounced jester. By some crazy twist of fate, we ended up as college roommates our freshman year at HU. When we compared our answers to the roommate questionnaire, we were not surprised to find absolutely no similarities. I’m not sure why the powers that be put us together, unless they were basing their decision on the theory that opposites attract. Maybe we were the last two left, at the bottom of the pile. Whatever the reason, it turned out to be the best decision ever. Barty (he hates it when I call him that) taught me how to study more effectively and I taught him how to relax (kind of). I like to think that we compliment each other nicely; I know, I wouldn’t have made it this far without him and he probably would have bored himself to death by now. So we stick together, opposites attracting.
“Matt! Are you listening?! It’s the chance of a lifetime. It’s our senior year. We have to go. No, we are going. I’m paying, so you don’t have a choice. Pack your bags and meet me here at 8pm. Sharp. My pilot doesn’t like to wait.”
And that was the end of that conversation. Barty gave me one last glance, then grabbed his briefcase (because what college senior doesn’t carry a briefcase?) and sped out the door. Barty doesn’t do anything slowly. He says the thoughts bounce around in his head so fast that he has to run to keep up. Honestly, I prefer a nice, leisurely pace. Unless, of course, it involves chasing a ball or chasing the guy with the ball. On the other hand, I’m always up for an adventure. What do you pack when you’re flying in a private jet to a privately funded research center in the northern most region of Alaska to see some magnificently, green and red lights?

8:15pm. I’ve packed the warmest clothes I could find and am boarding a private jet to Alaska with Barty scurrying up the stairs in front of me. As we settle into our seats, he is still carrying on about the importance of this event and how much I’m going to enjoy the experience. On and on, until I put on my headphones, with a wink, and close my eyes. I hear Barty chuckle as he opens his laptop and starts frantically typing away on the keyboard. I swear he’s going to break that thing one of these days.

2:30am. There’s a huge kink in my neck and I’m groggy, but I can hear Barty talking to someone on the conference phone. I can’t quite make out what they are saying from my seat, but it sounds urgent, so I get up to get the story.
“…but if we push it towards Venus we may set off a series of unfortunate events. The comet is 15 km long, plus 8 km wide and deep. It weighs 2.2 x 1014 kg (Halley’s Comet). Doing the calculations, it would impact Venus with a force of 500,000 megatons. A force that great would decimate the surface of the planet,” I hear Barty saying. That sure doesn’t sound good, so I keep listening. No need to panic until I’ve heard the entire story, right?
The voice on the speaker phone cuts in, “With a composition of 96.5% carbon dioxide (CO2) and 3% nitrogen (N), Venus’ atmosphere is rich in CO2, which creates extremely high ground temperatures caused by a powerful greenhouse effect. Mercury is closer to the sun, but its atmosphere makes Venus much hotter. The average surface temperature is 737K (source)! Do you think the comet would make it through the atmosphere and hit the surface without vaporizing first?”
Barty looks up at me with a worried look before saying, “Do we want to take the chance? Ok. Let me consider it. We will be landing in 30 minutes. Schedule a meeting in the conference room for 3:30am. In the meantime, keep me updated.” He hangs up the phone and turns his attention to me. “Matt, we have a situation.”

3:00am. As we step off the plane, I can feel the tension in the air. However, my attention is immediately drawn to a large structure directly in front of me. Before I can even ask, Barty states, “it’s a space elevator. Cost my family $10,000,000,000 to build (source) in 2016. Not much of a space lover myself, but that work of ingenuity is my grandfather’s pride and joy. A replication of the international space station project was too expensive (source); this was a viable alternative at the time.”
Shaking my head, I don’t even know what to say to that. Barty continues talking about the space elevator as we are escorted to the main research laboratory. “You see, there is a long cable that carries the elevator up to the GeoStation. In order to remain vertical, this cable continues to rotate with the earth. The end of the cable is in geosynchronous orbit reaching a latitude of 40,000 km (source). Do you know the best part? It only takes four days of transportation time (source). Four days and then you can turn around, look down and see the earth at an angle you’d never imagine. That space station is a huge part of my childhood. We have to save it.”

3:28am. The whole building is silent. As we walk into the conference room, I realize why. Every researcher and scientist available are sitting there; all four of them. I guess it’s difficult to find people willing to travel to the top of the world for work. Standing in the back of the room, we listen to the lead scientist explain the situation.
“…the transmission came in at 2100 hours. It has been confirmed that the orbit of Halley’s Comet has been drastically altered. Research has shown that in 2061, when the comet passed closest to the sun, the nucleus was greatly affected. Halley entered the sun’s photosphere where temperatures reach six thousand degrees (source). The extreme temperatures caused the ice in the nucleus to vaporize through a process called sublimation (Asteroids/Comets). As this happened, enough dust and particles were ejected to modify the size of the nucleus significantly. Now, nearly all of our light energy is generated in the photosphere. It is also where the sun’s blackbody radiation is emitted. At nearly three hundred kilometers thick (source), if Halley had passed through the photosphere, and into the corona, it would have entered temperatures of two million degrees. The corona is the hottest part of the sun’s atmosphere. It is also the largest part of the sun’s atmosphere, extending millions of miles into space (source). Had Halley entered the sun’s corona, a mix of quiescent and active features (source), we cannot accurately predict the outcome. However, the worst case scenario would have been the destruction of the sun, and therefore, the entire solar system. Honestly, solar winds are expanding the corona at alarming rates as they pull at neutral plasma in the atmosphere (source). I’m surprised Halley wasn’t pulled in as well. We dodged that bullet, yet our scientists on the GeoStation have verified the change in Halley’s orbit. In addition to a sizable change in the size of the nucleus, gravitational speed-ups and slow-downs around Jupiter have effected Halley’s orbit further (Asteroid Fast Facts). Halley’s Comet is on a direct path for our own space elevator. Our predictions show impact with the counterbalance at 2300 tonight, unless we take immediate action. You all have put your blood, sweat and tears into this place. None of us want to lose our life’s work, so we must come up with a viable solution. Quick.” Suddenly, the lead researcher turned towards us, as if he just noticed we were standing there. “That’s where you two come in. We don’t have the man power for this mission. I only have enough men to man the chemical rocket or the command center. Not both. It’s time for you to step up. Will you help?”
Barty didn’t think twice before saying, “Of course!”
Yikes! I wasn’t as sure. What do I know about space travel or command centers? My experience in these fields is limited to flight simulators on my Xbox. However, I agreed anyway. I’m here. Plus, I can’t leave my buddy hanging like that. The next half an hour was spent formulating a plan. The three researchers in the conference room agreed to operate the rocket, while the lead scientist, whose name is Nathaniel, Barty and I stayed back and monitored the command center. They would enter space, fire a missile at Halley’s Comet and force it into a new orbit. A new orbit away from the precious space elevator.

4:15am. Nathaniel, Barty and I are staring at the monitors in the large command center in the basement of the research facility. Nathaniel and Barty tried to explain the process to me. A chemical rocket is fueled by liquid hydrogen that is heated in a Nuclear reaction. As the hydrogen reaches (a mere) six thousand degrees it expands through the rocket nozzle. The nuclear fission reactions produced in this way generate the thrust to launch the rocket into space. The specific impulse of a chemical rocket is two times higher than a chemical rocket (source). The problem seemed to be getting the rocket in the correct position once they reach the desired altitude. Nevertheless, the scientists had a solution to that problem as well. By using a magnetic sail, they can guide the rocket to the appropriate distance and angle to impede Halley’s path. The sail produces a large, extended magnetic field, created at a 90-degree angle to the solar winds. This interaction imparts a momentum to drive the spacecraft forward, while the direction can be altered by managing the angle of the sail to the solar wind (source). It’s all very impressive, really. The entire sail weighs only 5 g/m2 (source)!
“Matt! You have to pay attention! This is very important!” Barty is tapping his pen on the desk and yelling to me. As I look up at the countdown on a huge screen in front of me, I hear, “3…2…1…BLASTOFF!” The entire room shook as the chemical rocket shot off into the atmosphere.

4:24am. Eight minutes and thirty seconds. That’s how long it took the spacecraft to reach the targeted altitude of 400,000 km. At this point, I am holding my breath, and the edges of the desk in front of me. Nathaniel and Barty are talking animatedly at a desk across the room from me. As I get closer, I can hear them discussing the current situation.
“Space radiation is the limiting factor in these circumstances. UV radiation is extremely powerful in space; approximately one hundred times stronger than the UV radiation on earth (source). For this reason, they need to acquire the desired position within the given timeframe,” Nathaniel explained.
I couldn’t restrain myself and jumped in the conversation, asking, “What happens if they are exposed to too much UV radiation?”
Startled, Barty and Nathaniel look up at me with forlorn faces. Barty started to explain, “UV radiation in space can cause irreversible DNA damage. It damages DNA molecules at a cellular level, which can cause an increased risk of fatal cancers and genetic mutations (source).”
Impatient, I interrupted again, “What about the spacecraft? Doesn’t it protect them from UV radiation? Spending so much money on all of this space travel and space research, you’d think they’d build the ship out of something safe!”
Nathaniel and Barty exchanged exasperated looks. Wasn’t that a good question? Barty sighed and whispered, “a major flaw in our research – the spacecraft walls do not impede much, if any, space radiation (source). The UV radiation, to date, is still a major obstruction in our research. However, we can reduce the negative effects by reducing the time our people remain in the environment. Now, let’s get back to work.”

4:34am. “Base, come in.” The voice blaring over the loudspeaker sounded tense and apprehensive. “Solar winds have shifted and sent us slightly off course. We estimate that it will take another twenty minutes to correct our path. Target is on the horizon. We are waiting further instructions.”
“Our calculations show that we cannot employ the original strategy. Your radiation exposure is already nearing prohibitive levels; we must utilize an alternative position. Nathaniel and I have discussed our options. You must move into position to accelerate Halley’s Comet towards the surface of Mercury. I’m sending you the coordinates now. Reasonable timeframe is less than ten minutes. Over.” Barty was solemn. He knew the plan had serious glitches.
“Understood. Relocating to those coordinates now. We will contact you when we reach the destination. Out.”
According to Nathaniel, the calculations have to be perfect. The angels have to be perfect. The timing has to be perfect. The conditions in the comet and on the planet have to be perfect. Get the point? Mercury’s surface, Barty explained to me earlier, has heavy catering, full of impact craters (source) where other debris and comets have struck in the past. I was amazed to learn that the largest crater has a diameter of 1,600 km. Some craters are deep enough to elude the sun light all together. Temperatures in these areas may be as low as -292 degrees. Comets impacting the surface have left ice, permanently trapped in the constantly shadowed craters (source).
The ice on the surface of Mercury is crucial to Nathaniel and Barty’s crazy plan. By pushing Haley’s Comet into a new orbit, an orbit headed directly towards Mercury, Nathaniel and Barty hope to, not only spare the space elevator, but also to create a new habitable environment. When Halley collides with Mercury’s surface the extreme temperatures and violent impact will cause the ice to melt (Comets/Asteroids). Given it melts and dissipates enough gases to sustain an atmosphere, they theorize that the aminos in Halley’s Comet (theoretically there are aminos within the comet) will create an environment suitable to sustain new life forms. It is all a very interesting theory. I hope it works. I hear Nathaniel saying, “worst case scenario, we destroy the solar system.”
That’s encouraging, now isn’t it.

4:45am. “Base, we are in position, waiting for further instructions.” Everyone was holding their breath now. Barty cleared his throat and announced, “Fire!”
Without delay, the missile shot out of the rocket ship on the huge screen in front of us. An amazing real-life action movie, except it is real life. Nathaniel, Barty and I glanced around at each other quickly, then glue our eyes to the screen. Halley’s Comet is glowing brightly on the far end of the screen. The missile is screaming through space towards it at great speeds. The seconds seem to slow down to minutes. I can hear the second hand on the clock, tick…tick…ticking in my ears. At that moment, I considere everything I have done in my short life and everything I would like to do. If this doesn’t work…no, we won’t think like that. It will work.
One minute and twenty-eight seconds later the missile disappeares into the nucleus of Halley’s comet, followed by the brightest explosion I have ever witnessed. At the same time, Halley quivers and shifts. It worked so far! Halley’s orbit has been shifted, and by the looks on the other men’s faces, in the right direction. A collective sigh of relief sweeps through the command center and the spacecraft, alike.
“Now what?” I ask Barty.
“Now we go watch the auroras,” responds Barty, as a huge smile spread across his face.
“What!? That’s it? What happens now with…all of that!?” I exclaimed, waving my arms around the gigantic command center. I suddenly feel very small.
“Now, my friend, we wait. Halley’s orbit has been altered and we must wait to see what will happen next.” Barty states. Then, as if he had read my mind earlier, Barty looks at me enthusiastically and says, “You still have time to do all of those things you wanted to do with your life. Let’s start by watching the most magnificent light show in the world! Come on, friend.”

5:00am. As we sit in the Adirondack chairs in the observation deck on top of the research center, I turn to Barty and ask, “What were you saying about this morning?”
We looked at each other and laugh uncontrollably. Turning back, we continue to enjoy the best entertainment in the world. The world we, possibly, just saved from extinction. Hey, it’s my story! At the very least, we saved two planets, right?

Interlude
2088 AD. “Uncle Barty! Tell us how you saved the world again!” the kids roared.
“First of all, we didn’t actually save the world,” Barty said, giving me a sideways glance. I just shrugged my shoulders and gave him a big grin, listening (and enjoying) the story myself. The kids love to hear the story, what’s the harm in exaggerating the outcome slightly? Barty continued, “…and then we went out on the observation deck and watched the auroras. Did you know…”
Before he could finish the question, the kids started eagerly asking questions of their own.
“What happened to Halley’s Comet, Uncle Berty?”
“Did you blow up Mercury, dad!? That’s so cool! I want to blow up a planet!”
“He didn’t blow up the planet, stupid. He saved it.”
“Yes, kids, Uncle Barty and I saved two planets that day. We saved earth from being blown to smithereens by Halley’s Comet,” I winked at Barty, who rolled his eyes back at me. “And we saved Mercury from a boring, lonely existence. You see, once Halley’s orbit reached Mercury it collided, just as we planned,” another wink at Barty and another eye roll in response. “It took about five years for this to happen and when it did we were all worried that it would cause a cataclysmic event throughout the entire solar system. Lucky for us, it didn’t! Our research to date, shows that there were in fact aminos in the nucleus of the comet,” this is where I start to get giddy, every time. “These aminos, combined with the new atmosphere that was forming, seem to be the beginnings of new life. We created a whole new world and maybe, someday when you’re older and wiser, you can go up there on Uncle Barty’s space elevator for a closer look! If you are truly lucky, you’ll take over where Uncle Barty and I will eventually leave off.”
See, you can teach an old dog new tricks. My job as lead scientist at the Alaskan research center has been the best life decision yet. (Besides being friends with Barty, of course!)

Interlude
3008 AD. “I wish dad and Uncle Barty were here to see this one last time,” Jacob sighed.
“They are, Jacob. We came here to give them one last grand send off,” smiled Bethany.
“Do you think Dad and Uncle Barty are out there somewhere, joking about how they finally got us all up here at the same time and grinning like fools?” asked Little Matty.
“You know they are crying like babies!” exclaimed Bartholomew Jacob Hunt, the fourth, and they all burst out laughing. Just then, the GeoStation shook.
“Do you think?” They all looked at each other. “No! Couldn’t be!” “That’ll teach them!” laughed Barty with a twinkle in his eye. Barty has gotten quite the sense of humor since we died. Yes, we are dead. On the bright side, we were able to see our children grow up and become renown astronomers and researchers, following in their proud parents’ footsteps. We also saw the first mission to Mercury. It was the most exciting day of my life! That mission garnered proof of an atmosphere; it presented proof of a new habitable world. It proved, in my mind anyway, that we saved two planets so many years ago.
The four adults turned back to the window and stared out at the universe around them. Two bright stars in the distance twinkled at them a little brighter than the others.

Works Cited
"Asteroid Fast Facts." NASA.gov. NASA, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/overview/fastfacts.html>.

"Asteroids/Comets." Asteroids/Comets. University of Oregon, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016. <http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec18.html>.

"Halley's Comet." ThePlanetsToday.com. The Planets Today, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://www.theplanetstoday.com/halleys_comet.html>.

Glossary
I. The Sun and Space Weather 1. Photosphere 2. Corona 3. Aurora

II. Space propulsion and Orbital Mechanics 1. Chemical Rocket 2. Space Elevator 3. Magnetic Sail

III. Planetary Characteristics 1. Venus’ atmosphere 2. Surface of Mercury

Health issues for humans in space 1. Space Radiation