Project Expedition

Project Expedition was the second wave of space exploration in the Galactic Era, initiated by the discovery of extraterrestrial life on the planet Nixy. Because it is associated with a prolonged period of optimism and peace, in retrospect it is now sometimes described as the "Golden Age of Space Exploration."

Initial Events

The resurgance of excitement in space travel was triggered by the discovery of extraterrestrial life on Nixy in 111 GE. Looking back, it had not been a spectacular find. Nixy was a dank little planet, sprinkled with featureless mushroom-like nubs that grew in colonies along algae-infested shores. But still: it was life that wasn’t from earth. That was enough to capture the public imagination at the time.

The Transeŭropa Demokratia Reto determined, with pressure from the Zhongguo-Cruz Corporate Empire Alliance, that the fleet of uncrewed vehicles manufactured for Project New Ariel were not sufficient for a mission that, this time, was focused specifically on looking foor planets with life on them. The Ianus Autofactory spent the next decade producing a new fleet of human-crewed Witten and Hořavas ships designed with the express purpose of seekinig out planets believed to have organic life.

Outcome

From time to time ships would come back to report a success, and at first every new discovery of extraterrestrial live would produce a wave of excitement in the mediasphere. Most of the life they found, however, was disappointingly primitive: algae, soups of single-celled organisms, occasional fungus-like structures. From time to time an expedition would return with reports of a planet with more complex ecosystems that would capture the public imagination: great bulbous floating plants, bioluminescent insects with fan-like wings, and other vivid imagines would always generate buzz in the mediasphere. But after a while, researchers became frustrated and the public became bored. It turns out there is a lot of life in the universe--and most of it is very boring. After decades of disappointing discoveries, the attention of the public began to wander and politicians began pushing for money to be redirected to other things.

Resurgence

In 181 GE a team of scientists funded by the ZCCA announced the Keji Scoring Protocol: a scale for evaluating the expected level of technology on a distant planet based on the information content in the patterns of its electromagnetic signals. Their argued that what we are most interested in is not life per se, but the combination of life and intelligence. The Keji Protocol estimates the probability that the energy output coming from a planet is being produced by a technological civilization, and therefore acts as a proxy for measuring the probability of a technological civilization created by intelligent life. The ZCCA aggressively promoted the new scoring system, recommending that it be used as a way to narrow the field of exploration and direct expeditions.

The name Keji Protocol was chosen to honor the family name of the primary research scientist behind its development. This generated some mirth and backlash in the mediasphere, however, with many members of the global community pointing out that "keji" means "coming in second" in Yoruba, and is phonetically similar to "cagey" (a synonym for suspicious or sneaky) in English. Despite the mockery ad indignation that emerged surrounding its name, the methodology provided a much-needed injection of interest (and funding) into Project Expedition.

Final Events

In 213 GE an international research team based in Shenzhen found an unexplored planet that showed all of the signs of both life and technology. In response to public excitement and pressure, and with the financial backing of seven of the world’s wealthiest private donors, the team dubbed the planet Erlang, gathered people and equipment as quickly as possible, and set out to make contact.

The ship arrived to find a planet covered in giant electroconductive plants channeling massive electrical storms in complex fractal patterns across the planet’s surface. In their eagerness to find what “intelligence” might behind the structures, the ship was caught by massive electrical arcs, spiraled out of control and was destroyed. The black box data that rotated back to earth confirmed that everything that had been found on that planet had been a naturally occurring phenomenon: it was not technology, only exotic plants and electrical storms.

The Erlang Tragedy fueled public anxiety over scientific ambition and damped trust of government projects. The lack of discovery of intelligent alien life led some people to proclaim that it didn’t exist at all. Political figures pushed to allocate research funds to “more useful” endeavors. Nationalist and localist sentiments were on the rise, leading to continual outbreaks of political unrest, political brinksmanship, and international terrorist activity. Project Expedition was over, and the period informally labelled the "20 year war" had begun.

Start Date

123 GE

Ending Date

213 GE

Expressed Goal

Identify and visit planets with extraterrestrial life.

Participants

Transeŭropa Demokratia Reto
Zhongguo-Cruz Corporate Empire Alliance

Preceded By

Project New Ariel (91 GE - 111 GE)

Followed By

Project Yacatecuhtli (240 GE - 302 GE)