CH 00T-47 DAYS · R 0.986 AU

PERIHELIONSTATION

A RESEARCH STATION IS FALLING INTO THE SUN.
THIS IS ITS FINAL TRANSMISSION LOG.

MISSION BRIEFSOL-382

CREW

3

INSTRUMENTS

11

MASS

41,200 KG

RETURN VEHICLE

1

RETURN WINDOW

T-72:00 · SINGLE

DESTINATION

0.043 AU

0431 UTC. Final undock from Meridian Relay. Forty-seven days of falling begin — there are no engines rated for the way back. The descent is the mission.

CH 01T-38 → T-19 DAYS

THE
APPROACH

Day 12. The sun no longer hides behind an outstretched thumb. Doppler holds at sixty-one kilometres per second and rising. The trajectory is exact. There is nothing left to do but calibrate — and watch it grow.

CH 02ALL SYSTEMS REPORTING

INSTRUMENTS

Day 31. Eleven instruments wake in sequence. The coronagraph resolves structures no Earth telescope has seen — loops the height of thirty Earths, rewriting themselves by the hour.

CH 03PERSONNEL FILE — 3 OF 3

THE CREW

Day 39. Three people volunteered to ride a falling station to the edge of a star. Crew rotation: none.

PS-01CLEARANCE · PERIHELION

CMDR. ILSE MAREK

MISSION COMMANDER

Two Lagrange tours, one lunar winter-over. Requested this posting in writing. Twice.

PS-02CLEARANCE · PERIHELION

DR. YUSUF OKONKWO

HELIOPHYSICS LEAD

Wrote the descent proposal in 2041. Waited eleven years for a yes.

PS-03CLEARANCE · PERIHELION

WREN CASTELLANO

SHIELD & SYSTEMS

Keeps eleven tonnes of carbon shadow aligned to 0.2 degrees. Sleeps fine.

CH 04T-72:00:00 — CREW DEPARTURE

CORONA
PASSAGE

T-minus seventy-two hours. The crew seals the return vehicle. Departure is protocol, not choice — the station was always meant to finish this alone.

CH 05T-00:00:00:00 · R 0.043 AU

Every instrument nominal. Every channel open. All the way down.