REVERIE-1

**REVERIE-1** is the first crewed spaceflight mission that saw humans achieve interstellar travel by visiting the closest star system to the Solar System, Alpha Centauri. The name of the mission, and subsequent nickname for the titular ship *Reverie,* comes from the oldest *dream* humanity had that was about to be made into a reality. As Channing Hopper, the lead Administrator of the ESAA at the time put it, "Humanity's oldest reverie, brought to life".

## Planning

The idea of the mission began to wander around the minds of the astronomical community and the ESAA after the first warp drive was successfully created in 2257, as well as the confirmed presence of water and nitrogen in the atmosphere around Proxima C. As big discoveries were being found left and right, it was the next natural step to extend the boundaries of human presence beyond that of the Solar System's to other star systems. It was brought up that they could attempt to travel to the nearest star system to the Sun at the time, Alpha Centauri at 4.3 light years away. At first it was refuted, as there would be no guarantee that computers could successfully navigate around and return to the Sun. When the idea of humans being in control of the vessel was brought up, there was some argument. "Why risk the lives of people when machines could do it? Just work on making the machines better." But that idea negated the whole premise behind human colonization and space travel.

Why did we send humans to the Moon and not more fancy robots? Why does Star Trek still have starships if they can literally teleport anywhere? The yearn for discovery of the unknown, that's why. It's in our nature as human beings. The flight plan was then mapped out for how the trip will go. Unfortunately, the main binary stars of the Alpha Centauri system were near their each other's apastron, so that meant more fuel was necessary to traverse the space between them. But in the long run, that did not matter.

### The Lucky Three

The mission called for three people, all of whom were equally important to the mission at hand. They all had to be relatively young and in good physical and mental health.

The Pilot needed to be versatile and skilled enough to maneuver the ship around any obstacle and operate it without hesitation. They had to have flown spacecraft before and be knowledgeable in all aspects of its systems.

The Engineer would have to have experience working on the mechanics of spacecraft, especially warp drives. The engineer would have to be chosen from the pool of those who have worked on the construction of Reverie to ensure they have familiarity with the craft. They need to be able to diagnose anything that might go wrong with the ship while in flight.

The Physicist needs to be familiar with many categories of mathematics, along with classical physics and quantum mechanics. They are the one who personally worked over the math and calculated the trajectory of Reverie for the mission.

Bryony Mitchell was chosen to be the pilot, as she showed outstanding performance in her flying capabilities, is able to learn and adapt quickly and has an aptitude for piloting spacecraft. Quinn Sultan was chosen to be the engineer for the crew, always wanting to work hard and proved to be an excellent engineer, demonstrating exceptional knowledge of all sorts of spaceships, as well as Reverie's internals. Claribel Mayrose was picked out of a rather large pool of candidates for the position of the ship's physicist. She was picked because of her profound knowledge in many fields relating to astrophysics, as well as being a good communicator.

## Training

The crew of Reverie had to undergo vigorous exercises to become fit for flight under ESAA regulations, as well as regular spaceflight exercises all pilots and civilians are expected to complete to be capable of surviving for long periods of time in deep space. This was supposed to last for a few months, but due to a terrible hurricane season and destructive natural disasters on Earth, training went in and out and took around 7 months to complete. The crew had to undergo simulations in virtual reality modeled after the real flight pattern Reverie will take in order to ensure there will be no surprises on the voyage, and to acclimate the crew with the cockpit.

## The Spaceship

The ship itself began construction before the mission was actually announced, and was repurposed while being built. The ship for REVERIE-1 needed to be versatile itself, structurally stable and able to withstand any sort of damage it might incur during the mission. It also needed to have as little mass as possible to transport, as more mass requires more fuel to move the spacecraft. The ESAA looked to Janning Spacecraft Technology & Manufacturing for their new and controversial hull design, involving four support buttresses and a strange looking but surprisingly durable and aerodynamic fuselage for interplanetary travel and atmospheric travel.

### Redesign

The ESAA used (practically stole) the blueprints to the vessel and repurposed its interior completely, changing it from a planetary shuttle to a research vessel, stuffing all of the empty space in it with scientific equipment. A significant portion of the interior was scrapped and used to fit the modified warp drive that it will use to achieve FTL travel. The rear section of the hull was removed in order to fit the massive warp ring required to support a warp field around the ship at high speeds. The regular Janning Falcon rocket engines that the company used to power its vessels were swapped with much more capable Legacy-22 engines, also made by Janning. Instead of one however, the ESAA managed to fit four of them on the rear of the ship.

## The Satellites

The choice to set entangled satellites into orbit around exoplanets was a controversial decision. Although not directly interfering with nature and just to observe it, the thought that they would accidentally be discovered by life that may reside there brought the terms of the Extraterrestrial Obligation under question. This states that any life not originating on Earth cannot be made aware that humans exist, and that humans must only observe and study from a distance. It was decided that the satellites would go into orbit, painted *vantablack*. Although this will raise the temperature of the satellite substantially, the ESAA considered it a necessity to continue to abide by the rules of the EO.