Ranger 15

Exploring a broad ice moon canyon in the SRV

I've just returned from another short exploration hop in Elite Dangerous, an expedition out about 1000 light years from Empire space to survey a few systems. The reliable DSS Pipitea, my Asp Explorer vessel, clocked up 101 systems visited. This entailed setting out from my base in the Gende system, pausing only for a refit in the high-tech system of Pangilagara. Then the Asp's nose was pointed in the direction of the blazing giant star HIP 77638, which after a journey of many jumps into witchspace to cover the 912 light years, turned out to be orbited by a peculiar solo water world. Cruising the nearby systems towards HD 116041 occupied a few days, and I took advantage of the new Horizons game expansion to land on a few planetary surfaces to prospect for minerals and explore in my SRV buggy, picking over the remains of ancient wrecked starships. In the end the Pipitea returned to civilised space at the Evans Enterprise outpost in the Camundju system, where I handed in nearly 3MCr of survey data and hocked off a few illicit items of salvage that I'd turned up on desolate, unsettled moons beyond the frontier. Then it was back to the nearest high-tech system for a refit - and it turned out to be Pangilagara again. Only problem was, the blighters in the shipyard sold me missile launchers without the actual missiles. Quite a nuisance when you're being chased by pesky pirates demanding your valuable cargo of Progenitor Cells bound for the hard-working citizens of Mirolunts 1.

See also:
Games: Elite Dangerous ship size comparison, 15 December 2015
Games: Pathfinder 60, 12 July 2015
Games: Realising childhood sci-fi dreams, 27 April 2015