Menaka Disaster

Disaster / Destruction

In 2280, all 8 humans aboard the UNSS Menaka as well as its onboard artificial intelligence were lost in a terrible, unprecedented catastrophe shortly after arrival in the Lalande 21185 star system. They were, unfortunately, the first humans to perish in the light of a sun other than Sol.

The cause of the Menaka disaster was determined to be an error in the ship’s computational navigation that led to the vessel’s autopilot attempting to activate the warp drive while entering orbit around Erato. The vessel collided with Erato’s third moon at a significant fraction of light speed, killing all crew instantly and disintegrating most of the craft and the moon. The Menaka’s artificial intelligence was determined not to be at fault, as she had suffered a debilitating glitch in transit to L21185 and had not awoken from sleep mode in three months.   Unlike previous spaceflight tragedies, the United Nations Aerospace Coalition did not grind to a halt in the aftermath. The human species could not afford to simply cease all interstellar spaceflight; no, they had too many projects active by then. Humans had not one but two young extrasolar colony worlds by 2180, and another on the way. UNAC had missions in transit to and from Earth, as well as one active in the field.   There was no turning back.   The UNAC built a replacement for the Menaka from scratch, making sure she was perfect. They called her Tilottama– “composed of the finest qualities” –and sent her on her way up after the Menaka. The UNSS Tilottama performed flawlessly.