Tralfa Prime

A frozen wasteland unfit for terraforming but it has its other uses

" Tralfa's the opposin' side to Desnand, yin to its yang as the Old Terran saying goes. Cold enough that it'll freeze folx solid if care ain't taken.

- Atrin Helly

While Tralfa Prime may not be fit for terraforming - the original Leporisian settlers discovered upon further research that it was too cold for the process to succeed - but that doesn't mean the planet doesn't have other uses. Although the cold is deadly for the unprotected, with the proper protection and aid of robots, multiple crews are present during the spring and summer season to mine for ice. The spring and summer seasons on the planet are relatively milder (but still freezing) than the fall winter and actually allow for occupation of the planet. Tralfa Prime is off limits during the fall and winter seasons as the temperatures fall to so cold that even entering the atmosphere could be deadly as it is cold enough to freeze the mechanics of a ship no matter how much shield or heat it has.
During spring and summer, ice harvesters live on planet in bases on various parts of the planet's surface. The first part of the spring season is used to clear the fall and winter ice from the bases, which are made of heavy stone mined from the core of the planet as metal cracks and becomes brittle in the coldest temperatures of Tralfa. During the fall and winter seasons, all equipment is moved to Tralfa Prime's moon, Tralfa Minor. Despite also being cold itself, Tralfa Minor doesn't reach the same lows as the planet does and all of the harvesting equipment is mothballed until the start of the next harvesting season.
Besides the ice harvesting crews, sometimes scientific teams are given permission to visit Tralfa Prime or Tralfa Minor in order to test things in the cold extremes. These crews usually work out of the same bases as the ice harvesters but are often in different areas of the planet.

Geography

Tralfa Prime and its neighboring moon is all ice and rock, rising and falling in mostly craggy mountains but sometimes dipping into wide sheet plains of ice. While much of the ice harvesting comes from these plains areas, fully ice mountains are often also mined out.

Localized Phenomena

One of the more beautiful things about Tralfa Prime is that during the spring and summer seasons it has auroras that dance across the sky in blues, greens, and the occasional red. There are occasionally auroras during the fall and winter seasons but these are rarely observed except as the fall starts (when harvesting crews are leaving Tralfa Minor) and as winter ends (when crews are returning to Tralfa Minor to begin preparing for spring).

Climate

Tralfa Prime is constantly cold, rarely ever rising above -40 Celsius. During the spring and summer season on the planet, the temperature rises to anywhere between -60 Celsius and -40 at its warmest. This makes the planet survivable, so long as those going there as well as their equipment have the proper clothing and maintenance. During the fall and winter season, the temperatures dramatically drop, usually falling at their coldest to around -100 Celsius.
Tralfa Minor, in comparison, only drops to -70 Celsius at its coldest during the fall and winter season and has a warm temperature of -10 Celsius during the spring and summer.

Flora & Fauna

Due to the extreme cold, there are no flora or fauna on Tralfa Prime or Tralfa Minor. There has been scientific evidence found of bacteria and insects frozen within the ice but never any evidence that anything larger has ever existed on the frozen planet.

Tourism

Tourists are not allowed to visit the surface of Tralfa Prime or Tralfa Minor. There are, however, a few companies that will charted flights out to the planet in order to see the auroras but these trips are ridiculously expensive.

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Credits: Banner was created in Illustrator with images generated using Artbreeder. Planet art by Terion.

Status

Semi-habitable

Moons

Tralfa Minor

Primary Work

Natural Resources
Science

Day/Night Cycle

30 Bit-cycle

Demonym

Primian

Type

Planet