The Prometheus Project (Scifi Terraforming)

In the far but not too distant future, humanity has grown tired of its own lonesome position. Despite our best technology the universe appeared to be empty at every glance.

The lifespan of industrial civilisation is unknown. But we could not sit content with the possibility that our own short lives were the only life there was. We had to make sure.

So we reached out to the stars, to have Earthlings touch alien soils under foreign skies, to call out to the universe that life will always find a way.

The effort was known as The Prometheus project.

The journey would be treacherous. We would send trillions of lives upwards and beyond. If thousands of years of radiation, bombardment by micrometeoroids travelling at interstellar speed, or faulty equipment didn't kill them, then they would still have to survive re-entry into an unknown atmosphere…

But these travellers would not be humans. Humans are too delicate and demanding to send into the void. The solar sails that carried the microsats used to survey the many uninhabited exoplanets wouldn't be able to carry a person regardless.

Instead, we would send emissaries of our biosphere out into the cosmos instead. A single capsule of the most extreme life on our planet would be sent to every candidate world. To ensure their survival, they would be genetically engineered, freeze dried and cryopreserved.

These capsules would be propelled by solar sails into their target systems. They would then crash unceremoniously into their atmospheres and release the payload on the ground. From then, the colonists would be at nature's mercy. With any luck, humanity would no longer be alone in the universe.

1. Graphene-ceramic composite heat shield - The heat shield is designed to survive for millennia over thousands of light-years of travel before burning up in an exoplanetary atmosphere, carrying heat away from the capsule.

2. Alumina windows - Synthetic sapphire optical windows allow infrared to ultraviolet light to pass through while protecting from micrometeoroid strikes and ion radiation.

3. CMOS sensor - Three radiation hardened low-power CMOS sensors capture the stars and detect interstellar debris.

4. Organic polymer aerogel - Aerogel insulation protects from temperature swings and maintains cryogenic conditions within the probe while providing shielding from ion radiation. Imbibed with cyanobacteria that will shed into the upper atmosphere during planetfall.

5. CNT composite truss - Four foldable metallised graphene solar sails are supported on rigid carbon nanotube trusses.

6. Alloy plating - A layer of high-emissivity uranium alloy protects the probe from high energy X-rays and gamma rays while radiating away excess heat.

7. XLPE body - Cross-linked polyethylene forms the body of the capsule and preventing protons and alpha particles from penetrating into the capsule.

8. Iridium bullet - An iridium coated tungsten carbide bullet fires shortly before planetfall to enter a stable orbit around the exoplanet. Intricate engravings on the surface of the carbide core encode details about humanity and the purpose of the probe. A message intended for any advanced lifeforms derived from the capsule organisms, or any intelligent native lifeforms.

9. Graphene supercapacitor - Graphene supercapacitors accumulate the little energy the probe needs for its active parts to operate.

10. Radiovoltaic converter - A wide band gap semiconductor P-N junction converts high-energy charged particles diverted by the probe's magnetic shield into usable electrical power.

11. The Capsule - The capsule is the payload of the probe, a cannister of freeze dried genetically engineered hardy Earth organisms preserved at cryogenic temperatures in a soup of radiation damage suppression agent. If the probe is successful, the organisms will establish in their new habitat and form an ecosystem of their own, or perhaps they will just be an interesting specimen for someone else to study...

12. Superconducting coil - A high performance superconductor coil generates an immense miniature magnetosphere to funnel charged particles away from vital parts of the probe.

13. Oxygen storage - A perchlorate imbued metal-organic framework catalyses the slow release of oxygen in the presence of moisture, feeding the growth of aerobes.

14. Water soluble membrane - A thin polymer membrane slowly dissolves in water to allow gradual rehydration.

15. Aerobic organisms - A range of moss spores, aerobic microbes, and dehydrated poriferan, cnidarian, nematode, platyhelminth, rotifer, and tardigrade, eggs and cysts.

16. Anaerobic organisms - A powder of lyophilised fungi, bacteria, archaea and protist spores and cells.

17. Solid state motor - A low-power piezoelectric motor pulls on a cable inside the solar sail truss to slightly deform the sail, steering the probe for course correction and navigation.

18. Polymer seal - A waterproof plastic seal designed to melt when heated by the terraforming controller, or within a few years of planetfall if the controller fails.

19. Water - A sealed sterile compartment filled with water, glucose, amino acids, and various organic compounds. Water is the liquid of life and when released into the capsule, it will revive all of the lyophilised organisms and hopefully bring life to a barren world.

20. Terraforming controller - A suit of basic sensors that detect when conditions are ideal to revive the capsule lifeforms, to ensure their best chance at survival to establish an ecosystem.

21. Navigation computer - A radiation hardened silicon carbide microprocessor with built in redundancies is tasked with navigation during the millennia long voyage across the stars. The computer must make subtle course adjustments to maintain course while avoiding interstellar debris. Closer to planetfall, the nav computer is also responsible for re-entry, landing and choosing the best landing site. Some probes might have multiple target destinations. It is the job of the computer to choose the most suitable world once more data is gathered. If life is detected on a planet before the probe lands, the computer must find a stable orbit instead.