We followed the tentative footsteps of astral seekers
Pioneer, Voyager, Juno and Juice
All have improved man's knowledge and awareness
Eventually, allowing deeper space exploration,
And then ultimately, conquest
First, footsteps on Mars, creating the Red Planet Dominium
Then onwards, out to the moons of the Jovian system.
Where we established the Ganymede colony.
We have been here now for over one hundred years
Its dark, quartered hemispheres
Abundantly potted by million-year-old craters
Juxtaposed to a lighter-striated landscape
Created by deep tidal tectonics
Amongst all the moons, Ganymede is special
It has a small but useable gravitational force,
There are subsurface lakes of water,
As well as surface ice nearer to the poles
We tapped, and pressure stored
This life-sustaining elixir.
Ganymede is the largest solar system moon
Larger even than the planet Mercury
But unlike inhospitable Mercury,
Ganymede has a thin oxygen atmosphere
Not yet capable of life outside
But enough to terraform eventually,
Our ultimate plan.
A large protective city of metallic pressured pods
Is currently home to over four hundred souls.
Anchored a distance from the harshness of the poles.
There are rich carbon dioxide fields,
Plentiful melt water,
Scientists discovered that applying direct sunlight
This chemical mixture creates a complex reaction
Carbon monoxide, plus hydrogen,
Creating a wonderful synthetic fuel
To coin a well-known phrase
‘Sunshine to Petrol’
‘Petrol to electricity’
It also releases usable oxygen to breathe
Most nights we stare in awe from our viewpoints
As the Ganymede Aurora glides across the landscape,
Creating a spectacular unrivalled light show
Overshadowed by the red-spotted gas giant
That dominates our sky twenty-four seven
As only a potent ancient Roman God could
Ganymede is one celestial bridge pillar
On our way to the stars
Continuing man’s extraordinary voyage.
Step by step, as man meanders through history,
Whilst taking several giant leaps for mankind.
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