The Meta Probe docking with the Space Dock |
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| First appearance | "Breakaway" |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Moonbase Alpha |
| Launched | Planned for September 1999 |
| Decommissioned | September 13, 1999 - Presumed destroyed after Moon's breakaway from Earth |
| General characteristics | |
| Auxiliary craft | Command Module doubles as Lifeboat |
| Propulsion | Nuclear fusion rockets |
| Length | 50 m |
The Meta Probe was a fictional spacecraft in the Space: 1999 episode "Breakaway", it appears in just a few scenes of this pilot episode.
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The Meta Probe was intended to be a deep-space mission to investigate a rogue planet passing through the outer limits of Earth's solar system. This planet, code named "Meta", was first discovered when radio-astronomers detected its unique and repetitive radio signals. At this time, the World Space Commission (still smarting from the financial and public-relations failure of the Ultra Probe mission of 1996-1997)[1] decided to launch a 'no-frills' two-man deep-space probe to investigate. Construction of the vessel was completed and training of the primary and back-up crew was complete by September 1999. At that time, the previously-launched unmanned probe, Spacefarer 9, relayed photographs of a planetary body with a defined atmosphere. This gave even greater support to the theories that the Meta signals were generated by intelligent life.[2]
The mission was put on hold when the primary crew contracted a mild 'virus infection', as per Earth Command press releases. In actuality, they had all the symptoms of radiation-induced cerebral cancer, but no actual radiation exposure could be detected. During the investigation of the unknown illness, both men died in the Intensive Care Unit on Moonbase Alpha. On 9 September 1999, incoming Alpha Base Commander John Koenig was dispatched to the Moon with one overriding order from his superiors: Launch the probe at any cost. Despite his misgivings, preparations were made to continue the mission with the back-up crew; it would take seven days' time to calculate the new launch window and flight vectors for the months-long voyage.
The mission never took place; the unknown events at the nuclear waste disposal areas culminated in a massive nuclear explosion that blasted the Moon out of orbit on 13 September 1999.[3]
It is a sleek craft, powered by three nuclear powered rocket engines. The center section comprises four cylindrical propellant tanks plus two solar panel-like structures. The forward section consists of a standard two-person Eagle command module attached to a cylindrical 4.5-metre module that probably contains habitation facilities and logistics (interior of which was never seen in the episode). The overall length appears to be about fifty metres. It is not a very large craft and consequently the crew consisted of just two astronauts.
The vessel is seen docking with the Space Dock at the start of the episode "Breakaway", and being flung away from it during the breakaway of the moon at its climax as the over-stressed Space Dock station explodes. It is not known if the Meta Probe ship itself survived; it is presumed destroyed in the cataclysm.
Astronauts Frank Warren and Eric Sparkman were selected as the primary crew for the Meta Probe Mission. One may assume they both had a science background in addition to flight training as they were the sole crewmembers on this bare-bones mission. Both men died before the scheduled launch from a new and horrifying form of radiation sickness, later discovered to have been caused by magnetic radiation. This new form of radiation was emanating from the nuclear waste disposal areas on the far side of the Moon. Warren and Sparkman (and their counterparts in the back-up crew) flew training missions on the Moon's far side over Disposal Area One — also known as Navigation Beacon Delta — at high altitudes It was this 'limited' exposure which brought about their protracted illness (the affected disposal area workers died much more rapidly and violently).[4]
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