Exploring Maia A 2 A

Today I did some initial exploration of Maia's first landable planet - Maia A2A. A rocky metal rich body. Just from the initial landing I could see it was a craggy, mountainous place. Just what I want to see! Mountains and peaks everywhere!

And it was. Heading towards the nearest and highest mountain I could see, (which I've locally named "The Mountain of Conflict") the craggy land below was zipping past rapidly. I managed to find a smooth-ish spot to land on (doesn't really look that smooth!), to then drive higher up and explore.




Sadly this mountain didn't offer many great views - the summit was much further back from the edge so I couldn't get a good "on the edge" shot. The light from the white star was still balefully beaming across the land though. Then I found it - a strange alien religious artifact - the Holy Sharks Tooth.

Well that's what I'm calling it anyway, it's probably just a standard rock, but it did stand out sharply against the surrounding terrain.

Well that's what I'm calling it anyway, it's probably just a standard rock, but it did stand out sharply against the surrounding terrain. I imagined the local green-heads dancing around it at night, angrily scuffing over my SRV tracks.


Here's another shot with the area around it for scale - you can really see the surrounding hostile terrain in this shot.

Once I'd finished looking at holy alien artifacts, I took The Daggerbite exploring on the other side of the planet. Once the terminator for the primary white star was crossed, you can see the lighting changed dramatically from the baleful bright white of Maia A to the reddish light of Maia A2. So around "pink-side" I went exploring.

You can see here some great knife-edge ridges thrusting up into the cosmos!

Also spotted a crater with a mountain inside. Initially looking impressive, I headed over to Tiny Mount Mordor to more closely check it out.

To the right of Tiny Mount Mordor, you can see what looks like an impressive canyon. And it was.





Sadly not as impressive as it first appeared, Sauron's recently downsized maybe?










Boosting along a canyon in Elite is great fun. Although I really need to watch for dead-ends and pull up - one careless collision and I'm down to 78% hull with no shields... Oops.

(Note to self - the Asp Explorer is not as maneuverable as the Vulture, and definitely not as maneuverable planetside vs deep space, where I'm used to dogfighting in asteroid belts)

After all this fun it was time to set off, head back to Obsidian Orbital (to repair...) before contemplating my next exploration

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