February 19, 2012
Making an Assault On Orientale
image by Jocelyn Serot, France
Jocelyn writes: The famous basin really looks like a fortress here, with the two main rings of Mts Cordillera and Mts Rook appearing as battlements.
The Orientale Basin is like a well defended fortress for it guards its secrets, making them nearly inaccessible behind mountainous walls and planetary
curvature. But spy satellites have obtained overhead views, with the basin itself providing a bulls-eye target. Behind the twin mountain redoubts there
is just a small and shallow pond, hardly room to hide anything of value. An overland assault would be difficult for the Cordillera battlement is virtually
continuous, and although the climb up to its summit is not steep, it is rugged. Even worse is that from the summit down to the interior is a steep slope
that would be treacherous to impossible to descend. Thus, the only feasible approach is from space, raining in orbital ordnance followed by paratroopers
with retrorockets. Because the interior of the basin is relatively young - dated as being after the last interplanetary war that ended with the Late Heavy
Bombardment - the ordnance would do much damage, perhaps enough to force a capitulation without human forces becoming involved. We must be
successful for it is critical to learn how to overcome these circular battlements before attacking forts Caloris and Hellas at the ends of long tenuous
supply lines.
Chuck Wood
Technical Details
2012-02-06, 21h54 UT. 8" Newton refl @ F/11. DMK camera. Red filter. Four images, processed with Registax 6.
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