Sun Station

The Sun Station is an ancient Nomai station in an extremely close and rapid orbit around the Sun.

Description
The Sun Station is a satellite composed of two huge modules connected by a half-destroyed passageway. The station contains many gravity tiles so that its users can walk instead of free falling. It has been offline for 281,042 years.

Purpose
After the Nomai discovered the possibility to send objects and information back in time, they quickly discovered it required exponentially more energy the farther back in time they wanted to send it. The only power source capable of producing enough power for the Nomai’s plan of sending information 22 minutes into the past was the energy produced by a supernova. The Sun Station was thus designed to induce a supernova. The plan was to order the Sun Station to fire 22 minutes after the launch of the Eye of the Universe probe and cause the sun to go supernova. The Ash Twin Project would then use the energy produced by the supernova to send information back in time by 22 minutes and cancel the destruction of the Sun.

Ultimately, the project was deemed a failure as the Sun station was unable to impact the Sun in any meaningful way. The Sun eventually does go Supernova naturally, having reached the end of its lifespan, and not from any interference from the Sun Station.

Ethics
The construction of the Sun Station was the only thing the Nomai did that caused division and debate among them. The debate on the ethics of the use of a device able to destroy the solar system can be seen behind the energy controls of the Sunless City and inside the Sun Station itself.

Accessibility
The primary method to access the Sun Station is revealed within the caves on Ember Twin. By using the Sun Station teleportation pad located on Ash Twin, the player can teleport to the Sun Station. The second and much more dangerous method is manually landing the ship on the Sun Station, a challenging feat given the Sun’s immense gravity and the Sun Station’s rapid orbit.

Texts and recordings
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

Inside station

 * System sleep mode (dependent on in-game time)
 * System sleep mode (dependent on in-game time)

281,042 YEARS AGO: No user commands received for 10 minutes. All systems entering sleep.

X MINUTES, X SECONDS AGO: Increased solar activity detected. Sun Station hull integrity approaching critical levels. Closing emergency doors. Sun Station purpose

PYE: Mission: Science compels us to explode the sun !


 * IDAEA: Can’t we change this? I don’t enjoy working in view of such a morbid mission statement.


 * IDAEA: Here’s a better one. Mission: Determine if it’s possible to prompt the sun to explode.


 * PYE: You lack a sense of humor.


 * IDAEA: At least I don’t lack a sense of ethics!


 * PYE: Kindly refrain from going supernova on me before the sun does, Idaea.


 * PYE: But it’s accurate. We’re going to create a supernova for the purpose of scientific progress. That’s our mission.


 * IDAEA: Our mission is to decide if such an irresponsible feat is even possible.


 * Sun Station failed
 * Sun Station failed

YARROW: What happened? Did the Sun Station not fire?
 * PYE: It fired, Yarrow. But it failed. The sun barely responded; there were infintestimally small surface-level changes, but they were barely visible, even to the third eye.


 * PYE: The Sun Station is useless. It will never, and could never, cause the sun to explode.


 * PYE: I don’t know what comes next, my friends. I suppose we must start over, but I’m unsure how to start over.


 * YARROW: Return to Ash Twin first, my friend. Perhaps a change of task would help: Spire noticed a comet approaching this star system that we’d like to investigate.


 * YARROW: Pye... I hurt for you, my friends; we all know how hard you’ve both worked. I can only offer my compassion. How are you? How is Idaea?


 * IDAEA: We’re well, Yarrow (or as well as can be expected, given the circumstances), though disappointed. I may have disagreed with exploding the sun, but I never wished the device would fail. I’d hoped our terrible work was finished.


 * }

Notes & Trivia

 * The Sun Station is destroyed early in the loop, as is it engulfed by the Sun when it grows to become a red giant.
 * The achievement “Hotshot” is rewarded for successfully landing the ship on the sun station.
 * The Sun Station was first added in the Alpha Demo, containing a secret message