Data Mining
Posted on Sun Sep 2nd, 2018 @ 2:11pm by Cadet Junior Grade Emma Phelps & Lieutenant Erin Whitlam PhD
Mission:
Weathering the Storm
Location: Sensor Control Center
Emma tried to stay steady as she looked over the incoming data, but with the effects of the storm buffeting the station, it wasn't easy. If felt like a low intensity earthquake, the constant shimmy and low rumble making it difficult to focus on what she was doing. The power fluctuations didn't help either. The lighting in sensor control was already turned down to conserve power, but what was most frustrating was the loss of certain sensor pallets. The cadet had a hard time understanding why keeping all of her tools operational wasn't a higher priority. How could the study the storm if operations kept borrowing their power?
Erin found herself keeping an eye on the crew in sensor control more than the data and it kind of ticked her off. She was the ranking officer, so her job was to keep everybody focused and on the job. But all she wanted to do was dive into that raw data and see what was happening outside. She moved between stations, checking on the crew as she went. Most were keeping themselves calm, although she knew they were nervous inside. Others looked decidedly worried and jumped with each rumble of the deck beneath their feet.
When she came to Phelps' station, she was surprised to see a look of frustration on the cadet's face. "Something wrong, Cadet?" she asked gently.
Emma almost looked surprised when Whitlam walked over to her. "Oh, Lieutenant. Nothing's wrong, I suppose. I'm just getting a lot of power fluctuations in our sensor pallets. It's making it harder to get all of the data. The glitches almost make it look like the storm is changing velocity. I'd have maintenance take a look, but I'm sure they're busy."
The lieutenant furrowed her brow and looked past Phelps to her console. "Almost? You need to be a bit more precise than that, Cadet," Erin said. "Are you saying that the glitches are damaging the sensors, giving false readings, or that it's making it difficult for us to get a good look at what's going on outside?"
The cadet realized that she put herself on the spot, and shrugged. "Yes?" she answered, a questioning tone to her voice. "I'm not really sure. Maybe glitches wasn't the right word. It's more like a flicker in the power grid that's causing me to lose data. If I had more data points, I could do a better job of plotting the storm. It doesn't appear to be moving as fast as it was before, but that doesn't make any sense. It has to be false readings."
Erin considered the response for a moment. The cadet's possible findings were significant, and not in a wow that's interesting kind of way, but an uh-oh people could actually die way. "Show me what you've got," she said, gesturing to the console while another part of her mind turned to the problem of how to get more power.
Emma pulled up plots of the raw data on her screen. The storm itself was created by a blend of magnetic fields and charged particles. As the fields fluctuated and moved through space, it collected an array of dust and debris, adding to the size and strength of the storm. Phelps wasn't sure what propelled the storm, but she was able to track the changing magnetic flux and plot the movement of the encapsulated particles. At least that was the plan. The flux was becoming difficult to read, but she was able to plot the velocity field of the particles. That's what she pulled up on the screen. "On the left are the field lines for the storm when we first detected it. On the right is what I'm picking up now." She gestured at the mass of arrows on the screen. "The velocity vectors indicating swirl are longer now, but these vectors represent the lateral velocity. They're shorter. But I don't know if that makes any sense." She looked up at Whitlam for guidance.
"Alright," Whitlam said when she'd seen - and heard - enough. She started to walk away from the console and jabbed a finger back in its direction. "Keep an eye that as best you can. I'll work on getting you more power." She tapped her commbadge. "Whitlam to Drusus."
As Whitlam walked away, Emma returned to her analysis. She really wanted to see the magnetic field changes, but she didn't have enough sensor access. She resigned herself to tracking the particles that she could track. But she couldn't come up with answers to all of her questions. After a few minutes, however, she noticed a change. Additional sensor functions popped up on her screen, and the data collection rate doubled. That would certainly help with her data resolution problem.
Whitlam suddenly appeared at the cadet's shoulder, a look of mild amusement on her face. "Hopefully that will fix your power problem there, cadet," she said through a smirk. "Now you've got two minutes to determine if this thing is, in fact, slowing down."
"Oh, two minutes," Emma muttered to herself. "And here I was worried that there would be too much pressure." She quietly got to work. Two minutes wasn't long, and she had a lot of work left to do.
Lieutenant Erin Whitlam PhD
Science Officer
Cadet Junior Grade Emma Phelps
Science Intern
