National Archive. Aisle X370. Shelf 97. Row 9. File 2046.
_______ (fictional, goes without asking)
[page 31 - Final Diagnostic Conclusion]
…the probability of a crash, malfunction or fuel exhaustion all remains minimal, in fact, close to improbable. If one were to provide an educated, fact-based, confident though somewhat insensible analysis of the state of the spacecraft, it seems to have been abandoned, or better stated (however nonsensical it may sound), left behind prior to its unplanned second voyage.
My educated conclusion of the diagnosis of ship 2046 remains that it was launched away from the planet Solaris—with its supposed destination dated in 2024–with an well executed and perfectly calculated launch, with the ship’s original emergency fuel. (Note - there was no outbound routing intended for ship 2046, its manufactural purpose was a sole voyage towards planet Solaris)
This, “outbound,” which resulted in the ship mysteriously returned—or should I say, crashed, explosively into the Pacific Ocean, is estimated to have happened ten years upon the spacecraft’s arrival on Solaris. Such conclusion is reached upon studying a sample of the ship’s surface metals—Signs of deterioration are visible but not unlike the deterioration naturally occurring on such metal if it were left unattended on Earth. With our current knowledge of the atmosphere of Solaris, it is safe to assume that ship 2046 was left unattended very shortly upon the astronaut’s arrival on the planet.
One thing worth noting: we have recovered no human remains from the crash in the proximity of the “landing” site.
At the present, we have recovered no travel log from the spacecraft and frankly, no trace of the astronaut’s activity upon her arrival on Solaris. Any motive for destruction (which there appears to be none caused other than the crash landing), disappearance (certainly seems to be the case) therefore, remains unknown.
At this stage, we have exhausted most if not all channels for any potential information beyond what we have discovered. Therefore, on behalf of the official diagnostic team, we conclude the case of ship 2046 remains unsolved.
[There is one additional comment that I’m hesitant to include, so please perhaps consider this part of the report as unofficial as I may have, breached the code of conduct and gone out of my way to investigate the astronaut’s personal life prior to joining the project, but I do find this information crucial—Despite her lifelong dedication to Aeroscience, instead of attending any formal (or should I say government-sponsored) academy, the astronaut received most of her scientific education from a private institute stationed within the zoo in Nashville, Tennessee—yes, the one that was burned down in 2012, the very year the astronaut joined the Solaris project in D.C..]
Thrilling!