Hypothetical: suppose you are piloting a spaceship that is out of repair. You are within range of a planet that can support you–favorable atmosphere, water, and temperature–and you have just enough juice in your ship to land on any part of the planet you want. What do you aim for?
The equator, or north or south of it? How far north or south? A large continental mass? A peninsula? Land that looks green, or brown, or white from above? Do you look at cloud patterns to determine where the ocean currents are warming land masses? What do you do?
Studying for a private pilot’s license they told us if you ever had to ditch to look for brown ground instead of green, that you sure don’t want to put down where you might auger in but, instead, where you could skip or skid to a stop.
I guess I’d say midway between the equator and the pole to avoid temperature extremes, near the coast of a large continental mass on brown ground as near as possible to green as that might support edible flora or fauna. Not sure how adept I’d be at reading the clouds other than staying away from any sporting tornados or daggers of electricity. I’d probably be cussing them as much as anything for blocking my view of what’s underneath.
Stupid question (probably really stupid), but you’re in space around a planet you don’t know (besides knowing that it could support you)- how do you identify the equator from space? Ice caps? Cloud orientation?
If I’m that advanced that I have a space ship and can tell that a planet is hospitable, then I probably have info about where to land. Beyond that, if my landing depends upon having more than a small flat space to come down, I probably head for the brown as the green might be dense trees. Also, that should be warmer than the white spaces, although I could be fooled by white dust.
As a space traveler, I certainly would have brought my AAA space maps so I would know the best place to stay over. And if I was not satisfied with the accommodations, I’d just call for a space tow to the nearest recovery station.
That would actually be a really poor choice of location on Earth - it’s an exceptionally dry and inhospitable place (that’s part of the reason the Nazca figures are still there).
I’d aim for an area near the coast of a large land mass, to increase chances of exploiting resources in the ocean or on land. Sea shores and cliffs are also a good place for mineral resources to be exposed and available.
Close to the mouth of a river that descends from a mountain range would be good (because it’s likely to be fresh water not too far upstream, whereas a larger river that meanders across very flat terrain could be tidal a long way inland).
