STARFLEET Medical Proxima Centauri Step Challenge

Round trip to Proxima Centauri Step Challenge:

We at STARFLEET Medical are very excited to offer this fleet-wide challenge that is open to all members of SFI, regardless of whether or not you are a member of STARFLEET Medical. Each month, we will travel along another leg of our journey to explore and establish a human colony in the Proxima Centauri system.

Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star that is 4.2 light years away from Earth. As of 2022, two exoplanets are known to exist within the system: Proxima Centauri B & Proxima Centauri D. Proxima Centauri B orbits within the habitable zone which means that liquid water can exist, allowing for the possibility of life, or at the very least the ability of the planet to support a human colony. The purpose of our mission will be to travel to the Proxima Centauri system with a colony ship, establish the start of a human colony on Proxima Centauri B and return home.

One of the purposes of STARFLEET Medical is to encourage increased physical activity, so our individual goal as participants will be to travel an average of 8000 steps per day. We hope that you choose to join us for our trip to Proxima Centauri so that we can enjoy the journey together while we individually maintain a higher quality of life!

Participation rules:
• The step challenge will take place from March to December, 2024.
• The challenge is open to all members of SFI. You do not have to be a member of STARFLEET Medical to participate.
• Participants can join at any point along the journey
• Participants will keep track of their own steps each week and then report that total to their Regional Assistant Surgeon General. If you do not know who your Regional ASG is, please consult the Office of the Surgeon General Current Serving Officers website
• The only units that will be accepted are STEPS. Please do not submit calories, activity time or any other units other than steps. They will not be accepted.
• Participants in regions that are not staffed with an ASG, can report directly to the Deputy Surgeon General by using this form
• Steps must be reported within 48 hours of the end of the activity period. Late submissions will not be accepted –THIS IS A HARD DEADLINE – NO EXCEPTIONS.
• If you are unsure that you will be able to report your steps on time, report them early.
• Certificates will be generated within 7 days and returned to ASGs for distribution to participants in their region.
• Two certificates will be available: 1. Recognition of completion of the monthly goal of 8000 steps per day 2. Recognition of effort for members that were unable to achieve 8000 steps per day.

We hope you’ll join us for this long-term challenge

October  2024: “TURN THIS SHIP AROUND”

We’ve been in orbit around Proxima Centauri B for 5 exciting years. In that time, we’ve deployed and activated the unmanned cargo that arrived before we did. Within it, the core habitat and supplies within those cargo shipments were key in the early days as we established humanity’s first ever extra-solar colony.

Combined with the supplies we transported, we’ve built out Earth 2.0’s first small city. The matter/antimatter power generator was activated partway through our second year which allowed us to come off of solar and battery power. It also greatly accelerated construction since the power output was significantly enhanced.

Food production started immediately and has become a successful, full-blown agricultural industry for our colonists. There were certainly a few challenges and surprises that needed to be overcome, but the carrots and peas that come out of those farms are as good as the ones I remember from Earth.

As exciting and fulfilling as the work here has been, the time has now come for us to turn our ship around and return to Earth. It’ll be a much quieter trip home since we’ve offloaded our colonists. A skeleton crew will navigate the ship back to Earth so that it can be retrofitted, retooled and reloaded with colonists that wish to lay down their roots on Proxima Centauri B.