ᶻ 𝘇 𐰁 dr. ryland grace

Before becoming the science expert of the Hail Mary's crew, Ryland was an 8th grade science teacher with an experience in academia and a doctorate in molecular biology.

He is a caucasian male, American. Around 5, 7, and a slightly muscular form. He has fair skin, and wears clear reading glasses, but it mainly slips down his nose and he doesn't push them up. Close set blue eyes, and messy short dirty blonde hair. He has a short, trimmed beard. Dr. Grace is 41.

Dr. Grace is shown to be a calm yet awkward person. He does have a common American sense of humor, and can be self deprecating at times. He is naturally inquisitive and can become very surprised in response to new and unusual things, such as Astrophage. He is also interested in learning new information. Grace is loving towards his students, but uses this as an excuse to avoid joining the Hail Mary's crew. He knows a lot of old pop culture movies. Although he is slowly remembering things, still a lot of things from his past are fuzzy. He is very happy about his accomplishments, and is awkward with social interaction. He has kind of a grandpa sort of style, with patterned cardigans and beanies and a yellow raincoat he has on earth, but he also wears a lot of band and merch tees.

Grace was a junior high school science teacher for 8th Grade. He is a single man living alone in an apartment. Before becoming a teacher, he was a scientist who focused on possible life beyond the solar system, and he wrote a scientific paper which completely rejected theories that all life needed water and had to be in a certain habitable zone. It is for this reason that Stratt recruits him to be the first person to look at Astrophage, as it is highly unlikely that a creature that lives on or near the surface of a star will use water.

Ryland Grace awakens from a coma on a human made spacecraft. Initially erratic with retrograde amnesia, Grace discovers that he is the second survivor of four, and that he is light years away from Earth in a distant star system. He puts the two deceased in a space pod, along with their belongings, and shoots them into space.

Grace slowly remembers that he is a middle school science teacher and former molecular biologist. Scientists observe the Sun dimming, coinciding with the formation of an infrared line from the Sun to Venus called the Petrova line. The dimming, caused by a microorganism known as Astrophage exponentially increasing its population on the Sun's surface, will result in a catastrophic global cooling of Earth within 30 years. Government agent Eva Stratt asks Grace and other scientists to study Astrophage.

Grace discovers that Astrophage is a cell which is impenetrable to any form of electromagnetic radiation, and that it breeds on Venus via the planet's carbon dioxide and energy from the Sun. Others find Astrophage to be a very effective, if volatile, fuel source. Astrophage has infected other stars; Stratt discloses Project Hail Mary, a plan to send a crew on a suicide mission to Tau Ceti, the only unaffected nearby star. The Hail Mary spacecraft only has enough Astrophage as fuel for a one-way trip, but will carry probes to send the crew's findings back to Earth. He has finally gotten to Tau Ceti, but he doesn't exactly know what to do. Even without having enough fuel to get back to Earth, there is enough food to last a few years.

The Hail Mary spacecraft is divided into five main areas: Storage, Dormitory, Lab, Control Room, and Fuel.

Crew Area - Storage This the small space between the crew compartment and the engine compartment in the Hail Mary. The storage area is approximately 1 meter tall and only has one access panel from the dormitory. The floor of the storage area has 6 access panels to access various parts of the ship, including the power generators.

Crew Area - Dormitory The dormitory is the next section of the crew compartment. This is a rounded room with 3 oval beds attached to the walls within reach of the "nanny bot" arms to take care of the four crewmen as they were in the coma for the duration of the trip from Earth to Tau Ceti. The height of the room is 10ft. In the ceiling is a hatch to the next section of the crew compartment. The floor contains an access hatch to the storage area under one of the crew beds.

Crew Area - Lab The lab is the room after the dormitory. This room is equipped with all manner of scientific equipment including various microscopes, spectroscopes, and instruments, Also included is a 3D printer. In the center of the room is a table with chairs that are affixed to the floor. The walls are lined with additional storage for a variety of scientific and engineering tools and equipment. The entire ship is equipped with wifi and the computers can access the entire catalogue of human knowledge.

Crew Area - Control Room The control room is at the front of the ship in the nose. The ship has slanted walls to match the conical shape of the front of the ship. The control room has two airlocks with windows. The control room has a variety of monitors with the center monitor being the largest. Each monitor has the ability to display any of the ship's functions, for redundancy. There is one pilot's chair in the center of the monitor area.

Fuel Tanks The fuel tanks are at the very bottom of the ship. It has 3 parallel cylinders that each contain Astrophage, which not only acts as the fuel but also supplies power. Within the fuel tanks, 2 million kilograms of Astrophage is stored across the three tanks. The tank also contains the spin drives that the ship relies on. When spin drives are activated, they produce 1.5 g of acceleration.