The Andromeda Strain

A detailed Summary of The Andromeda Strain


The Andromeda Strain takes place in the 1960's in the United States, primarily in the southwest region of the continent. The military is launching a series of satellites for a project called SCOOP. The satellites were sent out to enter the Earth's orbit and collect microorganisms for study. The final satellite in the SCOOP series landed in a small town in Arizona called Piedmont. Once the capsule was discovered by a local inhabitant, the population instantly dropped from forty-eight down to two. The satellite recovery team loses contact with the base, and then the military sends out specially equipped aircraft to survey the town. The films taken by the aircraft reveal dead bodies sprawled out all over the streets of the town. In fear that a biological crisis has occurred, the military calls on its specially trained team called "Wildfire." The Wildfire team was sent to Piedmont to investigate, and they found two survivors left in the town. One of the survivors was an anemic man, and the other was a wailing infant. The team then collects the capsule (or the downed SCOOP satellite) and travels to a secret laboratory in Nevada to study the evidence and devise a solution. The duration of the story consists of the team going


through certain procedures in order to discover all that they can about this new organism.

Microscopic analysis of the satellite reveals that a small black meteor covered with small green specks is embedded in the outer wall of the satellite. The green specks are observed to expand on the surface of the rock. Mass spectrometry performed on the rock and the green specks show that both the rock and the green specks are organic, consisting mainly of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Amino acid analyses reveal that no amino acids known on Earth, and therefore no proteins, exist within the structure of the microorganism. This concept is explained perfectly, and told by a man who obviously know what he is talking about. The plausibility of this concept, however, is still undetermined. All living organisms on Earth are made up of proteins, and all chemical reactions that take place within a cell rely on enzymes. Without proteins it may not even be possible for an extraterrestrial cell to live.



Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1015
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science

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