(The) Outpost - Deep Space/Outer Solar System/Interstellar (pre-Pandora/Avatar?)

Setting (general story/scenario, & other notes)

UNFINISHED - rough story-scenario notes

right now, this is mostly a setting-scenario, taken from a sequence of dreams that i once had. 

Deep Space/Outer Solar System/Interstellar
 

- An extra-solar (or is it *extrasolar?) object, just outside the solar system; manned mission to, base on, etc.

(A standalone story idea/scenario, that possibly also works as a prelude/prologue/prequel/previous incident-events/whatever to humans going to Pandora, in the Avatar universe)

On the edge of interstellar space, & (humanity is) on the edge of exploring it... (circa late 2000's to early 2100's say?)

EXTRA-SOLAR OBJECT (dwarf/small-planet sized?) - provisional/default/working name 'Chthon'

there is a human/manned outpost in Deep Space/Outer Solar System/Interstellar planetary/asteroidal base way out on the edge of the outer solar system/in near interstellar space (from a dream i had; trying to remember more); very cold, very dark, very empty, isolated/alone...  

trans neptunian objects, kuiper belt, oort cloud, something way out there on/in the edge of, the sol system, or just beyond that "edge"? (just barely kinda sorta maybe outside the solar system, but not by much?)  a rocky/icy mass? (how large; big enough to be useful, not big enough for gravity to be a major problem for lauching/landing? a few hundred miles, max?)   base established in/on/at there?

specs: 

an icy-rocky (dwarf?) planet? extra-solar object, not orbiting sol(?) (or captured by sol maybe?), but orbiting the galaxy as part of the local group. (look up sol system distance mapping for positioning it, but it's supposed to be on the edge of interstellar space, say ~ 1 light year or more/less? ship drive capabilities /speed are relevant for this story/setting)  let's say it is part-way through a pass-by of sol system, lasting 1000 yrs or more?  

-interesting stuff can happen there

1st extra-solar manned expedition

how fast should the ship be?  

if it's ~1 light year... ? (1/4, 1/5, 1/10 light-speed? more/less)

closer/further? 

*remember the time-lag/gap for communications: ~1yr to earth/sol(!?)  

(how should it compare for distance with the furthest known sol-orbiting object?)

it is a cold/dark/sunless void out there 

base on the planet?  orbital facility? ship(s)? etc...-_?

 advanced scientific/research facility?

(& mining, resources, "prospecting"?)

near-future late 2000's to early 2100's (century)?; technology better than ours (current 2019), but not by all that much.

-but there is a lot of activity inside the solar system

- just reaching out of the solar system, barely interstellar; not enough for manned ships to reach another star system (or just barely good enough to reach the nearest; after a long voyage?) -unmanned probes? 

USES:  

astronomy/observatories, probes, etc. ? near-ish future? later this century (2000s) to early next (2100s)?

exo-geo studies, chem, other sciences. 

prospecting/mining?

ice crypt/cryo?  outer sol sys in general?  planet or orbit or micro-grav large asteroid scenarios?  ice crypt for cryo on chthon specifically, offering a long-term jouirney into the deep insterstellar unknown for the adventurous/ambitious dead (xD)? time-capsule/archive?  

testing & construction facilities space-dock, etc. ?

any evidence of life? (pan-spermia?) &/or sentients? ...aliens/artifacts? - alien life? do i want life, aliens, sentient life?something like an  - ice cthulhu -ish sort of thing, maybe?

what about a story about the first (manned) mission/ship to there? :) 

adventure series?  (sort of like space:1999?  maybe not; more structured story-arc if anything? less forced-effort to get big interesting stories & avoid bad science!) 

possible planet-names:

chthon

cthon

chthonia

cthonia

ctonio

odysseus  (homer, the odessey, etc....? ?)  

orpheus