[ WP ] A team of Extra Terrestrial scientists reach Earth , which they deemed `` potentially habitable '' from their planet , and are astonished by their findings .

Designation: System R4YX91 
 
 Planetfall final report: 
 
 Long distance scans suggested that likely candidates for colonization in this system included the third and fourth rocky bodies. Both appeared to be within an acceptable tolerance for the presence of liquid water on their surfaces. The crew understood the risks in taking this mission but really what other option was there. 
 
 I accepted the command of this mission as the single most important venture of our species entire history. Extra-solar colonization had never been attempted before, the energy costs associated with this mission made it prohibitively expensive. A journey of 10.7 light years, the cost of which could easily have constructed a fleet capable of visiting our outer planets. However we took the chance. 
 
 Travelling at close to the speed of light we could not adequately conduct further scans of the destination on a continual basis. However stopping at the midway point, although energy intensive, permitted us the opportunity to confirm our long distance scans. 
 
 The signs were better than anyone had ever expected. High resolution imagery suggested that the third planet is a water planet, over 70 % of it's surface was covered in liquid water. I could hardly contain my excitement to see lighting on the land masses, scattered across the entire planet. Intelligent life without a doubt. We held at the mid point, 5 light years away. We stay longer than I intended just watching the planet rotating, watching the lights turn on as the night/day terminator passed over. 
 
 We engaged the drive again. 7 more years, from our perspective before we arrived at our destination ( time/relative effects considered ). The energy in the drives would be depleted. It was a one-shot trick. I put the crew and passengers to sleep and then myself. 7 years and we could share with our new neighbours all the culture, art, music. I had not felt such tremendous fear and delight simultaneously. 
 
 I write this in orbit over the system, the crew and the passengers all 15,000 of them are descending into the atmosphere of the third planet. The mission is a complete failure. We have invested the entire energy budget of half a world getting here. Our species last hope for survival was reaching out to this potentially habitable world. I could hardly believe our luck that there would be an intelligence who might be willing to assist our survival 
 
 I can not explain what has happened, the lights are all gone, the water is all gone. In 7 years something terrible has happened. Somehow a tipping point was reached in the atmosphere of this planet, the percentage of carbon dioxide and methane we see now was nowhere near that of previous scans. The planet is a desert, the biodiversity is gone. 
 
 This planet has doomed us all.
