Solar Sailor

The solar sailor split from its ancestor and devised a new reproductive system that has helped it spread across Sagan 4 dramatically. The solar sailor starts as a small sprout that grows on temperate and tropical beaches around Sagan 4. The sprout spends time storing water which it can later split into hydrogen and oxygen. When it has enough water, it splits it and disposes of the oxygen through stomata-like pores. The hydrogen stored in the sprout soon makes it break off of its stem and rise into the air. The adolescent solar sailor now spends months photosynthesizing in the atmosphere. When it has enough energy, it starts producing and storing spores in an otherwise empty sack-like organ. When it has produced enough spores, the solar sailor slowly releases the hydrogen through the stomata-like pores. If it released it too fast, the air around it could catch on fire due to the chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. Finally, the solar sailor floats safely down to the surface of Sagan 4. It will commonly end up in the ocean, but if this happens, it is not a problem, for the currents will bring it to land. When the sailor reaches land, it will release its spores which would then grow into new sprouts. It will only release its spores if the air is warm enough and dry enough, for it cannot grow in polar regions or the middle of the ocean. It gets its scientific name from Homer, a Greek poet who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.