This reminds me of a line in a song by Atmosphere—“If this was uncharted land I’d have to be a smarter man…”
and since the universe is pretty much uncharted territory to us it’ll take a while to set the ground work for future space exploration. Like technology it should only get better and better faster and faster.

Anyway, your story has a large scope. The disappointment of not finding life elsewhere makes it realistic. Maybe they are all hiding under the ice in an ocean close to the hot core of one of Jupiter’s moons.

Great portrait of the guy there at the beginning, classic nerd guy. Great start and a fun little story.

I love this! Quite ingenious!