LV-426

LV-426 as seen in Aliens

LV-426, also known as Acheron and home to a small population of xenomorphs (stranded from a crash-landing), is the name of the fictitious moon (frequently but erroneously referred to as a planet) where the Alien was first encountered by humans in the movie Alien (1979) of the Alien Series. It bears a strong resemblance to Saturn's moon, Titan.

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

LV-426 is a moon in orbit around a gas giant in the Zeta II Reticuli system, which lies beyond the "Outer Rim." LV-426 has .86 Earth gravity and is geologically active, judging from its surface composition (igneous rock, "lava base") and steam vents on its surface. Prior to terraforming, the atmosphere consisted mostly of nitrogen, crystalised carbon dioxide, and methane, and its temperature was well below the Celsius line. The source materials differ widely on the diameter of this world: figures of 1,200 m, 1,200 km and 12,201 km are given in different sources. Out of these, 12,201 km (from the [[Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual]]) is the only one that is possible given the surface gravity.

In 2122, the commercial starship Nostromo, on a return trip to Earth, intercepted an extraterrestrial transmission originating from the moon's surface. The transmission was an acoustical beacon repeating at 12-second intervals, emanating from a derelict alien spacecraft (the Derelict). While investigating the ship, which appeared to have crash-landed on the moon eons ago, one of the Nostromo crew members was infected by a parasitic alien organism (which, the film implies, was also responsible for the death of the derelict ship's pilot). The creature emerged from the crewman's chest after the Nostromo left the moon's surface and killed the entire crew except for Warrant Officer Ripley. Ripley destroyed the Nostromo and escaped in a small shuttlecraft.

Ripley's shuttle drifted through space for 57 years, during which time Ripley remained in suspended animation. Her employers, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation (who knew about the alien lifeform all along) covered up the incident, and established a colony on LV-426. They made the world habitable with the aid of an enormous, fusion-powered atmosphere processor and established a terraforming colony called "Hadley's Hope." However, fortunately, they did not know the location of the derelict, thus preventing them from gaining access to the alien egg chamber.

When Ripley's shuttle was found by a deep-space salvage team in 2179, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation used this as an opportunity to re-acquire the alien species lying dormant on LV-426. Company representative Carter Burke ordered a team from Hadley's Hope to investigate the coordinates of the derelict—an order which ultimately led to the infestation of the entire colony.

Worried about the loss of communications with the colony, and secretly desiring to recover the alien species as a biological weapon, the Company arranged for a squad of United States Colonial Marines to investigate, with Ripley as a consultant. Due to unforeseen circumstances and incompetent leadership, the Marines were massacred. The atmosphere processor was critically damaged during the battle, causing a catastrophic explosion which destroyed the colony and, presumably, the derelict ship. Ripley, Corporal Hicks, a little girl nicknamed Newt, and a Marine android known as Bishop were the only ones who managed to escape.

According to the computer game Aliens versus Predator, the derelict ship survived the explosion and the Company established a new colony, atmosphere processor, and research facility dedicated to studying the derelict ship and its contents. All were destroyed ten years later during a second alien infestation, when an unnamed Marine disabled the atmosphere processor's cooling systems, causing another explosion.

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