"...the NASA astronomers who discovered this are certain there are many more like it in the solar system ..." My goodness. Shall we look for them beyond the Oort Cloud, or is it suspected they are lurking in the asteroid belt?
Aside from the dubious examples of comic book heroes, there is not a single character here from written science fiction. How about some mention of Poul Anderson's "My Name Is Joe"? The idea behind "Avatar" does not start with James Cameron! In this classic (if you can read, anyway), a disabled Ed Anglesy wears a crafted avatar body ("Joe") to explore the environment of Jupiter. The science is good - the gale force winds, strange life forms, water ice as a forgeable metal - and the plot is exhilerating. And original to Mr. Anderson, I might add. Ed finally gets fed up with returning to his wheelchair bound body in the research station, and shorts out the transfer device so he permanently reverts to the Joe body. Not only does he get his legs back, he gets 4 of them.
