While Solaris does not take place in a specific time period, Lem quickly reveals it is a story about space exploration in a distant future. Humans’ inability to understand the cosmos is core to both the human characters and their visitors. Solaris is described as a planet circling a binary star formation. Because scientists determined life could not exist on such a planet, Solaris was initially deemed uninteresting. Then researchers stumbled upon an anomaly: According to known science, the planet’s orbit should move it closer to its red sun, but Solaris refused. This led scientists to question if the planet itself made this decision. They traveled to Solaris, studying it and trying to evoke a response. While the planet’s ocean, with its ability to create mimoids (small constructs and visitors) and symmetriads (structures), seemed capable of mimicking human activity, scientists could never prove it was alive. However, it is later revealed that several records detailing mimoids and symmetriads were disregarded as evidence by authorities—simply because they didn’t adhere to specific standards.

Before Kris’s arrival at the space station, Dr. Snow, Dr. Sartorius, and Dr. Gibarian decided to conduct an unauthorized experiment, irradiating Solaris’s ocean with X-rays.