I brought the reaction chamber in. I briefly considered only bringing one tank of hydrazine in at a time to reduce risk. But some back-of-the-napkin math told me even one tank was enough to blow the whole Hab up. So I brought them all in. Why not?
One thing I have in abundance here are bags. They’re not much different from kitchen trash bags, though I’m sure they cost $50,000 because of NASA.
Also, I have duct tape. Ordinary duct tape, like you buy at a hardware store. Turns out even NASA can’t improve on duct tape.
Well, that took a really long time. I’ve been at it all night with the hydrazine. But I got the job done. I could have finished faster, but I figured caution’s best when setting fire to rocket fuel in an enclosed space.
“How many backup communications systems does an Ares mission have?” Venkat asked. “Four,” Chuck said. “Three,” Morris said. “No, it’s four,” Chuck corrected. “He said backup systems,” Morris insisted. “That means not including the primary system.” “Oh right. Three.”
There’s too much shit to think about all at once. So for now, I’ll just think about power. Our mission had a 10-
There’s too much shit to think about all at once. So for now, I’ll just think about power. Our mission had a 10-kilometer operational radius. Knowing we wouldn’t take straight-line paths, NASA designed the rovers to go 35 kilometers on a full charge. That presumes flat, reasonable terrain. Each rover has a 9000-watt-hour battery. Step one is to loot Rover 1’s battery and install it in Rover 2. Ta-daa! I just doubled my full-charge range. There’s just one complication. Heating. Part of the battery power goes to heating the rover. Mars is really cold. Normally, we were expected to do all EVAs in
There’s too much shit to think about all at once. So for now, I’ll just think about power.
The pressure compartment is made of carbon composite. Just inside that is insulation, which is covered by hard plastic. I used a sophisticated method to remove sections of plastic (hammer), then carefully removed the solid foam insulation (hammer again). After tearing out some insulation,
The pressure compartment is made of carbon composite. Just inside that is insulation, which is covered by hard plastic. I used a sophisticated method to remove sections of plastic (hammer), then carefully removed the solid foam insulation (hammer again). After tearing out some insulation,
The pressure compartment is made of carbon composite. Just inside that is insulation, which is covered by hard plastic. I used a sophisticated method to remove sections of plastic (hammer), then carefully removed the solid foam insulation (hammer again).
According to NASA, a human needs 588 liters of oxygen per day to live.
“Jesus, what a complicated process,” Venkat said. “Try updating a Linux server sometime,” Jack said. After a moment of silence, Tim said, “You know he was telling a joke, right? That was supposed to be funny.” “Oh,” said Venkat. “I’m a physics guy, not a computer guy.” “He’s not funny to computer guys, either.” “You’re a very unpleasant man, Tim,”
Mark, some answers to your earlier questions: No, we will not tell our Botany Team to “Go fuck themselves.”
Hohmann Transfer Window. Presupply 309 was launched third. The
The water reclaimer was designed to purify urine and strain humidity out of the air (you exhale almost as much water as you piss).
“Do you believe in God, Venkat?” Mitch asked. “Sure, lots of ’em,” Venkat said. “I’m Hindu.” “Ask ’em all for help with this launch.” “Will do.”
“If I can ever prove it was you, I’ll find a way to fire you for it,” Teddy warned. “Sure.” Mitch shrugged. “But if I wasn’t willing to take risks to save lives, I’d…” He thought for a moment. “Well, I guess I’d be you.”
My guess is pockets of ice formed around some of the bacteria, leaving a bubble of survivable pressure inside, and the cold wasn’t quite enough to kill them. With hundreds of millions of bacteria, it only takes one survivor to stave off extinction. Life is amazingly tenacious. They don’t want to die any more than
My guess is pockets of ice formed around some of the bacteria, leaving a bubble of survivable pressure inside, and the cold wasn’t quite enough to kill them. With hundreds of millions of bacteria, it only takes one survivor to stave off extinction. Life is amazingly tenacious. They don’t want to die any more than I do.
Staying alive isn’t about oxygen, it’s about getting rid of CO2.
“My people have especially commented on the work ethic of your man, Mitch Henderson. He is very dedicated.” “He’s a pain in the ass,” Teddy said. Su Bin paused before translating but pressed on. Guo Ming laughed. “You can say that,” he said. “I cannot.”
There’s an international treaty saying no country can lay claim to anything that’s not on Earth. And by another treaty, if you’re not in any country’s territory, maritime law applies. So Mars is “international waters.”
I dragged the popped bedroom into the Hab and gave it a good going-over. It failed at the seam where the wall met the ceiling. Makes sense. It’s a right angle in a pressure vessel. Physics hates that sort of thing.
The bedroom is awesome. Large, spacious, and comfortable. On the first night, I ran into a little problem with the temperature. It was fucking cold. The rover and trailer regulate their own temperatures just fine, but things weren’t hot enough in the bedroom. Story of my life.
Earth, the earliest way to work out longitude required them to know the exact time, then compare it to the sun’s position in the sky. The hard part for them back then was inventing a clock that would work on a boat (pendulums don’t work on boats). All the top scientific minds of the age worked on the problem.
I managed to thread the needle between Rutherford and Trouvelot nicely. Admittedly, the needle was 100 kilometers wide, but hey.
Air Day. A time for relaxation and speculation.
would accelerate us twenty-nine meters per second.”
As a chemist, Vogel knew how to make a bomb. In fact, much of his training was to avoid making them by mistake