MISSION LOG – SOL 63
Today we write to you from the rover. We’re halfway through Sirius 3 and things are going well.
I say “we” because, once again, I’m not alone. This time my traveling companion is Starlight. This time there aren’t any clouds of smoke, and there isn’t any gasping for breath in the sudden unexpected heat wave produced by the RTG. The patch of insulation I reassembled is doing its job of keeping just enough heat in the rover to keep things comfy despite it being nighttime on Mars outside. If it gets too hot, I can yank it out again.
We set out just before dawn and drove past the little crater northwest of the Hab and then made large laps of the complex, staying out of the gullies for the most part. The first battery lasted just under two hours. After a quick EVA to switch the cables, we drove until the second battery was down to 10% charge. Result: 82 kilometers in 3 hours and 31 minutes.
Of course, this was the absolute best case scenario. I’ll have to climb down and up through gullies in Acidalia Planitia, and then there’ll be more rugged territory closer to my destination. I can’t even guess how much that’ll eat into my efficiency. And, of course, climbing up onto crater-ridden Arabia Terra on the trip to Ares IV will be much worse.
I was able to stretch the battery a little by turning off the oxygen pump. Starlight’s open suit provides enough oxygen for the both of us and seems to do all right at whisking away carbon dioxide. I keep the circulator fans on to keep the air mixed, because Starlight’s suit system doesn’t have much circulation pressure. It wasn’t built to be the life support for a van-sized pressure vessel. The rover fans prevent the bad air from collecting somewhere and maybe choking us in our sleep.
After the drive I set up the solar cells. Starlight was given permission to use magic again a couple of days ago, but she left the magic batteries in the Hab for this test. Besides, though I’ve seen the ponies do amazing things with hooves in space suits, I don’t want to stake my life on how they handle the solar panels. They’re pretty awkward to handle, and I’m better built to do it.
Then we sat through the long Martian day, with one quick EVA to swap the power cable again. Mostly we stayed quiet. Starlight said nothing at all while I was driving. After we stopped for the day she tried to strike up conversations, but it’s clear she doesn’t trust her English for all the questions she has. We tried talking about who we have back home (her friends, my parents and my fellow crew), but that ran out pretty quickly. We tried describing our worlds, and that ran aground on vocabulary issues pretty fast. Finally she asked me to read aloud from the Agatha Christie book I’m currently on, and I did that for half an hour until my throat got hoarse. (Or was it hoarse got my throat? Rimshot!)
Anyway, the batteries were both fully charged almost exactly at sundown. If I were relying on solar panels alone it might have been iffy, but remember that the RTG is a generator, too. I brought it for the heat, but it also produces one hundred watts all the time whether it’s plugged into anything or not. So why not plug it in?
It’s clear the RTG worries Starlight. Apparently ponies have never felt the need to explore nuclear energy at all. Considering their methods as applied to other technologies as I’ve observed them so far, their world ought to be grateful. But she does understand radioactivity to an extent, to the point that she’s twice tried to find a place for the shitbox farther away from the hotbox. The problem is, there’s very little room to spare in the rover, and I’ve already put the honey bucket as far as I can from the RTG. But it’s still too close for Starlight.
She reacted to it better than Dragonfly, though. Dragonfly took one look at it and bolted back into the Hab. Starlight tells me the bug let out quite a hiss.
With reflexes like that, I think Dragonfly might have a bright future as a NASA safety engineer. It’s a shame that her actual insanely risky thoughts override those reflexes so often.
In a minute I’ll shut this down and declare bedtime. The computer and interior lights don’t burn much electricity, but they do burn some. Even though tomorrow’s drive will be less than a kilometer, I want to start the habit of conserving power for driving.
Tomorrow, once we get back to the Hab, I need to do final prep work for the trip. I need to load food for myself and for Starlight (who I assume will make the trip with me, along with her life support saving suit), water for me, and my tools. But I won’t get to leave the next day, because it’s time to dig up the seed potatoes, replant the plants they grew from, and use the spuds to start the food crops in both the Hab and the cave.
ETD for Sirius 4, to Ares Valles, Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and back, is one hour before dawn three sols from now- Sol 66.
By my math, I’ll get back from the trip almost on the day the pony food packs run out.
God, I hope this trip is worth it.
Couple of things...
It may be useful to use magic for the switchover of the batteries in order to avoid an EVA. But it may be too complex.
The other one is why bring water? They have Starlight suit that can dispense as much water as they want.
Not really useful to bring water.
So are we going for the Sojourner rover in this mission?
Found a tool to calculate booster performances for missions!
https://elvperf.ksc.nasa.gov/default.aspx
8721129
Great. Now I want that animated.
Welp, everything seems good to go. This might actually not suck.
I know Mark acknowledges just how bad an idea that is in the very next sentence, but I still have to appreciate this.
After waiting for Mark to finnaly ask what Dragonfly eats, and getting the answer in the form of "HUGS" . i'm disapointed its not come up again. More than 60 days and he's still kinda happy being ignorant about it ? especially with all the planning he has to do with food?
8721156 It's available in case Starlight's suit fails somehow. Mark's a good NASA boy; if he has the luxury of redundancy, he goes for redundancy.
8721158 Yes. Pathfinder and Sojourner both.
8721201 To be fair, Mark has a LOT on his mind, and the ponies haven't bothered him about food for Dragonfly, so it's a low priority for him at the moment. So when he asks about it and gets a joke response (he thinks), he lets it lie until later.
Aaand... I finally realize that a new chapter is up.
Im curious why Dragonfly reacted the way she did. Hearing about the RTG didnt get much reaction, but put her in front of it and she starts waxing profane in ancient Changeling.
8721231
Because unlike Starlight, who while she is cognizant of the dangers, doesn't have the finely tuned changeling danger sense. Dragonfly realizes that using an RTG for a space heater is very high on the list of "DO NOT DO THIS" that I am sure is at CSP.
8721197
In fairness, the fact that he now only technically needs to feed 4/6 is pretty fucking sweet given the situation, Best not to look the gift bughorse in the mouth.
Texas seems like the worst state possible to have a furry convention. Super right wing, super hot. It just sounds like holding a nudist convention in a Mosque in the Arctic.
Okay, I'm just going to poke a few commenters here and say that the RTG is not THAT dangerous.
Yes, it's pretty much extremely lethal radiation if breached, but it's not exactly a china-dish waiting to break. And it's not made of AnimeExplodium that bulges and erupts in fire if so much as looked at wrong.
Considering it was built on earth and withstood a rocket launch and then a mars landing, it should at least be designed to NRC specs. If that is indeed the case, then nothing they have on the ground shy of having a dragon take a bite out of it directly should even remotely threaten the integrity of the case.
A healthy dose of respect and some not-idiotic treatment of the device and there should be zero problems with it.
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Lol
8721229
This is why I LOVE this story. On marse it makes sense to be extra careful and mark is just that.
While in other stories I would expect something like just having a suit, a cosmic ray disrupts the magic and no water and cheap conflict. In this storie Mark is trying to do everything right.
Now we still have equestrian creatures who act like dumb kids most of the time (the "I have plan with and without making sure it's safe I'll just try it and not let anyone know what I'm doing" kind of dumb), but not overly so, and they seem to be learning.
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Screwdriver, wrench and plier would do marvellous to open it... Just follow the design and open it up as for maintenance ^^;;;
8721238
Actually, most changelings have next to no self-preservation instincts especially when it comes to new and interesting things. Dragonfly, rather than being terrified of the RTG, should have needed supervision to keep her from opening it to see how it worked.
So what about the RTG would override her natural curiosity and push her straight into an instinctual fear response?
8721335
Which falls under the purview of: "not-idiotic treatment of the device"
You know, same as 'not using the device as a football' or 'not launching the device from a makeshift trebuchet to see how far it'll fly in martian gravity' or my personal favorite 'not strapping explosives to the device to see if it can handle the blast'.
Why would you even CONSIDER disassembling the device when you know the interior will kill you?
Interesting....
8721229
Be careful. Some asshole tried to gas a convention of furry's a few months back.
Gods know why.
Mark needs to get some Incredible Hulk shows going to get the ponies up to speed on the 'dangers' of radiation. :P
I think Dragonfly would love a creature that gets powered by emotions.
8721338
I have 2 guesses:
1. radioactivity is the "natural enemy" of love
2. radioactivity is a form of love[and the lead(used to contain the radioactivity) is what scares Dragonfly]
Since when Chrysalis was in space in Changeling Space Program, she stated she felt loved by the universe[and cosmic rays are comparable to radioactive-radiation], 2 might be the case. Then again, I recall Dragonfly stating that this place hates them, and I am not sure if she meant it figuratively[supporting 1].
8721182
That's pretty awesome.
8721285 True. But NASA gives it much more respect than some people might consider healthy because the consequences of screwing the pooch with an RTG are dire indeed.
8721338 Changelings are not limited to the usual senses. As will be seen next chapter, just as Chryssy feels a sense of being loved when she's in outer space, when Dragonfly sees the RTG she sees indifferent, unnegotiable death barely checked.
Probably covered already with some magic reason why it wouldn't work, but there are far too many comments to sort through. Still it's a pity that they can't dissolve some sugar into at least some of the water supplies, before it is magically transferred over.
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My gosh,does that mean "my Little Boy,uranium is magic?" Harmful/harmless radiation is hate/love?
Why don't they just use Goku's instant transmission technique?
Sheesh, do I have to think of EVERYTHING?!
8721395 Being a native Jersian, I see large quantities of radioactive toxic waste as mother's milk.
megalomangione.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/toxic-avenger.jpg (Little did anyone realize this was actually a biopic...)
8721353
That was a little over a year ago, if memory serves. Maybe a year and a half. Either way, that event, along with the general chaos nowadays has tempered any desire to visit conventions held in the US.
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Hope you have fun at TFF!
8721416
Carbon bonds react somewhat violently to the transfer.
8721395
NASA probably doesn't do it nearly as paranoid as nuclear reactors on a submarine: To comment on my father's own experience...
"Two people ran the reactor at any given time. We did everything BY the BOOK. Verbatum. One guy would read the manual. The other guy would repeat back what the first guy would read and make the adjustment. There were no exceptions. Failure to do so would see you out of that position very fast."
But yes, I'm aware of how lethal radioactive materials in a critical or near-critical state can be. Safety is important. But sometimes I think the people writing about it misrepresent how people THINK around dangerous equipment. There's this hangup that seems to occur that makes it seem like the character is absolutely paranoid of what they're dealing with. Like they're handling a box made of eggshells containing an angry cat made out of hate and pain that's constantly quivering for escape so that it can maul your face off.
Dealing with an RTG shouldn't require that kind of mental paranoia. A healthy respect of 'don't bang it around unnecessarily' and 'don't try and take it apart for ANY reason' should be enough. Maybe strap on a few 'don't store it here' caveats for the 'just in case' mindset. But otherwise, it's not Christmas china.
EDIT:
Also, have you been reading Andrew J. Talon's "Hands" stuff? Because the changeling fear of nuclear fire sounds like what they have in "Hands". Chrysalis is TERRIFIED of humans. Because humans have NUKES.
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I was just answering to
Also taking a bite off it falls under the purview of:"idiotic treatment of the device" ^^;;;
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I know. It's not hard to realize you need to respect something like an RTG and Plutonium in it. It's the same kind of respect you give a cliff-edge with a 10,000 foot drop. You can oohhh and aaahhh at it. Look over the side. All that stuff. But you know better than to start tapdancing and doing summersaults on the edge, or digging at it with a jackhammer while standing on the cliff-side of the jackhammer.
But that doesn't mean you need to attach 20 bungie cords or pack a parachute while having an army of rescue spotters just to take a photo.
THAT is the kind of paranoid mindset everyone seems to be getting when they're written.
Yes, the RTG is a hot box filled with radioactive death. If I break it, I understand I'm looking at a high risk of getting irradiated. But that would require some pretty neglectful stupidity on my part. You know, like 'driving a car on the interstate while blindfolded' stupid.
The thing is built rugged. And mistreating it would be a death sentence. But it doesn't need to be treated like it's a box of nitroglycerine made of fine china.
Oh no no no I'm a rocket mare
Rocket mare burning out her fuse up here alone...
8721447
Ah. Well, that would do the trick.
Starlight and Mark on a road trip is gonna be fun. There has been a lot less of our adorable little magic horse since she fried her magic whilst saving mark from the perchlorate bomb.
8721022
Fur doesn't necessarily mean a lower high temperature tolerance, though; cats, for instance, if I remember correctly, have a significantly higher high temperature tolerance than humans.
Interesting reaction from Dragonfly. Hope we get to see a bit of that reaction explored next chapter.
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The plants are at the ground level, this is important because as you pointed out it's going to be warmer at the ground level, and especially underground where the pipes are. The heat capacity of air is barely a joule per cubic meter per degree, so essentially even an industrial ventilation system is only going to contribute a few watts (a cubic meter a second would be like 80 watts of heating, which is pretty negligible). The 800 Watts of space heaters I wasn't sure they were using because how would they power them? You can't exactly run an extension cord through the air lock to solar panels outside the cave, and solar panels in the cave are just soaking up sunlight that would have been heat in the cave anyway.
In terms of sunlight transfer yes, I am making very conservative estimates. I don't even think potatoes would grow at 400 W/m^2 irradiance. So let's change the numbers.
If Starlight's sunlight collectors can actually magically amplify the light to a full 1000 W/m^2 comparable to Earth then you can get far better. 1000W/m^2*1814m^2*5 hours/24.67 hours = 367.7 kW of heating averaged through a Sol.
The water heater we'll keep the original 90C drop 500 Liter/h assumption for 52.5 kW heating. Honestly the issue with going much higher than this is what you're doing with all the excess water, since this is a very low figure for a "fire hose" sized output, but you're filling over 12 cubic meters of space with water a day. I'm not sure you'd even be able to manage that for very long. You'd probably have to vent it to the outside and let it sublimate.
So that gives us about 420 kW of continuous heating. Using the previous equation:
420,000 W = (4 W/(m*K)*1986 m^2+.5*1814m^2)*∆T/ 2m
We get ∆T=94.9 Celsius.
So the temperature inside the cave assuming -50 C as the average outside the cave would be 44.9 C or 113 farenheit. Which would be uncomfortable the opposite direction, lol. It won't reach quite that high because some is captured in photosynthesis (which I was ignoring before for a best case scenario).
Though this math is all calculating eventual steady states, it would take quite some time (weeks probably) to reach the steady state. When the cave started to get too hot you'd turn off the water heater to save on the amount of water you were filling the cave with, and adjust the sunlight intensity to keep it cooler. It's worth noting with almost all the heat coming from sunlight you'd have some degree of temperature swing during the day and night, but less than you might think because rock isn't a good insulator, but it is pretty good at buffering temperature swings.
So really what all this math indicates is that space heaters, warm air life support, and even the water heater are almost negligible factors compared to just how good Starlight's starlight system is. If it collects all sunlight available, if it magnifies it magically (or collects over 2.5x the area it projects on to), how much space of the cave it's targeting. Depending on those variables you can be either freezing to death or sweltering.
Incidentally the pony airlock being unobtanium instead of canvas helps a lot with the eventual failure of the Hab airlock. The pony airlock assuming proper construction will last decades since metal fatigue takes a whole lot more cycles and stress than canvas fatigue. Future missions might even be able to use Site Epsilon as a base of operations and food supply. (Though that depends if the pony atmospheric regulator is left operational, if it's not then the plants will eventually kill themselves for lack of CO2. Likewise if the starlight system fails.)
Sad thing is, if its like most reactors, you probably be exposed to more radiation eating a banana than you would hugging it. (I'm just guessing, since I have no clue how heavily they would shield such an rtg that would be used near humans, for a little while(until disposed of))
I suddenly wonder what happens when you try to charge a magic battery with nuclear power. Probably nothing. Likely explosions.
Welcome to the show RTG.
We will avoid him and bury him and call him Grogar.
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Yes, this. How does she know?
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I had a thought. Given Cherry's vast and intmate grasp of invective across multiple languages, how much Ancient Changeling has she picked up in the last four years? Would she know what Dragonfly said?
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Commercial nuclear power plants are big facilities with plenty of room for shielding. An RTG that has to go on a rocket will have as much shielding as it absolutely needs and no more. That said, the dangers of radiation have more to do with the dangers of way too much radiation, such as when some idiot safety tech tries to clean up the powdered remains of a particle beam on fixed target experiment with a hand vac (missing filter--FOOMP). If you have control of your exposure level, you're probably not in trouble yet, because you're deliberately exposing yourself to some safe level.
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Just saw this comment and was reminded of the rocket construction crew using fuel tanks as basketballs because "they hardly ever explode" and Occupant helping to calculate the landing impact tollerances for the Swivel engine by dropping it until it broke.
It's probably a Good Thingtm that Dragonfly finds the RTG to be an Evil Eldritch Box of Horrible Doom and Maker of Bad Days.
8721940
I believe they're sending the cold water back.
Anyone else like me really wishing we could have seen that speculation on what the ponies looked like beneath their space suit by the people on Earth before they get communication going?
I expect people would have jumped to cold-blooded herbivores just based off them going all vegetarian packs but only having roughly 60% the food consumption of humans. Since being cold blooded is the easiest way to save that much energy, especially given their activity level doesn't seem that much lower than Mark's.
Or speculation by Nasa on how they managed to move the Amicitas. That would have been interesting.
The thoughts of people on earth are so fascinating to me in this story.
So why was it that the Ares vegetarian packs only extended it 27 days instead of 33?
8722202
rtgs are significantly lower power than commercial plants as well...
8721395
Contextual Connotation Perception.
Changelings can sense the thematic alignment of narrative elements. What emotion might you associate with the following?
Space? Wonder.
Love? Fulfillment.
New world? Curiosity.
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator? BAD! BAD! BAD! NOT MY FACE!