“Rich.”
Mike stood looking at Rich Purnell’s cubicle. Takeout boxes and scratch paper formed geological layers on either side of Rich’s monitor, with reference book inclusions and coffee mug geodes. The man himself had apparently achieved the perfect mind-meld with his computer monitor, clicking the mouse with his left hand even as he scribbled fresh notes with his right.
“Rich.” Mike put a hand on Rich’s shoulder. Rich in a working trance was much less physically dangerous than Rich sleeping.
Rich straightened up, blinked, and turned in his chair to face Mike. “What?”
“Your vacation is over, Rich. What the hell have you been doing?”
“Just a little side project,” Rich said, not meeting Mike’s eyes. “Something I wanted to-”
“I just got an order from Dr. Kapoor to bring you to his office right now,” Mike said. “Dr. Kapoor is pissed, Rich. He wants explanations. It looks like you’re about to be fired, and there’s nothing I can do about it anymore. Hell, I’m probably about to be fired, too!”
“But it’s not ready yet,” Rich said.
“Rich,” Mike said, taking a deep breath and trying not to think of the limited options his master’s degree in mathematics offered once he was blacklisted from government employment, “stand up and look around the room, please.”
Rich’s stubborn look changed to one of confusion, but he did as he was told. “Okay,” he said, after a quick sweep of the other cubicles with his eyes.
“That’s the rest of your team, Rich,” Mike replied. “Everybody at NASA is part of a team. And teams work together. Nobody tries to do everything themselves. If whatever this is was important enough to risk your job, then you need to tell us about it so we can all be working on it.”
“But it’s not ready,” Rich replied. “It might be a complete waste of time. I don’t want to waste anybody else’s time if it won’t work.”
“Rich, it’s too late for that,” Mike said. “If you or I don’t have something good to show Dr. Kapoor, and I mean really, really good, we are both out on our asses, do you understand me? It’s Judgment Day. What do you have that is good enough to save your job?”
Rich, to his credit, didn’t sulk or flounce back into his chair. He didn’t understand consideration of others or cooperation with others, but he did understand that he was supposed to, and he was generally ashamed when his failure to do so was called to his attention. Instead he clicked a few keys on the computer and stepped back to allow Mike to look more closely.
Mike looked. He scrolled down the screen. He grabbed papers at random, triggering a minor avalanche of trash at one point, and read them.
“Yeah,” he said in a choked voice. “This could be good enough.”
Venkat looked at the printout in his hands. It illustrated a complex trajectory stretching from Earth to Mars, then back to Earth, then back to Mars, then back to Earth a final time. “Sol 551?” he asked.
“Maybe,” Rich said. “Depends on the maximum velocity of the other vehicle, the reaction mass remaining for the VASIMR, the efficiency of the reverse Oberth effect… I’m still refining my estimates.”
Venkat tapped another part of the illustrated trajectory. “Isn’t this inside Venus’s orbit? That’s a flight-rules violation.”
“Hermes’s radiation mitigation systems can handle it,” Rich said. “Within the emergency margins, I mean.”
Venkat pointed back to Mars. “There’s no orbital insertion,” he said.
“Not enough reaction mass,” Rich said. “Also, need the speed to get back to Earth as soon as possible as a backup plan.”
“How will the MAV match speeds?”
Rich fumbled with the crumpled, coffee-stained papers he and Mike had brought with them, eventually pulling out three of them and handing them to Venkat. “Major modifications to the MAV,” he said. “Refueling the descent stage for extra lift. Adding thrusters from the alien ship to increase lift. The numbers are almost there. I just need a little more time.”
“How will Hermes have the supplies to get there?”
“We need another booster,” Rich said. “We could repurpose Sleipnir 3, but that’s not ideal, since so much of the payload is wasted with landing systems and other junk.”
“Okay.” Venkat set the printout down. The time had come to lead up to the big questions. “How did you bypass our approval system for sending emails through Pathfinder?”
“Approval system?” Rich looked blankly at Venkat.
Venkat returned the blank look. “You did know access to the aliens is restricted, right?” he asked. The question was both stupid and pressing. On the one hand, how could he not? On the other, how could he not?
“I didn’t know that,” Rich said simply. “I needed some answers and couldn’t ask Mike because I was on vacation.”
“In your cubicle,” Venkat said, shooting a glare at Mike. “Yes, we’re going to have a talk about that later. But you contacted them anyway. How?”
“I had the reply emails with the data I asked for about the alien ship’s performance,” Rich said. “I stripped out the headers and copied them into my system.”
Venkat blinked. “It can’t be that simple,” he said.
“It can’t be that simple!” Teddy snapped, his normally unruffled appearance breaking down for the first time Venkat could remember.
“Apparently it is,” Venkat said. “IT just added one extra flag in the headers for email requests to Pathfinder. If the flag is set to yes, the system automatically queues the message for transmission without human oversight. They did it that way to preserve privacy for pre-approved accounts. And all messages from Pathfinder automatically set the flag to yes. So when Purnell copied the headers, he got the approval flag without realizing it was even there.”
Teddy pulled himself together, his face returning to the reserved, proper expression he preferred. Only the pen in his hand, knocking against the desk, betrayed his continued agitation. “We’re going to have to re-evaluate that later,” he said. “It’s a tricky subject, but we can’t allow anyone else to do what Rich has done. For now, order all email headers stripped out of emails from Pathfinder except To, From, and Subject.”
“All right,” Venkat agreed.
“Now for the big question,” Teddy asked. “What was he asking about, and why?”
Venkat let out a long breath. “Purnell began with the idea of sending Hermes back to Mars without a refit,” he said. “Which is feasible, since we designed Hermes with a twenty-year operational life. The systems are robust. But the xenon tanks can’t be refilled without a refit. They’re removed and replaced in Earth orbit. There’s a massive safety margin in the tanks, but it’s not enough to break out of Mars orbit after the trip there. So Purnell’s main problem was getting Watney and his friends off of Mars on an escape trajectory that Hermes can rendezvous with.
“His main proposal addresses that, at least theoretically. Those numbers are still vague because Purnell is a trajectory man and theoretician- not an engineer. If we explore this option, we have to bring Bruce in, and maybe SpaceX too, to run the numbers properly. But it’d be tight all the way around, so Purnell wanted a better option- one that would get Mark, the ponies, Hermes, the whole lot of them, back to Earth in a few days.”
Teddy’s reserve broke again, his eyes widening in shocked realization. “The Sparkle Drive,” he said. “Purnell was trying to recreate the Sparkle Drive.”
“Almost,” Venkat said. “I don’t think Purnell ever thought we could build our own Sparkle Drive, or else orbital considerations and time wouldn’t apply. But one of the two designers of that drive is among the castaways, and we already know that crew was working on rebuilding their drive as part of an unworkable emergency-escape plan. And she sent us a pretty comprehensive writeup, complete with detailed equations in human mathematical terms for the underlying principles of the system.
“There are dozens of physicists, myself included, working on those equations, but we have other things on our minds- running Ares, teaching classes, raising families, and so on. But Purnell is pathologically single-minded. He doesn’t have distractions. What he did have was a rubber-stamped authorization to use the JSC supercomputers during low-traffic hours. That, and a good understanding of both Newtonian and quantum physics.
“Purnell was working on the problem of recharging the Sparkle Drive to avoid a repeat of the disaster that brought the aliens to our universe. He saw something in the description of the Drive that reminded him of string theory- he’s not the first to make that connection, by the way. Based on my own interactions with Starlight Glimmer, I’m guessing that the ponies haven’t explored quantum physics at all deeply, having focused instead on the physics of magic. Purnell’s proposed new equations, and the mathematical proofs he sent them, took them completely by surprise.”
“As much as magic took us by surprise?” Teddy asked.
“More so,” Venkat said. “To us magic is still a closed box, a mystery. We can’t relate. But Purnell’s modified equations struck the pony science community like a bomb because they could relate. He’d taken familiar structures and theorems and turned them inside out- and showed his work.
“And the tragic thing,” Venkat added, tapping the mass of papers on Teddy’s desk, “is that the whole thing is a dead end. Purnell thought the ponies already had all of this. He was hoping they would confirm a way of turning electrical current into magic power. But Starlight Glimmer already told me that magic power comes from a higher energy state than the other physical forces, so conversion is a practical impossibility. Purnell showed them a mathematical solution which, in theory, would make it expensive, but not impossibly so. If it checks out.”
“How is that a dead end?” Teddy asked.
“Imagine someone trying to convert matter into energy using Einstein’s equations,” Venkat asked. “In 1905. With no other knowledge than that the math says it should work.”
Teddy nodded. “Okay, I see,” he said. “Decades from now, maybe that would help, but you’re saying it won’t get Watney off Mars now.”
“That’s right.”
“Then what will?” Teddy asked. “Walk me through the proposed mission.”
Venkat pulled out the trajectory printout. “Hermes is due to begin braking thrusts in eleven days,” he said. “Instead of doing that, they accelerate. They fly by Earth to get a gravity assist, flinging them around the Sun inside the orbit of Venus. This puts them at Mars on approximately Sol 551. They take a specific trajectory which uses Mars’s gravity to slow them down relative to the Sun, which drops them back in-system for a new Earth intercept and a standard orbital insertion by aerobraking.
“Again, Hermes won’t orbit Mars. So the Ares IV MAV will have to be heavily modified. Somehow or other the alien ship will have to be hauled there- at least, all its engines and thrusters will, along with new batteries and a new Sparkle Drive. The main engines will be strapped to the outside of the MAV’s descent stage, which will be refueled using the residual hydrazine from the Ares III MDV and whatever other resources we can scrounge. We’ll strip any excess weight we can find from the MAV upper stages to make room for a small Sparkle Drive- Purnell was working within the five hundred kilo weight allowance for surface samples. The whole thing will launch as a three-stage rocket rather than the two stages it normally has.
“Purnell’s math works without the Sparkle Drive, but there’s practically no margin for error. Purnell didn’t like that, since he was using estimates rather than hard numbers. So he proposes three applications for the Sparkle Drive.” Venkat flipped over the trajectory sheet and used a pen to sketch Mars and a rocket leaving it. “First, the drive would be engaged as soon as the rocket lifted off, to get the ship out of atmosphere as fast as possible to reduce losses to air resistance. Then the ship would use Mars’s gravity to pick up speed while accelerating, to give the MAV enough linear momentum to match speeds with Hermes. The Sparkle Drive would then be used to bring the MAV close enough to Hermes for docking.
“And finally,” Venkat said, sketching Hermes next to the little rocket on the paper, “the Sparkle Drive would be adjusted for the addition of Hermes’s mass, and the whole assembly would be projected back to Earth. Given the power limitations of the Drive in our universe, Purnell estimates a month for the return journey if all goes well- eight days if the system recharges faster from the combined presence of the human and alien crews. And if the Drive fails, Hermes would still be on a return trajectory to Earth not later than eight months from the Mars flyby.
“Net result,” Venkat finished, “Mark and friends would be off Mars eight months earlier than scheduled and home at least six months ahead of schedule. Best case scenario, Mark would be home before Ares 3B is currently scheduled to depart.”
Teddy considered this. The pen continued to tap. “How feasible is this?” he asked.
“It has problems,” Venkat said. “Hermes doesn’t have supplies on board for the trip back to Mars, never mind the round trip or the additional mouths to feed. Purnell didn’t know enough about the MAV to make any practical suggestions for modifications. But they’re solvable problems.”
Teddy opened his mouth for another question, then shook his head. “We need a full staff meeting for this,” he said. “And we need to keep this quiet. We don’t want to get the public’s hopes up if we end up deciding not to do this.”
Venkat nodded. “I’ll pass the word discreetly,” he said. “When?”
“Tomorrow morning,” he said. “I want Bruce here in person for this, and it’ll take time to fly him in.”
“Got it,” Venkat said.
“In the meantime,” Teddy continued, “tell Purnell and his boss they’re not fired. His boss will have a reprimand entered into his employment record, and the matter will be closed.” He closed his eyes and added, “I’m picturing Purnell in my mind right now, Venk. I’m guessing a total media disaster if he gets on camera. Am I right?”
“I’m not Annie,” Venkat said. “But my judgment is, yes. Outside of government work or a university research center, he’d be totally unemployable. He’s just barely aware enough of his limitations to know people find him difficult, but he doesn’t know when or why.”
“Then keep a lid on him,” Teddy said. “The press probably have a photo of him by now. He’ll be mobbed the instant he leaves JSC. So do whatever you have to, short of physical force, to see to it he doesn’t leave. If we have to buy him new clothes and a steady diet of takeout, then that’s what we do.”
Venkat never understood why, when he asked Rich Purnell not to leave the space center grounds, Mike broke down laughing for three minutes straight.
8842390 Let's try genocide next! Yayyy! We won't know it won't work unless we try it! -the Bad Idea Bears
pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/337674535/baddiebears.jpg
sorry homie. that wrong. if that where the case it would take 5 times as long to get to mars.
The Maneuver would start as Hermes approached. Instead of Hermes executing its month long deceleration to get into LEO (Low Earth Orbit), Hermes would instead begin accelerating using its Ion Engines to preserve Hermes' velocity, and gain even more. As Hermes flies by Earth, it re-supplies, then uses Earth's gravity to preform a gravity assist to get Hermes moving even faster.
8844542 The Rich Purnell Maneuver trajectory can be viewed on multiple youTube videos. The relative positions of Earth and Mars require a trajectory inside Venus's orbit. The additional speed gets Hermes there quicker. that's all.
Sounds to me like magic and quantum mechanics might be two different ways of looking at the one underlying reality. Once Earth and Equestria are able to make full diplomatic contact and exchange their knowledge, I expect that technology will soon leap forward, incorporating aspects of both human-explored physics and pony-explored magic. 🤝👨🔧
And Rich Purnell could well be known as the grandfather of the magitech age.
Oh wow... somebody I can actually identify with. I've been in that situation a lot in the biology lab. And now I'm in the frantic position of trying to verify something I think actually works before we lose our funding... which we will anyway since the new overlords don't care about basic research anymore, but I can at least get a paper or two out of it.
Loving how the story is coming along! Slow burn, but with a sci-fi story that presents itself like The Martian does, especially in book form rather than a two-hour movie, that's to be expected.
I busted out laughing when I read the last line of the chapter.
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As did I. Especially since I was planning to post the message it conveyed if the author hadn't beat me to the punch.
8844542
Duel planet gravity assist.
Slingshotting around Venus will give Hermes a boost from our evil sister, our blue marble, and if REALLY lucky the moon. That would give the ship the equivalent of a nitrous oxide boost, but at the cost of not being slowed down enough to get into a LMO (Low Mars Orbit).
Rich was a genius coming up with it, just like in the book, and if this plan works he would be a hero on Earth and Equestria. Hell, he might be a diplomatic ambassador to Eques...
I know their exists the theory of using other gasses for an ion engine besides the nobles helium and xenon. If they need reaction mass they can use excess carbon as a possible solution. IT would be the equivalent of running your t-34 on vodka but its doable.
Ohohohoho. That was a nice red herring, I admit!
Because that's totally what I thought.
I love the last paragraph so much. XD Rich practically just got his ultimate dream there. I like the bit where even though he has trouble comprehending other people and his relationship to him, he at least feels a little ashamed knowing that he's failing at it. That's at least A step in the right direction (towards caring about other people). Shows he's not a bad guy, just wired differently.
8844603
He'd hate to be an ambassador. Dude just revolutionated theoretical magic back in equestria while trying to help, no need to punish him like that.
As Sunburst can attest, just because you're focusing more on theory than application doesn't mean you're not a wizard.
In any case, this wrinkle in the Purnell Maneuver should make things especially interesting. I hope they can add the extra dimensional considerations to the Sparkle Drive while on Mars.
Of course, the earlier depature time means the crew can survive more going wrong. In theory, anyway.
I can't think of another example of when a single opening word has created anticipation of both such excitement and such foreboding.
8844618
Depends on what ACME product the Coyote uses...
8844629 It's not just the supercomputer.
The vital ingredients are (1) insight into limited similarities between Equestrian magic's underpinnings and string/quantum theory as it exists in 2035, (2) enough time and attention to develop the insight, and (3) supercomputer time. There are dozens of people who have two out of three, but Rich was the first to have all of it together.
"you want me to stay here? at work? and your willing to pay me for it? did i do something good? why am i getting this reward?" - rich purnell
Nevermind human expectation. I wonder what pony scientists (besides Twilight) are thinking now:
"So let me get this straight. Are you telling me these apes didn't know anything about actual Magic, and they just solved the energy-mana conversion problem, and how to produce mana from other energy sources. In only a few months?!"
I.. did not quite see this coming. I am both impressed and dissapointed at the same time. How is that even possible?
Asking the guy not to leave would be like asking me to play video games...it’s what he wants
So I ed pretty damn hard at that... certainly answered one question I had last chapter.
To the rest... eh. It's an explanation, we'll see where it goes. The trouble with fully explaining a plan is that, once a story does so, it's almost obligated not to follow it. Suspense, and such. Although... breaking that mold and having it work would be suspenseful in that most of us wouldn't see it coming. 'Shit, it actually worked as planned? Does that even happen?!'
And... again. Not quite Mike's three minutes, mind, but he's earned it more than I have.
It's apropos that some chapters have been the result of time crunch. It fits with the story... the best solution is the one that can be most quickly and efficiently applied to the problem before it gets worse. ...Or something like that, I don't remember the exact quote.
ok thats awesome, but i kinda want to see mark and the others having a mini patry when the food come as they yerll in joy "NO POTATOES FOR THIS DINNER!"
I feel like with one successful supply mission on the way and a second one sitting in orbit needing a little work to go, that the Purnell Maneuver is an unnecessary risk. In the book they had the problem of having lost the one and only supply mission and things were looking bad, but the pressure isn't there in this case, or at least far less.
8844703
Her little nerd brain will be blown when she realises our coffee makers contain computers magnitudes more advanced then they have access to, let alone supercomputers.
8844794
One happy bukhorse
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Imagine when she discovers the internet.
And that It was originally invented for sharing porn
It's interesting how much the addition of the aliens changes things. For instance, in the book the original Purnell Maneuver is initially rejected because Teddy decided it was too much of a risk to save one man. But with the Equestrians there, it's not just one man, so the benefits might outweigh the risks. Of course, they're not that desperate...yet.
I see the list of chapters and they seem to be missing some .. or am I wrong?
8844924
Sort of. The chapters represent individual days on Mars, and some days just aren't interesting enough to have a chapter for.
A couple typos
Been?
I think some punctuation is missing here.
Also in the original book the Hermes is using Argon gas, not Xenon. Not that there is any radical difference for the plot, just wondering if that's KSP leaking into this story.
Just one thought Equestria does have a deus ex machina that could get all of them off of Mars with a snap of the fingers.
Though with how far this story's come using such a method to resolve the conflict here, would probably be a massive let down.
But if you ever do feel like adding in a non cannon chapter, or alternate ending. :p I still think it be funny to see.
No-ones told The humans that the sparkle drive is a teleporter, have they? They're working under an assumption that the thing is some kind of magical thruster system.... or am I mis-remembering?
I don't think much of my fiction writing skills, but I thought I'd give a short piece a try here.
In a non-descript building in Upper Canterlot, a board of academics are making an annual decision. Each year they award the Swirls Prize to the pony who has contributed the most to the world's understanding science and magic.
Until this week, the board was unanimous; Princess Twilight Sparkle's novel application of short distance teleportation for long distance travel using the "Sparkle Drive" was the only option.
Today, the board is split, and its cause is called Rich Purnell. There is disagreement because his contribution to theoretical magic study is undeniable, but he would be the first non-pony in the prize's 400 year history to receive the award.
One week later, by majority decision, the board has created a new problem that is beyond their ability to solve; how to get Purnell to the award ceremony.
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Contrariwise, imagine the consternation when Earth discovers that Oiler's Composite Breakdown is generally regarded as a useless party trick. I mean, what else is there to do with a spell that computes prime factors?
8845025
If they had spells that could do math like that then supercomputers wouldn't be remotely as big of a deal as it they are and they would have figured out the math that Rich has ages ago.
But yeah, there are probably things they consider utterly mundane that earth would considering mindblowing. If nothing else this chapter hints that in magic theory lie some nuggets about quantum physics that could revolutionise the field.
Can Equestrian alchemy/chemistry produce/refine xenon on a near-industrial scale?
Are there any limitations on the life support transmission system that prevents said xenon getting to Mars?
Are there sufficient storage facilities on-site to accommodate a useful amount of xenon?
Is this potential additional reaction mass worth the hassle of trying to get it up to Hermes along with Mark & co.?
Those are the questions that immediately come to mind considering the Equestria side of Purnell 2.0.
8844981 No, the humans have been told, and some of them (including Venkat and Rich) actually understand it.
But just because the Sparkle Drive, by itself, doesn't actually add any momentum to the ship it's installed in, doesn't mean it's not useful for getting off a planet or making a rendezvous.
8845045 All those questions are rather less important than, "Can Equestria get the xenon into the tanks on board Hermes?" the answer to which is a firm No.
Are you really going to be doing a chapter for each and every single day on mars? Because ot seems to me you're eventually going to start running short on inspiration to fill each one with some sort of content.
8844555
Mark Watney: "I'm gonna pull an Iron Man!"
Rich Purnell: "I'm gonna pull a Scotty..."
8845076
ISTR something about universal fittings for gas storage tanks on NASA’s end, so the issue becomes one of whether it was possible to kludge a way to get the stuff from a transmission crystal into NASA equipment. Granted, Hermes doesn’t have to play by those rules.
And, of course, Doyleist concerns trump any such musings.
8845092 No, not for every single day on Mars, as the existing chapters should make clear. But every day RL I intend to post a chapter until 2018 or the story is over, whichever comes first.
8844891
On the other hand, I can't help but feel like the maneuver sounds an incredibly risky move to consider at present point in time and relies on a lot of assumptions and jury rigging working out just right.
I mean, thanks to the cave farm (assuming it doesn't implode) they aren't in danger of starving, air and water they have an infinite supply of, their magical storage is growing increasingly bigger thanks to extra batteries coming online ... I mean, obviously getting off Mars sooner rather than later is preferable for everyone involved in general terms as you can never know when the next airlock blowout is going to decide to crop up. But attempting that whole hullabaloo when currently sitting tight is a very viable option seems like asking for something to go wrong in the process
8844523
Genocide has a proven track record. We know it works!
So, on what scale do you suggest we do this genocide?
8845108
The reason your BFR irks me is because it takes everything cool about the BFR and tosses it out the
windowairlock.What makes BFR special and exciting?
- Workhorse, replacing all other spaceX systems. not a "colonise mars system"
- Reusable
- Multiple specialized upper stages: Tanker - Cargo - Humans - Space maintenance
- Methane as fuel: Cheap but bulky, hence the refueling
- Multiple times in orbit refueling -> Leave earth's sphere of influence with a full tank of gas.
- A tanker with a full tank can not get to mars with a Hohmann Transfer, from low earth orbit. if you add any payload it isnt even close. You don't get orders of magnitude more efficient engines. even with an extra decade. You need different fuel, so a different rocket.
- Insane flight computers. (Cherry will hate them)
- Failure is an option! Until it isn't! But then everything is a proven system with a couple of flights already done.
The reason Andy Weir got away with it is by not using named rockets. And the maths work out, and if it didn't he would correct them. It was written as a blog so he could and would go back and make edits. (Hint)
Well, let's see what he has to say:
That said, i still love the story and keep it up.
"Venkat never understood why, when he asked Rich Purnell not to leave the space center grounds, Mike broke down laughing for three minutes straight."
:D
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In particular, the story began on sol 6 and has covered up to sol 180 so far: a span of 175 sols. And since 2018 isn't a leap year, April 5 is the 95th day of the year. (This should have meant 95 chapters, but there was one double-post that was miscued. Okay.) That's about 1.842 sols per day, or exactly 35/19 spd... or about 1.893 story-Earth days to real-Earth days, roughly 53/28.
...Yeah, this level of precision is unnecessary, considering the third decimal place is going to change roughly every day. But if the 371 sols until Sol 551 are described at about the current pace, then that chapter will go up in ~202 days about Wednesday, October 13.
(Geez. Kris already said something to this effect, but we're only a third of the way through? And what are the chances the other two airlocks stay intact, given that the first breached 31 sols early?)
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Pretty good actually, the others are inspected and don't seem to have the fatal defect.
Also, there is fireball to spot and magic/material to fix any problem with it.