LOG ENTRY: SOL 376
I'm finally done with the rover modifications!
The hard part was figuring out how to maintain life support.
Everything else was just hard work. A lot of hard work.
I haven't been good at keeping the log up to date, so here's a recap:
First I had to finish drilling holes with the Pathfinder-murderin' drill.
Then I chiseled out a billion little chunks between the holes. Ok, it was
749 but it felt like a billion.
Then I had one big hole in the trailer. I filed down the edges to keep
them from being too sharp.
Remember the pop-tents? I cut the bottom out of one and the
remaining canvas was the right size and shape. I used seal-strips to attach
it to the inside of the trailer. After pressurizing and sealing up leaks as I
found them, I had a nice big balloon bulging out of the trailer. The
pressurized area is easily big enough to fit the Oxygenator and
Atmospheric Regulator.
The regulator has an external component imaginatively named the
“Atmospheric Regulator External Component.” The regulator pumps air
to the AREC to let Mars freeze it. It does this along a tube that runs
through a valve in the Hab's wall. The return air comes back through
another tube just like it.
Getting the tubing through the balloon canvas wasn't too hard. I have
several spare valve patches. Basically they're 10x10cm patches of Hab
canvas with a valve in the middle. Why do I have these? Consider what
would happen on a normal mission if the regulator valve broke. They'd
have to scrub the whole mission. Easier to send spares.
The AREC is fairly small. I made a shelf for it just under the solar
panel shelves. The tubing and shelf are ready for when I eventually move
the AREC over.
There's still a lot to do.I'm not in any hurry; I've been taking it slow. One 4-hour EVA per
day spent on work, the rest of the time to relax In the Hab. Plus, I'll take a
day off every now and then, especially if my back hurts. I can't afford to
injure myself now.
I'll try to be better about this log. Now that I might actually get
rescued, people will probably read it. I'll be more diligent and log every
day.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 380
I finished the heat reservoir.
Remember my experiments with the RTG and having a hot bath?
Same principle, but I came up with an improvement: Submerge the RTG.
No heat will be wasted that way.
I started with a Large Rigid Sample Container (or “plastic box” to
people who don't work at NASA). I ran a tube through the open top and
down the inside wall. Then I coiled it in the bottom to make a spiral. I
glued it in place like that, and sealed the end. Using my smallest drill bit,
I put dozens of little holes in the coil. The idea is for the return air to pass
through the water as a bunch of little bubbles. The increased surface area
will get the heat in to the air better.
Then I got a Medium Flexible Sample Container (“Ziploc bag”) and
tried to seal the RTG in it. But the RTG has an irregular shape, and I
couldn't get all the air out of the bag. I can't allow any air in there. Instead
of heat going to the water, some would get stored in the air, which could
superheat and melt the bag.
I tried a bunch of times, but there was always an air pocket I couldn't
get out. I was getting pretty frustrated until I remembered I have an
airlock.
Suiting up, I went to Airlock 2 and depressurized to a full vacuum. I
plopped the RTG in the bag and closed it. Perfect vacuum seal.
Next came some testing. I put the bagged RTG at the bottom of the
container and filled it with water. It holds 20L, and the RTG quicklyheated it. It was gaining a degree per minute. I let it go until it was a good
40C. Then I hooked up the regulator's return air line to my contraption
and watched the results.
It worked great! The air bubbled through, just like I'd hoped. Even
better, the bubbles agitated the water, which distributed the heat evenly.
I let it run for an hour, and the Hab started to get cold. The RTG's heat
can't keep up with the total loss from the Hab's impressive surface area.
Not a problem. I've already established it's plenty to keep the rover warm.
I reattached the return air line to the regulator and things got back to
normal.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 381
I've been thinking about laws on Mars.
Yeah, I know, it's a stupid thing to think about, but I have a lot of free
time.
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.”
NASA is an American non-military organization, and it owns the Hab.
So while I'm in the Hab, American law applies. As soon as I step outside,
I'm in international waters. Then when I get in the Rover, I'm back to
American law.
Here's the cool part: I will eventually go to Schiaparelli crater and
commandeer the Ares 4 lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to
do this, and they can't until I'm aboard Ares 4 and operating the comm
system. After I board Ares 4, before talking to NASA, I will take control
of a craft in international waters without permission.
That makes me a pirate!
A Space Pirate!
LOG ENTRY: SOL 383
You may be wondering what I do with my free time. I spent a lot of it
sitting around on my lazy ass watching TV. But so do you, so don't judge.
Also, I plan my trip.
Pathfinder was a cake run. Flat, level ground all the way. The only
problem was navigating. But the trip to Schiaparelli will mean going over
massive elevation changes.
I have a rough satellite map of the whole planet. It doesn't have much
detail, but I'm lucky to have it at all. NASA didn't expect me to wander
3200km from the Hab.
Acidalia Planitia (Where I am) has a relatively low elevation. So does
Schiaparelli. But between them it goes up and down by 10km. There's
going to be a lot of dangerous driving.
Things will be smooth while I'm in Acidalia, but that's only the first
650km. After that comes the crater-riddled terrain of Arabia Terra.
I do have one thing going for me. And I swear it's a gift form God.
For some geological reason, there's a valley called Mawrth Vallis that's
perfectly placed.
Millions of years ago it was a river. Now its valley that juts in to the
brutal terrain of Arabia almost directly toward Sciaparelli. It's much
gentler terrain than the rest of Arabia Terra, and the far end looks like a
smooth ascent out of the valley.
Between Acidalia and Mawrth Vallis I'll get 1350km of relatively
easy terrain.
The other 1850km... well that won't be so nice. Especially when I
have to descend in to Schiaparelli itself. Ugh.
Anyway. Mawrth Vallis. Awesome.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 385
The worst part of the Pathfinder trip was being trapped in the rover. I
had to live in a cramped environment that was full of junk and reeked ofbody odor. Same as my college days.
Rim shot!
Seriously though, it sucked. It was 22 sols of abject misery.
I plan to leave for Schiaparelli 100 sols before my rescue (or death),
and I swear to fucking God I'll rip my own face off if I have to live in the
rover for that long.
I need a place to stay where I can stand up and take a few steps
without hitting things. And no, being outside in a goddamn EVA suit
doesn't count. I need personal space, not 50kg of clothing.
So today, I started making a tent. Somewhere I can relax while the
batteries recharge; somewhere I can lay comfortably while sleeping.
I recently sacrificed one of my two pop tents to be the trailer balloon.
The other is in perfect shape. Even better, it has an attachment for the
rover's airlock. Before I made it a potato farm, its original purpose was a
lifeboat for the rover.
I could attach the pop tent to either vehicle's airlock. I'm going with
the rover instead of the trailer. The rover has the computer and controls.
If I need to know status of anything (like life support or how well the
battery is charging) I'll need access. This way, I'll be able to walk right in.
No EVA.
Also, while traveling, I'll keep it folded up in the rover. In an
emergency, I can get to it fast.
The pop tent is the basis of my “bedroom,” but not the whole thing.
It's not very big; not much more space than the rover. But it has the
airlock attachment so it's a great place to start. My plan is to double the
floor area and double the height. That'll give me a nice big space to relax
in.
Hab canvas is flexible. When you fill it with pressure, it wants to
become a sphere. That's not a useful shape. So the Hab and the pop-tents
have special flooring material. It unfolds as a bunch of little segments
that won't open beyond 180 degrees so it remains flat.
The pop tent base is a hexagon. I have another base left over from
what is now the trailer balloon. So when it's done, my bedroom will be
two adjacent hexes with walls around them and a crude ceiling.It's gonna take a lot of glue to make this happen.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 387
The pop tent is 1.2m tall. It's not made for comfort. It's made for
astronauts to cower in while their crewmates rescue them. I want 2
meters. I want to be able to stand! I don't think that's too much to ask.
On paper, it's not hard to do. I just need to cut canvas pieces to the
right shapes, seal them together, then seal them to the existing canvas and
flooring.
But that's a lot of canvas. I started this mission with 6 square meters
and I've used most of that up. Mostly on sealing the breach from when the
Hab blew up.
Goddamn Airlock 1.
Anyway, my bedroom will take 30 square meters of the stuff. Way the
hell more than I have left. Fortunately, I have an alternate supply of Hab
canvas: The Hab.
Problem is (follow me closely here, the science is pretty complicated)
if I cut a hole in the Hab, the air won't stay inside anymore.
I'll have to depressurize the Hab, cut chunks out, and put it back
together (smaller). I spent today figuring out the exact sizes and shapes of
canvas I'll need. I needed to not fuck this up, so I triple-checked
everything. I even made a model out of paper.
The Hab is a dome. If I take canvas from near the floor, I can pull the
remaining canvas down and re-seal it. The Hab will become a lopsided
dome, but that shouldn't matter. As long as it holds pressure. I only need
it to last another 62 sols.
I drew the shapes on the wall with a Sharpie. Then I spent a long time
re-measuring them and making sure, over and over, that they were right.
That was all I did today. Might not seem like much, but the math and
design work took all day. Now it's time for dinner.
I've been eating potatoes for weeks. Theoretically, with my 3/4 ration
plan, I should still be eating food packs. But 3/4 ration is hard tomaintain, so now I'm eating potatoes.
I have enough to last till launch, so I won't starve. But I'm pretty
damn sick of potatoes. Also, they have a lot of fiber, so... let's just say it's
good I'm the only guy on this planet.
I saved 5 meal packs for special occasions. I wrote their names on
each one. I get to eat “Departure” the day I leave for Schiaparelli. I'll eat
“Half-way” when I reach the 1600km mark, and “Arrival” when I get
there.
The fourth one is “Survived Something That Should Have Killed Me”
because some fucking thing will happen, I just know it. I don't know what
it'll be, but it'll happen. The rover will break down or I'll come down with
Fatal Hemorrhoids or I'll run in to hostile Martians or some shit. When I
do (if I live) I get to eat that meal pack.
The fifth one is reserved for the day I launch. It's labeled “Last Meal.”
Maybe that's not such a good name.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 388
I started the day with a potato. I washed it down with some Martian
Coffee. That's my name for “hot water with a caffeine pill dissolved in
it.” I ran out of real coffee months ago.
My first order of business was a careful inventory of the Hab. I
needed to root out anything that would have a problem with losing
atmospheric pressure. Of course, everything in the Hab had a crash course
in depressurization a few months back. But this time would be controlled
and I might as well do it right.
The main thing is the water. I lost 300L to sublimation when the Hab
blew up. This time, that won't happen. I drained the Water Reclaimer and
sealed all the tanks.
The rest was just collecting knickknacks and dumping them in
Airlock 3. Anything I could think of that doesn't do well in a near-
vacuum. The three remaining laptops, all the pens, the vitamin bottles
(probably not necessary but I'm not taking chances), medical supplies,etc.
Then I did a controlled shutdown of the Hab. The critical components
are designed to survive a vacuum. Hab depress is one of the many
scenarios NASA accounted for. One system at a time, I cleanly shut them
all down, ending with the main computer itself.
I suited up and depressurized the Hab. Last time, the canvas collapsed
and made a mess of everything. That's not supposed to happen. The dome
of the Hab is mostly supported by air pressure, but there are flexible
reenforcing poles across the inside to hold the canvas up. It's how the Hab
was assembled in the first place.
I watched as the canvas gently settled on to the poles. To confirm the
depress, I opened both doors of Airlock 2. I left Airlock 3 alone. It
maintained pressure for its cargo of random crap.
Then I cut shit up!
I'm not a materials engineer; my design for the bedroom isn't elegant.
It's just a 2m perimeter and a ceiling. No, it won't have right angles and
corners (pressure vessels don't like those). It'll balloon out to a more
round shape.
Anyway, it means I only needed to cut two big-ass strips of canvas.
One for the walls and one for the ceiling.
After mangling the Hab, I pulled the remaining canvas down to the
flooring and re-sealed it. Ever set up a camping tent? From the inside?
While wearing a suit of armor? It was a pain in the ass.
I repressurized to 1/20th of an atmosphere to see if it could hold
pressure.
Ha ha ha! Of course it couldn't! Leaks galore. Time to find them.
On Earth, tiny particles get attached to water or wear down to nothing.
On Mars, they just hang around. The top layer of sand is like talcum
powder. I went outside with a bag and scraped along the surface. I got
some normal sand, but plenty of powder too.
I had the Hab maintain the 1/20th atmosphere, backfilling as air leaked
out. Then I “puffed” the bag to get the smallest particles to float around.
They were quickly drawn to where the leaks were. As I found each leak, I
spot-sealed it with resin.It took hours, but I finally got a good seal. I'll tell ya, the Hab looks
pretty “ghetto” now. One whole side of it is lower than the rest. I'll have
to hunch down when I'm over there.
I pressurized to a full atmosphere and waited an hour. No leaks.
It's been a long, physically taxing day. I'm totally exhausted but I
can't sleep. Every sound scares the shit out of me. Is that the Hab
popping? No? Ok... What was that!? Oh, nothing? Ok...
It's a terrible thing to have my life depend on my half-assed
handiwork.
Time to get a sleeping pill from the medical supplies.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 389
What the fuck is in those sleeping pills!? It's the middle of the day.
After two cups of Martian Coffee, I woke up a little. I won't be taking
another one of those pills. It's not like I have to go to work in the
morning.
Anyway, as you can tell from how not dead I am, the Hab stayed
sealed overnight. The seal is solid. Ugly as hell, but solid.
Today's task was the bedroom.
Assembling the bedroom was way easier than re-sealing the Hab.
Because this time, I didn't have to wear an EVA suit. I made the whole
thing inside the Hab. Why not? It's just canvas. I can roll it up and take it
out an airlock when I'm done.
First, I did some surgery on the remaining pop tent. I needed to keep
the rover-airlock connector and surrounding canvas. The rest of the
canvas had to go. Why hack off most of the canvas only to replace it with
more canvas? Seams.
NASA is good at making things. I am not. The dangerous part of this
structure won't be the canvas. It'll be the seams. And I get less total seam
length by not trying to use the existing pop-tent canvas.
After hacking away most of the remaining tent, I seal-stripped the two
pop-tent floors together. Then I sealed the new canvas pieces in to place.It was so much easier without the EVA suit on. So much easier!
Then I had to test it. Again, I did it in the Hab. I brought an EVA suit
in to the tent with me and closed the mini-airlock door. Then I fired up
the EVA suit, leaving the helmet off. I told it to bump the pressure up to
1.2 atm.
It took a little while to bring it up to par, and I had to disable some
alarms on the suit. (“Hey, I'm pretty sure the helmet's not on!”). It
depleted most of the N2 tank, but was finally able to bring the pressure
up.
Then I sat around and waited. I breathed, the suit regulated the air. All
was well. I watched the suit readouts carefully to see if it had to replace
any “lost” air. After an hour with no noticeable change, I declared the
first test a success.
I rolled up the whole thing (wadded up, really) and took it out to the
rover.
You know, I suit up a lot these days. I bet that's another record I hold.
A typical Martian astronaut does, what, 40 EVAs? I've done several
hundred.
Once I brought the bedroom to the rover, I attached it to the airlock
from the inside. Then I pulled the release to let it loose. I was still
wearing my EVA suit, cause I'm not an idiot.
It fired out and filled in three seconds. The open airlock hatchway led
directly to the bedroom, and it appeared to be holding pressure.
Just like before, I let it sit for an hour. And just like before, it worked
great. Unlike the Hab canvas resealing, I got this one right on the first try.
Mostly because I didn't have to do it with a damn EVA suit on.
Originally I planned to let it sit overnight and check in the morning.
But I ran in to a problem: I can't get out if I do that. The rover only has
one airlock, and the bedroom was attached to it. There was no way for me
to get out without detaching the bedroom, and no way to attach and
pressurize the bedroom without being inside the rover.
It's a little scary. The first time I test the thing overnight will be with
me in it. But that'll be later. I've done enough today.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 390
I have to face facts. I'm done with the rover. I don't “feel” like I'm
done. But it's ready to go:
Food: 1,692 potatoes. Vitamin pills.
Water: 620L.
Shelter: Rover, trailer, bedroom.
Air: Rover and trailer combined storage: 14L liquid O2, 14L liquid
N2.
Life Support: Oxygenator and Atmospheric Regulator. 418 hours of
use-and-discard CO2 filters for emergencies.
Power: 36kwh of storage. Carrying capacity for 29 solar cells.
Heat: 1400W RTG. Homemade reservoir to heat regulator's return air.
Electric heater in rover as a backup.
Disco: Lifetime supply.
I'm leaving here on Sol 449. That gives me 59 sols to test everything
and fix whatever isn't working right. And decide what's coming with me
and what's staying behind. And plot a route to Schiaparelli using a grainy
satellite map. And rack my brains trying to think of anything important I
forgot.
Since Sol 6 all I've wanted to do was get the hell out of here. Now the
prospect of leaving the Hab behind scares the shit out of me. I need some
encouragement. I need to ask myself: “What would an Apollo astronaut
do?”
He'd drink 3 whiskey sours, bang his mistress, then fly to the moon.
And if he ever met a botanist like me he'd dispense a wedgie on principle.
To hell with those guys. I'm a Space Pirate!