MISSION LOG – SOL 392
The new air system is up and running in the cave- and just in time.
Johanssen’s little program isn’t exactly a software patch. It’s a separate program that runs in the background most of the time. It does have a test sequence, because Beth Johanssen is not just a nerd but a super-nerd who understands the need to double-check everything, especially in space.
We made all the connections, and the system works great. The fuel plant released carbon dioxide, the pressure valve that keeps the air in the cave from escaping back out through the fuel plant opened up just enough to let the CO2 in, and the plant shut off exactly when the computer told it to.
For a triple-check I took a small oxygen bottle and ran it directly into the atmospheric analyzer. The computer (after seven minutes- running the analyzer non-stop would wear it out in short order) saw the lack of CO2, sent the order, and the fuel plant let loose more CO2. Ten minutes later, with the oxygen cut off, the computer saw the perfectly adequate CO2 levels and shut off the fuel plant again.
So, an almost purely mechanical solution to a problem works without a hitch. We’ll need to transfer another of the Hab’s hydrogen batteries and a couple of the handful of un-pillaged solar panels to guarantee enough power for all of this, but otherwise it’s good to go. Score one for Earth!
And, as I said, just in time. Tomorrow’s the final potato harvest. We’re not going to keep more than a small number of the spuds. Most of them are going to be re-planted.
That’s right, I said re-planted. And moreover, we’re going to gradually move the Hab potato plants and the Hab soil (which is getting pretty worn out anyway) to the cave. Why? Because, at least in theory, more life equals more magic. The rainbow crystals Starlight diddled to circulate water will need all the magic we can give them. Also, if the sun crystals don’t produce enough heat once the water heating system is shut off, we’ll need to make some rainbow crystals with a heating enchantment to make up the difference. Those will need even more magic.
Of course, the tradeoff is less magic in the Hab, which means that any batteries we have there will recharge about half as fast as they have been. But we can’t take plants with us to Schiaparelli. Every kilogram above the minimum means more electrical demand from the wheel motors, which means a shorter per-day travel time. The plants, and the soil they grow in, are a luxury we have to do without. So, if we can’t take them with us, we might as well put them where they’ll do the most long-term good.
With that in mind, when we harvest the cave potatoes tomorrow we’ll also dig up the water pipes and rearrange them. Starlight is already arranging it with her people back home to dump a LOT of water as far back in the cave as we can manage. We’ll reconnect the pipes to stretch almost all the way through Tangled Hallway, then use the scrap metal trench to get the water back maybe as far as the Orb. The water will seep through the uncultivated dirt floor and sink to the bottom of the sealed chamber. Part of that will become deep permafrost, but most of it will remain liquid, and the plant roots and enchanted water-pumping crystals will be able to cycle it up from there. The pony planet will monitor flow and shut off the valve on their end when we get as much water added to the system as it can take without risking a return of the black ooze, so we can just leave the tap running when we leave.
It’s obviously not a perfect solution. Humans have never been able to make a perfectly sealed, self-contained, self-sustaining environment larger than a bottle garden, and absolutely never with alfalfa and/or potatoes and/or trees of any kind. Balanced complex ecosystems get exponentially tougher the larger you make them. But this is the best we can do to set up a system that, without anyone to maintain it, has a fighting chance to survive the six years until the next open slot for an Ares mission. I just hope it’s enough.
MISSION LOG – SOL 394
We’re about halfway done transplanting the Hab plants and soil. The ripe tubers have been cut and replanted around the edges of the original cave farm, while the plants (along with a number of alfalfa cuttings) have been planted in Lunch Buffet.
The rainbow crystal irrigation system is already beginning to work- at least, the one that runs from the well at the back of the farm chamber up to the front. Starlight has begun a second, smaller line- a pair of lines, really, to bring a bit of water up from below Lunch Buffet’s soil and irrigate the plants we’re putting there. In the meantime we’ll spend our remaining cave time hand-watering those plants to give them a chance to root and survive.
But we’ll be doing that using pony space suits. Our half-assed hydrological system has absorbed all the water the main life support box can give. So tomorrow we’re going to pull the life support box and re-install it into the pony ship.
I wonder what Ares V or whoever will find in six years’ time? Will it be a crumbling, freeze-dried plant graveyard after something rusts or breaks or cracks and lets the air out? Will they find a terrarium where the plants are surviving but half-starved and sickly? Or will they find a wildly growing jungle of alfalfa and potato plants, half-shaded by an enormous tangle of cherry tree branches?
Common sense bets on the first option, but I’m hoping for the last one. We all are. The farm served us well this past year, and now we’re giving back what we can to give it a chance to live on.
MISSION LOG – SOL 395
I changed the Morse code rock message today: “SOL 395 – TESTING ROVER MODS, ON TRACK FOR SOL 451 DEPART.” Not that I really needed to, since Pathfinder is working and we have the pony radio for when Pathfinder’s no longer an option. But it had been over a hundred sols since I updated my rock blog, and it was overdue, and I felt like it.
After that we all got to work loading up the Whinnybago. From now on everything that’s going with us gets stored on board. The food is in, along with my tools, all the spare parts we’re going to take with us, and whatever personal items we might take with us. We’re not loading the magic batteries yet, because we want to put as much charge on them as possible.
Since we’re not taking the batteries with us yet, we have to add their equivalent weight in Martian rocks to the rig. That means going around the area around the Hab and the cave farm to gather several tons of rocks to make up the difference. Even Fireball was grumbling about a sore back by the time we got back to the Hab for the evening. It takes a lot of rocks- seriously, a LOT of rocks- to equal the weight of fifteen slices of quartz five feet long each plus all the smaller batteries.
We’re going to take tomorrow off- entirely off. We’ve earned a vacation day. And then we’re going to perform the first serious test of the combined Whinnybago- driving around within two kilometers or so of the Hab to see how far it goes on a full electric charge and how well it handles the little canyons that criss-cross this part of Acidalia. If it can’t handle these, then there will be major problems getting up onto Arabia Terra, never mind across it.
Anyway, it’s game night tonight. I’m anticipating trouble; Dragonfly asked if she could roll up a new character. I wouldn’t worry, except that she asked for a template for a Nac Mac Feegle…
MISSION LOG – SOL 395 (2)
About-So-High Angus MacHenderson, the Nac Mac Feegle, got vetoed, and there was much rejoicing (except by Dragonfly).
But I want a copy of the character for future reference… assuming I make D&D a regular thing back on Earth, I’d like a way to express my displeasure if a DM is screwing us over in a Discworld setting…
i hope the next mission to Mars where they say this "well... we will never run out of food now that's for sure"
Thanks for the update!!
I wonder what will go wrong with testing the Whinnybago.
Is MacHenderson his first or last name?
Don't worry. No interesting things happening to Mark right now just means Mars is saving them up for later.
Good luck with the health issues.
For the record I found this chapter interesting, I honestly love these little slice of life bits, doesn't need a ton of action to be interesting. Sorry to hear about the heart trouble, hope that all turns out well, insurance can definitely be a pain with that kind of thing.
Shoutout to today's Mars Opposition; Mars is currently the closest to Earth as its been in 15 years, and when I read that today, my brain immediately thought of this story.
9081702
All I can think of is the ending scene of Passengers
9081721 the one problem i have with that movie is that there was no fail-safe when they hit a space rock or something like that living them to basically go mad
Ares V be all like
Future generations of astronauts can also learn what it's like to get sick of potatoes.
Poor Commander Cherry, not even getting to eat a single cherry she worked so hard to grow before they have to leave. I can see her gaining a lot of weight just by stuffing herself with them when she gets home.
Dragonfly will get soooo much love if they make it to Earth before Equestria can find them. I can see her gaining some weight too.
Fireball... Poor guy. Humans are greedy and selfish when it comes to the more tasty gems.
Spitfire, I think she'll only truly be happy when she can FLY once again.
Starlight, yea, poor thing. As powerful as she is, stuck having to rely on batteries to do magic.
And Mark will NEVER touch another potato for as long as he lives. Not if he can help it.
9081725
I could believe the rock taking out any failsafe they might've had, but they should at least have had redundant failsafe protocols.
9081709
He's actually an ancestor of Mitch, and if you think he's an asshole, wait till you see the Grandpa Angus cut loose.
I found the chapter interesting for seeing in more detail how they're setting up the cave farm to survive for as long as possible without outside intervention.
On that note, the placement of the solar cells and the upcoming dust storm are of concern, even with the added hydrogen cells to act as a buffer for low output days. If the cells are on the outside of the cave then dust is a concern. If they are inside the cave then dust on the pony solar collectors is a concern too, but assuming that the pony collectors are much smaller than anything human tech would come up with, perhaps running a bit of hose from the cave pressure relief valve to the solar collectors would be the ticket. It could prove occasional puffs of air to dust them off every time the cave vents to the outside.
If this is staying outside the panels will eventually get covered in martian dust.
9081740
Its like "hey should we worry about them hitting a rock or something i mean the last thing we need is a few or worst of all just one to be all alone with there own minds, and I doubt video games food beer and everything they need would keep them from going mad. Like maybe part back parts for them so if they wake up in mid-space they could fix it and go back to deep ice sleep?"
and the other guy say "Nah we check there only a 99.99% of that happening"
9081702
Its worth noting that it will likely be a visit to the Cave Farm, to collect data rather then staying near it and using it as a resource.
After all, Ares V is going to be landing somewhere very different on Mars, as each expedition wants to examine a different part of the planet. (In fact its obviously important to note that Ares V landing site is where they are spending 2-3 weeks traveling too.
What will likely happen is they make sure a far more long distance and more durable Rover goes up with them next time, but its weight carrying ability will still be limited. At best they will get a small surprise feast of Cherries and Potatoes.
HOWEVER in saying all that, Kris, you better give us an Epilogue when this is all over to tell us if it all survives. The Cave Garden is just as much a character as everything else in this story is, and I can guarantee that if visiting Earth is still possible after all this, the pony crew WILL be there when NASA finds out if the garden survived.
So the real question is, did Dragonfly come up with a 30MB txt file backstory as well?
D: Poor Cuddlebug, her character shot down before it could spread its wings.
9081783
Yeah, but there's nothing they can do about that. Leaving the RTG behind would be ideal for the cave farm; but they need the RTG for the road trip, so a fuel cell, and some panels will just have to do.
So the main reason I asked about the RTG yesterday wasn't to know if it was going on the trip, but rather whether it would be staying with the MAV fuel plant. Sure, you can run the thing off solar cells, but it has been noted again and again that solar cells need regular cleaning otherwise the martian dust will cover them up and you lose power.
Sorry crew. I seriously doubt the fuel plant will be pumping in enough CO2 to keep things going for 6 years.
Do you want Triffids? Because that is how you get Triffids.
Glad to see you got in to the doctor, hope everything turns out alright. Good luck and great sales at your con this weekend, my son and I leave for RTX2018 tomorrow morning at tofreakingearly AM!
9081911
The cells need cleaning to keep them at 100% efficiency (yes, I know there's no such thing) but Mars' winds will keep them clean enough, just look at Opportunity, it's solar powered and still going after 14 years. And it's cells are much smaller.
9081828
That's a jumbo word salad.
9081983
Those panels on Spirit and Opportunity are impressive - check out this comparison:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Spirit_Rover_Cleaned.jpg
Spirit with clean panels
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Mars_Spirit_rover%27s_solar_panels_covered_with_Dust_-_October_2007.jpg
Spirit with dusty panels
Worthy of note: the dusty panel image is from 2007, while the clean panel picture is from 2008. The dust build-up was not enough to kill the rover, and martian wind was enough to blow the dust away.
9081994
A single ASCII character is a byte, so that's... uh, ~5K words, I think. Twenny pages. Not impossible in one day, but an absolute tear when that day is on Mars. (For comparison, that's three average days of work for a NaNoWriMo winner.)
9081899
Fuel cells are a no-go; the ones used in space programs run on oxygen and hydrogen and generate water as a byproduct. Unfortunately, the only source of hydrogen remaining is the water in the cave, and using a fuel cell to electrolyze water to obtain the hydrogen would result in a net loss of energy (second law of thermodynamics). It’s solar or nothing in this case. Though computer models indicate that properly designed windmills could generate power even in Mars’ thin atmosphere.
9081983
Keep your fingers crossed for Opportunity—NASA has been waiting since June 10, 2018 to reestablish communications, but the current global dust storm hasn’t abated enough for it to begin recharging. Something of that magnitude could kill the cave farm without substantial battery backup, though they normally only occur once every 5½ years on average.
9082116
I was offhandedly referring to this line of the chapter, nothing more:
And suggesting a windmill is great and all; but the crew has no means to fabricate and install a 'properly designed windmill.' They'd have to macguyver together both suitable blades, and a suitable working dynamo, and then put it all together and anchor it in such a way that the next dust storm to roll along does not rip it to pieces.
Good to hear that you got more immediate doctorly attention than anticipated, even if it came with inconveniences and unsettling revelations.
I wonder if this story will end with an epilogue showing a return to a be-rainbowed cave farm that's mysteriously become a jungle under the care of Sojourner.
Can you end the story with Mark and Johansen getting married with the Amicitas crew all attending the wedding? And then Dragonfly can go home to her hive really fat
9082149
I would end it with Starlight "casually" mentioning how Mark poked her butt with his manhood...in her father's earshot.
Hopes and wishes for the cave farm and the rainbow rocks of dreams!
Who is Lunch Buffet? Am I forgetting an earlier story detail?
9082161
Where is this imagined wedding happening?
I wonder if Mark will change the rock message one last time before they set off to something humorous like gone fishing or something.
Worms, that was it. If you need something small, easy and living in the animal kingdom for checks tests and experiments, a small wormery does wonders. And when put in with plant material, turns sterile sand into fertile soil due to worm digestion and worm slime. Wonder if the Life Suspension mechanism would end up bigger than the living farm though.
Not long now before the Cave Farm is left for Mars to rage over. Pity a camera or any other sensor could be left behind, no matter how low the data rate. Then again, the Atmosphere/Fuel generator had some sort of telemetry but no longer?
Drive to and from the Cave first, along the well worn track, then try the scout and trundle to trial route finding and magic burn rates in ground handling?
I just hope they dont end up having to play Frogger with the weather systems.
9082230
Here:
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/396744/the-maretian#comment/8900154
9081808
Ares V doesn't even have a MAV yet, and that would normally be the first thing they sent. So it's location is not locked in at all. They can send it, and lot of supplies, to the cave.
9082230
With large pockets which were once separate geodes containing various different colors of quartz
Broken pillars line the walls[2]
9082285
9082289
Oh right, now I remember.
9082253
That's a fun idea.
9081911
These solar cells have an advantage: They can be placed indoors.
9082261
I do believe mark planned to leave pathfinder. And with pathfinder, he can leave a little rover.
“Farewell, Aquarius, and we thank you.”
Ooh, the hour draws near. I will be sad to see them leave the Hab, as it means the story will be nearer to its end.
9082253
9082291
"Come On Get Happy" (Partridge Family)
"Live long and prosper." (Star Trek)
"Mischief managed." (Harry Potter)
"Smell you later forever." (Simpsons)
"Don't panic." (Hitchhiker reference)
"So long and thanks for all the potatoes" (Hitchhiker reference)
9082286
Your are right, I confused the Ares IV and Ares V MAVs.
Thats hardly good science though.
Just like with Rover missions and the Moon landings, you want every landing site to be different, to maximize the collection of Data. More importantly, to save Mark and the Ponies they have lost all data they were going to get from the Ares IV site, which I can guarantee they chose for a very specific reason.
Each Ares site would have been research and chosen well in advanced to collect data from the different environments on Mars. Crews would have been picked for each site depending on what they wanted to research at each one, and depending on environmental factors, the very HAB and equipment for each site may have been very different.
The scrapping of Ares IV to save Mark was the right call, and no one is going to argue that. But you now have Ares IV-VII chosen sites, and one less MAV. Either NASA needs to acquire more funds, or need to go to one less site. In the books they achieve the first and reland the new MAV at the Ares IV site, but it delays the program 2 years, and thus by Ares AVI new Satellites need to be placed in Mars orbit, AND forces them to build a new rocket (The Olympus) as the Hermes passed its expiry date by the time Ares VII roles around.
Part of the reason they resend the MAV and land at Ares VI selected site still was to examine and study the Rover that Matt used to get there. Given this, it is not unreasonable for them to use that very Rover to transport themselves back to Ares III site to look at the Cave farm. Nor is it unreasonable for them to design a long distance rover if they wish for soil samples from said cave farm.
Regardless to land at Ares III, aka Acidalia Planitia, means they give up all the data at Ares VI, aka Schiaparelli crater. This Crater shows very regular banding which means its the perfect site to look at the geological and atmospheric history of Mars, and was likely the reason they risked a crater in the first place.
NASA has historically been very nervous about landing in Craters on Mars. Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed, was suggested and dismissed as a landing site 3 times before Curiosity got to go there.
Why would you land at Acidalia Planitia again, when you can drive there? Scientific equipment doesn't move well.
I cannot believe that the ponies will let six years go by before they come back. I mean, it seemed they were only months from coming here, last time the camera swung to them.
9082529
Well, if my memory is correct, in the original timeline, Mark does all the Ares 3 science. Including the stuff he was not trained for. In this timeline, I do not believe he did nearly as much science. So there is more to explore then just the farm.
Add to that, an Ares 3b mission would be cheaper, considering the equipment already available.
However, if I was a mission designer for this, I'd consider the modified MDV - suborbital flight. If they plan it correctly the could even use the already present fuel plant to refuel, saving a lot of weight. (Put methane engines on that mdv) or send a methane powered rover.
That said, there is still the sparkle drive to consider. When they get back to earth, regardless of method, it looks like they will bring that with them. Equiping a spacecraft With that and a garden would reduce the cost of any of this, to the point that public, and Cherry's opinion alone could convince them to keep the farm going.
Here's hoping everything medical goes smoothly.
Also, "About-So-High Angus MacHenderson" is a fantastic name for a Feegle.
9081783
Cave has the sun crystals though, just stick them inside.