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Author Topic: Angry Red Planet - Totally And Completely Dead  (Read 48140 times)

Frelock

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 1 - Last Flight of the ICS Ares III
« Reply #105 on: December 30, 2008, 01:44:44 am »

I'd like to point out that the next NASA-sponsored rover to Mars (still under construction) is supposed to be carrying a nuclear reactor that will hopefully keep it running for a good ten years (hence why it's a quite a few million dollars over-budget).  It's technology we already have; getting it to Mars is the only problem spot, but in this scenario, we seemed to have figured that out (as we are already here).  Of course, that's enough power to run a rover the size of a very small car, but put a few of those together, and you've got enough for your basic needs.
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Sean Mirrsen

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 1 - Last Flight of the ICS Ares III
« Reply #106 on: December 30, 2008, 01:50:30 am »

Speaking of radiothermal reactors, if those could be properly shielded (so they wouldn't contaminate the water they heat), they could start an age of steampunk. I mean, we have superefficient steam engines - couple one with a compact nuclear boiler and you have something that quite literally runs on water. Without expending it, btw.
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Multiworld Madness Archive:
Game One, Discontinued at World 3.
Game Two, Discontinued at World 1.

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Aqizzar

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 1 - Last Flight of the ICS Ares III
« Reply #107 on: December 30, 2008, 01:56:00 am »

Speaking of radiothermal reactors, if those could be properly shielded (so they wouldn't contaminate the water they heat), they could start an age of steampunk. I mean, we have superefficient steam engines - couple one with a compact nuclear boiler and you have something that quite literally runs on water. Without expending it, btw.

Well obviously you'd just have to-  No no no, no giving ideas on my end.  You people just keep making this easier.

Speaking of which, another technical question: electrolysis.  Namely, the act of using electricity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.  What kind of energy does it take to split what kind of water?  How efficient is this?  Is the H2 and O2 produced in gaseous or liquid form?  If gaseous, how hard is it to turn them into liquids?

And once again, I realize I can turn to good old GURPS.  My Transhuman compendium and 2nd edition Space book should have some answers.
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Sean Mirrsen

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 1 - Last Flight of the ICS Ares III
« Reply #108 on: December 30, 2008, 02:07:56 am »

LIQUID hydrogen and LIQUID oxygen? Those are like, way below the point when sticking your hand in the bowl produces an instant frozen replica.
Yes, I know that it doesn't really work that way (you could swipe your hand through a stream of liquid nitrogen without insta-freezing, much like you can with fire) but that says a bit about how hard it is to liquify. I don't remember the specifics, but liquifying oxygen requires a certain temperature below zero (way below zero) and pressure somewhere in the hundreds of atmospheres. Wikipedia can help find it, but I'm lazy and it's enough to know it's out of our reach for the moment.

Electrolysis, on the other hand, is completely viable - all you need is two strips of stainless steel (should be plenty in the hull materials) and any amount of energy - the more you pump into it, the more gases pop out. With smart tinkering, you can even split them right there, because hydrogen forms on the cathode, and oxygen on the anode. If we find water, this will be our primary source of oxygen for a while.
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Multiworld Madness Archive:
Game One, Discontinued at World 3.
Game Two, Discontinued at World 1.

"Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems, but the world's problems are not Europe's problems."
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, India

Duke 2.0

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 1 - Last Flight of the ICS Ares III
« Reply #109 on: December 30, 2008, 02:49:48 am »

*HEFTS DRILL*

 If?
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Frelock

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 1 - Last Flight of the ICS Ares III
« Reply #110 on: December 30, 2008, 03:08:20 am »

*HEFTS DRILL*

 If?

Actually, you're quite right on that point.  Recent evidence suggests far more water on Mars than was previously thought.  It's even possible that Mars has some semblance of a water cycle, albeit far more extreme than here on earth (you're either falling to the ground as snow, or sublimating into the atmosphere as water vapor; liquid water and clouds are basically non-existent).  The equatorial regions probably have very little underground water, but the mid latitudes are believed to support whole aquifers of ice.  That's to say nothing of the polar regions, where the Phoenix probe basically showed that there was plenty of ice just below a thin layer of dust.  There's also evidence of glacier activity in regions that are in the shade for most of the year.  With a little digging and some energy to heat it up, water should be no problem (unless we're near the equator...)
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Sean Mirrsen

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 1 - Last Flight of the ICS Ares III
« Reply #111 on: December 30, 2008, 03:16:21 am »

If I understood right, we were supposed to touch down near the pole, so unless we had a crap pilot we could hardly break up around the equator. Then again, we were launched by NASA... :P
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Multiworld Madness Archive:
Game One, Discontinued at World 3.
Game Two, Discontinued at World 1.

"Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems, but the world's problems are not Europe's problems."
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, India

Aqizzar

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 2 - Welcome to Mars
« Reply #112 on: December 30, 2008, 06:24:19 am »

As the last fiery bits of ship and hope fall from the sky, the surviving crew make their first fortifications against the elements.  So far, everyone who was alive, is still alive...



Groups

(See Characters and Locations in the List Post for details.

Spoiler: Squeegy and Faris (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Long John Silver (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Sean Mirrsen (click to show/hide)


Spoiler: Dietrich (click to show/hide)


Spoiler: Simon (click to show/hide)


Spoiler: Strife (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Qwerty (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Harry (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Andrzej (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Trippy (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Roy and Shideh (click to show/hide)

The Next Turn

As no one is yet in immediate danger (for certain values of immediate), this turn will be 15 minutes again.  For a few of you, that's a critical bit of air.  Do read the spoilers for important details.  Those of you who posted a bunch of successive actions, take note of what was and wasn't accomplished for some idea of what can be readily done in a timeframe.

Spoiler: Notes and Comments (click to show/hide)

« Last Edit: December 30, 2008, 07:09:01 am by Aqizzar »
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Gantolandon

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 2 - Welcome to Mars
« Reply #113 on: December 30, 2008, 07:01:58 am »

The diagnostics screen consoled Andrzej somewhat. Given the fact that the entire cargo bay was reduced into a pile of debris, a fully working, intact and rich in oxygen supplies rover was a fucking miracle. But he knew it's not enough. If he is the only survivor, then he just have won a long and painful death instead of quick and merciful.

He turned the radio on:

"Hello...", he said somewhat nervously, "Is anyone there? Look, I'm trapped in the recon rover in Cargo Bay 2. I'm somewhat bruised but fine. How are you? Talk, goddammit!"

He didn't even wait for the answer, trying to think how to move the rover out of the debris. If the airlock had a pressure suit, he could go outside and clear the way manually. If not, the only thing he could do was to try to maneuver the vehicle and hope he won't worsen the situation even further. He also noted that he must check if the rover has any food and water supplies on board...
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Sir_Geo

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 2 - Welcome to Mars
« Reply #114 on: December 30, 2008, 07:12:32 am »

Damn! Okay now I gotta drag myself back to the tarantula cage  :'(
I use the tarantula cage to fashion a splint. If any of the equipment is damaged it would probably be best to find out now. I really hope the radio is still working but if the power is out in this pod then I doubt it is unless it has it's own power source.
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Nilocy

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 2 - Welcome to Mars
« Reply #115 on: December 30, 2008, 08:18:19 am »

Not knowning what shes landed in Rosie pulls herself out of the water and heads over to the other two.

"We need to sort out this flooding. It seems to be stemmings from a pipe over there." Pointing to the broken pipe over to the north wall, or at least what seems north.

While the other two should be fixing the water pipe, she remembers the suite she landed in. Albeit soggy, if dried out it could be of use outside for leak checks. But, the radio is a priority.

Step one. Tell the two others about the suit(s).
Step two. Find a radio and start cycling through channels.
Step three. If needed, help with the leaks.
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sonerohi

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 2 - Welcome to Mars
« Reply #116 on: December 30, 2008, 09:54:45 am »

Oi! I meant to use the suits just to supply oxygen. Not be worn. But, it looks like our sector is about to asplode anyways, so whatever. I'll try to help Augusta with whatever materials are on hand.
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qwertyuiopas

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 2 - Welcome to Mars
« Reply #117 on: December 30, 2008, 10:01:45 am »

I guess I will head for the control module, unless a more promising location appears(anywhere that is likely to have air).
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Asheron

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 2 - Welcome to Mars
« Reply #118 on: December 30, 2008, 11:03:47 am »

Dietrich sighed and thought of what he should do now. There wasn't a lot more to do but leaving the pod. However, randomly hiking in the wastelands of Mars would equal certain death. His only hope was others had survived, and that they had crashed near him. He hoped they had a radio.
Dietrich fiddled around with his radio. If he could only find someone...

=> I try to communicate with anyone of the survivors who is near my crash site, using the radio in my evacuation unit. I try to find out where they are, and in what situation they are in.
If I still have some time, I will first scavenge the pod's lights before I set out.

If I can't contact anyone, I pray to god and set out in to Mars' wastelands.
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Strife26

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Re: Angry Red Planet - Turn 2 - Welcome to Mars
« Reply #119 on: December 30, 2008, 11:06:20 am »

I forgot, insert the Iron Man rift after the 'STRIFE!' part.

I've already thought up of a design for a low-water reactor plan.

Water is used in two parts of a normal nuclear reaction, right? (It is, according to my normally useless chemistry textbook) First, you have a nuclear reaction. It produces energy which superheats some water. The water flashes (or tries to, depending on pressure) to steam which powers a turbine (the turbine then produces electricity or whatever you need). he rest of the problem involves getting the super-hot steam to turn back into liquid. In a civie reactor, you can just run it through some cold water, but that's wasteful. On mars, where it's quite cold, you might just be able to run it outside for a while to get it to the proper temp to repeat. In fact, if you were careful and cleaver about it, you might be able to simply you convection currents and not need any pumps to move the water around.

((This was all going to be posted last night, but I go interupted))


For this turn, Strife is going on a recon mission. He'll seal his pressure suit up (giving the integritty of the bulding is shot) and drag the body outside. He'll try to find a crevice to lay the poo sap to rest, while looking around for more wreckage. I orderof priority, 1) Anything that looks like people survived 2) The reactor section 3) Anyother debris 4) Any thing that seems to come out of a John Carter book.
He'll leave everything except air and additional morphine in the construction section and fight through any pain. You do know how strong morphine is, right? Strife will ignore his arm for a while.
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