The Man Who Sold Mars

by K Anderson Yancy

  Patricia bouncing with joy glanced up at her aunt, “You were awesome!”

  I grinned, “Yes you were.”

  # # #

  I grinned broader at Selena’s sister, and I too offered my kudos, “That really was a fantastic performance.”

  Feigning she was a grand diva Catherine said, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It’s the adoration of all you little people that makes it so . . . rewarding.”

  We all laughed at her joke.

  Catherine took my hand, “Stephen, I’m glad you could come. It’s been a long time.”

  “It has been.”

  “So, my sister was able to pry you away at least for a moment from your mad dream.”

  “Mad?”

  Selena glowing and in love beamed, “All dreams are mad.”

  Catherine nodded, “Yes. Even when you get them. Mr. Young, you can learn a thing from Misters Macbeth and Shakespeare.”

  “You must be the reincarnation of my mom.”

  We all laughed.

  Patricia pulled on her mom’s hand with great excitement, pointing to Macbeth. “I want to meet him. Please. Please.”

  Catherine turned to Macbeth and in her regal persona called to him. “My Lord, my niece seeks a moment of your counsel.”

  Just as regal he replied, “Anything for My Lady.”

  Patricia ran to Macbeth and Selena followed.

  “Stephen, this world is rich with worlds of treasures. Like my sister. Why aren’t you two dating?”

  “Ahhhh . . . .”

  “Afraid of that great unknown . . . commitment.”

  “I’m a man. It’s genetic.”

  We laughed.

  “I’m committed to lots of things.”

  “Things not people.”

  “People too. She knows I would do anything for her.”

  “She loves you.”

  “I know.”

  “You love her.”

  “I know.”

  “Then my dear sir why don’t you?”

  “I know her. I know me. I make women unhappy. I could make her intensely unhappy or just unhappy. I’ve chosen the latter.”

  “Do you think she would mourn you any less, if you never returned from Mars? Or is it, you would never go if you had her?”

  I thought on the insight to my psyche Catherine had exposed and then started to speak. But, Catherine saw Selena and Patricia returning and warned me. She glanced at Selena, “I see Macbeth autographed your program.”

  “Yes. May I have yours?”

  “Certainly.”

  Playfully suspicious, but knowing, Selena asked, “So, what did you and my little sister discuss.”

  I smiled.

  “Dreams that end

  And sad brave men

  And worlds I’ve never known.”

  10. The Mars Transit Vehicle

  And from the lands of dreams an intense searchlight shined from above, piercing the dark starlit sky to sparkle on the hull of my dream made real – the Mars Transit Vessel, MTV, The Prometheus – the ship that would carry me and my team through the stars.

  Above her, the sound of our approaching helicopter rotor blades rose as our helo maneuvered itself and its searchlight over the glistening ruby colored form, in the evergreen woods just northeast of Moscow.

  I smiled with pride at the fruits of this special part of my quest incarnate.

  # # #

  So in love, I watched him, so pleased to see Stephen so happy, as he watched a portion of a dream he’d had for over 30 years lying incarnate waiting for him.

  # # #

  Selena turned her attention to the ship, studying it and unnoticed I watched her in awe, as if she were Venus rising from the sea. I wanted her so badly. I just . . . I just couldn’t.

  Still watching the ship, Selena said, “She’s a beauty.”

  Still watching her and very much in love and meaning Selena I said, “Isn’t she?”

  The helicopter continued on to a landing at a heliport not far from Prometheus where Selena and I exited to enter an awaiting van to be greeted by Tatyana, Gardner, Kevin, Hemmingson, and George.

  Excited Tatyana greeted us, “Welcome to, Zvezdny Gorodok, Star City, birth place of humanities first reach for the stars. Here we have Prometheus, the pinnacle of a billion years of human technology.” Switching to her heavy Russian accent, “Compliments of Russian ingenuity.”

  Selena teased her, “World ingenuity, built in Russia.”

  Tatyana teased back, “Same thing.”

  She laughed and we joined her, as our van delivered us to the Prometheus.

  Smiling, I walked along the length of the massive ship, surveying it with the others. “Amazing.”

  Kevin was impressed by her size, “She’s huge.”

  Gardner too was awed, “She’s going to be the home of 12 people for three years. She has to be.”

  George shook his head no. “Not just home—“

  Hemmingson added another truth, “World.”

  I couldn’t wait to go and added, “Gravity and all.”

  Gardner thought for a moment, “Gravity?”

  Tatyana pointed. “This section containing the crew quarters and infirmary rotates, producing a gravity through centrifugal force. We’ve found that the average person loses about one inch per month when in an exclusively weightless space environment.”

  Hemmingson glanced at me, “Jesus, Stephen you’ll come back short enough to recreate the roll of Tattoo in the remake of the remake of the remake of the remake of the television show Fantasy Island.”

  I pitched my voice up, “De plane, Boss. De plane.”

  Gardner returned to his question, “So, how exactly does centrifugal gravity work?”

  Professor Tatyana answered him, “It’s actually a combination of centripetal force and centrifugal force, which are an action-reaction force pair associated with circular motion. According to Newton's first law of motion, a moving body travels along a straight path with constant speed and constant velocity, unless it is acted on by an outside force.

  “For circular motion to occur there must be a constant force acting on a body, pushing it toward the center of the circular path. This force is the centripetal, center-seeking force. For a planet orbiting the sun, the force is gravitational; for an object twirled on a string, the force is mechanical; for an electron orbiting an atom, it’s electrical.

  “The centripetal force, the action, is balanced by a reaction force, the centrifugal, center-fleeing force. The two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. The centrifugal force does not act on the body in motion; the only force acting on the body in motion is the centripetal force. The centrifugal force acts on the source of the centripetal force to displace it radially from the center of the path. Thus, in twirling a mass on a string, the centripetal force transmitted by the string pulls in on the mass to keep it in its circular path, while the centrifugal force transmitted by the string pulls outward on its point of attachment at the center of the path.

  Tatyana looked at the group, some clearly understood and some had no idea what she was saying. But before she could say another word, Hemmingson said, “Sprechen sie English?”

  “OK. At the carnivals sometimes there's a circular ride that spins dizzyingly fast. You stand inside it; your back pressed against the wall. It spins faster and faster until, suddenly, the floor falls away. But you don't fall with it. You’re pinned to the wall by forces that may be as great as 3g’s, three times the normal force of Earth’s gravity.”

  Hemmingson smiled, “Ooooooooh, I see.”

  I chimed in, “For us, 1g is optimal.”

  Tatyana continued, “When we were coming up with designs for her the need for an artificial gravity was a paramount concern to keep from returning a crew of Tattoos.”

  George added, “One vision was of a huge, rotating spacecraft like the one seen orbiting the Earth in the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey.

  Tatyana continued, “But that large
means very, very, very expensive and many more things that can break.”

  I supported her, “And a lot more construction time and a much longer overall period from the start of the project until the crew returns from Mars.

  George added, “So, we went with a smaller, internal, centrifugal, artificial gravity ring.

  Tatyana continued, “A rotating spacecraft produces the feeling of gravity on its inside hull. The rotation drives any object inside the spacecraft toward the hull, thereby giving the appearance of a gravitational pull directed outward. Often referred to as centrifugal force, the "pull", is actually a manifestation of the objects inside the spacecraft attempting to travel in a straight line due to inertia.

  “In English, this happens to us all the time. You’re riding in a car going around a curve. Sitting on your dashboard is a CD case. As you go around the curve, the case moves towards the outside edge of the car.

  “The car’s tires on the road have enough static friction to act as centripetal force which forces the car to go around the curve. The CD on the slippery dashboard does not have enough friction to act as a centripetal force, so in the absence of a centripetal force the case follows a straight line motion. The car literally turns out from underneath the CD case, but from the passenger's point of view it looks as though something, a phantom force, pushed the CD case across the dashboard. If the car you’re riding in has the windows rolled down, then the case may leave the car or depending on your perspective, the car leave the case, as it follows its straight line path. If the windows are rolled up, then the window will deliver a centripetal force to the case and keep it in a circular path.”

  I added, “For us, the spacecraft's hull provides the centripetal force required for the objects to travel in a circle, if they continued in a straight line, they would leave the spacecraft.”

  Hemmingson explored his rapidly growing knowledge of artificial gravity, “So, the gravity felt by the objects is simply the reaction force of the object on the hull reacting to the centripetal force of the hull on the object, because in accordance with Newton, all forces occur in pairs, and these two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. So artificial gravity is not an attraction between the object and the hull. It’s like butter versus margarine. Woooo Hoooooo! I’m learning stuff. I must be too sober.”

  We laughed.

  Hemmingson wanted to learn more, “Algo mas. Algo mas. More. More.”

  And Tatyana obliged him, “From the point of view of the people rotating with the habitat, artificial gravity by rotation behaves in some ways similarly to normal gravity but has the following important difference.

  “With centrifugal force induced gravity, unlike real gravity which pulls towards a center, this pseudo-force that appears in rotating reference frames gives a rotational 'gravity' that pushes away from the axis of rotation, the center.

  “Centrifugal artificial gravity levels vary proportionately with the distance from the centre of rotation. With a small radius of rotation, the amount of gravity felt at one's head will be significantly different from the amount felt at one's feet.”

  I added, “This can make movement and changing body positions awkward.”

  Tatyana continued, “Slower rotations of larger rotational radii should not have this problem.”

  Hemmingson was definitely catching on, “But then there’s the size and expense problem.”

  I agreed, “Exactly. Also, the Coriolis Effect gives an apparent force that acts on objects that move. This force tends to curve the motion in the opposite sense to the habitat's spin. Effects produced by the Coriolis Effect act on the inner ear and can cause dizziness, nausea, and disorientation. Experiments have shown that slower rates of rotation reduce the Coriolis forces and its effects. It’s generally believed that at 2 rpm, revolutions per minute, or less no adverse effects from the Coriolis forces will occur. But as the radius decreases, RPM’s must increase to produce the same gravity. At theses higher rates, the Coriolis forces and effects increase dramatically. Some people can become accustomed to it and some do not, but at rates above 7 rpm few if any have been known to become accustomed. It is not yet known if very long exposures to high levels of Coriolis forces can increase the likelihood of becoming accustomed. So, to reduce Coriolis forces to livable levels, a rate of spin of 2 rpm or less is needed to produce 1g and the radius of rotation would have to be 224 meters, approximately 735 ft or greater. The diameter would be about the equivalent of five football fields end to end.

  Fay realized the implications, “That’s a HUGE ship.”

  George added, “Instead, we thought we might be able to make the ship’s diameter smaller and use a short radius centrifuge within it.”

  Tatyana resumed, “And, based on the diameter of the Prometheus we can give the crew quarters and infirmary a livable and workable gravity at about 6 rpm. However, the crew has the ability to increase it as much as 15 rpm and reduce the rate to as low as 1 rpm or even zero if need be.

  Fay was surprised, “Fifteen?”

  I answered him, “If the body can become accustomed to higher RPM's at long exposure we want to see how far we can push it for future designs.

  Tatyana gave a more practical answer, “Or sustained periods at 8, 9 10 RPM may make 7 rpm feel like paradise and train the body to accept 7 RPM as a norm.”

  George very proud directed our attention to the entire ship, “She’s a marvel of engineering.”

  I agreed, “She’s far from perfect, but that she is.”

  Selena voiced her thought, which we shared, “Beautiful.” And then she made the request we all would have made had she not done it first. “Let’s see the inside.”

  We moved towards a walkway to enter an airlock. For a moment, I remained behind admiring the ship.

  # # #

  And proud of my Stephen, I stayed behind again to admire my love, at this, his special moment. Then I asked him a question burning in my mind. “Tell me. For someone going to the stars, you never look at them.”

  # # #

  I hesitated answering Selena, remaining in silence, reflecting on the truth this other sister had hit upon. “Do you know how hard it is to be so close to something you love so much, but can’t touch?” I started to look up at the stars, decided not to and walked off to rejoin the group entering the Mars Transit Vehicle.

  # # #

  Sad I watched Stephen walk towards the ship, while I brushed away a tear, and soft to myself, said, “Yes, Stephen. . . . I do.”

  # # #

  I sensed Selena was just standing there and I returned to her, smiled and offered her my hand. She smiled took it and we crossed through an entry bay of the transit vehicle to rejoin the group. Tatyana tapped an entry pad and the door sealed behind us. Machinery whirred, air currents fluxed and after a brief moment the light on an internal door we were facing changed from red to green. Tatyana, keyed another entry pad, the door opened and she walked forward, leading our tour as she talked. “The Prometheus is powered by Helium 3—“

  Hemmingson joked, “What? Like a balloon?”

  We all laughed except Selena who had a burning question. “I thought we were using deuterium.”

  I answered her. “We tried, but the radioactive shielding requirements were a nightmare.”

  And so did Tatyana. “Helium 3 needs less radioactive shielding, yields more useable energy and is not as destructive on the shielding. So, the weight requirement of the propulsion system is lessened along with the internal radiation hazard to the crew.”

  Hemmingson was becoming confused. “Speak English. Deuterium? Helium three?”

  So George did. “Deuterium is Heavy hydrogen, the nucleus of deuterium called a deuteron, contains one proton and one neutron—“

  I added. “Where as the far more common hydrogen nucleus consist of only a proton and no neutrons.”

  Selena added. “Helium 3 is a light, non-radioactive isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron.”

  Apparently, we w
eren’t speaking English enough for Hemmingson. So he said, “And that would mean?”

  Tatyana knowing him all too well explained it in terms that he would comprehend without difficulty. “It’s a ménage versus a twosome.”

  “Oh! You get more energy out of Helium 3 than the other thing. Now you’re speaking Hemmingson. I got it.”

  We roared uproariously.

  Inquisitive Hemmingson continued. “I’m disappointed. I thought we’d be extending our dependence on carbon based fuels to the stars. Mars is pretty cold. It could use a little greenhouse effect. So how does Prometheus use Helium three to make it to infinity and beyond?”

  I explained. “The ship’s power plant is essentially a deuterium-tritium fusion reactor.”

  Gardner confirmed, “Powered by Helium three.”

  And, Tatyana continued. “Exactly, we do it in a rather innovative way. The deuterium is suspended in a solution seeded with neutrons and ignited through high pitched sounds.”

  I added. “The high-frequency sounds cause cavities and bubbles in the liquid a process known as acoustic cavitation and those cavities then implode, producing high temperatures and light in a phenomenon called sonoluminescence.”

  Tot, Tatyana, further explained, “In a conventional fusion reaction, the high heat necessary for fusion reactions to occur is about 40 million degrees Kelvin.

  Kevin voiced a thought on everyone’s mind. “That is hot!”

  She continued. “And then some. The problem then becomes two fold. Obtaining the heat necessary to induce the reaction, which we’ve eliminated through sound, and containing the heat released due to the reaction.”

  I explained. “No known material container can withstand 40 million degrees Kelvin.”

  And she provided the answer. “The solution is to keep the hot plasma from making contact with the walls of its container by continually moving it in circular or helical paths by means of the magnetic force on charged particles.”

  Selena asked an important question. “Where are you getting Helium 3 from? It’s extremely rare. Only about 150 kilograms of it have been produced since . . . 1955 and that’s from decommissioned nuclear warheads.”