"Good luck with that," Latisha commented dryly.
"If necessary both landers will remain in orbit for a month or two until the window appears," Mario shrugged. "Most of it is construction equipment and industrial plants, important, but not critical." He nodded to Wanda then sat down.
"Luigi is bringing a team of twelve people," Joyce said and nodded.
"Like Spam in a can," Latisha murmured.
Mario smiled. "Well, not exactly. The Hab is three times longer than the first gen we flew out in. It is permanently attached to the Ferry. They will dock with the station and ride the SSTO down."
Mario leaned back and picked up a drink. "Luigi better bring a decent beer or I am going to send him right back where he came from," he grumped. Even Doctor Waldecker chuckled at that. "We have to let the tourists take the rover they are bringing to go to Olympus Mons and the Marines canyon in a couple months or so." Mario shrugged.
"We'll have to set up way stations along the way. Dr. Waldecker and I have been to the mouth of the Marines canyon, I can't wait to get inside for a better look." Wanda said.
"He is carrying a lot of toys for us to play with, and some new faces." Mario smiled. "We're going to be busy setting up weather instruments; we have Doctor Asanti coming in." Each of them knew the rail thin Indian climatologist.
"Doctor Asanti will be working with some of us to study the past climate of Mars, and its current changes." She shrugged. "Latisha, you should bed down, your team has an early preflight and launch tomorrow." Joyce nodded to her pilot.
Latisha looked startled but quickly recovered. "I'll bring them home safe Joyce, I promise."
Joyce smiled and patted her hand. "See that you do." She nodded to the others. "Good night folks." She left.
...*...*...*...*...
Luigi chuckled at the young Swedish boy who had excitedly asked him about the ship. The boy was a red haired freckle faced boy, missing his front teeth.
Maybe ten or eleven, he had a glint in his eye that just said mischief waiting to happen. "Eric, thank you for your question. We are on the Hudson, the first of the second generation plasma driven vehicles, and the first purpose built to carry people and cargo anywhere in the solar system," he said and then paused theatrically with a smile.
"That's right, anywhere in the solar system. With this, the Columbus, and the Drake we can send twelve people to any destination in the system. It uses a Russian built Topaz five reactor and two plasma rockets to accelerate. Once we get half way to our destination the magsail, that’s the magnetic superconductor hoops encircling the craft, push against the solar wind with an electric charge, slowing us back down so we can enter orbit." Betsy smiled as she held the camera. He nodded to her as he held up a model. "You see, this is where we are, in the hab section." He pointed to the forward segment of cylinders. “The center is the Hab; the three cylinders around it are Transhab modules.” He pointed each out.
"This mouth here," He circled it with his finger. "On the end is the docking port. With this we dock with the stations." He mimed the action then shifted his grip to expose the latter half of the craft. "These globes in the middle are the fuel tanks and radiation shielding. Behind that is the Topaz reactor, then the plasma rockets." He put the model down and picked up a tablet.
Of course he was leaving out how they'd used Russian Uragan rockets to list the pieces into orbit, then a work crew lifted to orbit by a modified Burtan space plane had taken a ferry out from the ISS to put the pieces together over a week.
"Now when we dock, we will be docking with a Bigelow Genesis two Station. Think of it as a couple of long balloons connected to a couple of cylinders. The SSTO, that's the Mars shuttle, was sent ahead of us fully loaded with cargo. It will aero brake into the atmosphere that means it will use a shell and surf...” He pulled up a video and opened a window on top of his feed so they could see. "It will surf the atmosphere of Mars to slow itself down so it can enter orbit and dock. Once it docks with the station, we will have our ride home," he explained and then smiled.
"The shuttle or SSTO as we call it is designed to carry six people down at a time, and two up with replacement fuel and supplies. So we can move people down with new cargo, and the Mars colony can resupply and refuel the Hudson at the same time." He smiled. "We're getting to Mars much faster than we did in the first few launches, we should be getting there in fifty days, instead of the usual one eighty. But we can use the plasma ferries to go to Mars any time we want it just takes longer for opposition transits." Betsy frowned. He caught her look and subtle head shake. "Okay, I know I am getting a little technical, sorry for that. I hope it answers your question." He smiled.
"Hopefully you and many of your friends will get a chance to ride in one of these craft in the future." He nodded to Betsy who cut the feed.
"Well, that went well," Bruce Treadwell commented from his perch above Luigi.
Luigi chuckled. "Yeah." He caught a drink bulb floating nearby and took a sip from the straw.
"You didn't mention the micro gravity or that the superconductors protect us from radiation," Bruce reminded him with a smile.
Luigi chuckled. "A little at a time. The whole ferry is a bit much for people to take in."
He watched as Mary floated in, over corrected, and Bruce caught her. "Just the way it should be," Bruce murmured as he held her. “An angel,” he teased.
She blushed. "I'll never get over this, I feel like a chipmunk," she replied. Luigi chuckled.
"You’re the cutest chipmunk of the crew," Bruce murmured.
"Oh you’re just saying that," she gurgled with laughter.
"Yeah, but I know you like it," he teased.
She nodded with another laugh then turned to Luigi. "So next is the SSTO?"
He nodded. "Yeah." He nodded to Betsy as he hit the play button. Betsy started filming as a young mocha colored girl with a corn crow hairdo started to burble about the shuttle.
"She looks Jamaican! Remember when I had my hair done like that in the islands?" Mary gasped. Bruce shushed her.
Luigi chuckled. "Hello Mocumba, my name is Luigi Irons. I am going to introduce you to Australian Lieutenant Commander Brian Dagle; he is our chief pilot and will be flying the SSTO down to the Mars colony." Luigi waved to a young brunette with a crew cut.
The young man floated into the field of view of the camera. "Hello Mocumba, my name is Brian. I am pleased to meet you and the other mates watching this. Now, we're going to explore the SSTO."
From out of the camera view an SSTO model came floating into the shot in front of Brian like a paper airplane. He caught it with a grin. "Okay, this is a model of the SSTO. Notice it has a triangular shape and looks like the Space shuttle. The design may look familiar to some of you; it is a redesign of the X-33 Venture star SSTO. It has these two rudders on the back to steer it left and right."
He pointed. "And these two winglets on the sides to give it additional lift and to allow us to control the craft in atmosphere." He pantomimed coming in at an angle. "Now unlike the old Space Shuttle and the Venture star project, this craft doesn't have an exterior cargo bay. It has a cargo hold that is linked to the airlocks here, and here." He pointed out the docking ports on the top and side.
"The one on the top is so the craft can dock with the station; the one on the side is so we can get in and out on the ground." He smiled as he spun the craft around so its rear faced the camera. "Now this is the engine. It is a linear aero spike engine. It uses a lot less fuel and parts then the old bell engines we have been using for the past sixty odd years."
He smiled. "In space the thrust comes straight out. But in atmosphere the pressure wave formed by the craft pushes the thrust down against this ceramic coated curved deck here. That makes it much more efficient." He smiled. "Now, the Venture Star and space shuttle were designed to land like a plane, but take off like a rocket. We're going to do things a bit differently. This craft is going to land like a plane, but it will take off like a British STOL craft. That means
we're going to go off a ski jump."
Luigi used the remote to key in the CGI sequence. It played out on a split screen. "Now, like a rocket plane or normal jet, we'll taxi and start to take off, but when we get to the end of the runway we will go up this ski jump and then throttle up to max power. That will allow us to get into orbit." Brian smiled politely. He wasn't sure how much of this the kids could absorb.
"We can take six people and cargo down with us, and two up with fuel and supplies. The SSTO has already been stocked with cargo for its flight out here, so all we have to do is climb aboard. Once we get down, we will unload and refuel her, check her over then fly her back up to the station for the next load of people and gear." Brian nodded to Luigi. "I believe Luigi stole some of my thunder by explaining how each time we come back up, we will bring back fuel and supplies for the return journey back to Earth." Luigi smiled. "It will take about twelve round trips to get the Hudson fully restocked with fuel, food, parts, and air,” Brian said.
"The people on Mars have been building the space port, with the ramp for us. They finished it a few days ago, and they are now working on making giant storage cylinders so we can store fuel." Brian spun the SSTO model so it turned wing over wing slowly. "If you want to know more about that, ask your teacher to contact the colony through mission control."
Brian waved. "Thanks for listening and have a good day in school." Betsy cut the feed. "That was easy." Brian chuckled. "I'm glad we rehearsed it before though." He pulled out a drinking bulb and took a sip. "All that talking makes me thirsty. Who's next?" he asked as he looked around.
"I believe we have some questions on eating and drinking in space, and a question on going to the bathroom in space. Any volunteers?" Luigi asked looking up from his tablet. Betsy chuckled as no one answered.
"Insert cricket sound here," she said snickering. That got a laugh.
...*...*...*...*...
Wanda hefted the camera up to shoulder level and smiled at Mario. "Are you ready for you close up Mister Deevil?"
He chuckled. "Right. Let's get this over with." He sat on the corner of the counter and nodded as she turned the camera on and pointed it. "Good morning from Mars. My name for those of you who don't know, is Mario Irons. Today we're answering a question from Molly Greenwood of Temecula California who writes; Dear Mario, how do you make things on Mars?"
Mario looked up from the tablet and smiled. "I'm glad you asked that question Molly." He waved to the vault. "Right now we're inside the vault; we'll get to that in a minute. Many of the things we use and live in, the Habs, vehicles, and equipment, were made by men and women on Earth in factories. They were paid to make the equipment we use to keep us alive." He smiled. "Now, we also have equipment that lets us make things as well." Mario moved aside to expose his Reprap. "This is a generation six Reprap. It makes things with plastic like this." Mario held up a plastic vase. "Or this." He put the vase down and picked up a plastic spoon. "Or many of the things you see on this table." He waved his hand over it. Wanda panned over the table, then back to Mario.
"We can make a lot of plastic things with this machine. We also have a brick maker that makes bricks." He smiled. "We've used the bricks to make this vault, and other things too." He tapped the counter, and then tapped the walls. "When we brought the equipment to make the plastic, we made this resin to seal the bricks." He tapped the translucent resin on the wall. "We can now make more things like ceramics." He went over to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup of coffee. He saluted the camera with the mug and then took a sip.
"This coffee machine and the coffee cup were made entirely here on Mars. Well, with the exception of some of the electronics." He chuckled. "Right now we can't make electronics, or really sophisticated things. That is still on your end." He nodded to the camera. "We can work with small amounts of metal and glass too." He took another sip of coffee, then set the mug down and picked up a block of glass.
"This is a glass brick, used in making things here. We can make shower stalls which are walls of glass." He smiled. "We're looking forward to this; we can now make windows in the vaults so we can let in more light." Wanda held up a hand counting down. "Right, now that concludes this chapter of ask Mario. Catch Wanda later today when she gives you a tour of the greenhouse. Have a good day in school." Mario waved. Wanda shut the camera down and grinned. "How'd I do?" he asked.
"Not bad. No way you'll get an Emmy, but not bad," she smiled. He chuckled.
...*...*...*...*...
Wanda sniffed at a flower then looked up. Mario was pleased that he got the shot, tightening in on the flower, then out to see his lovely wife sniffing it. "Welcome to the greenhouse," Wanda smiled. "Well actually, this is one of six we now have. This is our first greenhouse, and is a bit old and worn." She waved to the plastic.
"As you can see, the dust from outside has sandblasted the outside of the plastic until it is barely translucent. We will eventually have to abandon this and the other greenhouses because of this. The sandblasting will eventually weaken the plastic until it ruptures like an over ripe watermelon." She smiled as she used her hand to mime an explosion. "But hopefully that won’t happen for another year so we can harvest these beauties then recycle the equipment." She waved to the pots. "Here we have strawberries. On the left is the dwarf wheat and corn." Mario panned the camera to cover each plant species, and then back to his wife.
"The other greenhouses grow other foods; we have one dedicated to vegetables. We even have fruit trees growing in the gallery atrium," she said and then smiled. "Part of our problem with our plants is that everything has to be pollinated by hand. Unfortunately we don't have bees or other pollinators to do the work so it has to be done by hand. Let me show you how we do that."
She held up a plastic rod. "On the tip of this is pollen from another plant. We dip it in a little bag of pollen we have, and then touch the stamen of each flower blossom. Hopefully the pollen will stick and we will have germination." She smiled. "Now, I happen to be a geologist that means a rock expert, so I am not fully up to speed on plants. Check with your teacher or the Internet for more information," she said and then smiled again.
"My husband Mario is working on brick atrium greenhouses where we may be able to release insects to help us pollinate and care for the plants."
Mario swiveled the camera around to face himself. "It's a work in progress folks, and it is going to take a while. The underground designs use way too much power." He smiled then swiveled the camera back to his wife who sighed.
"Okay, moving on, let's go check out the hydroponics section. We have an entire greenhouse producing things in water! Above the hydroponics is Aeroponics, which has the plant growing in air! No soil, no water, nothing!" She grinned. "Come on, follow me." She moved out the lock and down the corridor. Mario followed.
· Chapter 17
Base expansion:
"There she is, right on queue." Joyce looked up at the bright light in the sky.
"Nice. Looks like it will land about a click away." Mario nodded. The dust was almost gone, but it left a slight haze in the upper atmosphere. Interestingly the temperature had gone down for the first year, before it had started to warm up.
According to the read outs it was four degrees C above normal. Even though he hated to admit it, perhaps his brother had done the right thing. Not that he intended to tell him that until after he was done throttling his scrawny neck he thought. He chuckled silently to himself and looked up, shielding his visor with his hand. "What am I doing?" He used his free hand to lower his sun visor. "Better." He watched as the lander came down.
"Come on baby, don't fail me now," Joyce murmured.
"As long as half the cargo is intact, I am happy," Mario murmured. It was much nicer going outside to watch a landing. Screw Mission control. He just wished he had a lawn chair and a decent beer right about now. One cargo lander down, one to go, then the SSTO.
"I'm greedy, I want it all," Joyce returned, eyes locked on the distant ship.
She smiled. "To right I do."
...*...*...*...*...
"We've cleared you a landing site little bro, going to be interesting landing there though." Mario watched the link.
"It is nice to not have such a long time lag." Luigi responded a moment later.
Mario chuckled. "Yeah. See you tomorrow." He cut the feed. "So we're all ready?" He looked over to Wanda and Joyce.
"Yeah, I can't wait to get my hands on that bird. Much better than trying to fly a tuna can." She smiled happily.
Mario chuckled. "Well, if it makes you happy..."
...*...*...*...*...
The SSTO flared out and came in nose high. "Don't bang up, please don't bang up," Mario prayed. This was one craft they seriously needed in one piece. They were going to have to baby this bird for decades. The rear wheels touched the ground with a puff of dust. The nose came down and puffed as it touched the duracrete. "We have touchdown. Just roll it out, you’ve got the room," Mario called triumphantly over the comm.
"Roger that Base. We're rolling. Bit bumpy though," Luigi reported.
Mario laughed. "Can't make anyone happy." He shook his head watching the craft roll to a stop. "Looks good." He waved to Joyce.
She pumped her fist in the air. "Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" she yodeled.
He chuckled. "What's say we go meet them huh?" She smiled and started for the truck. He hastily followed her.
...*...*...*...*...
"Yeah! I've been waiting to do this for too damn long!" Mario held up his fist. Luigi nodded and smacked it with his own. The felt the flash as someone took a picture. "Bet that will be on every web news page in an hour," Mario chuckled.
...*...*...*...*...
The moment Luigi took his helmet off Mario locked his arm around his neck and dragged him down. "HEY!"
Mario started giving him a thorough nuggie. "Shoot a rock at me will ya? Didn't mom tell you not to throw rocks? When will you listen?"
First Steps (Founding of the Federation) Page 35
