First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (6 page)

 ...*...*...*...*...

“And
in here we've got one of our fabrication rooms.” The hostess
smiled politely as she opened the door for the journalists.

Mario
blinked in surprise as flashbulbs went off like lightening for a
moment.

“Ah
folks can we not blind the staff...” he said dryly, rubbing his
now watering eyes.

“As
you can see Dr. Irons is busy working on a part.” She waved to
indicate the rows of 3D printers. “We have twenty printers of
various sizes in this room. It is rather loud,” she said,
raising her voice to cut over the clatter of the printers and
ventilation. She hastily closed the door.

“The
ventilation is used to suck the plastic fumes up out of the room and
through the air exchange system. Any waste materials from the
machines are recycled. As you can see we're as green as we can be,”
she said by rout and then smiled politely.

“I
noticed that with the wind farms and the solar panels on the roof,”
One of the journalists said.

Their
tour guide nodded. “Yes typically a large building of this size
with all this electronic equipment consumes a great deal of
electricity. Megawatts in fact. This costs the tax payers tens of
thousands of dollars each month. By going green from the beginning
we're trying to keep costs down as low as we can,” the hostess
said, glad someone had picked up a queue. “For instance the
replicators. With those we can print a test part and the designers
and engineers can look at it right away. This way they can streamline
production. Once they are sure the parts work they order them up for
fabrication and move on.”

Irons
opened the door and came out with a handful of parts. He paused as
the group looked at him. He shrugged as he closed the door and
fumbled a piece. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Quite
all right doctor Irons, we were just discussing how we make test
parts,” the hostess said genially.

“So
these parts are going to Mars?” a journalist asked. Mario Irons
snorted.

“No
these are test parts. This is made out of ceramic powder and this one
is made out of resin.” He showed them two of the parts. “I
prefer to send my orders to be done at night when the work load is
the shortest, but a few people caught onto that trick and now I've
got to play catch as catch can with the queue like everyone else,”
he said and then chuckled.

The
hostess smiled and nodded. “Here in the program we pride
ourselves on thinking green and looking to the future. Thank you
Doctor.” She nodded politely and moved off. The reporters
trailed behind. “And we're walking...”

Mario
snorted, shook his head and headed off in the opposite direction.

...*...*...*...*...

Luigi
and Doctor Roberts looked over the assembled group of scientists and
engineers. "All right folks, we are looking at the Topaz four
reactor. It has a quantum increase over the first generation, capable
of four point nine megawatts of power. The original Topaz one had a
top power output of five kilowatts." Several people murmured.

"Now,
the latest generation has been scaled up by a factor of three. That
means it is just less than three tons in weight," Luigi
explained. Luigi watched the crowd as they murmured.

"Excuse
me, but why do we need a nuclear reactor at all?" One of the
older scientists asked. "It will interfere with our scientific
instruments in orbit."

Luigi
scowled and held up a hand to a red faced Doctor Roberts. "Hang
on a minute I will take this one." He leaned against the desk.

"Folks
the Topaz emits less radiation then a lump of coal, we checked.
Furthermore we are going to add additional safety measures, and
upgrade her with some American ingenuity to increase her efficiency
before she leaves the ground. I don't want any crap about radiation;
we don't need that hamstringing us like it did in the early 90's with
the first experiments with the Topaz reactor. Solar just doesn't cut
it for the applications we have in mind." He looked at the
crowd. "The first person who goes running to the press wining
about possible radiation will wish they were never born do you hear
me?" he growled dangerously. He looked at the crowd. Several
looked defiant. "I mean it folks; each of you signed the NDA.
That's a
NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
." He smacked the table
hard with the flat of his hand making several jump.

"Got
a problem come to me or Doctor Zubrin. I will gladly accept your
resignation." He looked them over. "Good, Get on with it."
He turned to a startled Doc Roberts. "You were saying Doc?"
he asked. He moved aside and sat down.

...*...*...*...*...

"Were
catching flack on the hill and from state over the repeal of the
space launch law,” Zubrin said as Nick and Luigi entered the
room. Things were really coming together and now that the the new
class of freshman legislators had their feet under them they were
starting to take notice.

"Bad?"
Zubrin sighed.

"Hard
to say, it's pretty early, but the big three are lobbying pretty hard
to stop or delay it. They want us to build the launcher here and line
their pockets."

Doctor
Zubrin sighed. "Well, I hear Boeing is getting in bed with the
NPO Energia Company, last week a rep called asking for specs and help
on the Uragan design." He shrugged. "Lockheed is getting
the contract for the SSTO. I'm not too happy about that, their track
record with the whole X-33 program isn't so hot." Zubrin
scowled.

"Carrot
or stick?" Nick asked.

"I
think a little of both." Luigi sat down.

"What
do you have in mind?" Zubrin asked.

"Well,
we can get with Boeing and try to broker the deal to upgrade the
Energia. That will get them in bed with us. Lockheed is playing
games, but if we dangle the SSTO in front of them but give them a
firm deadline and nonop contract," he said suggestively.

Zubrin
whistled. "They'd never go for it!" He shook his head. Cost
over runs and delays were the bread and butter of the big three.

"Well,
we could go with a smaller contractor. I bet your old friends at
Rocketplane Kistler would jump at the opportunity," Nick
suggested.

Zubrin
winced but Luigi chuckled. "Oh, yeah, see there's the hint of a
stick. Bird in the hand or two in the bush..."

Nick
nodded. "We can also make it clear through back channels that if
the launch law isn't modified the program will shut down or go at a
much slower pace, and lose a lot of punch."

Doctor
Zubrin nodded. "Yeah, and if we make it clear that if it does we
will farm as many contracts as we can out to the smaller companies
first..."

Luigi
nodded. "Yeah, they may get the message," Luigi said.

Zubrin
sighed. "Let's hope so, we need them on our side."

...*...*...*...*...

"I
am so getting tired of hotel rooms. Can't they set us up in a condo?
Or rent a house?" Wanda grumped as she rubbed at her hair with
her towel.

He
smiled. "Don't worry dear; when we get to Mars I will build you
a castle."

She
chuckled. "Yeah, right."

He
looked up. "Honest, I promise."

She
grinned at him as she sat in his lap. "What are you looking at
real estate?"

He
shook his head. "Architectural plans." She took it out of
his hand and tossed it away. "Hey! I was reading that!” he
protested. She kissed him to shut him up.

"I
have more important things for you to do," she said, looking
into his eyes.

He
chuckled. “Hey, I wonder if the bed vibrates?” he teased.
She started to giggle, hand over her mouth until his hands started to
wander. After that coherent thought went out the window. After all,
they had a lot of time to make up for.

...*...*...*...*...

Luigi
looked at the display and frowned. "Why so many satellites? Why
are these two so far out?" He turned to Doctor Zubrin.

"Well,
these two are the sentinel satellites at the Martian L1 and L4
points. They are built to detect the pulse of light preceding a solar
flare event," he explained patiently.

Luigi
nodded. "Lead time?"

Doctor
Roberts nodded. "With each event there is a flash of light that
precedes it. The pulse takes twelve minutes to get to Mars. The L1
sentinel is the direct flight path, so the crew will have an eighteen
minute warning."

Luigi
nodded crossing his arms. "And the L4?"

Zubrin
touched the small plastic model. "It is for the sideband pulse.
It can pick up the pulse, but there is only a six minute warning."

Luigi
shook his head. "Damn. That's kinda tight doc."

Zubrin
nodded. "It's the best we can do, some warning is better than
none."

Luigi
sighed. "Right. So get under cover during a solar flare."
Solar flares were one of the biggest things they were worried about.
It was right up there with a launch failure. Either one could ruin
their day permanently.

Doctor
Roberts sighed. "It's not that easy. The Habs will have the
central airlock as a storm shelter. We will wrap the shelter with a
water jacket. They can also pile up sand bags around the habs and on
the roof as additional protection."

Zubrin
nodded. "But that doesn't protect anyone outside in the rover or
in a suit."

Luigi
scowled. "Can we add a layer of radiation protection? Lead
liner? Water jacket?" he asked. Zubrin nodded.

"Paint
impregnated with lead will protect the exterior, but will add little
protection for the crew. Lead lined glass too. Their best bet is to
get to cover fast. A trench, or hillside between them and the sun."

Luigi
sighed. "It's a risk."

Zubrin
frowned. "A heavy one. That is why I was overruled on having a
Doctor on board. If the crew is exposed to radiation, they will need
someone to handle the medical care," he sighed, clearly
frustrated. If someone was exposed to a lethal dose there was little
a doctor could do except watch them die a terrible death. "I
really wanted another geologist or specialist."

Luigi
waved his hand. "Not a problem doc, we can get a biogeochemist
with some cross training. If necessary we can train the entire crew
to paramedic level, with special courses on radiation care," he
suggested. Roberts nodded.

"So
the other satellites are communication and weather sats?" Luigi
asked when the other men didn't say anything for a short time.

Roberts
nodded. "There are six, four equatorial, two polar. We can shift
their orbits if one fails. They also double as a crude GPS."

Zubrin
smiled. "Good point. I was planning on using the ham radio and
star sightings."

Luigi
chuckled. "We can keep it as a backup doc. We can't wait until
it gets dark to find out where we are if we are in a hurry," he
said. Zubrin nodded and smiled wryly.

"Back
to the radiation thing, I seem to recall Mario and I watched a
program on the science channel. A guy was making a roman vault for
Mars?" Luigi asked. Luigi turned to Doctor Zubrin.

He
chuckled. "Yes I was on that. Yes, we can make bricks. They are
the best in situ material for building structures; we can make bricks
and cover them in dirt."

"Like
living in a basement," Roberts muttered.

Zubrin
looked over to him. "Yes the view would be... Spartan, but the
radiation shielding would be worth it."

Luigi
rubbed his jaw. "Did the Mars society or..." He looked down
at a paper. "The Mars Foundation come up with a simulated method
of making brick?" he asked. Roberts shook his head.

"Martin
Marietta and Bruce Mackenzie played with simulated brick making
methods in the 80's and 90's, but it was just wetting the simulate
then letting it dry. They have a flow chart, but I don't think they
got very far beyond the concepts and a test vault or two."

Zubrin
sighed. “In 2004 crew twenty two did a simulated vault with
native stone.” Zubrin looked up at the books on the bookshelf.
“On to Mars book two I believe.” He waved to it.

Luigi
got up and checked. “Yup, okay. Hmmm, no bricks though. And
they used imported cement? Isn't that cheating?” he asked. Bob
shrugged.

Luigi
looked up and smiled to Zubrin. "Let’s get this out as a
contest. A fifty thousand dollar prize to the group or company that
can make an automated brick and duracrete maker...."

Zubrin
chuckled. "Good idea. Farm it out, get some publicity. The
universities will pick up interest. It is a pretty simple thing, mix
water with fine soil and nylon, extrude under pressure, then dry."

"I
doubt MIT will. If it isn't robotic..." Roberts shrugged with a
smile.

"Okay...”
Luigi made a note. ”We could also offer a plastic extrusion
contest." He looked up to see Roberts looking startled.

"Plastics?
I thought you were going to bring sheets? I mean, on a follow up
flight?" Roberts demanded. He was afraid they were throwing too
much at the first ship and crew as it was.

Luigi
shook his head. "If we can make it on Mars, we save weight. We
have the ethylene remember? So if we can process it into a sheet..."

Zubrin
nodded. "Or a sprayer. Spray the walls inside and out with a
binary polypropylene plastic resin. We could even look into a spray
on insulator."

Roberts
sat down suddenly. "Talk about thinking big. But why? I mean,
we're going to get a couple missions, maybe three if we are lucky,
then the public will lose interest!" He looked from one man to
the next.

Luigi
shrugged but he couldn't quite hide a slight smile. "Just being
thorough." He wrote the ideas down on his Iphone then looked up
to see Zubrin hiding his own smile.

Mario
turned the little disk around in his hand. It was about the size of
his hand. One side was rounded with a three digit LCD embedded in the
center. He flipped it over to find a small finger sized cylinder.
"Compressed CO two or Nitrogen?" he asked. He looked up to
the tech.