New Mars Forums

The beast I'm still hammering away on is an open-air type of railgun, just like MIT's version.  So far, the simplest one I've seen is two copper strips fastened to a board and fed through a capacitor bank.  The little one launches pennies and sections of copper wire.

The best railguns so far throw titanium "darts" encased in an aluminum sabot. The sabot provides the contact between the rails so the magnetic fields can build up.  Once clear of the rails, air resistance opens the sabot and the dart continues with little loss of energy, just like some artillery shells.

The powerlabs.org site is one of the first we used when researching the feasibility of building a rail gun, and one of the big reasons we started almost a year prior to the senior project due date.  Bear in mind this is at a rate of one day available per week to work on the thing for about 95% of the project duration.

Tom, I didn't do the calcs for the G forces, I only reported so far the fastest I know of is a 2 Kg sphere fired at 6 Km/second on what I recall as being the University of Texas' 18 foot railgun.  Check their site as the original data gathered for my team's railgun is with my partner at the moment.

There were other sites that showed the Lorenz Effect, my favorite was the tube that launched a large metal ring placed around it.  Lately alot of "fringe technology" has disappeared from the Web (no surprise) so I'm not sure what is still available.

turbo, who loves fringe technology

Having no desire to board a vessel designed to sink ( as in submarine), my 8+ Navy years were spent mostly on surface ships.  On my first ship I made an appointment with myself to go see the Sun after two straight weeks after two straight weeks at sea.  Duh, good reason to use the 24-hour clock as I walked into the Hanger Bay to find the pitch black night of the Med outside.

I have to believe that as the routine sets in of putting on suit and checking systems (and the myriad other things that will need to be done on Mars) that the excitement of being one of the first will rapidly fade and like a deployed ship, the messages from "home" will be the most anticipated.  I can fully understand why a "media wall" is a part of the analog habs now. 

As far as the children, I tend to agree with the environment as influence psychologists that the first generations will grow up in the steel/aluminum with glass windows world of airlocks and leak alarms and whatever else and find Earth a strange and hostile environment.  Human actions aside (i.e crime), tell a Colonial child about hurricanes/cyclones and they may ask why anyone would want to live on such a horrible planet with its terrible weather, dangerous life (find one rattlesnake on Mars, I dare you) and disease-causing intense solar radiation and crushing gravity.  Those kids will probably ask why it took so long to get off the Earth once the technology was ready.

turbo

The barnyard logic is close!

The object provides the electrical connection between the rails.  A high current input generates two powerful magnetic fields of the same polarity in the rails.  Newton's equal and opposite reaction gets twisted into the "Lorenz Effect", where the two opposing fields force the object to move perpendicular to the direction of the fields.  The stronger the fields, the faster the acceleration.  The railgun used by the University of Texas has its own power station to provide 6 MEGA-Amperes (yep, six million) of current, so the 2 Kg ball achieves hypersonic speed. 

The biggest problem with a railgin is the projectile must be moving when it gets on the rails, a standing start normally results in the projectile being quickly welded to the rails.  Coil guns can do standing starts, but are more complex because of the timing circuits needed.

turbo, who has a diassembled railgun in his van until lab partner has storage room in his garage.

Watch it?  I want to be IN it!!! 
Somebody get a photo of NASA's faces when precious ISS hosts game show contestant    
turbo

I've seen nothing describing the bandwidth of Viking's transmitters, and no mention of noise floor.  We have to get creative, so back in the mighty text, I see under Shannon Limit that a standard voice band comms system has a 2.7 KHz band width and a 30 dB SNR.  Text gives specific mention that digital comms won't work there, so thinking 1970s I'm hoping our little space probe was analog.   Otherwise, look at using 6 KHz for minimum BW. 

If the Viking orbiter's 30 Watt transmitter could be returned to service, at least Aricebo would hear, right?

t

I'll chime in Adrian.
I just finished my Bachelors in Electronics Engineering Technology and at the moment am not working.  I was just turned down for a five month stint in Antarctica (they wanted more experience) but I'm still up for a job in the Control Room at one of the local television stations.

Other than Mars, I'm a member of the group called "TIGHAR" who are involved in many projects, including the search for Amelia Earhart.  I guess that means I'm into aviation, space, and of course long-shots!   

The old team is still going to get together and finish working on the mass driver, and I still have to finish the 1:1 replica of R2D2 that was put on hold while I finished school.  Somehow during all the other things, including finishing the EVA pack I started yesterday, I'm supposed to make a "Wizardmon" doll. 

Tonight I get to help with a "Raingutter Regatta" boat for my son's Cub Scout meeting, and then later help my neighbor with a full-sized boat.

Dear future Boss, save me from too many projects!   

turbo, now off in search of misplaced coffee cup

I have to go with Josh on Beagle.  I think somehow the team will get everything done in time for flight.  As for the NASA rovers, I think the project would be better off tranferred to a few teams from "Battle Bots" and "Junkyard Wars."

t

Pagan, I wish there were a lot more 17 year-olds who like space!   Somebody has to drive the rovers, build the colonies, etc.  My son will be your age if the ten year timeline holds, so do me a favor and be on Mars first so I can tell him "See, my buddy Pagan is up there, why not go give him some help?"

turbo

Sounds good to me Mark!  If the idea is to go with surplus Navy ships, would a Virgina-class CGN have a capable enough reactor?  The class is currently out of service as USN decided the refueling expense would not fit the budget at the time. 

NS Savannah was stuck where she is because qualified operators were not available to run her plant.  After years of neglect, I imagine the cost of overhaul would be more than a brand-new Energia. 

Would it be cheaper to place solar panels on a disused oil rig and use it for launches?  I'm thinking Gulf of Mexico area, where getting materials and labor via Mexico would be easier due to the exchange rate.  Perhaps a rig off of the Brazilian coast?

Maybe the Germans will show us all we need are zeppelins and JATO bottles!   

t

I remember a little boy who saw Apollo 11 launch, I remember he grew up loving aircraft.  I remember he went "down to the Sea in ships".  I remember the day he finally started college, and on Friday I will remember the day he graduates with Honors. 

That little boy shows grey hairs now, but he has another little boy who turns seven next month. 

The grey-haired little boy may not be able to give the dream, but maybe give little boys and girls an entire planet.

Know where to look, Mars is in the night's sky, shining and inviting.  Earth has hostile places to life too, like the "Skeleton Coast"

I might be from the United States, but a British slogan fits..."Who dares wins"

Mars is waiting, if we dare
turbo

So, is it go with the BIOLET types and tell the Nanavut the bacteria is within the hab crews' bodies...OR time to get a greenhouse set up in Utah?

I wonder, since the upper level of the Devon Island hab seems to get too hot for human comfort, anyway to reconfigure the roof and make the top of the hab a greenhouse?

As for greywater treatment, are these better designs than the solar distillation set-ups used in the Texas-Mexico border areas (aka "colonias")?  Last I looked, the typical design ran about $200 USD in materials.

I wish best of luck to Eurohab!
turbo

Actually, I'm kinda hoping to get it into Life Support.  I'd like to start out with the simple simulation types, then work up to CO2 scrubbers and the like, and finally to true self-contained atmosphere. 

I figured I'd start off in Free Chat rather than start a new thread in "Analog."

t