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#4101 2026-01-15 16:04:08
- SpaceNut
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Re: Housekeeping
I think that I got them all
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#4102 2026-01-15 18:29:21
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut .... the new topic looks good! Thanks for the touchup!
Best wishes for success with the topic. It seems to me it has great potential.
It may take a while to build up steam, but eventually the idea of building a ** real ** Superdome on Mars is going to inspire wealthy corporations to make the plunge. The advertising value is probably incalculable.
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#4103 2026-01-17 16:11:19
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re update in OpenFOAM ... https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 94#p237294
Thanks for that ** very ** interesting report on oscillations in ion engines.
I was completely unaware of problems with that engine type, and appreciate your finding and showing that information,
You are probably aware of this but our readers may not be ... the ion engine and kbd512's Optical Plane design are competitors for future space missions. The ion engine has a ** very ** long start, and an accomplished track record. Never-the-less, kbd512's concept appears to have potential. A hybrid design is possible. In that case, the brute force of kbd512's concept would be balanced by the long-and-slow propulsion of an ion design, using the exact same photon collection system.
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#4104 2026-01-18 09:22:15
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re heat pump for Calliban's Dome... https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 25#p237325
Interesting! As a question for your AI friend... would this work with the massive Ziggurat layer around the dome?
In other words, if you place your tubing in the regolith as you pack it around the dome while building the wall, could it serve as an thermal exchange system without having to dig down into the material under the dome?
Calliban seems to spend worrying time more on cooling than on heating, so the ability to move thermal energy out of the habitat might prove useful.
Plus, if the regolith packed around the dome is heated, then the dome itself will not be losing thermal energy to the regolith as rapidly as otherwise would be the case.
I still think the right way to go is to build a light weight metal scaffolding inside the wall to hold fixtures like LED panels, and let the basalt wall carry the load of the radiation regolith piled above.
In any case, neat post on heat pumps.
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#4105 2026-01-18 11:39:28
- SpaceNut
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Re: Housekeeping
A Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES) system, involving a series of U-tube pipes connected in a closed-loop and drilled 50–200m deep, would be necessary to transfer heat between the habitat and the deep ground.
The ground loop is dug and the filled where you would like it so if you want the loop in the ziggurat structure it could be done on even beneath the entire structure the loop does not care where it is so long as its at a given depth to become a stable location of temperature gradient.
As far as something to hold internal items that are not load baring for the structure it depends on how much materials remains after the dome is built.
I gave you in the topic two different methods to get what we need one that costs power energy and one that uses waste radiated heating with less energy being used to achieve the goal.
The heat pump also give cooling while a separate cooling loop is required to supplement the waste heat system which increases resources that might not be present.
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#4106 2026-01-18 17:44:00
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut .... thanks for bringing the land making topic back into view from 2017...
You and Void are the only current members who participated in that series.
There's lots of dry land on Mars, but not much that Earth people would call "livable".
I'm hoping kbd512 will talk about the round ring torus habitat on Mars tonight.
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#4107 2026-01-18 17:47:16
- SpaceNut
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Re: Housekeeping
Rather than shape more information of Basalt forming blocks from hard rock or from sands if site present as I included in the topics.
As 5 days plus for single blocks means we are not building very much for each processed batch.
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#4108 2026-01-18 18:57:02
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re neat post in OpenFOAM...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 66#p237366
I added that to the index for the topic.
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#4109 2026-01-19 07:36:32
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re links to history of submarines...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 91#p237391
Thanks for those links! That little poem about the kinds of men who served on those vessels is a nice take-away.
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#4110 2026-01-20 22:06:52
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re food at Mars...
This link might be worth investigating:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/nas … 10653.html
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#4111 2026-01-21 18:20:02
- SpaceNut
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Re: Housekeeping
WE will see 3 pothole in the next run due to duplicate topic.
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#4112 2026-01-21 18:50:33
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re #4111
Thanks for the head's up.
And! Congratulations on the impressive search results you showed us in
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 71#p237471
Naturally what you found is news to us, so it is good to know that kbd512 was not out on his own with his vision.
If you can find more please post it somewhere other than OpenFOAM. The OpenFOAM topic is intended to provide a tutorial for students using the OpenFOAM software.
We have a topic for the Optical Plane vessel.
I would like to point out that if someone's design does not match up with the existing Optical Plane design, the new design needs it's own topic.
Update: 278 and 279 in OpenFOAM should not be moved. They are now part of that topic.
Future posts about non-OpenFOAM activities can go into appropriate topics.
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#4113 2026-01-22 18:32:10
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re interesting post about heat loop on Mars.
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 93#p237493
Your AI friend seems to have understood that the temperature of the regolith a few meters down is a reliable number, well below the freezing point of water. In another topic, kbd512 added a post to one of Void's topics about use of SCO2 for a geothermal energy harvesting system.
Please ask your AI friend to design a heat pump system that will harvest planetary thermal energy on Mars.
I am hoping the idea is practical, because it would solve a lot of pesky problems. We humans are going to have to invest energy to live on Mars, so learning how to leverage our investment to harvest thermal energy from the planet itself seems to me like something well work pursuing.
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#4114 Yesterday 10:11:29
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut ...
This may be of interest.... I noticed there was a registered user on the Image server, and I wondered who it might be. It turned to be a spider.
Plesae note the number of spammers knocking at the door, and the number of spammers maximum.
In total there are 751 users online :: 2 registered, 0 hidden and 749 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 4387 on Thu Jan 08, 2026 7:53 pmRegistered users: Baidu [Spider], tahanson43206
Legend: Administrators, Global moderators
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#4115 Yesterday 22:10:19
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut ....
This is another interesting post by kbd512 that might fit well into at least one other topic:
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 24#p237524
It doesn't seem to have much to do with harvesting geothermal energy, although it was clearly inspired by the idea of drilling to do so.
It seems to me the post makes a good case for above-ground construction, but I don't know where it wiould be a good fit.
I think that the ability to burrow is so essential that it would seem to me reasonable to just plan for it.
We would have to burrow into the walls of the crater for Calliban's Dome, for example.
The material for Calliban's ramps would have to come from the crater wall, which would be excavated to create rooms for living and for work and for storage.
***
Housekeeping ... OK ... I'll take this opportunity to offer best wishes for you and your family as the entire Nation deals with the current weather emergency. I went out shopping today ahead of the storm, and found the market packed in the middle of the afternoon on a work day. Folks here are taking the warnings seriously.
Meanwhile, I'm hearing reports of severe weather expected in Texas.
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#4116 Today 13:48:45
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re excavation topic: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 46#p237546
Thanks for addition of Elon Musk and Boring Company to the topic!
If you can find time, please see if there is any public informaiton about the nature of the boring equipment Musk is using.
The reason I ask is because it might work on Mars as is.
Or perhaps some adjustments are required. At this point all we know is that the machinery can did tunnels of substantial diameter in Earth regolith.
Earth has an atmosphere with oxygen. Does the machinery use any of that oxygen? I don't think we know.
The tailings have to be moved out of the excavated space. What tools are used for that?
Is the system automated? What maintenance is required, what is checked and what is changed?
Are lubricants used for the cutting operation?
Are lubricants used inside the machine?
Can the machine be shipped in sections that weigh less than 40 tons?
Thanks again for giving the new topic a boost.
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#4117 Today 15:12:31
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re very nice addition to Void's old topic:
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 53#p237553
It's fun seeing that old topic spring to life!
As I studied your diagram of tunnel shapes, it occurred to me that your other recent posts about the Boring Company suggest a circular bore might be quite likely at Mars.
I have asked kbd512 to consider possible use of SCO2 as a lubricant, since water seems unlikely to be available.
The circular shape implies a need to create a flat floor for habitats, so it might make sense to haul some of the excavated tailings back into the bore after the cutting machine has been removed.
In the case of a Crater wall, I can imagine planning cuts to go all the way through the crater wall so the machine can be removed and simply moved to a new bore location on the outside, with the goal of drilling back to the interior. In this way a Crater such as the one identified for Calliban's Dome, could become both the source of material for Calliban's Ziggurat ramp and the location of off-campus housing, work areas, and storage areas.
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#4118 Today 15:47:03
- tahanson43206
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Re: Housekeeping
For SpaceNut re latest death in Minneapolis...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 56#p237556
The early reports I have seen are that the gent was standing in a crowd watching ICE.
An ICE agent approached this gent and pushed him. The gent's response was reasonable. He resisted being pushed.
The ICE agent apparently expected this gent to fall down and run away.
Because the gent resisted, the ICE agent called his friends and one of them shot him.
In an ordinary time, the agent and the entire group would be arrested for murder.
We are not in ordinary times.
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