Mars corporate overseer rejects City air shuttle
City pushes envelope, Corporation pushes back
TIHTONIA, Feb. 30 - There’s only one way out of Mars’ biggest city and that’s through corporate-owned Ares Port.
The City Council voted 4-2 at Thursday’s meeting to move forward with design proposal for an air shuttle port to connect Tithonia with other cities in the Valles Marineris, only to be overruled by Mars’ corporate patron, Martius Endeavours.
The corporation that runs the Valley’s only space shuttle port as well as the Mars Carousel orbital said after the meeting that any city-operated air shuttle port would have to be located at least 100 km from the Ares Port orbital terminals.
“We have a dedicated exclusion zone for safety,” Martius Endeavours Transportation Chief Hartley Adams wrote after the meeting. “That’s not something that we can negotiate around.”
The City proposal comes after the planet’s first regular air shuttle service was initiated about 70 sols ago in January for cities in the mid-Valley area.
The Air Mars shuttle connects Ius, Melas, Candor, Coprates and Orson Welles in the Shalbatana Vallis region.
“As the largest city on Mars, we should have our own shuttle port, under our control,” Council President Luca Matteo said. “Inter-city trade and travel are going to play a much larger role in the growth of the Valley going forward, and we need to play a part in that.”
The shuttle doesn’t come any closer than about 650 km to Tithonia with its westernmost stop at Ius.
Later this annos, it may get 400 km closer as the Noctis Labyrinthus council voted last week to build a shuttle port near the Grange Hall to accommodate the lighter shuttles that Air Mars is going to bring in to replace the Class 4 orbital shuttles they’re now using. “
Just a company town
The rejection was a reminder to the Council and residents as a reminder of the corporate oversight wielded by Martius, which handed over civic control of the City and all its resdential holdings in the Valley to the local councils.
“There remain limits to what we can do,” said recently elected Mayor Claude Paddingbury, previously a long-time City councillor.. “That’s simply a fact of life.”
“Still, we should strive to be more than just a company town,” Matteo said.
“Well, we are,” Paddingbury replied. “We exist to support surface industry at Ares Port and the orbital operations on the Carousel and trade between Mars and Earth. Almost everyone in the City works directly or indirectly for the corporation.”
The Council directed Paddingbury to continue negotiations with Martius to look for alternatives. In his newly created role as City mayor, Paddingbury reports to the Council.
Adams said Martius was willing to discuss an air shuttle port at Ares Port if the City decided to move ahead with it
“We invite the council to explore funding an air shuttle port for city-to-city travel at Ares Port, but that would have to remain under our control and oversight,” Adams wrote after the meeting.
The City would be responsible for all building and operating costs for an airport, and construction would have to be conducted by Ares Port management, Adams said.
Ares Port is about 50 km northwest of the City, and the 100 km limit would push the location of alternative sites to about 50 km east of the City in three possible locations, one beyond a 2,000m ridge, the other in the southern channel of Tithonium Chasma or into Ius Chasma to the south.
The first site is about 70 km east of the site where the City is planning to set up a vacation camp for contract workers, residents and corporate personnel on the ridge about 28 km east of the City.
“None of those sites are optimal,” said Councillor Joshua Asta, a structural engineer. “It doesn’t make sense to build one two-thirds of the way to the Grange Hall, because they’re building their own.”
Asta said the City should consider joining a road paving project to connect Noctis and Ares Port to make shorten the travel time to the Grange Hall to no more than two sols from five.
The 250 km land route from the City to Noctis now goes west to Ares Port and then south.
“Long-term, we can build a surface tube to Noctis, with a minimal amount of tunneling,” Asta said. “We’ll negotiate a deal, or we’ll find a work-around.”
Auto unloader to blame for cargo worker deaths
Orbital accident blamed on faulty equipment
MARS CAROUSEL, Feb. 27 - The death of two orbital workers last week was most likely due to a faulty auto unloader mechanism aboard the cargo ship Vespera, orbital management reported Tuesday.
The two workers died in the Feb. 24 accident and three others were injured when their mini-shuttle was struck by debris and a cargo crate as they passed the stern of the Vespera.
“The cargo pod ejected out of sequence and with excessive force,” Orbital Cargo Supervisor Espen Trym told the Chaos Courier. “They’re supposed to float slowly and softly out of the cargo hatch and into the transfer shuttle loader arms, but this was shot out of the ship.”
The pod slammed into partially open stern hatch, breaking open one end of the 15m cargo pod, sending debris and two cargo crates flying toward the worker shuttle.
Two men were killed on impact. The three other workers suffered injuries including broken bones and bodily trauma.
The shuttle was struck as the five workers were going to check out problems with the cargo pods in the Vespera, Trym said.
“Some pods were stuck, some came loose before they were supposed to,” Trym said. “We determined that it was a problem with the equipment, rather than the loading.”
First fatality since August
Cargo engineers are reviewing both the hardware and software and designing a process to review the unloading systems in other cargo ships prior to unloading.
“We’re about halfway through the unloading,” Trym said. “It’s supposed to happen on a certain schedule, but there’s a fair bit of flexibility in that.”
The names of the dead and injured workers were being withheld until the families on Luna and Earth are notified.
The deaths marked another serious incident for the ships that arrived with the November supply fleet.
In November, an explosion aboard the spaceliner Wandering Star on approach to Mars forced the evacuation of 274 passengers and crew.
The accident was also the first fatality since a worker died in a crane accident at Ares Port in August 101 for Martius Endeavours, which built and owns the Carousel and the cargo yards as well as industrial and mining facilities on the surface.
Moving hotel checks in at Melas, a sol late
Picks up two cars and extra passengers on the way
MELAS, Feb. 33 - The Hotel Itinerant made the first scheduled stop of its inaugural journey here on Saturday with six extra passengers and two more cars than it started out with in Candor a dozen sols ago.
Mars’ first land cruise train arrived a sol late and with two extra cargo cars in tow after it met up with a stalled cargo caravan atop the Melas Labes halfway through its journey.
“They had a drive problem with their second tractor and needed to lighten the strain on their main tractor,” co-founder Giorgi Andrio told the Chaos Courier. “That delayed us a bit and we also took it slower to let them follow us in.”
The hotel split into two trains, one all passenger and the other all cargo, using its self-propelled cargo car to haul the six cargo cars to Melas.
“We had some extra cabins, so the people were no problem,” co-founder Katya Celestina said.
The hotel can host up to 48 adults, and carried 38 on its maiden voyage.
“So we had room for the extra people, and we hope they’ll come back for a cruise,” Celestina said.
Two dozen passengers are continuing for the 12-sol journey to Ius and 18 others are joining from Melas, Celestina said.
The view is worth the ride
The Hotel Itinerant will arrive a sol late in Ius on February 46, but guests will still be able to catch the Monday Air Mars Shuttle back to Candor.
Guests traveling to Ius will stop at the water mining project 70km west of Melas, a city of interconnected domes with abotu 12,500 residents.
The journey was comfortable as the cars ride on mesh wheels that absorb most of the bumps, but the climb and descent over the Melas Labes took some getting used to, says Candor resident Andra Torreo, who’s traveling to Ius with her husband and three children.
“I imagine it’s like being on a ship at sea back on old Earth,” Torreo said. “The floor is mostly stable but it tilts back when’re you’re climbing and forward when your descending.”
Out of Candor, passengers traveled through dune fields and chaos terrain, with a stop at a broken crater and switchbacks up the saddle that separates Candor and Melas.
“Candor Chaos is like a crazy maze and you can’t see much, but once we started climbing the views were incredible,” Candor-based geologist Drya Albion said during lunch at the Bottom of the Sea Cantina, which adjoins the largest aquaculture pond in Melas.
“I’ve seen a fair bit of the Valles, but the scenery is always awesome, especially the Melas Chasma wall. It just towers into the sky,” Albion said as she watched fish swim by. And this is definitely worth the trip.”
City brew pub opens with Marsbeat music
Two firsts for Mars' City
TITHONIA, Feb. 30 -
It was a first for Mar’s largest city and a first for our home planet.
The first was the opening of a brew pub in Tithonia and two, sports fans got to drink a post-match beer in a public bar.
Judging by the crowd inside and outside on the terrace, every fan who had watched the Marsball match at the nearby Terrace One Arena had come for a drink or snack at Pub Seventeen and brought all their friends and family with them.
“I’m just enjoying the mood, the music, the dancing and, yeah, the beer,” atmospheric specialist Annis Nannerl said on the terrace outside the canteen that serves as the brewpub from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon.
Marsbeat band, the Rosettas, had set up inside the canteen but quickly moved the music to the terrace outside due to the crowd.
“We were expecting a big crowd, but not quite this big,” brewmaster and nutritionist Mette Ernsthof said. “We brewed a lot extra but we might have to limit patrons to make it through our first weekend.”
The brewpub’s canteen is near the Terrace One Arena at the north end of the third HabTube section on the first level terrace above the ground level farms and aquaculture ponds.
That’s just one level down and a couple hundred meters north of the Speakeasy nightclub, which operates on weekends in a city canteen on the second level terrace near the bamboo garden.
A place to relax
The Speakeasy re-opened last month under City oversight, offering a more varied menu and a cabaret atmosphere of live music and dancing, but doesn’t sell beer or any alcohol.
Inside the brewpub, City Councillor Beata Bakken was enjoying a cool lager with second-section resident Jaspar Jackson, who is a regular at Council meetings, and had argued for the brewpub and permitting alcohol sales at the Speakeasy.
“Well, I’m glad the council approved this,” Bakken said, taking a sip. “And, it’s just like everyone who argued for it said, you get to meet a lot of different people when you step outside your own hab area.”
“Which is the point,” Jackson said, “to relax and meet people.”
For second-section resident, Roxanne Yamazaki, the music was the main attraction.
“I’m here for the music,” the geologist said. “And the brewpub just brings in more people and makes it more of a party.”
Marsball player Jerome Takahashi, captain of the WestHill Pulsars was celebrating the team’s unbeaten record after Thursday’s match against the Hab 2 Dust Devils.
“That was a squeaker, but it’s all in fun, even if we tend to take it too seriously,” Takahashi said. “But this helps us lighten up the mood.”
Pulsars squeak past Devils to make it four wins
TITHONIA, Feb. 30 - It was anybody’s game until the last minute as the Pulsars and the Hab 2 Dust Devils battled to the buzzer, but a last-second comet by WestHill Captain Jerome Takahashi kept his team’s record unblemished.
The two teams went point for point for the nearly the whole match, making it 75 even with 30 seconds left after the Devils scored a 1-point meteors, and were looking for the go-ahead point.
A faulty Devils’ pass gave the Pulsars’ Takahashi possession with a crowd of Devils around him, but he slipped through the defense and got one step ahead.
“I saw 2 seconds on the clock, turned and took a shot,” Takahashi said. That comet added two points to make it 77-75 for the Pulsars.
The Devils fall to 1-3, with their last win in the opening round against the Hab 3 Quasars.
“It’s disappointing,” Devils guard Guard Preston Quintana said, “but we played a great match, but they did too. It was back and forth the whole match and the clock timed out on us.”
Next week closes out the fourth round as the 2-1 Hab 1 Rockets face the 1-2 Ares Port Orbits. The fifth round starts in two weeks with sudden death play.
- Deroy Duval, Sports Correspondent.
Calendar
City Council special election Feb. 35
City Logistics Chief Helen Matara faces former Councillor Marcus Wu and Hab 1 plant scientist Belinda Patel in the election to replace Mayor Claude Paddingbury on the City Council in the Feb. 35 special election. Matara came in just under 800 votes short of Paddingbury in the mayoral round Feb. 7 and more than 10,000 ahead of Wu. Patel won nearly a thousand write-in ballots in the mayoral vote and is seen as making a test run for a future Council seat.
Ius Council continues hearing on tram to Geryon
Ius residents might have a more scenic option when it comes to climbing from the chasma floor to the Geryon Agora. The Ius Council will discuss building a tram to take residents back and forth between the upper and lower sections of Mars’ second largest city. Ius Forum Wednesday 19:00.
“The Mad Harper”
Romantic threedee. You’ll go mad about the music Stage 3 Hab 1 Terrace 8, Feb. 37-43, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
Samba Marte, The Rosettas at Pub Seventeen
Samba Marte takes the terrace at Pub Seventeen on Friday, followed by the Rosettas Marsbeat band at the Hab 3 brew pub near the Terrace One Arena. Friday, Saturday from 20:00.
Cubby Samba
City Residence hosts the weekly Cubby part with the City Samba. Friday, Cubby Terrace at 20:00 Friday. Hab 1 Terrace 3. All resident are welcome.
Geryon Song Share
Acoustic players swap songs. Geryon Agora. Two sessions. Saturday 16:00, 20:00
City Social
Mix and mingle with new arrivals and old hands. Hab 2. Terrace 4, by Tithonia Gardens. Friday 17:00
City Farmer’s Market
Saturday. Stalls available by appointment. Fabrica (Industrial) Tube Terminal Saturday 0900-1500
Marsball Week 12, Round Four
The 2-1 Hab 1 Rockets face the 1-2 Ares Port Orbits Thursday 20:00 Hab 3 Terrace One Arena
- Merry Grace, lifestyle correspondent
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Photomosaic: Viking Orbiter: NASA/JPL-Caltech