Fast packet Caraval on course to pass by Mars
Six passengers headed to Carousel on scout Beansí
ARES PORT, July 32 - The fast packet Caraval has so far been unable to make the course corrections needed to bring it into Mars orbit, but its passengers and crew will still make it back with the help of three other spacecraft, Mission Control vows.
“Everyone will make it home,” Mission Control Cmdr. Ceres Piazzi said Saturday. The Caraval was carrying five crew and 12 passengers from the Astra station in Earth orbit to Mars.
Six passengers from the Caraval were already on their way to the Mars Carousel aboard the explorer scout Beansí which docked Wendesday with the fast packet, four weeks after the Caraval began experiencing persistent engine problems.
Two of the Beansi’s crew of four, both skilled engineers, swapped places with two of the Caraval passengers. The Beansi also dropped off spare parts that might enable an in-flight work-around along with environmental scrubbers.
“They’re (the Caraval) very well supplied with environmental and recycling equipment, but we are being overly cautious,” Piazzi said.
The Beansí’s companion explorer scout Boudicca is positioning itself to dock with the Caraval as it makes what is anticipated to be its closest pass to Mars on Thursday to pick up the remaining six passengers and bring them to the Carousel, while also leaving two of its crew behind.
Mission Control has dispatched the scout Jove from the Mars Carousel to rendezvous with Caraval on Monday July 41 if still necessary, Piazzi said.
The Beansí will drop off the passengers at the Carousel and return to the Caraval if necessary, Piazzi said.
While the Caraval, piloted by experienced Capt. Peregrinus Aeolus, has been unable to make the scheduled deceleration burn, it succeeded in making some smaller course adjustments using stabilizer engines before they quit. Those adjustments were not enough to bring it into orbit.
The Beansi, returning from a two annos exploration of the asteroid belt, surprised Mission Control in reaching the Caraval so quickly but also matching its velocity and trajectory, as has the Boudicca.
”They’ve been traveling somewhat faster than we anticipated, and we’re very thankful for that,” Piazzi said. “We were very surprised, and very pleasantly, that the Beansi made it that quickly and was able to dock with the Caraval. Clearly, they’ve made some upgrades.”
Caraval’s five crew members and the four crew from the Beansí and the Boudicca who have volunteered to switch places, would be brought back by the Beansí and the Jove.
“We’re still working to bring the Caraval back,” Piazzi said. “We’re not giving up on it.”
The six Caraval passengers returning on the Beansí include two children and their parents, who are both highly accomplished environmental specialists slated to work on the habtube extension.
“The father volunteered to stay, but Perry (Capt. Aeolus) told him in no uncertain terms that if couldn’t fly the ship or fix it, he’d be taking the place of someone who could,” Piazzi said.
The Beansí and Boudicca, captained by Candor Chasma natives Electra and Attracta O’Ceileachair, respectively, have been exploring the Belts with an eye to locating resources that can aid in the further development of Mars and the surrounding space. The two have referred all queries to Mission Control.
The two scout ships were both older craft bought at auction and remodeled and refurbished for exploration to the Belt.
“They bought the ships from us. We don’t know what modifications they’ve made, but clearly they’ve given them a serious power boost. To be honest, we don’t have a ship that fast,” Perry said. “Boudicca’s captain says she’ll try to give Perry a ‘jump start. Right now, we’ll take her at her word.”
Mars Carousel readies rescue squad and craft
Assembling a “Space Guard”
MARS CAROUSEL, July 30 - As the scout Jove rockets to meet with the stricken packet Caraval, orbital management is moving to ensure that at least one fast ship is ready at all times to respond to emergencies.
“The idea is to have ships and crews ready to mount rescue efforts at all times. On Earth, they have the Coast Guard for the sea, we need to have a kind of Space Guard ready,” Pontus Caelestis Manager Johannes Tycho said Thursday.
“We’re fortunate in that the Jove was here and only required modest preparation to be able to rendezvous with the Caraval, but we need to have more options,” Tycho said.
Carousel management has proposed acquiring and outfitting one ship by November for rescue missions, and another one the following year, so that two rescue ships are available or in action all times, Tycho said.
The November date is important because the latest cargo and supply train, which left Earth orbit in May, is expected to arrive Nov. 30.
“We kind of take the supply trains for granted, but space flight is dangerous. We owe it to the people making the trek to have the capability to respond to emergencies,” Tycho said.
The supply train en route carries more than a hundred crew along with 2,500 immigrants, according to Mars DevCo.
The idea is not to have on hand enough spacecraft to carry all those people, as the entire supply train is unlikely to encounter serious difficulties, but rather one or two ships.
Pontus Caelestis is also proposing to modify at least one ship to serve as a “tug” to bring in disabled ships, Tycho said.
“First, we want to be able to bring the people to safety,” Tycho said. “Then we want to bring the ships back as well so that they can be repaired and refurbished.”
Given that the Caraval is among the fastest existing ships, the question arises of how the rescue and tug ships will be able to catch errant ships.
“We’re looking into that. Given what the Beansí and Boudicca have achieved, we see that it’s possible to make the current fleet of ships faster by modifying existing technology, We’re very interested in how they have achieved those power boosts.”
City calls for greater oversight of homesteading
Homesteaders not so keen
URBS VALLIS, July 30 - The City is calling for greater oversight of homesteading within and outside the Valley following the accidental discovery of an unknown Shalbatana Vallis settlement, but officials from other chasmata say the City is exceeding its authority.
Earlier this month, a Survey Mars crew discovered a settlement deep in a massive Shalbatana cavern complex after being trapped by a cavern floor collapse.
The number of residents and the size of their habitation in the Shalbtana caverns has not been determined, but Survey Mars plans an official inquiry.
“We will want to make sure that the habitation and its future plans are in line with the Mars Charter, and that they are not making overly broad claims on resources,” Survey Mars Chief Ian Kuyper said. Survey Mars is aware of most homesteaders and tracks their movements and settlements.
The discovery of the Shalbatana settlement led City officials to call for more oversight of homesteaders within the Valley and outside.
“We’re here to develop Mars for the benefit of all the people of Mars, present and future,” City Council President Claude Paddingbury said Thursday. “We need to do that in a considered and regulated fashion, otherwise it will devolve into chaos.”
The settlement was discovered when the trapped Survey Mars crew was rescued by people who had carved out an independent habitation nearly 1 km under ground with farming, power and adequate water for aquaculture in the caverns northeast of Orson Welles and about 2,800 km from the City.
Survey crew Chief Eustace Saint-Lazare, whose crew spent six weeks in the cavern complex, estimated their farms had been established at least 3 annos before, given the food they were producing, including coffee and farm-raised fish.
The City’s demands for oversight outside the Valley follows its assertion of control over development in Ius Chasma, including an expansion project that would nearly double the population of Geryon Montes from 11,000 residents now. The City has threatened to take action to stop the Geryon project.
The City has also objected to a industrial expansion in Candor Chasma, where the BarVoom compact fusion units were developed, and has expressed reservations about a water mining project in Melas Chasma, particularly plans to ship water to Ius.
Ius Councillor Seamus Mitsutomi, who has been a leading opponent of City control, says the Mars Charter lends support to the individual chasmata and to homesteaders.
“The habitations and settlements that they build with their own resources belong to them as well as the resources they create to sustain themselves and support their growth,” Mitustomi said. “That’s true for Ius and Geryon, which requires no support from the City. That’s true for all the chasmata and that’s true for Orson Welles and beyond.”
Mitsutomi acknowledged the limitations on resources, noting that homesteaders cannot claim more than they need or can practically make use of in the foreseeable future.
“They can’t claim all the water in Xanthe Terra,” Mitsutomi said.
The homesteaders drew support from Welles Council President Sylvana Phison.
“We’re a homesteading community,” Phison said. “Everything we have here, we have built, often at great risk to ourselves. We aren’t willing to deny others that some opportunity.”
Asked whether she was aware of a sizable number of people moving through the Shalbatana Vallis in prior annos, and particularly during the dust storm in 96, Phison said a number of prospectors and homesteaders have started from Welles and continue to do so.
“We don’t always hear from them. Sometimes we find what’s left when they fail and sometimes they come back,” Phison said. “But some leave and don’t come back. It’s a big empty world. We’re in no danger of filling it up any time soon.”
Noctis Labyrinthus remains a collection of scattered homesteads, with very individualistic residents, in a difficult landscape, Noctis Councillor Blythe Gunther said.
Gunther argued that what Survey Mars and the City call “resources” were nothing more than dust, rocks and ice before the homesteaders turned them into water, building materials, farmsteads, habitations and factories.
“The homesteaders will say, and I totally agree, that without them, the resources would not exist,” Gunther said. “They say they created the resources with their work and their own resources at great risk to themselves."
Candor Councillor Griffin D’Armagnac said that the City’s main interest is in extending its control over the other chasmata and beyond, and in having that control recognized by the other Valley cities and settlements.
“We recognize that due to their size, their access to Ares Port and the Mars Carousel, that the City is primus inter pares, first among equals. But we hold ourselves and the other chasmata as equals.”
- Jenna Maris, Sorcha Kaisei, Kenzo Hsing, Eun Isil
Noctis opens first truck stop on Mars
Grange Hall opens on “Route 1”
LABYRINTHIA, July 25 - Noctis Labyrinthia unveiled its first community project with the grand opening of its Grange Hall, a combination supply depot, repair center and meeting space amid a cluster of the region’s scattered settlements about 200 km southwest of the City.
The Grange Hall is located about 150 km from the Ares Port in an area where the long-distance tractor supply routes split for Oudeman’s Crater nearly 200 km south and Ius more than 650 km east.
Built into a cliff with attached exterior buildings, the Hall offers temporary housing and boarding for Noctis residents as well as for tractor crews on the long haul routes. It also houses tractor repair facilities and emergency services.
“We’re a pretty scattered community of homesteads and smaller settlements, so it’s a place for us to gather, and for residents to have supplies and gear stored until they can come fetch it," Noctis Councillor Catarina Morelli said. “And it’s kind of an old-fashioned truck stop, that’s the first for Mars and what we call Route 1, the longest land route on Mars.”
While the Hall is at nearer the eastern edge of the Labyrinth, about a third of the region’s 6,000 residents live within 100 km, or at most a two-day trip, Hall manager Asterios Lyra said.
“We’re looking ahead to the future of the region. Labyrinth residents need a place to have supplies delivered and to store goods they intend to trade into the City,” Lyra said. “On top of that, there'll be more traffic to Ius and Geryon as they plan to grow rapidly, so we can provide a crucial stop for the supply train crews to rest and resupply.”
The Hall will also serve as a storage and transfer depot for long-distance tractors crews.
“They can swap loads here for Oudeman’s and Ius , so it’s a great location,” Lyra said.
While community leaders look to the future, most of the residents who came out for the grand opening where looking for a good time.
The event featured an informal group “barn dance” as well as some line dancing routines along with plenty of time and good food for renewing acquaintances or making new friends.
“We’re isolated most of the time, so it’s good for us, and really good for the kids to get together with other families and homesteaders to swap stories and plans,” said resident Januarius Napoli. “We’re on the frontier and it’s demanding and dangerous. Now, we have a place where we can get together and just help each other a bit more.”
Contract Choas - Dishing Dirt
URBS VALLIS, July 31 - The City Labor Council has rejected an application for contract termination from an soil specialist who has been assigned to an aquaculture project.
Demont Delver asked for the termination halfway through his three-annos contract saying the assignment clearly violated the terms of his employment.
Delver, whose specialty is in optimizing soils for agriculture argued that the assignment to an aquaculture project focused on raising food fish had nothing to do with his background.
“To be blunt, I specialize in making better dirt that makes crops grow better,” Delver said, “Fish don’t grow in dirt.”
In rejecting the termination, the Council cited the “and all other duties” clause that is a standard part of all transportation contracts.
- Mirihi Merced
Calendar
Garden Rainbow
Take in all the colors at the Tithonia Gardens summer flower display. The Dahlias are starring, but don't miss the cosmos, zinnias and black-eyed susans. The hosta are showing their blue flowers, too. Through July. Habtube 2, Terrace 4
Books our parents brought from home
The Tithonia Museum is hosting an exhibition of some of the many hundreds of paper books that immigrants to Mars brought on their 500 million km journey to their new home. Owners are on hand to tell the stories of their books. Through end-July. East Terrace 12
"Neptune" Not the planet, the action three-dee set under Earth’s oceans. Sharks! Stage 3. Hab 1. Terrace 8 July 36-42, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
Coprates House Party Electric dance music. Schiapparelli Hall. Friday 18:00
City Social. Mix and mingle with new arrivals and old hands. Hab 2. Terrace 4, by Tithonia Gardens. Every Friday 17:00
- Merry Grace, lifestyle correspondent
The Chaos Courier helps you over the rough spots.
Classified Ads
JUMP START. Tractor Repair. Mobile unit available. If we can reach it, we can fix it. NOCTIS 260-22098
DRILL SLEDS Custom built and standard. Expand your space. COPRATES 295 43298
WALL GARDENS. Custom seeded and sized. Illuminate, water, grow, eat. IUS 278-14275
DUST BUNNIES. Turn dust into dirt. Best for plants. MELAS 285-78329
PLANT AIR MAT. Get cleaner air, ease scrubber wear. GERYON 278-72903
PLASMA SPECIALIST Compact designs. Ex-contract only. CANDOR 286 25120
TRACTOR REPAIR. Technician. Will train. ex-contract only. NOCTIS 260 75115
AG ENGINEERS Hydroponics, aeroponics. Ex-contract only. IUS 278-71892
DRILLING specialists, supervisors and crew. Ex-contract only MELAS 285 13941
TUTORS. All subjects for all ages, part-time. Must travel. NOCTIS 260 10610
APPRENTICES Machine repair 8 annos (14 years) and up. NOCTIS 260 21188
APPRENTICES Machining. 8 annos (14 years) and up. CANDOR 286 53480
APPRENTICES Aquaculture. 8 annos and up. COPRATES 295 59953
APPRENTICES Metal smith, forging, casting, 8 annos (14 years) and up. URBS 269-37728
APPRENTICES Fabrics production, design. 8 annos and up. URBS 269-98523
ACOUSTIC MUSICIANS. Guitar, mandolin, bass for new group URBS 269 30944
GUITAR, City Samba Troupe. Looking for the rhythm URBS 269-54391
BALLROOM DANCING Let's Rumba! URBS 269 49144
MARTIAL ARTS. Conditioning and confidence. Weighted and natural. GERYON 278 71435
YOGA. Get flexible. IUS 278-43256
The header photo is the iconic mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars from 2,500 km above the surface taken by the Viking Orbiter. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The Candor Chaos Courier, Candor Chaos, Valles Marineris, Mars
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Copyright © 2024, M. Fitzpatrick, all rights reserved
Photomosaic: Viking Orbiter: NASA/JPL-Caltech