Space repair set for stricken Caraval
Scout to piggyback packet back to Mars
ARES PORT, July 46 - The stricken fast packet Caraval has two ships for company, and another on the way, as Mission Control considers in-flight repairs to enable the explorer scout Beansí to piggyback the ship back to Mars.
“We’re going through one more effort to restart the engines, and we’ll test that on Monday. At the same time, we have two experienced shipyard workers outside the ship welding on new attachment points that would enable the Beansí to slow the ship and bring it to the Mars Carousel,” Mission Control Cmdr. Ceres Piazzi said.
The attempt is based on modifications that the Beansí and its sister ship Boudicca made to their own hulls in case either ship lost power on their journey to the asteroid belts. The two scouts, captained by sisters Attracta and Electra O’Ceileachair were scheduled to return to Mars in early July but diverted to bring back the dozen passengers aboard the Caraval.
“The O’Ceileachairs made those modifications on their own ships, among others, and suggested we try it with the Caraval,” Piazzi said. “The yard tested their attachments before they left for the Belt two annos ago and agree that it should hold.”
If that doesn’t work, the rescue ships would bring back the nine people aboard the Caraval, including Capt. Peregrinus (Perry) Aeolus. The ship was returning from the Astra Earth orbital station with 12 passengers and five crew aboard when it first experienced engine trouble six weeks ago.
While Aeolus was able to make minor course corrections that enabled the rescue, the Caraval was unable to make the deceleration burn needed to bring it into Mars orbit.
The scout Jove rendezvoused with the Caraval on Monday and is on standby to bring back four of the nine spacers on board. The Beansi docked with the Caraval on Thursday and began the last-ditch engine repairs as the welders began modifications to its hull.
The Boudicca dropped off the six remaining passengers on Friday, refueled, and should return to the Caraval by Wednesday, Piazzi said.
The Boudicca Capt. Attracta O’Ceileachair said she and her sister, Beansí Capt. Electra O’Ceileachair had devised the modifications for the hulls of their two refurbished explorer scouts so that either ship could bring the other one back. Those modifications were in addition to the engine upgrades that saw both ships handily beat expectations in reaching the Caraval.
“We’re glad that we’re here to help,’ Boudicca’s captain radioed, “It’s a long trip out to the Belt and back. We wanted to make sure that everyone on board on our ships would make it back. Electra came up with the idea, we worked on the design together and we tested them.”
“The Caraval is a bit bigger than the scout, but we figure the Beansí should have sufficient power to make the joint maneuver,” O’Ceileachair said. “We’ll take it nice and easy and see if we can’t bring Perry’s ship back.”
Two die in Noctis drill sled blast
Woman airlifted to City hospital
LABYRINTHIA, July 42 - Two men were killed and a woman badly injured in a drill sled explosion during a habitation boring project about 225 km southwest of Ares Port, a Noctis official said Tuesday.
The woman was airlifted by a Survey Mars crew to the City hospital, where she was in serious condition, Labyrinthia Supply Capt. Icario Fletcher said.
Four children and another woman were unharmed as they were in a different part of habitation amid a group of homesteads built into the rim of a shallow crater beneath a 4,000m slope.
One of the men killed was the father of the four children, and the other was his brother, Fletcher said. The injured woman is the children’s mother.
Neighboring homesteaders responded to the Tuesday morning incident, and freed the injured woman from the machinery and debris. The men could not be revived.
Rescuers administered emergency treatment and placed the woman in a stasis suit to await the airlift.
A rescue crew was sent from the Noctis Grange Hall, about 75 km northeast of the site, but was not expected to arrive until later Wednesday as the route involves a traverse across a steep 1,800 meter slope formed by an ancient landslide.
The men were boring a new tunnel from the central living space, shaped like a hub with residential, environmental and farming tunnels radiating outward.
Emergency services will investigate the cause of the explosion, but neighbors said the drill sled appeared to have been in good condition, according to Fletcher.
The surviving woman and children, ranging in age from 2 to 8 annos, are staying with neighbors , but Survey Mars has offered to send an airship to bring them to the City on Wednesday.
A City hospital supervisor said the woman’s condition had stabilized but would need surgery for her injuries.
“We’re very thankful that Survey Mars was able to send an air lift, and we’re very fortunate that we now have our own heavy rescue equipment on hand at the Grange now,” Noctis Councillor Catarina Morelli said. “Our hearts go out to the family for this tragic accident.”
Highway 1 for Mars
Ius, Noctis discuss road printing project
IUS CHASMA, July 43 - The Ius and Noctis councils reviewed proposals Wednesday for a large-distance road building project that would create a dedicated paved 750 km land track between the two settlements, with a 200 km link to Ares Port to follow.
The ‘printed’ road would cut surface travel time by two-thirds by enabling supply trains to travel at an average speed above 15 kmph, compared to 5 kmph or less now. The stable surface would also enable tractors to haul heavier loads.
“Ius and Geryon are growing. Noctis is growing and the City is growing,” Ius Councillor Seamus Mitsutomi said. “By linking together with Mars Highway 1, we can nurture growth and trade.”
Land supply trains currently make the round trip over what is essentially a compressed dirt track between Noctis and Ius in just under 40 days, and 50 days for the round trip Ius to Ares Port.
Given the often difficult terrain, supply trains do not travel at night.
If completed, the track would cut the surface travel time between Noctis and Ius to 6 sols each way from 20 sols, and to 17 days for the round trip to Ares Port. Once in place, the roadway could be further modified to allow increased speeds and shorter travel times.
The road printing project would essentially be undertaken by a dedicated construction train which would handle each aspect from excavation and leveling to crushing, milling, mixing and laying road bed materials and topping that with an even ‘printed’ surface.
“It would essentially chew the scenery in front and leave a road behind,” construction engineer Trevia Bothar said. One modification could include side curbs to facilitate automatic operation, Bothar said.
The project would include lay-bys for passing supply trains, Bothar said.
Designers and engineers were still working on the design of the road printing train as well as how much road it could reliably print during a day.
“It’s easier in the flat chasma bottoms, but when you come to the dune fields, scarps, landslides, ascents, descents and chaos terrain, it gets much trickier,” Bothar said. “You can’t just draw a straight line between Ius and Noctis. There are a lot of different landforms in between, some tricky ascents and descents.”
The ultimate goal would be to build high speed underground trains similar to the Tube between the City and Ares Port, but the printed road would provide the necessary infrastructure to support that construction, Ius Councillor Brynn Gibby said
“That’s a way off, but we could cut ground travel time to the City to a couple of hours,” she said.
- with Eun Isil, Noctis Correspondent
The City opens up for micro business
No appetite for restaurants
URBS VALLIS, July 44 - The City will set aside more space available for ‘micro’ businesses, such as fabrics, accessories, ceramics and household goods, and will expand space for a weekly market for residents wishing to trade goods and homegrown fruits and vegetables at the Industrial Tube Terminal between the City and Ares Port.
“We realize that residents have a variety of interests such as handicrafts that may appeal to other residents and we see that as a benefit for all residents," Councillor and Planning Commission President Marcus Wu said.
The City will provide space for individual crafts on a daily basis and shared space for necessary services such as surfsuit repairs on a more continual basis.
“We’re not building space for businesses to own outright or permanently,” Wu said. "We will approve all of these on a case-by-case basis.”
Wu said the City’s planning goals remain focused on providing adequate and attractive residential and community space along with essential services for the City’s growing population.
The demands of maintaining habitational space and the interior environmental balance limit choices, Wu said.
“It’s a closed system. We have to watch all the inputs and outputs carefully all the time,” Wu said.
Second-section resident Joshua Asta asked whether the council would consider providing open terrace space in the habtube on weekly basis where residents could meet to trade handmade crafts and homegrown fruits and vegetables.
“There’s a big open area on the seventh terrace in all of the habtube sections where residents could set up tables, say, one day or morning a week,” Asta said. “That would be fun for residents and also help build community.”
The Council was not currently considering mixing businesses into residential areas inside the three existing habtube sections, in the planned fourth section, or in the terraced areas of WestHill, on the slope just west of the habtube, Councillor Tiberia Hernandez said.
“Residents can just take the Tube to the Industrial Terminal. It only takes a few minutes and it’s all indoors,” Hernandez said.
Another second-section resident, Jaspar Jackson asked whether the council would reconsider providing space for private restaurants, coffee shops or pubs in either the residential or industrial areas as Geryon, Ius and Coprates have done.
“It would be nice for residents to have places to meet that aren’t connected to our work. Residents could relax and meet new people,” Jackson said.
The City planning commission in June turned down a resident’s proposal to turn an underused Council-run canteen in the second and center section of the habtube into a restaurant. That resident has since moved to Geryon where the Ius Council has approved her proposal for a French-style café.
“We’re not considering requests for independent dining places,” Wu said. “I’ll repeat what I said last time: We have enough canteens for all our residents. We don’t want to turn nutrition into business.”
Misconceptions about missing Martians
Council President critiques Courier
URBS VALLIS, July 44 - City Council President Claude Paddingbury said the residential assignment office has received a large number of inquiries from newer residents in the first-section dormitories, popularly called the cubbies, following what he called an “overstated” number of apartment vacancies in the habtube in a Chaos Courier story last week.
“The Chaos Courier creates the impression that there are hundreds of unoccupied habitations in the three habtube sections that officials aren’t willing to open for newer residents. This simply is not so,” Paddingbury said at Thursday’s Council meeting. “We allocate our limited supply of housing as fairly as possible with ample consideration given to both short- and long-term goals.”
At the prior week’s Council meeting, Councillor Karina Hermetta said that several hundred residents registered in habitations in the City no longer live there, and referred to them as "missing Martians."
Paddingbury said Thursday that the Council is aware of the issue and is investigating it, but that requests for immediate housing changes were inappropriate.
“The Chaos Courier has created misconceptions about what they call the missing Martians that are causing real difficulties for our staff,” Paddingbury said.
According to official documents, the City Labor Council was investigating reports of more than 80 missing workers at the beginning of July. Several utility and environmental staff told the Chaos Courier that the number of missing residents could be around 500.
Paddingbury declined to provide an estimate of missing residents, saying it was a matter for internal inquiry.
The three habtube sections now house some 43,000 people, with another 15,000 in the terraced WestHill habitations.
- Susmita O'Reilly
Eds. Note: The Chaos Courier stands by its coverage
Calendar
City proposes Valley council
The City Council will discuss a proposal at its Thursday Aug. 1 meeting to form an official Valley-wide Council bringing together Noctis, Urbs Vallis, Ius, Candor, Melas and Coprates.
A Princess of Barsoom
Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and John Carter visit the Tithonia Museum for the final weekend of the “Books our parents brought from home” exhibit, The characters in not-quite period costumes will read selections from the "Barsoom" books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The books are originals brought from Earth. Saturday and Sunday Aug. 3-4. East Terrace 12
A rose by any other name Ballet Tithonia presents selections from “Romeo and Juliet.” You'll fall in love. Stage 1. Hab 1. Aug. 2-5
"Hidden Moon" Tales from the dark side. Adventure threedee from the unseen side of Luna . Stage 3. Hab 1. Terrace 8 Aug. 1-Aug. 7, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
Coprates Samba Soiree Rumba, Salsa and Swing too. Get Happy Feet. Schiapparelli Hall. Friday Aug. 2 18:00
Song share Acoustic players swap songs. Ius Forum. 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. Every Friday 17:00
- Merry Grace, lifestyle correspondent
The Chaos Courier helps you over the rough spots.
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BARVOOM POWERPAX Light it up. Sized for small community and extended-family dwellings. OWELLES 317-76527
WALL GARDENS. Custom seeded and sized. Illuminate, water, grow, eat. IUS 278-14275
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AG ENGINEERS Hydroponics, aeroponics. Ex-contract only. IUS 278-71892
HYDRO ENGINEER. Water systems, recovery, purification. Ex-contract only MELAS 285-21095
BUILDERS. Outdoor structures. NOCTIS 260 39372
APPRENTICES Tractor repair 8 annos (14 years) and up. NOCTIS 260 22098
APPRENTICES Fabrics production, design. 8 annos and up. URBS 269-98523
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APPRENTICES Recycling systems. 8 annos and up. IUS 278 98559
APPRENTICES Metal smith, forging, casting, 8 annos (14 years) and up. URBS 269-37728
ACOUSTIC MUSICIANS. Guitar, mandolin, bass for new group URBS 269 30944
RAAS / GARBA New troupe forming. COPRATES 295 45788
BALLET Poise, strength, balance, beauty. Très grands jetés URBS 269 62577
BALLROOM DANCING Cha-cha, one, two, three. Cha-cha... URBS 269 49144
MARTIAL ARTS. Conditioning and confidence. Weighted and natural. GERYON 278 71435
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)
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Photomosaic: Viking Orbiter: NASA/JPL-Caltech