Coprates tries the ring on
Council OKs initial section of ‘ring city’
COPRATES CHASMA, Aug. 35 - The Coprates Council voted 6-1 Wednesday to begin an initial 10 km section of its long-term plan to build a ring-shaped city around the rim of its home crater on the chasma floor.
The proposal includes modifications that would create varied environments that make use of the crater wall’s natural profile, answering criticism that it would essentially look like a 78 km hallway.
“I remain unconvinced that this is the best way forward for Coprates,” said Councillor Shivan Samara, who voted against the current proposal. “It’s too early in our development to set such an ambitious plan, and it runs counter to the way we have grown to date. Let us develop the plan further and have more discussion with residents.”
Samara argued that most of the building to date, besides the Chandrasekar Dome, has been organic, that is driven by residents choosing and developing homesites that best fit their needs and occupations.
The overall ring-city scheme includes so-called villages spaced at roughly 2 km intervals along the rim with farms and aquaculture ponds as well as orchards and ornamental trees and shrubs to assist in maintaining the atmosphere.
The long-term plan also envisions domes spaced at 10 km and similar in size to the 1.6 km Chandrasekar Dome, which was built into a depression left over from an ancient crater.
Build it and they will come?
“We can and should expect to grow faster than we have in the past, particularly if we are providing ready-built homesites and the farming and other infrastructure to support a growing population,” Councillor Perseverance Mendez said. “We need to build ahead or we will likely be left behind.”
Coprates attracts about 100 former City residents each year as their transport contracts expire, and can expect natural population growth of at least 1,000 over the next 2 annos (3.8) from its current 14,000 residents, Mendez said.
“The trend is for larger families and we could see a higher growth rate, but regardless, our population will grow,” Mendez said. “We need to have homesites, food and air for all of them.”
The Council also voted 7-0, with Samara concurring, to name construction engineer Raj Perekh, who played a significant role in the building of Chandrasekar Dome and adjacent enclosed areas, as lead manager for the project.
Initial construction after grading, excavation and terracing will enclose or link existing habitats along the southwestern section of the rim adjacent to the existing settlement and comprise mostly agricultural areas along a 2 km section, Perekh said.
That will provide enough variety to avoid the ‘corridor effect,’ Perekh said.
Another factor to consider is that the elevation would vary by roughly 1,000 meters around the crater with the current settlement at one of the highest points, Councillor Angus Raju said.
“The variation in elevation will also provide plenty of variety due to the overall curve of the crater rim and the ups and downs will limit sight distance,” Raju said. “It’ll be a new view every kilometer or so.”
The plan eventually envisions seven domes placed about 11 km apart around the 78 km circumference crater and, when technology, permits, to cover the 500 square km crater.
Construction of the perimeter could include some preparatory groundwork for the supports that would be needed for a crater-wide enclosure, Perekh said.
The Council could also consider boring out a transit tube beneath the ring as construction progresses, Perekh said.
The council indicated it would take up that suggestion at a later date.
Sharing space
Enrique Santaca, who lives in a habitation along the first kilometer of the proposed route asked how the existing habitats would be linked into the new structure.
“We go back a ways into the rim, with our living and farming space, and we’re concerned that the construction might impact that somehow, or cause unexpected problems, said Santaca, and industrial printer.
“Unexpected problems are by nature unexpected,” Perekh said, drawing laughs from the audience.“Essentially, we’re building a 20m half arch out of sandglass, with supports along the crater rim, and sealing everything inside it to create the closed environment we need to conserve resources.”
Every standalone habitat is by necessity its own closed environment and every front door an airtight seal, Perekh said.
“We’ll double check all of that for safety and conservation, but the main difference after the gallery glass is up is that you’ll walk out of your front door into a air-tight garden with trees and shrubs and farms.”
Resident farmer Muriel Poona questioned how the project would apportion agricultural and aquacultural facilities among city residents.
“Clearly, we produce enough food for our people now, and yes we’re building new farms and ponds, but who gets it and what do we do with it?” Poona asked.
Increased food production would be part of the overall Coprates Co-op scheme, Councillor Rhian Llewellyn said, adding that cooperative production increases would be managed by the Council with the consent of residents.
“Homegrown food belongs to the homes,” Llewellyn said. “We plan to allot private garden space to each household—we’ll have to figure out how to share that, and we’ll look to our residents to advise us, of course.”
Residents in the Dome, for instance, will be entitled to private gardens along the newer sections of the rim as will residents currently living in the areas to be covered, Llewellyn said. “If you already live there, part of the space outside your front door will be yours to use, like a front garden.”
But the idea is to build space for the whole community, Llewellen said.
“The new outdoor space, the ponds, the gardens, the plantings, the trees and orchards are all part of creating a beautiful environment that will grow with us,” Llewellyn said.
The dusty, dizzy road through Chaos
Supply train crew calls it the best job on Mars
CANDOR CHAOS, Aug. 37 - The drive through Chaos is always nerve-wracking, but cargo train engineer Shoshana Tioman wouldn’t trade it for anything from here to Earth.
“It’s a maze, and a crazy-making maze,” Tioman said.”No matter how many times you go through it, it still feels, well, alien, like it shouldn’t be possible.”
The slow motion journey from Candor to Melas at speeds of just 5 kmh provides plenty of time to take in the dusty and rust-colored and always awesome Martian landscape.
The trek begins with dune fields that lead to the maze through the broken landscape that somewhat resembles a massive cracked mudflat overlooked by cliffs reaching to 5,000m cliffs, followed by a stop at a broken crater and then long switchbacks up across the ancient landslides that divide Chandor and Melas chasmata.
“I’ve made this trip a lot and it always feels so strange,” said Tioman, who spent four-annos as a contract logistics specialist in the City before moving to Candor. “Our minds weren’t quite built for this kind of terrain. One minute you’re driving through a narrow channel between mesas, and that’s all you can see, the next the Valley walls are soaring into the sky.”
After five sols (days) of traveling through Candor Chasma onto Melas Labes, Tioman brought the 12-wagon train to a halt on the down slope that leads into Melas Chasma and the nine-person crew and one reporter took a break in the crew car.
“We call it the caboose even though it’s not at the back, because that’s where the train crews slept on Earth,” Tioman said.
With two engine cars, the train can split in half if need be, for instance the 2,500 meter climb up the saddle that marks the boundary between Candor and Melas.
That climb involves long switchbacks, some taken with the cars leaning unnervingly to one side.
The cars ride high enough on their mesh tires to ignore or simply ride over most rocks, but sometimes the lead engine has to push stubborn ones out of the way.
“Over time, that creates a route we follow, and we tend to stay on our established routes, but sometimes, you have to take a detour,” Tioman said.
The end-of-day stop came as the sun set in the west of the great valley, its huge walls marked by deepening shadows below a bluish sky.
“There’s nowhere else like this on Earth, nowhere in the solar system,” Tioman said.
Harder than zero G
Theoretically, the train could travel at night, but practically, the vagaries of the Mars landscape make that not only impractical but very dangerous.
“You could get stuck in a dune field, like that train out of Coprates a few weeks back,” said Cargo Chief Xander Cartiere, who doubles as engineer when the train splits in two. “You could fall into a crevice or hole, or roll down a landslide.”
That danger was highlighted a little more than three weeks earlier when a 12-car supply train became mired in a Melas Chasma dune field about 250 km west of Coprates and 400 km east of Melas after making a wrong turn in the dark.
“It’s tempting to keep going, especially with the long twilight, but it’s better to be sure and keep the risks to simply scary, instead of terrifying,” Cartiere said.
While some trains run robotically, or can be steered remotely from the surface or orbit, human crews make a difference in strange terrain, and can make outside repairs when necessary.
“The City runs autonomous trains over short distances through Tithonium Chasma, but those are very well marked,” Cartiere said. “Survey Mars uses robot rovers, but they also send out people. After all, we’re here to live on Mars, not create a planet of robots.”
Plus the route is never quite the same, Cartiere said.
“We’ve got markers and we follow pretty much the same route, but it’s not exact. Depending on the size and weight of the train, you might have to take a longer switchback,” Cartiere said.
In addition, the landscape and the Mars’ weaker gravity pose mental challenges.
“If you’re on a rover, you can pretty much go straight up a wall, if you can handle that in your head,” Tioman said. “We’re still wired for two-and-a-half times more gravity so it can be an adjustment.”
Cartiere, who worked handling cargo on the Mars Carousel and in the orbital shipyard, added, “It’s harder than zero G if you ask me.”
The cargo train’s evening stop at Melas Labes came just short of halfway to Melas, or “Rock Bottom” as residents call it, leaving six sols to drive down into the chasma to deliver power units, printer stock, printer printers and other Candor-made equipment.
After a two-sol rest in Melas, the crew continues to the deep-water mining project about 70 km west southwest of Melas, where test drilling is underway in an area where thick layers of ice are thought to lay well beneath the surface.
From there, the train returns to Melas to pick up outgoing cargo and from there back through Chaos to Candor.
Tioman, said the journey is always stressful as the crew has to remain alert at all times when they’re underway.
“You’ve got to watch every rock and every crack. We’re alone out here, almost like a ship in space,” Tioman said. “But me and the crew agree, there’s nothing else we’d rather be doing. It’s the best job on Mars.”
City folk go green, and red, at farmers’ market
URBS VALLIS, Aug. 38 - City residents showed off their green thumbs with baskets of plum tomatoes, green and yellow squash, strings beans, spinach and other greens at the Saturday farmer’s market at the Industrial Tube Terminal between the city and Ares Port.
Rows of stalls held mouth-watering baskets of fresh vegetables straight from residents’ wall and planter gardens and individual farm plots.
“It’s nice to have something green and growing in the apartment,” said astrophysicist Alexa Kimkora, who lives in the first habtube section with her husband and three children. “It adds color and life and flavor to our meals, and and lets us take a break from the City canteens.”
The farmers market, which also offered arts and crafts, drew several hundred City residents throughout the day, and many took a break to listen to the City Strings quarter in the morning and the City Singers in the afternoon.
Kimkora was among those who were buying and selling vegetables throughout the morning.
“Like most people, our family’s good at a few things, like plum tomatoes, but I’d like to get some nice greens, say spinach and kale, for variety at home,” Kimkora said, looking over bundles of greens that second section resident Zara Flora had displayed at a stall.
“I can’t grow tomatoes in the house or in our plot, but I’m very good at greens," Flora said, "so I’ll swap some for those plum tomatoes and make a nice little noodle dish.”
- Susmita O’Reilly, City Correspondent
First city lawn-bowling court opens in WestHill
URBS VALLIS, Aug. 35 - The first of four City lawn bowling greens opened on Terrace 2 in WestHill Wednesday with a variant of the old-time game of bocce (bot-chee).
The game was played on a 15m section of short grass alongside the terrace edge with two teams of six players.
“It’s more of a flat space of grass than a regulation court, but we can use it for other activities this way,” said City agriculturist Radnor Luki, who convinced the City to set aside the space in WestHill and to designate spaces in the habtube.
“We’re going to do the same in the three habtube sections, and we can have team matches when we’re ready, but that’s just a small part of it. We just want families and residents to come out and play.”
For WestHill resident Tonio Pollux, the bowling green offers a chance to meet and have fun with new and old friends.
“It’s a fun and easy game, and we can put teams together from whoever's here,” Pollux said.
Luki said lawn bowling was an easy adaptation of an Earth sport because it just needs a heavier ball.
“It’s not quite the same feeling since they still drop slower, but it’s as close as we’re going to get on Mars and Mars needs more sports,” Luki said. “Plus it’s fun and anyone who can lift a ball can play it.”
The lawn bowling court is open 9 am through 7 pm daily. Reservations available for limited hours. Message City Parks bowling.
- Mirihi Merced, City Correspondent
Calendar
To-Re-A-Dor - You know you want to sing along
City Singers and City Strings join up as the Opera Tithonia to offer favorites from “Carmen,” including “Habanera” and “Toreador.” Love is a rebellious bird. Saturday and Sunday Aug. 45-46. Stage 1 Hab 1 Terrace 8.
Wild about flowers
Walk through a wildflower meadow at the Tithonia Gardens and soak up the beauty and tranquility. Learn all about the Mars-adapted wildflowers on the docent tours on the even hours in the afternoon on Saturday. Through August. Habtube 2, Terrace 4
By Jove, and Saturn
The Tithonia Museum is hosting an exhibition of an exquisitely detailed orrery with spheres that mimic the view from orbit of each of the planets. The distances and size aren’t to scale, since Jupiter, Saturn and the outer planets wouldn’t fit, but the detail is amazing. Through early September. East Terrace 12
“The Mad Harper” Romantic threedee. You’ll go mad about the music. Stage 3 Hab 1. Terrace 8. Aug. 43-Sept. Sept. 3, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
Song Share Acoustic players swap songs. Geryon Agora. Two sessions. Saturday Aug. 45 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.
Classified Ads
JUMP START. Tractor Repair. Mobile unit available. If we can reach it, we can fix it. NOCTIS 260-22098
SURFSUIT. Repair. Upgrade. Added sheathing. URBS 269 71765
PLANT AIR MAT. Get cleaner air, ease scrubber wear. GERYON 278-72903
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
ROCKET ENGINEER Engine upgrade project, Ex-contract only. PONTUS 100 637
WELDERS. Experienced welders seeking space yard qualification. Ex-contract only. PONTUS 100 639
PLASMA SPINMASTER Compact fusion designs. CANDOR 286 25120
CONSTRUCTION All specialties. Some outside. Ex-contract only. GERYON 278 68034
PRINTING Design and fabrication. Non-mechanical. Ex-contract only. IUS 278 70887
BIOENGINEER - Specialist in hardy, low atmosphere grasses. COPRATES 295 67284
APPRENTICES Recycling systems. 8 annos and up. IUS 278 98559
APPRENTICES Metal smith, forging, casting, 8 annos (14 years) and up. URBS 269-37728
APPRENTICES Aquaculture. 8 annos and up. URBS 269 62128
APPRENTICES Environmental systems. URBS 269 81447
APPRENTICES Construction. Interior. GERYON 278 65689
SPACE CAMP. Get ready for orbital work. All ages. ARES PORT 268 00910
DANCING. All styles for adults. Hab 3 Rec Center. URBS 269 10311
MARTIAL ARTS Multi-style Strength and conditioning. WestHill Terrace 2 URBS 269 14420
STRENGTH Training for trainers. COPRATES 295 04716
CRICKET Mars style. Two teams. They'll explain it COPRATES 295 21508
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
The Chaos Courier gets you over the rough spots
Future News from Small Town Mars
Copyright © 2024, M. Fitzpatrick, all rights reserved
Photomosaic: Viking Orbiter: NASA/JPL-Caltech