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Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Checking Wikipedia I see that the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 0.00628 bar, which means that you would need an envelope 147 times as capacious to contain each ton of hydrogen gas there as you would on Earth near sea level. Envelope area and presumably mass go with the 2/3 power of volume, so about 27.8 times the weight of envelope eating into your load. I don't think airships are plausibly practical where there isn't much air.

There's a point about using hydrogen as a lifting gas that probably belongs in the previous thread. But I don't want to necromantise that, so here. There is a problem with storing and transporting hydrogen gas that, having a very small molecular mass it diffuses rather rapidly. Diffusion going inversely with the square root of molecular mass, losses of hydrogen are 40% more rapid than losses of helium. I don't know how important that would be.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Here version 2.1 of the "Gas" Station using RC30 to get power from my "Solar Panel Arrays" on Mars. I parked my new "Mars Rovers" (I'm still tweaking the design so I'll post it later) in the middle section hangar bay and moved my crew and "guest" quarters to the core of that section for maximum radiation protection (yes, that section is already underground but every little bit helps).

Quote:

MARTIAN “GAS” STATION

Code:

TL           Name          dST/dHP  Hnd/SR  HT  Move   LWt.      Load     SM      Occ        dDR     Range    Cost   

9^  Martian “Gas” Station    200       —    13    —   30,000  2,899 [3]  +11  260ASV [4]  0/5/5 [5]    —    $969.5M

Height: 150 yd. (450 ft.) Crush Depth: 0.0 Atmospheres (0 ft.)
Energy Bank: 3 PPh / 540 PPt
Power Profile 'a' Power Points: +1 / -1
Power Profile 'b' Power Points: +⅓ / -⅓
Power Profile 'c' Power Points: +⅓ / -⅓
Power Profile 'd' Power Points: +1⅓ / -0

SHIP SYSTEMS

Code:

 UPPER   

[1-2]    Open Space

           20 Areas / 1 Acre [6]

[3-5†]   Solar Panel Array

           1⅓ Power Points [2,7,d]

[6]      Hangar Bay

           Cap.: 1,000 Tons / SM+7 / Launch: 800 Tons/min [6,10]

Code:

 MIDDLE  

[1]      Stone Armor

           dDR 5 [1,5]

[2]      Fuel Tank

           1,500 Tons of Methane [1]

[3]      Habitat

           one biology lab, two briefing rooms, one chemistry lab, one clinic, ten fabricator microfacs, one geology lab, two gyms, one hot tub, 60 hydroponics bays, one metallurgy lab, 18 offices, five rec rooms, five restaurants, one science! lab, four small swimming pools, 75 tons of steerage cargo, five theatres [1,6]

[4]      Cargo Hold

           1,500 Tons / SM+6 Bay Doors [1]

[5]      Smaller SM Systems

           SM+10 [1]

  [a]    Fuel Tank

           500 Tons of Hydrogen

  [b]    Hangar Bay

           Cap.: 300 Tons / SM+6 / Launch: 400 Tons/min [6,9]

  [c]    Fuel Tank

           500 Tons of Water

[6]      Battery Bank

           3 PPh / 540 PPt / 3 PP [1]

[Core]   Smaller SM Systems

           SM+10 [1]

  [a]    Control Room

           Comp: C7 / Comm/Sensor: 8 / 10 Stations [1,6]

  [b-c]  Habitat

           50 cabins, five luxury cabins [1,6]

           20 bunkrooms, five cells, one ops center, 25 passenger cabins

Code:

 LOWER   

[1!]     Mining

           150 Tons per Hr. [1,6,a]

[2]      Stone Armor

           dDR 5 [1,5]

[3-4]    Fuel Tank

           3,000 Tons of Liquid Oxygen [1,8]

[5]      Smaller SM Systems

           SM+10 [1]

  [a!]   Chemical Refinery

           150 Tons/hr. of Hydrogen [1,6,12,b]

  [b†]   Fission Reactor

           1 Power Point / 50 yr Fuel [1,6,11,b,c]

  [c!]   Chemical Refinery

           650 Tons/hr. of Methane [1,6,13,c]

[6]      Smaller SM Systems

           SM+10 [1]

  [a]    Fuel Tank

           500 Tons of Hydrogen [1]

  [b-c]  Fuel Tank

           1,000 Tons of Liquid Oxygen [1,8]

[Core†]  Fission Reactor

           1 Power Point / 50 yr Fuel [1,6,11,a]

User Notes: This “Gas” station mines ice from a frozen underground aquafer which is turned into hydrogen (for reaction mass or lifting gas) or LOH (for fuel cells or rockets) by different chemical refineries. The hydrogen is also used as feed stock for a third refinery that produces methane (reaction mass) with carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere.The oxygen produced as a "byproduct" of getting hydrogen from water is also collected, liquified and sold as a valuable commodity on Mars.
Design Switches, Features, & Notes: 7 Airlocks (Capacity: 7 people each), Fuel Cost: $5,360,000; Auxiliary Craft Cost: $54,692,050; Standard Food Cost: $50,000; Total Cost: $1,029,602,050
IR SIGNATURE: +14 (+4 Energy Bank, +4 Solar Panel, +6 Fission Reactor)
CAMPAIGN OPTIONS: EBS's Unofficial rules
[1] Underground System (Cannot be targeted)
[2] Counts as Exposed System when deployed (see p. SS1:66), Targeted at SM+14
[3] Load includes: 24 tons of Crew & Passengers, 50 tons of Standard Food, (25,000 man-days / 96 days), 25 tons in Steerage Cargo, 1,500 tons in Cargo Hold, 1,300 tons in Hangar Bay
[4] Crew Requirement (190 total): 10 Control Stations (1 Commander, 1 Executive Officer, 1 Operations Officer, 1 Flight Officer, 1 Chief Engineer, 1 Intelligence Officer, 1 Communication Operator,
1 Sensor Operator, 1 Science Officer, 1 Cargo Master), 25 Technicians, 26 Auxiliary Craft Crew, 16 Passenger Care, 34 Entertainment, 1 Medical, 56 Office Workers, 10 Scientists, 12 Gardeners
[5] Semi-Ablative (Loses 1 dDR for every 10 points of d-damage it resists)
SYSTEM NOTES: [6] 3 Workspaces per Full system, 1 per Smaller SM system, [7] Power Points ×0.444 for Stellar Luminosity 1.0 L and Distance 1.5 AU
[8] Volatile System (see p. SS1:62), [9] Optimized for Mars Rover, [10] Optimized for Mars Trans-Orbital Taxi (L)
FUEL USED: [11] Fissionables, [12] Hydrogen (1,000 tons), [13] Methane (1,500 tons)
RADIATION PROTECTION FACTOR (PF): 450/450/900, Non-Mass Shielded PF: 75/150/150 (see p. SS5:41)

AUXILIARY CRAFT

Code:

Qty.              Ship             Location     Cost    Mass  Crew  

   3  Mars Trans-Orbital Taxi (L)  Front     $37.1939M  900   12    

   1  Condor Spaceplane            Front     $8.89M     100   2     

   3  Mars Rover                   Center    $8.6082M   300   12

HABITATS

Code:

Qty.    Location           Type          SM            Notes            

   1   Center [3]  Biology Lab           +0         2 person, +1 Skill

   2   Center [3]  Briefing Rooms        +0                  20 person

   1   Center [3]  Chemistry Lab         +0         2 person, +1 Skill

   1   Center [3]  Clinic                +0  10 bed; 1 staff; +3 Skill

  10   Center [3]  Fabricator Microfacs  +0            $50,000 per Hr.

   1   Center [3]  Geology Lab           +0         2 person, +1 Skill

   2   Center [3]  Gyms                  +0        40 patrons, 4 staff

   1   Center [3]  Hot Tub               +0         10 person, 1 staff

  60   Center [3]  Hydroponics Bays      +0      240 person production

   1   Center [3]  Metallurgy Lab        +0         2 person, +1 Skill

  18   Center [3]  Offices               +0                  36 person

   5   Center [3]  Rec Rooms             +0      100 patrons, 10 staff

   5   Center [3]  Restaurants           +0      100 patrons, 10 staff

   1   Center [3]  Science! Lab          +0         2 person, +1 Skill

   4   Center [3]  Small Swimming Pools  +0         40 person, 4 staff

  15   Center [3]  Steerage Cargo        +0                    75 tons

   5   Center [3]  Theatres              +0      100 patrons, 10 staff

  50  Center [Cb]  Cabins                +0                 100 person

   5  Center [Cb]  Luxury Cabins         +0                  10 person

  20  Center [Cc]  Bunkrooms             +0                  80 person

   5  Center [Cc]  Cells                 +0                  20 person

   1  Center [Cc]  Ops Center            +0        20 person; +1 Skill

  25  Center [Cc]  Passenger Cabins      +0                  50 person

OPEN SPACES

Code:

Acres  Areas  Location  Description  

  1.0    20     Front   Domed Greenhouses

Created using the GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet Version 2.0 RC 30 copyright © 2009-2017 Eric B. Smith. This spreadsheet is based on information contained in the GURPS Spaceships series of books.

You will note power profile "d" (the SPAs) doesn't have a consumption number. That's because its main purpose is to augment the reactors' power load and charge the energy bank so it can run one of the refineries for 9 hours after dark. I also tweaked the habitats a bit. I revised my campaign definition to recognize liquid oxygen as a "new fuel" since it is a major byproduct of getting Hydrogen from water/ice and is very marketable on Mars and to visiting spacecraft by itself. (I calculated the market value as $650/ton but suspect demand would push it higher. By mass alone it would be the major product of the mine.) Tell me what you think.

Dalton “My setting is what it is. Deal with it.” Spence

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Here is the Mars Rover design I promised previously. This is the general purpose version. I thought about setting up some variants but decided modularizing the cargo holds was enough. Read the internal note for details.

Quote:

MARS ROVER
DRIVING/TL9 (HEAVY WHEELED) Page:

Code:

TL     Name     dST/dHP  Hnd/SR  HT  Move  LWt.    Load    SM     Occ    dDR  Range    Cost    

9^  Mars Rover     30     -1/5   13  6/40   100  43.7 [2]  +6  2ASV [3]   5     —    $2.8134M

Length: 20 yd. (60 ft.) Crush Depth: 37.9 Atmospheres (1,250 ft.)
Power Points: +2⅓ / -3
Energy Bank: 3 PPh / 540 PPt

SHIP SYSTEMS

Code:

 FRONT  

[1]     Metallic Laminate Armor

          dDR 5

[2]     Solar Panel Array

          ⅓ Power Point [1,4]

[3]     Control Room

          Comp: C5 / Comm/Sensor: 4 / 2 Stations

[4-5]   Cargo Hold

          10 Tons / SM+1 Bay Doors

[6]     Habitat

          one garage w/utility truck

Code:

CENTER  

[1]     Metallic Laminate Armor

          dDR 5

[2]     Solar Panel Array

          ⅓ Power Point [1,4]

[3]     Battery Bank

          3 PPh / 540 PPt / 3 PP

[4†]    Fuel Cell

          1 Power Point / 12 hr Fuel [6]

[5]     Engine Room

          1 Control Station / 1 Workspace

[6!!!]  Off-Road Wheeled Drivetrain

          3 Power Points / 4 Wheels

[Core]  Habitat

          one cramped bunkroom, 2.5 tons of steerage cargo

Code:

 REAR   

[1]     Metallic Laminate Armor

          dDR 5

[2]     Solar Panel Array

          ⅓ Power Point [1,4]

[3-6]   Cargo Hold

          20 Tons / SM+2 Bay Doors [5]

[Core]  Cargo Hold

          5 Tons / SM+1 Bay Doors

User Notes: The Mars Rover was designed to be a general purpose long range cargo carrier that could be easily adapted to other roles by replacing the modular cargo holds with other modules. Its Off-Road Wheeled Drivetrain typically uses only 1 PP which during the day is provided by the solar panels (the remaining ⅓ PP is used to recharge the Energy Bank) and after dark by the Energy Bank (for three hours). The Energy Bank can also be used to boost drivetrain performance to 2 PP (4.5 hours in daylight, 1.5 hours after dark) or 3 PP (1.8 hours in daylight, 1 hour after dark). After dark operations are discouraged for this reason. The Fuel Cell is only used in emergencies and then only after the Energy Bank is exhausted.
Design Switches, Features, & Notes: 2 Airlocks (Capacity: 2 people each), Fuel Cost: $1,000; Standard Food Cost: $100; Total Cost: $2,814,500
IR SIGNATURE: +12 (+4 Energy Bank, +4 Fuel Cell, +4 Solar Panel)
CAMPAIGN OPTIONS: EBS's Unofficial rules
[1] Counts as Exposed System when deployed (see p. SS1:66), Targeted at SM+9
[2] Load includes: 0.2 tons of Crew & Passengers, 0.1 tons of Standard Food, (50 man-days / 25 days), 2.4 tons in Steerage Cargo, 35 tons in Cargo Hold, 6 tons in Garage Bay
[3] Crew Requirement: 2 Control Stations (1 Driver, 1 Navigator)
SYSTEM NOTES: [4] Power Points ×0.444 for Stellar Luminosity 1.0 L and Distance 1.5 AU, [5] Modular
FUEL USED: [6] Hydrogen-Oxygen (1.25 tons)
RADIATION PROTECTION FACTOR (PF): 60/120/40, Non-Mass Shielded PF: 20 (see p. SS5:41)

HABITATS

Code:

Qty.   Location            Type           SM             Notes            

   1  Center [C]  Cramped Bunkroom        +0                    2 person

   1   Front [6]  Garage w/Utility Truck  +0  13 person, 0.15 tons cargo

  10  Center [C]  Steerage Cargo          +0                    2.5 tons

Dalton “Long haul trucking on Mars?” Spence