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[Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

This base is a refueling station for vehicles travelling to, from, on and over Mars. It was built on a frozen underground aquafer which is mined for ice to be melted (water itself is precious here) and refined into LOH fuel (for rockets and fuel cells) and pure hydrogen for use as reaction mass, lifting gas and feedstock for producing methane (also used as reaction mass). It also sells surplus food from its domed greenhouse and hydroponics bay and serves as a trading post, clinic and government center for other settlers on the red planet.

Quote:

MARTIAN “GAS” STATION

Code:

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

9^  Martian “Gas” Station  200    —   14    —   30,000  4,382 [3]  +11  320ASV [4]  0/10/0 [5]    —    $2.38175B

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: +1 / -1
Power Profile 'c' Power Points: +1 / -1

SHIP SYSTEMS

Code:

 UPPER   

[1-2]    Open Space

           20 Areas / 1 Acre [6]

[3-5]    Solar Panel Array

           0 Power Points [2,7]

[6]      Hangar Bay

           Cap.: 1,000 Tons / SM+7 / Launch: 800 Tons/min [6,8]

Code:

 MIDDLE  

[1-2]    Stone Armor

           dDR 10 [1,5]

[3]      Habitat

           one biology lab, two briefing rooms, 40 cabins, one chemistry lab, one clinic, one geology lab, 60 hydroponics bays, ten luxury cabins, one metallurgy lab, 18 offices, five rec rooms, five restaurants, one science! lab, 50 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]    Habitat

           30 bunkrooms, 30 passenger cabins [6]

  [b]    Hangar Bay

           Cap.: 300 Tons / SM+6 / Launch: 100 Tons/min [6]

  [c]    Habitat

           ten bunkrooms, ten fabricator minifacs, two gyms, one hot tub, 15 hydroponics bays, one ops center, one small swimming pool [6]

[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]    Fuel Tank

           500 Tons of Hydrogen-Oxygen [1]

  [c]    Fuel Tank

           500 Tons of Hydrogen [1]

Code:

 LOWER   

[1!]     Mining

           150 Tons per Hr. [1,6,a]

[2]      Fuel Tank

           1,500 Tons of Methane [1]

[3]      Cargo Hold

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

[4]      Fuel Tank

           1,500 Tons of Water [1]

[5]      Smaller SM Systems

           SM+10 [1]

  [a!]   Chemical Refinery

           150 Tons/hr. of Hydrogen [1,6,10,b]

  [b!]   Chemical Refinery

           150 Tons/hr. of Hydrogen-Oxygen [1,6,11,b]

  [c!]   Chemical Refinery

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

[6!]     Fabricator

           $1,500,000 per Hr. / SM+5 [1,6,c]

[Core†]  Fission Reactor

           1 Power Point / 50 yr Fuel [1,6,9,a-c]

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.
Design Switches, Features, & Notes: 7 Airlocks (Capacity: 7 people each), Fuel Cost: $2,180,000; Auxiliary Craft Cost: $46,083,850; Standard Food Cost: $50,000; Cargo Manifest Cost: $30,000; Total Cost: $2,430,093,850
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: 32 tons of Crew & Passengers, 1,500 tons of Refrigerated Cargo, 50 tons of Standar
Food, (25,000 man-days / 78 days), 1,500 tons in Cargo Hold, 1,300 tons in Hangar Bay
[4] Crew Requirement (182 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), 28 Technicians,
14 Auxiliary Craft Crew, 14 Passenger Care, 34 Entertainment, 1 Medical, 56 Office Workers, 10 Scientists, 15 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] Optimized for Mars Trans-Orbital Taxi (L)
FUEL USED: [9] Fissionables, [10] Hydrogen (500 tons), [11] Hydrogen-Oxygen (500 tons), [12] Methane (1,500 tons)
TROOP STRENGTH (TS): 0 CLASSES: Engineering FEATURES: Night, Sealed

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

CARGO MANIFEST

Code:

   Cost   Mass  Location           Description

$30,000  1,500  Refrigerated               Ice

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

  40   Center [3]  Cabins               +0                  80 person

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

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

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

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

  10   Center [3]  Luxury Cabins        +0                  20 person

   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

  10   Center [3]  Steerage Cargo       +0                    50 tons

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

  30  Center [5a]  Bunkrooms            +0                 120 person

  30  Center [5a]  Passenger Cabins     +0                  60 person

  10  Center [5c]  Bunkrooms            +0                  40 person

  10  Center [5c]  Fabricator Minifacs  +0             $5,000 per Hr.

   2  Center [5c]  Gyms                 +0        40 patrons, 4 staff

   1  Center [5c]  Hot Tub              +0         10 person, 1 staff

  15  Center [5c]  Hydroponics Bays     +0       60 person production

   1  Center [5c]  Ops Center           +0        20 person; +1 Skill

   1  Center [5c]  Small Swimming Pool  +0         10 person, 1 staff

OPEN SPACES

Code:

Acres  Areas  Location      Description  

  1.0    20     Front   Domed Greenhouses

Created using the GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet Version 2.0 RC 29 copyright © 2009-2017 Eric B. Smith. This spreadsheet is based on information contained in the GURPS Spaceships series of books.

My starting point was "The Warren" from Pyramid 3/71, page 11 but I have made extensive changes. The Mars Trans-Orbital Taxi is my own design. Unfortunately the Solar Power Options feature isn't working when I set the "Stellar Distance" to 1.5 AU so my Solar Panel Arrays aren't contributing to the power budget. (They would add 1⅓ power points if they did.)

Dalton “I'm still tweaking this so stand by” Spence

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Deimos and Phobos are the natural sites for such a well. They have a good delta-v compared to other sources of ice (including Mars), and they may be 20% ice. Lifting gases are unlikely to matter on Mars until you get a Thin atmosphere, and you might as well use water if you are using methane. By avoiding the delta-v associated with landing on Mars, you also end up saving a lot of time and money.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

I was thinking more in terms of a "Domed Mars" type setting (Chapter 4 of GURPS Classic: Mars) as the core of a small Martian community, but the idea of a "grounded" space station on Phobos or Deimos has some merit (although I hadn't heard of them having that much ice). As for hydrogen as a lifting gas, it could be useful sooner than you think.

Quote:

Airships and balloons can make use of the fact that Mars’ atmosphere, though tenuous, is composed of relatively heavy gases like carbon dioxide and argon. A cubic foot of hydrogen has a lifting power of 0.0004 lbs. on Mars. That may not sound like much, but recall that the entire weight of the airship is reduced by the lower Martian gravity. The cost of lifting gas is also lower: the amount of hydrogen required to fill 1 cubic foot at Earth atmospheric pressure can fill 30 cubic feet on Mars. That being said, it still takes a pretty big balloon to carry a useful payload on Mars – at least 20,000 cubic feet just to lift the gasbag. Because of the reduced efficiency of airscrews, in some circumstances airships may be rocket-powered!

GURPS Mars, page 37

Or a Fission Air-Ram (SS7 p. 10) might be useful. Also, hydrogen is safer to use as a lifting gas on Mars: no combustion hazard. Terraforming might actually make airships less useful as the mean molecular weight of the atmosphere went down. I discussed the topic rather extensively in my "Homebrew: Expanding on Gasbags" thread 3½ years ago and really don't have anything to add at this point (at least until I re-read and understand it ;D ).

Dalton “who may have an inflated opinion of himself” Spence

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Since the volumetric lifting power of hydrogen increases proportionally with the density of the atmosphere, the denser the atmosphere the better the lifting power.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

And the density of a gas at given temperature and pressure is dependent on its molecular weight. Since temperature and pressure are the same both inside and out of an unheated balloon only the difference in mean molecular weights matters when calculating lift.

Dalton “see my "Homebrew: Expanding on Gasbags" thread for details” Spence

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

That is lifting power by mass. Lifting power by volume depends on the density of the atmosphere. A cubic meter of hydrogen has a lot more lift on Earth than on Mars.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Yes, by volume this may be true (see my quote from GURPS Mars above) but I expect hydrogen would be sold by mass, not volume. It's up to the user to have a gasbag big enough to provide the necessary lift.

Dalton “who decided not to make a political comment” Spence

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl (Post 2343920)

Deimos and Phobos are the natural sites for such a well.

Refueling stations for hard science space ships make the most sense at actual destinations. Perhaps if there were a beanstalk at Deimos you could ride down to the Martian surface the numbers would crunch the right way.

Otherwise, if you're going to Mars, go there directly and refuel after you get there. You might ship fuel to the asteroids from the moons of Mars rather than the planet itself. It'd depend on how high the start-up and manintence costs were.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin (Post 2343975)

It depends if the rocket has enough thrust to do a landing or not, as well as how efficient the rocket is. High efficiency rockets with low thrust could make good use of water available from Deimos, which hardly takes any thrust to land on. Low efficiency rockets could plausibly "island hop" from space rock to space rock, as adding more propellant to a rocket has declining gains.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by TGLS (Post 2343981)

Low efficiency rockets could plausibly "island hop" from space rock to space rock, as adding more propellant to a rocket has declining gains.

Err, no. This is the classical mistake when comparing space travel to sea travel. To land on a rock and pick up fuel, your craft has to burn fuel to slow down, and then to speed back up again. This usually ends up wasting time on the journey as compared to coasting the whole way.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by TGLS (Post 2343981)

Low efficiency rockets could plausibly "island hop" from space rock to space rock, as adding more propellant to a rocket has declining gains.

Generally not. Even if you can net gain a little more Delta-V from decelrating, refuelling and then accelerating again it won't be worth the time and/or the wear and tear.

Hard science ships can't just "stop". They have to spend Delta-V. So the efficient thing is usually to accelerate once and then decelerate once while you coast at maximum speed in between.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin (Post 2343987)

Generally not. Even if you can net gain a little more Delta-V from decelrating, refuelling and then accelerating again it won't be worth the time and/or the wear and tear.

Well, it depends on how you set up the case. For example, say we have rocket with a dry mass of 1 ton and ISP of 1 km/s. It can travel from A to B for a ΔV of 4 km/s, or from A to M for 3 km/s then M to B for another 3 km/s. While the A to B via M route appears less efficient (taking 2 more km/s), if you can refill propellant tanks at M, it would save 15 tons of propellant compared to the A-B route.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

An exhausted velocity of 1 km/s is a weak drive. Assuming that the drive tosses out 3 kg/s/metric ton of mass, that would only allow an object with a dry mass of 1 metric ton and a wet mass of 2 metric tons an acceleration of 0.1 g for 1000 seconds (a delta-v of only 980 m/s).

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by TGLS (Post 2343993)

If A to B is 20 million kilometers and you can get there on 4 m/s of Delta-V then you are accelerating to 2 km/s then drifting for 5 million seconds and then decelerating for a total trip time of c.58 days.

If M is exactly between A and B you're doing 5 million kilometers on each leg at an average velocity of 1.5 million km/s and it will take you 3,333,333 seconds on each leg or about 77 days ignoring any time you spend finding and refining.

Note that these are the maximally favorable assuptions for the relative positions of A,B and M. Zig-zagging will take even longer.

Spending almost 3 weeks longer and putting 50% more wear on your engines will be less efficient by most standards.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin (Post 2344001)

Spending almost 3 weeks longer and putting 50% more wear on your engines will be less efficient by most standards.

I'll admit I'm a bit biased towards "Time is Cheap, Mass is Expensive", though looking at near-future space travel that seems plausible enough (traveling outward would take months if not years). I'm also a little biased towards one-way flights.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Okay, we are getting a little off focus here. If there was a reliable source of reaction mass, oxygen, food and water in Mars orbit incoming ships from Earth could re-provision themselves there for the return trip and reserve more room for cargo and passengers. Note that without a CO2 atmosphere there would be no methane production so that capacity on the moons would be dedicated to processing ice. A big import from Earth would probably be certain organic compounds to promote food production.

Quote:

Mars Needs . . .
Um . . .
The oxidant chemicals in the Martian soil aren’t very good for growing plants. To make the Martian surface material more fertile, humans have to combine it with water and carbon-rich compounds. The water will come from rain or irrigation, but the carbon is a bit more tricky. One excellent source of carbon is human waste. Mixing waste products with Martian soil solves two problems at once: the toxic soil kills bacteria and sterilizes the waste, while the carbon, water, and nitrogen compounds in the wastes make the barren red soil into something plants can use. Assuming a mix of three parts Martian soil to one part waste, a human can “terraform” about one square foot of Mars per day. Even with several million inhabitants, sewage disposal on Mars won’t be a problem for millennia!

GURPS Mars, page 75

Even hydroponics needs something to work with. So do humans, making food from Earth another big import item (at least initially). At least everyone (no matter how useless) would have something to contribute. ;D

Dalton “another political comment avoided” Spence

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

I would note that you may want to rethink ratios of production to storage.

A basic refinery complex is 3 mining modules feeding one refinery, plus power plants capable of providing 4 energy points. At SM+10, that costs $40M for the mining modules, and $120M for fission reactors (solar power is vastly more expensive -- it starts at $200M, but because of martian sunlight and the fact that it only operates during the daytime, you actually need more than 5x as much. Note that both reactors and solar panels have options that are cheaper but heavier). It produces 150 tons per hour.

15,000 tons of fuel tanks costs $100M, so if your normal business cycle is 100 hours of business and then 10,000 hours of inactivity, you can drop down to SM+8 mining modules (total cost is $116M) and still refill your tanks in six weeks.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Looks like I may have to redesign the whole thing. My problem is the first step: breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen. The result is eight tons of oxygen for every ton of hydrogen. I see this as two standard and two small tanks for oxygen, one small tank for hydrogen, a standard mining system, two small refineries (LOH, CH4), a small fission reactor (powers one refinery at a time), a regular methane tank and a regular fission reactor (powers the mine). The H2 and O2 tanks take 30 hours to fill while the methane tank takes ten.
That takes care of the bottom section. I think I'll leave the top level much the same and work on the middle one tomorrow.

Dalton “Martian “Gas” Station 2.0?” Spence

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaltonS (Post 2343961)

Dalton “who decided not to make a political comment” Spence

The mass and cost of the gasbag envelope go with volume. Where the air is very thin you would need a vast, massive, costly envelope, perhaps impractical or uneconomic.

Re: [Spaceships] Martian “Gas” Station

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agemegos (Post 2344063)

The mass and cost of the gasbag envelope go with volume. Where the air is very thin you would need a vast, massive, costly envelope, perhaps impractical or uneconomic.

True, but I have no idea how to model that. Sadly the "Gasbag" description in Spaceships 7 seems rather generic. I understand your concern about the expanded volume (I'd add 3 to the SM of the gasbag based on my first quote from GURPS Mars) but I think the increased area of the envelope would be amply countered by Mars lower gravity and Hydrogen's increased efficiency as a lifting gas there. The cost issue I'll grant (what sort of premium should I tack on?) but impracticality is a tech issue I'm not qualified to comment on. I stand by my preference for Hydrogen as a lifting gas on Mars for reasons I've previously stated and consider it an intrinsic part of my "Domed Mars" setting.

Dalton “So let's pop this balloon and get back to my station.” Spence

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