A Mars Odyssey by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 9 – A WALK ON MARS

 

09:56 (GMT)

Tuesday, April 26, 2044

Cockpit of the Mars Manned Lander

Lander Hangar Number One, H.S.S. FRIENDSHIP

Mars low orbit

 

Denise Wattling, wearing her spacesuit and strapped into her pilot’s seat, looked around her in the cramped cockpit of her manned lander.

‘’Alright, last chance! Did you bring everything you needed? Toothbrush? Spare underwear?’’

Viktor Ponichnikov, sitting behind and to the left of her, made a face at those words.

‘’Oh shit! I forgot my vibrator!’’

‘’Don’t worry about that, Viktor,’’ replied Denise as giggles went around the cabin, ‘’we have alternatives.’’

The giggles turned into laughter, both in the lander’s cockpit and in the command center of the H.S.S. FRIENDSHIP, where their communications and data links were monitored. Janet Larsson then spoke on the radio.

‘’Alright, you bunch of perverts. Your hangar dome is fully open. You now have a go for launch. Good luck and have a good stay on Mars.’’

‘’Thank you, Commander!’’ replied Denise, now serious. ‘’Releasing mooring clamps.’’

With her 470 ton lander now freed from its hangar pad, Denise fired a short burst from her attitude rockets, making the big, squat conical craft rise from the pad. Once well clear from the H.S.S. FRIENDSHIP, she fired again her attitude rockets to pivot her lander in the correct axis to start its deceleration and descent towards the surface of Mars. With its 35 meter-wide base heat shield pivoted forward, Denise then fired her main rocket engine to start decelerating and dropping out of orbit. That main engine, a smaller variant of the PHOENIX 2000 nuclear rocket engines of the FRIENDSHIP, apart from having a much better specific impulse by far than any existing chemical rocket engine, would also be turned into their craft’s nuclear power plant once on the surface of Mars. Another advantage was that it used liquid hydrogen as fuel, which could be used as extra anti-radiation protection for the crew spaces of the lander. Burning for long minutes at maximum power until its four external drop tanks were empty, the nuclear rocket then shut down, with its protective base cover closing over its nozzle. By now, the lander had lost enough velocity to drop down low enough to start feeling the drag from the rarefied atmosphere of Mars. That was when Denise jettisoned the now empty four hydrogen external fuel tanks and deployed the four giant, petal-like airbrakes of the craft, which helped to further slow down the lander and lose more altitude, on top of helping stabilize the lander along its longitudinal axis. That part of the deceleration phase took quite a while, something Denise and her crew had expected in view of the very thin atmosphere of Mars, which had only one percent of Earth’s atmospheric pressure at ground level. The manned lander had time to complete a full orbit of Mars before it had slowed down enough to safely deploy its first big braking parachute. That first parachute was replaced over a minute later with an even bigger one. That parachute was however of rectangular shape and was steerable. It was also topped by a huge balloon that filled with low pressure helium gas, which helped further in supporting the mass of the lander. The craft was now falling slowly at a near vertical angle and was at an altitude of 14,000 meters. Denise consulted her instruments and her navigation display screen and nodded her head while putting her right hand around the small flight control stick that controlled the steerable parachute.

‘’Everything is going well up to now, folks. I am now starting to steer our craft towards our designated landing spot. Peter, retract our airbrakes and deploy our wheels. Viktor, you can now switch our nuclear engine to power production mode. Put it at thirty percent power.’’

‘’Airbrakes retracted and wheels deployed!’’ announced Peter Walsingham, the copilot of the lander. Viktor Ponichnikov spoke up next some seconds later.

‘’Nuclear engine now in power producing mode at thirty percent power. External radiators deployed and online.’’

‘’Excellent! Let’s see how close we can get to our target zone.’’

 

While the lander was slowly descending and flying westward over the canyons of Valles Marineris, Denise admired the majestic view given by the ten kilometer-high cliffs of the geological fracture.

‘’It may be a dead planet now, but Mars certainly has some incredible visual features. It should make for an interesting thirteen months stay on the surface.’’

‘’It also should be a busy thirteen months.’’ added the chief geologist, Steve Larkin. ‘’There will be a lot to do and much to explore on the surface.’’

‘’That as well.’’ agreed Denise before falling silent and concentrating on her piloting. The rest of the sixteen person crew also fell silent as they eyed the gigantic northern cliffs of the Melas Chasma. Some fourteen minutes later, as the lander was very close to the ground, Denise fired briefly her chemical rocket thrusters to slow down her descent to a mere 0.6 meter per second, landing smoothly her big craft without even a single bounce. She then beamed a proud smile at her team members.

‘’Descending from orbit and touching down only eleven kilometers from our target zone: I would rate that as not shabby at all, wouldn’t you say, guys?’’

‘’I have seen worse.’’ replied Peter Walsingham, a malicious grin on his face, making Denise’s eyes open wide.

‘’Seen worse? That’s it! No chocolate for you for dessert tonight!’’

‘’While you discuss your respective piloting performances, could I take the commands and drive us to our designated base area?’’ asked Steven Merrick, a 42 year old Australian who had driven for years through the deserts and hills of the Australian Outback and who was one of their two designated rover drivers and mechanics. Denise gave him a warm smile in response.

‘’Be my guest, Steve. Just don’t get a speeding ticket.’’

‘’HA! Back in the Outback, the fuzz were never able to catch me while I was carrying contraband alcohol.’’

Merrick then switched on the geared electric motors integrated into the twelve large wheels supporting the manned lander and started it rolling towards the lava tube openings and four cargo landers visible at the foot of the northern cliffs. The ground being relatively flat, he was able to make an average speed of twenty kilometers per hour while keeping the ride smooth.

 

As the manned lander was less than a kilometer from the northern wall of the Melas Chasma, Jason Terlecki, the mining engineer charged with building the future base of the mission, seemed to notice something and looked at Denise.

‘’Denise, could I check on something outside once we are parked, before we do anything else?’’

‘’Uh, depends! We have a lot of things to do at first. What do you want to check?’’

‘’The exact size and depth of the most eastern lava tube entrance of this group of tubes. It appears at first sight to be big enough to let all of our landers roll inside, which would give them complete cover from the radiations. It also happens to have a smooth, low inclination ramp made of washed up dirt and rocks that our landers will be able to climb.’’

Denise, like the others, was left stunned by those words. Looking at the said lava tube entrance, then at one of the 35 meter-high cargo landers, she realized that Terlecki was right.

‘’God damn! I believe that you are right, Jason. If we could do that, then we could all work much more safely in the long term.’’

‘’We would only need to place one communication antenna unit outside, to ensure continued communications with the FRIENDSHIP and Earth.’’ added Roberto Calderon, their flight engineer. ‘’I can take care of that.’’

‘’Excellent! Jason, you and me will be the first to walk out once we are parked near that lava tube. Just make sure that you have a laser rangefinder with you.’’

‘’Don’t worry, Denise, I always have one handy in my pocket.’’

‘’Just make sure that you take it out of your pocket BEFORE you seal your suit, Jason.’’ Said sneakily Yves Dorval, a Canadian mining prospector and geologist, making Terlecki make a face and slap his forehead with one hand.

‘’DOH!’’

That triggered a few short laughs, followed by silence as they rolled closer and closer to the northern walls of the canyon. All sixteen occupants of the manned lander, wearing their spacesuits and sitting in crashworthy seat, were now examining closely via the cameras of the craft the three lava tube entrances which they were going to explore. All of them were very large, as nearly everything on Mars seemed to be, but one entrance in particular dwarfed even the 35 meter-high cargo landers parked near it in dispersed order. Denise was now pretty sure that Terlecki’s idea would work. In fact, the only thing seemingly to be done would appeared to be to have to smoothen a bit the surface of the gentle slope of washed out debris and dust connecting the entrance of the lava tube with the floor of the canyon. Thankfully, they had something in one of the cargo landers that would be perfect for that job: an electric-powered bulldozer.

 

Steven Merrick finally parked the manned lander some forty meters from the entrance of the largest lava tube, being careful to leave that entrance unblocked. Getting out of her pilot’s seat, Denise then gave a few quick orders around her.

‘’Alright, time to start the serious work! Peter, Roberto, Viktor, Masaki and Jing, you stay in the lander for now. Be ready to assist outside if needed. The rest is going out with me. Peter, lower the hangar platform for our two all terrain vehicles.’’

‘’Lowering the ATVs’ hangar platform now.’’ replied the British copilot while pressing a button and checking a status light. ‘’Platform lowered.’’

‘’Good! Surface exploration team, grab your tools and instruments once at the base level locker room.’’

 

The ten astronauts, already wearing their spacesuits but with their visors opened, went down the vertical communication tube linking the cockpit, situated nearly at the summit of the 27 meter-high manned lander, with the living and working facilities, situated around the wide base of the conical craft. Once on the lower deck, they took a variety of tools and equipment from storage lockers next to the airlock, then entered the airlock after sealing and checking their spacesuits. Roberto Calderon, who had followed down the ten members of the surface exploration team, closed the large hatch of the airlock behind them, then spoke on the radio to them.

‘’Ready to depressurize the airlock.’’

‘’All our suits are confirmed sealed and pressurized. Go ahead, Roberto.’’ replied Denise. Calderon then pressed a few buttons on the command panel of the airlock and watched the pressure gauge as the air was pumped out of it.

‘’Airlock pressure now at near zero. Am deploying the access ramp. External temperature is presently minus 53 degrees Celsius. You may now walk out.’’

Denise, on hearing those last words, unlocked the exit hatch of the airlock and opened it, then stepped out and took a step to one side, to let her nine companions come out on the top of the access ramp. She closed back and locked the exit hatch once they were all out in the thin, 0.01 bar Martian atmosphere, then returned at the head of her group. She couldn’t help feel a growing emotion inside her as she walked down the ramp and got closer and closer to the moment when she would step on the Martian surface. Stopping just a few centimeters short of the foot of the ramp, she looked left and right at her companions, who also had stopped close to the end of the ramp.

‘’Ready to take a giant leap, my friends? On the count of three: one…two…THREE!’’

The ten astronauts leaped forward as one and landed nearly all at the same time on the dry, dusty surface of Mars. Denise then spoke on the radio, knowing that her words were being relayed to both the H.S.S. FRIENDSHIP and to the mission control room on Earth.

‘’Humans are now walking on the surface of Mars. May this be the start of a new chapter in Human space exploration and in the building of a second home for Humanity.’’

She took a few seconds to savor that moment, then ordered her team into action.

‘’Frey, Steven, you go check out our ATVs and roll them off their platform. The rest will accompany me to the opening of the largest lava tube opening.’’

With seven astronauts at her back, Denise walked calmly towards the said tube opening, already appreciating how large it was: Jason Terlecki’s idea to roll the landers inside appeared to be a very promising one indeed. Since remote-controlled mini-rovers had already explored the three lava tubes near them, she already knew pretty much what to expect inside them: long, dark and wide tunnels which eventually merged together into a vast underground rotunda with two further tunnels going down until a thick crust of water ice filled and blocked them. If they could really drive their five landers all the way to that rotunda, then the mission would indeed be up to a very good start.

 

When she arrived close to the opening of the lava tube, she made a grimace on seeing that the slope of washed out rocks and dirt outside the tube stopped about seventy centimeters lower than the floor of the tube’s mouth.

‘’Jason, do you think that our landers could step over that vertical ledge and enter the tunnel by themselves?’’

‘’Our landers, maybe, but our ATVs may need some help. I will thus go to the Cargo Lander Number One with Teerapat and take out our bulldozer. I should be able to build an adequate ramp in a couple of hours. But let me first measure this entrance.’’

Using the weak gravity of Mars, which was 37% that of Earth, Terlecki easily jumped up past the ledge, landing on the floor of the tube. Denise and the five geologists in her group imitated him and lit their helmets’ front lamps to look down the dark tunnel.

‘’Steve, you and your prospectors may start exploring this tunnel. I will stay here with Jason and Teerapat for the moment.’’

The chief geologist nodded his head inside his spacesuit’s helmet, then walked away with his four prospectors/geologists, soon disappearing down the tunnel. Jason Terlecki, using a small, handheld laser rangefinder, soon spoke up on the radio, triumph in his voice, as he called from inside the tunnel.

‘’It will work, Denise! The tube’s entrance is a full 63 meter high and stays that high for at least the first fifty meters. The entrance’s width is 87 meter wide, with the maximum width staying the same for a good hundred meters.’’

‘’Excellent! I will come join you, so that you can give me your laser rangefinder. I will then continue measuring the tunnel while you go get our bulldozer and start building an access ramp for our landers.’’

The two of them met halfway inside the tunnel, with Terlecki giving to Denise his rangefinder before leaving with Teerapat for Cargo Lander Number One, parked some 250 meters away at the foot of the cliffs. Taking frequent measurements and examining carefully the surfaces of the lava tube as she walked down it, Denise covered a full 900 meters before arriving at a vast underground rotunda and dome, where the openings of four more tubes connected. She felt triumph when she took an ultimate measurement of the section of tube she was in just next to its connection with the rotunda: it was still large enough to let both the cargo landers and the manned lander roll in all the way to the rotunda and park inside it. This was a truly significant and positive development for their mission, as their landers will be both fully protected from the strong radiations bathing the surface of Mars and also be handy and close by while her team started building the first Martian base. The only thing they would need to do as an extra was to position a communications antenna unit outside the lava tube entrance and connect it to the landers inside via a fiber optics wire, so that they could stay in permanent contact with the FRIENDSHIP and Earth. Thankfully, all that they needed to build that base was already here on Mars, inside either the manned lander or the four cargo landers.

 

Walking to the approximate center of the obscure rotunda, Denise then took some time to roughly map it with the help of her handheld laser rangefinder, as her helmet front lamp was not powerful enough to see the opposite walls of the cavern. The dimensions she calculated actually left her quite impressed: the rotunda, while not a perfect semi-spherical dome, had an average width at floor level of 460 meters, while the maximum height reached up to 210 meters, with an average ceiling height of 170 meters. Just this one cavern could shelter a whole city, if built of multi-level buildings. She could even imagine sealing the entrances of the lava tubes with large airlocks and then pressurize the rotunda with air at normal Earth atmospheric density to turn it into a large Human habitat. If such rotundas turned up to be common on Mars, then such a way to build Martian cities could certainly prove most viable in the near future, once more construction equipment could be brought from Earth. Seeing from the movement of the headlamps of Steve Larkin and of his four prospectors in the distance that they had gone down one of the two tunnels leading to an ice plug, Denise decided to go back outside, to pass the good news by radio to the manned lander and the H.S.S. FRIENDSHIP. When she emerged from the lava tube, Denise was pleased to see that their two mini-rovers, with Frey Thorvalsson and Steven Merrick sitting at the commands of the ATVs, were already parked near the mouth of the lava tube. As for Jason Terlecki, he was approaching the entrance aboard their bulldozer, a big four-wheeled vehicle, while Teerapat Batrang was apparently driving the Cargo Lander Number One, approaching it closer to the lava tube. Things were definitely looking up.

 

Showing a level of experience and expertise at using a bulldozer that truly surprised Denise, Jason Terlecki managed to build in less than two hours a wide, low inclination access ramp between the tube’s lower ledge and the floor of the Melas Chasma. Then, using light but tough molded Lexan surface mat plates and assembling them end-to-end with the help of Frey, Steven and Teerapat, Jason covered the newly-built ramp with a hard, load-distributing surface that could easily support the mass of the landers. By the time that Steve Larkin and his four prospectors came back with ground and ice samples from inside the lava tubes and rotunda, the first lander was ready to roll inside. Denise decided to have the cargo landers roll in first in order of their assigned numbers, so that her team would have time to install a mobile communications antenna unit outside before the manned lander would also roll inside. That mobile antenna unit was actually mounted on a trailer and was taken out of one of the four cargo landers, then towed by their bulldozer to an adequate position some 140 meters from the entrance to the lava tube. Its fiber optics wire was then rolled out and its portion exposed to outside radiations was buried in a shallow trench dug by the bulldozer, which had multiple tool appendages on top of its dozer blade and digging shovel. Then, less than five hours after landing the manned lander, the surface exploration team was able to roll inside in quick succession the four cargo landers and the manned lander, driving them down the lava tube and all the way to the large rotunda, where they were parked side by side along the walls, near the junction of the lava tube with the rotunda. While four astronauts started at once to lay down and connect sections of optical fiber wires along one side of the tunnel connecting the rotunda with the outside, Denise and her remaining companions deployed and extended transparent, 2.5 meter diameter circulation tubes between the five landers, which had been designed and built to be able to link up and form quickly a basic surface base. Once that was done, and with the outside communications antenna plugged to the manned module parked inside the rotunda, Denise called a halt to the work, so that they could have supper together and discuss the progress they had made. The thirteen men and three women of the exploration team, having taken off their spacesuits and having washed up, assembled in the fairly cramped crew lounge of the manned lander, where they chose their respective suppers from the reserve of ready rations stored in the cold pantry. Denise chose for herself a meal of chicken fried rice, with milk as beverage and fruit salad as dessert, then went to sit at a table with Viktor Ponichnikov, Jason Terlecki and Teerapat Batrang. As she was about to take her first bite, she smiled to her three table companions.

‘’Quite a productive day today, wouldn’t you say, guys?’’

Viktor, who had chosen like Jason a chunky goulash soup, nodded in approbation.

‘’Quite, Denise! Jason’s idea to roll our landers inside was a stroke of genius, I must say.’’

‘’Bof!’’ said Jason dismissively, ‘’If not me, someone else would have thought about it. It is just that, as a mining and infrastructure engineer, I am accustomed to think of tunnels as structures to be used for many purposes and not only as a passageway. So, what do we do after supper, Denise? Go back out and start emptying the cargo landers?’’

‘’No! This day of work was hard enough and we did accomplish a lot. I will want all of us to relax and rest after supper and, at the most, write down notes or reports on what we did today. Tomorrow, while our geological team will continue exploring and prospecting around the tunnels, the rest of us will start taking out the building modules for our base and will start assembling them. Once the main cargo holds of our landers will be empty, we will then be free to pressurize them and convert them into large hydroponic gardens, for the greatest pleasure of Masaki.’’

Tomonaga Masaki, the Japanese agronomist of the exploration team, who was eating at the next table and had heard Denise, gave a thumbs up and a big smile in answer. Denise then decided to pass her decision about the evening’s occupation to her whole team and got up from her bench.

‘’IF YOU WILL PLEASE LISTEN UP FOR A MOMENT, FRIENDS. We did a lot today and I believe that we all need some time to relax and rest before we continue our work tomorrow morning. I suggest that you use your time after supper to write notes or reports as needed, then go to sleep. Any questions?’’

For some reason, Steve Larkin, the chief geologist of the team, didn’t seem to like her announcement, shaking his head before speaking up.

‘’Denise, I was planning to go back in the tunnels with my team after supper, to collect more samples and better map the underground complex of caves and tunnels. I am sorry, but I still feel the need to go out for a few more hours.’’

Denise did her best to hide her displeasure at Larkin’s objection: the geologist, while a very competent man, tended to be a bit abrasive and often went his own way, too often in fact for Denise’s taste. She thus replied in a calm but firm tone.

‘’Our team has been up for nearly twelve hours already. Our mission on the surface is due to go on for thirteen months, so I don’t see the necessity to overwork our team members right from the start.’’

‘’Well, I am the chief geologist and I believe that more samples need to be collected today. I…’’

‘’Mister Larkin, I believe that we need to speak in private…now! Follow me!’’

With the other astronauts watching them go, Denise left the crew lounge, a seething Larkin at her back, and went to a storage compartment on the opposite side of the lounge, where she closed the door behind the geologist before pointing an index at him.

‘’Mister Larkin, you may be the chief geologist, but I am the team commander on Mars. I believe that our people worked hard enough today, including spending a full six hours out in spacesuits, and need some rest. There is absolutely no need for us to burn ourselves out right now. Your extra samples can wait until tomorrow.’’

The disdainful expression that came to Larkin’s face then irked Denise to no little degree, but not as much as the words he said next.

‘’Well, I still disagree with that opinion and I intend to refer the matter to Doctor Denisovich, on the FRIENDSHIP. We will then see what he thinks about this.’’

‘’WHAT I SAID WAS NOT AN OPINION, LARKIN, BUT AN ORDER! IF YOU START PLAYING IN MY BACK, THEN IT WILL BE COMMANDER LARSSON WHO WILL BECOME CONCERNED ABOUT THIS. YOUR GEOLOGISTS WILL STAY IN THE LANDER TONIGHT! UNDERSTOOD?... IS THAT UNDERSTOOD, LARKIN?’’

‘’Yes!’’ said the geologist in a less than convincing tone before brushing past Denise and storming out of the storage compartment, leaving behind a fuming Denise. In her opinion, this was no place or time for inflated egos and uncooperative attitudes, not while stuck on Mars for months. While she didn’t like having to do it, she now saw no alternative but to send a private report of this incident to Janet Larsson, lest Larkin started to badmouth her in her back.

 

08:48 (GMT)

Wednesday, April 27, 2044

Main cargo bay, Cargo Lander Number One

Underground rotunda, Melas Chasma

 

Having entered the main cargo bay of one of the four cargo landers now parked inside the huge underground rotunda that would become the first permanent base on Mars, Jason Terlecki looked around the still unpressurized compartment, which was packed nearly full with base prefabricated modules. The main cargo bay formed a doughnut-shaped compartment wrapped around the nuclear rocket engine of the lander. That nuclear rocket engine was presently functioning in power plant mode and providing a steady six megawatts of electrical power, power that was already being used for multiple purposes. Like the three other cargo landers, this lander had its external floodlights lit and oriented in various directions and was helping to illuminate the more than 460 meter-wide rotunda, thus facilitating the job of the astronauts from the manned lander, parked in line with the cargo landers and now connected to each other by pressurized flexible, telescopic circulation tubes. On top of illuminating the rotunda, each cargo lander also had a high capacity cryogenic fractional distillation unit, which had been activated automatically once on the surface of Mars. Those cryogenic distillation units were now busy pumping in the rarefied atmosphere of Mars, to then cool it down until it turned into a cryogenic liquid under a pressure of six bars, so that the CO2 in the Martian atmosphere, which accounted for 95.3% of it, wouldn’t simply turn into dry ice. Then, that liquid Martian ‘air’ was slowly heated up, so that each basic element in it would be distilled via evaporation and collected into separate tanks. Apart from the liquefied CO2, which was then further treated chemically to separate part of its oxygen from it, the process wielded as well the two percent of argon and 1.9 percent of nitrogen gas contained in the Mars atmosphere. The nitrogen, once mixed with oxygen extracted from CO2, would provide fresh air for the astronauts. It was also going to be used as a fertilizer component, mixed with the treated, sterilized feces and urine from the astronauts. As for the argon, which was to be kept in its liquid, cryogenic form, it would be stored away for future use, when cargo shuttles would be available to bring that liquefied argon to Mars orbit, where it would be available to refuel the fuel tanks of the magneto-plasma engines of interplanetary spaceships like the H.S.S. FRIENDSHIP.

 

Walking onto the sole wide surface not packed with modules, which was actually the floor of the lift platform used to lower cargo components down to the Martian surface, Jason eyed the nearest pile of modules, stacked three-high in the 5.5 meter-high cargo bay: they did not appear to have been damaged or even disturbed by the landing on Mars. Jason smiled to himself when he remembered an episode on Earth, when discussing with other engineers and space administrators the best way to build a Mars base out of prefabricated elements. One young engineer had argued that disassembled module elements would save a lot of precious space in the cargo landers, compared to fully assembled but collapsed modules. Jason had then made the group buy a number of standard commercial shelving sets requiring assembly and had told the group to put on spacesuits before they tried to unpack and assemble the pieces, which included lots of small screws, nuts and bolts. It had taken less than half a hour before the group members had given up in frustration, unable to manipulate properly the smaller parts with their spacesuits’ gloves. That had closed for good the debate about assembled versus disassembled modules. Consulting his electronic data pad and comparing the serial numbers painted on the sides of the modules frames with his list of base components, Jason then moved off the lift platform and went to the cargo bay command panel, where he punched a command for the lander’s computer. As robotic arms came alive and started undoing the tie-down straps fixing the modules to the floor, Jason called by radio Denise Wattling, who was waiting outside with Roberto Calderon and four other astronauts, ready to start assembling their base.

‘’Denise, this is Jason: I am going to start unloading the base modules out of Cargo Lander One. Once each module is out and on its wheels, push it in temporary position, with one meter between the sides of each module and with about ten meters between the double rows of modules. That will leave us more than enough space to then roll and deploy the central hallway modules between the double row of unitary modules. Please keep to our master base building plan when rolling the unitary modules in their respective places.’’

‘’Don’t worry about that, Jason: when I was a young girl, I was very good with Lego building blocks.’’

‘’Hey, I also loved playing with Lego blocks when I was a kid. In fact, I still do! Well, I am now going to move the first module. Please stand by!’’

Punching another command on his control panel, Jason made the overhead traveling crane of the cargo bay roll along its circular ceiling rails, positioning it over the first module to be taken out. The crane’s manipulator arms and clamps then grabbed solidly the module and raised it a bit before rolling sideways to then put it down on the lift platform. On Jason’s command, the lift platform went down smoothly, until its bottom rested on the thick layer of dust, sand and rocks covering the floor of the rotunda. Denise’ building team then moved into action at once, deploying the wheels of the module by simply pressing a button that sent compressed air into the pneumatic pistons supporting the wheels, making the telescopic tubes extend and lock in place, thanks to spring-loaded stops. Rolling the lightweight modules off the lift platform was then easy, the six astronauts being enough to push the aluminum alloy and flexible plastic structure, which weighed less than 500 kilos despite being eight meters long, five meters wide and 1.5 meters high in collapsed state. The module was next hooked to the towing A-frame at the back of one of their two ATVs, which then moved it to a predetermined spot designated by Denise. That module was in its planned location, with the ATV unhooking from it, as the second module was already coming down on the lift platform of the cargo lander. The second ATV of the expedition took charge of that new module as the first ATV rolled back to near the cargo lander.

 

With little more to do for the moment but simply unloading the module out of the lander and rolling them into place along two long parallel rows of modules facing head-to-head, the work went quickly, astonishing even Jason. With the main cargo bay of Cargo Lander One emptied of its 21 base modules in less than three hours, the crew took a one hour break for lunch. Then Jason moved to the second cargo lander and also emptied it, taking out the five last unitary modules of the base before unloading the three assembly packs that would form the central hallway section of the complex. The last items inside that cargo lander, a number of pallets supporting various equipment, furniture and fittings for the modules, were unloaded and put aside for the moment. That allowed Jason to close and seal the cargo bays of those two cargo landers, which were then pressurized with breathable air and with their air recycling and conditioning units being switched on. Their agronomist, Tomonaga Masaki, then started reconfiguring the now empty cargo bays into vast hydroponic gardens, and this simply by unfolding down already assembled hydroponic basins lining the walls of the cargo bays on two ring levels. With the necessary pumps, tanks, fertilizer mixers and injectors needed by the basins already built-in, Masaki would now only need some water to start growing plants inside those two cargo landers.

 

Coming out of Cargo Lander Two, Jason calmly walked down the double row of unitary modules, checking carefully with the help of his data pad that each module was in the correct position. Once at the end of the double row, Jason looked at Denise and smiled to her.

‘’Every module is in its place, Denise. We may now roll up and extend the modules of the central hallway.’’

‘’Excellent! I will have Steven use one ATV to both roll in place and extend the hallway modules. Should we inflate the central hallway assembly before connecting the unitary modules to it, Jason?’’

‘’Definitely! We want the hallway to be fully deployed, leveled and rigid before connecting the modules to it. If not, we risk putting stresses on the connector sections when inflating the hallway assembly and unitary modules.’’

‘’OKAY, PEOPLE, YOU HEARD THE MAN: LET’S ROLL OUT AND DEPLOY THE CENTRAL HALLWAY ASSEMBLY, THEN WE WILL INFLATE IT.’’

That part of the job went even faster than the unloading of the modules, taking a mere fifty minutes. Denise left to Jason the honor of inflating the hallway modules, using the compressed air bottles integrated into the floor framing of the modules. That compressed air made the tubular walls of the modules fill up and expand, taking their planned, semi-circular section final shapes and stretching out the central hallway to its full length of 120 meters and a continuous width of two meters, with roundabout mini-rotundas every four meters. Another thirty minutes was spent carefully adjusting manually the telescopic support legs of the assembly, so that its floor would be as level as possible all along its length. Four astronauts, including Denise, then went by pairs inside the assembly, with one pair starting at each extremity, to unfold the floor and wall panels and then fix them in place. At the same time, the rest of her team moved the unitary modules into their final place one by one, connecting one end to the airtight door of the central hallway’s roundabout rotunda that was in line with it, then unfolding the floor and wall panels inside the short transit tunnels of the modules. Seeing that the work was really progressing well and with her companions agreeing enthusiastically to continue on and delay supper, Denise pressed on with the building of their Mars base. The last touch, once all the modules were interconnected and inflated, was to connect the base complex to the landers by deploying a flexible circulation tube between Cargo Lander One and the southern airlock of the base complex, then sealing it in place. At the end, a bit before 20:00 hour (GMT), Denise proudly looked down the 120 meter-long central hallway, fully connected to all its modules and with its lighting system on. Their base, covering roughly 4.2 hectares of ground inside the underground rotunda, now offered a total of a bit over 1,900 square meters of habitable floor space, including the central hallway section and its mini-rotundas. However, the complex was still unpressurized and that important work, involving careful checks and monitoring, would take place only once the various pallets of fittings, furniture and equipment meant to turn the base into a fully functioning entity would have been transported inside their respective modules. That, however, was going to be done another day. Right now, it was time to go back to the manned lander, wash up, eat and then rest for the night.

 

Having taken a shower and wearing fresh clothes, Denise was about to enter the crew lounge when she saw light filter from under the door of their small biochemical lab. Intrigued, she knocked on the door, getting a response from Kwang Tse Jing, their small Chinese biochemist.

‘’Come in!’’

Pushing the door open, Denise stuck her head inside and smiled to Jing, who was sitting in front of a powerful microscope.

‘’You are still working at this hour, Jing? Did you have supper yet?’’

‘’Uh, no, Denise.’’ replied the tiny Chinese woman in her early fifties, sounding timid. In fact, Jing always sounded timid and was the kind of person who couldn’t hurt even a fly, something that made her even more liked. ‘’I was too engrossed in studying those samples of salt water ice our prospectors have brought back from one of the two inundated tunnels connecting with our underground rotunda.’’

‘’And have you found something interesting about that salt water?’’

That was when a big smile came to Jing’s face.

‘’If I can confirm my findings, yes! Don’t jump to the ceiling yet, but I believe that I found what looks furiously like a microbe.’’

Blood rushed at once to Denise’s brain, making her a bit wobbly for a second.

‘’A microbe? THERE IS LIFE ON MARS?’’

‘’Shhh! Not so loud! I saw only one possible organism up to now in those samples. It was frozen in ice and appeared to be dead. However, I want to find more such organisms before shouting victory out loud. This could still be some contamination brought by us to Mars. If truly a local microbe, I suspect that I would probably find lots more of those organisms once we get samples of unfrozen water from those inundated tunnels.’’

‘’Damn, I hope so! Finding life on Mars would be a scientific coup of the first order. Well, you still haven’t had supper, Jing, and your water samples won’t disappear in the next few hours. Why don’t you come have supper with me now?’’

Jing hesitated only for a second before nodding her head and smiling to Denise.

‘’That would please me, Denise.’’

‘’Then, put away your samples and come with me to the crew lounge. I believe that we still have a few unfrozen packs of shrimp noodles.’’

 

15:09 (GMT)

Friday, April 29, 2044

Gymnasium Module, Mars Base One

Underground rotunda, Melas Chasma

 

Closing and locking the airtight access door of the module behind him, Jason Terlecki, wearing his sealed spacesuit, examined carefully the inside of the gymnasium module, with its weightlifting and exercise machines. Then, he looked twice at his external pressure gauge, with a good minute between the two readings. He smiled with satisfaction when he saw that his gauge didn’t register any pressure drop at all: this module was leak-free, like all the other modules and sections of the base complex that he had just visited and checked. His ultimate check was to cautiously open his helmet faceplate and sniff the air inside the module, then going back in the central hallway and doing the same there. He did not smell any trace of chemicals in either places. Now fully satisfied, Jason went to the nearest intercom box, hooked to a wall of the mini-rotunda he was in now, and called Denise Wattling, who was on duty inside the manned lander today.

‘’Denise, this is Jason.’’

‘’Go ahead, Jason.’’

‘’I am pleased to announce that I am officially declaring Mars Base One ready for permanent occupation. Our people can start moving in right now.’’

‘’SUPER!’’ exclaimed Denise, truly happy. ‘’I will pass the word around right away. Nice job, Jason!’’

‘’Bof! I simply did my job, Denise. No need to praise me to Heaven.’’

‘’Well, better that than curse you to Hell. Still, you did a bang up job with the base. We will have to celebrate the base’s opening tonight at supper time with a couple of bottles of Champagne.’’

‘’I certainly will be there for that.’’ replied Jason before cutting the link. He then walked down nearly the whole length of the central hallway to go to the spacesuits locker room, where he took off his suit and stored it in its assigned suit cubicle, plugging to it the electrical and compressed oxygen feeds of the cubicle, so that it would be fully recharged for the next time he would need it. Now wearing only his two-piece internal ship uniform, he unhooked from inside his spacesuit’s cubicle what the crew of the H.S.S. FRIENDSHIP jokingly called a ‘fat suit’ and put it on over his uniform. The ‘fat suit’, whose technical designation was ‘Felt Weight Compensation Suit’ or FWCS in short, was actually the simplest and most economical solution by far that had been imagined to solve a difficult problem: how to insure that future ‘Martians’ would still be fit to travel to Earth and visit it after years of living on a planet with only 37% of Earth’s gravity. One obvious solution would have been to install giant rotating carrousels inside Martian installations, so that their occupants would work and live while feeling the same weight than on Earth. However, that solution was both a complicated and costly one. One NASA lowly secretary then had an idea after watching a colleague who was particularly fanatical about his physical fitness run around the exercise track while wearing numerous bags full of metal pellets that added substantially to his weight, thus forcing him to spend more energy during his run. That secretary had then sent a memo to one of the engineers working on the Mars mission, who turned her idea into the ‘fat suit’. The FWCS that Jason was now wearing looked like a simple coverall with numerous small pockets distributed all around the garment. Those ‘pockets’ were actually compartments which contained flat, flexible but fairly heavy pads that, added together, nearly tripled the mass of its wearer. However, within the weak gravity of Mars, the wearer ended feeling simply being his or her normal weight, thus expended the same effort than on Earth when doing a specific task or movement. Now that Mars Base One was officially opened for occupation, the team members were going to wear their ‘fat suits’ whenever they worked inside the pressurized environment of the base or of the landers. The only time the members would not be wearing them would be when in spacesuits or when sleeping in their underwear. If all went well and if the team members didn’t cheat by not wearing their FWCS as required, then they hopefully will not have problems returning to the 0.9 gravity of the FRIENDSHIP’s carrousels in some thirteen months. Walking up and down the spacesuits lockers module to test his fat suit, Jason smiled when he felt as if walking on Earth: this was yet again a demonstration that the simplest solutions were often the best ones as well. Content, he then left the module and walked up the circulation tube linking the base and the landers, intent on packing his personal stuff and bringing it to his assigned room in one of the modules designated as crew quarters.