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bytes-and-blessings · 7 months

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Smuggling Hope - Inklings Challenge 2023

So I signed up to do a little writing challenge this year called the @inklings-challenge! Which you can read more about here: https://inklings-challenge.tumblr.com/about Basically, I've had story ideas in my head for as long as I can remember. Now I finally found something to give me a kick in the pants to write. Maybe this is the first draft to the first chapter of my first novel ever. Maybe I never touch this story again. Who knows? not me.... But without further ado, welcome to the first installment of what I currently call "The Beacon Universe" (Actual name TBD) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Captain Nia Twig woke up at the wheel her ship to the sound of a proximity alarm.

BEEP EEP EEP!

There was message from an incoming ship.

“This is gate border checkpoint Theta-Sigma-Alpha-5, please prepare for boarding with your itinerary, ship registration, and passenger manifest. Failure to cooperate with border patrol will be reported to Zytharian authorities and may result in fines or arrest. Thank you, and Glory to the Emperor.”

Nia groaned and scrambled out of her pilots chair to prepare for the inspection. As she walked through the ship she stashed away a box of stuff from back home and placed it under her bed, with a menstrual garment and some pain pills on top to keep any searchers from touching it. Looking around the area, there was a torn piece of paper that she though she had drunkenly thrown in the incinerator months ago:

The oath and way of the Beacons are as THE LORD once declared: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shin-”

Nia was interrupted in her distracted readings by the ship’s alarm system again:

~~~~~WARNING ~~~~ AIRLOCK ENGAGED ~~~~ INTRUDER ALERT~~~~~

“Computer! Stall’em!” She yelled out. The ship’s AI wasn’t anything fancy, but it could pretend to have just enough dysfunction to slow down anyone trying to board. (Or with any luck, kill anyone in a rush via asphyxiation so she could claim it was an accident. Technology sucks, right?)

She stuffed the paper in her pocked and climbed down to the hold. At the bottom, she reached behind the ladder and flipped a leaver.

A few of the crates started to lower into a hidden compartment beneath.

“Come on, come on, move you stupid thing” Nia slammed her foot against the floor.

Suddenly the mechanism squeaked to a halt.

She could hear the boarder ship’s airlock finish connecting to The Night’s Reverie. She’d have to greet the Inspector at any minute, or else the rest of his people’s fleet would show up and blow them both out of the sky.

She dove below the boxes, and started to hunt around. In the tangled mess of wires, there was a stray piece of jerky stuck between the gears. Nia couldn’t quite reach through the gap to catch it.

BANG BANG BANG

Someone was knocking on the other end of the airlock doors, trying to gain entry. If she didn’t let them it, it was going to be a firefight, but if the fuzz caught sight was what was in these crates, well, she’d have bigger problems.

The Captain pulled out a lighter with the symbol of a white bird in flight carved into it.

A small flame springs out with a flick of the flint, she barely has a moment to enjoy the feeling of the flames dancing in her control before she shoots it to knock the jerky out of place. She immediately threw the lighter up onto the main deck, then turned herself into a small flame and landed on the deck as the boxes almost crash into their compartment, crushing the area where she had just been an instant ago. The false floor slid over the contraband as the captain punched in the code to open the airlock for her unwanted guests.

“Still not going to be a Beacon, but Uncle’s old lighter trick is handy in a pinch.” She thought to herself as she punched the intercom button to speak to the visitor waiting in the airlock. “This is the Captain of the ship speaking, who is there?”

A posh voice responded, “Captain Glory Ashwell, are you in there? This is Inspector Zimri Klerk, of the His Greatness’s Most Noble and Important Hyperlane Border Inspections Agency. I am here to proceed with a random inspection of your ship. I assume you have your paperwork in order and are ready for inspection, Captain?” a

From the voice, Nia expected someone much taller on the other side of the airlock. Instead standing there was an short and fat man in a faded but finely pressed dress uniform. He stood proud before her not a piece of his balding silver hair was out of place. His mustache was curled perfectly at the ends, looking at it was almost like looking at a second pair of eyes. At his left side he held a bright red cane with the Empire dragon snarling at it’s head, like forgotten Celtic letterhead come to life. In his right hand he somehow managed to hold both a clipboard and a lit cigar.

Nia cleared her throat, and then addressed the man. “Ah yes Sir, as you can see here on my manifest, my ship, The Kobold is just on a routine courier run to the middle systems of the Empire. If we could make this quick, my clients are very important people with urgent business, Captain. They’ve waited long enough for these goods.”

“Very well Captain. Let’s keep this quick shall we.” He took a puff of the cigar and stormed past her onto the ship.

It may have been the longest inspection she had lived through in her entire life.

He poked in the flight room.

He tapped his cane all around her living quarters.

He crawled under the sink.

He licked the dust between the crates.

He even accidentally knocked out a fake wall Nia didn’t know the ship had.

By the end of it, he looked less like a man to her, and more like some cross between a relentless hound dog, and a relentless hound dog breathing tobacco smoke from his lungs. An evil, fire-breathing dog of war armed with a clipboard of wrath and health code violations.

Finally, it was almost over. Inspector Zimiri stood right next to the holds ladder and put away his pen.

“Well, everything looks fine here, as long as you don’t have any rebel contraband under here then I’ll be on my way.”

With a single motion, he flipped the hidden switch with his cane and stepped aside to reveal the contraband crates.

A moment pasted, then a second as the crates were slowly lifted by the traitorous mechanism. Neither person seamed to move or breath for a second. Finally Nia let out a long sigh, and pulled out a wad of bills from her inner coat pocket.

She faked a smile, and tried to approach the Inspector congenially,“Look here friend, there’s nothing harmful here. It’s just some luxury goods I need to keep extra protected for a client in Casino Monte. Some rich dude wants camping supplies to reenact some ancient survivalist U-tuber. Bear Gorillas or something? I don’t know man, can’t we just figure this out? It’s not like it’s weapons or anything, you know, right?” She said, holding out the bribe money.

The Inspector let out a deep sigh. He leaned his cane against the wall. Then he removed his glasses and began to methodically clean them. For a moment Nia could swear he tapped a button on his jacket. The little man straighten up to glare at her. The cigar smoke began to fog up his glasses once more and reflect the dim light of the ship. The Captain began to back away from the twin burning suns staring at her from his glasses.

“Do you take me for a fool?”

He walked over and opened the first crate to find a stack of water bottles, blankets, and food with single stuffed goose sat on top of the pile of goods.

“We both know that there’s no way a ship of this size has the fuel to get to the destination on your manifest.” He waved the faked papers in the air, “You’re more likely to drop out of the hyperlane somewhere above the Miser-Cordia system. Right where his Greatness’s Military has currently blockaded a group of those traitorous followers of the Beacon’s Path and the foolish civilians roped up in their little games. Do you think I didn’t realize from the moment your little star skipper left the hyperbridge that figured out that you were carrying the most dangerous weapon known to man inside?”

He dropped the cigar and waved the stuffed goose in the air, as if demonstrating his point.

“My good captain, it appears to me that you are smuggling hope.”

Nia whipped out her pistol and pointed it at him. “Listen, buddy, I don’t know who you are. And I don’t care. As I was saying, I’m not smuggling weapons, or drugs, or slaves, or any of the other fucked up shit that all of your friends turn a blind eye to every day for a couple of creds. So unless your sanctimonious pride and your thin wallet is more important than your life, maybe grow some brains out of that mustache. I’m not a Rebel. I just see a demand and I fill it. I don’t care about your stupid wars, buddy. This is just business. Just take your cut of creds like every other self serving sleaze bag in the galaxy, and let me go.” She insisted, probably too firmly. But Nia didn’t care, her pulse was in her throat and she could feel fire aching at her fingertips for the first time in years. This was about to go south, fast.

Still brandishing her pistol, Nia took in the sight of the little inspector. She had to keep her gun arm pointed down at an awkward angle to place the muzzle beneath his nose. When he wasn’t running around her ship, it was easier to see that this man only reached her shoulder. His mustache barely twitched at the sensation of cold metal. He dropped the goose back into it’s box. With it fell the clipboard. His fingers twitched for the cigar that had once been in his hand. Suddenly, the man before her wasn’t a robotic inspector of a dictator anymore. The cold glare in his eyes had softened into something still determined, but also seemingly defeated. Like the last blue flame of a dying fire. He reached down to pick up the cigar again.

“I have to say, I am quite disappointed in you, Miss Philomena Bryne.” He said, letting the smoke blow into Nia’s face. He grabbed onto a pin on his lapel, and broke it. Nia could see a few ripped wires leaving what she could now see had been a wiretap. “We both know you don’t need that toy to turn me to ash, so let’s drop the pretense, hm?”

“That’s not my name, that girl is dead. Who are you, and how do you know her?” She backed off, but kept the pistol high.

“Ah my mistake Captain,” He said, reaching up to scratch his lip. “Here I was, under the impression that I had caught up with a great Beacon of Old: A mythical group of people who could take flight in the stars without a ship, a Peace Keeper, a great Defender of the innocent, a living flame in the galaxy’s eternal night. I thought I was tracking a relic of a forgotten era of Crusades and Caped Heroes; one who was stuck in a universe that has progressed beyond, or perhaps, sunken below religion. And now l see that I have found a jaded business woman looking to profit off another’s misfortune, no? I had hoped that anyone with your flame, who could incurs such wrath of my employees and countrymen, could be nothing less than a saint. But if it’s business you want, then it’s business you’ll get I suppose. You can come out now, my dear.”

Zimiri Klerk tapped his cigar against the wall of the ship, and out of the embers emerged a young girl who could almost have been Philomena's cousin. But her hair soon changed from fire red to pale blonde. She was even shorter and thinner than the man next to her. Nia quickly realized that this was most likely the Inspector’s daughter. Her eyes were the same jet engine blue as his, and just as sharp.

“I will make a deal with you Captain. Get my daughter out of reach of the Empire's ashy dogs, and anyone else who would make her a living weapon. Then consider your bribe to be paid. Now I must go, my colleges will be looking for me. I’ll buy you what time I can. Good luck, my dear.” Then Zimiri Klerk walked to door of the Night’s Reverie.

“And remember Captain, even if you do not think of yourself a hero, to my daughter, and all of those people trapped on Miser-Cordia, you are the last light of hope.”

#inklings challenge #team lewis #genre: space travel #theme: food #theme: drink #theme: shelter #Bytes Writes

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monroeknoxwrites · 13 days

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even more deepspace babysitting ocs

delmine mor

she/her

prp technician. Lt. viko and her assistant take care of the ship while delmine operates and maintains all the progenitor related equipment

like with mithat, dr. fei holds some resentment that she's a colleague on this project and not his subordinate. the feeling's definitely mutual – delmine would gladly shoot him out an airlock if she could

unbeknownst to either of them, they're both fucking the same person (wiven)

ensign zoilo robles-nemes

he/him

an engineer under Lt. viko. the Coalition higher-ups restricted their mission to a skeleton crew for security and it took dogged persistence from both viko and isamund convincing them it'd be suicidal not having at least another engineer on board

he grew the mustache/beard to make himself look older

both him and his older sister speak with a multi-layered accent of unity (the poorly named bridge language of the Coalition, as thelnym would say "they have the most unsubtle naming conventions. zero creativity."). for a real-world reference, it sounds like english with hints of hungarian and spanish. nearly all the crew speak accented unity but theirs is an unique reflection of their family

aroace and probably one of the prettiest people you'll ever meet

yoselin robles-nemes

she/her

much older sister of zoilo. she does her proper duty by reminding zoilo of his "baby brother" position on a regular basis

works in the administration branch of the Coalition while zoilo joined the military branch

her purpose on the crew tbd

(yes I forgot to edit her left eyebrow oops😅)

#my ocs #dsbs

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astrovagrant · 7 months

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bc fool's gold setting utilizes an airlocked meshnet (clunky and analog by metaphysical necessity) it needs a central control 'station' of Some kind (to manage the airlocked nature of connections and enforce anti-synchronization gaps) and the corpo-funded and toroid-controlled version is The Switchboard. plenty of people have either sub-feeds into/out of Switchboard, usually minor local connections that reroute data before or after intended recipients get it, but some communities and criminal enterprises have built their own from scratch.

interpolation between these differing meshnets is often a nightmare and is what makes the occupation that seven finds herself in (exact terminology tbd - lives somewhere between hacker and telecomm engineer) viable and often lucrative - if you work for a corp or one of the aforementioned criminal enterprises. existing on your own with that skillset is unlikely if only for the fact you'll get fucking snatched up the moment you slip and Get Found.

#yes im saying bullshit nonsense but thats ok <3 #fool's gold

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glorykill-a · 2 years

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orion literally has figurines of john all stashed into his room and if he sees anyone touching them without his permission, he'll flip out.......

#tbd.#this goes for all his toys/figurines #do not get scratches on them or he'll bite the shit out of you as recompense #especially his john figures he would throw you out the airlock for breaking one of them

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starbound-surviivxr · 3 years

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Also Hi, I’m Alive (By some Miracle)

[[ So it’s been a hot minute since I’ve logged into my other blogs. Haven’t had a lot of head-space for them lately with all the other stuff I’ve been doing. Recently started picking up animation between work and stuff for DnD.

I’m hoping to start getting into some kind of voice acting by the start of 2021.

Aside from that, I’ve been mostly active on @silva-vinandi, but I’m hoping to potentially revive some of my other blogs, including this one. Next year holds some promise, hopefully, so fingers crossed! ]]

#;It's all in your head (ooc)#;Throw it out the airlock (tbd)

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pinstrpe-blog · 5 years

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ten spends more time trying to stroke his own ego by making young women fall for him than anything

#saxon: kill 1/10th of the global population #ten next ep: ☑️ read at 21:48 #kylie min.ogue: almost falls out of an airlock #doc: ARE U OKAY #it was definitely th writing and the two scenes aren't rly comparable but still #out.#tbd.

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burningbaal · 5 years

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The big idea

We’re planning a basement remodel and that gives me an opportunity to make sure there’s a spot for a tank and a strong floor (concrete slab). Now, I’m not made of money, and I have other priorities for my time and my money, so this isn’t some giant tank. But I really want it to be 6ft long so I can have a few bigger fish.

I’m currently angling toward a 6x2x2, or a 180 gallon. I might decide to go 30″ deep as a 210 so I can see it sitting down (make stand 6″ shorter) and kids can see it better. The spot I want to put it backs up to the new laundry room, which will double as a ‘fish room’.

The Plan

Display tank

6ft long 180g or 210g, starphire on two sides (front and one side)

super-long internal glass weir, around 6″ tall, 1-2″ deep, around 66″ long

holes in back wall to an external overflow box about 36″x6″x6″ with an oversized bean animal overflow (except the ‘open’ tube’s airline will be below the emergency)

An acrylic box down one back corner for the fuge’s drain into the tank, more on this later

Probably start with two Radeon G4 XR30 pro, add a 3rd or even 4th later?

Start with two Neptune WAV pumps, add more flow later?

Start with 900gph from the sump and 150gph from the fuge (plus surge...keep reading)

Here’s the idea, the fuge/surge is top-left, sump is behind and below. Note the placement of those is TBD, but they’ll be basically in the room right behind/next to the display.

Sump

a 150 gallon (maybe?) stock tank from Rubbermaid

An acrylic skimmer stand that has a wateright box for the skimmer to sit in. Sump is 25″ deep, skimmer stand will be 25″ tall with a platform 8″ down for the skimmer to sit in, maybe 10″ and I can prop the skimmer higher if needed.Stand will sit in the middle of the sump with the display tank’s siphon pipe running straight here for consistent water level.

Skimmer stand will overflow into the main sump area that will normally run around half full. Yes, this is a large drop, I may add an angled piece to one short side so the overflow from the skimmer stand falls gently into the rest of the sump.

Another acrylic box to house the two neptune Cor-20 pumps and the ATO. One pump is the return (900gph to display, 150gph to fuge, each with a valve). One pump is the manifold (for any reactors I end up running), but may also provide extra flow to the fuge and/or sump circulation, and will serve as the backup for the return pump.

I’ll probably start with the one little reactor I have for occassional carbon, and buy other reactors as I decide I need to run GFO or biopellets or calcium, etc.

Apex controller with two extra PMUPs and optical sensors to do auto water changes, though I’ll wait to actually do these until I either need to for the system’s chemistry and/or need the quarantine/hospital tank (see below)

Here’s the idea for that skimmer stand/return section, remember this is sitting in a stock tank:

I do want to make sure I can put a 7″ sock in the skimmer section...I’ll need to look at that

Refugium

another 150g rubbermaid stock tank (I think) on a tall stand. black walls are convenient for blocking the low-kelvin light from the rest of things.

Receives 1x turnover from the return (150gph) that then drains into an overly-elaborate overflow box (see ‘surge below) and to the display. This should give some copepods and such a little ride into the display for my fish to snack on.

Stack the not-pretty rocks to make a nearly-complete wall across the tank so about 2/3s is on the lighted refugium side of the rocks, probably put some egg crate on one side to help hold all the macroaglae away from the overflow. Return flows into the macroalgae, so the water is consistently flowing through this ‘wall’

I may stick another circulation pump in here to have the apex kick on occasionally to shake a few pods loose and down to the display.

I’ll build a five-sided box, probably something like 8″x8″x23″ with one 2″ drain a few inches from its bottom, through its bottom, through the floor of the fuge (extra o-ring on the bulkhead) and it can easily carry the 150gph silently as a ‘durso’ drain.

I’ll put a giant (3″?) emergency drain outside the overflow box about an inch below the stock tank’s rim. Only making it giant to make sure it doesn’t get clogged. a 1/2″ pipe could probably carry the 150gph that will be flowing in. This will probably just go into the sump, I’m not worried about feeding the fish if I’m in an emergency situation and some will get swept up to the display anyways.

The basic idea of the fuge here

Left to right: overflow box with u-tube, emergency drain. then egg crate, then an un-pictured rock wall, then the return from sump in the area with the macroalgae

Surge

That ‘durso’ drain is also my surge drain. I want to have a surge feature, it’s just too cool to see all that flow, it seems good for the livestock, and does a nice job of shaking detritus into the sump (if the surge enters low in the display). But, they have a reputation for being noisy and bubbly, so despite some effort I’ll make to minimize this, I need to be able to just surge when I feel like it, and/or have the Apex surge at specific times of the day.

I plan to build a PVC u-tube out of 3″ PVC that goes 8″ down outside the overflow box (far from the rock wall to avoid sucking macro in) and almost to the bottom inside the overflow box (maybe 2 inches up, and around 2″ below the overflow box’s water level, which is set via the durso plumbing).

In the top-most (horizontal) piece of this u-tube, I’ll put a fitting for 1/4″ airline, which I’ll Tee to an aqualifter and a normally-open solenoid. When not powered, the aqualifter is off, the solenoid allows air in, and the u-tube doesn’t do anything. When they are powered, the solenoid stops letting air in, and the aqualifter removes the air so a siphon starts, just like some designs of the HOB overflow box. When there’s a siphon, the water will rush very fast from the refugium into the overflow, quickly swamping the durso, which will switch to siphon the mass of water above it, then dropping (I hope) about 50gpm into the display tank, which then washes through the DT’s overflow into the sump (note I plan to have about 75g of unused capacity in the sump for the surge+pipes to drain in a worst-case power outage)

I’ll set the maximum surge to be about 50 gallons, based on how low the plumbing reaches into the fuge (8″ below water level should be about right), but I can set the apex to break the siphon (and therefore surge) early by turning off the outlet that controls the aqualifter and solenoid. In normal use, I’ll probably turn on the outlet for about 2 minutes while the siphon builds and the 50g drains, then open it up. Otherwise, the siphon will try to keep starting as the aqualifter keeps trying.

The drain into the display I want to go down low in the tank so the surge pushes water up the water column and into the overflow. No sense in having all this water just rush across the top and into the overflow box, plus I want the ‘pods to feed the fish. I’ll poke a small hole in the pipe right at the display’s water level to make the siphon start easier (to airlock), but have the pipe dive down into the acrylic box in the display’s corner. Cut a bunch of holes in the acrylic walls (down low), and make the top of the tower about 1/2″ above the water level (still below the eurobracing). When just acting as a fuge, the water and a few pods will fall into the tower and tend to come out the holes near the bottom. When surging, most things will be forced down through those holes and any excess flow that doesn’t fit will fall over the top into the tank. This should provide a nice updraft of about 50 gallons (or about 1/3 of the DT’s water volume) pretty quickly, giving everything a good rinsing and pushing pods into the water column.

I’m thinking I’ll probably set it up initially to run once an hour during lights on and put the feedings a few minutes after a surge. If it doesn’t bother me, I could set it to surge around the clock every 20-30 minutes (150gph return, remember?). I may also just do it once a day in the evening after I feed, or maybe when I’m dosing alkalinity, or maybe only when I want to watch it :)

One more piece: I’m expecting the DT’s weir to be long enough to only raise the tank level about 1/4″ during the surge. The siphon of its Bean Animal shouldn’t change much (doing about 800gph, probably). the open will turn to a siphon quickly (and be 2″ to carry all the surge) and this will skip the skimmer section of the sump so the skimmer has a constant water level. The emergency might carry a trickly, but the DT’s open will have a straighter fall and a higher fall, so I expect it won’t have trouble carrying the normal trickle plus the surge. I might put a valve on the surge from the fuge so I can slow it down just a touch.

Oh, and the ATO will be unaffected because it will be set for a full fuge (lowest sump level), but it could kick on a touch when the surge’s u-tube is filling, so I’ll probably turn off the ATO while the u-tube’s electronics are powered.

Quarantine/Frag/Hospital

I plan to stick my existing 29g somewhere after I drill a little hole in its side with a simple bulkhead (and strainer) that literally goes to a floor drain. I’ll run my existing 29g with the return pump and probably a power head, stick some PVC pipes in there, etc.

The auto-water change in the display will drain its old water into here, which will raise the water level and cause a drain to the floor drain. Obviously top-off is a problem, so when I actually have something in quarantine, I’ll have to monitor salinity carefully, but if it gets a 1 gallon AWC every day in a 29g tank, it should stay free of things like ammonia. Big point: the water from the quarantine never enters the main system, and the quarantine doesn’t have much toxicity to worry about with regular water changes.

I may add a level sensor (at the drain height) in the quarantine and let the apex top-off the quarantine right before it does an AWC in the display, then this is a non-issue.

I figure this is best as a quarantine or hospital tank (as long as I want normal salinity). If I need a hyposalinic hospital tank, I’ll have to do that separately. I might want it as a frag system, but the salinity is a bigger issue, and I would need to be more thoughtful if I ever am treating a fish (eg, with copper). I may just put a little light and frag rack in the sump so I can temporarily keep frags I’m waiting to get rid of, we’ll see.

Other things

I’m planning to have 2-3 barrels, one for RODI, 1-2 for saltwater. Each with a float valve and solenoid on the incoming waterline and an optical or float sensor down low. When the Apex seems the RODI is empty, open the solenoid and let it fill. I’ll figure out how long it takes to fill and just program a time for the solenoid to be open that’s about that time, but the float valve should stop it on time. I can turn off the solenoid on my phone if I want.

When I need to make saltwater, I make sure the RODI is full, then drain it into the other barrel and add salt mix. Good time to clean out both barrels, but probably not every time.

PMUP in both barrels so the Apex can run topoff in the sump and can run AWC from the salt barrel. I plan to put a ball valve in the wall of the sump’s return section so I can do a pump-driven large-volume water change when I choose to. I’ll probably run a line from the manifold to the drain so I can dump a lot of water in a hurry, then let the PMUP fill it up from the barrel.

Planning for the apex to run everything. I’ll probably put one of my two heaters in the fuge, mostly as a backup (maybe set to 74). I’ll put a new one (maybe 200w?) in the display as a backup (maybe set to 76?) and put two 200w heaters in the sump as the main heat source.

#reef #plan #plumbing

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kindlecomparedinfo · 6 years

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NASA’s 3D-printed Mars Habitat competition doles out prizes to concept habs

A multi-year NASA contest to design a 3D-printable Mars habitat using on-planet materials has just hit another milestone — and a handful of teams have taken home some cold hard cash. This more laid-back phase had contestants designing their proposed habitat using architectural tools, with the five winners set to build scale models next year.

Technically this is the first phase of the third phase — the (actual) second phase took place last year and teams took home quite a bit of money.

The teams had to put together realistic 3D models of their proposed habitats, and not just in Blender or something. They used Building Information Modeling software that would require these things to be functional structures designed down to a particular level of detail — so you can’t just have 2D walls made of “material TBD,” and you have to take into account thickness from pressure sealing, air filtering elements, heating, etc.

[gallery ids="1681791,1681792,1681829,1681793,1681794,1681828,1681795"]

So although the images you see here look rather sci-fi, keep in mind they were also designed using industrial tools and vetted by experts with “a broad range of experience from Disney to NASA.” These are going to Mars, not paperback. And they’ll have to be built in miniature for real next year, so they better be realistic.

The five winning designs embody a variety of approaches. Honestly all these videos are worth a watch; you’ll probably learn something cool, and they really give an idea of how much thought goes into these designs.

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Zopherus has the whole print taking place inside the body of a large lander, which brings its own high-strength printing mix to reinforce the “Martian concrete” that will make up the bulk of the structure. When it’s done printing and embedding the pre-built items like airlocks, it lifts itself up, moves over a few feet, and does it again, creating a series of small rooms. (They took first place and essentially tied the next team for take-home case, a little under $21K.)

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AI SpaceFactory focuses on the basic shape of the vertical cylinder as both the most efficient use of space and also one of the most suitable for printing. They go deep on the accommodations for thermal expansion and insulation, but also have thought deeply about how to make the space safe, functional, and interesting. This one is definitely my favorite.

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Kahn-Yates has a striking design, with a printed structural layer giving way to a high-strength plastic layer that lets the light in. Their design is extremely spacious but in my eyes not very efficiently allocated. Who’s going to bring apple trees to Mars? Why have a spiral staircase with such a huge footprint? Still, if they could pull it off, this would allow for a lot of breathing room, something that will surely be of great value during year or multi-year stay on the planet.

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SEArch+/Apis Cor has carefully considered the positioning and shape of its design to maximize light and minimize radiation exposure. There are two independent pressurized areas — everyone likes redundancy — and it’s built using a sloped site, which may expand the possible locations. It looks a little claustrophobic, though.

youtube

Northwestern University has a design that aims for simplicity of construction: an inflatable vessel provides the base for the printer to create a simple dome with reinforcing cross-beams. This practical approach no doubt won them points, and the inside, while not exactly roomy, is also practical in its layout. As AI SpaceFactory pointed out, a dome isn’t really the best shape (lots of wasted space) but it is easy and strong. A couple of these connected at the ends wouldn’t be so bad.

The teams split a total of $100K for this phase, and are now moving on to the hard part: actually building these things. In spring of 2019 they’ll be expected to have a working custom 3D printer that can create a 1:3 scale model of their habitat. It’s difficult to say who will have the worst time of it, but I’m thinking Kahn-Yates (that holey structure will be a pain to print) and SEArch+/Apis (slope, complex eaves and structures).

The purse for the real-world construction is an eye-popping $2 million, so you can bet the competition will be fierce. In the meantime seriously watch those videos above, they’re really interesting.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8176395 https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/27/nasas-3d-printed-mars-habitat-competition-doles-out-prizes-to-concept-habs/ via http://www.kindlecompared.com/kindle-comparison/

#RSSMix.com Mix ID 8176395

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un-enfant-immature · 6 years

Text

NASA’s 3D-printed Mars Habitat competition doles out prizes to concept habs

Technically this is the first phase of the third phase — the (actual) second phase took place last year and teams took home quite a bit of money.

[gallery ids="1681791,1681792,1681829,1681793,1681794,1681828,1681795"]

youtube

#TechCrunch

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years

Text

Rex Nebular – Bouncing Betty

Written by TBD.

Rex Nebular’s Log: Stardate – Tuesday morning.4: After being shot out of space I’ve crash landed on a planet populated only by women. Am I dreaming? Or do the indigenous creatures who keep wanting to rip off my head make it a nightmare?

We join our hero just after the opening cutscene, during which his ship was shot down and sunk into the water near the coast.

After getting up, the first thing I do is look at the viewscreen. On it I see a topless woman coming out of the water before the screen shorts out, upsetting Rex immensely. Is a pixellated topless woman the extent of naughtiness we’re going to see in this game? I expect so.

I quickly discover that the descriptions in this game are rather verbose and there’s a lot of hotspots I can look at in the first few screens. So much so that before fully exploring the ship I just wanted to go outside despite my usual strategy of looking at absolutely everything.

The descriptions are also amusing, so reading them is fun, but again, after a while, I just wanted to move on.

As I said, verbose but funny

This description doesn’t contain a joke, so it must contain important information.

I open the shield access panel and pull on the shield modulator to take it. Now I have an item in my inventory apart from my log, and it contains a special verb, disassemble.

What kind of game gives me a new verb and won’t let me use it immediately? This game’s inventory system is just a tease!

If I leave the cockpit, I end up in a living area with a bed, medicine cabinet (containing nothing I can take) and refrigerator, among other things.

As a stereotypical cartoon bachelor, my fridge contains some extremely old food.

The living area also has a ladder leading to the airlock. Rather than use the ladder now, I explore the rest of the ship.

The third (and final?) section of the ship is the engineering section. In there I find a rebreather, which will be useful for breathing underwater, and a timer module.

I also find that the life support is being kept active by the auxiliary power module.

Thank you Binky, for the air I breathe.

Having explored the ship thoroughly enough that I’m sick of the long descriptions, I go back to the living room and climb the ladder to the airlock, automatically wearing my rebreather as I exit.

The ship seems to be trying to destroy us by bombing the water. I suppose spaceships are equipped with depth charges now.

On the next screen I find a weed patch that, according to the description, looks like the infamous Venus Man Trap. That sounds dangerous, so I take a closer look.

Having my head ripped off is a rather violent way to die.

On the next screen I find some medical waste, that I don’t seem to be able to take. I try a few things with it.

Much funnier than, “That doesn’t work.”

On the same screen is a mine. I take a closer look…

Having died a few times I notice an interface convenience I really appreciate. On dying, I don’t have to reload a save game, the game automatically returns me to the point just before my death, with my inventory intact. It doesn’t sound like much but it’s a major convenience considering the amount of times I’m likely to die in the game. And as the Fourth Law of Adventure Gaming states, the chances of you randomly dying increases exponentially with the length of time played since you last saved the game.

On another screen I find a tunnel surrounded by holes. A fish swims toward the tunnel, but a purple tentacle comes out of one of the holes and eats it. I try throwing both a dead fish (which I found on a previous screen) and my burger at the hole, but the tentacle just eats the fish and ignores the burger.

I at some point try putting the burger in the dead fish, and that works.

I also take the binoculars that are hanging by a poster of a naked woman.

I go back outside and throw my stuffed fish at the tentacle. The toxicity of my old burger is obviously not terribly palatable, even to a tentacle monster, because it kills him.

Again, funnier than the usual, “Nothing happens.”

After swimming through the now-safe hole, I come to the surface in a small pool in a cave. I exit the cave and find myself in a land of grassy fields. I explore the fields until I die.

Now I know how Super Mario’s enemies feel.

So far, all the creatures in this place seem obsessed with removing my head. With Bouncing Betty blocking the way north, I try a different direction.

To the west I find a witch doctor’s hut, which contains a few interesting items. I take some poison darts, which Rex assumes contain head-shrinking poison due to the shrunken heads the witch doctor seems to be collecting. There is also a cage containing a creature, but I don’t seem to be able to do anything with it for now.

I’ll note that all inventory objects have distinct verbs associated with them. I’m sure many of them are useful, but some are probably just there for comedic purposes.

Here I am, channeling my inner Larry Laffer, or is it Roger Wilco?

Moving further to the west, I hear some noises from the top of a palm tree, but pushing or talking to the tree doesn’t do anything useful.

Attempting to pass into the next screen has the noisy creature (similar to a monkey) throw something at me and steal one of my items.

Because the monkey ran in the direction I’ve already explored, I ignore him for now and continue west. On the next screen, I find what appears to be a human woman and I get to have my first conversation.

She doesn’t believe I’m a real man, so gives me a test to… test my manhood, I suppose.

I had to guess this one. But I guessed correctly. Does that mean I’m a real man or not?

After I show my manly knowledge, she invites me into her hut. After entering the door, we go to a new scene with people watching a security camera. I assume they have security cameras in every hut. Big Sister is real, people.

The bump under the bear rug moves in a way that reminds me of The Sims Woohoo animation. Welcome to ‘Naughty Mode’, ladies and gentlemen.

The women looking on wonder if they can use me so that Gyrain doesn’t have to go through the Gender Bender. I feel like I’ve got enough evidence to give me a solid idea of what the society of this planet is. Like the mythical Amazons, it’s an all female society that uses men for reproductive purposes. The difference being this society has invented a device that turns women into men. What this doesn’t explain though, is why they tried to kill me by blowing up my ship if they prefer to use me for reproduction? Of course it’s also possible I’m significantly wrong with my interpretation of their society.

After the security room cutscene, I’m now alone in the hut and look around. The only seemingly useful item is a twinkifruit, an obvious combination of a twinkie and fruit. I take it.

Outside, I find a clothesline containing bras made from animal hides and hotpants made from straw.

An obvious setup to me being mistaken for a woman many times in this game.

Moving further into the village, I find another woman. This lady doesn’t like me as much and kicks me in the… well, this is a game with naughty humour, where do you think she kicks me?

Good guess

I end up back outside the village. Exploring the land again, I find some leaves next to a bush.

I also find out where the monkey went after stealing my binoculars.

At this point, I decided to restart the game to see if there was a noticeable difference between the Nice/Naughty and Easy/Hard modes.

And on restarting the game I come across the game’s copy protection.

I wonder what happens if I get this wrong…

This game really really hates Rex Nebular’s head.

Trying again and correctly answering the copy protection question, I restarted the game in Nice and Easy Mode, and immediately found a difference – when the topless woman comes up out of the water in view of my probe’s camera, the camera cuts out much earlier.

This is where the camera cuts out in Nice Mode

Naughty Mode’s probe continues working for longer before cutting out

Weirdly, the topless woman poster in Rex’s living quarters is exactly the same in Nice and Naughty Mode. The most noticeable difference between Nice and Naughty Mode ended up being the death sequences. Like the previous example, Nice Mode cuts the death sequences much earlier. Using the example of the weed patch I first died in, I don’t get to see Rex’s head get ripped off and blood slowly dissolving into the water in this mode. I found this interesting, as I thought Nice/Naughty would only be in relation to sex or nudity. I liked that it included violence as well – it makes it seem less like a gimmick.

Playing further on Easy Mode, I noticed a single difference in the puzzle difficulty while underwater. I didn’t have to combine the burger with the dead fish to kill the tentacle monster, as I could just swim through the hole without the monster coming out and killing me.

But then I came to a puzzle that had been solved in Easy Mode but I hadn’t solved myself in Hard Mode yet.

Oops. I spoiled myself by playing in Easy Mode.

Now, I really should have anticipated this. I’m an idiot. That leaf-covered pit I found in Easy Mode is just an uncovered pit in Hard Mode. Easy Mode also hinted that I’d need some bait. Having screwed up by playing Easy Mode for too long, I sheepishly went back to my Hard Mode playthrough.

Now, whether I’d have worked this solution out myself in Hard Mode is a question I can’t answer. I like to think I’d have worked it out, and even if not, my try everything on everything technique would have worked eventually, but in my defense, I think the game tried to trick me.

Now, tell me I’m just stupid and unobservant, but this picture and description had me thinking these leaves would be best used as food rather than covering a large pit.

Anyway, I used my spinach leaves (which I admit had been found on the same screen as the pit) on the pit, and now I had my leaf-covered pit.

How 3 big spinach leaves covers this pit completely without falling in is beyond me, but thanks for the help, Easy Mode.

I tried putting my twinkifruit on the leaves, which worked. As I stand behind a bush (Rex clearly not even attempting to hide), the large big-mouthed woman who jumped on me and ate my head earlier came bouncing towards my pit trap. She fell in head-first and all I could see were her legs wiggling above the pit.

Well, technically Rex shouldn’t know about the ‘large hungry one’ because the only times I met her earlier I died and the game restored me to before I saw her. Seems the game’s fallen in a spinach-covered plot hole of its own.

I wondered if perhaps saving her might get her to help me, but the game had different ideas.

Oh well, if the game wants me to leave her in the pit I’m not going to argue. And now that I can move beyond the place I first saw the large lady, I continue on and find another screen with a hut – this time with a ladder I can climb.

I take this as a clue I’ll need to get my binoculars back from the monkey thief.

After picking up a few bones I go north, and find another unfriendly woman. This time she doesn’t just kick me, she shoots me with a ray gun.

I may have a big hole in my chest, but at least I have my head this time.

I go back to the palm tree the monkey is hanging out on and try everything I can think of with the monkey and the tree. After a while I discover something I hadn’t noticed earlier – though I couldn’t do anything with the bamboo bush, one of the stalks was laying on the ground next to it. I take it.

Having made a blowgun out of a hollow reed and poison recently in Amazon: Guardians of Eden, I took a guess at what I should do next.

I use my head-shrinking poison darts on the plant stalk and have the option to shoot or hose down with my blowgun. I assumed the hose down option would just involve me spitting through the blowgun, but it turned out hosing down meant shooting darts at him.

I take my binoculars from the ground and go back north to the screen with the ladder. I use my binoculars to look at the area that the woman with the ray gun was patrolling. Rex comments on what she’s doing, and when she enters a machine, I see a closeup of a glove pushing buttons.

After seeing the woman teleport away, Rex falls down, breaking the ladder (purely so I can’t use it again I expect).

Now that Zatox the Raygunner has left I can safely go north, so I do. I also note that the binoculars are likely only useful in very specific places.

Maybe I’m looking through the wrong end of the binoculars this time.

I use the teleporter, typing in the code I saw with my binoculars, and end up in an area that’s already occupied.

Xina: Warrior Princess?

And with that, we’ll end for now. Tune in next time when I attempt to escape from the Leather Goddesse… the Amazon priestesses… the women of this alien complex. Sorry – I keep playing games where I’m captured by a purely female society – it gets confusing.

I’m enjoying this game so far. The humour’s still working for me and the puzzles are challenging enough. I’m still disappointed I didn’t get to solve the spinach pit puzzle by myself but I have nobody but myself to blame for that one. See you next week.

Session Time: 2 hours Total Time: 2 hours

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There’s a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please…try not to spoil any part of the game for me…unless I really obviously need the help…or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I’ve not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/rex-nebular-bouncing-betty/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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nuttytriumphenthusiast-blog · 6 years

Text

A multi-year NASA contest to design a 3-D-printable Mars habitat the use of on-planet fabrics has simply hit every other milestone — and a handful of groups have taken domestic some chilly, laborious money. This extra laid-back segment had contestants designing their proposed habitat the use of architectural gear, with the 5 winners set to construct scale fashions subsequent 12 months.

Technically that is the primary segment of the 3rd segment — the (exact) 2nd segment came about closing 12 months and groups took domestic reasonably a bit of of cash.

The groups had to put in combination practical 3-D fashions in their proposed habitats, and no longer simply in Blender or one thing. They used Building Information Modeling instrument that will require these items to be useful constructions designed down to a selected degree of element — so you’ll’t simply have 2D partitions product of “material TBD,” and you’ve got to take into accout thickness from power sealing, air filtering components, heating, and many others.

The habitats had to have no less than 1000 sq. ft of house, sufficient for 4 other people to reside for a 12 months, along side room for the equipment and paraphernalia related to, you recognize, residing on Mars. They should be in large part assembled autonomously, no less than sufficient that people can occupy them once they land. They had been judged on completeness, format, 3-D-printing viability and aesthetics.

So despite the fact that the photographs you spot right here glance slightly sci-fi, have in mind they had been additionally designed the use of commercial gear and vetted by means of mavens with “a broad range of experience from Disney to NASA.” These are going to Mars, no longer paperback. And they’ll have to be in-built miniature for genuine subsequent 12 months, so that they higher be practical.

The 5 profitable designs embrace numerous approaches. Honestly these kind of movies are value an eye fixed; you’ll most likely be informed one thing cool, they usually in reality give an concept of the way a lot concept is going into those designs.

Zopherus has the entire print going down throughout the frame of a big lander, which brings its personal high-strength printing combine to give a boost to the “Martian concrete” that can make up the majority of the construction. When it’s carried out printing and embedding the pre-built pieces like airlocks, it lifts itself up, strikes over a couple of ft, and does it once more, growing a sequence of small rooms. (They took first position and necessarily tied the following staff for take-home case, somewhat underneath $21Okay.)

AI SpaceFactory specializes in the elemental form of the vertical cylinder as each the best use of house and in addition probably the most appropriate for printing. They pass deep at the lodging for thermal growth and insulation, but in addition have concept deeply about how to make the gap secure, useful, and engaging. This one is without a doubt my favourite.

Kahn-Yates has a placing design, with a published structural layer giving means to a high-strength plastic layer that shall we the sunshine in. Their design is very spacious however in my eyes no longer very successfully allotted. Who’s going to carry apple bushes to Mars? Why have a spiral staircase with any such massive footprint? Still, if they might pull it off, this may permit for numerous respiring room, one thing that can no doubt be of serious price all through a 12 months or multi-year keep on the earth.

SEArch+/Apis Cor has sparsely regarded as the site and form of its design to maximize mild and decrease radiation publicity. There are two unbiased pressurized spaces — everybody likes redundancy — and it’s constructed the use of a sloped website online, which might enlarge the conceivable places. It appears somewhat claustrophobic, although.

Northwestern University has a design that goals for simplicity of development: an inflatable vessel supplies the bottom for the printer to create a easy dome with reinforcing cross-beams. This sensible method for sure received them issues, and the interior, whilst no longer precisely roomy, may be sensible in its format. As AI SpaceFactory pointed out, a dome isn’t in reality the most efficient form (numerous wasted house) however it’s simple and powerful. A few those attached on the ends wouldn’t be so unhealthy.

The groups break up a complete of $100Okay for this segment, and at the moment are shifting on to the laborious phase: if truth be told construction these items. In spring of 2019 they’ll be anticipated to have a running customized 3-D printer that may create a 1:three scale fashion in their habitat. It’s tough to say who can have the worst time of it, however I’m considering Kahn-Yates (that holey construction might be a ache to print) and SEArch+/Apis (slope, advanced eaves and constructions).

The handbag for the real-world development is an eye-popping $2 million, so you’ll wager the competition might be fierce. In the interim, significantly, watch the ones movies above, they’re in reality attention-grabbing.

NASA’s 3D-printed Mars Habitat competition doles out prizes to concept habs – TechCrunch A multi-year NASA contest to design a 3-D-printable Mars habitat the use of on-planet fabrics has simply hit every other milestone — and a handful of groups have taken domestic some chilly, laborious money.

0 notes

sophiyademon-blog · 6 years

Text

A multi-year NASA contest to design a Three-D-printable Mars habitat the usage of on-planet fabrics has simply hit every other milestone — and a handful of groups have taken domestic some chilly, exhausting money. This extra laid-back section had contestants designing their proposed habitat the usage of architectural equipment, with the 5 winners set to construct scale fashions subsequent 12 months.

Technically that is the primary section of the 3rd section — the (exact) 2d section happened ultimate 12 months and groups took domestic reasonably slightly of cash.

The groups had to put in combination reasonable Three-D fashions in their proposed habitats, and no longer simply in Blender or one thing. They used Building Information Modeling tool that will require these items to be practical buildings designed down to a specific stage of element — so you’ll be able to’t simply have 2D partitions fabricated from “material TBD,” and you’ve got to keep in mind thickness from force sealing, air filtering parts, heating, and so forth.

The habitats had to have a minimum of 1000 sq. ft of area, sufficient for 4 folks to are living for a 12 months, along side room for the equipment and paraphernalia related to, you recognize, dwelling on Mars. They should be in large part assembled autonomously, a minimum of sufficient that people can occupy them once they land. They have been judged on completeness, structure, Three-D-printing viability and aesthetics.

So even if the pictures you spot right here glance reasonably sci-fi, be mindful they have been additionally designed the usage of commercial equipment and vetted via professionals with “a broad range of experience from Disney to NASA.” These are going to Mars, no longer paperback. And they’ll have to be in-built miniature for genuine subsequent 12 months, in order that they higher be reasonable.

The 5 profitable designs include various approaches. Honestly these kinds of movies are value an eye fixed; you’ll almost definitely be informed one thing cool, they usually in reality give an concept of ways a lot concept is going into those designs.

Zopherus has the entire print happening within the frame of a giant lander, which brings its personal high-strength printing combine to toughen the “Martian concrete” that may make up the majority of the construction. When it’s executed printing and embedding the pre-built pieces like airlocks, it lifts itself up, strikes over a couple of ft, and does it once more, developing a chain of small rooms. (They took first position and necessarily tied the following crew for take-home case, somewhat underneath $21Okay.)

AI SpaceFactory makes a speciality of the fundamental form of the vertical cylinder as each the best use of area and likewise one of the crucial appropriate for printing. They move deep at the lodging for thermal enlargement and insulation, but additionally have concept deeply about how to make the gap secure, practical, and engaging. This one is indubitably my favourite.

Kahn-Yates has a placing design, with a published structural layer giving manner to a high-strength plastic layer that we could the sunshine in. Their design is terribly spacious however in my eyes no longer very successfully allotted. Who’s going to deliver apple bushes to Mars? Why have a spiral staircase with the sort of massive footprint? Still, if they may pull it off, this may permit for a large number of respiring room, one thing that may without a doubt be of serious worth all over a 12 months or multi-year keep on the earth.

SEArch+/Apis Cor has in moderation thought to be the site and form of its design to maximize mild and reduce radiation publicity. There are two impartial pressurized spaces — everybody likes redundancy — and it’s constructed the usage of a sloped web page, which would possibly increase the conceivable places. It appears to be like somewhat claustrophobic, even though.

Northwestern University has a design that objectives for simplicity of building: an inflatable vessel supplies the bottom for the printer to create a easy dome with reinforcing cross-beams. This sensible means for sure gained them issues, and the interior, whilst no longer precisely roomy, may be sensible in its structure. As AI SpaceFactory pointed out, a dome isn’t in reality the most efficient form (quite a lot of wasted area) however it’s simple and powerful. A few those attached on the ends wouldn’t be so dangerous.

The groups cut up a complete of $100Okay for this section, and are actually transferring on to the exhausting section: if truth be told development these items. In spring of 2019 they’ll be anticipated to have a operating customized Three-D printer that may create a 1:three scale fashion in their habitat. It’s tricky to say who can have the worst time of it, however I’m pondering Kahn-Yates (that holey construction will likely be a ache to print) and SEArch+/Apis (slope, advanced eaves and buildings).

The handbag for the real-world building is an eye-popping $2 million, so you’ll be able to wager the competition will likely be fierce. In the period in-between, critically, watch the ones movies above, they’re in reality attention-grabbing.

NASA’s 3D-printed Mars Habitat competition doles out prizes to concept habs – TechCrunch

NASA’s 3D-printed Mars Habitat competition doles out prizes to concept habs – TechCrunch A multi-year NASA contest to design a Three-D-printable Mars habitat the usage of on-planet fabrics has simply hit every other milestone — and a handful of groups have taken domestic some chilly, exhausting money.

0 notes

saltysuittaco-blog · 6 years

Text

A multi-year NASA contest to design a Three-D-printable Mars habitat the use of on-planet fabrics has simply hit every other milestone — and a handful of groups have taken domestic some chilly, exhausting money. This extra laid-back segment had contestants designing their proposed habitat the use of architectural gear, with the 5 winners set to construct scale fashions subsequent 12 months.

Technically that is the primary segment of the 3rd segment — the (exact) 2nd segment happened closing 12 months and groups took domestic slightly somewhat of cash.

The groups had to put in combination lifelike Three-D fashions in their proposed habitats, and no longer simply in Blender or one thing. They used Building Information Modeling instrument that will require this stuff to be useful constructions designed down to a specific stage of element — so you’ll be able to’t simply have 2D partitions made from “material TBD,” and you have got to bear in mind thickness from drive sealing, air filtering parts, heating, and so forth.

The habitats had to have no less than one thousand sq. ft of area, sufficient for 4 other people to reside for a 12 months, in conjunction with room for the equipment and paraphernalia related to, you recognize, residing on Mars. They will have to be in large part assembled autonomously, no less than sufficient that people can occupy them once they land. They have been judged on completeness, format, Three-D-printing viability and aesthetics.

So even though the photographs you spot right here glance quite sci-fi, consider they have been additionally designed the use of business gear and vetted via mavens with “a broad range of experience from Disney to NASA.” These are going to Mars, no longer paperback. And they’ll have to be inbuilt miniature for genuine subsequent 12 months, so that they higher be lifelike.

The 5 successful designs include plenty of approaches. Honestly these kinds of movies are value an eye fixed; you’ll most certainly be informed one thing cool, and so they in reality give an concept of the way a lot idea is going into those designs.

Zopherus has the entire print happening throughout the frame of a big lander, which brings its personal high-strength printing combine to improve the “Martian concrete” that may make up the majority of the construction. When it’s completed printing and embedding the pre-built pieces like airlocks, it lifts itself up, strikes over a couple of ft, and does it once more, growing a sequence of small rooms. (They took first position and necessarily tied the following workforce for take-home case, a bit of below $21Ok.)

AI SpaceFactory specializes in the elemental form of the vertical cylinder as each the most productive use of area and likewise one of the appropriate for printing. They move deep at the lodging for thermal growth and insulation, but additionally have idea deeply about how to make the distance protected, useful, and fascinating. This one is no doubt my favourite.

Kahn-Yates has a putting design, with a broadcast structural layer giving approach to a high-strength plastic layer that we could the sunshine in. Their design is terribly spacious however in my eyes no longer very successfully allotted. Who’s going to carry apple timber to Mars? Why have a spiral staircase with this kind of massive footprint? Still, if they might pull it off, this might permit for numerous respiring room, one thing that may for sure be of significant price all through a 12 months or multi-year keep in the world.

SEArch+/Apis Cor has moderately regarded as the site and form of its design to maximize gentle and reduce radiation publicity. There are two impartial pressurized spaces — everybody likes redundancy — and it’s constructed the use of a sloped website online, which might enlarge the imaginable places. It seems to be a bit of claustrophobic, although.

Northwestern University has a design that targets for simplicity of development: an inflatable vessel supplies the bottom for the printer to create a easy dome with reinforcing cross-beams. This sensible means for sure gained them issues, and the interior, whilst no longer precisely roomy, could also be sensible in its format. As AI SpaceFactory pointed out, a dome isn’t in reality the most productive form (numerous wasted area) however it’s simple and robust. A few those hooked up on the ends wouldn’t be so dangerous.

The groups cut up a complete of $100Ok for this segment, and at the moment are shifting on to the exhausting section: in reality construction this stuff. In spring of 2019 they’ll be anticipated to have a operating customized Three-D printer that may create a 1:three scale style in their habitat. It’s tricky to say who may have the worst time of it, however I’m pondering Kahn-Yates (that holey construction can be a ache to print) and SEArch+/Apis (slope, advanced eaves and constructions).

The handbag for the real-world development is an eye-popping $2 million, so you’ll be able to guess the competition can be fierce. In the interim, critically, watch the ones movies above, they’re in reality fascinating.

NASA’s 3D-printed Mars Habitat competition doles out prizes to concept habs – TechCrunch A multi-year NASA contest to design a Three-D-printable Mars habitat the use of on-planet fabrics has simply hit every other milestone — and a handful of groups have taken domestic some chilly, exhausting money.

0 notes

releasesoon · 6 years

Text

Technically this is the first phase of the third phase — the (actual) second phase took place last year and teams took home quite a bit of money.

The habitats had to have at least a thousand square feet of space, enough for four people to live for a year, along with room for the machinery and paraphernalia associated with, you know, living on Mars. They must be largely assembled autonomously, at least enough that humans can occupy them as soon as they land. They were judged on completeness, layout, 3D-printing viability, and aesthetics. So although the images you see here look rather sci-fi, keep in mind they were also designed using industrial tools and vetted by experts with “a broad range of experience from Disney to NASA.” These are going to Mars, not paperback. And they’ll have to be built in miniature for real next year, so they better be realistic.

Source

NASA’s 3D-printed Mars Habitat competition doles out prizes to concept habs A multi-year NASA contest to design a 3D-printable Mars habitat using on-planet materials has just hit another milestone — and a handful of teams have taken home some cold hard cash.

0 notes