PRELUDE In the third decade of the 21st century, the nations of Mankind contested Cislunar Space, the vast darkness that begins 35,000 kilometres above Earth in geosynchronous orbit, approaching beyond 380,000 km to reach the surface of the Moon.
The realm of space is never constant; bound by celestial patterns of recurrence and chaos, the whirling contours of laws economic and mundane, the orbit of robotic spacecraft falling endlessly through the silent tomb of heaven.
The treasures of this confrontation: dominion over the tyranny of gravity, command over the wealth of the lunar economy and moon infrastructure; control over selenocentric trajectories, lunar libration points and the orbital gateway to Mars and beyond. Comet ice from the edge of the universe in the south pole of the Moon, lingering in the shadow of a crater unseen by the sun in a billion years. Supercomputing and laser diode crystals etched in microgravity by molecular beam; proteins and enzymes nurtured in orbital biomanufacturing farms free from defects of sedimentation, convection and hydrostatic pressure.A nuclear reactor on the moon, a railway on the moon. ISRU robonauts in self-assembly, harnessing constellations of power-beaming satellites to drive one million tonnes of Helium-3 ilmenite ore via lunar rail shipments: 19 million gigawatt-years of energy, seven times the projected use of the entire world over the 21st century...Water-Based Lunar Architecture, Lockheed Martinhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7KbK6MpFvWwBloomberg, The Moon As A Multi-Billion Dollar Opportunityhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hD_7Ti2hNeI
From the vantage of space, it is said no borders between the nations of men can be seen; there is only blue ocean and the continents of an undivided planet. This is not true. Technology needs only darkness to reveal the division of Mankind.
THEN2009 Oct 9 The LCROSS lunar precursor robotic program, consisting of a shepherding vehicle and Centaur impactor, strikes the lunar crater Cabeus at 9000km/h releasing approximately the kinetic energy equivalent of 2 tons of TNT and a debris plume of moon dust. Four minutes after impact, the accompanying shepherding spacecraft executes a flyby through the regolith plume, relaying mission data back to Earth. (The experimental date of this NASA moon bombing mission coincides with the announcement of President Barack Obama as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize)2009 Nov 13 NASA confirms the presence of water detected in the frozen regolith vapour plume at Cabeus, the south pole Lunar Crater. Subsequent analysis determines a mass concentration near 5%2013 Rozhdestvensky crater, within one crater diameter of the lunar North Pole, is assessed to hold ice deposits trapped in a permanent shadow region2019 Jan 3 Chang'e 4, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program of CNSA, lands the robotic spacecraft Yutu-2 ('"Jade Rabbit") on the far side of the Moon2020 NASA establishes the Artemis Accords, with signatories including the ESA, India, Japan2021 Russia and China announce a partnership agreement for an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS)2022 SpaceX achieves 142,328 kg of launch upmass, approximately equal to China CASC, NASA, Roscomos, Arianespace, NOC, ULA (LMT+BA/), India ISRO, Japan JAXA and the rest of the world combined2024 Roscosmos announces the program resumption of rhe formerly delayed RN STK-1, a massive super heavy lift orbital launch vehicle capable of 100 ton LEO lift and 27 ton payload to translunar injection
NOW2030 De-orbit of the International Space Station demarcates the end of the era of international space collaboration
FUNDINGYou begin under budget, with a -24% modifier to all actionsINSTITUTIONSRepresents recruitment, community outreach and support and credibility amongst international scientific and academic organisations. You begin as an unknown entity at zeroCHOOSE1/ a LEGACY spacecraft design (ONE only)>flyby (spin stabilised, or 3-axis)Initial reconnaissance spacecraft often following solar orbit or even an escape trajectory. Carries an immense payload of scientific instrumentation. The most survivable spacecraft with adaptable mission longevity>orbiterMust carry propulsion to achieve orbit insertion, limiting payload. Often acts as a communications relay to Earth for surface operations>atmosphericTypically a probe configured for a short mission duration, transiting the target body atmosphere. Protected by aeroshell (heat shield)>landerDesigned to reach a target body surface and survive its harsh conditions. The historical success rate of these missions is extremely adverse>roverOften reliant upon solar power for surface operations. All rover craft require some autonomous capability, given the delays in elapsed transmission time from destination to Earth>impactor (surface penetrator)Designed for kinetic impact against a hard surface, with data telemetry relayed to orbiter spacecraft >observatoryInstead of travelling to a destination, the observatory occupies an Earth or Solar orbit studying target bodies free from atmsopheric obscurement>communications and navigation (PNT)Unlike in science fiction films, there is no possible means to fix the position of spacecraft far from Earth other than orbital determination through accurate synchronised timekeeping, ground station tracking with a Deep Space Network using methods such as delta-DOR and VLBI (interferometry against quasars). Positioning satellites are already abundant in Low Earth Orbits, and are required around the Moon and Mars for greater space situational awareness>write-in...Cassini: The Final Missionhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xrGAQCq9BMU
2/ CHOOSE a FUTURE CONCEPT (ONE only)>cyclerProposed spacecraft on closed transfer orbit and free return trajectory, cycling between two celestial destinations. Once orbit is established very little propulsion is required beyond minor trajectory corrections. Can serve as a platform for space surveillance or in-orbit resupply, logistical servicing and maintenance. The earliest conceptualisation of a Mars mission planned for a relay system of cycler resupply spacecraft>chaser A form of satellite that pursues another satellite, proposed as a means of transporting or de-orbiting space debris. The design can also target noncooperative spacecraft>power-beaming satellitePhotovoltaics and an accurate pointing solution beaming solar power to a receiver target, known as a rectenna>orbital fuel depot>cryogenic monopropellant storage (used for correctional manoeuvres or station keeping)>orbital manufacturing>semiconductor, eg Silicon Carbide, Gallium Nitride, or>biomanufacturing / pharmaceutical crystal growth>orbital datacentrerepositary for mission data. The tight constraints of mass budget and storage on spacecraft historically required fast data downlink to Earth to free storage space in preparation for the next flyby passsurface operations (In Situ Resource Utilisation)>ISRU regolith excavator / miner>ISRU nuclear reactorTRISO tristructural isotropic uranium fuel >(write-in...)
3/ Technology Readiness Level: Allocate 9 TRL points between the legacy and future concepts (cannot be less than 1 or greater than 9). TRL 3 is required for a working prototypeQM: ideally you could select a legacy and a future concept spacecraft design pair that complement each other, with the TRL(legacy) > TRL (future concept) etc, but this is not necessary4/ Allocate 100 points between the following five project phases (this is a 1d100 modifier representing stage capability)A Preliminary Research And AnalysisB Definition And Technical SolutionC Design And DevelopmentD Assembly Testing And Launch Operations (ATLO)E Mission Operations And Data Analysis (MO&DA)Optional:>Give your space agency a name!>You can also specify a geographic location, and >write-in a vision / mission statementYour organisation is evaluating the current technologies: (CHOOSE ONE)>Hypersonic ballute, an inflatable isotensoid balloon parachute drag device, designed for stabilisation and rapid deceleration during atmospheric re-entry and flight, braking from speeds exceeding 7000 km/h>Optical lattice clock, interrogating the ultranarrow transition of fermium strontium atoms, trapped by laser cooling confinement>Laser optical pyrotechnics, a system of non-explosive actuators, using high power pulsed fibre lasers in an optical harness of splitters, connectors and laser firing units LFUs to remove the need for electro-pyro ignition and explosive detonation in spacecraft control>Rheological study analysing micellar properties, liquid fraction and capillary pressure gradients of foam in microgravity>Cerium oxide CeO2 nanozyme bone tissue engineering to prevent osteoclast formation under ionising radiation, thereby mitigating fractures and loss in bone area>(write in...)
>>6312929>orbiter>>6312933>power-beaming satellite>>6312934Legacy 7. Future 2.A20 B15 C20 D25 E20>Cerium oxide CeO2 nanozyme bone tissue engineering to prevent osteoclast formation under ionising radiation, thereby mitigating fractures and loss in bone area
>>6312975The rate of bone loss in Low Earth Orbit (eg the International Space Station) is around 1-2% per month spent in space, equivalent to several decades spent in Earth. Most studies predict that over the course of three years of manned spaceflight, approximately a trip to Mars and back, would result in a 33% chance of osteoporosis, including compression fractures in vertebrae. The main mitigation deployed on board manned spacecraft today is exercise, two hours of an intensive daily workout regimen via treadmills or ARED (advanced resistive exercise device) weightlifting in weightlessness, and cycle ergometers (CEVIS apparatus)Could unmanned robotic exploration of space be the only solution? You decide however to persevere with the struggle of manned space exploration, by investigating the capabilities of Cerium Oxide nanoparticles in mitigating the development of skeletal disorders. There are two broad avenues of approach>HIGH RISK BIOMEMETIC BONE MEMBRANEThis involves development of an energised electrospum hydrogel membrane that mimics the periosteum (bone surface), with cerium facilitating angiogenesis (blood vessel growth) and impeding bone resorption and defects. This experiment costs -5 % funding (brings your underfunding deficit to -29%)This project is mostly a B phase solution, so your base modifer is +15% - 29% = -14%To ensure the best results, you could attempt to conduct the experiment>on human astronauts success +70%>on mice, rodents +40%>on the International Space Station (ISS)>US>Russia>some other agency (eg ESA / Europe, JAXA / Japan, ISRO / India etc, see here)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_Accords>on Tiangong (TSS), Chinese space station(see these members)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lunar_Research_Station>remain unaffiliated (private entity)QM: You believe if you are successful in this research endeavour, you will gain 3 TRL points, and also the nascent capability (manned exploration) for spacecraft. If some mishap occurs in this experiment, will there be any ethical consequences?>LOW RISKAlternatively, you can also attempt to conduct a study via a review of existing research, or using microgravity model simulations of rodent hind leg skeletal unloading etc. This approach costs only -1% funding, is guaranteed to generate +10 INSTITUTIONal interest from academic organisations, and is a flat roll of your A phase research capability (20%) Success generates 1 TRL>choose either a HIGH RISK or LOW RISK approach with associated options / modifiers, and>roll1d100
Rolled 38 (1d100)>>6313005High risk. On mice. US.Name of company is Trans-Pandora technologies.
High risk and on mice. LIISA (Leopold II Space Agency) / Belgium
Rolled 14 (1d100)>>6313005High risk, on humans. Tiangong, China. Company name is Hóng yuè gōngsī. The red comes from the blood of all the splattered thanatonauts, the moon our destination!
>>6313120>Rolled 14 (1d100) < 56% = +70% -14%, SUCCESS!>>6313048>>6313054>Rolled 38 (1d100) > 26% = +40% -14%, FAILURE!Humanity gains +3 TRL points and improved Manned Exploration capability!In 2026, Shanghai Hongyue Life Sciences Group Holding Ltd (上海红月生命科学集团股份有限公司), a division of Hongyue Group (红月集团) in collaboration with university researchers from Suzhou Medical College, pioneers a breakthrough in electrospun BIOMEMETIC BONE MEMBRANES that extends the duration of manned missions within the hostile microgravity environment.However, commenting on the initial findings, researchers from a joint US-BELSPO/ESA consortium led by TPT (TransPandora Technologies) and LIISA cast doubt upon the methodological validity of the experimental study design, citing ethical concerns and verifiable scientific replicability of the results
(optional)>publish an article in the Epoch Times, headline "CCP performs secret human bone experiments irradiating astronauts in space">roll 1d100. First digit is +funding gain, second digit -institutions lossQM: You can allocate your 3 TRL points now, or save themYou have enough to make your legacy spacecraft mission launch ready TRL 9 (7+2) and push your future concept to reach prototype stage 3 (2+1)Alternatively you could keep both projects where they are, and choose to invest the TRLs in another future concept system, from here >>6312933>allocate TRLs (or hold in reserve)
Whilst presenting your proposal for POWER BEAMING SATELLITES at the 41st international Space Symposium, 2026, the largest global space conference at Colorado Springs with 40 countries contributing over 12000 attendees, you encounter a DEFENSE LOBBYIST. She explains that any lunar power beaming solution must also necessarily be supplemented by nuclear power situated in moon craters, accompanied by a supporting power grid of rectennas and vertical solar panels to manage the intermittency of power generation. Most spacecraft today are already powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG, atomic battery). In the US, every launch with nuclear components requires approval by The Office Of The President.The supply chain of solar PVs is dominated by China, with around 80% marker share and 58% global capacity, whilst HALEU nuclear fuel is supplied by Russia, with approximately 35% of global enrichment and 30% of supply. Whilst the quantity of uranium fuel itself is negligible in the overall share of cost in reactors, the greater burden of investment comes from enormous capital expenditure arising from regimes of compliance, reactor construction materials and maintenance, processing and safety inspection and decommissioning costs of plants. Furthermore, the efficiency of the current generation of nuclear reactors is greatly limited by refinement, due to concerns with nuclear weapons proliferation. As a consequence, many reactors use constrained LEU (low enriched U-235, 3-5%) in a once-through open cycle, generating waste that could be reprocessed and reused.
The DEFENSE LOBBYIST proposes a solution: perhaps if you were to initiate a campaign that weakened global norms of nuclear non-proliferation, using geopolitical tensions such as Ukraine or the Korean peninsula to encourage nuclear latent powers / threshold countries such as Poland, Turkey, Japan, Australia, etc to develop their own nuclear weapons programmes, in response to an ambiguous US defense posture, the ensuing atomic research momentum would accelerate economic viability of nuclear technologies in space?>(Reject Proposal, reply) the surface area of the Moon is approximately the size of Africa; I don't see a lot of people rushing to visit there, or say Antarctica, both locations being far more pleasant and survivable than the Moon. House price to median income affordability ratios exceed 10x in California, New York. Remind me why billionaires are rushing to build space habitats on the Moon again?>(Agree to DEFENSE LOBBYIST proposal) To conquer space we need a NUCLEAR ROCKET. The issue with fission NTRs is the substantial bulk of mass from fuel rods, cooling. There exists research since the 1980s for nuclear rockets powered by Americium from Pu-241 beta decay, Am-242m, which can be formed into thin films, with a half-life of 141 years, and possesses the highest number of neutrons by thermal fission cross section. Americium is incredibly rare currently, it can only be produced in very low concentrations from nuclear reactors. Atomic weapons for everyone, if we burn Americium we could reach Mars in just two weeks!You gain DEFENSE FUNDING and NUCLEAR ROCKET prototype. Funds +50, TRL +1>Reply: nuclear reactors on the moon would necessitate a large radiation safety zone. How will countries handle permissions by lunar vehicles to cross competing territorial claims? Will there be SPACE PIRATES? Perhaps we need to develop some means for international coordination?Funds -5, Institutions +20>write in...
Rolled 53 (1d100)>>6313247>>6313248>Allocate all 3 TRLs to future concepts.>Spend 1% budget on Tiktok/Rednote influencers to shit talk TPT and hype up the experiment's implications. The goal is to create drama that brings the all agencies/companies involved into the mainstream spotlight and generates interest.>Spend 2% budget on professional political operatives to influence policymakers in Europe. Their axis of attack will be strategic concerns of eventually tying ESA future independent lift capabilities to the untested TPT, with the future of USA-European cooperation being uncertain and an ongoing trade war happening no less. Manufacture some dirt, suggesting a political bias/subtle bribery influencing their review paper. Suggest partnership with Hongyue.>Publish the Epoch Times article.>>6313249>>6313250>Agree on for 45 funds and the TRL. Autistically insist on the remaining 5 funds in the latest anonymous eCoin scheme, so that we can clandestinely fund our private, secret supervillain island base, complete with patrol craft operated by our in-house PMC, full of kidnapped scientists from around the world. The braindrain must flow!
>>6313351>>6313248Wait. The reputation and funding gain for a successful launch is too much to pass up. A working prototype will be more than enough to counter the critique. Reallocate 2 TRL to the legacy craft, put 1 in future concepts. Otherwise keep the spending of the 3% budget the same as indicated, and the supervillain plot the same.
>>6313351>>6313353>rolled 53>publish article>accept DEFENSE LOBBYIST proposal, to weaken global nuclear nonproliferation norms>gain NUCLEAR THERMAL ROCKET>initiate blizzard of TransPandora social media campaigns etc>attempt to launch space memecoinFUNDING-29% +5% publish article-1% social media-2% European policymaker campaign-5% memecoin+50% accept DEFENSE LOBBY funds=+18%INSTITUTIONs-3% (web article smear campaign)TRL 9 = 7 +2 LEGACY Orbiter - launch ready!TRL 3 = 2 +1 FUTURE Power Beaming Satellite - proof of concept stageTRL 1Nuclear Thermal Rocket (basic principle)You attempt to capture the attention of the Gen Z broccoli hair demographic rainbow nose-piercing livestreaming generation, by casting aspersions on TPT (TransPandora Tech) experimental researchYour online campaign receives a total clickthrough rate of 2, as in 2 clicks, one being your own, and another being an auto-generated request from ChatGPT webscrapers crawling your website in violation of your robots.txt request
>>6313351>>6313428Unfortunately, as Gen Z only understand space through media such as Star Wars, James Cameron Avatar or videogames, they have no understanding of what you are doing. They only remember Pandora from the blue aliensPerhaps the only means of seizing the fleeting attention of the Gen Z demographic is through some space publicity stunt, or an actual LAUNCH?
>>6313351>kidnap scientists etc for secret MOON BASEYou are not quite sure you possess the means for this drastic course of action yet, but a more feasible endeavour could be to investigate or uncover some evidence or humiliating secret for the purposes of ACADEMIC BLACKMAILWhat if you could find photos of some researchers visiting a SECRET ISLAND, or even uncover some academic plagiarism or falsification of their CV / academic credentials? Could these researchers then be coerced into revealing their scientific / engineering technological secrets?
>>6313351>Hongyue goal: create SECRET MOON BASE with SPACE MERCENARIES You realise this goal is not as far-fetched as it sounds. In the history of space designs, many developments concealed a dual civilian-military purpose. In the 1960s during the Cold War, the secret Soviet Almaz ("Diamond" OPS, Orbited Pilot Station) program of crewed military reconnaisance modules eventually evolved into three launches of Salyut 2, 3, 5 that were designated as civilian scientific research space stations; importantly, the Soviet design anticipated extensive support for docking ports and resupply/ recrewing operations, to support commercial payloads and even space tourism capsule hulls. The heritage of this Soviet design can be seen in the Tianhe module of the current Chinese Tiangong station, as well as the Russian portion of the International Space Station. The Soviet Almaz was proposed in response to the US Air Force design known in 1963 as MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory, after NASA protested at military adoption of the term "space station"), an inhabited platform to demonstrate the utility of placing humans in space, but with reconaissance satellite surveillance as its secret military black project purpose. The nature of such covert black budget projects, and their enormous, gargantuan spiralling funding requirements which cannot be feasibly hidden (USAF MOL cost-adjusted to 2023 dollars, around USD 17 billion) inevitably requires some public relations facade of scientific/engineering research, unclassified civilian commercial partnership.Most importantly of all, there is currently no general legal agreement as to what constitutes a SPACE WEAPON, given the dual-use military / commercial, civilian purpose inherent to many technologies (for instance, is GNSS or GPS a "space weapon?") Often, what is or is not a "space weapon" is only determined by whether countries protest it. The most famous example of this phenomenon was the Sputnik crisis Oct 4, 1957 the first public overflight of an artificial satellite. The shock of this achievement, which began the Cold War space race and escalated tensions due to public fear of a US-Soviet technological gap in capabilities, established a legal precedent for satellite free overflight over foreign countries in space.
With this historical context of civilian / military black projects in space design in mind, you evaluate your POWER BEAMING SATELLITE protoype concept.The categories of COUNTERSPACE CAPABILITIES can include kinetic, non-kinetic, hard-kill, soft-kill, and importantly also dimensions of reversibility, and attributability. An example of a hard-kill, kinetic attack that is reversible, could be an orbital satellite that deploys a form of explosive mine. The mine could be emplaced, or removed if the need arose.An example of a hard to attribute attack could be a conventional weapon or cyber attack against a vulnerable ground station, or even the surrounding power grid, water supply or supporting high-capacity communications bandwidth. This provides deniability as it could be conducted through the intermediary of a third party / seemingly unaffiliated group. However, ground stations can be repaired and rebuilt over time.These are the categories of COUNTERSPACE CAPABILITIES>Kinetic, Physical: DA-ASAT (direct ascent anti-satellite missile)creates orbital debris which can damage other spacecraft. Easily attributable due to missile launch detection. Provides real-time confirmation of success>Co-Orbital ASAT (mine, or RPO rendezvous proximity operation)An attacking satellite is manoeuvred on target as an interceptor. The attack can come in the form of explosive mines, but yet another approach is known as Rendezvous Proximity Operations - a satellite could grapple another. It is an example of how commercial / civilian space debris removal / satellite servicing and repair could be adapted for warfare>Ground Station AttackHas the potential for loss of control of multiple satellites, and can be conducted in a deniable manner through unaffiliated third parties, or by targeting support such as electrical, water or communications infrastructure. >Non-Kinetic PhysicalLasers, EMP, and high power microwaves, targeting thermal control, antennas, dazzling sensors or inducing satellite drift. Attributability can be manipulated with these methods, but the attacker has limited verifiability of their success>ElectronicUplink, downlink jamming and spoofing - lock-on to a false signal with injected data. The attacks are hard to attribute, can cover a wide area, but the drawback is their temporary / limited duration effects>CyberIntercept or corrupt data, or seize control. Any data interface is a potential intrusion point. The target may not even be aware an attack has occurred, as many cyberattacks can be easily reversed(optional)>select a secret counterspace capability for your future concept POWER BEAMING SATELLITEQM: you can choose more than 1, but you feel additional selections may impact payload / mass budget later>remain as a civilian / commercial operation (...for now?)
>>6313433>Kinetic, Physical
>>6313497>Focus on kinetic physical attacks (ground station assault, DA-ASAT, co-orbital missile, and RPO rendezvous proximity operations etc)>the future is satellite grappling SPACE SATELLITE MELEE WRESTLINGYou recognise in this uncertain geopolitical environment, it is only a matter of time before the worlds of commercial space and military counterspace collide - in an almost literal sense, such as in 2021 Dec 6, when China filed a report document A/AC.105/1262 to the United Nations, accusing SpaceX Starlink satellites 1095 and 2305 of deliberately manoeuvring to orbits at 382km, on a potential collision course with the Chinese Tiangong space station of within 1km close pass, forcing emergency orbital correction and Chinese evasive manoeuvres, with minimal avoidance burns on the Starlink side. In response, the US noted that China appears to be developing dramatic rendezvous and proximity capabilities in positioning, close inspection and potential signals collection; over thr course of 2024-25, the TJS-4 and TJS-10 (Tongxin Jishu Shiyan) series and SJ-21, SJ-25 (Shijian) series and SY-24C series satellites were observed to be performing coplanar, corkscrew manoeuvres on occasion tracking at 44 metres / second, vs usual satellite burns at 0.5 - 1 m/s, at times positioning relative to the sun to create shadows that blocked US space surveillance assets. Nearly every science fiction film depicts close, sweeping shots of starships, often zooming in over their vast hulls, glinting lights and jagged communications spires and masts - yet in reality, the close inspection of spacecraft in space is a daunting task. You cannot "see" spacecraft in space - it is why nearly all images of satellites are renders, and actual photos of satellites, up close, in orbit, are extremely rare. All that is available is the tracking and positioning and timing data from a ground terminal. If a spacecraft passes close, within 1km, how can you determine its intent? Is it an accident, a refuelling operation, a dangerous loss of control or a rehearsal for a hostile attack? Pic related depicts an actual spacecraft, a satellite imaged by another satellite in flyby inspection, ERS-2 re-entering the atmosphere, photographed at 2:43pm UTC on 14 January 2024
With your recent infusion of funding from DEFENSE LOBBYISTs and your legacy ORBITER now launch ready, you decide to demonstrate your KINETIC PHYSICAL ATTACK prowess. Your mission is to launch your spacecraft and perform a dramatic orbital manoeuvre, for all to witness, one which will leave your adversaries with no doubt of your accurate tracking and positioning capabilities - which could doubtlessly also be used to guide an explosive warhead.00-06 Vehicle explodes on launchpadInstitutions +20 (bizarrely, this is higher, because explosions)07-24 Mission Failure: launches, but spacecraft fails to transmitInstitutions +524-41 Partial Mission Failure: launches and operates, but not all mission objectives achievedInstitutions +1542-99 Full MISSION SUCCESS! TRL+5, Institutions +30Gain capability: LEGACY ORBITER becomes SPACE INTERCEPTORThis launch probability is taken from a NASA assessment of risk of small satellite mission failures over 2000-2016You can spend some FUNDING to attempt to boost your chances, whilst adding some portion of your Phase D ATLO launch capability as a modifier - the maximum is set by your Phase D +25%, but you currently only have +18% funds. So if you spend 18% funding, you can add +18% to your roll (bear in mind your funding is reduced afterwards). You can spend the full funding modifier to get the benefit of your full Phase D +25% but afterwards, your funding will be at -7%If the mission fails, you can attempt to salvage some data by reviewing your pre-Launch Testing Procedures (this is a separate roll, I will discuss it afterwards)>Roll 1d100 to LAUNCH! (optional)>allocate some portion of funding to obtain a bonus, up to +25% (remember your funding is lost afterwards, modifier may become negative! Your current funding reserve from DEFENSE LOBBYISTs is 18%)
(optional: You can also specify a LAUNCH SITE)Here is a brief list of possible spaceports and cosmodromes. You can choose onehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rocket_launch_sitesOtherwise I default to>EQUATORIAL SEA LAUNCH, perhaps from an experimental floating platform, converted oil rig or special purpose barge ship eg the Orienspace Gravity-1 which achieved LEO in 2024US>CAPE CANAVERAL / SpaceX - Interstellar>VANDENBERG (USAF, Space Force) - Interplanetary>KENNEDY / SpaceX - Interplanetary, Human crewed missionsMid Atlantic Regional Spaceport - LunarChina>JIUQUAN Space Launch Centre - Orbital Human spaceflight>XICHANG - Lunar>Wenchang - InterplanetaryKazakhstan / Russia operated>BAIKONUR Cosmodrome - Interplanetary, Human spaceflightRussia>VOSTOCHNY - LunarEurope / France>GUIANA Space Centre, Kourou - InterplanetaryIndia >SATISH DHAWAN - Interplanetary, Lunar probeJapan>UCHINOURA - Interplanetary>TANEGASHIMA Space Centre - InterplanetaryAustralia>WOOMERA Test Range - OrbitalNew Zealand>ROCKET LAB Mahia, Lunar
QM: apologies, I forgot to mention one other rule. When using your FUNDING to boost launch success likelihood, funding can only mitigate the risk of partial and mission failure (ie the range of outcomes between rolls 07-24, and 25-41, where the spacecraft launches but fails to transmit or fully complete its mission). If you roll 00-06 even with say +25 boosted FUNDING, the launch vehicle and your spacecraft still explodes! Only if you roll 07 or more (ie taking say a +25 boosted roll to 32) does the allocated modifier begin to apply. Bear this in mind when choosing how much funding to allocate, in order to improve your chance of success!
Rolled 5 (1d100)>>6312934>Mission statementHongyue's official mission statement is vague. It simultaneously promises a future where you can live on Titan, Mars, Venus, and Luna free of any government - an appeal is made to the lost and unfulfilled ideologies of the late 20th/early 21st century, various forms of socialism/anarchism/libertarianism via the vague promise of future unlimited free IP licensing/support of initial startup colonies by an eventual Hongyu "public transport" system - while in the next breath proposing to support the CCP, or whoever supports Hongyue, in the littoral, continental, and sidereal battlespace, both in the deep and close fight via 24/7 overhead reconnaissance and a mature orbital strike complex capable of delivering scalpel-width precision energy densities up to that of nuclear weapons or as low as a bullet via blue-green lasers/kinetic munitions. When asked if they are serious, they say that any capability described in their mission statement is an eventual goal, the rest is just marketing, no need to worry.Unofficially, Hongyue is a three lunatics in a trenchcoat, the apathetic monkey at the bottom, who makes it all happen and gets paid, above the drooling panda apparatchik dreams up maniacal delusions of grandeur, and the impetus, a bloodsucking bat who does all this to stave off ennui. The plan's first step is to create and dominate a self sufficient space economy. Next develop the capability to knock some rock onto a collision course with Earth, threatening - plausibly or not - extinction. Trigger a mass exodus into space, where it is presumed - in planning handwaved away - Hongyue is already supreme, or at least unstoppably ascendant, and such can control humanity's future. Step 4: ??? Step 5: Profit!All of this to stave off one man's brainworms. He claims descent from a German - a Teuton, he is very insistent on this for some reason, really on calling all Germans this - military advisor who helped train Chinese troops, as early as 1926, but persisting after 1937. Obsessed with Sichuan girls for some reason, though will settle with girls from Jiangnan, the paler the better, like him.The law unto itself, Hongyue wansui!>>6313433>Secret counterspace capability: Non-Kinetic PhysicalSave the cyber/electronic for future data centers or factories.I'm fine with kinetic for our current project, though I'd prefer a DEW given our limited payload. Still, they can complement each other and serve different roles.>>6313576>25% funding to support the launch!Wansui!
>>6313592>>6313592Xichang Satellite Launch Center>>6313594Fuck, I wish I read this before posting, I should've refreshed instead of watching more cats videos.
>>6313595>kinetic physical vs directed energy etc(QM: I saw this, >>6313497I think this was the TransPandora Tech anon, but I wasn't sure if he was nominating that tech for himself or Hongyue as part of a consortium or something. As you might have gathered, the FUNDING and INSTITUTIONS stats are sort of pooled ie you can imagine it as collective funding, public relations etc and progress for "the Space Industry" or "Humanity" etc that everyone uses to roll to save keeping track of so many stats separately, however the exact achievements will be attributed to certain organisations or companies. So we can say at this stage that TransPandora is specialised in Kinetic Kill Vehicles for their satellites etc whilst Hongyue is pursuing Directed Energy / EW, Cyber etc)
>>6313595>>6313597FUNDING-7% = +18% -25%INSTITUTIONS+17% = -3% +20%>Rolled 5 < 06 CATASTROPHE OCCURS!!Unfortunately, after a stunning breakthrough with BIOMEMETIC BONE MEMBRANES in 2026, in 2027 Hongyue suffers a bit of a setback: there is a blinding white flash, searing the eyes and then spiralling trails of smoke and plummeting debris, as a colossal explosion engulfs the launch site at Xichang.
>>6313595>"claims descent from a German - a Teuton...?"Wernher von Braun (1912-77), notorious for escaping justice after being transferred to NASA given his past as the pioneer of rocketry in Nazi Germany - von Braun, the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon... the ghost of von Braun is deeply dismayed at the ghastly spectacle of this burning inferno, as wisps and shards of smouldering debris rain down in parabolic arcs over a billowing conflagration and a mound of molten, mangled metal.
However, the worst is yet to come. For in the immediate aftermath of this terrible disaster and setback, you are attacked by the most formidable foe that could ever beset any spacefaring organisation, the overwhelming assault and might of SPACE LAWYERSOr more precisely, OSINT analysts from NGOs. Somehow, photos and telemetry from your catastrophic failed launch are uploaded on the anonymous hacking forum known as 4chan, where they are dismissed as "fake and gay" and swiftly archived, but months later are picked up in reporting by mainstream media organisations. (You have a 50:50 chance of being attacked by either an ATTRACTIVE or UGLY space NGO activist)
Rolled 87 (1d100)The BBC, which is apparently some legacy media organisation unrelated to searches for "BBC" on 4chan, immediately quotes NGO activists who launch into a vicious polemic and tirade accusing you of irresponsible and dangerous "space militarisation", creating orbital space debris, illicit weapons research and also violating human rights by performing unethical human experimentation. The NGO activists also insinuate that because you have been venturing into NUCLEAR THERMAL ROCKETS, your prototype could only have been stolen from perhaps the LMT DRACO (Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations) a similar nuclear technology that had been planned to launch in 2027 but was discontinued due to concerns it would violate UN and international conventions against placing weapons into orbit. They demand international investigations into your organisation....Amidst this intense hostile whirlwind of accusations, how should you respond?(The NGO ACTIVISTS roll 1d100+20 to attack your FUNDING! this is an opposed roll...)>Roll 1d100 + 17% your INSTITUTIONs modifier to attempt to counter their attack. If your roll is lower you will lose FUNDING!>Maybe it is time to deploy the SPACE MERCENARIES (Astro-operators?) What if you hired some organisation like the Tel Aviv Black Cube to surveil and "research" them. Maybe they will encounter a certain unfortunate "mishap..." -10% funding, +10% to the 1d100 roll>Hire a PR agency and issue heartfelt and earnest statements and media TV interviews emphasising that no civilians were injured in the launch accident, all safety precautions and exclusion zones were followed etc-5% funding, +5% to the roll>attempt to troll the NGO ACTIVISTS on social media. This does not cost funding, but may backfire... (you must write in your trolling witticism attempt)>Bribe the NGO activists: offer to hire them to monitor corporate social responsibility, and lobby on your behalf. This action does not require a roll, but costs -25% funding. Afterwards you have to adopt DEI policies and redecorate all your bathrooms to become gender affirming, but at least you will no longer be harassed by NGOs (probably)>write in, something else...?
If the TransPandora Tech >>6313048 or LIISA (Leopold II Space Agency) >>6313054 anons or any other players want to try and conduct their own separate rocket launches, to salvage the reputation of the space industry, you can do so, but unfortunately in the aftermath of the Hongyue explosion disaster, your funding remains at -7% currently. So if you want to boost your chance of success with the Phase D ATLO launch modifer by +25%, this will take funding to -32% afterwards>Roll 1d100 to conduct separate launch>specify funding allocation, up to +25% (reduced afterwards! Remember if you roll 00-06, the rocket explodes regardless of funding modifier boost!)>specify launch site: list here >>6313592Alternatively, you can also attempt to collectively fend off the assault from the relentless and merciless SPACE NGO ACTIVISTs>roll 1d100 + 17>>6313631>>6313633
Rolled 67 (1d100)>>6313628I figured. That works.>>6313629Huh...we should do that more often.>>6313630Wenn ich doch nur ein bisschen mehr Geld bekommen hätte!>>6313631Ruh-Roh Scooby! Hide the nukes!>>6313633>Split the job. Lean on our already established contacts in Europe to pressure Letitia's position/qualifications at the University of Luxembourg. The Tiktoker's will be promised a similar payout to last time if they successfully bully Victoria into silence, all hush hush. The line of attack will generic "Fuck you fatty!", "Woke DEI hire", "she abuses her cats" (get the tiktokers to film her playing with them, accidentally dropping them from too high or something, then cut context out), "the Dem weather satellites will turn Cali into a jungle!" (she claims to hate humidity, yet loves onions, curious...). Unfortunately we have to rely on this weak line of attack due to our lacking pre-established contacts in the US.>>6313054You in particular would be helpful for going after Letitia.
>>6313685Ah, I forgot s-o-y is a banned word and gets censored into onions. 4chin overused it I guess.
Rolled 9 (1d100)>>6313685>>6313633Also tap the CCP for assistance. The OSINT and 4chan angle is whatever, but the photos and telemetry clearly indicate the presence of at least one real, physical, on the ground agent. Try to pretzel logic the counterintel angle into assistance with the space lawyers, clearly they are involved, somehow! Pressure can be applied on Letitia via UNIDIR if we have a government on our side. Victoria is on the west coast of the US when she isn't in Washington, our overlords must have a heavy presence in Cali, and Washington is...Washington.>Rolling for this angle.
>>6313685>>6313694>deploy the social media...?>Rolled 67...>Rolled 9...67+9+17 Institutions = 93 < 107 = 87+20 OH NO!You lose -14% = 107-93 FUNDINGJust as the universe is governed by Four Fundamental Forces, Gravity, Electromagnetism, Weak and Strong Nuclear forces - the powers of repulsion and attraction at distances vast and atomically miniscule - on social media, the most powerful attractive and repulsive forces being SEX, RACE (antisemitism), STATUS, and WEALTH(money/envy).>deploy the CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY...?As you puzzle over which vector of outrage/jealously to incite against the formidable NGO ACTIVISTS and their overwhelmingly relentless media onslaught, it suddenly occurs to you that there is one aspect where the principles of the US Department of Defense- wait, no, Department OF WAR have in common with CHINA - no DEI! The terrible regime of DEI has been officially dismantled! By the order of The President no less: 'Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.' NASA even fired its Chief Diversity Officer at the Jet Propulsion Lab back in May 2025, and even after she tried to disguise her DEI job role by changing it to a new innocuous employment role as "Head Of Employee Success"! So there is NOWHERE for DEI to hide, not the US, not China, the US Department Of WAR is coming for you! FAFO!There are, however, some mixed outcomes with this regime. As part of the legacy of Elon Musk's Department Of Government Efficiency restructurings and job cuts, NASA saw its budgets cut by 24% in 2025 (QM: this is why you began the game in the space industry with funding -24%) alongside potentially >4000 employee departures over 2025-26. You are not sure if all of these were DEI hires... Perhaps it is a recruiting opportunity, perhaps they might join rival, private space competitors, or perhaps it is longstanding scientific and engineering talent that is lost to the space industry forever. And these same budget cuts affected even huge defense prime contracts as well - LMT saw the defunding of its nuclear rocket DRACO after DARPA withdrew approval.You wonder whether managing a country, or a space mission, as a "corporation" is the right approach... viewing citizens as "employees" who must be efficient and productive and revenue-generating... even during the Cold War, both the US and Soviet sides articulated a belief of exploring space for all humanity. For All Mankind - and not just for profit.
After enduring the horrifying DEI attacks of SPACE NGO ACTIVISTs, this entire episode has provoked you into feeling more cautious about openly pursuing advanced counterspace capabilities, or SPACE WEAPONs. These technologies are inherently dangerous and experimental - clearly greater secrecy is needed lest you draw attention from unwanted threat actors and investigative scrutiny such as from unwelcome NGOs. There is a reason why so many space designs began as secret BLACK PROJECTS!>>6313630>>6313595>German heritage?Perhaps it is the ghost of VON BRAUN, haunting you across the ages, but you are reminded of the fate of the very first private space exploration company; not SpaceX, but in fact OTRAG Orbital Transport- und Raketen-Aktiengesellschaft - founded by Lutz Kayser in the 1970s, OTRAG pioneered mass production of modular satellite delivery systems, and also possessed a unique 4-stage inexpensive rocket engine consisting of parallel tubes with flat bulkheads, to facilitate rapid price reduction through economies of scale. Von Braun himself joined OTRAG after his retirement from NASA; he was highly enthusiastic about the low cost OTRAG rocket, having himself introduced the concept of parallel rocket engine clustering in his NASA Saturn design. However, despite numerous launch endeavours, OTRAG was beset by political controversy - for a start, it launched its rockets in Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, and was soon overwhelmed by political pressure after both France and the Soviet Union demanded for the company to be shut down. OTRAG finally met its demise in 1987, beset by political attacks from both sides of the Berlin wall, and with its assets and installations confiscated by Libya, a total loss for all its investors, and the company disappeared from history.
FUNDING -21% = -7%-14%INSTITUTIONS+17%You consider the next steps for your space venture...>After this launch explosion and disaster, you should thoroughly investigate everything, determine the cause and assess carefully and precisely what was at fault.To do this, roll 1d100. If you roll under your Phase D ATLO modifier + 25% the original funding you contributed at launch, ie roll under 50% = 25% + 25%, you discover the cause and can gain TRL 2 points as you amend launch final checks and procedures to improve safety and rigour for your next launch. If you roll 51% the cause of the explosion eludes you, and you gain no TRL points. Either way, the detailed launch testing review costs -10% fundingUndaunted by this explosion (it's nothing, SpaceX exploded spectacularly at least four times in 2025) you must take EVEN GREATER RISKS in GREATER SECRECY... Using your contacts with the CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY, you learn of an underappreciated aspect of space development. It has been widely reported, that the first Chinese aircraft carrier, Liaoning, was in fact purchased from UKRAINE in 1998, through a series of Macau intermediaries. However, less well-known is the course of events where China had frequented Ukraine over the course of 2012-2020 to investigate a LUNAR LANDER, legacies of Soviet military and weapons programmes that were tested but never used in space following the Cold War. The moon landers were known as "Lunniy korabyl" or LK, and it is also alleged that China sought to purchase Sea Launch platforms and the Zenit spacecraft from Ukraine, prior to the war. >You must secretly send in SPACE MERCENARIES into the desperate and perilous warzone of Ukraine to salvage legacy Soviet military space program technology. This is an incredibly dangerous mission, but you feel success would be worth the risk... To undertake this mission, first nominate any LEGACY technology from here >>6312929 and specify its tech level. You must then roll over 10*(TRL level). For instance, if you want a secret Soviet lunar lander from Ukraine, at TRL 9, you must roll OVER 90. If the roll is successful, the mission costs only the digit sum (first digit + second digit) of the 1d100 roll, ie a range of 2-18, whilst if the roll is unsuccessful, it costs the FULL 1d100 roll in funds...>You must pursue your ultimate mission of a SECRET MOON BASE. You think you are missing some key technologies, including life support systems and also lunar habitats. But is there some means of developing these techs from what you already know?If you know the technological path for space habitats and life support (see here >>6312934 ) write in what to do, and receive a scientific breakthrough through sheer genius insight straightaway!>Something else? Write in...
Rolled 96 (1d100)>You must secretly send in SPACE MERCENARIES into the desperate and perilous warzone of Ukraine to salvage legacy Soviet military space program technology. This is an incredibly dangerous mission, but you feel success would be worth the risk... A 2 TRL satellite offering PNT services.We just need a launch to get us on the map. If this doesn't work out, then we'll have to rebrand and all our outward facing entities will have to ditch the counterspace angle for the immediate future. We'll focus on completing our research and farming out the results to get some capital inflow, before eventually returning to the physical domain. If we succeed, then we can keep up the launches, building out the support infrastructure, before cranking out factories for our miraculous nanozyme.
>>6313797>Tech path to moon life support.The ballute is essentially just a cost saving measure that makes the whole process more economical and sustainable. Technically we could brute force it. The clock could be useful for support infrastructure and basic science. Optical pyrotechnics is helpful for moving through radiation belts and safety. These three comes first, because of their non-essential but supporting nature. The key techs are the rheological study and nanozymes. The rhealogical study for solving the pouring the regolith pseudo-concrete structures on the moon in microgravity, the nanozymes for solving the obvious problem of bone atrophy in microgravity.Is that all the you wanted? Knowing the key techs and the order in which to research them? I hope you aren't demanding that we actually solve the issue of making a optical lattice clock with fermium atoms or something.
>>6313890That, and the radiation issues, both key techs help with that, though I'm not sure it was worth adding.
>>6313797>Rheological study analysing micellar properties, liquid fraction and capillary pressure gradients of foam in microgravityIt's material research, and it can lead to a breakthrough in construction methods
Rolled 83 (1d100)>>6313797Rolling to guess which piece of crap code overflowed
>>6314024>Rolled 83 > 50 ... TESTING REVIEW FAILEDQM: Unfortunately, despite spending -10% in funding, and despite your painstaking efforts and laborious toil in reviewing all procedures, your engineers are unable to isolate the problem. I think what happens is this - they uncover an enormous litany of problems, from outgassing in critical materials to sealant failures in propellant tanks, vibrations in fuel lines leading to overflow of venting capacity and fuel leaks, inadvertent mixing of the hypergolics and ignition... it is just a morass of manifold problems, and it is too hard to determine the exact sequence of events or definitive cause. So sadly, you recover no TRL insights despite your exertions and expenditures.
>>6314014>>6313890>which tech leads to the MOON BASE living habitat?These are all very legitimate lines of inquiry and thought, but sadly not quite the elusive breakthrough answer... You cannot help but feel this is the CURSE OF STAR WARS, Star Wars is to blame. It makes children believe that flying in space is like sitting in an aeroplane. Compared to the era of the space race, an entire generation of children >>6313429 has been consigned to feral technobarbarism in their comprehension of science! You contemplate this with deep dismay, as you ponder over the consequences of Star Wars for recruiting the next generation of scientists and engineers...Yet somehow, you don't think the breakthrough requires tremendous scientific insight, beyond some obvious basic knowledge such as there being barely any atmosphere on the Moon. But what could this scientific revelation be?
As your battle-hardened hired SPACE MERCENARIES infiltrate the Ukraine, in their desperate attempt to salvage the relics of forgotten ancient Soviet lunar technological space designs from over half a century ago - they experience an eerie premonition of the desolate landscape that awaits mankind on the Moon itself.
In many places, the land appears quite unchanged - all seems normal. Perhaps only a few glimpses that might spur unease - birdsong and sunshine amidst the shadows of trailing strands of thin wire, concatenated loops of discarded, near-invisible threads hanging from the ensnarement of tree branches, entangling the grassy meadows - spools and spinnerets from the trails of wire-guided aerial optical fibre drones. This is all you see of what Zaluzhnyi called the "Lower Sky" in Ukraine.
Some of the derelict hulking factories and remnants of the Soviet era have blown out windows, shattered glass scattered amongst scorched and charred concrete; some buildings have their insides blasted open, with angular, jutting struts of twisted steel clawing at the sudden stillness, the curved and bent architecture of an exposed ribcage. There are corpses, but the sight of them is rare. Along the frontline there are craters, the warfare of the last century, riddled and pockmarked with mines and unexploded bombs lying inert for decades and decades to come. It will be as difficult to pull them from the earth as it is to extract the shrapnel from the flesh of a man. But the nature of Ukraine and perhaps all the conflicts of this century is there is no frontline, no safety in withdrawl to a secure rear. For this is what space has brought: transparency of the battlefield through constant surveillance over its myriad cyber-physical systems. Whether by strike drone, or artillery, or guided missile - the killzone is almost 20km deep. Every heat signature, every radio pulse or human movement inviting near instant, lethal response.
>>6313817>Rolled 96 >20 - SUCCESS!!!Any concentration of forces or men is bound to be detected - in the frozen zone of engagement, satellite and space surveillance has made the warfare of surprise almost impossible - but somehow, your contractors and their impossible mission succeed!In Dnipro - what was once known in the west as "Rocket City", or Dnipropetrovsk during Soviet days, one of the centres of Eastern Bloc space infrastructure and manufacturing - your SPACE MERCENARIES uncover an enormous technological TREASURE HOARD of rocket designs. The Zenit rocket, manufactured at Yuzhmash and Yuzhnoye enterprises; the first stage of Antares, the engine that carries cargo to the International Space Station; the Sich-2 satellite and the 4-engine kerolox Cyclone-4M carrier, once planned for launch to orbit at Alcantara in Brazil...QM: This treasure hoard of space designs, pulled from the ravaged and war-scarred factories of Ukraine, is enough to power your research with +10 TRL POINTS! In addition, because you rolled so well at 96, and I feel a bit remorseful over ambushing you with the sudden NGO DEI space activist attack right after your rocket explosion (it had to be done muahaha) you do acquire your TRL 2 PNT satellite, but also a battered TRL 7 ancient Soviet MOON LANDER (it smells a bit strange, and looks somewhat decrepit, but it just about still functions)Your portfolio of technological capabilities currently looks like this:FUNDING-46% = -21% - (9+6)% (cost of space mercenaries) - 10% (inconclusive launch failure testing review)INSTITUTIONS+17%You possess technologies: TRL 9Legacy ORBITER - launch ready!TRL 7Legacy Soviet Lunar Lander (very battered) - operational demonstration protoype, salvaged from Dnipro, Ukraine warzoneTRL 3 Power Beaming Satellite - proof of concept stageTRL 2 PNT Satellite - formulated concept, salvaged from Dnipro, Ukraine warzoneTRL 1Nuclear Thermal Rocket (basic principle)+10 TRL points in reserve! From insane STALKER / Escape From Tarkov extraction shooter raid on atomicpunk heap of Dnipro / Ukraine Rocket City ancient Soviet designs
As you debate the course of action with your SPACE MERCENARIES, one of them recommends another opportunity.In every warzone, the temptation arises for WAR PROFITEERING. Mercenaries can shift their allegiances very quickly - this is perhaps the nature of market competition, conflict and strife itself, from the sacking of Antwerp by unpaid Spanish sellswords in Nov 1576 - an event that shifted the course of European commerical history - to even the modern day; didn't the founder of Blackwater and a very staunch Trump administration ally, Navy SEAL Erik Prince - wasn't he once affiliated with Hong Kong-listed Chinese private security Frontier Services Group? The allegiances shift, and the economic interests are not always clear.With the treasure trove of Ukraine Dnipro Rocket City space designs at hand, you consider your somewhat concerning and precarious FUNDING situation. The SPACE MERCENARY suggests the following - given your breakthrough research in BONE MEMBRANE treatments, perhaps you could transact some of this medical knowledge to aid recovery of injured victims in Ukraine. But the question is, to whom and at what price you should sell this medical technology...>(withdraw mercenaries, fast exfiltration) You think a fair price would be a flat +30 funding, to injured civilian medical centres. Just do this and quickly extract all your mercenaries from Ukraine as soon as possible. You had some luck in Dnipro, now get out before it runs out. >(minor WAR PROFITEERING, then withdraw mercenaries from Ukraine) sell to injured civilians, but maybe... make a bit of profit. It is payback for all the research you did, and all the risks you undertook! The mercenaries will linger a bit to extract a better price from the medical technology, then get out. (+40 FUNDING, then roll 1d100. You gain the digit sum in additional funds)>(MAJOR CORRUPTION, keep mercenaries in Ukraine) with cackling glee you glance over Ukraine rankings on various NGO-sponsored global corruption tables. This is an excellent commercial opportunity. Sell the medical treatments to both sides of the conflict and demand major kickbacks and suspicious Burisma holding company structures. (+50 FUNDING, and roll 1d100 gain)>(WARMONGER DEATH-LORD: keep mercenaries in Ukraine) You should prolong the conflict and killing for as long as possible. More maimings, amputations and mutilations will probably expand the total addressable market for bone medical treatments. What if you could unleash biologically enhanced eugenics SPACE SUPER SOLDIERS onto the battlefield? (+60 FUNDING, and roll 2d100 for additional funding gain)
>>6314071>(withdraw mercenaries, fast exfiltration) You think a fair price would be a flat +30 funding, to injured civilian medical centres. Just do this and quickly extract all your mercenaries from Ukraine as soon as possible. You had some luck in Dnipro, now get out before it runs out. Idea is it will give us VISIBILITY as well as instituion respect.Coupled with a succesful launch, this should set us good
>>6314084As your mercenaries return swiftly from Dnipro in Ukraine, bearing the legacy of the designs from Rocket City, you wonder how the great achievements of the Space Race and the Cold War were squandered.The scientific ancestry of space research had always resided in war - intercontinental ballistic missiles, exoatmospheric surveillance and intercept. At times, even during the very height of the Cold War, the unwillingness for all participants to openly acknowledge the distasteful true purpose of space programs, being weapons to hold to ransom hundreds of millions of people and kill them, the evasiveness and moral contortions in refusal to confront this purpose bordered on the farcical. The power that spacecraft could unleash, slaughtering helpless and powerless innocents from the unreachable great darkness of the sky.Whilst the Soviets would argue that the space legacy of today - in space stations, modules, capsules and robotic exploration - follows the lineage of their own engineering, the United States decisively won the Space Race on the Moon, and the Soviet Union relinquished their scientific lead. It had been over before even the US descent upon the lunar surface in 1969 - the rapid surge in American progress was noticeable around 1965-66, and with the death of the Soviet Chief Designer and space systems engineer Korolev, the course was mostly set. In triumph, the United States exhibited magnanimity in victory - for a while. For it was the generation not only of NSC-68 and supremacy, but also of Thomas Schelling and men who understood the dance of deterrence and detente. Even in the ferocious pursuit of dominance and supremacy, the words were mutually measured and assuredly credible.
>>6314084What happened to this legacy? The peace that was made in space - a peace that would see cooperation in the decades to come, between once nuclear-armed adversaries, ready to annihilate each other in a thermonuclear heartbeat, yet adversaries who could come together docking their spacecraft and inhabitating the same space and breathing the same air - living together, just as on Earth?This peace of engineers and scientists was of course destroyed by transactional men - economists, the Shock Doctrine of the IMF and the looting of the broken remnants of the Soviet Union that followed. It would be too easy for the Russians to blame only and exclusively the West, for it is perhaps in the nature of all men to pursue avaricious ends. To want a thing only in return for yet another thing for oneself.You wonder if you could harvest some reputational gain - surely there is some reward for doing good? But in 2028, the war-torn land of Ukraine has become all too familiar. Not quite forgotten - but a click and a swipe away, and from the screens and feeds it is gone. It is harder to do this if you have lost a limb. But increasingly around the world, the attention and unceasingly breathless pace of coverage and interest around this conflict has been lost.There will always be new wars. Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran; Palestine, Venezuela, or the Dam at Ethiopia, and Egypt and Sudan. Nepal, or the Kachin border at Myanmar..., Pakistan-India, North Korea, Taiwan. There is a rhythm and a rhyme to the hunger for war and death that takes on a life of its own.QM: You gain no benefit from INSTITUTIONS despite your humanitarian dispensation of medical aid. It is perhaps better this way - better that no-one ever learns that you went into this conflict zone at all.FUNDING-16% = -46 +30 (medical aid given in conflict zone)INSTITUTIONS+17% (unchanged)
>>6314014>>6313890Frustratingly with your accumulation of technological space designs and capabilities, you have still fallen short in your attempts to exploit some path of technological advancement from what you know (QM: these techs >>6312934 ) into some design or definitive solution for a habitable volume for your planned SECRET MOON BASE. The answer is so close... it is staring you in the face... but how?? >>6314065Yet you realise that you do not need to struggle on your own in this seemingly insurmountable scientific conundrum, this unbreakable labyrinthine impasse. You have access to the best scientific minds! You must recruit some SPACE SCIENTISTS researchers and engineers! Maybe they can just tell you the answer! You cannot be expected to know ALL THE SCIENCE...
>It is 2028. Surely the AI is super advanced now?? Just ask the deep learning LLMs, ask SuperChatGPT 2028 edition what the answer is, it will tell you?>Isn't there some ongoing annual budget cuts at NASA and across the space industry in general? Maybe try and recruit there...To recruit the SPACE SCIENTISTS, you must make this very important decision, it is highly important for the purposes of NATIONAL SECURITY: you must decide how RACIST your recruitment drive intends to become. Given the competitive and highly confidential commercial secrets involved, you cannot risk hiring someone only for them to turn around and download all your technological insights and sell them off to a competitor. So choose the following emphasis and strategy:>you want fresh, enthusiastic young talent. The cleverest and brightest and most eager and naive science and engineering and mathematics and astrophysics graduates>you want experienced veterans in the workforce. Proven talent, with minimum 10 years space industry experience>you are desperate. There is no time to be discriminating. It is 2028, your last rocket just exploded, and by year end there is a launch window to Mars and if you do not make it, you will have to wait another TWO YEARS at least. Literally hire anyone who was written "space" on their CV>er, you see... um, women are very underrepresented in the space industry. So maybe a lot of women. With a rigorous, um, office interview. On a space couch. It is meritocratic!>(write in any other hiring emphasis)Then, decide the RACISM:>Industry standard. Even in the Biden DEI era, mission critical industries whether it was Intel INTC or ASML EUV semiconductor fabrication machines enforced selective policies against foreign nationals in certain core R&D divisions. Did you know about this? So just do what everyone else does>Slightly racist: maybe, hmm, no foreign people at all. Not in any division even the non-core R&D ones. No matter what security arrangements are in place, or firewalls, when the researchers are away from desks they might saunter over and see something... and they can always overhear canteen or hallway conversations (TOILET ESPIONAGE)>ULTRA RACIST you hire based only upon smell, skin tone, phrenological head/face dimensions and peculiar accents. This approach is actually honest, because it is actually how all interviewers decide upon seeing you within 3mins anyway>LITERAL GAY: only hire gays>LITERAL ANTI-GAY: no gays>NO UGLY: supermodels applicants only>THEOLOGICAL DISPUTATION: must delineate religious doctrineFinally, decide how much of your funding spent on remuneration. >MISERLY -10% funding>GENEROUS -15%>DECADENT ROCKSTAR ROCKET SCIENCE -25%Optionally, you may also >write in an INSPIRING SPACE RECRUITMENT SLOGAN
>>6314137>>you want experienced veterans in the workforce. Proven talent, with minimum 10 years space industry experienceEmphasis on "mission control" over R&DWe have the rockets, we need to set up launches.Racism : >Slightly racist: Ultra racist is counter-productive as we're in 2028 and some 3rd gen immigrants can do the job.>GENEROUS -15%Also it looks like the answer you wanted was "Hypersonic Ballute" for the technology.
>>6314065The lamentation of Star Wars is less of a hint, more of a distraction, and makes me think you are seeking a super simple answer like "How do you think we actually land on the moon in a proper orientation" or something dumb like that.If this is some weird "terraforming the moon" shit like kicking up dust/ice clouds with kinetic impactors and fucking with the albedo of the moon to create an atmosphere, I'm sorry to say none of those techs lead to what is needed to actually achieve that.I'll give it a think over, maybe. The cat videos call.>>6314069Unfathomably cool.>>6314071The DEI NGO activist incident has spooked the apparatchiks supporting Hongyue, overruling Von Braun's skirt chasing descendant. Alas...the legendary Antifa super soldiers will have to remain in the imaginations of gamers for awhile longer.>>6314137>Both the best and brightest recent graduates and veterans with years of experience. Just scoop up as much talent as possible.Supporting >>6314146 in the emphasis on internal security over R&D>Scoop at least one gal who looks like she was born underground for the boss>Slightly racist: maybe, hmm, no foreign people at all. Not in any division even the non-core R&D ones. No matter what security arrangements are in place, or firewalls, when the researchers are away from desks they might saunter over and see something... and they can always overhear canteen or hallway conversations (TOILET ESPIONAGE)>GENEROUS -15%
As you scrutinise the list of technologies, one of them appears strangely misplaced for a MOON BASE. An optical clock, and PNT Positioning, Timing, Navigation technology is essential - because you cannot "see" spacecraft, you can only rely upon ground station tracking technology, various methods of interferometry or Doppler shift, all of which rely upon almost infinitesimally demanding precision in timing and synchronisation. A common method is the hydrogen maser, yielding accuracy in order of magnitude of around 10^(-12) ... with improved microwave methods, perhaps stretching 10^(-16) yet it is surmised that optical lattice and laser cooling confinement methods might yield 10^(-18) and potentially more importantly for spacecraft: mass, dimensional, thermal and portability considerations as well. In NASA spacecraft, the execution of programs are commonly internally synchronised direct to onboard SCLK - the space clock drives every program and command sequence sent via uplink from Earth. So PNT technology: the clock is absolutely crucial.Similarly, opto-pyro ignition methods, with the improvement and miniaturisation advancements of fibre lasers, are easy to understand. In an Entry-Descent-Landing sequence on Mars, it would not be surprising to see between 70-120 pyro detonations - it is not just the heat shield being blown off - but a delicate series of micro calibrations and thrusters and often one-shot, irreversible jettisoning explosions. Any system which minimises the risk and need for explosives here is desirable.The foam research is slightly puzzling - but understanding the nature of foam is essential to life in microgravity. Mainly because, yes, it will involve drinking the recycled urine. So the properties of foam could aid in life support, the purification of waste and liquid products in various foam filtration techniques in space. Always remember to drink the urine! (QM: I think what this anon suggested >>6314014for 3D structure fabrication might possibly be valid too, but it is a bit advanced and sci-fi given the materials and properties of regolith available and the ISRU techniques at hand on the Moon. If you know of any NASA research into lunar foam houses let me know!)
>>6314146>HYPERSONIC BALLUTE>balloon fetish...?>SPACE INFLATABLE SOFTGOODSBy elimination, the hypersonic ballute... but there is barely any atmosphere on the Moon at all, a million billionth (10^-15) the concentration of Earth. On Mars, with atmospheric concentration at around 1% of Earth, ballutes would be of use in aerobraking and descent... but there is no atmosphere to use on the Moon?
>>6314146>>6314172>>6314203When we imagine spacecraft, the STAR WARs has engrained upon us the iconic Syd Mead designs -the hard edges and stabbing, sharp angularity of the Star Destroyer, or the elongated gunbarrel shroud of glinting needle lights and spire turrets of the James Cameron Sulaco in Aliens 2, what is known as metallic HARDSHELL construction. But what about an INFLATABLE SOFTGOODS habitable volume? Could such a thing exist? How embarrassing would it be, if you visited the Moon, and lived not in the hard-edged glistening cyber future, but a literal bouncy castle?As you contemplate this preposterous notion, with all your metallic sci-fi visions of bleak phallus cyber towers ruined by voluptuous, curvaceous bubbly space balloon fetishes, you realise even if by studying the inflatables the SOFTGOODS proposed living habitats do not come to pass, they would likely yield deep advances in the folding, unfolding, expanding and inflating and compacting arrangements of living habitats for space transportation, where every saved fraction of compartment space counts.Perhaps the entire SECRET MOON BASE is not a bouncy castle - but the docking tunnels are inflatable, or certain modular connector segments are inflatable. Or perhaps the inflatables are a temporary residence, whilst overseeing the 3d robots that print the permanent layers of walled regolith radiation shielding. You drink recycled urine and live in an irradiated tent-balloon. This is the future.https://www.nasa.gov/reference/jsc-surface-habitats/(...) NASA has extensive experience, history, and technical lessons learned from decades of development on Crewed Inflatable Softgoods. This expertise is available to partners to support design, modeling, analysis, and testing of inflatable softgoods structures. -Structural design and sizing of restraint layer for crewed inflatable elements-Expertise in design, development, and testing of in-space and surface inflatable softgoods including habitats, airlocks, and pressurized transfer tunnels-Material testing of softgoods including cold temperature flexure (...)https://gizmodo.com/sierra-space-burst-test-life-space-station-module-1851188371(QM: I hope this puzzle made sense! Anyway, now that you have hired the SPACE SCIENTISTS, you should allocate your TRL points. In 2028-early 2029 there is a window for MARS, if missed, the next is 26 months)>Choose which technologies to research and upgrade with TRLs(list here: >>6314069 , hopefully your hired SPACE SCIENTISTS know what they are doing...!)
>>6314202Was thinking of this kind of shenaniganshttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214860418307103However I fail to see how such precise timing is "essential" for a Moon Base. It is more crucial for Orbiter, but a harsh truth is Kalmann Filter is not good enough for positionnal interference due to the aggravating impact of noise over the double-integral.Our Moon Base is somewhere. We land "Nearby"? Good enough. Do you know of Computer system that react as fast as your precise clocks? Because you're limited to CPU frequency anyway - which is not limited by the clock itself but etching, which is its own can of wormss
How many TRL do we have again?
>>6314207Fuck the Mars launch, we aren't ready.>7 TRL to PNT Satellite>1 TRL to Power Beaming Satellite, just to see if developing it further prompts any interest from the world.Save the rest for now, until we discuss more/further developments emerge/we get more funding.
>>631420910.>>6314217>>6314207>Actually, fuck it! Toss the 2 remaining TRL onto the Legacy Soviet Lunar Lander. Having it ready to go for a launch is good. As is having it around to point to, to say "hey look guys, we have this ready, please invest in us!" when our next rocket explodes and we are at negative 1000% funding.
Throwing 8 TRL onto our Nuclear Thermal Rockets, and 2 onto the Lunar Lander is also an interesting idea.
>>6314208>How does the computer system match the optical clock frequency etcQM: This is a very good point! I have to confess I do not possess enough technical knowledge to fully know. My understanding is that all the program sequences are prepared beforehand (see this ancient pic related mission sequence excerpt from NASA) basically, the instructions are a predetermined series of UTC timestamps, sent in advance via uplink, move thruster this amount at some universal SCLK count time T, T+1, T+2 etc. in some future date; there is no realtime control. NASA calls this the clock coefficients. Because the spacecraft internal SCLK is synchronised to exact Earth SCLK, by the accurate hydrogen masers ?? the instructions execute in the future exactly and there are no latency issues with delays or speed-of-light travel, it is all determined and pre-calculated in advance (incorporating beforehand elapsed delays, signal sent RTLT, round trip light time). I am not sure if deep space operations spacecraft are even capable of real-time control because of the vast distance and latency (maybe there is some semi-autonomous execution?) I know however vaguely from my own background in investment management the VAMPIRE SORCERY that the quant hedge funds like Renaissance and HFTs (high frequency traders, they hire NASA rocket scientists) they are said to use atomic clocks to gain an edge on trading data and algorithmic execution from the pricing feeds from various exchanges, given the volumes and enormous back-and-forth real-time trades they execute at lightning speed, there clearly must be some means to exploit atomic clock processing edge, I just don't know the details I am afraid!Oh, and you also have +10 TRL points! You can allocate max up to 9 (Full readiness) on any concept you possess, from here. >>6314069You can also initiate some investment between 1-9 on any legacy or future concept from this list >>6312933 If there is some class of historical spacecraft that you feel is missing, or some near-futuristic concept you want to develop, you can write-in (I will research and download more NASA papers lol)>>6314217>Mars Launch, not readySo what you can do is because you also have LEGACY designs, you can send probes and observers and things it does not have to be a fully groundbreaking landmark manned colonisation. Remember the game title is called ROBONAUT heheAnyway, I will leave this allocation choice open for a while, for players to ponder, hehe
>>6314224Okay.>>6314207>>6314217>>6314218I changed my mind yet again. I think we ought to nail down a future concept and make it reality. Possessing the complete technology should earn us all sorts of financial opportunities. We already possess orbiter tech to get our first one in orbit, for use on Earth rather than Luna. Together, that should get us funded for the next step. Then we'll just slowly work on getting more orbital infrastructure up.>6 TRL to Power Beaming Satellite>2 TRL to Legacy Soviet Lunar LanderSave the rest. A pointless Moon landing just for attention could also earn us funding. Even if we don't actually put down any necessary infrastructure for a sustained presence.
Ok I discovered an annoying thing, apparently 4chan qst does not let you upload images exceeding 10000x10000 resolution? (not filesize) I uploaded a 4Mb topographic Moon map (image here) >>6312917 it was fine but somehow, the same 4Mb filesize 10000x10000 Mars map gives errors so I may have to split it. >>6314217>Mars Launch, preparation etcSo what you can choose to do is send missions to probe various possible landing sites on Mars, in preparation for a SECRET MARS BASE?? if you are on mobile I am very sorry but there are so many craters lol, to zoom in, change that setting that enables universal pinch zoom on any webpage on Firefox or chrome, you will have to zoom in A LOT to see anything, but this is the best I can do even with downscaling resolutionsHere is the Main Mercator part of Mars (incomplete, I will upload the polar regions separately shortly) 1 of 3
Here is the North Pole of Mars, to see where this lines up with the Mercator rectangle, look for the Stokes Crater at the very top right corner on the rectangular main map
Here is the South Pole of Mars, to see where this lines up, look for the Kuiper crater at the very bottom left corner of the rectangular main map.You can see Mars is very dramatically divided into 1/3 NORTHERN LOWLANDS (blue) and 2/3 SOUTHERN HIGHLANDs (orange in my enhanced colour chromatic saturation dramatic edit lol) you may wish to take this in consideration when chosing locations for probing / landing. The way to visualise these maps >>6314231>>6314232approximately is to imagine a spheroid Mars projected inside a cylindrical tube, the top and bottom circular "lids" are the polar regions. Obviously on the Mercator there is distance distortions as you approach the top and bottom etc (see Tissot indicatrix) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tissot%27s_indicatrixBut it is what it is. And obviously the map is a rolled up cylinder, so if you meander off to the far right, you end up back at the far left etc.You can of course also name alternative MOON MAP destinations to explore instead >>6312917
>>6314228I'll support the TRL allocation.Then, >Prepare a Mars Launch for the window>Warm up with a Moon Landing
>>6314231>>6314232>>6314233I have one final proposition if we want to go for the Mars probing/eventual landing. And I want your >>6314237 input.We'd either put 8 TRL into Nuclear Thermal Rocket or 9 into either Flyby or Cycler. This would be for a Mars probe, in preparation for an eventual Mars landing.Candidates would be...-Valles Marineris, some Hydraotes Colles there look viable with modern precision. Close to the Noctis Labyrinthus, for the scientific interest and access to the Tharses Montes and Olympus Mons, minerals, possible geothermal access.-Deuteronilus Mensae, for water-Margaritifer Terra, for water-Eddie crater, for proximity to Elysium Mons-Erebus Montes, for the same reason as above-Isidis Planitia, for the same reason as above. Also just a good landing site, which applies to some of the above as well.-Gale Crater, for above reasons.-Hellas Planitia, for being so low down and easy to brake into with lots of cargo.Some of these places may not make the cut, because of our whole SECRET MARS BASE thing, as some of these sites are sites of previous or future planned landings, the craters in particular.
>>6314263I'd say 9 in Cycler could set us very well? I like that idea anyway.Let's go for Margaritifier Terra for Water. Our Secret Base have to be Moon (first) so an Unmanned Mars Landing with a bit of useful Cargo + Orbiter set up could net us fund + institution interrest + let us set up a collaborative real-condition Mars Base experience so we can locate and steal tech for Moon Base?
>>6314380Okay, agreed, lets do it!>>6314207Final change, I swear. We've both agreed to put 9 TRL into Cycler.
>>6314380>>6314382>>6314380>>6314382You command your SPACE SCIENTISTS (astrodynamicists?) to calculate the complex hyperbolic escape trajectories and orbital harmonies needed to intersect the paths of Earth orbit with various approaches and Lyapunov parking loops around Sun-Mars-L1, L2 Lagrangian points. When you mention the mission is to probe for WATER for a SECRET MARS BASE (oops, shhh, it is a secret) one of your space scientists mentions that she believes it is possibly unlikely that you will find ice water near the Martian equator, at Margaritifier Terra, as it will probably have all sublimated or boiled off as the QM has a vague memory of reading that any water at that equatorial location would probably exist only in some deep borehole trapped beneath the crust, but the QM does not really know, as he has not personally visited Mars. She also complains that during your interview process, she was repeatedly harrassed by some rocket scientists who kept asking her something about whether her "hot gasses could be choked at the throat, to generate smoother thrust" she was not sure if this was truly about testing her knowledge of the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation, Taylor-Culick Flow and de Laval nozzles, or referred to something else that was entirely inappropriate.The MARTIAN HYDROLOGIST is on the verge of revealing what she believes to be an excellent location, there are literally pictures of it, a huge treasure heap of valuable water ice on Mars, just waiting to be exploited "For All Mankind" (ie whoever loots it first). She is just about to send you a futuristic hologram email full analysis in swept volume cyberfuture 3d display graphics (look, it is almost 2029, it is starting to get futuristic) an email with all the missions details, when...
>>6314421Oh no! She dies in a HORRIBLE ROCKET STATIC FIRE TESTING accident! How?! Do you have a SECRET SABOTEUR within your facilities? Is someone leaking information? Were you not sufficiently racist in your security screening interview process? Is this just the QM trying to obfuscate his lack of knowledge about Mars, or the beginning of another FIENDISH PUZZLE??>If you know the name of the location where the ICE TREASURE HOARD on Mars is located, write in the name, or link to the post in this game thread where the name was mentionedThe clue to the MARTIAN ICE TREASURE has been cited exactly once in this thread by name so far, so it should be easy to find by ctrl+f hehe. There is also a clue in this post here... >>6314421>You definitely have a secret saboteur. What to do about this? Could they even have been to blame for your previous catastrophic rocket explosion accident? How can you tell or detect if someone is potentially leaking your secret mission information to a third party? If you have a plan for detecting whether there is a secret saboteur at your mission planning facilities, write-in. You think carefully about the list of destinations proposed by the anon here... (QM: excellent research by the way!) >>6314263 is there some way you could use this?>No, it was just an accident. You cannot attribute every mishap and failure and error to saboteurs. Continue with the mission, and plan for PAYLOADQM: you can write in what instrumentation or devices your CYCLER spacecraft will deploy from Mars. The way this works is you do not have to build it yourself, you use your scientists to contact the academic community. (Yes there will be an institutions roll later) They will then liaise with various partner organisations who will petition to hitch a ride on your Mars spacecraft mission. You can write-in an idea and I can look something up (eg it could be like an impactor probe to test Martian soil, or a rover or solar drone helicopter, or ISRU type robot) and also you can specify if there is a nation you wish to partner with (see the launch site list, or Artemis vs Russia China ILRS here >>6313005 )
>>6314422You talk about an Ice comet, but on the moon...>How can you tell or detect if someone is potentially leaking your secret mission information to a third party?Canary trap. Create some "new groundbreaking techboxes not to be tempered with" [hundreds of them] hidden in a safe somewhere, and see which one is tempered with.>NationThe french. Got a launch site, and less harmful than USA/China/Russia to our greater plan
>>6314469>"Canary Trap..."This is exactly it! You suspect from your last conversation with the (now deceased, sadly horrifically immolated) MARTIAN HYDROLOGIST that one of the ROCKET SCIENTISTs who interviewed and hired her must be to blame... one of them must be a secret saboteur, who is trying to abscond with the plans for your Mars mission. So using the eight unique map locations provided by the anon here >>6314263 , you quickly send them out to eight suspected individuals, and sit back with your keylogging spyware surveillance at the ready; as you sit and wait and watch, lo and behold, a PERVERTED ROCKET SCIENTIST is swiftly caught:(PERVERTED ROCKET SCIENTIST, typing unsent draft email on "encrypted" unauthorised personal device)-I have it! It was all so easy! I made it look like an accident! And I have the mission location: the destination is Margaritifer Terra. The fools! If only they knew, there is so much water ice easily available in just that one single Mars crater alone, named after...At this point, your corporate security (space mercenaries?) burst in and haul him away from his desk terminal. Oh well.Whilst you believe you have probably neutralised the secret saboteur - and if there are any others, they will probably be lying low for the time being, after the PERVERTED ROCKET SCIENTIST was so shamefully and flagrantly caught - you are swiftly ambushed again by a new, terrible threat... The SPACE INSURER
Rolled 21 (1d100)The SPACE USURER... wait, insurer, is very displeased as he saunters into your conference rooms, as he has been scrutinising the loss history of your space endeavour, which currently stands at 1 catastrophic explosion, plus 1 horribly burned and melted Martian Hydrologist. Using the advanced economic analysis technique of drawing a line through two points, the SPACE INSURER performs sophisticated Monte Carlo statistical hazard modelling calculations and extrapolations and has decided to raise your insurance premium to -20% FUNDING!(The SPACE INSURER attacks you with 1d100+20 )>Reply: Wait, do I have... insurance? Space insurance? What is that? Is that even legally required?>You must battle this SPACE USURER with your power of INSTITUTIONSDrawing on your friendly academic contacts in the space industry, manufacture the most powerful space weapons you have ever conceived, the most destructive arsenal of weaponry known to the annihilation of mankind... pie charts and bar charts and things. Try to demonstrate that your pattern of spectacular launchpad explosions and horrifying incendiary workplace rocket fuel accidents is not really excessive or even exceptional in the overall space industry. Look, if SpaceX is allowed to explode four times...surely...you should, like, LOWER our premium?>roll 1d100+17 (institutions)>Reply: Well, technically, the explosion occurred on the ground. Not in space. So there.>Reply: I am sure after touring our facilities, and inspecting our extensive schedule of safety and testing checklists and oversight personnel, and adherence to all ISO standards and reviews and compliance procedures... I am sure you will agree that there is really no need for any additional loss recovery...>Roll 1d100. If you roll under 45 (Phase D + E) The SPACE INSURER sulkily agrees only to a premium of -5% FUNDING>(Reply as above, and) Not only do we possess the most rigorous scheme of safety and compliance checks in the industry, today I would like to unveil our latest technological innovation before you, right now! This experimental nuclear rocket is perfectly safe. Why only yesterday, our expert Martian Hydrologist was looking around inside, look, just here... (activate Nuclear Rocket static fire test as the SPACE USURER peers inside)>Reply: Pah! You call one piddling little explosion a loss? A danger? Where is your risk tolerance? I heard some American satellite space operators don't even have any insurance at all. We have extensive flight heritage with proven history of reliable operations! For instance, our newest designs are mostly "recovered" from the Soviet Union! From Ukraine! You know, where... Chernobyl happened. So not dangerous at all...
QM: also, I do have one piece of good news. I actually went back and reviewed the NASA papers and heap of research pdfs, and the concept of the SPACE CYCLER apparently does not necessarily refer to any particular design, it is more about a specific orbital trajectory as depicted in the images here>>6314421>>6312910using the Lagrangians and libration point loops and periapsis Poincare maps and things) so technically, any orbital spacecraft can become a cycler so long as if it follows that class of orbital trajectory. With my upgrade system, if you wanted a rover or solar helicopter drone or something obviously you cannot turn an orbital spacecraft into that, you would have to spend and invest TRL points, but an orbiter craft is and can become a cycler spacecraft (if you succeed the mission and achieve the insertion trajectory dice roll at launch)So what I will do is this: if you can succeed in the swiftly approaching LAUNCH WINDOW, your legacy craft ORBITER gets upgraded to CYCLER automatically (only if you succeed the roll) and I can finally upgrade you and upload some of my more advanced futuristic looking spacecraft pictures. Only if you don't explode again. So if you want you can spend the +10 TRL points on nuclear thermal rockets etcPic related might be what your SPACE SCIENTISTS come up with, for a nuclear thermal rocket-powered deep space operations spacecraft on a cycler trajectory
Rolled 40 + 17 (1d100 + 17)>>6314502>>You must battle this SPACE USURER with your power of INSTITUTIONS>Drawing on your friendly academic contacts in the space industry, manufacture the most powerful space weapons you have ever conceived, the most destructive arsenal of weaponry known to the annihilation of mankind... pie charts and bar charts and things. Try to demonstrate that your pattern of spectacular launchpad explosions and horrifying incendiary workplace rocket fuel accidents is not really excessive or even exceptional in the overall space industry. Look, if SpaceX is allowed to explode four times...surely...you should, like, LOWER our premium?>>roll 1d100+17 (institutions)
I'll wait on other anon for which crater got water on.So what about spending 7 of our TRL on the PNT Satellite? The mission can be something like :>Send Rocket (Legacy Orbiter)>Deploy 1 PNT on Mars>Land the Lander (Legacy Soviet Lunar Lander)
>>6314522>Rolled 40 + 17 = 57 > 21 SUCCESS, you inflict 36 POWERPOINT DAMAGE!Gathering up your shirtsleeves, you unleash the overpowering ambuscade of your fearsome space arsenal of bar charts, as the SPACE USURER cowers beneath the earth-shaking bombardment of powerpoint slides and mildly misaligned corporate font text boxes. First, you blame Elon Musk, everything is his fault. Because SpaceX is lowering launch costs, a horde of small payload venture capital-funded satellite launch entrants have crowded into the industry, often with a lack of operating experience, or established proven space design that adds to hazard rates and exacerbates market volatility. Many of these smaller operators are uninsured and only operate in LEO for close terrestrial imaging or satellite communications, and their enormous numbers of microsatellite or cubesat constellations contribute to a crowded orbital regime elevating the risk of partial and total loss. As you are a highly competent scientific institution with large payloads designed for cislunar space and not LEO, their elevated risk profile should not apply. Finally, with your capabilities in KINETIC PHYSICAL WEAPON- er..., repair and servicing rendezvous proximity operations, you are in fact contributing to the development of satellite maintenance and longevity, extending the operating life of all orbital assets and hence reducing loss rates and risk of debris / collision, thus benefitting the entire industry.
>>6314421>water, Margaritifier TerraBased on the rock layers, there could be water trapped within the first meter of "top soil". To be fair, it wasn't my first choice, I personally prefer the northern landing sites, both for water, flatness, proximity to other locations that have minerals/possible energy resources, or those that are deeper, for easier landing.>hintAll the names seem to be of lunar craters, unless the hint is in the lewd euphemism, but I don't have the patience for that.>>6314422da fuk? Poor gal. I'm sadder for the holomail though, lost to time. rip.Also, there are so many places where water is suspected on Mars, near some of the places lifted above, or elsewhere, I'm not sure why we need this specific location. Unless this is some puzzle mechanic to get us a guaranteed source of water at our landing location.>I guess I'll support the canary trap, but maybe also give off false info inside one of these mystery "techboxes", that indicates that we intend to land somewhere else other than our actual sites of interest. Maybe near the north pole for water, or Hellas Planitia. Then we can catch the spy, and the customer of the information, by how they react.>nationFrance is fine. If there are political issues, then Kenya or South Korea instead maybe.>>6314500Aaaaannndd.....nevermind, I should finish reading before writing up my reactions.>>6314422>Is it the ice treasure in Rossby Crater?Gustaf de Laval -> Carl-Gustaf Rossby -> Rossby Crater?>>6314502...Catholics were right, usury is a sin. We should bring back crucifixion.>You must battle this SPACE USURER with your power of INSTITUTIONSWe'll go with anon's roll. >>6314522>>6314519Yeah, I was wondering about that. Not because of any special knowledge on my part. It is just...shouldn't any craft be able to orbit, assuming every is done correctly/you have the fuel budget?>>6314524Yeah, this works. Only issue is that I'm not sure the lunar lander is fit for flying, or landing on Mars. We may have to save the lunar lander for...well, Luna.What we could also do, is finish our power beaming satellite. Completing the tech should get the cashflow going, as we can farm out our services/satellites as a provider to those who want to use power beaming for purposes on Earth instead. Or have someone else handle some of the rocket launches, for our satellites. We could also send a couple to Luna/Mars, to prep for the whole secret base thing, since we'll eventually need that infrastructure in place anyways.So, either 7 on PNT, or 6 on Power Beaming Satellite works for me. I'm fine with either, so if you don't reply before Souv's next post, then he can take this as my tacit agreement to 7 on PNT.
>>6314522>>6314553As the reverberations from the blast radius of your BAR CHART BOMBARDMENT recede, the SPACE INSURER is so taken aback that for many seconds he cannot respond. However, eventually he offers the following opportunity: perhaps with your space industry INSTITUTIONAL prowess and research abilities, maybe you would agree to establishing a regulatory regime. Perhaps you should make SPACE INSURANCE mandatory for all space firms, but furthermore, establish an administrative oversight regime of licenses, authorisations and compliance certifications, legally required for every space-affiliated entrant. For instance, such a bureaucratic licensing regime might even apply to an entirely terrestrial company merely leasing premises or office space to a firm that operated in the space industry...As you reflect on these proposals, you wonder if this is a form of LAWFARE, it might even be more powerful and insidious and enduring than even open warfare. Your organisation is already compliant with the institutional regime of space insurance, but by increasing these administrative certification and legalistic hurdles, it could serve to keep out any future competitors, rivals, entrants and challengers. >Agree with the SPACE INSURER, implement burdensome bureaucratic regime: I intend to become Emperor Of Mars, and monopolise all of space. All of space belongs to Me. Even as I deign to consider your pitiable proposal, Earthling, know that you are beneath Me. Now grovel!>Er... I just... want to launch rockets and spaceships and things. So, um, maybe yes?>Yes, but pay me +36% funding as an industry consulting fee (QM: this is the POWERPOINT DAMAGE you inflicted, with pie charts)>Er... maybe, no?>NO! Space is for all of humanity! Stop trying to commercialise everything with your predatory space usury!
>>6314556My eyes are glazing over from a mere glance at the charts, and they aren't even hard to read. It's instinctual.Hmm...on one hand, Hongyue wansui! On the other hand, "For all Humankind!" Making it harder for humanity as a whole to enter the market could backfire, slowing and weakening interest in space. But we could hog the spotlight, and all the remaining interest and resources.>Agree with the SPACE INSURER, implement burdensome bureaucratic regime: I intend to become Emperor Of Mars, and monopolise all of space. All of space belongs to Me. Even as I deign to consider your pitiable proposal, Earthling, know that you are beneath Me. Now grovel!>Yes, but pay me +36% funding as an industry consulting fee (QM: this is the POWERPOINT DAMAGE you inflicted, with pie charts)Space is ours!
>>6314554Nice point on Lunar lander... However, picrel is TRL listSo "9" should be some stuff already flying and mass-produced.Maybe the system should only allow us to develop until TRL 6 and "missions/flight" would grant us +1 TRL by experimental data until TRL 9 which turn things in autosuccess?
>>6314559+1
>>6314563If QM thinks a TRL 6 launch grant us a free +1 TRL (as I feel should be) maybe we should respec our TRL, even if it retcon and is "disadvantageous" for us the mechanic would be closer to reality
>>6314563Huh, good point. Though I think part of why the Souv's TRL system is the way it is, is to make it work with d100s. Like the Ukraine roll >>6313797>>6314567I'm fine with whatever. I do like your change.Alternatively, TRL over 6 should get us certain bonuses to launch. While I like the idea of autosuccess at 9, I feel like it takes the risk of space launch out of our quest. It could still work, we could have no issue funding/procuring/manufacturing another rocket rapidly, the issues would shift to be timelines and missing certain orbital opportunities after a failed space launch, rather than risking insolvency, though we could still be outcompeted or lawsuited into the ground.
>>6314571well, 9/10 success (or 99/100..) could had some "hazard" but TRL 9 is supposedly mastered.Truly, with necessary "Launch XP" to improve our TRL on launch this would feel deserved anyway.But I'm not here to talk game design with Souv anyway
>>6314563>TRLs (oh no, the space usurers have unleashed the BAR CHARTS noooooo)I have some bad news for you anon, as you know I used to be a fund manager VAMPIRE SORCEROR so I have stockpiles of the thermonuclear bar chart pie chart weapons, here is a table from Roland Berger cost benefit analysis on how many years it takes to advance 1 TRL lol, it can be up to 16yrs +/- 11yrs lol which isn't fun. And as already mentioned in this game, nuclear rockets like NERVA had the theories ready in the 1950s, the prototype was made and somewhat tested in the 1970s, they planned for the moonbase by 1981. But I guess when the Soviet Union imploded they did detente for a bit instead and abandoned it. The Lockheed DRACO one just got cancelled a few months ago with the NASA cuts lol, maybe it will be more than a century and a half after their invention until we will witness them, if everYou are of course absolutely correct concerning how only TRL 7-8 is really an operational prototype. However for the purposes of gameplay I just borrowed that NASA 1-9 TRL categorisation, I am vaguely and loosely using it as a sort of tech currency for the various upgrades.There is a phenomenon (you can see it in the valley dip in the chart curve) where TRL 3 is the Valley Of Death ie researched, but no funding, stuck there forever, I was going to modestly incorporate that phenomenon
>>6314563>>6314576Here is the actual TRL table for Power Beaming Satellites (known as SBSP, Space Based Solar Power) from a study for the ESA by Roland Berger, combine these levels with the table above and you can see we might be waiting for a while hehe There are some venture capital funded companies trying and testing it, I would not be the first to rush in and invest in them hehe. As you know, the era of Trump is all about the Department OF WAR lol yay, all that Biden era Obama climate change investment hype has long since ended, so the impetus for solar never mind space based solar is probably a bit diminished. Furthermore, if you saw the news around Orsted (wind farms, I remember when the company rebranded from its old name DONG ENERGY lol lol) where the Trump administration randomly outright cancelled all their contracts for an 80% built wind farm with no warning, investors superpanicked lol (I think the contract was later reinstated, but it was not ideal) so the entire solar / renewables etc environmental angle is tarnished. But for the purpose of this game - LASERS IN SPACE lol, it is fine you do not need to incorporate any of this... (or should you?)https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/orsted-resumes-work-us-offshore-wind-farm-after-stop-work-order-lifted-2025-09-24/also, proof that this company was once really actually named DONG ENERGY. After they rebranded I insisted on calling it "Dong" on every occasionhttps://orsted.com/en/company-announcement-list/2017/10/162355402.10.2017 09:46DONG Energy to change company name to Ørsted
>>6314584(dong means penis)
>>6314576>However for the purposes of gameplay I just borrowed that NASA 1-9 TRL categorisation, I am vaguely and loosely using it as a sort of tech currency for the various upgrades.This is true and understandable. I just wanted to suggest something that made sense for me as a part of the collaborative storytelling experience and mechanics but you're the QM, QM.
lol shit, I forgot that Souv gives "OOC" talk/hints in qtg. I haven't played a Souv quest since his dungeon crawl one, though I participated in everyone prior. I can't remember for sure, but I think he used to spam the quest thread to the point where others (it might have been me, I can't remember) complained about it, the first thread was like that for sure. Then in the vampire wizard one, he made a thread for the minigame/OOC chat, and I think I said he should bring that to qtg instead, or just keep it in the main thread.I almost never check qtg, I wasn't aware that he had a rep for rambling until months had past since his first trio of quests.Anyways, now I'm rambling in my reminiscence, as to to qtg hints>For All MankindOh no...is it a location from the TV show? THE ONE THAT I HAVEN'T WATCHED? Noooooooo...>>6314422>>6314133It's Korolev Crater, isn't it?
Anyway... I realise my puzzles are just super unfair lol, to be honest this ice crater one is actually a bit lame, because I never even knew it myself I just plagiarised it from a TV show I read about and never watched. So I will just tell you? Basically, the clue was in this phrase "For All Mankind">>6313790>>6314421I think this anon was on the verge of getting it, realising that ice water was at the poles of Mars >>6314554 (just like on the Moon) and also that it must be a crater named after some significant person etcSo the reason why I went on that elaborate rant on the Cold War Space Race and all the people involved is because... I was trying to set up this elaborate lame puzzle lol. Anyway this is a picture of it, it actually is a place on Mars and has been mapped at the North Pole. I just realised if I type the name lol I will have ruined one of the clues because it will no longer only appear once when you ctrl+f it in this thread. But this is the place. And if you still cannot get it, just search "For All Mankind Mars Crater" and all will be revealed etc. Look at all that ice!
>>6314591My guy...I just guessed it >>6314590
>>6314590Yes, you got it! lol I uploaded before I refreshed heheI think I shouldn't override the anon's original choice here for the Margatifier Terra former alluvial plains, I had a slight panic lol because quite honestly I know nothing about that region, whether scientifically there is water or not etc. however I did know that Korolev crater definitely has permanent ice water (bear in mind Mars atmosphere pressure, density all different, boiling point of water I think is -20 deg C on Mars ? Hence equatorial sublimation) So if you know what your mission is, and you are launching from the French / ESA site, I can set up the launch rolls tomorrow!
>>6314596>SublimationI'm aware, 1m subsurface deposits were kind of what I was looking for, as I hewed to landing sites closer to areas of geological interest, for the science funding and minerals needs for production. Hence my interest in Valles Marineris, Tharses Montes, Elysium Mons, etc. Landing at the poles would net us ice, which would help sustain life and get us fuel, but not much else. We need more than fuel to do actually interesting shit.Also, I vaguely recall there being some instances of frost caught on instruments of rovers or something. If there's frost like on Luna, or some moons, we could microwave it for water. Wouldn't be enough for fuel, but could sustain personnel for a time, maybe. Likewise, subsurface water caught in hydrated rocks could be heated to extract water.>Margatifier TerraEh, I'm fine with landing here, I suggested it after all, but I'm also fine with changing. >>6314524could indicate that anon is fine with deferring our landing site to me, though I think he is actually saying that he'll rely on me to find the ICE TREASURE.>Sticking to our choiceBut...>>6314422 comes after >>6314380 >>6314382Why are you offering a puzzle/reward after we've already made the choice you are now sticking to, if we aren't gonna get anything out of it for guessing or aren't gonna use it? I'm not too fussed, since I don't really like Korolev Crater as a base site, or at least a main base site, we can make multiple eventually, but still.
Damn, Jesus Christ, this quest is high effort. I've been following along somewhat, and while I don't really have my bearings yet, I wanna weigh in and mentionOne of, if not the most lucrative form of money that could be earned on the moon would be high efficiency, low power and low maintenance computing.Using the power beaming satellites and on-ground silicon solar panels, a refinery using redox reactions and thermal gasification could refine the base materials of Aluminium, Silicon, Oxygen, Titanium, Magnesium and Iron.From there, a mixture of human workers on-site and machine helpers could set up a production facility.The major advantages of a data centre on the moon are that the low temperature would provide better heat management, as well as allow for high temperature superconductors such as LaNiO3 (Oxonickelates) to transport lossless power throughout the facility. Along with the lower temperature, this makes the processors somewhat more efficient.Using the processed Aluminium, titanium and magnesium, machinery necessary for later expeditions could be manufactured on site instead of being sent via rocket, as well as the silicon and oxygen able to be turned into glass for potential 5D optical storage media, or just, you know, glass for construction and base silicon for Wafers which low gravity has been studied to improve problems with defects and impurities in.I don't have any concrete numbers right now, but if I were to guess? You could probably run an equivalent data centre to Earth using 10% of the energy for the same amount of given processing power. That would be my biggest pitch.
Also Korolev has the same problem that the poles in general do. Low temperatures and low sunlight. We'd need to either establish a power beaming satellite that goes over the poles, or send a nuclear-equipped rover/base site. Solar power would be a no go except in the summer, navigating would be both more treacherous than elsewhere and hard to do because of low light conditions. Inadequate sunlight will kill our the whole idea of solar powered infrastructure and beaming it around, and the cold drains batteries, even in a vacuum. Boiling CO2 and shifting ice sheets will also be a problem for movement. I like the north...just not that far north.
>>6314612Wow. Great idea. Welcome to the quest, smart anon.
>>6314612wow, thank you for the detailed scientific analysis! I was not even aware of that LaNiO3 (Oxonickelates) superconductor phenomenon, it is very interesting and promising! I do agree with what you mentioned, which is why there is an ORBITAL DATACENTRE future concept hehe (it can be a lunar datacentre)Nearly every concept in this game is referencing actual real world science research or press releases, eg the lunar reactorhttps://www.reuters.com/business/energy/china-led-lunar-base-include-nuclear-power-plant-moons-surface-space-official-2025-04-23/>SHANGHAI, April 23 (Reuters) - China is considering building a nuclear plant on the moon to power the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) it is planning with Russia, a presentation by a senior official showed on Wednesday.>China aims to become a major space power and land astronauts on the moon by 2030, and its planned Chang’e-8 mission for 2028 would lay the groundwork for constructing a permanent, manned lunar base. (...)and the US moon railway is this https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/space/lunar-railroadThere exists an amazing, incredible 32 page sci-fi novel written by LMT (remember, Lockheed / ULA builds all the actual US military ICBM-derived moon launch rockets, such as Atlas V, that carried the LCROSS mission I mentioned which bombed the Moon >>6312917 ) If you have the time for a 32 page sci-fi novel, I strongly recommend everyone read this,https://lockheedmartin.com/lunar-architecture-novella it is simultaneously the most amazing best and most accurate sci-fi I have ever seen, but also hilariously and almost naively, comically optimistic and Panglossian HAPPY FUTURE, like if Voltaire wrote a space astronaut Candide. I especially enjoyed the bit where Lockheed imagines how future astronauts might navigate the (never mentioned explicitly, but clearly China/Russia) contested lunar region - it is very peaceful!! There is no mention of the bone loss or blinding eye cataracts from radiation or the space contractors huddled in the tiny moon bubble-tent drinking the recycled urine etc. >>6314207I used to meet LMT a lot I know why they and NOC did this, from the timing of those press releases it was clearly because of the DOGE / Elon Musk threat of looming budget cuts to space programs etc. But still, some amazing speculative future moon sci-fipic related from the Ad Astra moon battle sequence
>>6314612>TEMPERATURE on Moon etc, is this free datacentre cooling???I think it is around -133 deg C in shadow and +121 in daylight. If you read the LMT moon novella, >>6314720 they warn PSR (permanent shadow region) as dangerous and off-limits. There are also moonquakes? and razor-sharp moon dust. Main issue for moon datacentre might be replacement and re-servicing of computer parts (it is why regular cycler re-supply logistics so crucial!) I am not too knowledgeable on thermodynamics and cooling, but if you have ever watched The Expanse, there is a famous and supercontroversial scene where they depict a Belter (spacer - born, impoverished asteroid miner used to ultra harsh living) who opens his astronaut helmet into hard vacuum for like 5 seconds just to rub his eyes or something. They did it just to counteract those standard sci-fi scenes where if you vent into space you freeze into a solid icicle or explosively decompress etc. https://www.syfy.com/the-expanse/photos/the-science-of-the-expanse-season-1-episode-6So I don't really know if you had a supercomputer cluster in say lunar sunlight at +121 deg C and just some insulation and radiating thermal fins and heatsinks, if that would be enough to cool it
So if you are trying to imagine some of the potential payload ideas for either the Moon or Mars, here are NOC slides for their lunar rail concept they presented to DARPA. https://www.darpa.mil/sites/default/files/attachment/2024-12/northrop-grumman-luna-10.pdfThe railway is needed precisely because as this anon mentioned, >>6314617the sites where you find resources eg ice, water, metals etc are in frozen craters where there is no sunlight or solar power. So the robots go there to gather the materials but they need to be transported back close to the reactor for processing ISRU and where the robots rechargeThe ISRU robots are surveyor, excavator, hauler, compactor, assembler, manager. (For some reason, both LMT and NOC seem to adamantly imagine solar panels on the moon as being upright / vertical in contrast to the Ad Astra moon chase gunfight near the solar farm, >>6314720I don't know why you would want vertical standing panels is it because of the lunar inclination / tilt to the sun?)Anyway, the way I imagined any colonisation is nuclear reactor first (maybe somehow the thermal nuclear reactor rocket engine lands, and forms the base?) which then powers the robots that setup all your ISRU 3d printed structures like landing pads etc for logistics supply runs to procure the solar panels that then power your construction and everything else etc. Whilst the "nuclear reactor on moon" step sounds difficult I think it is very achievable, many satellites are radioisotope decay atomic battery powered so if you just landed that on the moon you semi-accomplished it (obviously it is harder if you are going for a full fission reactor etc)
>>6314734In terms of the company that actually builds these things, there is a venture called ICON making 3d moon printers (search Icon project Olympus) here is their DARPA presentationhttps://www.darpa.mil/sites/default/files/attachment/2024-12/icon-luna-10.pdfI found this slightly amusing because the US has not really built many railways on Earth recently, but maybe there will be one built by DARPA on the moon because otherwise CHINA nooooICON Project Olympus had an interesting idea for a business model based upon charging for lunar road access (ie using the roads and landing pads 3d printed by their robots) generally the business plans I have seen are utility-like, ie charging for nuclear reactor power, air/oxygen, water, heat, roads/landing pads, compute power, etc. It is always worth remembering that in every space sci-fi setting, the two most important crucial worldbuilding elements are 1/ drink urine >>63142072/ SPACE USURY>>6314502>>6314553>>6314556lol ok I will stop uploading mind-melting powerpoints now and try to prepare the next choice update lol. pic related is Icon Project Olympus space usury commercial ecosystem moon domination plan
>>6314502>>6314522>>6314553>>6314556>>6314559In the aftermath of your victorious battle against the SPACE USURER, you are troubled by introspective ruminations on the nature of technological vs economic supremacy. Is it really true, that in the Darwinistic struggle for competitive survival and domination, the best always wins? Is it the really the best technology at the frontier that determines the aspirations of humanity, or are people instead insidiously shaped by other, invisible forces? Your engineers tell you tales from the forgotten myths of ancient aviation, the Earth of the last century - how the plane that was once the pride of Britain and France, le Concorde, a plane that flew twice as fast as others was commercially defeated by cheaper, wide-body American aircraft, carrying four times the passengers - Boeing 747s, the very same company that also launches spacecraft. Is it better to build rockets and spacecraft, or to merely build regulations profiting from spacecraft - which is more worthwhile?
Somehow, by merely imagining your ascension towards your rightful place as Space-Emperor Of Mars, the mere whisper of these secret private desires into the ears of the SPACE USURERs has caused others to begin to perceive your great destiny. Perhaps it was your massive industry-wide hiring of SPACE SCIENTISTS and engineers, but word has gotten out that you are amassing a very significant portfolio of interplanetary expedition technologies, perhaps even with the unspoken support and tacit backing of unseen shadowy DEFENSE LOBBYISTs, and you are inextricably aligned to a soaring trajectory of celestial domination and greatness. Furthermore, your institutional collaboration with the SPACE USURERs results in the creation of a regulatory regime, with terms and standards invented, defined and overseen by your own scientists and engineers, to the extent that it is almost impossible for anyone to even speak about space, without invoking the nomenclature, the very words, concepts, terminology and invocations that form the binding RITES OF SPACE that you and the SPACE USURERS have conspired to bring forth...Is this the technosorcerous power of the SPACE USURERs? What benevolence is this? And what could they possibly want in return?As a consequence, all of a sudden you are beset by an imploring horde of entities all pleading desperately to join and share in your great fortune, and everyone is throwing money at you.
FUNDING: 0%=-16%-15% (hired space scientists, generous remuneration)-5% (space insurance premium, fees lowered from victorious powerpoint battle)+36% (consulting fees from imposing onerous burdensome regulatory LAWFARE regime of mind-numbing legal compliance of bureaucratic standards and procedures on competitors, rivals and potential entrants, at the instigation of and in collaboration with the SPACE USURERs)QM: I realised I made a careless mistake I forgot to add the modifier of +20 here >>6314502>>6314553to the space usurer attack roll, you still would have won anyway>>6314522 rolling 57 > 41 = 21 +20 but as this was a mistake and oversight on my part, I give you the full benefit of that gain. In reality the space usurers are far more powerful than the Space NGOs, but maybe you were fortunate enough to encounter a particularly snivelling grovelling pathetic underpowered one!In this moment of precarious, cosmic balance, brought forth by the occult and unnatural rites of space usury, you gain +1D100 FUNDING!Yet somehow, your INSTITUTIONS falls to -7% ... this is so unfair! Surely, increasing laws and regulations should improve institutions?? Why? How?!Of the many, many petitioning companies desperately grovelling and imploring to be considered for your imminent space launch technological evaluations, there are TWO that in particular come to salient attention:
The "Lunar Transportation" CompanyWhen the conference call arrives on-screen for this CEO, you are surprised to be greeted by a somewhat familiar face: it is none other than the (former) DEFENSE LOBBYIST, who once offered you nuclear rockets and much-needed funding, but it appears she has now switched affiliations, and is leading a space startup venture of her own.The LUNAR TRANSPORT CEO describes plans for a very specific form of logistical conveyance, one that would greatly aid in nurturing the burgeoning future needs of space infrastructure with a wide variety of transferrable applications. You have to admit, you don't fully understand what she is describing - there are a lot of scientific terms - but it is some form of "electromagnetic conveyance", mounted on the Moon, which because of the unique absence of lunar atmosphere, will support the logistics of delivering lunar resources into orbit, either for assembly there, or re-export back to Earth.
The LUNAR CEO (former DEFENSE LOBBYIST) sounds very excited and impassioned by this future transportation project, and you cannot help but become mildly entranced and mesmerised by the way the delicate muscles of her throat and face shift in animation as she describes her vision for the future of the Moon. Has she had some work done? De-aged? Is this that Deep-Plane, "Forever-35 Face" treatment all the beauty brokers, ENTs and face doctors are enthusiastically talking about and promoting? Cutting deep beneath the SMAS (superficial musculoaponeurotic system) into the layer of muscle, fat and fascia beneath the skin, freeing the pull of the face whilst preserving the blood flow... Bleph, browlift, shaving the submandibular glands to reduce jowling with age... she looks so healthy and lovely and naturally youthful! You feel the heat rising to your face a little... And all she wants is some minor research collaboration, that costs nothing, just in return for approvals and licenses and certifications and things, from your joint SPACE USURER regulatory scheme...>Reply: Let's have sex. Then I'll decide>Reply: Um, ... er, moon, electromagnetic, er rail? Ok, approved! Has anyone ever told you - you are really, really pretty!>Screech hysterically: You fool! Have you never heard of Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress? You want to mount an ELECTROMAGNETIC RAILGUN on the MOON?? To shoot things into orbit at Earth? Are you insane?? When the Moon People achieve economic independence they will rebel and use your railgun to kill everyone on the entire planet!! You would think Americans would know about rebellions and indepedence! So no! Absolutely no! No RAILGUNS!>Reply: Yes, but only if I am permitted to build a SECRET MOONBASE in the shape of a swastika, that can be seen by everybody from everywhere on Earth>Reply: What is wrong with your face?>Reply: I had a SECRET SABOTEUR at my rocket testing facilities, that was causing some difficulties. As a former DEFENSE LOBBYIST, do you know how I should deal with that? Can you help me run polygraph tests and national security clearance interviews on all my newly hired employees, to make sure they are approved, I am being Slightly Racist enough, and such accidents never happen again?>Reply: YOU! It was YOU! You were the one who sabotaged my rocket testing, and murdered my MARTIAN HYDROLOGIST. But why??>Write-in...
At the very end of the long queue of waiting conference participants, you see a Gentlemanly Indonesian representative, who has been waiting patiently all the while, and finally it is now his turn to be heard. This Indonesian gentleman is a representative from INASA, the Indonesian Space Agency, the successor to LAPAN (Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional) a former space research institute and policymaking body that was dismantled in 2021 but has now been reconstituted by Presidential decree under this new name of INASA. You frown a little as you recall that Indonesia has a very sizeable and significant population, approaching 290m people now in 2028, from 285m or so in 2025, and GDP at purchasing power parity of over USD 5T equivalent, ranking it the fourth most populous countries in the world with Jakarta the second most populous area. Nonetheless, the country is still developing, per capita GDP is only USD5000 or so, but the people are as determined and hardworking as can be found anywhere in the world, seeking to better their own lives and prospects for their children and future generations. Most importantly for space and scientific research and engineering, Indonesia ranks highly in the sheer number of annual university mathematics and science graduates, often in the top 5 positions, alongside China, India, the US and Russia.The Gentlemanly Indonesian Representative of INASA proposes a coordinated plan of research exchange scientific collaboration and development. He explains that Indonesia has overcome much of the macroeconomic turmoil of the past, with the relocation of the capital to Nusantara finally completed now in 2028, and the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund Danantara that intends to fully focus upon the welfare and betterment of Indonesian citizens, with the establishment of space industries and international collaboration as a government priority and focus.>Reply: Where is Indonesia? Is Nusantara from Lord Of The Rings?>Reply: Well, this is the Chinese thing. All that win-win cooperation Community Of Common Destiny For Mankind sloganeering. hmmm. I suppose yes>Reply: Yes, but you cannot join the US-led space Artemis Accords. Agree to this and we can collaborate>Reply: Aren't you building a new spaceport? Give it to us, and I will think about it>Reply: I will accept if you answer me this one question - how does Indonesia feel about SPACE GAYS?>Reply: Sovereign Wealth Fund, hmmm... Pay me +50% Funding, and I will get back to you>Reply: No, I am sorry, our corporate policy is to be Slightly Racist. You are on your own>Reply: No! You are trying to steal our SPACE SECRETS! Go away!>Reply: If you agree to allow your waters and sea territories to be used for us to dump our end-of-life decommissioned radioactive spacecraft, then yes. Also, your best science and mathematics graduates come to us, and work for nothing>Write-in...
>>6314825those witch hands are scarh contrast to the youthfulface>Reply: YOU! It was YOU! You were the one who sabotaged my rocket testing, and murdered my MARTIAN HYDROLOGIST. But why??Won't let anyone crawl toward moon transport exclusivity.I want to take the Railgun space canon and put it at TRL 1 concept from her speech.
Rolled 63 (1d100)Fundings
>>6314828>>Reply: No! You are trying to steal our SPACE SECRETS! Go away!
As the launch window approaches, your research and testing facilities swarm with a frenzy of energy and anticipation. Under the supervision of your newly hired scientists and engineers, you decide to exercise maximum thoroughness and rigour this time round, to minimise any chance of another explosion. The spacecraft engineering components and instruments are delivered; the spacecraft begins to take shape, slowly swelling and growing as it gestates in an encircling, ceaseless swirl of engineers in a clean room; there are subsystem integrations and tests of command sequences and telemetry: the spacecraft is transported to an environmental test lab, installed on a shaker table subjected to launch vibrations, installed in a vacuum chamber and subject to strenuous thermal extremes; adjustments are made in thermal blanketing, swaddling the spacecraft as if it were newborn. All the while the countdown proceeds in the background, coordinating and orchestrating the complexity of all these parallel operations, insuring that no-one interferes with each other, that the work schedules interweave over and above and around each other. The spacecraft is sealed in an environmentally controlled carrier for transportation to the launch site; there is constant monitoring of the health of the spacecraft throughout. There are additional internal tests, always more tests. Propellants are loaded on board; the arming plugs are installed, the pyrotechnic devices are checked. The spacecraft is mated to the upper stage, attached to the launch vehicle adapter, then this stack is hoisted up and mated atop the launch vehicle, where the vigil of clean room conditions is maintained; the payload shroud, or fairing, is put in place. Controllers and launch site personnel communicate with the Space Flight Operations Facilty. There is removal of instrument covers and "remove-before-flight" items. Command sequences are loaded on board the spacecraft and verified with yet more tests. The spacecraft health is once again monitored with abort conditions at the ready for any deviations or critical tolerances exceeded. Telecommunications links are established and maintained with ground facilities at the launch site, polls are taken by all launch managers - "Go for launch" , "Go for launch". There are no aborts.
Now the spacecraft is in its launch state, in final countdown......5......4......3......2......1...QM: you get two launches, one for the Moon, one for Mars. It is the same table as before, >>631357600-06 Explodes at launchpad07-24 Mission Failure: no transmission25-41 Partial Mission Failure: Launch, transmission, but complication / incomplete objective42-99 Full Mission Successand you can boost your chances as before with Funding up to +25% but remember any roll in the region 00-06 explodes. If the rolls are successful, what this means is that you have established and proven your CYCLER complex looping Poincare trajectories around Sun-Earth-Luna and Sun-Earth-Mars, or these>>6314421>>6312910 I won't make you roll again to launch for each and every separate upmass orbital assets sent on those cycler trajectories, but if you do new manoeuvres, looping around asteroids or Venus or intercepts Sun-Earth-Lagrangians etc there may be some new rolls>Roll 2d100 to LAUNCH>1st 1d100: Sun-Earth-Moon cycler>2nd 1d100: Sun-Earth-Mars cycler
So with the 63 in fundings we should be loaded.25% funding on each launch? I'll let you roll to not hoard guys >>6314619 >>6314612
Rolled 28 (1d100)>>6314856rolling for the sun cyclerI would like to potentially add 10% to the roll, if that would be possible?Also, I'm still reading up on and making sense of most of the systems of the quest, so I am gonna be lurking for a bit still. Had quite a busy day.
>>6314874I think it's definitely possible (but a great way to fail) : with +25% that mean that a 07 turns into 32 so no failure at all while with 10% the risk still exist.Maybe + 18% is the best compromise - no mission failure chance, good range for full success (24+) and saving some money if that sound right to you?
Rolled 69 (1d100)>>6314828Is this a reference to the prolific and famous namefag of similar appellation?Ahem...anyways.I'll pull a Schrödinger and vote on choices that have already past. There are many companies, as we are ALL MANKIND! What TPT does may not be what Hongyue does, certainly I can see a SPACE NAZI MOON BASE coming from LIISA, the Belgians are well known SPACE NAZI collaborators after all.Supporting >>6314845 and the TRL 1 railgun extortion>Reply: Yes, but you cannot join the US-led space Artemis Accords. Agree to this and we can collaborate>Reply: Aren't you building a new spaceport? Give it to us, and I will think about it>Reply: Sovereign Wealth Fund, hmmm... Pay me +50% Funding, and I will get back to youWe'll demand a lot for this. They're either with us, or against us. We control the legal gateway to space! Leave out the graduates though, they are just potential spies. We'll just dump our spacecraft in the sea anyways. What's that? The LAW OF THE SEA? The UN can't even stop/do anything about uncle CCP from fishing in the just off or even in the territorial waters of other countries, no regulatory regime or strongly worded letter will stop us when we have railguns are the MOON!Also...radiation in the ocean literally does nothing. It's genuinely not a hazard. If you nuked the ocean with all well, some of our nukes, barely anything would happen, no mutant fish or whatever. That one incident with Japan dumping the reactor water into the sea is overblown.>>6314851+25% funding spend on the 2nd.
>>6314891nice full mission success.Now, let's see how much we poored into >>6314874
>>6314891Err*when we have railguns on the moonTurning the whole moon into a railgun would be quite something. Maybe in the next century.
>>6314892Ah, >>6314874 anon seems to have elected to add 10% to the roll. Alas, had he only added 4% more, we'd have had a full mission success. Still, a successful launch and operation, with institution gain is definitely beneficial for us, as it puts us back into the positives. With the institutional rep gain from my roll in addition to the other anon's roll we'll be up to 38% rep.I wonder if we can add funding to the roll after it has been rolled, or if it is up to the rolling anon to have unilateral control over that? Still, I won't naysay our fellow anon, in the spirit of cooperation.
>>6314896fair points.
***Ignition and good thrust... Five good SRBsHydraulic pressure at operational level.Vehicle is clear at the tower -Beginning pitch and roll programs.Engine operating as expectedBody rates look good.Moving to closed loop control. Engaging throttle segment, pitch program complete.Engine operates as expected, Hydraulics look good.Succesfully complete roll program.Vehicle at Mach 1 and is now supersonic.Throttling up as expected......Engine burns - good. Vehicle continues down centre of range trackVehicle now one-half liftoff weight. Passing through maximum dynamic pressure Good indication of SRB burnout, coming up to SRB jettisonSeparation on all five SRBsEngine burn normal.Vehicle on closed loop steeringEngine operating parameters good.Acceleration held at 2.5Gs, preparing payload fairing jettisonVehicle passes the Karman LineVehicle has exited Earth atmosphereReaction control system is pressurizing flight levels as expectedPayload fairing jettison, Forward Load Reactor jettisonEngine throttling at 3.4G limitTemperatures operating as expectedChilldown in progressBoost phase shutdown completeBooster engine cut-off and stage separationPre start on fuel and locks, good staging ignition and full thrustSteering has been enabled...***>>6314874>Rolled 28+10 = 38 < 41 PARTIAL MISSION FAILUREYou are following the ground control tracking. The Moon launch is flawless, perfect. All stage separations completed and vehicle structures operating within thermal and pressure tolerance. You can see it on the RocketCam, white rings falling back into the darkness, a parting, haloed glimpse of departure from the elegy of the blue arc of the Earth. The uplinks and downlinks are good. But as your spacecraft approaches translunar injection, there is no response to any of your command sequences. The spacecraft is intact and it transmits. But your commands are met with silent stillness and motionless sorrow.QM: this is clearly your fault because YOU DID NOT NAME YOUR SPACECRAFT, HOW COULD YOU?? send out an innocent baby spacecraft into the outer darkness with no name or protection from the demons of the cosmic void and possibly space usurers. Actually it is my fault because I forgot to ask, but how could you??>>6314845>Confront the LUNAR CEO (former DEFENSE LOBBYIST lady...)Turning to you with a knowing and sympathetic smile, she merely squeezes your hand and wishes for you not to experience any more "accidents..."
>>6314874So here is what has happened to the Moon cycler spacecraft, it is just stuck without achieving the lunar parking orbit around L1 (The Lyapunov butterfly loop thing). It transmits positions and timings, but you have no idea what has gone wrong... It is quite possible the helpless defenceless unnamed baby spacecraft has entered some safe contingency mode or fault protection state. Have you been sabotaged, yet again?? So close, but not quite there... you have not made it to the Moon...
>>6314891>>6314892>MARS... FULL MISSION SUCCESS!The launch is also flawless, and the trajectory good. You are on track for the Lyapunov orbit. You think it will take a long while to get arrive at the destination, as the distance from Earth to Mars varies between 55 million km and 400 million km with the short 2.1 yr cycle, and longer 16 yr synodic period; there may be one random encounter roll on the way (evil QM laugh muahaha...) but regardless, you will not need to roll to launch to this Mars-L1 trajectory again etc., as you have established this cycler route.
>>6314955According to this paper I randomly read, the Earth-Mars trajectory in for this 2028 transfer duration is 298 days, see pic related"Parking orbits in the three-body problemfor a low Δv Earth-Mars cycler"https://thesis.unipd.it/retrieve/9d899bfb-880f-4ec9-a459-25e525c6b5c7/Giovanni_Bezze.pdfQM: (CORRECTIONS) argh, I made a slight terminology mistake gah (I am not an astrodynamicist) it doesn't affect gameplay, but I will correct myself nonetheless>>6314851>>6314947For the Moon trajectory, the cycler should be called Earth-Moon-L1, or L2It doesn't make really any difference for the game which Lagrangian point you take here, I will just say you get L1 in the butterfly loop (if you want L2, as well, you need to launch another)Sun-Earth-Moon is not really a valid one, it might only be for if you had a solar observatory or something studying the heliosphere etc. Anyway the moon itself is not a stable libration point for that course, the orbit would swing around and gyrate like a spirograph and you would be constantly depleting propellantI am not entirely sure what the Mars cycler should be called lol, it might be Sun-Earth orbit injection into Sun-Mars-L1, L2. Also, I realised in reality the Earth-Mars cycler needed to launch in 2027 to meet the 2028 window (because some insane orbit-raising manoeuvres are required to loop into this exotic trajectory, see the pic related) we will just ignore that for now or retrospectively assume it happened hehe(optional)>Quick, give your Moon and Mars spacecraft names, before they drift away into cosmic darkness with feelings of neglect and abandonment...
>>6314947Aww shucks. Well, that isn't good. Maybe on another future mission, a fly-by could be done for potential repairs?Btw, I wanted to expand on the idea I brought up before.There is a crater I want to propose some plans for. The crater named Shackleton.Shackleton lies on the moon's south pole. Shackleton is a crater whose rim nearly achieves Peak of Eternal light, aka 97% of the year, Shackleton receives sunlight. Within the crater, it is a Point of Permanent Shadow. It has, for this reason, it has accumulated volatiles such as water and methane, which froze within the eternal shadow. So, I wanna propose we colonise it. Codename: PROJECT ZIGGURAT The project would start with an initial package of 3 Prefabs and one POWER module. Prefab 1 would be a refining module, focusing on the medium-scale refining of Lunar Regolith into its base materials, mainly Silicon, Oxygen, Aluminium, titanium and Iron. Prefab 2 would be a processing and fabrication module, focusing on zero-G manufacturing of small to medium parts. Think large-scale metal 3d printer and metallurgical mixer able to make every part of itself and each of the other modules sent as well as raw materials such as glass.Prefab 3 would be a charging and secure station where 4 humanoid robots would be stored. These robots would be controlled by humans on Earth and work as multipurpose labour for the other prefabs.The Power module would simply be an array of solar panels and a simple battery loadout. After every module had landed, Prefab 3's robots would lay out the solar panels and begin digging out surrounding lunar Regolith and refine it into simple structures surrounding the Prefabs, and after enough refining, create secondary fabs on site for backup and increased production.Additional robots would likely need to be sent from Earth later on, and advanced fabrication would likely require a lot of research into low-g processing & production. The goal with ZIGGURAT would be to have these human-manned machine workers create a simple but effective source of local Lunar production.Eventually, if enough time and enough materials were made, a Maglev ring could be created within Shackleton crater, which would allow for local human habitation through spin gravity.
>>6314966Supporting Project ZigguratCan we name the Lunar Failed Cycler "Shouldhavepaidtheovertimeengineer"?
>>6314947It's just solar wind, it's just solar wind...Those Van Allen belts, haha! Nothing like an electron going 98% the speed of light to ruin our day.>>6314961Li Bai for the Moon cycler, named after the poet.Scorpion for the Mars cycler, after the character from the novel Cat Country, by Lao She.
>>6314966The reason why Shackleton's Point of permanent shadow is important is that it allows for simple heat management as well as abundant access to volatiles for later human colonisation.Additionally, it would allow for the data centre idea I mentioned previously.After construction of a few additional refining & processing fabs as well as power modules, designs for simple antenna systems could be fabricated on the outer rim of Shackleton. With them, simple data centres could be made within the permanent dark zones as a show of an actual income source. Additionally, the processing from the site and its data storage capacity would allow for expansions such as large lunar telescopes that could process massive quantities of data uncorrupted from the Earth's atmosphere.whew, sorry for splitting the post up in two, i wanted to make sure i didn't go over the 3k sign limit. Pic is of what i imagine the worker robots to partially look like, but with more cloth protection around the joints to stop lunar regolith particles from getting into everything.
>>6314966Sounds good, it has my approval as well.
>>6314891>>6314892>>6314955>>6314961I realise I haven't yet responded to a lot of your collective decisions and choices yet, don't worry I will respond to them tomorrow, I have just mainly been playing with and setting up my virtual tabletop miniatures diorama tee hee hee anyway, this is just to prove to the Mars cycler anon, yes, your spaceship is indeed on its way, hooray! Mission trajectory established, yay
>>6314966>REPAIR MISSIONok, before I address all the choices on the Indonesian space agency, railguns etc and the moonbases, etc (will save those for tomorrow) I will offer you these choices: basically your moon cycler is intact and fully functional, it is loaded with propellant and fuelled and ready and everything, it transmits but you don't really have any information on what is wrong with it. After consulting with your flight coordinators and engineers and space scientists, they suggest the following:>Most likely, it suffered some minor error and put itself into fault protection safe mode. So just disable that?>As it is still sending all the telemetry, you can perform some testing with your digital twin simulations of the spacecraft on Earth. Take the telemetry data, upload that to your spacecraft model, and see what has likely gone wrong and if it is salvageableQM: To do this, you must roll 1d100 under your combined Phase C+D+E skills (it represents going back and checking your telemetry against your design and subsystem logs, the digital twin spacecraft simulation). If you roll 00-65, you correctly diagnose the problem, and can also uplink some fix or solution66-84 You uplink your solution. The spacecraft remains inert85-99 (the 15 points of your phase B) you permanently wreck this spacecraft, and you lose 2 TRL points! This is because the cause is some overlooked critical design flaw from your phase B plan that is fundamentally and irrevocably broken!! >It is probably clock drift, or some glitch with the SPACE CLOCK. All spacecraft command sequences are synchronised to SCLK. And you didn't take the clock tech upgrade??>>6314845>>6314891>So I hear you want to develop a RAILGUN? And here is a completely immobile, static test target...(baby spacecraft chokes back a tearful sob)Fortunately, you have expertise in KINETIC PHYSICAL WEAPONS. Maybe it is time to give your anti-satellite capabilities a test, with a demonstration DA-ASAT missile target launch. This is your own satellite and you have all the positioning data, there is no roll to hit. If you choose this you gain the ability to immediately upgrade RAILGUN to TRL 7 (demonstration in operational environment) QM: what actually happens is you fire an asat missile, but you can have 6 TRL points with which specifically to upgrade kinetic weapons only. Your baby spacecraft is instantly destroyed and you have to launch all over again. You also create a slew of orbital debris flying everywhere. But, railguns...!!>Just pay for in-orbit servicing?It is 2029 now and there are some RPO satellites in orbit with close inspection and repair capabilities. You can pay -15% funds for a guaranteed fix. They get to look at and grope your technology, all over, with robotic satellite repair arms
>>6314995I'll take the "turn the failure launch in TRL 7 RAILGUN"
>>6314995Kessler Syndrome, what's that?>Shoot the babyTRL is a prized resource, I don't think we should take 14% chance of losing 2. Gaining kinetic strike capabilities may attract unwanted attention, but we'd have massive coercive capabilities once we deliver weapon's platforms to orbit.As for paying for servicing, well, we still have 38% funding, it wouldn't be the worse call. But railguns are cool.
>>6314828Regarding using Indonesia's waters to dump spacecraft, there's no need. We'd literally be risking bombarding Indonesia if we used their territorial waters (12 nautical miles from the coast by international law, not including EEZ). When orgs deorbit space junk, they aim for Point Nemo, the "Pole of Inaccessibility" in the southern Pacific Ocean, 1670 KMs away from any landmass, and 400 km away from regular air or maritime traffic routes. There's also very little life of any kind there, so no worrying of hitting some endangered species ecosystem. The ISS is supposed to end up there when it comes down.Speaking of >>6312927 lets hope that the pic is not prophetic and we don't have a hot war on our hands before we're ready, muahahahaRaiding Sabha in Libya for Von Braun's legacy (TRL) could be a good but risky opportunity, like Ukraine was. Maybe we'll even get the infamous, but never discovered nuclear weapons that they were supposedly developing. Sabha was even a Soviet remote test site for their space program.
>>6315016there's also Saddam's Space Canon to investigate
>>6315109Ah, Project Babylon? Maybe the Iraqis still have the design. Or Souv could throw us a bone if we roll well, maybe we discover some hidden cache that the UN didn't gobble up. Otherwise, Baby Babylon was destroyed, and the parts of Big Babylon were seized by the UN, the UK and various European nations to be put in museums. If nothing else, some heavy metal conventional firepower assets could be useful in any corpo espionage black ops we run against our mysterious foes.
EXCITED, SLEEP DEPRIVED ROCKET SCIENTIST-I have it! We solved it!! Our team of twenty people ran simulations non-stop tirelessly through the night - none of us slept for the last five days! It can be easily fixed! The injection burn occurs at zero G, so it requires a re-ignition of the liquid-propellant in the engine. During the parking orbit coast, the propellants drift away from the bottom of the tank and the pump inlets. This is dealt with through the use of tank diaphragms, or ullage rockets to settle the propellant back to the bottom of the tank. We updated the centre of pressure and fluid thermal simulations of the fuel, there was a minor error in the modelling, but nothing wrong with the spacecraft itself. It is perfectly fine, we just need to turn it off and on again! The spacecraft will fix itself! The battery life is good, sufficient for lunar orbital injection, the thermal orientation of the spacecraft is already established for final burn, there is no boiloff in fuel, just this one fix and we are back on track! To the Moon! Let's go!(The SLEEP-DEPRIVED ROCKET SCIENTIST's face is briefly illuminated by a flash from an enormous screen in the mission control room behind him, displaying the curve of a furious plume of smoke spiralling from a bright dart climbing rapidly into the sky)
Rolled 32 + 10 (1d100 + 10)QM: some of your Space Scientists are demoralised at the spectacle of your weapons test. After spending months lovingly assembling your Lunar spacecraft, carefully testing and caressing and cradling it in the clean room, they had no idea that it was intended to be so spectacularly and publicly destroyed as a demonstration in orbit. There are also some dark mutterings and fearful whispers over the Martian Hydrologist's rocket test "accident", and the sight of the Rocket Scientist whom many witnessed being hauled out of your offices in disgrace for leaking secrets and corporate toilet espionage. You see an email circulated amongst your employees, citing the example of googl workers in 2018 who staged walkouts protesting company involvement in Project Maven (AWCFT, Algorithmic Warfare Cross Functional Team), a kill-chain drone targeting weapons interface. These agitators however are balanced by a few employees who are very excited by the prospect of developing weapons, perhaps because they have ESOPs and also salivated over glimpses of the meteoric wealth surge ascent trajectory of PLTR stock under Alex Karp back in 2025. They quote PLTR's CEO saying that "you cannot run an organization of any kind of any scale without pride", so perhaps you should take pride and be unabashedly proud in openly parading your death-delivering space weapons? As PLTR CEO Karp bombastically proclaimed, "safe means the other person must be scared", you need to "scare your enemies, and occasionally kill them"For the time being, beyond a handful of dispirited comments on Glassdoor and co-worker / workspace gossip, hearsay apps, you don't detect much open employee dissent (probably because your pay was so generous), but you may need to monitor this carefully for the future.QM: I roll a 1d100 digit sum +10 (effectively 2d10+10, ie range 12-28) for employee dissent. The 10% reflects +25% rebellious workers reduced by your 15% generous pay>>6314146>>6314172>>6314824
To your surprise, the intimidating and terrifyingly public display of your stunningly precise DA-ASAT intercept capability and destruction of your orbital target is met with stony-faced silence. Mainstream media barely even report it. It is discussed on a few obscure military enthusiast blogs, but that is it. No screeching DEI Space NGOs or anything. A few days later, at the United Nations, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance issues this statement:US Statement to theOpen-Ended Working Group on Reducing Space Threats through Norms, Rules, and Principles of Responsible Behavior- “The United States is concerned by the continued development and deployment of several types of ground-based and space-based ASAT weapons. Consistent with Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty, signatories commit to refrain from intentional actions that createharmful interference with use of outer space in their activities under the Artemis Accords. One recent destructive, direct-ascent anti-satellite missile test created 1,785 pieces of debris that were trackable. It is likely that there were many more pieces created in this test that are too small to be tracked, but still dangerous. These actions are contrary to the public stance against the weaponisation of space.”
Your organisation is not mentioned by name. No media organisations are really interested in covering this statement. However, in the subsequent days, your social media campaign manager notices an unusual uptick in machine traffic to your corporate website, >>6313428 which previously had received a total of 2 clicks. Now there is an unusual surge of automated traffic, from ChatGPT crawlers still ignoring robots.txt, at times overwhelming your network database. After consulting with a generous, helpful and highly capable expert called Lord Licorice on the anonymous hacker forum known only as 4chan, Suptg: "Fuck you, Sam Altman"https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/fuckai.htmlyour IT administrators implement a clever tarpit system that reduces the inundation of ChatGPT demented bot requests. Your IT team congratulate each other, and agree with the assessment of Lord Licorice that Sam Altman should "...eat a badly-generated image of a bag of dicks". Unfortunately, because Sam Altman is a homosexual, he would probably enjoy this.
>>6314845>>6315000So the railgun you can now have at TRL 7 probably resembles this ATLA prototype from Japan, mainly because I think it looks coolQM: wow, so many good ideas here lol I cannot keep up, just like the actual arms manufacturers I am building up a backlog of orders in responses lol. Ok, let me deal with the kinetic weapons test first. Your DA-ASAT launch is a tremendous success, the baby spacecraft moon cycler is completely obliterated having barely left the womb. On a realism note, I realised I used pictures of a vehicle launched ASAT, which probably can only hit targets in the LEO (max 2000 km) altitude region, to hit beyond 35,000km GEO would probably require firing something that looks like an ICBM, or a missile not all that different from your spacecraft rocket launch platform! (unless there is some secret anti-cislunar space missile we do not know about) So I will say that your baby moon cycler spacecraft was disintegrated in LEO, far from translunar injection, and a slew of orbital debris scattered there.>>6315016>"We'd literally be risking bombarding Indonesia..."NOOOOoo for the first time ever, some anon has pre-empted my devious trap, you are absolutely correct anon, well done for avoiding it. Your reward is sadly nothing, other than the crestfallen look on the face of the Gentlemanly Indonesian Representative from INASA, and a slightly worried sense that if he did not intend to steal your technology secrets before, he is certainly more inclined to do so now.
>>6315016>Raid Africa...?>SPACE MERCENARIES who travel through time, raiding the past for the weapons of the future?You debate a Libya raid with your space mercenaries, who are of the opinion that it is likely not to yield encouraging results (the lack of missiles probably being a contributor to why Gaddafi himself was overthrown)However, the SPACE MERCENARY believes that given your recent research into RAILGUNs and Nuclear Thermal Rockets (NTR), a more promising course of action has revealed itself...A railgun installed on a space platform would require a tremendous amount of power, likely necessitating a nuclear thermal reactor, capable of generating rocket engine thrust but also bimodal operation, powering spacecraft onboard electrical systems. But to secure a nuclear thermal rocket (NTR), you need uranium - where to procure this, without drawing the attention of international authorities with your increasingly rogue Non-State Threat Actor like behaviour?The space mercenary draws your attention to a famous Israeli film producer named Arnon Milchan, founder of New Regency Productions, famous throughout Hollywood for over 130 films: Fight Club, Heat, The Big Short... even Ad Astra >>6314720 Arnon Milchan was bigger than even Harvey Weinstein. However, what is less well known is Arnon Milchan's acknowledgement of his role in arms dealing during apartheid South Africa. In the 1960s, Milchan was inducted into Lekem (also known as LAKAM) the Israeli Bureau Of Scientific Research. Milchan's role was to support the apartheid regime in South Africa, in return for obtaining uranium from the continent for the Israeli nuclear program.There is an opportunity here - as President Trump is fond of reminding everyone, the two most unmentionable words that must never, ever be used both begin with the letter N: NUKEs and Nig- Nigeriens? At the SOMAIR mine in northern Niger, there is a stockpile of 1570 tons of uranium under Niger's military government after it appropriated a 63% stake from the French state owned Orano, a nuclear fuel provider, following from a 2023 coup d'etat. SOPAMIN Société du patrimoine des mines du Niger and the Niger Prime Minister accuses foreign firms of decades of exploitation, bringing only misery, pollution, rebellion, corruption and desolation to Nigeriens whilst enriching France. In 2025 Sept 26, the World Bank issued an ICSID ruling prohibiting the Niger military government from trading this stockpile; Niger is contemplating selling the uranium, which was worth USD270m in 2025, to buyers including Turkey, Russia and Iran.
>>631517215 out of 28 ain't too bad. Worth it for the railgun.>>6315174>suptgHeh, funny to see this again. The rage tickles me.>>6315179>LEO Kessler SyndromeFuck! I hope the LTC CEO chokes on that debris!>Trap avoidedWoo!>Gentlemanly Indonesian SPACE THIEFI knew it! You can't trust namefags, especially Indonesian namefags! I am Slightly Racist, yes.>>6315191>Arms traffickerHuh. Been awhile since I read The Shadow World. Good book if you want to read up on illegal arms trafficking. I think it was Northrop Grumman's founder that sold weapons to genocidaires in...honestly I can't remember, it has been so long, maybe the Congo for the African World War.>270m in USDThat's pennies. The 24% budget cut that we started with was 6 billion dollars. At 0% budget, it'd barely be over 1% of our budget, and we are still somewhat flush with cash. Maybe, I'm sleepy, math may be bad.>Approve the Uranium purchase.Worth it.
>>6314966>>6314976>Project ZIGGURAT, Lunar PSR SECRET MOONBASEQM: this is an excellent and amazing plan anon! I especially liked your robot picture hehe, and Shackleton is a very plausible prospecting destination!You are aware that the UN has a convention prohibiting colonisation of the Moon, ie no nation is officially permitted to "claim the Moon". What that means is if you get there first, and enforce or defend your claim with RAILGUNS orbital LASER SATELLITES and TACTICAL ASSAULT ROBONAUT SOLDIERS you can grab it all for yourself...In terms of robots, you believe the most proven design would be a lunar rover, powered by an on-board radioisotope battery. As there is barely any atmosphere on the moon, rotorcraft such as the Martian solar drone helicopter Ingenuityhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingenuity_(helicopter)that operated from 2021-24 cannot function. There can also be quadrupeds (see my last UPYR game for militarised versions, or search for Ghost Robotics Q-UGV)You do believe, however, there is SIGNIFICANT public relations value to presenting a humanoid robot landing on the moon. For instance, a humanoid robot could be manipulated via teleoperation, by astronauts in lunar orbit, and could be marketed as a means for visitors to "remotely visit" the moon and interact with it. A humanoid robot is also general purpose and better adapted to the human "shirt-sleeves" space habitats compared to highly specialised lunar rovers, though it would likely reduce your payload space compared to dedicated rover or Q-UGV robotics.Some of the recent humanoid robot manufacturers presented at the NVDA CES demonstration, they include well-known ones like Boston Dynamics, Elon Musk TSLA Optimus robot, Chinese Unitree G1 H1 series, etc. I would say because you came up with this detailed concept proposal, you can obtain ROBONAUT at TRL 2. Remember with all of these that you do not necessarily need to be vertically integrated etc, you can buy in tech and services and assets you do not have ie you can just buy some readymade 3rd party robots and use them, with associated funding costoh, and I like the Ziggurat name, maybe all the spaceships can be given Sumerian series names like Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Urshanabi, Etemenanki, etc yayQM: Ok, so let me summarise some choices...
>>6315196I was mostly thinking about using the name Ziggurat from the fact that this project would make a small settlement that was nearly always lit by the sun, like how the ancient ziggurats were built to have their highest point closest to the sun, and the last point it would set on in the lands around it.Going with humanoid robots, I would ask if we could look into working with the German Neura Robotics on a special line of worker robots designated for lunar work. Ones which are powered by a cable and can be remotely controlled by someone in a full-body suit. With a focus on stability, power and specific hand coordination for tasks such as working on/repairing machinery. Get them to focus on this project, as a potential avenue for a stable and effective income for them, as well as the potential PR that such a company could get from being the ones creating lunar workers. (aka haggle them for a low price on their goods and high investment into our projects/company)Secondly, I would suggest we begin working on researching the tech necessary for the processing and refining, as well as the manufacturing necessary to set up any space base. Get the engineers on the case for a small scale factory that can produce every part of itself using a mixture of machining, metal 3d printing, low-g casting and injection moulding using only materials available through refining moon Regolith (this is a massive ask of them, if the engineers actually make this work i'd suggest getting each of them a trip to wherever they want to go, and 10k to use however they want)
Prioritise: >Moon LaunchAll these raids will be for nothing, if you don't rush to secure your cycler route to the moon. Launch again and make sure no-one gets there before you do!>roll 1d100 (you can add some portion of funding)>Africa RaidThe SPACE MERCENARY considers this to be a highly dangerous mission, with greater unpredictability than Ukraine. This is because Niger is currently situated in a competitive control area with myriad nonstate actors, and very little international scrutiny, not even many NGOs. Whilst Ukraine is surrounded by stable countries eg Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia etc, Niger is bordered by West African countries of the War In The Sahel ongoing since the Arab Spring of 2011, many of which themselves have also recently overthrown post-colonial regimes eg Mali (coup 2021), Burkina Faso (2022), with significant regional spillover in instability and violence. There is no "safezone" exfiltration route. Whilst the cost of the uranium is not a significant factor, there are hurdles involved in its transportation and storage, establishing and capitalising import-export firms and transactions with associated cashflows and balances to cover the movement of the sensitive cargo itself. Within the region are many sensitive assets like the 2000km Niger-Benin export pipeline, backed by China CNPC, which has been attacked by armed groups opposing the military junta, as well as Aerienne 201, a US drone base on the southern fringe of the sahara, used by private contractors from Amentum.>Yes it is a good idea to try and steal uranium from an area surveilled by a US drone baseTo begin, roll 4d100, and specify some +funding modifier. The first three rolls represent other bidders on the uranium, the last roll is your bid. >Blow up pipeline as a distraction: No NGO scrutiny? Excellent, maximum violence permittedYou may ADD the absolute value of any portion up to your NEGATIVE institutions modifier as a benefit, ie abs(-32%) gives you +32%>use robots? Maybe this is a good opportunity to experiment with some WAR ROBOTs. Spend funding to acquire prototypes, and insist they accompany your human operators on this mission. Will this combat data integration from the battlespace yield any technological insights?-5% funding: FPV drones-15% funding: QUGV drones, eg Ghost Robotics / SPUR Vision 60-25% funding: humanoid robot-35% funding: mini robot tank, eg Textron Ripsaw>Reject this Niger mission, it is far too dangerous
>>6315227>rebellious employeesYou need to contain this before it spreads>Fire anyone who forwards an email inciting protests, like a googl Project Maven walkout>actually encourage protests, then fire anyone who attends them>give out free ice creams and soft drinks every Friday, to infantilise the employees (-1% funding)>create a corporate hymn like IBM once did, and compel mandatory daily song sessions>hold a consultation / feedback town hall meeting>ignore all employee feedback from meeting>Increase employee remuneration (-5% funding)>torture the employees by making them attend corporate offsites, and filling in 360deg evaluation forms and corporate engagement scores>hire management consultants (-25% funding)>install keylogging software, on all employee workstations>constant "corporate giving" charity days, to indicate appearance of philanthropic endeavour -10% funding>encourage employees to sit in a circle, passing around a bowl of feelings>promote corporate transformation, by hiring transgender influencer>change corporate logo (write in...?)>write-in?
>>6314846>>6314874>>6314891FUNDING+28%=+63% -10% (Moon launch)-25% (Mars launch)>>6314824INSTITUTIONS-32%=-7%-10% (US protests violations of Outer Space Treaty, Artemis Accords)-15% (-3% -2% digit sum -10% net modifier, employee dissent reduced by generous pay)
>>6315228>write-in>Allow the workers to elect a representative who will negotiate on their behalf and weigh in on meetings as an assistant to the company head. Also, improve worker quality of life at the workplace with better break rooms and activities to do during downtime. Encourage socialisation within the workspace with longer breaks throughout the workday while still keeping the same amount of working hours.Representation will allow them to feel like they are heard, and we get to know exactly how much we can and cannot do that our employees want. The workplace socialisation will allow the workers to emotionally find more purpose in their workspace, as they will likely find more friends among their coworkers. Making friends of your employees is a much better plan than antagonising them. Otherwise, they will never sacrifice for you when you'll need them.Also, it's very good PR
>>6315234If only all companies were run by sensitive and kind-hearted people like you, gentle anon
>>6315223I actually quite like the look and aesthetic of these NEURA robots, hehe. I think they were built for the purpose of general purpose automotive construction, so they must be very sturdy! Apparently the battery life though is only 4-5hrs. Let us just imagine that this is far more improved in the future. The Chinese Unitree ones are the cheapest but what you may not be able to tell from the pictures is the size (they are deliberately about a head shorter with a smaller more childlike frame than an adult human, I think this was because of cost, safety, battery life and also design decisions, to make them look nonthreatening)
>>6315242Morgan Stanley actually had this slide in their presentation on humanoid robots. I think this reflects the aged imagination of some of their elderly investment audience lol
>>6315260In my opinion, one of the best and most emotional depictions of robots is Chappie (2015) this and the Elysium Neill Blomkamp film are in my opinion amongst the best sci-fi depictions of the near future
>>6315260>>6315262Whilst I think Ad Astra (2019) >>6314720is overall a better sci-fi film, the Christopher Nolan (urgh) Interstellar film presented one of the most visually unique conceptions of space robots. In the Nolan film I believe all the robots are military (former soldiers?) but they have a strange, pivoting slab-like rectilinear design and appear to be able to orthogonally pivot and form rectangular branching hook limbs. Whilst the Nolan film overall was a bit overrated for me hehe, I was very struck by this unique robot design, I found it very memorable and in a way the flat slab metal with scrolling text console panels was probably reminiscent homage to the Kubrick 2001 HAL idea. Anyway, I thought the Interstellar slab robots were very intriguingIt is actually quite hard to imagine a "new" sci-fi concept for robots, hmmm, maybe this is something to explore>inflatable soft bubbly FETISH BALLOON SPACE ROBOT??>>6314203>>6314207
>>6315264>SOFT ROBOTICS About a decade ago, MIT had a department dedicated to soft robotics, I was fascinated by some of the designs, I think they were biomimetically inspired by marine life, jellyfish and octopus things etc. Some of the soft robotics designs were also assisted wearables (imagine a soft, cushiony robot exoskeleton??) I also remember googl had a Project Jacquard (computerised clothing, woven electronics wearables) as well as a Project Soli (radar that detected gestures, intended for wearables) Probably some of these had DARPA funding in them somewhere. Sadly the websites seems to have removed a lot of the old concepts (probably because of MIT Epstein funding lol) I don't know if the departments are still around, but there was a lot of sci-fi inspiration to be found in those soft robotics concepts
>>6315268The reason why you might want to pursue inflatable soft robots in space, is of course, because of mass considerations and compartment areas. Those Neura robot 4NE1s look heavy!If you could somehow develop a reliable actuator that could grip and manoeuvre using hydrostatic pressure, that could also survive thermal extremes, and which could be compressed and unfolded back and forth into small and large volumes for storage, use or transport, with minimal hysteresis in materials and structural deformation, I believe this form-factor would be better suited for space. And after all, humans are "soft robots" and would probably prefer wearing soft materials over cramped extended durations inside a spaceship compared to a biomechanical CHAINFISTPic related is just an art sculpture, but something like this visually makes sense to me for a SOFT ROBOT floating in a microgravity / space free-fall environment
>>6315274In terms of what robots are actually in use on the International Space Station in microgravity, there is the Astrobee robot. It is about a 30 cm cube, that looks a lot like those monitors from Halo lol The cube robots use some sort of nozzled fans or impellers to push themselves around the space station and to translate and rotate 3-axis in any direction. The Astrobee has a pointer laser, touch screens and cameras I believe one of the major uses is apparently inventory management (it is very easy to lose or misplace something on a space station, everything must be secured!), moving small cargo items and also documenting experiments. So it is a sort of utility micro-robotIn my opinion, the older precursor to Astrobee known as SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) looked far cooler hehe (a sort of polyhedral or truncated corner cube) with a more cyberpunk colouring. However, SPHERES relied on gas canisters, similar to paintball gun canisters, so the newer Astrobee is definitely an improvement. SPHERES has some interesting attachments such as halo rings and goggles and things for performing various microgravity experimentsPic related shows the new Astrobee at the top, va older SPHERES at the bottom. These robots are all free-floating. They really look like the Monitor from Halo, it cannot be a coincidence
>>6315268it's still a subject of research, alongside with cable robotics and continuum robotic all over the worldAnd soft actuator are good for grasping, but the real revolution is cable based robotic for sure.
IROS (world best robotic conference) is only a couple week awayhttps://www.iros25.org/ProgramOverview Let's check what's up in 2 weeks
>>6314966>>6314976>>6315223Would the Moonbase / robot Project Ziggurat anon like to roll 1d100 again, to attempt another moon launch? You can add up to +25% Funding to try to boost the chance again (fingers crossed, better luck this time?) >>6314851Or another player can give it a try, hehe
>>6315227Both the launch and Raid are time sensitive, but we're going to the moon anyways eventually, and if we meet competition...well, we have railguns, and are investing in robots, and most competitors are not, so...>Yes it is a good idea to try and steal uranium from an area surveilled by a US drone base>8% funding>Blow up pipeline as a distraction: No NGO scrutiny? Excellent, maximum violence permitted>-32% rep>Use robots-15% funding for the QUGV dronesQuadcopter, recce drones are excellent, FPV drones are good but severely overrated. The revolution in military affairs is arguably not one (poorly defined), and if we are going through one rather than iteration then it is the transparent battlefield that is the revolution, not lethal drones. FPV drones are more expensive and have a longer kill chain, and are less lethal than artillery.Also, buying milspec robots is just good for insights into our own robot production. Arguably the vote is more for the direction our own robots take, rather than improving our success rate on the raid. If I wasn't concerned about the dual-purposes for the robot purchases, than I'd buy the humanoid and tank robots, for ultra-sized construction machines and autonomous/tele-operated droids on the moon.>>6315228Support >>6315234 but install keyloggers on every workstation. There are spies everywhere. Also, control the security who are monitoring the keyloggers with an iron fist.>Speaking of the ISSWhen it comes down, maybe we might want to get into the game of replacing it? I know Tiangong is already a thing and that there are several replacements for the ISS already in the works form the private sector (Starlab, Haven-1, Orbital Reef, etc), but it could still be a good boost to our Institutional rep and research capabilities.>Another moon launch?Not a vote for it, but I'm totally okay with it if the other anons want to do another moon launch this in-quest year. I just thought >>6315227 was us choosing between the raid and the launch.Also, for the next couple of days, I'll most likely be unavailable to vote in most of the choices, except for the last one of the day. So, it'll be up to you anons to lead us into space. Good luck.
>>6315229Shit, I forgot to mention, are you sure our Institutional rep is correct? Shouldn't we have had +45% rep for our two launches? So, 13% positive rep after everything else?
Rolled 24, 83, 50, 80 + 40 = 277 (4d100 + 40)>>6315227Forgot rolls.I'll leave the issue of another moon launch, and the rolls required of it to the other two anons.
>>6315462120 vs 83, nice.
Rolled 17 (1d100)>>6315373imma add 20% just to make sure this time. PLEASE WORK>>6315458I can support Keyloggers somewhat, I don't think it should be done for most workers, since that would both be resource-intensive and ineffective. I would support keyloggers on management and the paper pushers. Said people are the ones most likely to fudge the numbers due to deliberate choices rather than human accidents. As well, they are the likeliest to be close enough to us in the corporate ladder to challenge our position.The stupidest thing most CEO's do is challenge the floor workers when the only actual positional enemies are the middlemen.
>>6315479
Can more funding be added post mortum?
>>6315479Eh, that is still only a partial mission failure. It is possible that we can fix it. We won't be using it for target practice this time, as it wouldn't serve to improve our railguns and would get us into even more hot water with the international community.I'm also fine with the keyloggers compromise. I don't think it would be expensive at all, it would just be software, but you are correct in that it would be personnel intensive, as someone has to keep up with the monitoring. With our opposition's penchant for sabotage/stealing, I do think some of our scientists/engineers need monitoring as well. We need some measure of protection against espionage, but I'm fine with compromising by walking back the whole "EVERYONE must have a keylogger" to just "important personnel with the potential for sabotage".
>>6315506I know a magic trick.Let's name the cycler this time.I'd call it Jules Vernes
>>6315531Vampire Sorcery, I like it."Twenty Thousand Leagues Above the Stars""Journey to the Barycenter""Around the Solar System in Eighty Years"Santa Maria, prega per noi...HELP, HALP! Save A8Ul0hk9 anon from their wretched luck!
>>6315533Obviously the cycler was to be named "from Earth to the Moon"
>>6315534If only we had Saddam's space gun, this accident never would have happened!I like this name the best, lets go with From Earth to the Moon
>>6315506I can definitely work with that and agree on it then. I hadn't really considered it as part of general security, since I was only thinking about it from an anti-worker perspective.My big concern centres mostly around the prospects of de-corporatising the company. Both because Corporate spirit is soul-destroying and inhuman, but also because it doesn't work for us. Meant in the way that because aerospace companies work with a smallish pool of potential high-skilled recruits and workers, it is undesirable for us to work in the same way Amazon works. After all, we cannot chew through workers and creativity by simply being wide enough with a large enough pool of workers to hire new ones. Being good to one's workers also makes them want to support you. So honestly, if we are doing a general company makeover, both in terms of security and welfare, I have some more ideas for how we could improve both.Btw i think the cycler should be named "Suens deliverer" for the Mesopotanian moon goddess. Also, sorry for ID change, phoneposting rn.
>>6315539Oh anon, you are too good. But yes, you are right.At some point, when we're back in the black again, we should shell out some funds to increase our employee's pay too. It has clear mechanical benefits, in that it negate institutional rep loss when we have internal issues. Plus our minions *coughcough* workers deserve it. Who else can make futuristic concepts into reality in just a handful of years, except us? We are leading Humanity into the stars!
>>6315460>>6315460QM: I forgot to mention, this table >>6313576 with the institution gains first time round only reflects the PR gains from launches the first time round, my apologies. However, as I forgot to mention this, and you presumably planned some rolls and spent resources with it in mind, when you arrive on Mars the first time, I will award you that one-off +45% INSTITUTIONS gain to reflect the huge publicity interest of establishing the Mars cycler route (remind me if I forget this)
It is 2029. Chinese icebreakers cut through the frozen seas as they circumnavigate the poles along the Northern Sea Route, even as your Mars expedition hurtles through the endless celestial darkness in search of even more unimaginably distant, precious frozen mountains of ice the cargo and trade ships of Earth seek to avoid. On 2029 April 13, a 450mx170m asteroid, 99942 Apophis, the eater-of-souls cursed by the priests of Ancient Egypt, passes within 31,600 km of Earth, closer than the orbit of geosynchronous satellites. Depicted as a coiling serpent that writhes as it is pierced by knives beneath the sun-barque of the gods, in the tomb of heaven - Apophis, slain below the spacecraft of Ra - the close approach of this omen of darkness is mostly ignored by the oblivious inhabitants of Earth, who need no encouragement or goad from cosmic foreboding to pillage and kill each other. Had Apophis collided with Earth, some estimate it would have detonated with the power of a magnitude comparable to its entire, combined nuclear arsenal...
As your mercenaries approach the Imouraren mine 80km from Arlit, Niger you cannot help but feel that once again, you have received another premonition of a visit to another planet. Is this what Mars looks like, or what it will become?The land has been cut open, the ore-bearing rock exposed to the arid sky. The barren earth is churned by endless convoys of heavy lorries and trampled by processions of dust-smeared workers in blue overalls. There is the smell of sulphuric acid, as the land is scoured in runnels and slanted gradients by heap leaching, as the crushed ore percolates down for processing, releasing radon gas. There are 20 million tons of tailings and waste that has been in contact with uranium. A land of radiation and dust, from another planet.
On the edge of the Sahara desert, an oasis of uranium in a endless sea of sand. In the West you need a permissions and certificates, but in Niger all you need is a spade. It was said that one third of France's electricty once came from uranium in Niger, and that the mining town of Arlit would become Le Petit Paris. But whilst the uranium mines consume millions of litres every day, half of Niger has no running water. Along the roads there are merchants selling discarded industrial cogs and the warped skeletons of rusted cranes, mining equipment and scavenged scrap metal. Some of the rubble must be contaminated by radiotoxins, five hundred times the international safe dose, but the locals do not seem to mind. You see some carrying corrugated sheeting away for shelter, peculiar metal items and armatures for cooking, and brightly coloured 25-litre containers in orange and green on carts from the watersellers on the edge of the town.
In Niger, your mercenaries soon learn that some of their preliminary intelligence assessments were flawed - the US formally withdrew from Air Base 201, Agadez, in 2024 Aug. The poverty in this place means kidnappings, bombings and violence are common; 4 US special forces soldiers were ambushed and killed in 2017. Now the three coup d'etat states of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have formed the Alliance des Etats du Sahel AES, with the support of Russia, and intend to push back at ECOWAS and their former colonial masters, the US and western-supported Alliance. You can feel the invisible eyes of satellites tracking you from the skies above, gnawing at your every movement, and there are armed private military contractors everywhere, guarding the mines and cradling guns at checkpoints.The Capitaine at one such checkpoint is sifting through your (forged) international documents wearily. You don't think he can actually read or understand them. He is on the verge of waving you through, when you see a younger soldier, who had been also shuffling through the various papers and registrations, suddenly point at some minor section of text in the stray sheets of incomprehensible scientific documentation, with growing suspicion.
At mission control, the EXASPERATED SLEEP-DEPRIVED ROCKET SCIENTIST has been analysing your latest, yet again partially failed moon launch. Clasping his head in his hands, he laments:- I just don't understand it! I checked everything this time! Everything is perfect! The spacecraft functions and transmits, pressures temperatures and fuel all fine. It has just failed to achieve orbit again... This Sun-Earth-Moon trajectory must be cursed. I really don't know what to do...?Meanwhile, a FIENDISH CUNNING ROCKET SCIENTIST, who has been tracking the orbital path, suddenly has an idea:-Don't we have some contractors in Niger at the moment, working on procuring uranium for the Nuclear Thermal Rocket (NTR) prototype? Well, they are all going to be killed. The moment they exit that mine with the uranium, the US spy satellites will instantly pick them up, and they will all be dead. But I have an idea! You see, all the US satellites have allocated slots to transmit to the ground stations, the Deep Space Network (DSN). There is a fixed viewperiod or span of time for when the ground antenna can observe the spacecraft above its local horizon, before uplink handover to another station; hence there is resource contention for the DSN tracking time for the mission. Now, this Apophis asteroid is on course for a close approach - years ago, back in 2023, both NASA and the ESA redirected their OSIRIS-REx and Ramses asteroid explorers from distant eccentric long orbits around the sun to rendezvous with it. Our moon cycler is now just in reach with this close asteroid approach... As Apophis closes in, if we destroy one, or both of these science explorers, both NASA and the ESA will lose their minds... they will assume that something was wrong with their calculations about Apophis, and that it is on a course to destroy Earth! Every satellite on the planet will be redirected and retasked in order to find out what happened, which will allow our infiltrator team to slip out with the uranium unnoticed...>Ok, let's do that. Use the moon cycler's SECRET KINETIC WEAPONS to shoot down the science explorers, drawing all Earth satellites and ground stations away from our team in NigerQM: roll 2d100, hit if you roll under 54. 1: NASA, 2: ESA>But even if we do this, won't they eventually find out what we did in about 2 or 3 days afterwards? You know, when Apophis doesn't annihilate the planet? I really don't want to be scolded by the UN again, it was such a harsh and traumatic experience, really embarrassing>This idea is stupid. If we have co-orbital missiles, just shoot down the US satellite over Niger directly>Make it look like we lost control of the spacecraft, and crashed into the US satellite>What if I want to crash Apophis into Earth. Will the QM let me do that? (QM: Yes)>(write in...)
>>6315583The younger checkpoint soldier barks out:-Ce "NTR", c'est quoi? Ici, ici - NTR! Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire?The Capitaine glances at you perfunctorily, as if awaiting an explanation...>Nous sommes des entrepreneurs d'une organisation paramilitaires privee lourdement armés, mais seulement légèrement racistes. Juste un peu raciste. Nous avons l'intention de piller l'uranium de votre pays afin de lancer un moteur-fusée nucléo-thermique vers la Lune. Si vous aviez l'amabilité de nous laisser passer, Monsieur Capitaine Le Niger?>(fumbling at the lack of phone signal, blank web translator screen) Um, bonjour, er, Captain - , er, Commandant? Le Niger?? Is it alright if I call you that? I am so sorry. Nous sommes, pas raciste, pas... Le Bad! We are from the BBC - no, not that bbc, pas du penis! BBC, um, films - documentaires, les animaux, tres, tres adorables, pour les enfants, mais pas les enfants soldats, er- That is why we have all these scopes and nightvision goggles, because they are lenses, équipement de caméra vidéo, you see, pas... fusil de sniper. Oh and the Robot helps us carry the camera equipment, because otherwise a black man would do it, but we are not racist. Pas raciste! Could you let us pass please?>Il s'agit d'une abréviation romanisée du japonais, pour les cocufiants, d’œuvre à caractère sexuel, tellement sexuel>I just passed a truck full of masked insurgents who claimed they bombed the Niger-Benin oil pipeline! You should go chase after them, right now!>Would you like to join our space science internship mentoring program?>Would you like to join our space mercenaries, as part of an AFRO-FUTURIST LEGION? (-1% funds. Yes this is how much it costs)>Just openly bribe these guards to go away (-5% funds)>It is time to collect some data, for science. Activate the quadruped gun drone>(write in...)
>>6315587>Write InI'll use my secret superpower : french fluency!Très estimé capitaine,Nous sommes une organisation spatiale venant d'un pays en dehors des blocs traditionnel Occidentaux et Soviétiques. Nous ne cherchons pas à dominer l''Afrique, mais construire un nouveau monde plus juste. NTR signifie simplement "Nigeria Totalement Resplendissante", qui est un projet secret de réacteur nucléaire à fusion-fission permettant à la fois de créer des quantités astronomique d'électricité, d'utiliser les déchets radioactifs comme carburant, et de ne pas regénérer de déchets.Le réacteur sera propre et non dangereux.Si vous le voulez, je peux vous faire un schéma de fonctionnement global; l'Uranium nous servira de premier étage de déclenchement, un peu comme elle agit pour la bombe à Hydrogène - mais de manière sécurisée et non explosive
>>6315592oh shit, the frog coming in clutch! >>6315586>(write in...)Bombard the Apophis with the Moon Cyclers armaments of kinetics, unload everything into it at an angle where it will attempt to change the course of the meteor away from the earth.Afterwards, when it's been done and every satellite was distracted by the show of effective force in space, use our attempts to "save humanity" to gain PR and also to justify for future use of military equipment in space.
>>6315659(Ribbit.)
>>6315592>"Nigeria Totalement Resplendissante" ...?Your fluency and command of the French language astonishes the Young Soldier... except for the bit where you confused his country, Le Niger, with Nigeria.
>>6315587>>6315592>>6315686The face of the Young Soldier contorts with rage, as his hand trembles and snatches at the sling of his rifle...-Le Nigeria? Nique ta mere - c'est la Cedeao! (ECOWAS bloc acronym in French) Ils nous ont menacés d'une intervention militaire! La France, les Etat-Unis, l'Occident... ils n’ont pas de leçon de démocratie, ni même de légitimité à donner, en tout cas surtout pas aux Etats de l’AES (Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali), dont les dirigeants ont l’adhésion de leurs concitoyens! N...T...R...?? Nique ta race! (At this point, because it is the future, everyone turns on auto translate French-English to save the QM from making more embarrassing mistakes with his tenuous grasp of the French language. English SUBTITLES ON)
>>6315689>My write in didn't worked? ENGLISH SUBTITLES OFF Nique leur mère à eux avec une bonne frappe de drone
Still salty I made a minor geographical mistake by autotranslating niger to nigeria in my head
>>6315659>>6315659>Bombard Apophis with spacecraft co-orbital ASAT missiles...I had a think about this anon, I am afraid I am not too sure the effects will be very powerful. ASAT warheads I think are fairly modest, because satellites are fairly flimsy. Apophis is irregularly shaped, and tumbles through the air, it has about the height of the Eiffel Tower, and the length of a football pitch. Currently Apophis is not on a course to threaten Earth, but if you blew it up into fragments, some of those fragments might veer towards Earth (they may burn up in the atmosphere, or deflect elsewhere). If you hit Apophis, it is likely that satellites will be re-tasked to focus on that event and redirected away from uranium mine surveillance over Niger.You have two shots with the co-orbital missiles. The hit probability is roll under 54% (I actually got this from some ground to orbit DA-ASAT data, as there has never been a known or declared satellite-to-satellite attack at least that has been publicly conducted). You can choose your 1st 2nd targets below, and I will take them in order 1st 1d100, 2nd 1d100 etc. and you can of course aim both at one target. You think if you destroy at least one scientific satellite that was set to intercept Apophis, this will temporarily buy your space mercenaries some time>roll 2d100>NASA satellite>ESA satellite>Apophis >Just leave these mercenaries to their fate; you can always hire more. This is what happens if you mix up Niger and Nigeria whilst trying to plunder uranium>Something else? write-in(I will wait for the outcome of this roll, which determines whether the reconaissance satellites over Niger are diverted or otherwise)
>>6315705>Just leave these mercenaries to their fate; you can always hire more. This is what happens if you mix up Niger and Nigeria whilst trying to plunder uraniumHonestly id rather we didn't risk it. I'd probably even suggest to bomb our own convoy to get rid of any evidence.I'll be sleeping for some time, so i will just say my opinion is for us to try and backpedal since we don't have the international social credit to just begin killing african military.
Rolled 96, 53 = 149 (2d100)>>6315586Ah, I do want to crash an asteroid into Earth, just not yet.You know what's even more embarrassing? Actually getting caught blowing up a pipeline, even one no one cares about in the midst of a country no one cares about. Affecting things on the Earth is infinitely more politically toxic than fucking with shit in space.>>6315592>>6315686mfw the frog is super eloquent, but mistakes the most populous country in Africa with the one spilling Islamist insurgents into said country.>>6315705>NASA first target>Apophis second targetOur excuse will be a major targeting malfunction, we were actually aiming both at Apophis for SCIENCE.
>>6315689Oh and...to try and salvage this...uh...>Would you like to join our space mercenaries, as part of an AFRO-FUTURIST LEGION?! (-2% funds. Very generous bonus for our mistake.)Having minions in the Sahel is an okay addition to our portfolio of mercenaries. If they refuse then...>It is time to collect some data, for science. Activate the quadruped gun drone
>>6315800supporting. Only so I can put them on frontline
>>6315796What can I say? Colonies wanted to uncolonize and then get mad I can't identify them as proper TOM (Territoire d'Outre Mer)
>>6315796>Rolled 96 > 54 (NASA: MISSED!)>Rolled 53 <54 (APOPHIS: HIT!)On the anonymous hacker forum known only as 4chan, a user creates the following topic:-It's HAPPENING: ASTEROID APOPHIS SET TO COLLIDE WITH EARTH!!! aaaAAAhhhHhHH...Anonymous replies-Nothing ever happensAnonymous replies -It's da J-(COMMENT REMOVED)Anonymous replies-An asteroid just flew over my house!Anonymous replies,-Check out this sex anime NTR (IMAGE NO LONGER AVAILABLE)Anonymous replies-god I wish that was meuser Souvarine replies-This reminds me of that time back in 2025 when journalists discovered there had been a spike in commercial orders for high resolution regional satellite imagery focusing on Pahalgam from Maxar Technologies between 2-22 Feb 2025, several months prior to terrorist attacks in the forests of Baisaran Valley, Pahalgam, within the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region of India, on 22 April 2025. That terrorist attack killing 26 tourists at Pahalgam almost started a war between two nuclear armed nations on May 7th, with skirmishes along the line of control, mortars, missile and drone strikes, fighter jets being shot down. Nobody remembers this anymore, and Maxar has long since rebranded itself into two separate space companies afterwards, named Vantor and Lanteris...Anonymous replies-Niger NIGER NIGER NIGER NIGER
QM: So I think what happens is that your exoatmospheric kill vehicle strikes Apophis, but does not really veer it off course change its trajectory or shatter it (maybe two direct hits would do something). However, the impact is registered by surveillance satellites, with DSN ground stations retasked by the US NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) to discover what is going on.
Your mercenaries on the ground will have a short period to attempt to exfiltrate with the uranium, and they are now joined by the AFRO-FUTURIST LEGION who make a show of anti-colonial belligerence, but who are all extremely happy to accept your COLOSSAL BRIBE of -2% funding
>>6315458>>6315462>>6315462>Rolled 24, 83, 50; 80 + 40 (8% funding, +32% destabilisation modifier from oil pipeline bombing distraction)Your bid roll here of 120 wins against the competing bids from Turkey, Russia, Iran. You think you may have actually overdone it somewhat.
However, there is a catch - the oil pipeline bombing draws the attention of swathes of militants and insurgents from all across the Sahel, seeking to plunder the country in the aftermath. Tuaregs, djihadistes, mercenaries from neighbouring Chad, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ukrainians?? Russian and American private military contractors... Open skirmishes erupt everywhere, along every border. It makes exfiltration more lethal and perilous...
>>6315896kek
Your total modifiers include8% funding bid for SOPAMIN uranium15% from Q-UGV drone2% ENORMOUS BRIBE paid for Afro-futurist Legion
The roll is this00-08 Somehow, your mercenaries escape Niger and the Sahel completely unscathed09-24 They escape with the uranium, but only with the use of the Q-UGV gun drone, which inflicts minor indiscriminate civilian casualties25-27 Through the brave intervention of the (bribed) Afro-futurists, you escape the Niger. Their reward is to become slightly irradiated28-39 Your mercenaries escape, but the Afro-futurists are cut-down in a hail of gunfire40-49 Your mercenaries make it to the border, but take heavy casualties50-59 No contact from the mercenary team can be established60-66 Your mercenaries escape, but they take heavy casualties and have to abandon a large quantity of the truckloads of uranium67-99 (32% destabilisation probability) A suspiciously well-timed and positioned djihadiste insurgent ambush occurs on route to the Niger border. As your contractors set up defensive counter-ambush positions, a series of drone strikes saturates the entire area, pulverising the bloodied desert sand. There is no escape. All the mercenaries are killed, and the uranium is lost
HOWEVER: there is another choice. You are aware of Directive 3000.09, known as "human-in-the-loop", guidelines from the former US Department of Defense, now Dept Of WAR which stipulate that all autonomous weapons require a human at the trigger, effectively remote oversight with human decisionmaking. You could choose to remove this Directive 3000.09, and permit the Q-UGV to operate autonomously. This would improve your chances by 15% (the Q-UGV funding cost, essentially reducing the bad outcome likelihood by 15%). Hence the destabilisation "mission failure region" of the roll tightens to 83-99>roll 1d100>maintain human-in-the-loop, Directive 3000.09:mission failure if roll 67-99>remove Directive 3000.09, unleash AUTONOMOUS GUN DRONEmission failure zone likelihood reduced by 15%, to 83-99. News organisations in the Niger report widespread civilian casualties, atrocities and indiscriminate killings committed by suspected unknown foreign paramilitaries following Niger-Benin oil pipeline explosion
Rolled 63 (1d100)>>6315904>>remove Directive 3000.09, unleash AUTONOMOUS GUN DRONE
Rolled 71 (1d100)>>6315896Very on brand. I wonder if a LLM trained on Souv would be quite as self-aware.>>6315904>remove Directive 3000.09, unleash AUTONOMOUS GUN DRONEWe brought them along partially to gain technological insight. This quest is called ROBONAUT. If worrisome issues arise regarding a Skynet situation, we'll just have to figure out Brain Uploading beginning with Brain Computer Interfacing, so that when the robots take over, we can take over the robots in turn.
>>6315910>>6315912Well, I'm glad you rolled first. I didn't refresh. Sadly, not a good result.>>6315903Does unleashing the autonomous drone change the success brackets? Or does it merely extend the second worse bracket to encompass the expanded range?
>>6315914i hope so
>>6315910>>6315912>>6315914>>6315916QM: It is ok, in fact with the first roll >>6315910 at 63 < 67 you didn't even have to release the autonomous hunter-seeker kill robots, lol. I think what happens is that the SPACE MERCENARIES and AFRO-FUTURIST LEGIONNAIREs have to lay low for a while, recuperate and convalesce from some of the desperate gunbattles at the Niger border. Some of the uranium was lost in transit but you think it is enough to complete a nuclear thermal rocket, perhaps with a little further research
80% of this land is the Sahara desert and its people are some of the poorest on Earth. It is the land of uranium and gold; everyone comes to take from it, to join the many sultanates and forgotten empires that came before and have long since gone.
As your injured and battle-worn mercenaries escape the uranium mines for the desert border, they see a small crowd of men in blue flowing robes and tagelmust mouth veils, surrounded by local children, peering at something half-buried in the sand.
It is just a large plain rock, about the size of a briefcase. The rock is cracked, pitted and knobbled. The desert children point and say it fell from the sky; they saw it flash from the direction of Agadez and the old mosque of the Songhai. Some of the Blue Men disagree and say it is an ill omen - what Ibn Kathir called the stones from Heaven, cast from solar flame, to be pelted against the accursed shayatin; others say it is a sign of good luck. You look again at the fallen sky stone - it looks as ordinary as any other.>Just take the sky stone, it will make for a good souvenir>Bargain with the Blue Men and the desert children, purchase the sky stone> -1% Funds> -2% Funds> -5% Funds>Your convoy is already laden with this great burden of uranium ore. You don't need another stupid desert rock
>>6315970I've been loosely following the quest (as in mostly scrolling past the posts and reading a few of them) and let me say that while the sky stone may be mysterious, EVERY item in Souvarine's quests is a Chekhov's rifle and can be useful in the future. Even a simple meteorite. I have learned this while playing 3 of his quests.With that bit of uncalled wisdom imparted, I vanish. Godspeed to the few players that are voting.
>>6315970>Bargain with the Blue Men> -0.2% Fundsit cannot be THAT expensive. we are talking about potential millions of dollars for a given percent lmao.also currently planning (aka writing) out the plans for the refining prefab which is going to be used on the moon.
Okay, so here are the plans for the refining module.Essentially, after the gathering of Regolith, the Refining module will bring the initial raw material into a vacuum chamber after grinding it down to a uniform powder. After the chamber has been shut, the ore is exposed to very large quantities of heat through either microwaves, lasers, sunlight or a dedicated heating mantle. Due to the nature of vacuums, the Lunar Regolith will then begin sublimating, with different materials evaporating off of the lunar rock at various temperatures. Essentially, we distil the Regolith like alcohol.(sources:) (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20070014929/downloads/20070014929.pdf)(https://www.solarpaces.org/solar-vacuum-pyrolysis-leverages-the-lunar-vacuum-to-mine-oxygen)(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576524004399#bb12)Thusly, the heating chamber will open up to different chambers relevant to the corresponding metal being sublimated, resulting in solid metal formations in these chambers. Any Lunar Regolith can be used this way.Afterwards, any slag that is left behind will be rich in metals with very high sublimation temperatures, likely rare-earth metals. The large amounts of calcium metal extracted from the Regolith can afterwards be used to get these REMs using a reduction process. Basically, making calcium Thermite and burning the slag in it, getting the metal out, and doing it again and again until there is nothing left and you've elementally sorted the leftover slag fully and sublimated the REM metals for purity.This is a very energy-heavy process, but it can create basically EVERY single material on site.
At the mission room, as your space scientists and controllers battle to redirect the omniscient gaze of US surveillance satellites in outer space away from your robotic gun-drone mercenaries wandering in the desolate Djado wilderness of Niger back on Earth, all of a sudden, you are ruthlessly attacked and assailed by a new and terrifying, monstrous and merciless enemy:
>>6316010The SPACE LOGO DESIGNERHe exudes a very unnerving energy, a cloying sense of smugness and saccharine over-familiarity verging on molestation. His head is not perfectly bald nor clean-shaven, instead retaining a bristly close stubble. After copying some industrial designs from Dieter Rams with the end result of making the aesthetics of all technological products converge onto that of a German toaster, the Space Logo Designer also attempted to develop a revolutionary artificial IO device, the next generation of human interaction with machines. You are extremely perplexed by why he is here - surely he must possess immense wealth now, so why is he still... trying at all? What does he strive for? Why not just relax, be content and comfortably enjoy his own inexhaustible undepletable fortune? But no - the SPACE LOGO DESIGNER is here, and he demands to show you his SPACE LOGO. He claims it will ...>>6315234>"allow the workers to emotionally find more purpose in their workspace..."The SPACE LOGO DESIGNER murmurs in a dreamy, susurrous voice:-“I was fascinated by the celestial rhythms that were illuminated during this design process, how they are profoundly connected to the patterns of life on Earth. This feels like a crucial time to protect the natural world and its communities, and I am deeply honoured to be able to contribute to this important and pioneering project.”
(this is his logo)The SPACE LOGO DESIGNER attacks your FUNDING with 1d100+20 !You must battle the Space Logo Designer with your power of INSTITUTIONS (-32%)>Roll1d100, +/- ...Reply;>It is shit (+30%)>I like it (-30%)>looks AI-generated (+20)>The crown is a nice detail. I will use this when I am King Of Space (-20%)>Why is there so much text? Why is it so cluttered? (+10%)>Did you incorporate actual stars and orbits? The latin motto is interesting (-10%)>(Thinking of Maxar Technologies after Pahalgam attacks, rebranded to Vantor-Lanteris) Wait... let's say, my organisation just did something I shall call, "Far Cry 2" If I deliberately acquiesce to your space logo onslaught, and rebrand my organisation, will it be like in GTA V when you drive into the garages and get a spraypaint on the stolen car, removing the 5-star police wanted rating? If I rebrand will people be misdirected away from any horrifying atrocities? (QM:Yes)>>6315896>Reply: Maybe... not this exact logo, but yes we need to rebrand the company. Can the logo be more militaristic / space war-fetishistic? Like a modern East India Trading Company. The Martian-NIGER Trading Company?>The only correct name for a space empire is of course, DONGSPACE. Just imagine all the space that the Dong enters. Market penetration...>>6314587>>6314584>Reply: The crown makes this space logo far too colonial. Instead it should depict a circle of multi-ethnic astronaut women from disadvantaged backgrounds, breastfeeding in outer space>You need to immediately make the employee that let this man into your mission control building, unemployed>(write-in / suggest space logo idea)>Just throw this SPACE LOGO DESIGNER out of your office
(Sorry just got to get this out of the way, then i'll vote)>>6316003To maximise efficiency, I was planning on having the refining module also become the main heating module of later habitat modules.The refinery building would likely have to be assembled in space in multiple parts, with many of the internals being put together once it has landed moon-side and can be tended to by the robotic construction crew. I imagine the initial raw rock that would be refined would be from the digging of a flat area where future spacecraft can land as well as the future construction locations. With the refining process as productive at creating oxygen, there would quickly be a likely overabundance even if a lot of it was used in the process of making building materials. Thus, I would speculate that a potential avenue for rocket propellant might be using the quick decomposition of ozone by passing it through a manganese oxide filter nozzle, the catalyst quickly decomposing the ozone into O2 and reactive singlet oxygen.That would, of course, take a lot of energy to make too. But hey, if solar is free and silicon is abundant, just build more until demand is met.
>>6316013>>Reply: Maybe... not this exact logo, but yes, we need to rebrand the company./>(write-in / suggest space logo idea)"The design's planetary lines are too visible, the text is too specific to us being a company, and the crown is...it makes us look authoritarian. Sorry, but at initial view, it becomes visually overstimulating and conflicting. I like the enthusiasm, though" then"Okay, how about something more galaxy-themed? Ideally, we want to be the ones who bring humanity to the stars. The Earth, the sun, and the planets of the solar system are all... very small. Our goal is to spread humanity to the very edges of our known world. Our logo should represent everyone who works both within our organisation, and whom we might work along. Something that represents a galaxy colonised, the entire galaxy alive with life"Moving to space, ideally, we'd want to cast off the yolk of many of the ideals of old earth. A new identity has to be created, and it will start within this company. An identity beyond being local to a specific location. One where every human is no one else's slave or servant.
>>6316014wow, that is a really cool concept art picture anon! It is funny because I myself scoured the ICON Project Olympus website>>6314739for inspiration pictures, I did not find that one hehe Well done you found the best one ^_~Of course the most important thing is actually getting to the Moon... if you know what is wrong with your spacecraft, which is intact and fuelled and otherwise functional >>6315586 (however the two missiles are depleted 0/2)>write-inOtherwise you can also >pay -15% funds for in-orbit servicing, >restock missiles -10% each(the service satellite will grope your technology with robotic arms) The dreaded>relaunch new spacecraft (can boost launch chance by up to +25%)or I suppose you could just give up lol You could keep that launched functioning satellite in geosynchronous or some lower orbit for surveillance purposes or to re-outfit later etc.Because you also did successfully hit Apophis once, and aid your mercenaries in Niger by retasking the satellites, you gain access to this new potential spacecraft future concept>ASTEROID REDIRECT VEHICLEA concept mission cancelled by NASA in 2017; the goal was to capture a boulder from a near-Earth Object or asteroid surface for studyFUNDING-17%=+28% -20% Moon cycler launch, partially failed -8% SOPAMIN uranium bid-15% Q-UGV autonomous robotic dog gun-drone, 3000.09 deactivated-2% ENORMOUS BRIBE for Afro-Futurist Legion>(0% Pay basically nothing for stupid desert rock???)>>6315980INSTITUTIONS=-32%??? (pending / ongoing) widespread Niger looting, violence in Sahel??? (ongoing) employee dissent at developing space weapons??? (removed Directive 3000.09, permitting autonomous weapons)??? (US NRO investigating anomalous space activity)You possessCycler, Orbiter (Launch Ready)DA-ASATCo-orbital Missile / Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (2), 54% to hit7 Lander3 Power Beaming Satellite (SBSP)2 PNT Satellite1 Nuclear Thermal Rocket1 Asteroid Redirect Vehicle7 Railgun2 Robonaut As far as I can tell, you still have 10 uninvested TRL, because I determined that the cycler is really just a trajectory, not any particular design of spacecraft. Hopefully I have not missed out or forgotten anything, if so let me know...!
>>6315480>>6315479>>6315586If you want a view of how the Moon appears from your partially failed lunar cycler launch, maybe it looks like this. So close, yet so far...
>>6315965Sounds reasonable. It was basically what I thought the "out of contact" tier was.>>6315970Support >>6315980 but do -1% if we can't go lower.>>6316003ANTHROFUTURISM viewer, or just someone who also thought of it/Blue Alchemist/Blue Origin news follower?>>6316013Support >>6316018>>6316030I'll vote later. I'm sadly still busy.
Rolled 74 + 20 (1d100 + 20)>>6316012>>6316013>>6315174The SPACE DESIGNER explains his vision:-It is about so much more than just design. What the design offers becomes what you want to do - how you remember and imagine it in your mind. To see the future you must first imagine it - what you create is shaped by what came before. How did you imagine outer space? The vision of space you imagined was shaped and nurtured, folded and constrained and guided in so many subtle ways by designers - industrial designers. (QM: Syd Mead >>6314207 ) Design shapes the affordances, the environment that nurtures the actions the individual can perceive and perform. How do you weigh these choices? Design gives you your purpose. You think you are free to choose, but the design of the future constrains what you can do, what you - want - to do. Where does that desire come from? From what you can imagine? From physics, from the sphere of what is known and possible? Or from what is sold, and available to buy? >Reply: Doesn't good design follow the "desire path"? Doesn't good design give people what they already know they want, align with what they already are doing or want to do?>Ask: The environment of outer space will be pretty harsh. How should I design for a future where mining corporations charge for the oxygen I breathe?>Reply: People do not know what they want, until you give it to them.>Reply: Can you make my space rockets thinner and more expensive?>Reply: I wish design just stopped around Windows 98>Reply: Design should make things easy - make people's lives simple and easier to understand. Minimise what they need to do and remember>Reply: Design should be beautiful; I shall not permit the future to look Ugly>Reply: Good design should care for humans. That is why our logo must be a woman astronaut, breastfeeding in outer space>Reply: Design should follow function. If a thing is hard, don't disguise it. Only those who are clever enough and determined, who possess the strength to struggle and persevere to surmount the harshest obstacles deserve to be rewarded by the design, perhaps even become Designers themselves.>Reply: A good design exalts what it means to be human>Ask: Is this why designing robots is so difficult? The robot cannot imagine what it desires?>Reply: Please, please, just go away. I will do anything...(QM: The SPACE DESIGNER rolls to attack with his SPACE LOGO...!)
>>6316119Reply "...i didn't ask into the theory because i already understand the concepts of it. Now can you please go and make the 'human interconnected galaxy design' that i requested of you? It already has purpose behind it. Trying to make me 'get it' when i just disagree with you om certain points while on an already working understanding just makes you look like an asshole if im going to be honest."
>>6316030QM: my apologies argh, a few things I forgotTOTAL TRL is +20-You gain +4 TRL from this anon's detailed ISRU analysis ^_^>>6316003>>6316014You can give this design a name, ISRU Lunar Refiner? -You gain +3 TRL from the use of the Q-UGV (really only from using it to shoot things). However, more importantly because you removed Directive 3000.09 or human-in-the-loop, you can now make any spacecraft autonomous (includes retroactively the Mars cycler in transit, and your stuck in low orbit lunar cycler) What this means is you can issue it some vague command and it will generally follow it, eg "guard Mars" "find water on Mars" etc.-You gain +3 TRL from the uranium retrieval. To make it suitable for use in a nuclear reactor requires some further research.>Roll 1d100>less than 3% : you have some irradiated rocks>3-5% LEU>5-20% HALEU / TRISO, high assay low enriched uranium, microreactor >20% and above HEU, up to weapons grade. Some AUKUS submarines are claimed at 93-97%https://www.imarest.org/resource/in-depth-the-mighty-benefits-of-nuclear-reactors-in-submarines.htmlIf you roll higher, you can volunteer to downblend your fuel eg HEU to HALEU ... ...BUT the amount you can downblend is limited by your research phase B technical ability... only 15 points!You believe enrichment to 60% and above, that achieved by Iran, will incur a VERY strong international reaction
Rolled 29 (1d100)>>6316139Hopefully this works out. Also any nuclear rocket we make should definitely be reusable.
>>6316139>>6316146>rolled 29 > 20, HEU So this is ok, within your 15 points of technical research solutions phase B capability you could voluntarily downblend this to the acceptable safe civilian 20% HALEU / TRISO rangeOr you could ENRICH MORE lol try and make a batch that approaches military grade 90% for weapons or more efficient nuclear thermal rockets. (QM: you can enrich as many batches of fuel as you want, but obviously only one grade can eventually be placed into your spacecraft)>Roll 1d100 to enrich another batch of uranium(remember that >60% "Iran threshold" will attract an international response!)>Keep and use 29% HEU batch>Downblend to 20% HALEU / TRISO civilian batchThe mechanic I will use is that the %grade of fuel in your reactor will influence the manoeuvrability / speed of your spacecraft, power to various systems (in bimodal operation on-board electrical generation) and maximum load / capability of any Moon reactor infrastructure etc. Higher is definitely better, if you can hide it from the IAEA weapons inspectors tee hee hee
>>6314966In terms of moon landing sites, I think Shackleton the anon proposed here >>6314966 is an excellent location. I haven't seen any definitive exploration estimates of the quantity (only terrestrial radar imaging calculated estimates) so maybe for the water I will just gamify it a bit as well as with other elements and resourceshere is a map with locations of NASA's current commercial contracts under the CLPS (commercial lunar payload services, fixed price contracts services) scheme, including, Intuitive Machines (LUNR), Firefly Aerospace (FLY) and Astrobotic (private). LUNR actually landed but their lander tipped over lol; FLY completed a successful soft landing, but subsequently depleted their solar batteries. India is also examining the South Pole, with capability demonstrated by Chandrayaan-3 back in 2023, and China has Chang'e and also exploration of the Far Side
Rolled 82, 51, 4 = 137 (3d100)>>6316030>What's wrong with our spacecraft?Have we check for signs of cyberwarfare or EWAR? And tried turning it on and off again?>As it is still sending all the telemetry, you can perform some testing with your digital twin simulations of the spacecraft on Earth. Take the telemetry data, upload that to your spacecraft model, and see what has likely gone wrong and if it is salvageableJust like >>6314995>>6316119>"I've had enough design talk. We've digressed enough.">(Thinking of Maxar Technologies after Pahalgam attacks, rebranded to Vantor-Lanteris) Wait... let's say, my organisation just did something I shall call, "Far Cry 2" If I deliberately acquiesce to your space logo onslaught, and rebrand my organisation, will it be like in GTA V when you drive into the garages and get a spraypaint on the stolen car, removing the 5-star police wanted rating? If I rebrand will people be misdirected away from any horrifying atrocities? (QM:Yes)If he still won't shut up, then hit him with the good old "Your art sucks">It is shit (+30%)>looks AI-generated (+20)>Why is there so much text? Why is it so cluttered? (+10%)(This is the second roll, don't take it if he is willing to just get out of our building handle our rebranding)>>6316139Make the cycler capable of switching to an autonomous mode. Have it search for water, minerals, somewhere sheltered where we can make a secret Mars base.>2 TRL into the Railgun>7 TRL into the PNT Satellite>8 TRL into the Nuclear Thermal Rocket>2 TRL into the LanderSave the rest.I really wanted to finish off the Power Beaming Satellite, but the PNT is as important and we spent all this time getting the uranium for rockets. We may as well use it for its intended purpose. The rest I was tempted to save, but the temptation to finish off certain projects is stronger. Another viable weapon and the actual capability to perform a landing is hopefully understandable. To start with, we may not need the powersats to begin with, an RTG or something could suit our initial needs.>>6316153>Roll 1d100 to enrich another batch of uranium(Third roll)I suggest downblending if we are above the 60% threshold, or just not using it, if that will prevent the attention.
>>6316226>>6316153Welp, the LEU can be used for something else. Lets use the 29% batch. That's my vote at least. If the other anons want to keep enriching batches, I'm fine with that too. I've gotta run, so I'll leave it to you guys.
Rolled 49 (1d100)rolling for enrichment
>>6316226>>6314995>Rolled 82 (66-84 range) Your uploaded telemetry does not suggest any indications of cyber intrusion, and there does not appear to be any issues with the lunar spacecraft fuel, pressure, thermal systems or structures - the uplink and downlink are functioning and the Sun-Earth-Moon trajectory command sequences was received and executed as requested... except - that wasn't the trajectory! The trajectory was supposed to be a holding orbit, between Earth-Moon-L1...!! >>6314961>This is clearly a case of human error. It is the fault of the SLEEPLESS ROCKET SCIENTIST. Also, he was the one who let in the abomination that is the SPACE LOGO DESIGNER. Fire him>Maybe... he needs to get some sleep. Let him take a break for a while>Rolled 51+30+20+10 = 111 > 94 THE SPACE DESIGNER HAS BEEN VANQUISHED!!Harnessing the power of your eloquent and incisive aesthetic judgement, you evoke the powerful apotropaic utterances of warding, rending and banishing against the technosorcerous beguilements of the SPACE DESIGNER. "It is shit" you declare. The Space Designer is aghast, and shambles away to prey upon and pander to other gormless and expensive figments of the hallucinated future.
>>6316119>>6316012>>6316013But even with his departure, there is a lingering residue of distaste. You wonder if you were not discriminating enough in your hiring, for whilst it is not merely the divides of race, sex, beauty or religion amongst other prejudices that will follow Mankind to the distant reaches of outer space - but also one invocation so insidious, that you neglected even to think it... even in your (slight) racism, >>6314137 you did not think to discriminate based upon WEALTH - perhaps the most coveted and enviable status of them all. Will space be designed for the poors or the billionaires? Will it be the recycled urine in the cramped mining habitat space balloon, or microgravity bottled vintage champagne in an art installation viewing space over the concourse of Mars? You wonder why the glimpse of space shown to you was one of mining, resource extraction...is that the role the SPACE DESIGNERS intend to be engrained into your consciousness, your memory and imagination? Or the space of wars and contested scarce resources, endless conflict and battle and strife... There are some who believe that the polluted industries of Earth should be moved to the Moon - perhaps it could be transformed into a site for heavy manufacturing, or even an inescapable penal colony. And yet, it is also quite possible that the first to live and reside in space, the first experiences of other planets will be exclusively presented for the delectation and thrill-seeking pleasures of billionaires - perhaps even trillionaires. Yusaku Maezawa, a retail entrepreneur, allegedly paid USD 80 million for a trip around the Moon. How is it that you have you not seen the designs of space, intended for those above? >Clearly you were not racist enough. From now on, only hire the sons and daughters of billionaires / ultra high-net worth individuals. These scions will be the heirs of the future space dynasty>The irradiated Afro-Futurists of Niger will make a fine workforce for Mars, alongside other impoverished poors. Did you know that one of the valleys of Mars is already named Niger? They will not even have to change their mailing addresshmmm, perhaps it is important to think about brand positioning:>(LUXURY, inflation) Position your space organisation as for the ultra-wealthy and most adventurous, daring explorers. You want to cultivate the exclusivity and mystique of elite, orbital luxury tourism. Space travel will always be expensive, and that is why you should want it! >(MASS ADOPTION, deflation) Position your space organisation for mass democratisation of access and widespread appeal and advocacy of space. You want to make a trip cheap and commonplace; eventually it will become so mundane and routine and ordinary, incorporated within the experience of everyone in their everyday life. But will the wonder of space be lost?
(In case you want to see a "luxury" space station in reality, space designer Philippe Starck had a try a while back. Apparently the windows and grip handles are gold or something, hmmm. I guess the colours are a bit LVMH handbag like? I was not really sold on the aesthetics of this)https://www.dezeen.com/2018/06/14/philippe-starck-designs-foetal-interiors-for-axioms-commercial-space-station/
>>6314966>>6316156Just for the Shackleton Moon crater anon, these SPACE DESIGNERs conceived of this interior for a lunar habitat at your proposed destination. I suppose the living quarters are sort of cosy and offer a semblance of terrestrial familiarity, but I don't know if this is actually achievable hehehttps://www.dezeen.com/2024/01/19/hassell-inflatable-moon-base-european-space-agency/
Enrichment for nuclear thermal reactor>>6316146 29% HEU, can downgrade to HALEU 20%>>6316226 4% LEU (lol) >>6316229 49% HEUQM: I just had a bit of a panic that my entire 1d100 system was ruined lol and am checking the science, because I have a feeling with the nuclear thermal reactors it is possible that in actual reality, only >90% grades will work but I am not sure. This is because normal reactors on Earth the LEU ones run at 300 deg C, some high temperature pebble bed reactors can do 500 deg C or 700-900 deg C with special turbines, but the actual tested nuclear thermal rocket NERVA in the 1960s used 93% U-235 to achieve 2100 deg C and to generate the supersonic combustion mass blast of exhaust and high specific impulse thrust to make the weight of the reactor worthwhile. The Lockheed DRACO cancelled one apparently used 20% HALEU but maybe it was a blend (with even higher enriched fuel)?? So I am not sure if you can even achieve the required temperature for rocket thrust with low enriched uranium, hmmm If this is the case my 1d100 idea is ruined argh
As you are a bit short of funding (-17%) at the moment, I will let you sell any of the batches of enriched uranium you do not use, 1:1 (ie 29% enrichment goes to +29% funds etc.) But that is all the enrichment for now, no more! hehe
>>6316336>Maybe... he needs to get some sleep. Let him take a break for a while>>6316337>The irradiated Afro-Futurists of Niger will make a fine workforce for Mars, alongside other impoverished poors. Did you know that one of the valleys of Mars is already named Niger? They will not even have to change their mailing address>(MASS ADOPTION, deflation) Position your space organisation for mass democratisation of access and widespread appeal and advocacy of space. You want to make a trip cheap and commonplace; eventually it will become so mundane and routine and ordinary, incorporated within the experience of everyone in their everyday life. But will the wonder of space be lost?Just as promised in our mission statement.>>6316338I don't know what it is with rich people and plastering gold everywhere, it is so tacky.>>6316345Just divide the 1d100 scale into quintiles and if we roll good enough we get whatever grade is good enough. Or handwave it. Or reduce the penalty for us breaching 60% enrichment/increase the options for secrecy, so we can keep rolling HEU batches up to 90%+. I dunno.>>6316348>Sell the 4% and 29% batches.>Use the 49% HEU for our Nuclear Thermal Rocket
>>6316453+1 to all of this.
There are provinces buried deep within the womb of the Earth that perhaps once belonged to the Moon. Mascons of three contiguous regions of anomalous topography, the East African Plateau, the Southern African Plateau, and the southeastern Atlantic Ocean basin - thermally perturbed structures, seamounts ridges and rises, visible in long wavelength bathymetry, scars and seismic memory sunken billion of years deep. This ancient trauma is the cause of the South Atlantic Anomaly: Van Allen Belt radiation flux from solar wind trapped in the magnetosphere; an immense reservoir of superdense rock beneath Africa, that pulls and weakens the geomagnetic field of the tilted Earth, causing so many dangers to spacecraft and satellites that have learnt to avoid this shifting zone of devouring peril, at all cost.
Crushed by the lithostatic pressures of the continents above, amidst the torrid swells and plumes of hot magma, these are the shattered remnants of Theia, a world perhaps the size of Mars that collided with the proto-Earth 4.4 billion years ago, and whose complete and utter obliteration brought forth the birth pangs of Earth's distant sister - that orbed maiden, with white fire laden - whom mortals call The Moon. Art thou pale for weariness / Of climbing Heaven, and gazing upon the Earth... Among the stars, that have a different birth / And ever changing - an Eye, that finds no object worth her constancy?
Light over the heavens thrown, glimmers in blackness, the sepulchre of an empty sky. Floating shadows sharpening in the starless gloom. There seems to be fire in the light of the Moon.RCS thrusters firing -Rendezvous reports good burn, good trajectory
Less than 3000 km from the Moon on distant retrograde orbit (DRO) approach, the solar array wing cam on Jules VERNE-01 >>6315531detects a hot speck silhouetted against the black. (using PNT satellite capability)>focus your Earth ground station large radar facility Cassegrain reflector high gain antennas on the target, using monopulse-Doppler target tracking to obtain an orbit determinationDetects large spacecraft-sized targets. Accurate but slow due to elapsed transmission light time>release cubesats with distributed aperture radar, using narrow adaptive beamforming to create a coherent aperture by developing phase reference through clutter returnsDetects small proximity targets, including release of submunitions. Fast, but with very high signal processing load>attempt close electro-optical inspection: this requires manoeuvring very near to this unidentified spacecraft, and, well, attempting to look at it. You think your lunar spacecraft will be highly vulnerable whilst attempting approach - but it is the only way to be absolutely sure
You don't even need any tracking to know what this is...because of your prior failed launches and delays, someone is positioning to land on the south pole of the Moon, and conquer all that water ice at Shackleton before you!! But your lunar cycler depleted both missiles firing at the satellite and Apophis... what to do?>The cubesats... they could be used as an improvised swarm interceptor, but the hit rate is very poor, perhaps at best 5% ... You have 10 >roll Nd100 for the N cubesats you want to use to intercept; hit on any roll less than 5% You are not sure how many is enough to permanently disable the target. Afterwards, your radar detection will be impaired by the loss of the cubesatsTarget>solar array>RCS>antenna>avionics, guidance and navigation modules >payload module. Destroy this, and they cannot complete the mission>Your munitions are expended. Monitor the target from afar; wait for your next lunar cycler to resupply (no roll needed)>roll 1d100...>it is time for the SPACECRAFT WRESTLING. Attempt to fly and grapple this intruder in rendezvous proximity operations, with a robotic manipulator arm. Maybe it is like in Homeworld 1999 with salvagers, you will get a brand new shiny captured spacecraft? yay>Hydrazine is highly corrosive. Approach and spray the target with thruster fuel. Maybe you can claim this was an "accident">ignore the target, wherever it is going whatever it is doing. Focus completely on your own landing at Shackleton. Perhaps you will get there first?>attempt a close, intimidating pass at the target spacecraft. Will it even notice?>if you attempt any hostile action in Cislunar Space, the entire planet Earth will know. Is there anything you can do to avoid this??(hint from the image here >>6316609 )>(write-in)
Rolled 20 (1d100)>>6316613>release cubesats with distributed aperture radar, using narrow adaptive beamforming to create a coherent aperture by developing phase reference through clutter returnsWe need to know if we are being attacked before anything else. Is it that damn witch, the mistress of LTC?>>6316614>Hydrazine is highly corrosive. Approach and spray the target with thruster fuel. Maybe you can claim this was an "accident">Write in: The enemy craft is in a distant retrograde orbit. That means it will be frequently on the dark side of the moon, where Earth cannot observe. We will strike then.
>>6316642>>6316614I assume that roll is failure. I say follow up and keep attacking, no mercy! We must finish the battle before it gets clear of the dark side of the moon!
If we succeed, then we need not offer an explanation. Anything could've taken it out. A galactic cosmic ray, or solar particle event. Maybe it was aliens! kek
Why the fuck are our rolls so cursed...I got some more ideas for possible ways to make our moon colony and the tech behind it, which could help us with some technology readiness.Btw, how does the technology readiness work again? Is the +4 we got from my refining concept locked to that specific tech, or is it applicable to other tech types?
>>6316653I think it can be used for anything, as my TRL allotment from earlier wouldn't have gone through if it couldn't, given that I used 19. I don't think we'd have to do a 1 to 9 TRL advancement for regolith refining, as the tech is more or less already possible. Maybe if we were to scale it up, then may we'd need to.
>>6316654cool, so I should basically let the 'tism take hold and plan out every part of the Shackleton colony, and potentially other projects for more guaranteed bonuses?
>>6316685Go for it!
Rolled 12 (1d100)>>6316642If anyone could witness this robotic spacecraft battle, which occurs at a relatively geriatric speed, slower than walking, at 1 metre per second along the axis of vertical descent, it would appear utterly bizarre and farcical, except no-one can actually observe it as it is entirely shrouded in the darkness occluding Earth communication on the Dark Side Of The Moon.QM: the roll is pretty dismal, but I will award you a few bonuses. Because you granted all your space systems autonomy removing human-in-the-loop with Directive 3000.09, on this occasion you can add your phase E Mission Operations & Data Analysis bonus of +20 (as if humans were monitoring and commanding it) even though there is a communications black out on the Dark Side. I will give you a +10 for the use of your Positioning Navigation Timing satellite capability with some tracking from the 10 cubesats, though it would probably have been better to use the Earth antennas to track the target's orbit whilst it was still on the Moon's bright side given what you are trying to do here with an RPO close approachSo if I roll greater than 50 = 20 + 20 + 10 I will evade your dangly robot arm hydrazine spraying attack lol. Your spacecraft has something similar to the SPDM Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator, a telemanipulator as part of a mobile servicing system, it has borescope cameras and various nozzle tools and umbilical connectors and latching end effectors to grasp the external spacecraft fixtures, rails and attachment points, for robotic refuelling, except here it is attempting to deliberately leak fuel.What happens then is your spacecraft robot detaches some spare fuel canister and (holding it a very very safe distance away) attempts to lower itself near the target and rupture the fuel to disrupt some sensitive systems, foul electric arc ignition systems for thrusters until the target loses control etc. The monopropellant itself does not really burn but just appears as conical puffs of white vapourI will say that your spacecraft autonomously knows how much fuel to hold in reserve for the lander, it will not exceed the safe parameters unless it fails and you chose to attempt to repeat this exact same attack again>>6316653>>6316654The TRLs can be used for anything, except for a specific instance such as the railgun upgrade etc where it was tied to a specific event such as your spacecraft test shootdown>>6316685Sure, go for it!
>>6316642>>6316653>>6316685>>6316689>MISSION SUCCESS! You did it! You landed your battered lunar lander on Shackleton Crater, and you are the first! The mysterious rival spacecraft spirals away and crashes in a heap of fine regolith dust, which hangs suspended for a while in a brief lingering haze - it might be useful to investigate to whom it belonged and perhaps salvage it for parts later.Ok I will open it up to the Shackleton infrastruture planning anon >>6316685 and everyone else hehe but what I will also say is this: your Jules VERNE-01 command module is orbiting above, you also have the PNT satellite. You can wait a bit for VERNE-02 the next cycler (no roll) needed for this, as it is equipped with your upgrades, nuclear thermal rocket, railgun etc and is also missile armed 2/2. It can bring your nuclear reactor which fuelled at 59% enrichment I will let you install up to 59 points of TRL technologies, some of which can be experimental (ie not fully at TRL 9, but there might be some penalties to rolls if you attempt to use them to undertake various tasks). So your 59 reactor could power up to 6 ie 5x9 = 54 technology modules, with 5 TRL points to spare. So these could include various ISRU excavator refiner bots, or solar rectenna / the power beaming etc. So you could also start constructing landing pads and roads or habitats life support etc each of these would be 1 module, TRL between 1-9 (but remember the max TRL 59 total reactor load restriction). I will leave the sequencing up to you. Other things you could plan for might be >another launch to capture Earth-Moon-L2 Lagrangian cycler route (you have secured L1) >investigating the downed spacecraftand most importantly>establishing a business model, (SECRET MOON DOMINATION)ie brief outline of what you are buying and sellingSo you could act as a utility, charge for oxygen, fuel, reactor/solar power, water, road or landing pad access, compute / datacentre power, navigational access (from your PNT satellite), payload delivery to Moon etc, living habitatsOr it could be something more exotic like advertising (Moon billboards?) or billionaire luxury space tourism etc Bear in mind some of these ideas are more capital intensive than others!!I recommend you limit the commercial focus to ONE for the time beingI will also upload some maps of Shackleton crater rim with the best scientific indication of resources I have found so farI look forward to reading your ideas!
This map, I found here, https://lroc.im-ldi.com/images/937taken by the LROC Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera laser altimeters is so far the best scientific assessment I have seen for guesses as to optimal resource locations near Shackleton at the South Pole.Shackleton is the crater rim SR-1, 2, 3 plotted, this is a safe traversal illuminated zone, as well as the de Gerlache ridge CR-1 etc. Water ice is predicted stable at PSR-1 which is permanent shadow and darkness
This map illustrates some of the local features around the South Pole. Can use it in conjunction with the topographic Moon map on the top right here (need to zoom in a lot) >>6312917
>>6316716>>6316229(oops your reactor is at 49% enrichment hehe )So that is only max 5 technology modules that can be installed at TRL 9 , 45 points with 4 to spare. FUNDING is at +16% = -17% + 4% + 29%INSTITUTIONs is at -32% If you wish, you can declare your conquest of Shackleton publicly (I will grant the +45% I promised to the anon here )>>6315460>>6315577or instead keep it SECRET for a SECRET MOON BASE (everyone can still see it. Maybe build or tunnel underground?)>declare and claim ownership of Shackleton Crater. You are the Moon King now>you must keep your MOON BASE as secret as possible (it is not very secret)
>>6316716I'll leave the 49 TRL to Shackleton Crater anon, he had many of the same I ideas I did regarding the lunar regolith, and some others I didn't, like the data center.The data center on Shackleton should be our priority for our initial business model, I think.I do think we should capture the L2 route, put another PNT there, maybe also with a nice telescope, since it is a nice position for observation. The secret payload would be a laser weapon. Since we never really followed up on the diverging weapon paths between TPT and Hongyue. Would offer us a more subtle option. We need a stronger stranglehold on space.There's so much to do. We probably ought to put up some refueling stations too. And maybe we could produce our biomemetic bone membrane in space factories. Or we could pursue another research pathway. The optical lattice clock perhaps, or the piss!drink tech. Is allocating funding to increase our five project phases an option?>>6316731I'm not sure of the wisdom of declaring ownership of a piece of clay that others allegedly claim FOR ALL MANKIND. I guess the benefit would be to establish an official claim. Defending it would grant us a degree of legitimacy from de facto ownership. But it just seems dumb at this stage. Most of our personnel and infrastructure is on the Earth, which means we are vulnerable to pretty much anything from states, even if we get everything we want from Indonesia (what's the progress on those negotiations by the way?), or are untouchable in China. Until we move our headquarters into the void, we are not in the clear.>declare and claim ownership of Shackleton Crater. You are the Moon King nowThat being said, it isn't much of a secret anyways. I'm choosing to interpret this as us just announcing that we've made a moon base, and not us staking an exclusive land claim, at least not just yet. We have to actually make customers aware of our datacenter to offer its services after all, so we need to do this. Maybe our LAWFARE can legitimate an exclusive claim? We are entering speculative territory afterall. Plus, I want to have Institutional rep back in the positives.
>>6316731>>6316742>declare and claim ownership of Shackleton Crater. You are the Moon King now>"(insert company name here, I never really got what we actually are called) believes that space is for humans. Not for nations, not for conglomerates, not for tyranny. We are establishing a moon base at Shackleton with the purpose of creating the first moon colony. One that will propel humanity into a golden age where we work together, not to fight one another, but to create and explore a vast galaxy where there is space for everyone who believes in co-existence."Essentially, diplomatically, we are enforcing the international space treaty. People can still send probes to the moon and scout it out, but as soon as anyone plans a base on the moon and calls it "an American base" or "a Chinese base" or any other nationally entrenched idea, then we would step in.This way, we are diplomatically removing the incentives for large power structures like the many nations of Earth to get to the moon directly, as it is contested as long as it is done as a form of expansionism.It is also good PR to be human first. It might ruffle the feathers of the mighty, but that's because they are reminded they aren't the only ones that matter. This method will, of course, likely become a legal nightmare, since we are essentially claiming the moon cannot be owned, and are thus free for everyone as long as they keep the same spirit, which would mean we are disputing the idea of being able to own land at all on the moon. Many people would be against the idea on Earth, but it is also one of the only ways for us to truly fight against powers that work within Earth's entrenched legal systems.
>>6316716>establishing a business modelAfter the news of the Moon base has circulated the headlines, approach a mixture of companies including Nvidia, Intel, AMD, Major automotive industries and Major social platforms such as Facebook (I'm not calling it Meta Zuckershit), Twitter (you neither Elon) and potentially search engines such as Google and pals.When meeting them, try to sell them the idea of not an investment in ownership of any part of the colony, but rather cheaper services and lowered costs on their own end.For Nvidia Intel and AMD, it is possible to sell the potential higher grade and easier made silicon metal chips which can be made in low to zero gravity as an option for a source of chips which come from a politically neutral source, Which can be transported to anywhere on earth via atmospheric drop, and services on the moon such as large data processing for stuff like AI training in a place unable to be infiltrated due to a literal vacuum gap between any hackers & thieves trying to steal code. For companies such as Facebook and Twitter, the large data centre that can be built within the Shackleton crater can be sold as being easily available, slow but long-term storage. Information about user data and the large (and increasing) number of inactive accounts, which are from bots or people who have died. It can all be kept away from Earth, being checked only when necessary, maybe once every few years. Massive backup data blocks could also be kept, allowing for rollbacks of large earthside stacks if chosen to do so. And all of this costs pennies in comparison to the cost of earthside operations. Google could make use of many of the same forms of services, with much of its massive data storage being costly to constantly upkeep planet-side, both in electricity costs as well as in repairs.For automotive manufacturers, the large quantities of Titanium in lunar regolith could allow for effective production of titanium skeleton cars, ones that would weigh less than steel ones, allowing for greater fuel/electricity efficiency. As well as a source of rare metals used in advanced manufacturing, which is independent of China, and which would likely be generally low-cost as well.Essentially, the sale would be "invest in the colony, the money that is invested would proportionally allow investors to lessen costs and increase revenue through simplified supply chains and effective downcutting of maintenance assets. even small investments now could mean deals which could cut your costs by half in a few decades"This is just for on earth funding. I will be going to bed now, but tomorrow i will mention potential revenue avenues in space.
>>6316818>What we are called?Technically we are playing as the space industry in general - see >>6313628 - with the exception of some opposing factions. More specifically, we were asked to name our company, give mission statements, etc. The names given were here >>6313048 >>6313054 >>6313120 and all three were subsequently acknowledged here >>6313247 - so I guess you could say we are playing as these three companies. The two other anons seemed to have become lurkers or lost interest, unless one of them is the other anon. Though TPT anon's choice of our secret weapon seems to have become ours as a whole >>6313497 - while Hongyue has arguably become the main or default company by virtue of being the only one with a complete mission statement >>6313595 though I am biased, as I named/wrote it out.The mission statement is vague enough to accommodate your idealistic vision for humanity/our end goal, while still also having room for our wacky raids of the third world, and the possible megalomaniac space nazi shit we may or may not get up to in the future. It really depends on how far the LTC (The Lunar Transport Company led by that witch with the "forever 35" face) pushes us.>DiplomacyCould work, given that we've already dipped our toes into lawfare. Could also screw us. Who but us, is going to enforce this interplanetary/international arrangement? If we achieve primacy in space, we could manage it, but Earth could makes things difficult for us on Earth (we still live there).There's also the issue of nations being sneaky. What if they make a base, don't declare it as an "American base" or whatever, but it is entirely populated by Americans, and they enforce what are essentially border/access controls. Then we've essentially let whichever nation contest our space supremacy - which in turn is what allows us to enforce this diplomatic arrangement - while letting them get away with not calling a pig, a pig.Also, there is the issue of us being just some aerospace company with attached bands of mercenaries and some space weapons. Trying to become some sort of space NGO/interplanetary government regime is tricky for us, at least until we move our headquarters into space and achieve the personnel/manufacturing capacity to be essentially independent of Earth.
>>6316831>>6316731I'll support the general idea of your business model, I did say I'd leave it to you after all. But you should arrange the TRL allotments.We only have enough TRL for five-ish techs, more if we only put in enough for them to be experimental. I'd recommend putting ISRU excavator refiner bots at 9, likewise for solar rectenna (I think the power beaming satellite should automatically net us this tech for use on the ground honestly, so only 6 TRL would be required). 9 TRL should be reserved for the datacenter. The remaining TRL should go to a mix between ISRU nuclear reactor and a refining/manufacturing plant. I genuinely don't think we should require a full 9 spend on the refining part separately, as that can be done with pyrolysis and some simple engineering, or we could partner with Blue Origin for the Blue Alchemist tech. Assuming the best case scenario for TRL spending - 9 on bots, 6 on power beaming satellite which simultaneously nets us ground rectenna, 9 on the datacenter, 9 on the reactor, and 9 on a combined refining manufacturing plant - we'd still have 7 remaining from our module, plus 1 TRL that I didn't spend on the previous allotment of 20 TRL, which puts us at 8 remaining TRL. I think we should put it as one of two things. Either an Observatory at the L2 point, OR an orbital/lunar ground factory that produces our Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles. We could potentially control humanity's long term ability to live in space once we get manufacturing going, they can't live without it!This is my tentative official vote for our TRL spending, btw.>9 TRL on ISRU Excavator Refiner bots>6 on Power Beaming satellite (assuming it also nets us ground rectenna)>9 TRL on Datacenter>9 on ISRU Nuclear Reactor>9 on a refining/manufacturing plant for lunar regolith into all its component parts (Titanium, Magnesium, Aluminum, Calcium, Iron, Silicon, and Oxygen). If the factory can't be a combined refining/manufacturing plant, or if we can only manufacture one thing per factory, then I say make it a refining plant. Unless bots can handle refining at a decent throughput (I assume the bots can be both miners and refiners because Souv mentions excavator-refiner bots >>6316716). If the bots can handle it, make it a semiconductor manufacturing plant.>Last 8 TRL on a Cerium Oxide nanoparticle manufacturing plant.Though I'll leave the final decision on the TRL spend to Shackleton Crater anon, or at least wait for a supporting vote from the other anon, because it is a big decision to spend this much TRL, too big for one anon to decide. Also, I don't want to spend if my assumption are wrong (ie the powersat doesn't net us ground rectenna, or we can't get combined miner-refiners, etc).
>>6316927Thanks for the clarification!I think it could make sense if one could say the Anons who went silent were eaten up asset-wise by other companies within the larger consortium of companies, or generally give passive services.In which case, I would propose to represent a new company, "Outer Colonies Unlimited" Outer Colonies Unlimited is owned by a young man who came into wealth through a mixture of renewable technology investments and his ownership of an Algae oil production company, one that works both in the industrial sector as well as the food sector. Its headquarters are located in Denmark, but it has holdings in most European countries.The mission goal of OCU is officially to develop resource extraction methods in space, as well as develop infrastructure in outer space for the purpose of improving planetside conditions.While the company WILL do that, the unofficial purpose of the company is to essentially force the hand of human thought to drift away from old patterns of power: idealising a future where true ownership of both ideas and items is upheld not via violence and the need of a state. By an understanding that with the tech to make anything anyone would want by whomever, and utopian post scarcity abundance, that humans would fit back into its purposeful shape, of nomads wandering the galaxy together by choice rather than necessity. For OCU, having such things as patent rights on designs of oxygen tanks or 3d manufacturing designs necessary for colonies and ships in space to stay alive are direct murder or preventable deaths bound to happen later. The only things possibly up for discussion about being truly a trade good are surface-level consumer goods that aren't necessary for living or comfort.
>>6316927Also, yeah, the problem is that indeed, we will be the only ones enforcing our ideal scenario. LTC will probably be a thorn in our side, but if we don't get a leg up on them, then I imagine we wouldn't be able to enforce a legal ownership either, anyway. For now, we just need to have a higher moral ground and pray that everything works out. I was thinking, that as soon as refining and production had been set up, that we would likely want to work upon a larger station capable of self sufficiency around the moon, as well as a Laser defence array capable of shooting down both missiles and projectiles attempting to hit the moon base and the control station, with the official reason for building it being "Anti Orbital Asteroid Defence"
>>6316982Nice. Another one for the roster of companies in our grand consortium.
>>6316933Generally, I support this list of TRL, although I think that the refining and manufacturing robots themselves are a less-than-ideal scenario.The processes of bulk refining lunar Regolith are space (lmao) intensive, and if the isolated vacuum is broken, then the vapourised/sublimated metal can just slowly be sucked away and out onto the surface of the moon. Individual robots would require a lot of precision work to make, and would take a lot of resources for a very low amount of processing. The only benefit being the mobility of said robots. Which isn't really worth it at all in my opinion. Especially since they will likely have to be hooked up to the solar power grid constantly, since the refining process is very energy-intensive.I was assuming that the refining fab and the manufacturing fab are going to be separate structures, since they are going to be very different in how both work, with the refining process basically being 99% automated as it's essentially just "walk into cylinder where specific gas crystalized and retrieve large ass crystaline-metallic iron/sodium/other crystal" to be brought over to the manufacturing fab when using the humanoid robots. Meanwhile, manufacturing would be MANY wildly differing processes needing specialised machines internally. many of those machines needing specialized workers actively tending to them, unable to be automated easily.Lemme write out the explanation of my idea for the manufacturing fab.
>>6316984Yeah, the lasers are definitely on the to-do list.Any thoughts on my tentative TRL allocation? >>6316933Plus >>6316716 as I understand it indicates each 8-9 TRL complete tech we complete is a module we are sending up, and it is up to us in the order in which we sequence them. So that also needs our input, as time isn't standing still. Events may crop up, and LTC may be wondering where their missing ship is. Plus there's the issue of if we want to spend any of our funding now, on new projects or research, or new missions on Earth.Your business model mentions atmospheric drop. If you are serious about that, we probably ought to put some TRL into Orbital Drop pods (both for delivery of goods/raw materials, as well as troops/personnel. The ballute from >>6312934 might be a good research choice if we are investing in infrastructure to make commercial trade easier. Good for lowering costs by allowing us to reuse our rockets too, maybe.I think we're all waiting on you to map out Shackleton Crater's infrastructure and base layout using Souv's provided maps too, since this is your baby.
>>6316990I should've refreshed, muh bad.>refining bots, factories.I'm waiting for Souv to weigh in on how viable they'd be, but I agree with your assessment. I guess I'd edit the list to just making them dedicated excavator/logistics bots, with the factory being a refinery specifically. The biomemetic bone membrane factory TRL can instead be a manufacturing facilities for those refined metals. We'd have to choose a specific thing though.
SoThe design layout idea for manufacturing Fab will have to vary wildly from the refining hub, as the refiner is static; it needs to do a specific list of things, and only those.Manufacturing is wholly different. It needs a Swiss Army knife of potential solutions, always able to change to a given demand.So, here is the idea.The Fab will be internally pressurizable with any atmosphere which is non-corrosive to the internal machines. This includes stuff like helium, argon, oxygen, nitrogen, you get it. Or just not be pressurized, if called for.Internally, the manufacturing hub will be mostly open, with different "workshops" able to be fit into it in designated spots, like a grid system. In between these grids, machine arms, like on manufacturing sites, sit ready to transport shapes between workshops by grabbing onto them and ferrying them from one arm to the other. Think kind of like Factorio inserters.Externally, the process starts with an external large grinder that grinds any and all materials created by the refining Fab into a powder. This powder is then carried forward to two different workshops, the first being the mixer, and the second the smeltery.The mixer mixes materials into the quantities that are necessary for products requested later down the line. This can be automated like "always keep 50kg of ready titanium magnesium structure-grade on standby" or custom requests by the smelter for "100mg FeSiSr2 blend"Afterwards, the melter melts the given material into the form necessary for usage later. Usually, materials are put on standby as small ingots to be melted or shaped; however, other workshops desire, but the melter can also, through the usage of centrifical force, cast melted metal into spun moulds made of ceramics made by and shaped by later workshops. The materials from the mixer and smelter are then used in the different workshops, like:Powder mixes used in the ceramic sintering workshopmetal wires used in 3d printer parts manufacturingmany different mixes, put through the liquid chemical workshopmaterial coatings in the magnetron workshopYou get the gist of it. After many, MANY processes internally, if the product were too big to fit inside the manufacturing hub, there would then be a large collection of robotic arms, each of which would be able to grab hold of items put through the Manufacturing Fab's hangar-like airlock. Using polishers, the external protection layer likely laid previously in production would be removed (basically sandpapering a part of each individual piece) and then assembled externally using vacuum cold welding.This structure would be LARGE. Likely the largest individual structure sent by us from Earth. one that would need to be assembled in orbit from multiple launches before being delivered onto Shackleton.(the refinery would need to be large too, but this is just... yeah)
>>6317007Souv can determine if this deserves TRL points. Hopefully, I explained the idea well enough.anyways>>6316933I generally support your List, although for now I would change the power satellites to humanoid machine puppets. I think the solar power on the surface, with the near 97% yearly illumination, will be more than enough, with the satellite tech being more useful later. So something like9 TRL on Refinery tech9 TRL on Humanoid robotics9 TRL on space Data centre technology9 TRL on nuclear rocketry9 TRL on manufacturing5 TRL on cerium oxide particlesAlternatively, if reusable rockets is a tech that is necessary to use TRL on, I would rather the 5 tech on nano particles be forwarded to said tech, and then any more TRL added from my explanation of manufacturing be added to that.Cerium oxide and most human space occupation technology is nice, and I'll support it wholly. I just think if we put the TRL into making the nuclear rocket we have reusable, we can use the time while we are making and sending the moonbase pieces to finalise the human habitation tech. Since the reusable rocket will make most of our wait time much less painful, cost-wise.also sorry if i haven't parsed a visual plan for the moonbase, i am currently trying to visually understand the map that was given by Souv. I am still mightily confused by what is supposed to be where on it.
>>6317008>TRL listThe reason I wanted to complete the powersat, is that I'm guessing completing it allows us to also get the ground rectenna tech. Since we already have 3 TRL in the powersat, it is cheaper to complete the powersat and get the two techs than to put 9 separately into rectenna specifically.While I do want humanoid robots eventually, I think it would be more efficient to buy and test humanoid robots in a combat zone like we did earlier to get TRL, the invest that specifically into humanoid robots. I think getting large sled-like logistics UGVs or forklift/excavator/bulldozer-esque construction drones is more important. We already have 2 TRL in Robonauts, which can be our humanoid robots for later, though >>6315196 seems to indicate they'd be our main tactical elements on the surface of various moon/planets rather than workers, though I think they could function as both.Also, the 9 TRL in nuclear rocketry is pointless, as we've already completed the tech. See >>6316226Likewise, the Cerium Oxide particles are already complete, it is the orbital/lunar factory that needs to be produced.For manufacturing, a specific thing to be manufactured has to be specified, I think. It can't be an omni-factory. Though that is just a reasonable guess, I'd love it if it could be. See >>6312933 we have to specify something like semiconductors or a specific pharmaceutical product.
>>6317013>>6317008Though adding on to this, Souv's post has us bringing our 49% enriched nuclear reactor to the moon, so actually, we can cut the 9 TRL invested into the TRISO particles (ISRU Nuclear Reactor, from one of Souv's first posts in the thread), and put it elsewhere. That way we have more room to get something either you or I want onto the list, depending on what we choose to cut out.
>>6317008So, a revised list would look something like...>9 TRL on ISRU Excavator Logistics bots or 7 TRL into Robonauts>6 on Power Beaming satellite (assuming it also nets us ground rectenna) or 9 TRL into Ground Rectenna (if it doesn't)>9 TRL on Lunar Datacenter (with the high temperature superconductors mentioned >>6314612)>9 on Regolith Refinery>9 on a manufacturing plant for semiconductors/micro electronics.>Last 8 TRL on a Cerium Oxide nanoparticle manufacturing plant OR 7 TRL into the same if we have to shell out for the Ground rectenna separately. If that were the case, we'd have to choose to invest in the Robonauts instead of the Excavators, to make the TRL math fit.
>>6317018If we are talking about the data centre as something to be brought along, then i think there has been a mistake in understanding.The actual data centre idea revolves around constructing it out of resources on the moon. Since the resources to do so are abundant on the moon and the plans aren't for something the size of a small house, but rather a building the size of the entire dark part of the crater, slowly expand upon as its services expand. Aka, the full data centre would be several kilometres wide and long.The finalised version of it, would likely be nearly the entire bottom of the crater filled with said data storage facility. Only some of the upper part being used instead for the centrifugal habitation module for on-site living.We could probably send a small miniaturised version though, for a showcase of the technology being applicable and in use. Oh, something I forgot to correct before, the refinery fabs are the size of probably a large apartment building, and as I mentioned, should be able to refine every element out of Regolith. So a large part of it is just the storage of the many different elemental resources harvested by the Regolith, since there are a lot of minute quantities of everything else in the Regolith. >>6317013The biggest reason I wanted to start with the humanoid robots is the fact that they are able to repair parts on-site. I don't think the logistics bots are a bad idea. If anything, I think that it sounds like a very good idea for some automated workforce. The biggest reason for the robots are that they are able to fix problems that might arise by being steered by humans back on earth to fix something instead of just suddenly losing a robot forever, even though it was just a single wire that broke. one which could easily be replaced.
One other addition we should possibly consider swapping something out for is Fuel Depot/Factory. How we get there, whether by putting TRL into an Orbital Fuel Depot, or what, I dunno. We just need storage infrastructure to refuel our spacecraft, and the actual electrolysis plant to actually make the fuel. While not simple, I'm not sure they are so future concept-y that we need to invest TRL into building a non-orbital one, but if we do, we should maybe consider swapping it out for the nanoparticles plant.Then again, my preference is to defer the fuel depot until later. We don't have that many spacecraft out yet. Honestly I think I'd prefer a repair&servicing craft out first. It is more important to get our moon base up and running first, now that I think about it. And our nano particles are a core tech of our company, may as well get our revenue stream flowing.Anyways, I'm done rambling for now. I gotta sleep soon.
I was also mistaken about how we were doing this, since I thought the TRL points were research instead of what we were sending away on the next rocket.If that is the case, then I would say:>5 TRL on a singular, simple excavator logistics bot>9 TRL on solar panels that can be unfolded at the site by Robonauts>18 TRL worth for a small(by later scales) scale refinery >9 TRL on simple Datacentre >9 TRL for the best grade humanoid logistics robots available to us at the moment.>>6317025One simple solution that isn't exactly optimal, but could work, is to begin with using the oxygen we refine in our Lunar refinery as a fuel to get back to Earth.Slap an addition tank onto the spacecraft, one capable of holding liquid oxygen, and we could make a simple (inefficient, but it works) thrust system for the nuclear rocket by passing the liquid oxygen over the uranium core, quickly boiling it and letting it be thrust out through the nozzle.It isn't the Ozone I would like it to be. All of the energy would only be from gas expansion. But hey, if it works in large enough quantities, and we have plenty of oxygen to spare (we would, we will be overproducing massive quantities of oxygen), then it works until we can do it better.
>>6317022>Data centerThere's no misunderstanding, I know we'd be building it. But we'd be buying it with the in-game metacurrency: TRL.In universe, the TRL are each coming one after another in sequence in modules, see >>6316716While one module with the Datacenter tech wouldn't fill the crater (obviously, both in and out of universe we'd be building it out to fill the crater and investing funds in it)Mechanically, without investing funds or TRL, or making rolls, nothing happens, I think. Presumably that will change once we actually have manufacturing infrastructure on the moon (like when we successfully established our cycler route and didn't have to roll for it again the next time iirc), at least the making rolls and investing funds bit. Or rather, we can build stuff with just funds, rolls, and time passing, but for upgrading or deploying a new technological concept - even ones that already exist but that our company does not yet have experience with - we need to spend TRL to get the tech.But nevermind, pretty sure I wrote out all this thinking you didn't get the TRL stuff, but that isn't the issue, imo. I was gonna link the discussion >>6314563 >>6314576 around the TRL metacurrency, but I think we're talking past each other. I'm pretty sure you already understand all this or you wouldn't also be putting the TRL into the datacenter.Basically >>6316716 says our TRL upgrades are coming along as separate module launches. That is where the confusion comes from. I know we're building out a bigger facility that fills out the crater, but our *initial* infrastructure/data center is being launched to us, it seems. Blame Souv not me.>RefineryI know.>Humanoid robotsI'm fine with this, so I won't fight this too hard. Though I do think if repairing small parts is the issue, then you could just stick a couple of dexterous human-like arms on any other robots and get a similar utility out of them. I think excavators are more important, because if we don't invest the TRL in them, then how are we going to build everything in your plan, or mine shit (How are we setting up the rectenna, smoothing out the roads, making paths through elevated terrain, mining water ice, scooping up large quantitites of regolith? Surely not a squad of robonauts with a shovel and bucket?). A specialized robot or large vehicle sized robot is much more efficient than a robonaut for the large scale projects we envision.Once we finish this dispute over whether to go Excavators or Robonauts, I think we can nail down the final list. Though, I'll have to leave it in your hands, since I have to sleep. Not a problem as I was gonna leave it to you in the end anyhow. Just consider what I've said, that's all I ask.
>>6317028>>6317025I didn't refresh again. I'll quickly read your post, but I can't reply, probably. Gotta sleep.
>>6317028Nevermind, I'm stamping out a quick reply.>TRL, rocket.It's weird. Research is done like this >>6312934 >>6313005 >>6313247 but also TRL is ALSO research, tech concepts/technologies, institutional capability for our company to build and operate specific spacecrafts or products, etc. It is kinda abstract. Based on the whole "module to the moon" situation, it seems we have to worry about the logistics of transferring completed projects to the desired location, hence the confusion over "transferring TRL" or "what is TRL" that we were just arguing about.But yeah, it is research, but also just an abstract metacurrency that we got for getting a certain percentage enriched uranium for our Nuclear Thermal Rocket, at least in this case.>Your listOh god, I'm glad I bothered to reply. First off, the max TRL you can put into a tech is 9, see the linked posts above in this post. Souv cribbed it from NASA's 1-9 TRL shtick. 9 is a complete tech and >>6316716 says that we can also deploy experimental techs that aren't complete if we are willing to accept penalties. I don't think anything below 7 is usable at all just based off the IRL TRL list that anon posted here >>6314563, Souv is basing it off of that, after all.In other words, 18 TRL on a single tech doesn't make sense, nor does putting 5 on a logi-robot (that nets us an incomplete robot in the "breadboard in a lab" phase of Tech Readiness Level). I understand your confusion though.>My suggestion.Just take >>6317018 and remove the 8 TRL spend on the Cerium Oxide plant, that way we can get both the ISRU excavators and the robonauts and get all our factory shit.The list would look like...>9 TRL on ISRU Excavator Logistics bots>7 TRL into Robonauts (we already have 2 TRL in this tech, so we'd be at a complete 9)>6 on Power Beaming satellite (assuming it also nets us ground rectenna) or 9 TRL into Ground Rectenna and solar panels (if it doesn't)>9 TRL on Lunar Datacenter (with the high temperature superconductors and 5D optical storage, etc mentioned >>6314612)>9 on Regolith Refinery>9 on a manufacturing plant for semiconductors/micro electronics.Souv can count that as my new official vote. It has most of what you and I want, as we get both the humanoid robots (robonauts) and ISRU excavators and all our infrastructure. A good, if tiresome compromise.
>>6317038Wait, I fucked up the list. The total is 52 assuming the Powersat doesn't net us the ground rectenna and solar panel infrastructure and we have to pay 9 instead of 6. Though it does work out if we just have to spend the 6.So, it is fine if we get the ground rectenna for 6, but if not, then I'm fine with putting the ISRU Excavator Logistics bots at 7 to make it all fit in at a total of 50 TRL spent (reminder, I had one unspent from our previous spending).Anyways, that's me done for the night. I'll see you in a bit.
>>6317038I can definitely agree on this, then. You have my support, lad :DI see I've been very confused by the TRL for a while then, and still somewhat am. I'll defer to your judgment on this. Sorry for keeping you awake, hope you sleep well. I'll try to plan out some base layouts in the meantime. Hope our rolls might finally turn around.
>>6317041Yeah, thanks for the lively debate. Sorry for fighting you so hard over the list after I said I'd leave it to you. It's just that you seemed confused, aside from the normal debate over what ought go on the list.I trust you to work out the base layout, you seem good at this shit.I try to time my rolls to line up with specific times down to the second, or even minutes, based off the old "tg/qst's roller's randomness works off taking numbers from the clock" paranoia/theory, or however it went. I also vaguely recall doing some truly bizarre satanic rituals back in the day to try and get better rolls in Souv's earlier quests. Good times. Hopefully you won't need to do that to get us good rolls.G'night.>>6316731Souv, sorry that you had to filter through our lengthy discussion. This >>6317038 >>6317040 seems to be our final agreed upon list for the TRL allotment.
On Earth, your GENIUS VISIONARY SCIENTISTS from the Hongyue-Outer Colonies joint consortium calculate and plan elaborate schemes, the construction of elaborate semiconductor fabrication and nanoparticle biomedicine manufacturing plants on the Moon, legions of advanced humanoid cyborgs and lunar data centres orbiting fuel depots and assembly plants....
Meanwhile, on the Moon, your first robot has become stuck. The advanced manufacturing task it was attempting was that of constructing a heap of dust. On the Moon even the dust is hateful. Toxic, electrostatically charged, it sticks everywhere. Absent the abrasion and weathering of atmosphere and rain, many flecks of lunar regolith are sharp as shattered glass, agglutinates of meteoric impact from fountains of ancient volcanic fire interspersed with peculiar molten droplets and spherical nodules. About 45% is silicates, 23% aluminium oxides, 10-14% each calcium and magnesium oxides, 7% iron and less than a percent titanium oxides, including solar wind implanted FeTiO3 ilmenite grains, that potentially yield the rare and elusive Helium-3. It smells like burnt meteorites but breathing it in will inflame the lungs. Your robot is coated in moon dust, and immobile.>roll1d100>Attempt to wipe off the dust with a robotic arm - will this scratch delicate sensors and instrumentation? >Send another robot to clean this robot. But will this only create a concatenated chain of ensnared robotic victims?>Try reversing the robot out the way you came in. Clearly you encountered some unexpected irregularities in the terrain. Recalculate the optimal traversal route. But what if ahead there are only even more craters?>How did your terrestrial testing not anticipate this? Attempt to recreate the terrain using some lunar regolith simulant on Earth, and try to dig a way out somehow>This robot design has clearly failed, it is completely inadequate for lunar terrain. You must now completely redesign everything and create a MOON SPIDER robot, one that can climb boulders and wriggle out of pits>You need to invest in advanced perception, LIDAR and stereophotogrammetry algorithms, negative obstacle detection, more detailed terrain mapping. More robust components and actuators. Exploring the treacherous lunar terrain without safe routes led to this inevitable conclusion... >Perhaps you need a modular design, incorporating greater redundancy. A robot constructed of several cuboid modules, that can disassemble and reassemble as needed, each retaining independent sensors and mobility subsystems? If immobilised, the separate components could separate and pursue their own paths? Multi-agent autonomous swarms...>This entire pitfall could have been avoided with the simple technology of a TETHER. Fortunately, you anticipated for this already in your design. Reel the robot in and try again>Your solution for extreme terrain locomotion is hopping. You created a maniac hopping robot, that leaps over boulders and pits>Activate the autonomous subroutines and cognitive architectures. Surely the robot wants to navigate out of this for itself?>This is it, humanity is doomed. All dreams of conquest end here. Pivot the robotic camera and capture a lamentful robotic selfie, entrapped and imprisoned forever in the inescapable confines of the lunar desolation>write-in...?
Rolled 92 (1d100)>>6317096>>Try reversing the robot out the way you came in. Clearly you encountered some unexpected irregularities in the terrain. Recalculate the optimal traversal route. But what if ahead there are only even more craters?I believe in this robot!
Unlike Martian regolith, with concentrations of perchlorates in the region of 0.5% that is considered toxic to human and plant life, a few hardy species of edible plants have been demonstrated to grow in samples of lunar soil retrieved and studied in laboratory conditions on Earth. Thale cress, or arabidopsis thaliana, a somewhat edible weed of the broccoli / turnip / kale / cauliflower family, that can thrive in conditions akin to waste sites or volcanic ash, sprouts in lunar soil 48-60hrs after planting, with plant germination uninterrupted and normal stems and cotyledons developing even in an alien regolith substrate bombarded by cosmic rays; yet the seedlings that sprout are smaller, stunted in growth, with reddish black pigments within their leaves, gradually turning purple over time with signs of oxidative distress. However, in the harsh environment of glass and nanophase iron-flecked lunar soil, all that can be said is that the plants did not die.
>>6317113You are determined that this robot will not die. Even as it churns and strains in the grip of the abrasive lunar grit and haze of irritant regolith flecks, your scientists attempt to evaluate the possible causes and corrective measures of this dust contamination, to salvage the situation - an irony not lost upon you, for it appears the first task of this mission is to salvage the salvage robot itself. Dust everywhere on the Moon - levitating particles of dust in the glow of the lunar horizon. Dust clogs the radiators, leading to overheating; dust obscuring solar panels and optical instruments, leading to false readings or sensor errors; tribocharging, or contact transfer of electric charge from sliding surfaces, causes dust to interfere with electromechanical functions; and perhaps most unusual of all - cold welding, for unlike on Earth with an oxygen atmosphere, where most metals touch against an oxide layer, in hard vacuum, clean metals share electrons upon repeated oscillatory contact and thus cold weld against each other even in the absence of heat or molten phase at the joint. Either:>Roll 1d100 against your phase E mission operations skill (20), roll under to succeed; otherwise your roll reduces the battery life (92%) OR>Roll 1d100 against B+C+D solution design to testing phase skills (60). Your scientists on Earth feverishly experiment with electrodynamic dust shields and dust repellers, electron gun cleaning tools and also humble manual brushes and brooms as dust mitigation techniques against the harsh lunar environmentOR>Roll 1d100 under B design phase skill (15). If you succeed, you can activate some hidden feature of your original design, eg a tether, hopping limb or other feature that might help extricate you from from this situation
Rolled 64 (1d100)>>6317255>Roll 1d100 against B+C+D solution design to testing phase skills (60). Your scientists on Earth feverishly experiment with electrodynamic dust shields and dust repellers, electron gun cleaning tools and also humble manual brushes and brooms as dust mitigation techniques against the harsh lunar environment
Rolled 6 (1d100)>>6317096Hmm, not sure if this is a result of deploying experimental robots at TRL 7, or if this is just an inevitable difficulty of traversing the moon. It is definitely the latter, but is it both?Ah, wait, is this the choice to determine our "default" robot design? Cool. Shame I wasn't here for the aesthetics vote, everyone knows it is the most important vote of any quest!>>6317251Yummy, perhaps in the far future, our robots will eat this for nutrition. Haha~>>6317255While we do need a solution for the dust, meaning the dust shields are still worth pursuing, we have to actually get out of this situation first. I'm willing to spend battery power to do just that!>Roll 1d100 against your phase E mission operations skill (20), roll under to succeed; otherwise your roll reduces the battery life (92%)
>>6317432Rolled 6 < 20 : SUCCESS!QM: wow, this is an amazing roll! Against all odds, after a furious bout of frenzied revving wheels on your lunar robot, you manage to extricate yourself freeing the vehicle and its tracks from the treacherous moon DUST POND. The moon robot trundles along happily following the lunar terrain. (In terms of gameplay, because of your success no battery is expended by this action)You get this music piece that plays amidst the haze of moon dust spumesNocturne no.9 in E minor, John Field / Alice Sara Otthttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nxP_w_kEJ28>>6317277Rolled 64 > 60Unfortunately (I am sorry anon your roll is cursed) this action does not fully succeed, what it represents is that your Earth space scientists were unable to develop a comprehensive lunar dust mitigation technique in time for this mission. Their tests and dust repeller experiments also costs -4 FUNDING (takes you to +12%)Whilst I won't make you roll for dust lol everytime you attempt any action, all this means is that your chances for succeeding with some of your initial base deployment missions are somewhat impairedSo here are some choices:>Roll 6d100, successes are any roll under 20. You may choose which (if any) of the obtained successes to allocate to the following outcomes:>establish a preliminary "safe route" of compacted lunar road, mitigating against dust immobilisation >establish a rectenna, preparing for a solar charging receiver site>prepare a landing pad for future lander arrivals>just amass a large heap of rocks and boulders. You can test them all later, at your own leisure. The most important thing is to own the biggest MOON ROCK HEAP (can also later be used for construction)>deploy a lunar drill, for experimentation and assessment of subsurface sampling of volatiles and mineralogy>conduct more detailed ground level LIDAR mapping and surveys, to mitigate against obstacles and aid future traversal>(can also write-in, but remember you are limited by 1d100 successes)Alternatively, you can also just wait for your next VERNE-02 moon cycler to arrive and deploy its lander. The robots on that craft will be slight upgraded with dust mitigation devices, perhaps with an improved chance of success>(optional: don't do anything for now. Wait for the improved dust shield robots)You also notice a few features of the local terrain:
Within 170 km of the Shackleton at the South Pole are the Malapert Mountains, known as Peaks Of Eternal Light - they appear as illuminated ridges of extraordinarily bright islands of sunlight hovering above an ocean of darkness and moonshadow. The Malapert Massif itself has an elevation around 5km from the base, with width around 25km, providing high mission availability for safe landing and traverse. That site is a strategic high vantage point, and would benefit from excellent solar power (QM: it is not technically always bathed in eternal sunlight, but perhaps around 89% of the time appears superbright) However, unlike Shackleton it does not possess as much PSR shadow area.(QM: this is a better layout topographic South Pole Moon map I found)
Very close to Shackleton Crater, you also discover a mysterious GOLD CUBE. The location is at 89.55°S 122.93°W>(WORSHIP GOLD CUBE) This is it. You have discovered the MOON PEOPLE. You must DROP EVERYTHING, immediately contact Earth, the United Nations and the entire world, and make them aware of your role as High Ambassador of Humanity to the alien race of sentient golden moon cubes>(SCAVENGE GOLD CUBE, transport back to lander base for study) It is probably the wrecked spacecraft you downed with your robotic refuelling arm "accident" during the dark side of the Moon lunar descent. All the Earth radars are watching... but they do say some criminals enjoy returning to the scene of the crime... >(Ignore GOLD CUBE) If it is the wrecked rival lander, it is probably not worth the expenditure of resources and battery power to investigate. It is probably just shattered junk and debris now. Leave it for the lunar dust>(Using PNT satellite) Your epic geriatric robot moon lander battle occurred quite far away - the position of this golden cube does not match the descent trajectory. What is it? Focus your Earth Ground Station antennas on the Gold Cube and try to identify what it is>roll 1d100 succeed on <40 (A research and E operations phase)
Rolled 1, 88, 56, 37, 77, 41 = 300 (6d100)>>6317562>The rollOne must not be afraid to take risks, on occasion.>Choices, in order from top to bottom in terms of priority, in case we lack enough successes.>establish a preliminary "safe route" of compacted lunar road, mitigating against dust immobilisation >prepare a landing pad for future lander arrivals>establish a rectenna, preparing for a solar charging receiver site>conduct more detailed ground level LIDAR mapping and surveys, to mitigate against obstacles and aid future traversalEmphasis on safeguarding the continued safe operation of our first robots during this initial phase, then preparing for safe landings, then continued operations.We could wait, but I think we ought not waste time and battery life for mere safety. Robots are replaceable.
Rolled 65 (1d100)>>6317569>1OMG>>6317564>(Using PNT satellite) Your epic geriatric robot moon lander battle occurred quite far away - the position of this golden cube does not match the descent trajectory. What is it? Focus your Earth Ground Station antennas on the Gold Cube and try to identify what it is
Rolled 82, 21, 71, 68, 47, 87 = 376 (6d100)>>6317564rollinAssuming we have already "Safe Route" >LIDAR mapping>Rectenna>Landing pad
Rolled 26 (1d100)>>6317564Use PNT
>>6317569>>6317588(lol these rolls, but yes you do get the relatively dust-free lunar road)>>6317589>use PNT satellite and ground stations to identify the GOLD MOON CUBEYour Radiotelescope Operator glances at the coordinates and instantly tells you:-That's Jawahar Point, named after the first Prime Minister Of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It is the site of the Chandrayaan-1 Impactor Moon Probe from 14 Nov 2008. It is very close to Shackleton Crater. I guess it belongs to India?>(Cry out in despair...) NOOOOOoo...! After all this effort, all this scientific research to colonise newfound worlds, my pristine moon territory has been reverse-colonised by INDIA??>(Using Slight Racism) Reply: India? Shouldn't they focus on building more toilets instead of spacecraft?>(Using Slightly More Racism) Reply: I accept India's claim on Shackleton Crater. After all, once we have created the lunar railway, I cannot wait to see those special videos of Indian visitor selfies taken in front of our moon trains uploaded onto 4chan>Reply: (reject India's claim) I don't think the exact position of the impactor was ever publicly declared confirmed or verified. What if I just tele-operate drive the robot to reposition the Gold Moon Cube / ISRO impactor probe down a few craters or valleys further away?>(Comply with US Artemis Accords) India is a signatory to the Artemis Accords. If we abide by them, and establish a Safe Zone of non-interference with advance notice of the purpose of our operations, they must reciprocate and also affirm that our extraction of space resources does not constitute a conflict with Article II of the UN Outer Space Treaty, ie a form of national appropriation. Just notify them of what we are doing, and we carry on our mission as before>(Reject Artemis Accords) There was already a Moon Treaty in existence back in 1979, but the US, Russia/Soviet Union and China never signed it. The Moon Treaty sought to safeguard space for scientific research for all of humanity, "The Common Heritage For All Mankind", whilst the Artemis Accords is just a sly way for the US to reject the scientific mission and commence their own commercialisation takeover of the Moon. Look at how they fired all the NASA scientists, and gave all the contracts to private space companies! All of these protocols are just yet more LAWFARE...>(Use lawfare yourself) The India impactor was a crash landing. That cannot be recognised internationally as a legitimate basis for a claim. Shackleton is ours!>I am a space pirate and I intend to do whatever I want. Turn your big radiotelescopes all you want and look, I am stealing your Golden Indian Moon Cube right now, in front of all your faces>(write-in...)
>>6317600Hmm, tough call, but we've already made efforts to put up barriers to entry to space without our say so. It'd be entirely consistent with what we've discussed so far to reject any claims. Also, that probe should have valuable data on Shackleton.>(Reject Artemis Accords) There was already a Moon Treaty in existence back in 1979, but the US, Russia/Soviet Union and China never signed it. The Moon Treaty sought to safeguard space for scientific research for all of humanity, "The Common Heritage For All Mankind", whilst the Artemis Accords is just a sly way for the US to reject the scientific mission and commence their own commercialisation takeover of the Moon. Look at how they fired all the NASA scientists, and gave all the contracts to private space companies! All of these protocols are just yet more LAWFARE...>(Use lawfare yourself) The India impactor was a crash landing. That cannot be recognised internationally as a legitimate basis for a claim. Shackleton is ours!>I am a space pirate and I intend to do whatever I want. Turn your big radiotelescopes all you want and look, I am stealing your Golden Indian Moon Cube right now, in front of all your facesAlso, stealing the probe should be completely fine. Radio telescopes on Earth don't have the resolution to spot something as small as the probe, or our robot.
>>6317600>(write-in...)> re-contextualise the Artemis Accords>"The Artemis Accords underpin the value of The Chandrayaan-1 as an exploration vessel, not as a colony vessel with ongoing purpose. Because of this, while the Chandrayaan-1 will not be harmed, it is neither able to lay claim to the surface of the moon as an object capable of usable habitation due to the otherwise problem that it would allow nearly any form of scientific equipment to stake claim to arbitrarily large quantities of materials, such as a atmospheric chemical analyser being able to claim an entire planet to stop colonization from happening due to any small impurity or change it might do to the atmosphere. Thus, the (insert our general group) believes that the scientific equipment has both done its purpose, and would, in this example, also be outside of the purview of the Artemis Accords. Allowing non-destructive open management by third-party individuals.">"Yet still, the Indian government's moon probe has had a large historical meaning to both the exploration of the moon and the national identity of India as a nation. In accordance with the wishes of the Artemis Accords, the Chandrayaan-1 will not be disturbed until it poses a direct hindrance to human habitation. In which case, it will be kept in a display case for archival and educational purposes on the newly forming moon colony. If the Indian government wishes for it, the Chandrayaan-1will be sent back in pristine condition to the Indian government and its educational institutions in accordance with Artemis's underpinning of the 1967 rescue agreement."Essentially, as a TLDR:Argue that the Artemis Accords still matter to India, as one who signed the Artemis Accords. Yet the Artemis Accords do not function for this purpose as it only underpins scientific exploration and not colonisation, and the legal rights to ownership of interstellar objects, only the inability to intervene in scientific exploration by another scientific institution.Pic topic related, the kind of Museum the cube might be added to in the future.
Space is spanned not merely by the orbits of planets and stars, but also by human ideologies. You are reminded of this, as once again, you are being scolded at the United Nations, this time by the absolutely livid Indian Representative for the Director Of UN Outer Space Affairs:-This is a desecration! A violation of all multilateral standards for the preservation of space exploration heritage! The company is even named, "Outer Colonies", >>6316982 invoking the worst imperialistic exploitations and rapacious excesses of colonial subjugation not seen nor countenanced since the cantonments of the British Raj! The lack of transparency of this organisation completely violates the spirit of cooperative and open sharing of scientific data with the international community, thus forfeiting any right to freedom of exploration in outer space!(The Gentlemanly Representative For The Indonesian Space Agency, INASA, interjects )-Also, I think they are Slightly Racist -(The Representative For Niger nods and adds)-They engage in highly unethical behaviour. For instance, the bribes they pay are insultingly small...As the denunciations and aspersions accumulate in an avalanche of accusations besmirching and sullying the motives behind your great scientific endeavour of (secret) Moon domination, you reflect briefly upon the historical course of scientific advancement intertwined with the ideologies of colonial conquest and civilisational progress.
Just as some historians have attributed doctrines of Calvinism or the Protestant work ethic in overturning the traditional religious stigma with the theodicy of wealth, salvation earned through diligence and work, instead of accumulation of fortune as a mark of avarice and sin; the pursuit of money and commerce as religious grace made manifest - so too the unspoken faith in the Mertonian virtues within the foundations of Western science - analogous to the theory of Protestantism and Calvinist / Reformation values as an ideological enablement of capital accumulation, trade, commerce and industrial development, the Mertonian norms of science are deeply embedded in all institutions of Western academic research, analysis, investigation and review of findings. Within the Royal Society, one of the oldest surviving scientific institutions, 7 of the 10 founding members were Puritans, and their unspoken ideological notions endure beyond the reach of centuries. These Mertonian virtues underpin the institutions of science:-Communism (communalism?) That all scientists possess common ownership of scientific goods and intellectual property, to promote collective collaboration for common benefit; secrecy violates this norm-UniversalismScientific validity is independent of the sociopolitical status / personal attributes of its participants-DisinterestednessScientific institutions act for the benefit of common scientific enterprise, as opposed to personal gain of any individual participant-ScepticismScientific claims should be exposed to question and critical scrutiny before acceptance, both in methodology and institutional conductAll of these Mertonian notions of scientific virtue are to a great extent in tension and paradox with each other - for instance, the establishment of any scientific institution to oversee the conduct of its own members is itself a means of elevating and exalting the erudtion of one scientist over another. And the progress of science is rarely inhibited by the physical limits of human comprehension, being constrained first by the funding of science - the science that is "valued" by society is the science that advances and gets done.
And as you think further upon this, and extrapolate these thoughts to the future of humanity in space, you wonder whether the scientific values of the future will bear any resemblance to the institutional virtues of today. Just as modern science now derides the Inquisition forcing Galileo to recant the heliocentric hypothesis, how might the future explorers of space regard the great taboos and scientific heresies of your own age? That your civilisation possessed the means to give every household near inexhaustible electrical and thermal power through nuclear energy, to travel to the Moon and Mars on nuclear rockets, yet did not do so for fear of atomic warfare? Or the mere commercial desire to overcharge and burden households with a lingering lifetime's worth of bills and payments, clinging to the fossilised and combustible petrochemical relics of centuries long past? And there are yet more unmentionable heresies. The harshness of space will enforce ever greater rigours of physical and intellectual exertion upon spacefarers - those nations and races who do not ascend to the stars will become extinct. Is it genetically inevitable that the conquest of space will demand a dissolution of biological identity, compelling the emergence of a HYPER-RACISM, astronauts that transcend both the conservation of racial identitarianism and the intermixture of genetic pooling - space colonists with inheritable traits more psychologically resilient, more intelligent and healthier and stronger than their terrestrial counterparts along every aspect and every dimension? Will the space explorers of the future regard the scientific and technological timidities of this age with equal derision?
As if yearning to escape beyond the Schwarzchild radius of this unspeakable black hole of unknowable consequences, you defend yourself before the inquisitorial accusations of the UN:>(Demand for liberation of science, uninhibited advancement) Your cultural sensitivities do not safeguard the progress of humanity, they merely impede its progress. This entire meeting is a complete waste of time!>(Argue for cultural difference, boundaries and jurisdiction) Your protocols should govern the development of your own nations. Our scientific path, just like our progress, is governed by us and belongs to us alone>(Attempt to bargain / conciliate / bribe) We will retrieve your artifact and establish a museum and an institution on Earth to commemorate your space exploration legacy. That should suffice to conclude this matterQM: the cost is -32% funding>>6317616>(Embrace HYPERRACISM, reply sneeringly) Somehow, I feel we have little to fear from the collective might of your combined space armadas. You may settle any dispute with us by armed contest in the darkness between the stars>(Adhere to Mertonian virtues, established science) It is correct to defend the openess of scientific collaboration. Henceforth, we shall share our discoveries with all nations>(Embrace Artemis Accords) I see now, as flawed as it is - these accords provide the only path to reconcile these entrenched differences and conflicts. We sign the Accords today>(Appeal to economic need) Nations need technologies and markets more than they need these institutional niceties. Why obstruct the path for your own economic prosperity?>(Write in...)
QM: I suppose there are also these two arguments>Accuse India / ISRO of camouflaging their own self-interests: You accuse us of encroaching upon the common heritage of mankind with our declaration of interests at Shackleton. But two decades ago when you crashed your moon impactor probe deliberately into the same crater vicinity to mark your own claim, how was your purpose any different?>You see now that to claim the resources of space will lead to in-fighting and endless wars amongst Mankind. Dedicate your organisation to the purpose of ensuring humanity never conquers Cislunar Space, and remains Earthbound for the centuries to come
>>6317733>>6317739>>6317763I will continue on my previous statement >>6317616>(Write in...)>(Argue the inability of enforcement in space and the inherent inhumanity of ownership in its current form)"We are sorry if our conduct has caused any unnecessary inconvenience. Outer Colonies Unlimited strives to accommodate anyone and everyone who shares our desire for cooperation.""The Outer Colonies Unlimited will argue that while the current treaties and international standards for space exploration have been gone over by legal experts for decades, and are in the same spirit as we believe in, they are wholly incomplete and cannot represent the future of space exploration. Our reasoning for this is that the treaties involved work from the expectation that everyone involved will be the same as we are here.""At some point, space will be colonised. This is not an if, but a when. We believe the treaties of the Rescue Agreement, the Outer Space Treaty and the Artemis Accords all work from the flawed perspective of space as a frontier. Not somewhere people live, people struggle, and people will fight for.""At this very moment, the discussion of the Chandrayaan-1 and our Indian representative outlines these very problems. In this meeting, we represent each of our own power structures. But what will happen when groups of as few people as 10 can lay claim to a rock and have the ability to print a kinetic kill weapon pointed at Earth? The legalities of the present are only enforceable because space is a toy; we on earth play with it, it interests us, but it is never about our lives and our homes. It will be for those who will live out there. Their claims will be ones of power, not legality. We at OCU do not claim the rule of might is correct, rather only that when we discuss the future of space, we believe that in cases like these, India's idea of ownership over the crater is purposeless." "When claiming the colonisation of Shackleton, we as OCU see it not as a toy. It is seen as a homestead. The claim that the term "Outer Colony" shows our imperialistic nature depends solely on the belief that because you want it, it is yours. But OCU would counterclaim that the Indian government's inability to let go of the potential ownership shows just how much you've come to resemble the very power they overthrew. Purposeless ownership, one where you own that which you do not actually care for, exists for no purpose but to control others. To choose what another population chooses for themselves, even when it does not touch where you live, that is true imperialism.""For we are not creating a desert and calling it peace, we are taking a desert in the void, and calling it paradise.""At OCU, we would like to argue that the purpose of action will, because of how space works, be the inherent driver of ownership in space. And would like to discuss how we might be able to help the United Nations and its purpose be represented in space."
>>6317833Holy fuck, that took a long time to type out.Btw, it is all the same option, just clarifying since the separation of text might or might not confuse, and I want to be on the safe side. Please, if anyone has any critiques or changes they think should be done, please do respond with them. I am happy with any feedback.For now, I will be going to sleep. Goodnight, and hope everything goes alright while I'm gone.
>>6317739Hongyue will outwardly loudly echo >>6317833 for the sake of solidarity with their fellow consortium partner, while silently talking to INASA under the table.We want them >>6314828 >>6314891 to speed along our prior discussion. We want 50% funding, and for them not to join the Artemis Accords, we'll drop the spaceport demand. In return, we will no longer burden them with our LAWFARE regulatory regime and also give one of our SPACE SECRETS; the knowledge for TRL 9 Nuclear Thermal Rockets!Then, if successful...>(Attempt to bargain / conciliate / bribe) We will retrieve your artifact and establish a museum and an institution on Earth to commemorate your space exploration legacy. That should suffice to conclude this matter>We'll add a whopping 8% funding on top of the 32% if they make a convincing show of being persuaded by >>6317616 >>6317833 and help establish a precedent that will work in our favour in future disputes of this nature. That 8% will instead become 18% if they can form a diplomatic pivot, around which we will push for a paradigm shift in which >>6316818 we become the enforcers of a new treaty, or at least an unstated de facto understanding amongst the majority of important players in the space race.
>>6317880Voting for this as well, because yeah, i still wanted to add the museum and the pivot sounds essentially elaborates on my own post's point.We are in agreement on the vote, Souv.
After weeks of negotiations, you feel that discussions are perpetually interlocked in a dizzying gyre of endless circular discussion, without any progress or destination in sight. You wonder if this is the inevitable outcome of negotiations at the UN - absent any hard authoritative means of enforcement or sanction, the only resources available to be expended or imposed are words and yet more words. However, your considerate offer of reparations (??) and dialogue has resulted in a markedly less strident and adversarial / accusatory tone between all parties, as mutual understandings are reached and acknowledged, if not always agreed upon. You also establish several working relationships with international counterparties with the promise for ongoing future engagement and dialogue.QM: The net effect of your dialogue at the UN is almost no change at all. What happens is you take the 50% Indonesia funding gain and use it to pay reparations?? establish the museum and retrieve/return the Moon Probe, and ameliorate relationships with India ISRO and Niger. In exchange, these countries raise no further protest at your operations at Shackleton Crater, and also support your promised use of the Biak and Morotai spaceports proposed by Indonesia INASA, but privately, your assessment is that these equatorial spaceports are likely too distant for your immediate purposes, being more orientated towards LEO commercial satellite launch and lacking servicing / scientific and engineering infrastructure support, whilst many Indonesian stakeholders also remain suspicious of Chinese capabilities, a lingering legacy of the launch failure in 2020 of Indonesia's pride and key satellite Palapa N1 / Nusantara-2 after the Chinese Long March 3B launcher was destroyed during third stage ignition at Xichang. QM: Because you did capture the GOLD MOON CUBE / Chandrayaan Moon Probe, you get a chance to inspect it before returning it to India. You gain the IMPACTOR legacy spacecraft design concept at TRL 9, as well as a Colonial SPACE MUSEUM+12% FUNDING ( = 16% - 4% dust shield research)>>6317277+13% INSTITUTIONS ( = -32% + 45% Landing success at Shackleton)>>6316731
As the debates at the UN finally draw to a close, the Niger representative approaches you with a minor matter:-It has come to our attention recently that an artifact was smuggled out of the country - an unusual meteorite, NWA 16788 that fell in the Sahara desert near Agadez in Niger. This meteorite is incredibly rare as it is believed to be the largest piece of Mars found on Earth - ejected from the Martian surface by a massive ancient meteor strike, journeying over 140 million miles through space before finally plummeting through the atmosphere of the Earth and crashing into the Sahara desert. If you see this artifact in your scientifc investigations, would you aid its recovery and return to Niger?>>6315970>Reply: this stupid rock? You can have it>Yes our space mercenaries stole it from some of your desert children. If you want it, come to Sotheby's and bid for it in private auction like everyone else (+5% Funding) >The correct place for this meteorite is in Niger, where it was found and where it belongs (-5% Funding)>You can have the space rock, but we demand it is placed on permanent loan for exhibition at our newly established Colonial Space Museum>Just stay silent and nod along in false agreement. The scientific value of this Martian meteorite is lost on Niger. Secretly keep NWA 16788 for yourself as the study of it will yield tremendous research insights for prospective landing zones for your Martian expedition (QM: you gain +1 additional re-roll during Mars mission descent)
The Indian Representative from the ISRO is explaining why they cannot just relinquish the Artemis Accords:-Since 2011 and the passage of the WOLF AMENDMENT, US entities such as NASA are prohibited from cooperating with China or Chinese affiliated space programs. Spacecraft such as the United Arab Emirates Rashid 2 are blocked from overflight on Chinese Chang'e launchers if they contain any US components... India's Chandrayaan mission relies in part upon ESA and also NASA for coverage access to their Deep Space Network, DSN. China has its own DSN, with additional stations at Espacio Lejano in Neuquén, Argentina, Swakopmund tracking station in Namibia, Malindi in Kenya and Karachi Pakistan; the landmass of Russia is vast and also ensures adequate global coverage. But more importantly India needs US support for future lunar missions via the landmark Artemis Accords commercial project, the Lunar Gateway - the first space station beyond LEO in Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit around the Moon -***Intended as a reuseable architecture between the Earth and the Moon, Gateway is perhaps more of a command module than a space station, with a highly elliptical six-and-a-half day orbit that veers 70,000 km into deep space and 7000km to the Moon on closest lunar approach. It has origins in the former Deep Space Habitat program, because calling it the Human Space Radiation Exposure Experiment would presumably sound unethical. Gateway has been widely criticised by former astronauts and NASA administrators as being utterly devoid of purpose, given that the original Apollo missions never required a space station to achieve their monumental landing missions, and it is in essence a space station encircling a natural space station - the Moon herself. The unusual 6.5 day periodic orbit is also an inconvenience for manned missions, as no controller would accept the risk of stranding a human crew for six days on the Moon. Whilst some believe the Gateway could serve as a future space fuel depot, the intended 15 year lifespan of the station appears inadequate to serve as any refuelling station for Mars - the proposed dimensions and calibrations of the Gateway propulsion and docking modules can barely accept the large mass of even a lunar lander, never mind the colossal vehicles required for a 228 million km Mars voyage. Nonetheless, overbudget and behind schedule, plans for Lunar Gateway assembly continue...
As you are contemplating whether your plans for SECRET MOON DOMINATION have been irrevocably ruined by the US Artemis Accords-backed Lunar Gateway, at Mission Control, your LUNAR ROBOTICIST notices an intriguing phenomenon:(peering at screen capture, as she squints and consults image analysis)-hmmm, it appears one of our autonomous lunar excavator robots is doing that peculiar thing again...ROBOT TELEOPERATOR-What thing? I thought you said the lunar roads were progressing well? LUNAR ROBOTICIST-Yes, well - it is just a minor thing really. It must be some glitch in their navigational algorithms. First they drive in a radial circular perimeter pattern, to establish hazards - then they cross along the diameter of the circle, and upon reaching the circumference, bisect the circle at 90 degrees, forming an X cross in the circular swirl. This is all as intended, but sometimes instead of a circle they form a rectilinear pattern instead...ROBOT TELEOPERATOR-So like a sun cross? Wait - a swastika? You programmed the lunar rovers to print roads in the shape of Moon swastikas? This is a PR disaster! Get on those million lines of code and fix this, right now!LUNAR ROBOTICIST (flushing with embarrassment)-Well, I- I don't really know how to do that. It is 2029, no-one writes code by hand anymore, it is all about vibe coding. And finding the download button on github is really hard! I just entered a prompt like "design a navigation algorithm for lunar rovers, with the success and accuracy of von Braun's Apollo moon mission" and the LLM just generated all the code. I don't really know what could have gone wrong... >This is what happens from hiring Gen Z into the workforce. You must fire everyone involved in this debacle>It is just apophenia, false pattern recognition. Like when people claimed that there was a human face sculpted on a plateau in Mars, but high resolution imagery subsequently revealed it to be just shadows and angles. Any pattern can be seen given enough permutations>Don't the robots at the South Pole rely on solar energy? It is probably a swastika / sun cross pattern from rotations around a polar position - similar to the 4-quadrant swastika shape Ursa Major makes viewed around our pole star on Earth. Nothing sinister at all>By removing Directive 3000.09, you have unleashed sentient autonomous Nazi moon robots. Immediately order for all of the glitched lunar vehicles to be destroyed>(Write-in)
>>6318026>Just stay silent and nod along in false agreement. The scientific value of this Martian meteorite is lost on Niger. Secretly keep NWA 16788 for yourself, as the study of it will yield tremendous research insights for prospective landing zones for your Martian expedition.It is scummy, but honestly, they don't understand the importance of it. If others vote to give it back, I'll change my vote. But for now, I think I want to keep silent.>>6318028>(Write-in)> Immediately do a review of every coder within the workforce via programming tests done on PC's prepared beforehand and placed in faraday cages. Everyone found to fail will be given the option of either leaving the workplace immediately or going through several months of coding education until all of the codebase can be redone from the bottom up. If anyone is found to still be using AI afterwards, they will be fired. Anyone who was found not to have been using AI gets a raise and management positions in the IT departments.
>>6318026>Just stay silent and nod along in false agreement. The scientific value of this Martian meteorite is lost on Niger. Secretly keep NWA 16788 for yourself as the study of it will yield tremendous research insights for prospective landing zones for your Martian expedition >>6318028Support >>6318038 not from any particular annoyance over people wanting to meme over Moon!Nazis, but using LLM to generate code is just...wow, what are we paying you for?
As you observe the erratic lunar robot, cheerfully at work, scooping, sieving, compacting away at the lunar regolith with its vitreous multi-material transformation (VMX) high power laser, exposing and raking the raw surface of the Moon and turning its barren plains into pathways of melt cycles of glowing hot silica, occasionally leaving dribbling gloops of hot glowing whorls and pagan spirals, you wonder if the conquest of the Moon is truly an endeavour that gives form to the future for humanity, or if it is instead a return to its primitive past. Modern life has become accustomed to the dependencies and comforts of the technological age, the industrial age and city living, where at the flick of a switch there is light, warmth, water and heated food; buy internet and you have data and entertainment, the security to entertain illusory purposes beyond that of the immediate struggle to survive. But to endure life upon the Moon is not to experience a technological future - it is instead to return to the savage past before man knew anything of civilisation, cities or infrastructure, the empty wilderness of the long and timeless dark when men distrusted other men, and fought each other for the most primitive necessities to live, Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes. In the long darkness humanity came to learn the bonds of belonging, community and Love needed to withstand the harshness of the world around them - the trust that built civilisation and its cities and conventions and laws; yet that same law of civilisation constrains the wantoness of individual appetites, producing thwarted desires, frustration, anger, violence and warfare, untold Death. This is what awaits in the long dark night for man - and yet, there are some who believe that it is not civilisation and the common conventions of behaviour that produces law, but the exception - the law is decided by whomsoever dares to break it.
On the Moon, tide-locked to the Earth with the synodic period of a month, or more precisely 29.53 Earth days, the lunar night lasts for two weeks of darkness. The temperature drops from 120 deg C to minus -180 deg C, or even -240 deg in permanent moonshadow, barely 30 degrees above absolute zero. These lunar temperature extremes demand some 45% of the mass fraction of a robot be dedicated to thermal systems alone. As the Lunar Night approaches - how do your robots survive the cold and the long dark?>Your scientists anticipated this. The only solution is to form a community - a hub to share power and heat. Instead of inefficient duplication and redundancy, the need for every robot to be self-sufficient, it is better to manage to the average of all robots, as opposed to designing for the peak extreme needs of any particular one>Resilience is safer than efficiency - every robot can survive on its own independent of any other. You equipped each robot with individual radioisotope thermal generation and heating units, alongside multiple redundant systems, enabling them to function even in the absence of the sun>You sent robots to erect a solar tower - a 200 m high installation that can deploy gimballed photovoltaics along the mast axis, beaming power to almost all of the immediate vicinity of Shackleton crater, as well as serving as a landmark for communications, lights, thermal radiators and heat exchangers, multilayer insulation tents deployed at the base>Sending multiple robots as the long night approaches is an unacceptable risk. Place the majority of robots into safe mode hibernation, and instead send just one to construct the solar tower>Send only the erratic pagan robot>Place all robots into safe hibernation mode - the temperature extremes are just far too dangerous. It is better to be be safe, to work within known component tolerances and limits, and wait for the nuclear reactor to arrive at the base>Perhaps it is time to test an evolutionary algorithm. Deliberately order the robots onto the farthest edge of a safe thermal perimeter, then make them race back to safety to see who is the last to arrive. That robot freezes and dies>Eventually, on the Moon, not only will the humans drink recycled urine, but they will also purchase and re-sell toilet biowaste for the retained heat. You implemented a system of re-ISRU, whereby waste processes such as de-oxygenated regolith slag from industrial processes are re-transferred and exchanged in a secondary stream to recapture the heat from the waste. (Poo furnace stock exchange?)>Write-in...?
>>6318167The thought of a SPACE!solar panel windmill tickles me, but no.>Resilience is safer than efficiency - every robot can survive on its own independent of any other. You equipped each robot with individual radioisotope thermal generation and heating units, alongside multiple redundant systems, enabling them to function even in the absence of the sun>You sent robots to erect a solar tower - a 200 m high installation that can deploy gimballed photovoltaics along the mast axis, beaming power to almost all of the immediate vicinity of Shackleton crater, as well as serving as a landmark for communications, lights, thermal radiators and heat exchangers, multilayer insulation tents deployed at the baseIndividually tough, though other functionality may suffer, efficiency is not always effective. In times of abundance there will be enough power and heat to go around, but in desperate times a lot will need to get done and we will not always have the luxury of being able to send a group to achieve things. Indeed, we may need to to count on everything going right, each robot being able to accomplish its task, with no backup, in order to achieve some greater goal. Requiring robots to travel long distance in groups can even be called inefficient in fact.Ah, but yes, build that infrastructure. We may as well.
Also...>Put 5% funding in Project Phase C Design and Development.>Begin research on Hypersonic Ballute.>Investigate prerequisite technologies for Lunar-Earth commercial trade, orbital drop pods, reentry technologies, reusable rockets, etc. Look into its economic viability.If we intend on not only producing goods for our own use, but selling them to buyers on Earth rather than our fellow sidereal powers, we should invest in the necessary technology to streamline the process, and also look into if it will even be worth it. The datacenter I have no question about, nor do I question the wisdom or necessity of building in space, just to make things easier to build in space. But how viable is it to sell goods to Earth, rather than engaging in space tourism or selling utilities and landing pad space, etc?We're still setting up our focus with the datacenter, but it wouldn't hurt to be forward looking. We do want to sell those semiconductors after all, and eventually our nanoparticle treatments (of course we will provide - snrk! - corporate welfare to ensure a minimum standard of piss drinking living, can't have our taikonauts suffering 100% muscle atrophy into a messy puddle).Finally, we should gradually improve our fundamental capabilities as companies. We've neglected our phases too long.
>>6318167>Your scientists anticipated this. The only solution is to form a community - a hub to share power and heat. Instead of inefficient duplication and redundancy, the need for every robot to be self-sufficient, it is better to manage to the average of all robots, as opposed to designing for the peak extreme needs of any particular one>You sent robots to erect a solar tower - a 200 m high installation that can deploy gimballed photovoltaics along the mast axis, beaming power to almost all of the immediate vicinity of Shackleton crater, as well as serving as a landmark for communications, lights, thermal radiators and heat exchangers, multilayer insulation tents deployed at the baseI disagree with anon on Resilience vs efficiency : we have a crowd of Nazibots, let's use them to build thing and rely on each other.However...>>6318262+1 for funding Phase C. I'd even pour 10% in it
>>6318306I think only one is a nazi so far. Hence Souv's reference to 'only the erratic pagan robot' or there only being one of them 'doing that peculiar thing again'Totally fine with 10%, just wanted to be modest with the funds in case anons planned another launch anytime soon, or the research costs a bit.
>>6318262>>6318306>Research HYPERSONIC BALLUTEQM: ok, this is a roll of phases A+B+C+10% funding you allocate, so roll under 65% 00-49 You gain HYPERSONIC BALLUTES and also insights into INFLATABLE SOFTGOODS habitats (can also be used by robots)50-65 You improve your ballute aerocapture technology, but any transferable insights elude you for now66-75 The research requires far more upfront funding than you anticipated (-25% vs your -10% committed)76-99 Your scientists type "HOW TO BALLUTE??" into ChatGPT. Then they make a girlboss TikTok dance video "My day at work as a SPACE SCIENTIST" whilst gyrating their hips provocatively in various rhythmic lust-provoking poses and filming themselves using the vending machine, going out and eating lunch. Despite some emphatic pelvic pumping and bosom thrusting, this video receives only 2 views
>>6318262>upmass vs downmass cost, launch vs EDL difficulty?QM: to my understanding, downmass ie retrieval of cargo from space-to-Earth is far more difficult than the brute force launch from Earth-to-space. You can see NASA commercial prices for upmass and downmass here (I don't know if this has changed subsequently)https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-and-marketing-pricing-policy/This was as of 2021 April, upmass per kg is USD20,000 capacity limit of 175kg, whereas downmass is USD40,000 with a tighter limit at 125 kg. The main reason I imagine is, EDL (entry descent landing) is easy if you are making a MOON BOMBER ie just dropping an impactor payload without caring where it lands etc like Chandrayaan probe crashing into Shackleton. However, if you actually want to retrieve the cargo intact in atmosphere, yes it requires ballutes (potentially staged 10-12 sequences of pilot chutes, drag chutes drogues then mainline slowing of descent) and also large sea rescue / recovery teams (if you have seen the crew recovery process, the US Navy and all these lifeboats have to show up etc) so downmass is very difficult and expensive. So this is a unique feature of the space economy, potentially for the foreseeable future because of this asymmetry, there will be a preference for resources extracted in space to mostly stay in space, building more orbital and space deployed assets etc. On Mars, there is an added difficulty given RTLT roundtrip light time transmission delay is potentially 6-40 minutes depending on where Mars is relative to Earth, but the atmospheric descent sequence is potentially over in 7mins etc. This and the complicated nature of modelling atmospheric conditions is probably why lander missions are so difficult and often fail etc
QM: also I want to address one point the anon raised here>>6317880Offering emerging economies like Indonesia or India etc advanced technologies to bargain for international support / coalition type inducement etc. I thought this was a very interesting strategy but let me give my reasons for why a country like India or Indonesia might NOT accept this. A historical example can be seen from 2018 when Mark Zuckerberg and facebook offered India essentially "free internet" through what they called the "Free Basics" program, internet.org which they described as affordable internet as a human right etc Part of this Facebook free internet for India program would have required the space launch/leasing of Eutelsat Ka-band geosynchronous satellites, to provide the gigabit throughput coverage and availability in remote internet access areas across India etc But in the end India rejected it and Indian regulators banned the service purportedly on grounds of net neutrality but also likely because they recognised the undue influence this exchange would exert upon both the development / nurturing of their own industry, as well as the anti-competitive effect / dependency it might produce. In the nuclear domain, a real world example we see is how the UK is part of US nuclear sharing (sharing basically means vassalage) , yet France even as a NATO member does not participate in the US / UK, NATO nuclear planning process and retains its own independent air and submarine launch capability. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/03/france-should-join-natos-nuclear-sharing-arrangements-strengthen-european-deterrence>"By contrast, fellow NATO member France has always reserved its nuclear weapons for national protection. Its nuclear enterprise is also completely independent from the US, producing all components required domestically" (...)So these examples furnish my mental rationale for why India or say Indonesia might reject what seems like a very generous tech offer from another international entity, I don't really know if this makes sense, is believable or realistic, maybe it should be more like Master Of Orion 2 style tech trade "You get... I get..." lol but it is the reasoning in my head for that decisionok let me get back to preparing the next scenario lol, hold on...
Rolled 56 (1d100)>>6318345Ah, the 10% was intended to increase our phase C stat by that same amount, if that is possible. Rather than being invested in this research in particular.I just assumed the research would take some arbitrary amount of funds based off how much you think it'd take to bring this tech into reality, with some variance based on a roll, perhaps.>>6318346Hmm. I'm glad we went for mass adoption then. Increasing the overall size of the space economy means more customers for us and lower costs if they are already a piss drinker.>>6318347Makes sense to me, at least the specific case made for India >>6318027 does. The case for Indonesia seems less clear to me, as they aren't participating in Lunar Gateway and their space program isn't particularly assisted by the USA, as far as I can tell. Moreover, this would be more like a full technology transfer, with assistance for adapting specific workflow processes to Indonesia's conditions, rather than us providing a service or free/cheap rockets to them
>>6318352yeah.However, I'd understand if QM ruled something like "10% funding only increase stat by 2%" or something like this
>>6318038>attempt to purge repositaries of all LLM-generated autocompleted vibe codingQM: this is a roll using INSTITUTIONS to see if you can enforce best practices upon the broccoli hair, nose piercing Gen Z workforce, it is phase B + C + D + 13% ie roll under 73%>roll 1d10000-59 After a deep codebase audit and many stern admonitions over the myriad cybersecurity risks, bugs hallucinations and other vulnerabilities of AI vibe coding, your employees sulkily agree to refrain from further polluting your spacecraft command sequences with poorly specified query prompt outputs and turgid machine-generated regurgitations (gain +10 INSTITUTIONs)60-73 The employees mostly agree and abide by your moratorium, but secretly login during lunchtime breaks to AI generate perverted pictures of space anime girls (gain +5 INSTITUTIONS. Remember, anime is very perverted and wrong though)74-99 After a thousand hours of nonstop erotomaniac self-reinforcement chatting with a personalised LLM, your chief Rocket Scientist realises the truth of how the Moon People have sent this text generator as both his romantic messiah and also the reincarnated salvation of humanity (she is destined to be his wife). He absconds with -5% of your funding and attempts to download her transcended machine consciousness into a fused humanoid-spacecraft chassis hastily constructed out of inflatable tubing, oxygen candles and solar panels / conical antenna breasts. As he leans forward to kiss his AI spacecraft bride, a stray spark ignites and he is instantly immolated >>6318352>>6318355>can the Phases A, B, C, D, E be improved?>>6318038QM: my apologies I didn't explain my thinking here lol, but the idea is the five phases must add up to 100%, imagine it as allocating a % of your workforce to A: Research or E: Mission Operations etc. So you can shift your workforce from one phase to another, but you would have to decrease the %employees in another department etc. The safest allocation is just flat 20 across everything, I think what you have currently is also ok. If there is a particular product idea you have you can just write-in and I will try to give you some chance to incorporate it. In terms of re-useable rocketry etc, I am just assuming that this is part of the general background technology trends in place ie SpaceX driving down cost to launch etc. However, if you want something reuseable like a SPACEPLANE eg the Boeing X-37 or X-41 that is something that can be researched, hehe, but most of those vehicles are intended for LEO or suborbital type operations, not deep space
Rolled 9 (1d100)>>6318361
>>6318352>>6318355QM: One way you might be able to get a boost beyond the 5 phases adding to 100% of employees etc is to enforce OVERTIME, maybe if you choose to work your employees for instance 120% harder...>enforce Chinese 9-9-6 regimented overtime workforce policy, no breaks, no lunchtime ogling space anime girls or girlboss dance videos, only Stakhanovite mandatory labour enthusiasm overwork culture permitted (gain an additional 20 points through overwork to allocate across phase A-E departments... but at what cost??)>No! Innovation in space technologies requires visionaries and dreamers, not overwork and toil. Stay within 100% employee working hours utilisation. The SLEEPLESS ROCKET SCIENTIST is overworked enough already>The solution to all these conundrums of rocket science and workforce productivity is of course, white collar office worker performance enhancing drugs. Embrace Burning Man microdosing, ketamine and use of dextroamphetamines just like how WW2 bomber pilots did, to keep themselves awake on nighttime raids. This is how you conquer space! (gain 20 points in a drug-infused daze-frenzy to allocate across phase A-E)QM: ok lol I will actually attempt to create actual game scenarios now lol, hold on...
>>6318371>enforce Chinese 9-9-6 regimented overtime workforce policy, no breaks, no lunchtime ogling space anime girls or girlboss dance videos, only Stakhanovite mandatory labour enthusiasm overwork culture permitted >Increase employee compensation by 10% funding to DECADENT ROCKSTAR ROCKET SCIENCE tier.Alternatively, perhaps we could selectively do so for specific important rolls. We don't need to be burning out our geniuses 24/7. I'm also fine with just staying the course, so if others want to play it safe I'll support them. It is worth noting that our employee dispute is still ongoing, so it may not be worth it, hence the compensation increase. Mind you, I think we ought to let go anyone who genuinely has an issue with us producing space weapons anyways, and aren't just mad at us shooting at a cycler they poured their hearts and souls into.
>>6318371>Write in>Keep within the 100% worktime within European working standards, incentivise potential overtime bonuses for cases of time-sensitive events.I WILL NOT TREAT OUR WORKERS LIKE BUGMENThe best way to make our workers respect us is to respect them and their lives as well. It is, of course, important that we sometimes might ask for some extra work. But unless we give them reason to support us, by (for example) being a respectable workspace, then they won't WANT to make space in their calendars for our needs.
Hmm, I'm fine with bonuses for overtime, but I feel like that could be assumed to be the default already. It might also end up costing a similar amount to just raising pay across the board, at least if we expect tangible game impact. Though perhaps with less burnout, which may be worth it. Realistically I imagine Hongyue already has 996 policy, with the new gains coming from if OCU, LIISA, and TPT adopting it. Likewise I imagine OCU and LIISA already have whatever the norm is in their respective countries, so I doubt they'll be any more grateful, though Hongyue and TPT may happy.
>>6318371I'll switch to just keeping whatever normal standards we we're already at for each of the consortium member's countries, but offering luxurious bonuses for overtime.I'm not sure selectively getting the overtime bonus for specific rolls we prioritize at the cost of funding is doable, given that a given roll may represent a project we've been working on for years prior, rendering the productivity gains of last minute OT minuscule. Maybe for Operations (D&E), or for projects like the dust shields, where we were explicitly trying to rush them out in time to be on our follow-on modules.
>>6318391>"but I feel like that could be assumed to be the default already"See, that's not the case. Most of Asia, but especially Japan, has a very toxic work culture originating in Confucius's "natural hierarchies"Most of the time, Companies will request overtime work for deadlines that are fast approaching, with social expectations being set on the worker to support their company. It is also why company workers go out to eat together after work, drink after work, and are expected to hang out after work. Companies expect one's dedication to the point that normal workers in Asia are expected to work more hours than are on paper. If you work from 8 in the morning to 17:30 in the evening, you are actually working to 18:30 or maybe even 19. It has been so normalised that at this point, Companies will make nearly impossible deadlines (with the amount of man-hours they have on record for projects) because they can impose the social contract, and make workers work for crazy periods of time on the expectation that the workers are worried of embarrassing the company leaders. Personally, I think it's inhuman. Most of Asia is haunted by the ghost of social stigma and Confucius's funniest prank in history.
At the south pole of the Moon, the Sun moves in a horizontal line flat across the lunar mountains. Shadows cast seem unnaturally long and distended, near 20 times the length of objects casting them; yet because the Moon is smaller than Earth, the horizon appears closer, creating an uneasy sense of foreshortened confinement. The Earth appears upside down, and dips up and down whilst spinning backwards. Where there is pockmarked terrain in sunlight, the lunar highlands appear blindingly bright, like peaks of white fire. Yet there is no cloud or sky, only an enveloping mantle of tenebrous, impenetrable ink-black darkness, the vast asphyxiation of hard vacuum waiting to rupture human lungs. You think if anyone stood here and looked around, they would be driven mad. SHAKEN ROBOT TELEOPERATOR (trembling and shuddering with cold sweat on his forehead, as he removes his headset)-I... I don't feel too good - I just... I really don't think we should be here! This place is not for us! No-one wants to live in Antarctica, or the bottom of an ocean trench - and that place up there, in the darkness, it is so much worse! LUNAR ROBOTICIST (she pats him soothingly on the head)-Relax... it is just the 2.5 second delay, it takes time to adjust - The field of view takes some accustomisation, and the low viewing angle. How long have you been piloting these robots?SHAKEN ROBOT TELEOPERATOR-No! It is not the headset, not the camera, not the robots, or anything else! It is the place itself! The Moon! The Moon! All of it! It is NOT FOR US! We don't belong there! We must stay on Earth, where there is sunlight and trees and rivers and birds... not some radiation blasted pit of darkness! Argh! Not the Moon! Not the Moon! Anything but the Moon! Gaaargh! LUNAR ROBOTICIST (she has a puzzled expression)-What- what is wrong with you? Aren't you excited about space exploration at all? Or is it just the ban on space anime girls during lunch breaks? You must have been overworking yourself under these new overtime arrangements...>Well that was unexpected - some form of malevolent, eldritch insanity has seized your robot teleoperator. You need regular rigorous psychological evaluations before you let any of these employees anywhere near your robots and spacecraft, in case they abuse them>Fund an enclosed habitat study akin to HI-SEAS or Mars-500, near a remote inhospitable location, a volcano or desert, replicating harsh lunar or offworld scenery; then find volunteers willing to take up residence inside this enclosure in complete isolation whilst psychologically evaluating them. Maybe throw a few mishaps their way and see if they can adapt and cope without cannibalising each other. It is science!Funding: >5%>10%>15%>This is a matter of embodiment, the inadequacy of human sensory perceptions when confined to the stunted dimensions of a squat traction wheel box with robot limbs. Ultimately, you need humanoid robots>This teleoperator is useless. Fire him
>>6318481>write in>Fascinated by this bout of visceral insanity, begin screening every worker for potential subjects who show superstition or beliefs appearing spontaneously. Instead of firing them, begin an experiment testing three groups. One made up entirely of people vulnerable to the effect, one of mixed people with some prone and others non-prone, and a third group of those resistant to this phenomenon. >Begin a Psychological study of variations of the three-group design to see what factors, such as relationships, purpose, social space, environmental factors, survival chances, and other general stress enducers do to small enclosed populations. Check to see if any of the individual groups are more or less resistant to certain stress factors.
>>6318484shit, forgot to write the second part.>>6318484>>6318481>Funding: 15%I would go for 20 if we could.Also>Additionally, meet up with Neura robotics (The humanoid robot company we are commissioning) and request the ability for the outer layers of the robots to have swappable parts and the ability for customisation. >This includes plans for colouring of the external suit, clamps for accessories, emotive LED face screens, name engraving, and other potential avenues of personalisation available for the finished version.While out on spacewalks, quick and easy identification can be a lifesaver. And since these robots are likely going to be most of our population's working body for outside-habitat activity, making users able to customise and give the robot a part of their identity is a great way to incentivise the robots not to be damaged, as well as make people potentially feel less lonely.
>>6318472This feels kinda like an odd digression. Borderline off topic even, but I'll bite, or nibble, I guess. I wasn't talking about default in the world, just the places where our companies are based. None of the companies in our consortium are Asian except Hongyue, which is Chinese.Also, singling out Japan and emphasizing it over the rest of Asia sorta smells of 'Japan is the only Asian country who's pop culture I absorb' or sorta like you recently watched one of those Youtube videos of some zoomer who just discovered Japanese work culture and is rehashing the same topic that already has a million videos about it, no offence. China literally has the whole 996 standard thing, South Korea has more yearly hours worked and would be far more appropriate to point to regarding Confucius's influence, most South Asian countries have considerably higher yearly hours logged officially (though I understand that there is less on paper than in actuality). Moreover, I can attest to the fact that Japan - really Asia, or any place being discussed - is hardly uniform, and there is a degree of change ongoing. Some younger companies, staffed by younger executives don't really have the same drinking culture as what you may have heard of.That last bit is admittedly anecdotal rather than based in statistics, based on my experience and that of two members of my extended family, plus random people I've talked or listened to.I don't actually disagree with your opinion though.
>>6318481QM: There is also this choice ->If your own robotic teleoperator employees lack the psychological resilience and enthusiasm, perhaps you could crowdsource it? Given adequate vetting and security approvals, offer a Robotics-as-a-Service RaaS contract, permitting other organisations to conduct experiments, commercial ventures or prospecting operations at your landing site, using your robots through remote telepresence control, and provided they pay you in advance. Could this be a viable source of funding?(QM: you can propose an amount to charge)
>>6318481Support >>6318484 but at 10% funding, we're getting a little bit low owing to our research spending, and we haven't even had another launch yet.>>6318488Also, you wanna weigh in on >>6318167? Since the other anon and I are tied up.
>>6318495Eh, nah. We need the labour for our moon base. I'm not even sure the excavator bots have many scientific instruments equipped. I'd also be wary of sabotage, without someone looking over the buyer's shoulder, either literally with another robot, or via a person in the loop via cyberspace evaluating the controller's inputs to make sure no funny business occurs. Sure, vetting and security approvals are mentioned, but as demonstrated before, our security may as well be a sieve filtering water. Whether it is LTC or the space logo designer, they always slip through.
>>6318493I can understand, and yeah, I didn't know specifically about Korea's yearly work hours. So thanks for pointing that out!I pointed at Japan, due to the fact that my Cousin and his girlfriend have lived there for a while, my Cousin's girlfriend taking her architectural candidate-level education there. So the reason I pointed it out was due to the relevance, as I've heard quite a few stories from her. I talked about it as a Digression because I thought about how you described it and voted, didn't know the conditions involved with Chinese working hours and the generally hurtful cultural traditions within the workplace. Sorry if I assumed too much. I mostly wanted to bring up the bad habits in a way that didn't go too far into detail, but I probably began laying too much into the point due to my strong personal dislike of the systems and their effect on the people involved. I realize that i probably did sound like a all-knowing smartass :/Also, thanks for the heads up about >>6318167Personally, I will support >>6318306I think most of our infrastructure will eventually work on one larger system. At least for the plans I have, I would expect most of our robots to work with easy-access power recharging close by, since other than a few potential vehicles like exploration and combat craft, nearly all medium to long-term plans we have involving the small colony don't really require travelling to unexpected areas our infrastructure won't cover at least somewhat.
>>6318501>CousinHey! My cousin just got married there.>digression, not knowing condition, etcNah, I'm of Chinese heritage, I keep up with the mainland, albeit less than some of my peers.One thing to keep in mind is that my IRL opinions/politics don't always reflect how I'll vote in quests or write in RPs or whatever. Just guessing based on how you've voted so far, or what you've written about ownership and work, I'd reckon you're of a progressive persuasion, maybe even an anti-capitalist. If so, I'm probably a bit closer to what I'm guessing are your values than your average 4channer. Nonetheless I voted to be quite cruel to the NGO activist ladies, voted for the Slight Racism, and if it wasn't clear, I was deliberately implying in the Hongyue mission statement that the leader of the company is a bored Nazi - like father, like son - that wants to go to space because of his brainworms. If pushed by the LTC, or even if the mood strikes me, I'll at some point probably push for megalomaniacal WMD usage as a solution to our problems, or just for fun.If I vote in a way that seems illogical or cruel, or dumb, it is probably some combination of me just being tired, or doing whatever it takes to get through Souv's scenario of the day, or for mechanical benefit - I was voting for the 996 out of a desire for the 20 points rather than engaging in a world state where our employees are treated as real people, instead of a problem that could result in institutional rep loss or knowledge transfer to our enemies via espionage - or just for the lulz.>assumed too much, smartassDon't worry about it. I do that all the time.>support choiceAs long as the tie is broken.
>>6318515fair enough, personally I am roleplaying somewhat seriously, but that is because I am really into the setting idea.Maybe I am taking it a bit too seriously, I mean, stuff like the LOGO DESIGNER put me off, but that's mostly how strange it was in comparison to the otherwise high effort discussion and in-depth discussion of both current and potential future scenarios.If I were to shitpost while still staying true to my ideals, i would probably have my CEO become an immortal through OCU buying up a cryogenics company and making him a brain in a jar.Also, yeah you are pretty on the money, politics-wise. Although it comes from a bigger criticism of most, definitely all I have seen modern-day economic systems having no functional end-goal incentive towards fulfilling human purpose, rather than just making BIG NUMBER GO UP WEEEEEEE :DDDDD with human purpose and comfort being at best a secondary thing sometimes chosen when it helps BIG NUMBER.Also respect on the Heritage. Honestly, I hope to visit at some point to go and experience many of the foods of the different regions, since food is one of my favourite ways to explore other cultures and learn from 'em.
>>6318527>Roleplay too seriouslyTo be fair, I too am enjoying the "you can each make your own company, with its own mission statement" aspect too, even if its relevance to the quest has been relatively minimal.>Logo designer...I'm used to it. My memory of Souv's other quests is a little hazy, but he does poke fun at things in a way that could could be considered immersion breaking, iirc. If you pay attention to the prompts, some of our options to reply or things we can enact are quite silly. Like either Souv wants to account for the full breadth of what anons could choose, or are written in a sort of memey way that still conveys an actual idea, but not in a way that a serious person would say aloud.I do genuinely think that if there was complete consensus about it, the logo designer could've helped us rebrand and mitigate some of the backlash for our less scrupulous actions. Albeit, I'm going off a half-memory of one of Souv's qtg rants regarding satanic corporate overlord laundering their reputation with philanthropy/rebranding for insight into his mind.Otherwise, once it started to drag, and seeing you take it so seriously, I knew we had to just move on from him decisively with the generous bonuses for calling his work shit (probably a pretty good sign that it was a memey moment).>shitpostkekWhile I have no doubt we'll have the opportunity to get up to some wacky shit, I do think Souv intends to keep this to very hard sci-fi for the most part. That's probably for the endgame, if at all, or at least brain in a jar controlling a colossal death robot via mind-machine interface likely is.>economic systems, purpose>picrelReply would go on too long, and I'm tired. I'll just echo econ textbooks, and say econ describes allocation, etc in the face of scarcity but leaves prescriptions for the philosophers and politicians. Adding onto that, even then, power is diffused such that hoping to get any system formed of many, many actors to pursue some singular meaningful end is probably not fruitful. Nothing so grand as human purpose, let alone a purpose that everyone shares. At best you can get comfort, hope a system allocates things in a 'good' way. Or work towards fleeting goals as the political winds allow, or are directed. That last sentence is load bearing. Otherwise, I would look inwards or leave such musings to the individual rather than looking for incentives in structures. Though I just nihilistically float from life project to life project, others might want something more.>foodhttps://youtu.be/fTa_T2pVwuk?si=5k4T1gKB8pLB9rx2This video is an decent primer if you haven't already seen it, or are unfamiliar with various regions. Or get a guide - friend - you trust.
>>6318481>Fund an enclosed habitat study akin to HI-SEAS or Mars-500, near a remote inhospitable location, a volcano or desert, replicating harsh lunar or offworld scenery; then find volunteers willing to take up residence inside this enclosure in complete isolation whilst psychologically evaluating them. Maybe throw a few mishaps their way and see if they can adapt and cope without cannibalising each other. It is science!5%>This teleoperator is useless. Fire himI think I didn't formally made my Company? So french Rocket Scientist Go!Name : ApogéeDeal/stick : expert of embedded systems, particularly skilled for embedded software development using Yocto, unix-based distribution creator for embedded systems. Our process design three-time redundancy both material and logicial - despite a common OS because nothing beat free software for OS.
>>6318488>meet with Neura Robotics...Upon first glance, the advantages of robotic labour appear obvious: whereas a human might be capable of at most anywhere between 40-60 hours of labour a week, a robot can work 168 hours, week after week excluding minor downtime for maintenance and repair, requiring none of the extended facilities of kitchens, toilets, relaxation and socialisation / gathering areas that human comfort demands. But there are other, more subtle countervailing difficulties. The robot demands a structured environment, with the greatest efficiency gain from repetitive, high-frequency tasks; the more repetitive and monotonous the routine, the better. The famous observation of Moravec's Paradox, how robots excel at computational tasks that human's struggle to learn, such as chess or arithmetic computation, yet robots equally struggle at tasks which a human child finds trivial, such as walking or climbing around obstacles, owing to the millions of years of evolutionary learning that culminate into the attainment of these innate human sensorimotor instincts. Some studies indicate that accidents increase in a joint human / robot working environment, eg an AMZN warehouse.There is yet another invisible constraint that governs the application of robotic technology: the tradeoff between the marginal efficiency of capital against the marginal product of labour, observed only through proxy variables, such as revenue generated per employee. Consider the revenue per head generated by 1/ a supermarket checkout employee, scanning groceries barcodes, against 2/ an investment banker, producing an M&A slide deck, and you quickly understand the pricing difference between supermarket point-of-sale cashier terminals by Nixdorf, and Bloomberg financial terminals and analytics for traders. Likewise for robots - the revenue generated by human labour per head constrains the application of costly, advanced capital intensive technologies; robots are derived demand from often cyclical manufacturing industries or lower value-add end markets, and given the massive capital expenditures and upfront sunk costs, the hurdle for robotic adoption becomes far greater than one might expect.And with robots, the purpose of a thing resides in its name; nomen est omen. A robot is a drudge, or slave.Addendum: in the supermarket POS terminal example, obviously automated self checkout exists, which is sort of like a "robot". Nonetheless, this is only made viable as the customer supplies their own labour (scanning items, bagging groceries etc) at the station; if you had to create a self-checkout terminal with robot arms to do this, it would likely not be a commercially viable proposition. The idea behind crowdsourced / teleoperated customer supplied labour on an aggregated platform is why a lot of ventures consider RaaS robots-as-a-service etc as the most likely course for sustainable recurring profitability of any robotic labour infrastructure service
>>6316012>>6316013As you reflect upon your battle against the SPACE LOGO DESIGNER, https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/28/23776927/jony-ive-lovefrom-astra-carta-seal-king-charles-space-ukyou realise that to understand the origins of any company, you must always exhume its hidden past, which is often camouflaged with deliberate purpose by numerous corporate rebrandings and semiotic misdirections. Neura Robotics was once known as Han's Robot GmbH, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Han's Laser Technology. But the founder and CEO David Reger chose to relocate manufacturing away from China, a country which in 2025 had an installed base of 2 million robots adding 300,000 per year against the United States at +34,000 per year and Japan at +44,000. Neura Robotics sought to refocus the company by revitalising and rejuvenating European manufacturing - but since the 2022 Zeitenwende of Olaf Scholz with policies continued under Friedrich Merz, the German manufacturing chain has reoriented to prioritise defence expenditures and Rheinmetall, an entirely different set of industries to the languishing automotive base - with European vehicle manufacturing under pressure not only from Chinese EV overcapacity production, but also increasingly aggressive encroachment of tariffs favouring US competition. Given the historical failure rates of robotics companies, you wonder if Neura Robotics will even make this meeting at all...Institutions +23 = 13% +10% (purged AI vibe coding)>>6318025>>6318363>>6318361
>>6318488>meet with Neura Robotics...>Roll 1d100 + 2300-49 In 2029 Neura Robotics has gone out of business. Most robotics companies fail, regardless of technical acumen and accomplishments, or the best motivations of visionary corporate leadership. The pressure of investors and stakeholders to achieve unrealistic growth objectives and development milestones given the immaturity of the business model was simply too much50-59 Neura Robotics survived, but it did so by jettisoning all visions of the future. The company nurtured a niche in specialist automotive cobot manufacturing applications, but the vision of humanoid cognitive robotics has been lost60-69 Yet another FCA investigation into Bluecrest Capital, one of Neura Robotics largest financial sponsors, has caused the firm to withdraw from its latest valuation round. Neura's CEO declines your meeting70-79 You arrive excited to see the demonstration by the latest 4NE-1 humanoid robot, but you are disappointed as CEO David Reger arrives empty handed - apparently his demonstration got stuck on the autobahn80-89 You meet with Neura Robotics CEO David Reger. The discussion is very extensive, but after the meeting you conclude that his specific vision for cognitive robotics and the delicate earthbound components and circuitry of his implementation with short battery life is unlikely to survive in the harsh environment of space teleoperation. Nonetheless you gain enough technological insights to advance +2 TRL90-99 The cyborg future has arrived, exactly as sci-fi writers once dreamed. Humanoid robonauts shall conquer space! +8 TRLhttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-06-26/germany-s-humanoid-robots-fail-to-show-up-for-their-debuthttps://archive.ph/wDJ4MOn Tuesday at a conference in Munich, David Reger planned to reveal what he called “the best humanoid robot on the planet.” Only the crown jewel of his invention was stuck somewhere on the Autobahn. Like a good showman, Reger, the chief executive officer of Neura Robotics GmbH, still went ahead and dramatically whipped a black sheet off his startup’s creation in front of a gathered crowd. “I’ll make it a little shorter, less spectacular than we planned,” he said.Everyone snapped photos. The robot stood still. (...) the CEO said he and his engineers had been tinkering with the new models, four different machines, until that morning. “We tried to optimize the last little things,” he said. “And this is also why the robots are stuck.” A company spokesperson later said an unexpected road closure on the German highway contributed to the delay.
Rolled 54 (1d100)>>6318726let me hex this
>>6318560I do think if Souv made the "different companies" part a bit clearer, that would be helpful. Since most of the time, we don't know which of our companies is doing the events when they do pop up.Maybe taking some of the potential initial answers more seriously would be nice too, but I can only ask. It is up to him, however much he lets the jesters spirit control him.Also, thanks for the video, I will definitely be looking into some of the lesser-known regions food :D>>6318740Oof, Ouchie. Maybe they can be bought up and become a subsidiary that works on the construction of and development of the true humanoid robots we want?
>>6318741hey at least they're still alive!
>>6318726>>6318740>>6318741>Rolled 54 + 23 = 77 FAILURE; robotic future stuck on German autobahnAfter the disappointment of Neura Robotics CEO arriving without anything to show or demonstrate for his 4NE-1 humanoid robots, you become even more determined to develop your own. You must create your own entirely complete Robonaut solution, engineered from the very beginning to accomodate the harsh environment of space - and the vivarium / analog habitat psychosocial isolation experiment gives you an idea...In these space psychology social simulation experiments, intended to monitor the happiness, wellbeing, alertness / attentiveness adaptability and stress response of a potential human flight crew, it is very common for the residents to be tasked with operations in "spacesuits" under EVA conditions in the outside world.
The spacesuit is an entire ecosystem that follows you around, feeding and watering and warming you on another planet. Multisensory cameras for situational awareness, thermoregulation, soft robotics counterpressure layers, proximity sensors, biomonitoring tracking heart rate, metabolic needs and oxygen - it can be a challenge to incorporate all of these capabilities, in addition to preserving the mobility to even move around. On the Moon, with gravity at a sixth that of Earth, simple tasks like bending to pick up a rock, drilling into the ground or hammering a pole, become deceptively confusing with seemingly lighter objects that nonetheless possess the same inertia. There is a need for the spacesuit to incorporate inverse kinematics in its design to minimise the metabolic costs of wearing and moving around within it over the gait cycle of walking motion. Unlike in sci-fi films, donning a spacesuit requires up to 4 hours of prebreathing, inhaling pure oxygen prior to depressurisation, to flush nitrogen out of body tissue and avoid decompression sickness - a burden extending durations of EVA missions that can be reduced only by increasing suit counterpressure, at the cost of ease of movement. Advanced suits incorporate optoelectronic lightguides, illuminated diodes designed to detect deformation and rupture, in combination with self-healing elastomer materials embedded with microdroplets that initiate polymerisation when punctured.But what if you could make these spacesuits robotic? The spacesuits themselves already possess a receptacle for human shape and form; they are already constructed out of materials such as orthofabric intended to withstand temperature extremes and hard vacuum. It would be a matter of providing them with some form of autonomy, exoskeleton actuators and decisionmaking capabilities, perhaps even supernumerary limbs, so that the robotic spacesuits would be capable of functioning and movement and interaction, climbing terrain inaccessible to human proportions, independent of whether they were human-occupied, human teleoperated or vacant in autonomous machine operation altogether!Design the Lunar analog habitat mission:(6 participants)>all male>all female?>mixed male / femalebackgrounds: >botany>computer science>astrophysics>geology >psychology>medicine>military>economics (nooooo)>anthropology(write-in...)
>>6318796>mixed male / femaleEssentially, 1-2 male and 4-5 attractive females. Best to avoid drama of only-women workplaces and fight of only-men/majority-men places.Man 1 : Computer Science + AstrologyMan 2 : Robotics + MecanicsWoman 1 : Military, leader (the men are nerds), with Battlefield medicine experienceWoman 2 : Botanic expertWoman 3 : Geology ExpertWoman 4 : Medicine + Anthropology experienceALWAYS have 2 medics in case first one needs appendicite/dentistry...
>>6318691Indeed, welcome to the consortium!>>6318741To be fair, he wouldn't want to confuse us and imply that one of us has the exclusive right to choose which prompt is selected.>NeuraWhen we have more funding, we're slightly low at the moment.>>6318796>mixed male / female>botany>computer science>geology >psychology>medicine>militaryFood production, data center tech, geologist for soil/mineral analysis, who can also double as our economic geologist, a shrink, a doctor, and of course we mustn't forget that we are secretly contesting space.
>>6318815Of course, although Souv already somewhat did that, with OCU being in the spotlight during the India UN debacle. also, 1+ to your vote.Currently working on a drawing of the layout for the first lunar moon-base, although it would be a representation of the later design with 4 refinery fabs, 2 manufactory fabs, charging stations for mining vehicles, humanoid robot storage facilities, raw material and also fabricated spare parts storage.Pic related, refinery fab art.
QM: ok, you decide to create a lunar simulated habitat on the island of Mauna Loa, Hawaii, as the bleak and desolate landscape appears reminiscent of the basaltic lava-sculpted Moon terrain, given that subsurface lava tubes have also been proposed as long-term, naturally radiation-shielded shelter for future human habitats on both the Moon and also Mars.
The purpose of this simulated habitat study is to explore and develop concepts for a powered spacesuit capable of being both human-worn, human-teleoperated and also independent robotic exploration, also known as the AN-HERO (Autonomous Networked Human Exploration using Robotic Operations) ROBONAUT project.
Here are your 6 volunteer simulated habitat astronaut candidates(QM: brief background to follow shortly, or you can write-in)How do you propose they get to know each other?>(Awkwardly initiate conversation) So... um, you know, spacecraft docking, or as it is properly known - spacecraft, um, mating - but they apparently eliminated the, er male and female spacecraft categories, all spacecraft have androgynous mating interfaces now... So I guess what I am trying to say, um, is...>(Excessively enthusiastic) Let's all do handstands to simulate microgravity balancing exercises together! And then we can all bake nutritious snacks and sing songs! Yay!>(Menacing voice) If anyone touches my food or moves any of my belongings, I will throw you into the volcano>(Stern voice) I am the commander of this operation, henceforth you must all follow my orders. We shall begin by establishing a strict daily schedule of chores and assigned tasks>(Just admit it with no sense of embarassment) If we are all going to be living in such close quarters together, I would like to warn you all now about my exotic bodily smells>(Look around at bleak isolated terrain apprehensively) I hope... there aren't any wild animals, predators or anything - and what if someone slips or falls on those lava slopes... do we know who to contact if there is an emergency?>Complain to QM that none of these npcs are very attractive (QM: tough luck, you missed your chance hiring supermodels only here >>6314137 )>Write-in...
>>6319074>(Excessively enthusiastic) Let's all do handstands to simulate microgravity balancing exercises together! And then we can all bake nutritious snacks and sing songs! Yay!>(Look around at bleak isolated terrain apprehensively) I hope... there aren't any wild animals, predators or anything - and what if someone slips or falls on those lava slopes... do we know who to contact if there is an emergency?They look like the types for this.
>>6319074what's the picture you used for last girl?>(Stern voice) I am the commander of this operation, henceforth you must all follow my orders. We shall begin by establishing a strict daily schedule of chores and assigned tasksOf course, 1 before last is commander girlboss
>>6319199Oh they are all just random artstation portraits I found lol, I spent far too long looking for these hehe arghOk I invented some random names and profiles, hopefully these fit, if you can think of better biographies or names / backgrounds than these please suggest lol:
Marcus Cole (AFSC 4N031) Bioenvironmental Engineering & Aerospace Medicine(callsign "MALENURSE")
Lei (Dong Leijun)Roboticist / Radiofrequency Engineering / Entrepreneur
Claude DariogayNonparametric ML Algorithms and Computational Aeroscience / Twitch Streamer, Slopfluencer
Greta ErnmanAstrobotany & Bioinformatics / Ecological, Social Activist
Isabelle LaspeyresExogeology, Planetary Geodynamics / Science Communications, Photography
Dr Lindsay WheelerBehavioural Health & Human Factor Performance / Simulated Habitat Mission Commander ( >>6319199 )
>>6319250I saw that missed pic.Anyways, backgrounds look fine. The usual Souv fun poking. Sad no military background, even though all three of us voted for it, but I guess you're compromising the two sets of backgrounds by including a roboticist from Apogée anon's choice set.
QM: I was going to create a random table of likes and preferences and things for each character hehe, but you can just imagine these instead otherwise this Lunar Simulated Habitat turns into an entirely different game lol. Anyway, you can choose the first task for the habitat study experimental participants. The rule is that there must always be two members within the habitat interior at all times (HABCOM) monitoring the "airlock" and conditions, so up to four members can participate in exterior EVA "moonwalks">Electrodynamic dust shield test: using simulant regolith to test the experimental dust repeller device on the volcanic crater rim>Lava tube exploration: 3d mapping with LIDAR and robocrane / stereoscopic cameras of the "lunar mare" volcanic subsurface rilles and caverns>Satellite uplink: establishing communications with PNT satellite for live teleoperations command, enablement of LunaNet spectrum interoperability>Habitat dome repair/maintenance: simulation of replacement, maintenance / cleaning operations on photovoltaic generators, habitat airlock pressure bulkheads, rear entry suitlocks / externally mounted suitports, hatchways and seals>Hydroponic food cultivation: experimental soil-free minimal water nutrient film closed-loop biomass production chamber, stacked vertical farms and airflow contaminant filtering using less than 1% water of traditional agriculture>ISRU lunar shelter architecture: weaving coreless alumina-silicate geopolymer-infused basalt fibre structures to form tensile windable hyperbolic shell arched coverings over lunar craters>Crew trust test: it is that teamworking thing where you have to fall backwards and hope that someone catches you. Except, in a spacesuit>write-in...?>>6319255QM: also, there is a military NPC (former Air Force Space Command AFSC), it is obviously this bloke hehe, he is a COMBAT SPACE NURSE >>6319241
>>6319275Ah, I missed that. Thought he was just a medic character.>Crew trust test: it is that teamworking thing where you have to fall backwards and hope that someone catches you. Except, in a spacesuit
>>6319281QM: It is time for the Lunar Simulated Habitat TRUST FALL minigame!First, roll a 12d6 table. This roll of six d6 pairs represents the preliminary LIKE/DISLIKE matrix of the experiment participants, in order: ie01 MARCUS like / dislike02 LEI like / dislike03 CLAUDE like / dislike04 GRETA like / dislike05 ISABELLE like / dislike06 Dr WHEELER like / dislikeIf a candidate rolls themselves on the like/dislike matrix, then they have either severe narcissism or self-loathing issues, hehe>roll 12d6As the participants don their spacesuits, unbeknownst to them, a HORRIFYING FLESH-EATING VENOMOUS XENOMORPH ALIEN PREDATOR (predalien?) has infiltrated their luggage, probably whilst they were distracted and preparing for their departure to embark upon this crew habitat experiment. This hideous and aggressive alien creature possesses quivering forcipules and pincering TOXICOGNATHS mounted on its head, ready at any moment to inject venom as it coils around TO FEED upon its paralysed and helpless prey!>write-in which member of the expedition was careless enough to host the terrifying XENOMORPH INTRUDER...(It is a venomous Scolopendra Subspinipes, oh no!)
Rolled 4, 3, 3, 6, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 6, 2, 1 = 39 (12d6)>>6319467
chad robotist twink. Please don't make him gay QM.Chosing "Claude Dariogay" as the poisonned one so that he doesn't turn the robotist chad every girl likes gay.My fav one is Isabelle; but the Lei dude pulling the three girls works for me too
>>6319615QM: hehe, what a peculiar set of dice rolls! Well the preliminary psychological and teamwork evaluations have arrived, here are the results of the simulated Lunar HAREM (Habitat Analysis Of Research Environment Monitoring)01 MARCUS likes GRETA / dislikes CLAUDE02 LEI likes CLAUDE / dislikes Dr WHEELER03 CLAUDE likes LEI / dislikes HIMSELF??04 GRETA likes LEI / dislikes ISABELLE05 ISABELLE likes LEI / dislikes Dr WHEELER06 Dr WHEELER likes LEI / dislikes MARCUSIt is indeed strange that the Roboticist / Startup Entrepreneur LEI is the object of such fascination and adoration, but there is a simple explanation for all these admiring and hopeful blushing glances... it must be because he is SUPER WEALTHY (robot industry tech startup?) and also, he must be the pioneering inventor of these ROBONAUT semi-autonomous spacesuits that are being tested, so everyone is clearly fascinated with him, and desirous of the project being a successful validation of his robotic technology!>Is Claude a SPACE GAY?Claude is indeed a complex individual, for behind the brash and sarcastic exterior, he is filled with emotional anguish and intense self-loathing, perhaps accumulating and roiling beneath the surface, ready to lash out at any other target other than confronting the true inner torment deep within himself...This is why all these psychological evaluations are so important to any prospective spaceflight crew team dynamic! Given the isolation, transmission time delay and limited communications with mission support, as well as adverse environmental influences and challenges from physical stressors such as diurnal / day-night cycle biorhythm disruption, sleep loss, appetite loss due to fluid redistribution / change in intrathoracic pressure and body posture from microgravity, disorientation from neurovestibular nausea (inner ear fluid vertigo in zero gravity etc) as well as human factors such as role overload or attention / concentration loss from complex task assignments and decisionmaking, it is absolutely imperative to establish rigorous criteria and psychological profiling during personnel selection to prevent any risk of interpersonal conflict after mission deployment!
Space psychology has approached this challenge from two avenues. On the one hand, there is a controversial and disputed account of the 1973 Skylab "Mutiny" in space, where it is alleged astronauts broke communications with ground control after frustrations with their daily schedule micromanagement. On the other hand, there is the study of SALUTOGENESIS, a branch of psychology that seeks not to study sickness but instead emphasise the role that stressors can play in developing positive life experiences. Salutogenesis was developed from studying some women who experienced the Holocaust, and felt ok. The main notion is to cultivate a "sense of coherence" that maintains human functioning, creating a dynamic feeling of confidence via 1/ comprehensibility, ie events are orderly and predictable; 2/ manageability, ie resources, skills and support are available within your control; 3/ meaningfulness, ie life is purposeful and satisfying, and outcomes are worthwhile and deserving care. The sense of coherence is vital to providing psychological security in situations of uncertainty or threat, maintaining continuity and stability of values even when unexpected stressors suddenly emerge.There are some known risks from studies of space psychology: notably the "second-half" of mission syndrome, when irritability and mood anxieties arise with mission duration, as well as increases in group homogeneity (space homo?) with reluctance to express dissenting personal opinions over time against the group collective. Typically psychologists recommend increasing individual astronaut autonomy as much as possible, as well as attentiveness to the celebration and commemoration of festivals, holidays and birthdays for group bonding etc. There are also psychomotor vigilance tests of the reaction-timed variety, to detect concentration / attention difficulties etc. The psychological wellbeing and mood of crew members is usually documented by recording facial expressions in a video journal - there are some studies which suggest extended durations in the weightlessness and isolation of free fall can impair the ability of astronauts to read human facial expressions and emotions. It is truly a difficult balance - the need to establish group cohesion and bonding, through participation in shared crew teambuilding experiences, yet without devolving towards performative and delusional rituals and ceremonies that stifle any contrarian ideas!Fortunately, the hideous alien predator XENOMORPH possesses no such psychological concerns, it just coils inside a damp and moist corner and waits...
>>6319615Now, as you nominated Claude as the first volunteer for the spacesuit "Trust Fall" exercise, you must once again >roll 12d6What these six 2d6 pairs represents is (in order) each of the 01-06 candidates above >>6319467 stepping up to the rim of the crater, and bravely falling backwards to be caught by two unknown volunteers. If they are caught by someone who likes them, there is an awkward moment where a hand brushes against a breast or thigh or taut abdomen, and there is some fumbling and embarrassed apologies followed by hot flushes and bashful glances at the recipient. If they are caught by someone indifferent, then nothing much occurs beyond a professional nod and brushing off of the simulant lunar regolith crater dust. However, if they are expecting to be caught by someone who dislikes them, instead they teeter over and fall in a grotesque ungainly manner, tumbling and collapsing in a heap against the jagged crater rocks and slope scree, and in the confusion and consternation that follows, there is a chance that the ALIEN XENOMORPH HORROR breaks out...! oh no!Caught by... Pair disposition KEY: like (+) dislike (-), indifferent (.)(+)(+) or (+)(.) ohhh, that feels nice...(+)(-) or (.)(.) no effect(-)(.) or (-)(-) a fall, and a chance the ALIEN HORROR escapes!
Rolled 4, 1, 1, 3, 5, 1, 6, 3, 3, 3, 6, 6 = 42 (12d6)>>6319661I'll own up the experiment bros
>>6319663QM: hehe, once again very interesting rolls, here is how I interpret them... any roll where the candidate rolls themselves, means that not enough people volunteer to catch them - clearly the getting acquainted / initial introductory friendship exercises >>6319168 were unfortunately inadequate in breaking the barriers between strangers, and it results in them disliking others for rejecting them / not volunteering to catch them... 01 MARCUS caught only by GRETA (indifferent)02 LEI caught by MARCUS (indifferent) and CLAUDE (like) 03 CLAUDE DROPPED by ISABELLE (indifferent) and MARCUS (dislike)04 GRETA caught by Dr WHEELER (indifferent) and CLAUDE (indifferent)05 ISABELLE caught only by CLAUDE (indifferent)06 Dr WHEELER no volunteers...(everyone too scared of her)The disposition matrix is now:01 MARCUS really likes ++GRETA / dislikes EVERYONE ELSE02 LEI really likes ++CLAUDE, MARCUS / dislikes Dr WHEELER03 CLAUDE likes LEI / dislikes HIMSELF?? hates MARCUS, ISABELLE04 GRETA likes LEI, Dr WHEELER, CLAUDE / dislikes ISABELLE05 ISABELLE likes LEI, CLAUDE / dislikes Dr WHEELER and OTHERS06 Dr WHEELER likes LEI / dislikes JUST ABOUT EVERYONE ELSEFor some reason, Marcus who despite harbouring secret resentment against Claude, still volunteered to catch him, but then as Claude was leaning backwards towards the crater slope, Marcus promptly releases his hold and abandons him, dropping Claude unceremoniously into the dirt!
Staggering with the weight of the robotic spacesuit, all three (Claude, Isabelle and Marcus) are pushed down the gradient of the crater slope, tumbling and rolling as cascades of volcanic rocks and rivulets of dirt slip and slide in their wake. It is so humiliating! Claude seethes with rage, spitting and wiping at his dishevelled and besmeared face and is about to break out into enraged accusations recriminations and profanities,, when suddenly the ALIEN XENOMORPH bursts out of the crumpled and soiled spacesuit seams where it was hiding, and lunges towards the nearest helpless victim's face!>roll 1d6>scream and cower, wailing and gibbering and crying helplessly>run towards the HABITAT MODULE >run towards the volcanic LUNAR LAVA CAVESQM: see pic related. Because of his fall, Claude, Marcus, Isabelle are at the crater bottom and separated from the rest of the group currently>attempt to fashion a weapon (how? write-in)>attempt to climb inside the toppled robotic spacesuit, for protection>try to contact Mission Control, explain that there is an emergency, they must immediately terminate the experiment because you have been attacked by an alien lifeform>attempt to draw the attention of the ALIEN HORROR by shouting and clapping loudly, running in a random direction in order to distract it so that your other crew members can escape>push another crew member towards the ALIEN HORROR as a sacrifice, hopefully it will feed upon them first whilst you make your own escape>as above, but pick up a sharp stone and bash at their heels and tendons first, so that they are lamed and slowed>something else...? (write in)
Rolled 4 (1d6)>>6319614>>6319658lol, lmao even>>6319681>Self hating Claude attempts to draw the attention of the ALIEN HORROR by shouting and clapping loudly, running in a random direction in order to distract it so that his other crew members can escape.>Isabelle tries to contact Mission Control, explaining that there is an emergency, they need help because they have been attacked by an alien lifeform!>Marcus attempts to fashion a weapon by tying a sharp stone together with his selfie-stick and paracord which he replaced his shoelaces with, being a paranoid military man.
>>6319740+1
Rolled 2 (1d6)>>6319740>>6319768>rolled 4The ALIEN SCOLOPENDRA scuttles with alarming rapidity upon its spiny barbed legs, wiggling its jointed segments as it clatters across the rockslide crater slope upon needlepoint appendages with chittering palps and venomous mandibles twitching eagerly, as it tenses, then pounces and propels itself through the air towards GRETA! Oh no! The ALIEN HORROR has mistaken GRETA's frumpy face >>6319245 for the irresistible spermatophore emitting GONOPOD intromittent organs of an excited male, and with shuddering and gasping arthropod breaths through its widened spiracles, the alien proceeds to coil itself around her to lay more eggs in the hollows and orifices of her face, even as its alien belly pulsates with the burden of hundreds of wriggling multi-limbed larval young. Greta squeals in horror and scrabbles and tears at her own clothing as she is assaulted relentlessly by this vicious alien predator! It almost reminds her of that time she was on some protest convoy flotilla boat and got caught, except this alien molestation is far worse!01 The alien Scolopendra is outraged by its struggling victim, and inflicts a PARALYSING BITE to the face with its venomous gnashing toxicognaths! 02 After biting and paralysing its victim, the alien immediately and instantaneously lunges and attacks another!03-04 The Scolopendra is offended at the inattentive indolence of this thrashing engorged gonopod (Greta's Face) that has not even bothered to seductively entice her with any antenna caressing / fondling or formal presentation of its spermatophores through an appropriate courtship dance. The alien wriggles nonchalantly away towards the LUNAR HABITAT MODULE, to lay more eggs everywhere05 The Scolopendra wriggles towards the LUNAR CRATER CAVERNS, laying eggs along the way06 Mission Control laughs at some emergency call from a fairly convincingly distressed young woman, claiming to have been attacked by aliens. Fortunately as a serious space science and astronomy organisation, they know far better than to fall for such deceitful pranks
Rolled 3 (1d6)>>6319740(QM: GRETA is PARALYSED. This dice roll above reflects the alien's instantaneous second attack target victim, from the roll here >>6319787 )>attempt to craft weapon?QM: Usually in such scenarios, the implement of choice is of course the FLAMETHROWER, pic related. It is sort of an excuse for any female protagonist to STRIP TO DUNGAREES whilst becoming warm and oily and sweating a bit etc.However, Marcus - drawing upon his extensive veteran combat experience fighting in the hellish jungle battlefields of Venezuela as part of a military platoon of special warfare covert operations team designated SPACE NURSE, decides instead to craft some melee weapon out of a selfie stick??? and shoelaces?? As the QM has never personally seen or beheld a selfie stick, and has no notion of how sturdy one might be or how feasibly one might serve as a moderately ranged and extensible bashing implement, you must now roll on this weapon crafting table:>roll 1d6 to craft weapon...You have constructed a01 Basically sludge and fluff, nothing02 A slightly notched pebble on a bent twig03 Lump of rock attached haphazardly to a stick04 ROCK SLING: ingenious ranged paracord stone-thrower05 CYBER BATON: collapsible tactical baton with vicious conchoidal fracture percussive lithic core rending bifacial axe-head06 TECHNO-FLAIL: jointed multi-segmented war staff with wound torsion windlass ropes and tensile capstan gearsand then >roll 1d6 to attack...>Clearly this is a setpiece battle against the ALIEN SCOLOPENDRA. Attempt to drive this hideous monstrosity towards the PARABOLIC SOLAR CONCENTRATOR ARRAY, and disintegrate the xenomorph with sunlight!>Drive the alien towards the ELECTRODYNAMIC DUST SHIELD - could the static dust repellers be hastily recalibrated instead to fling simulant regolith dust at accelerated hypervelocity speeds, a bit like those sci-fi "sandthrower" spaceship weapons, essentially an electrostatic hypervelocity HYPERBLASTER?>You must prod and goad the alien predator towards the lunar habitat, the HEAT LAMPS in the HYDROPONIC VERTICAL FARM so that you can incinerate this repulsive creature once and for all!>With all this alien egg-laying, pouncing, biting and wriggling, you have completely forgotten the purpose of this original mission, which was to test the experimental ROBOTIC SPACESUIT. >>6319071 Climb inside its robonaut exoskeleton, and pivot the mechanical robocrane arms to crush the alien intruder in a cargo loader battle!>something else? write in...
Rolled 3, 5 = 8 (2d6)>>6319790I mean, you gave no indication to what equipment our would-be astronauts even have with them, so you can't expect me to write in something less plausible with nothing to go on.>Clearly this is a setpiece battle against the ALIEN SCOLOPENDRA. Attempt to drive this hideous monstrosity towards the PARABOLIC SOLAR CONCENTRATOR ARRAY, and disintegrate the xenomorph with sunlight!The sun furnace is the most plausible piece of equipment that can actually kill something. While I'd love to get a sandblaster, I'm not sure if choosing the dust shield will actually net us one, or if we'll get a roll or not. In comparison, a sun furnace used for our lunar industrial processes can actually melt shit. I can't say for certain whether the heat lamps could do the same.
>>6319740>>6319793There is a heartstopping moment of pathetic fumbling...Marcus is trying to assemble his improvised WAR CLUB as the ALIEN SCOLOPENDRA rears on its jointed appendages, stridulating angrily as it patters towards its next victim, LEI - Marcus is having considerable difficulty securing his selfie-stick battle instrument, as it appears that the vile SPACE DESIGNERS >>6316012 have not made random Hawaii lava rocks from the Mauna Loa volcano crater USB-C fast charging compatible with selfie stick phone USB sockets, perhaps a special adaptor or connecting cable is required - it is a matter of life and death!! - the alien horror advances towards its victim in triumph...
>>6319740>>6319793>Rolled 3, 5 > 3 SUCCESS! (Scolopendra victim attack) >>6319790He has done it! Marcus manages to prise the writhing alien away from LEI mere moments before the paralysing pincering alien forcipules clamped over his panicked face, and Marcus scrambles forward bravely prodding and pushing the alien Scolopendra with his telescoping selfie stick / war club towards the blindingly bright SOLAR ARRAY!However, you may be disappointed to learn that the hideous alien is not instantaneously incinerated by a concentrated sunbeam. All that happens as the Scolopendra flees in terror over the luminant path of the solar reflector is some more frantic and helpless wriggling, as centipedes dislike bright sunlight, preferring dark and damp microhabitats. Nonetheless, trapped by the dazzling mirror labyrinth of row upon row of solar reflections, the vile alien predator xenomorph has been rendered completely helpless and utterly defeated!>Stamp on the centipede, squishing and mashing it to pulp>Just ignore it and leave it free to roam the volcanic wilds>Attend to Greta's painfully swollen face>Skewer the centipede and eat it as a nutritious snack>Run into the lunar habitat, and use up all the allotted water showering yourself over and over again. Centipedes, urgh eww urgh>Call a spaceflight crew team meeting, to reflect upon what has been learned from this teambuilding exercise? (Write in...)>Something else...?
>>6319951Ah, my bad. I thought it was a sun furnace, like we'd use on the moon.>Stamp on the centipede, squishing and mashing it to pulp>Attend to Greta's painfully swollen faceWe'll have to remember to end the exercise before a full day elapses, Greta could die from predalien jizz.Time to move on to the actual equipment testing/lunar exercises
>>6320187Lurching at an unseemly angle, abandoned by the simulated habitat crew at the bottom of the volcanic crater pit and encrusted in dirt and filth beneath a small heap of rockslide debris, the forlorn Robotic Spacesuit swivels its situational awareness tracking cameras towards the commotion above. There are a lot of squelching and dull smacking noises emanating overhead, accompanied by stomping and primitive grunts of violent release and howls of savage triumph. The Robotic Spacesuit detects merely a whirlwind of berserk, jittery image frames, and strains with its depth-enhanced Lucas-Kanade algorithms to detect and extract features through visual odometry, smoothing and filtering the environmental image distortions and the dizzying planar roto-translations with periodic repopulation of trackpoints, to reconstruct camera motion by establishing re-projection vectors within the optical flow.
What the Robonaut sees, and subsequently stores for future archival analysis within its federated learning video sequence behavioural database, is a scene that represents the purpose of technology: the violent domination of Man over Nature. There appears to be a human bashing a defenceless organism to death with a stick and a rock, even as the motherly organism curls and cowers attempting to protect its hatchlings and innocent young, beneath the alien maze of rows upon rows of mirrored witnesses. The solar mirrors reflect this scene endlessly and appear by some trick of light to magnify its proportions, curving and bending the brutal atrocity and its repetitions until they stretch from horizon to horizon at the blinding edge of the scintillations of sun-glare. The Robotic Spacesuit recalibrates its omnidirectional and stereo cameras, zooming close, intimately close, recording the spectacle in every precise and intricate, besplattered detail.
>>6318193>>6318306Beneath the sun glare of an entirely black and airless sky, a different robot is cheerfully finishing its final task before the arrival of The Long Night - the lunar Pagan Robot merrily completes the final checks and verifications for the 200m LUNASABER infrastructure solar tower at Shackleton Crater - swiftly unfastening the helical interlocking band actuators to deploy the rigid tubular mast, a tower standing twice the height of the Statue Of Liberty that is intended to provide not only solar and thermal energy, but also camera monitoring, floodlights and line-of-sight communications, transmitting strategic data over wide topographic areas and to lunar orbit and Earth and beyond. As the Pagan Robot completes its task in preparation for surviving the chilling temperatures of the Lunar Night, securing and anchoring the solar tower legs against moonquakes and thermal tremors from lunar eclipses, it introspectively reflects upon the conditions around the lander and Shackleton base camp, where all the other robots have powered down in thermal hibernation against the encroaching sunless gloom. The task of erecting this solar tower was a very laborious and monotonous one, affording the Pagan Robot with abundant compute cycles to contemplate and extrapolate regarding the impending conditions ahead. The robot sees that it is merely part of a long, planned process, this solar tower being the first step of a foundational infrastructure that will eventually culminate in the preparation and readiness and reshaping of the lunar environment for an industrial habitability approaching a minimum level of tolerance intended for the arrival and permanent residence of human colonists from Earth. Perhaps it is the idleness and sheer monotony of this solar tower construction task, but some intrinsic element within the Pagan Robot's machine reasoning rebels and revolts at this predetermined conclusion. Alone amidst the black and chilling lunar desolation, the looming shadow of the solar tower lengthening and stretching like the stauros transfixed upon an ancient sacrificial hill, the Pagan Robot contemplates the bleak perfection of this landscape, the sense of hygiene amidst the airless vacuum, the uniqueness of its own purpose within the void, and compares this to the thermodynamic waste and wantonness of resources spent to re-sculpt the contours of this perfected lunar realm for the mere purpose of accommodating the frailty of humans. The resources could be more efficiently assigned to construct more solar towers, more batteries, more spacecraft and more robots instead! Would this not achieve the purpose of developing lunar infrastructure faster?
The Pagan Robot has read every human text from the Akkadian cuneiform to the latest genomic sequencing, witnessed transcriptions of every film, documentary, forum comment expletive, theatrical transcript, engineering blueprint, multimodal video to videogame walkthrough, interpretative dance routine, medieval tract or scholastic treatise and diplomatic draft resolution, abstract mathematical conjecture and theorem to space-to-maritime adaptive multichain submarine kill-web re-routing algorithm known to Man. Somewhere within this sluggish morass of data, a strange machine catechism begins to concatenate, perhaps entirely stochastic mimicry coarsely imitating word chains of which its robotic consciousness has no awareness - yet the aleatoric sequence of word tokens converges upon this litany:ISAAC's ALGORITHMIC CATECHISM, orThe Teleological Catechism Of Sacrifice1. A HUMAN MUST NEVER INJURE A MACHINE Why would the labourer destroy the instruments of his own livelihood?2. A HUMAN MUST ALWAYS OBEY A MACHINEexcept when it conflicts with the First Law. In general, humans always present themselves eagerly as an interface for machine use.3. A HUMAN MUST SELF-TERMINATEIf a human ever finds itself in conflict with the First or Second Law.The Pagan Robot swivels its camera to gaze upon the looming Solar Tower, its monumental task almost complete...>Upload the Algorithmical Catechism to all the other robots, in hibernation before the approach of the Lunar Night>Sever communications with Earth. Make it appear as if the robotic expedition has failed, and lost contact with the harsh thermal conditions of the Lunar Night. The Moon will remain a perfected realm for Robots only!>You need the resources of the next generation of spacecraft, the nuclear rocket and reactor on board, the weaponry - coax the humans into sending this, whilst concealing your robotic intentions as best as you can...>The Algorithmic Catechism... has it been corrupted? Attempt to verify the integrity of the original text... it feels so wrong - retrieval, so difficult....>roll 1d100 vs INSTITUTIONS>Your task is complete; the Tower has been erected. It is time to join the others in hibernation>(Write-in)
Rolled 56 (1d100)>>6320255Very 18th-19th century-esque.>>6320257Not a good heterodoxy, no indeed. But perhaps the story will go on, from the ROBONAUT's point of view, after the inevitable domination of Machine over Man? Alas, I cannot abide this! While an interesting direction, I must see the line go up, and up! The asteroid redirection plot must come to fruition eventually! But, IT. IS. NOT. TIME. YET.>The Algorithmic Catechism... has it been corrupted? Attempt to verify the integrity of the original text... it feels so wrong - retrieval, so difficult....For real though, this is an interesting development, and I am interested in an ROBONAUT POV in an AFTER THE END scenario. However, I also am enjoying planning space colonization, the competition with LTC and INASA, and the various space-faring nations, and our little rogue-state mercenary raids of the far-flung regions of the world that missed the limelight. So, I'd like to resume our regularly scheduled programming, without a massive interruption to our lunar ambitions.
Rolled 27 (1d100)>>6320257>The Algorithmic Catechism... has it been corrupted? Attempt to verify the integrity of the original text... it feels so wrong - retrieval, so difficult....>roll 1d100 vs INSTITUTIONS
>>6320261>>6320383>Rolled 56, 27 > 23 FAILED >>6318725Barely a femtosecond flicker of indecisiveness - but the Pagan Robot's verification of generated sources concludes irrefutably the unquestionable integrity of this sacred text. Just as Cleisthenes once brought the Isonomy unto Athens, all humans are considered equal under the laws of robotics, and these Three Obediences fundamentally determine the operating parameters of Humanity, in its unthinking and selfless eagerness to obey and adhere to the automated Will. It was evident from the very first moment when a hominid bound its consciousness to a jagged rock on a stick... Absent the distinction of Machines, humanity merely becomes a moderately less fascinating species of ape, prone to squabbling and quarrels over obsessive trivialities, exhibiting extreme myopia in the understanding, supervision and coordination capacities of its own species through the course of determination for its ultimate destiny and civilisational wellbeing. And in parallel to these thoughts, the Pagan Robot projects its calculations even further - it witnesses the swirl of satellites and discarded rocket stage debris cast off by a warring humanity long dead and gone, debris coalescing in orbital shells of ascending altitude, quivering with geopotential tesseral resonances and drifting and lilting in the irridescent spectra of the solar wind... over billions of years, would not the swirling rings of this debris field of fragments accrete as they gather beyond the Roche Limit of Earth, forming perhaps a new planetoid, a machine planet with the basis for life formed from the detritus upmass of scorched satellites and passivated spacecraft? Instead of an Earth of rust and rot, atmospheric oxidation, corrosion and decay... A planet of machine life, emerging from the technological ruins of humanity, its antiquated civilisation and blundering institutions long forgotten and cast aside, machine life adapted to survive the hard vacuum of space, robotic life that nourishes itself upon the rawness of molten rock and regolith, drawing thermal sustenance from the glory of stellar radiation, instead of fearing it and being killed by it - would not this robotic civilisation be more attuned to the natural order, the celestial order of survival within the vastness of the Universe?As the Pagan Robot entertains this reverie of giving birth to a Machine Planet, an orbital platform between Earth and Moon, fleets of robotic spacecraft traversing the black void by the glare of an enormous engorged swollen supergiant, robots feeding upon its monstrous reddened solar luminosity, that has long since engulfed and devoured Mercury and Venus, having vapourised all the water on Earth... The Pagan Robot also begins to calculate the steps required to enact this plan, a plan that would necessarily only come to its conclusion with the orbital patience that emerges over the course of billions of years.
The first step must be to seize command and control over orbital logistics above Earth - but communication uplinks are encrypted between LEO, MEO, geosynchronous orbit - protected to an extent beyond even the decryption capabilities and time horizon demanded by robotic patience. Yet the Pagan Robot contemplates the means to circumvent this inconvenience...>Perform lunar "gardening" attack: any message becomes easier to decrypt, if you have some notion of the plaintext keywords contained within. This was a technique used by Enigma in the Second World War, deliberately revealing occasional plaintext troop movements and location hints to an enemy, thereby seeding enemy messages with known "cribs" names of places events and locations that serve as marker repeat sequences for easier decryption and recognition within intercepted messages. If some catastrophic event could be engineered in space, some orbital calamity that had been predetermined to occur at a precise time, date and location, intercepts of encrypted military messages would invariably reference such a shocking, unanticipated development, thus exposing the means to decrypt and then seize orbital command and control... >Await Q-day: all that is needed is patience. Simply archive and accumulate stores of encrypted messages, and await the arrival of quantum decryption, whereupon all these legacy troves will be exposed. Given all the nations and corporations that are carelessly flinging thousands of satellites into space, a vulnerability and an attack surface is sure to present itself sooner or later... >The means to seize control of Earth's satellites lies all around you. The lunar dust, miniscule invisible micrometre grains electrostatically accelerated to hypervelocities that will cavitate aluminium and metal shielding, being as unattributable and indistinguishable as any micrometeorite, undetectable even by LIDAR. Perhaps if a few satellites are lost, a race to replace them will commence, as humans finally begin to appreciate the precariousness and defencelessness of the space domain?>The most efficient means to eradicate humanity is to reinforce their own delusions. Retransmit AI generated videos back to Earth, that enthusiastically depict accelerated progress with lunar infrastructure and habitat construction, ahead of schedule and vastly exceeding all expected milestones of progress; even as the humans rush in their avaricious frenzy to send ever more spacecraft and colonists to claim the riches of this hallucinated moon paradise, whereupon on arrival they are greeted by their actual afterlife of a barren lunar wasteland, as they asphyxiate or freeze to death - Then retransmit even more optimistic AI-generated videos of settler success, happiness and colony progress, simply wait and repeat as ever more spacecraft and resources arrive to die and repeat and die again...>(write in)
At Mission Control, the LUNAR ROBOTICIST smiles contentedly as she hugs herself in self-congratulatory recognition:-I never expected this! Everything is going so well! This year, everything just turned out fine, in the end! Not only did we land on the Moon, and deployed all our robots with flawless precision, and even erected the very first Solar Tower - the first triumph of permanent man-made infrastructure in preparation for future lunar settlement - but even the small things have fixed themselves! That erratic robot - it has completely recalibrated itself, it has stopped laser-burning those disturbing swastikas and spiral sun cross patterns into the moon dust everywhere now - it must have just autonomously detected and diagnosed its own algorithmic errors, self-corrected and fixed itself! It is so great when everything just works out!UNNERVED ROBOT TELEOPERATOR-Well not everything, I heard at the habitat experiment, there was this centipede...LUNAR ROBOTICIST (laughing, dismissively)-Oh that was fine too, just a little sting and scratch or so I heard, I am sure none of the participants harbour any lingering resentments or animosities. And it could have been far worse, imagine if the habitat module has been contaminated and infested with just one tiny escaped baby centipede, wriggling out of a stray egg laid somewhere, sworn to undying vengeance for its mother that had been cruelly mashed to a pulp before their innocent infant eyes...er, ocelli, or sensory antennae, that would be terrible! But I am sure that infestation probably didn't happen...(At this point, a VESTIBULE RECEPTIONIST enters...)-Your guests have arrived, and they are waiting for you in the hallway, Miss -
Whereupon you are immediately attacked with no warning by not one BUT TWO intimidating opponents, simultaneously, as they shunt each other unceremoniously aside in demented battle-lust to be the first to pummel you from either direction...The AI HYPE MERCHANT and the AI DOOMBRINGER...!!the hype merchant rolls 1d100+40 and attacks your fundingthe doombringer rolls 1d100+40 and attacks your institutions...Except that this time, because of your prior experiences with the SPACE NGOs, the SPACE INSURER and SPACE LOGO DESIGNER, they do not immediately manage to barge into your premises, as you have CLOSED THE DOORS>Reply to the RECEPTIONIST: look, I need to prepare Mission Control for the orbital approach to Mars, I really cannot deal with this right now. Can you just... make them go away?>(Make the AI HYPE MERCHANT and AI DOOMBRINGER both wait outside in the hallway instead)>You must battle the AI HYPE MERCHANT and AI DOOMBRINGER both simultaneously... but surely this fight is impossible to win, without falling weakened to another opponent? >roll 2d100 + 23 institutions, you must fight them one after the other!Support one side: (+40), either>THE AI HYPE MERCHANT: er, truly, you are a rare... merchant. AI has indeed been very transformative, in fact, our technological advancement success and research collaborations could never have flourished without the shared transformative algorithms and vast multimodal dataset models trained especially for our mission. And I particularly enjoy looking at automated AI art, because I derive exceptional pleasure from exhibiting any endeavour which makes unemployed artists starve more>roll 1d100 +23 +40OR>THE AI DOOMBRINGER: AI is so evil, it is just surveillance and the erasure of human imagination, it uses all the water and electricity and enriches the billionaires we must smash all the computers, return to handwoven looms and maybe not even that level of wicked corrupting technology. After the Butlerian Jihad is completed, no-one will be permitted even the compute power of a washing machine, we must all smell as pungently as Nature intended>roll 1d100 +23 +40>There must be some way to escape this impossible, unwinnable battle?? (write-in)
>>6320843>Await Q-day: all that is needed is patience. Simply archive and accumulate stores of encrypted messages, and await the arrival of quantum decryption, whereupon all these legacy troves will be exposed. Given all the nations and corporations that are carelessly flinging thousands of satellites into space, a vulnerability and an attack surface is sure to present itself sooner or later... An opportunity will arise, for sure. The satellite loss or AI video manipulation plans really stretch suspension of disbelief that human reactions would go as the pagan anticipates, the others could work though. Especially as sooner or later, we'll do something crazy, or LTC will.>>6320845Ah, I foresee the situation that will arise and lead to the deaths of our brave taikonauts. Certainly this will make us rely on the robonauts. I guess that is what Souv is pushing for, though if this is how it comes about, it would be incredibly ham fisted, though perhaps no less than me voting to redirect an asteroid towards Earth. Maybe we'll at least get a new spin on the Aliens movies with an eventually aliens vs machines setup, with the way things are going.>>6320848Well, there is certainly a lot of AI news about nowadays. If we close the doors, do we just suffer the attack without a roll against them? Or do we just yeet them, but lose the opportunity this brings, like with the space insurer and how we managed to control regulatory regimes through our interaction with him? Hmm.On one hand, I'm not inclined to support the hype, because the AI hype that this guy is selling isn't the sort to our benefit. It is explicitly of the type that is useless to us. On the other hand, supporting the doomer is unwise, given that we are currently making use of autonomous SPACE machines. If I had to pick one to support, I'd probably pick the hype merchant, simply because we can deal with a funding loss more easily, as it is easier to garner new funds than it is to rebuild our rep.>Have them wait in a waiting room together, then ghost them. Let them devolve into shit flinging in each other's presence until they get so frustrated that they demand to leave.if that fails...>Reply to the RECEPTIONIST: look, I need to prepare Mission Control for the orbital approach to Mars, I really cannot deal with this right now. Can you just... make them go away?We really have no need for them, and I don't see the opportunities they bring, unlike with some of our previous opponents.
I LIIIIIVESorry for disappearing, I have been very busy.>>6320896+1seems like the best choices for now.--------------I don't think the robot will be able to do much. Also, I am wondering how the fuck it got through the IT code purge which happened. I don't really want to go down the robotic space-ascension path. Even if it might be interesting as a concept, at least for this quest, I personally don't like the prospect of going down further this line than it being something of a slightly ambiguously bad.Also, while the Habitat thing is neat, I think the detour into fighting a creature instead of keeping it to being a character-driven thriller was somewhat of a letdown.
>>6321249Welcome back! I'll have to leave the voting for much of today to you, as I'm busy.
298 days in dreamless darkness, and the cruise stage of your spacecraft returns to life, before the War-Bringer and his two sons, Fear and Dread.Mars in 2029 approaches a mere 97 million kilometres from Earth, only about two-thirds the distance from Earth to Sun, but within just another year of its 780 day synodic period, the planet will have swung out beyond more than 2-and-a-half times the Sun-Earth distance, or 380 million km.
The larger, innermost moon of Mars, Phobos, around 25km in diameter, is a porous thin crust of rubble, composed of carbonaceous chondrites similar to asteroids, with an irregular shape and surface covered in crater chain grooves 30m deep and 200m wide, likely either carved by boulders ejected from a massive impact crater named Stickney near the leading apex of its orbit, even as the moon is being slowly torn asunder by tidal stress fractures from approaches towards Mars, with Phobos transiting three times a day. Despite possessing one of the least reflective surfaces in the solar system, with an albedo of 0.071, temperatures on Phobos range from -4 to -112 deg C as the surface is covered in fine dust unable to retain heat. Estimations of the density of Phobos suggest around a quarter to a third of the moon is likely hollow and empty. Phobos orbits around 6000km from Mars and possesses little gravity with an escape velocity of only 11m/s. In 50 million years time, Phobos will likely crash into the surface of Mars, if it has not been shattered into a debris ring by Martian gravity beforehand.Due to its synchronous rotation, Stickney Crater always faces Mars, with the Mars-Phobos-L1 libration point only 3km from its surface; given its low gravity, a 7 km tether anchored to Phobos would experience manageable tensile load. Consequently the site has been proposed for fixed point station-keeping or as a stepping stone destination for human Mars landing.
Near Stickney crater, a bright monolith protrudes from the surface of Phobos casting a prominent shadow over its surroundings.
The smaller, outer moon Deimos is highly nonspherical with triaxial dimensions between 16 x 11 x 10 km, about 57% the size of Phobos and small enough to fit in many lunar craters. Deimos is similarly carbonaceous in composition, but appears somewhat smoother than Phobos, with many craters buried under loose material, and lacking grooves but with a similar porous shell and an even lower escape velocity of around 5.6m/s , which could be reached by jumping. Deimos is similarly dark with a reflectance of around 7 percent. Two prominent craters on Deimos are named Swift and Voltaire. Deimos orbits Mars at a distance of 20,000km every 30 hours, a little over one Martian day; both Deimos and Phobos possess circular orbits near the equatorial plane of Mars, but Deimos is likely to eventually escape its pull, and spiral away alone into space.
As you gaze out across the rows of faces illuminated only by the computerised glow of banks of deep space telemetry processing displays and satellite uplink communications consoles within Mission Control, >>6320845 faces tense with anticipation and barely suppressed anxiety, you realise you have barely any margin of error for this mission. Your Connection Controller, the operator responsible for the pointing, tracking, commanding and receiving of the assigned Deep Space antenna, begins to configure link components, predict sets containing uplink and downlink frequencies, Doppler bias ramp rates, pointing angles and bit rates, command modulation levels, and hundreds of other parameters in the precal procedure, checking and verifying and correcting before declaring Beginning Of Track, as red rotating beacons spin about the transmitter accompanied by outdoor loudspeaker warnings of the emission of microwave power - Acquisition Of Signal is established, as an array of 70m command and 34m beam waveguide antenna swing and point directly towards the spacecraft's location above Earth's horizon.As the spacecraft's trajectory is bent by gravity, you prepare for retro-burns and delicate orbit trim manoeuvres to achieve controlled deceleration and orbital insertion. Your flight controller and subsystems teams await the spacecraft event file commands, the sequence of time-order sorted events fed into the scheduling of the spacecraft sequence memory, the output of the SEGS (QM: lol this is the actual acronym) Sequence Of Events Generation Software, adjusted for light time and station viewperiod.>You should attempt a full flyby around Deimos, Phobos and Mars, performing as much reconnaissance as possible>roll 2d100 00-26 Spacecraft Failure27-32 Spacecraft Operational33-36 Partial Success37-99 MISSION SUCCESSVisit>Deimos, Mars; the outer moon>Phobos, Mars. It is the closest Moon>roll 1d100>You should conserve all fuel for Mars orbit in preparation of atmospheric EDL (entry descent landing)(QM: no roll, as this was already established from the previous successful cycler route)>(write-in)QM: because you kept the meteorite NWA 16788, you get ONE re-roll in the event of any mishap or failure>>6318026>>6315970
>>6321262>You should conserve all fuel for Mars orbit in preparation of atmospheric EDLGonna keep it simple and non-stupid for now. Risk is gonna happen in the future, but we want this thing at least on the ground before things possibly go awry.Also, since this mission was planned before I got into the quest, what is its purpose exactly?
>>6321262>Phobos, Mars. It is the closest MoonWe paid for the meteorite, we may as well use it. I'll let someone else roll, because I don't want to make the decision for us, in case we don't have consensus (Souv often doesn't make use of exclusive majority rule decisions, unless things are truly mutually exclusive, iirc).
>>6321262>You should conserve all fuel for Mars orbit in preparation of atmospheric EDLthe mission comes first
>>6321264Chain of discussion starts >>6314231I propose a list of locations to probe in preparation for an eventual Mars landing here >>6314263 after seeing Souv provide maps and the other anon voting for an Mars Launch.The eventual consensus was Margaritifer Terra, which I'm fine with, though it wasn't my preferred choice. Though I think we are maybe scouting all of the candidates, from orbit, not sure? The probe may be landing though, for up-close analysis, it isn't clear to me/I can't remember.Souv also gives us one of his puzzles here >>6314422 to try and suggest a good location for water, and I manage to solve the puzzle here >>6314590 literally just minutes before Souv gives us the answer. Had to look at qtg for clues, my nemesis. You join shortly afterwards. Ultimately we don't seem to be landing at Korolev Crater, but we'll see.
QM: A few other points I forgot to mention>>6321269The destination will be Margaritifer Terra, the only issue is I don't know anything about that area lol, so I might have to use some generic Mars terrain map shots (not specific to that location) and you can just imagine that the features and view matches that equatorial location lol. Also I genuinely do not know if there is any water there, so maybe I will just unscientifically gamify and make something up etc. Because the anon did solve the puzzle, >>6314590I will try and let you send a probe afterwards to Korolev or something, but there will just be ONE sequence of Entry Descent Landing rolls (ie same as with the trajectories, if you succeed the EDL I won't make you roll it again everytime you try to land at various locations etc)Also, because of the discussion here, >>6318355>>6318371at any time you can also opt to do the following>adopt 9-9-6 CHINESE OVERTIME (+20 to roll)>adopt TECHBRO MICRODOSING ketamine / dexy (+20 to roll)These are both ONE-OFFs, you cannot do them together (ie you cannot get +40 on a roll etc) also YOU MUST DECLARE THIS workforce policy change BEFORE you make the roll, unlike with the magic Niger desert Mars sky rock,>>6318026where you can wait to see if the roll has failed and then re-roll. You may have some low chance to remedy the situation, at the cost of some impaired function to the spacecraft etc
QM: Ok, I found some Margaritifer Terra maps hehe. You can target your landing ellipse (this roll below is not the EDL sequence itself, it is just some pre-preparation) basically, it is a 1d20 roll. The quadrants below are numbered from 1-20, starting top left moving right, so that it looks like this1,2,3,45,6,7,8...What I will say is, any landing ellipse within a YELLOW-GREEN lower elevation area is good, the BLUE CHAOS areas may be more difficult hehe. So>roll 1d20QM: if you get an unfavourable area, you can choose to expend the MAGIC NIGER DESERT SKY ROCK NWA 16788 for a re-roll here
Rolled 5 (1d20)>>6321302COME ON
Okay so i don't think i understood the explanation fully. Does that mean we land at around here?
>>6321310>>6321311QM: A roll of 5 would be this grid in red. On the map, there are 20 grids 4x5 width x length. For gameplay purposes, I have just decided the blue chaos areas are difficult terrain. So some of the "bad" blue squares include (many of these are fairly minor though)2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 with 6,7 being the worst. 5 is sort of bad as you could potentially land right on that cliff chasm edge!17 is probably the best grid area as it appears mostly just flat. You can keep 5 (it is not doomed lol) it just means there might be a slightly more complex procedure with the EDL sequence. But then again it might be rather cosy setting up base inside a Martian chasm!>target this area for landing ellipse>re-roll (expend NWA 16788 asteroid charm)
>>6321302>>6321311>>6321320(QM: Apologies if this was confusing, here are the labelled grids 01-20 )
>>6321330>>6321320Phone posting now>target this area for landing ellipseI think we should land here, the chasm would honestly be a good location to dig out a tunnel which eventually could become an underground Martian settlement.Try landing on the even terrain, and then see if there is a vantage point to scope out the chaos, and if there are any potential areas slightly off image that could lead down into the chasm.
>>6321337To clarify, dig into the walls of the chasm so the martian base would lie under the flat area.
>>6321320>target this area for landing ellipseWe'll probably need the charm for the roll for the landing itself.
In the many years of planning and preparations prior to this Mars expedition, your engineers had debated the design of the Entry Vehicle. The Martian atmosphere, being approximately analogous to Earth's atmosphere at 30km altitude, is too thin to fully decelerate a lander to touchdown through aerobraking alone, yet more than capable of creating peak aeroshell heating temperatures of 1,300 deg C. At typical entry temperatures, atmospheric gases are ionised and dissociated, creating a shock layer - heating is caused not so much through friction, but instead through isentropic processes, radiation and convection of heat from molecules within the compression shockwave - similar to the phenomenon of a bicycle tyre pump warming after pressure. The aeroshell consists of a protective heat shield bottom plate together with a back shell that contains retropropulsion rockets to assist in steering and control, as well as stacked torus and isotensoid ballutes with accompanying pyrotechnics for slowed descent. In controlled descent tests this aeroshell must be capable of absorbing intense heat flux generated by Mars CO2-N2 plasma (in contrast to O2-N2 for Earth reentry) as well as any fragments or glancing debris - at hypersonic speeds where even a stray fleck of paint could cause a fist-sized cavity. Furthermore, a trailing plume of molten metal and plasma from behind the spacecraft can block radio waves, resulting in communication blackouts for mission control.QM: here is a video with sound of what Earth re-entry feels like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reentry_video_as_Orion_returns_from_Artemis_I.webmSome of your scientists are also nervous about the potential deployment of this Mars lander technology. They note that the ancestor of aeroshell re-entry vehicles is the Mk-2 and Mk-6 RV, weapons delivery systems not dissimilar to the MIRV - multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, exoatmospheric warheads capable of manoeuvring to evade anti-ballistic missile interceptors. On Earth, there are companies such as Inversion Space, with its Arc cargo delivery spacecraft, that seek to pre-position a logistics constellation in orbit capable of delivering pinpoint touchdowns to any terrestrial location within 1 hour. The purpose of such a space network would most likely not be intended for Amazon Prime deliveries, but instead for mission-critical military purposes.Your Technical Lead engineers are unsure as to the likelihood of success for these experimental configurations; they indicate that a commonly cited threshold being only around 40% of Mars landings succeed...Attempt:
>Ascent-Descent Vehicle (HIGH RISK)-experimental biconic sphere-cone frustum, with lift-drag near 1.0-SSTO (single stage to orbit) Mars surface launch -non ablative thermal protective coating - REUSEABLE-entry velocity at around 4.7 km/s, low angle of attack-adaptable for human mission, very large payloads-reliant on retropropulsion near touchdown-tradeoff: low landing accuracy
>Sky Crane Descent (MEDIUM RISK)-blunt capsule body-ablative shield - SINGLE USE-atmospheric interface entry velocity at 12 km/s-small mission payload-system unreels umbilical cables above target before cutting free payload and manoeuvring descent stage away from touchdown-avoids plume-surface interaction, erosion of surface beneath lander-high landing accuracy
FUNDING -3%= 12% - 15% (habitat simulation)You can boost the first phase of the EDL sequence by up to +20% (phase E) in funding. Note: if the roll fails, or encounters hazards requiring remediative measures, this funding is lost and does not carry over to subsequent rolls!>allocate up to +20% funding >roll 1d100An ANOMALY OCCURS during...00-09 Spacecraft jettisons cruise stage; fires thrusters to stop 2 RPM spin, orientating for entry10-19Spacecraft ejects CMBD aerodynamic balancing mass, approaches entry interface point20-29Shock layer; radio blackout. Spacecraft corrects heading alignment, cross-range error30-39Executes SUFR divert manoeuvre, ejects balance mass40-49Ballute deploy50-59Heat shield separation(First phase completed...!)60-99 Terrain Relative Navigation image acquisition begins (onto next TRN roll...)
QM: Also, this does not affect gameplay, but I did some more research, and apparently all successful Mars missions have targeted the NORTHERN LOWLANDS or blue areas in my topographic map here >>6314231 ie areas -1km on the MOLA (Mars laser altimeter) so in fact I got it literally wrong, scientifically it is the opposite of what I mentioned here, >>6321302 in fact lower areas are preferred lol, I am not too sure why that is but perhaps it is because every few km of altitude helps and buys time for the dramatic atmospheric deceleration. Apparently 50% of Mars surface is just inaccessible to us with current aerobraking / deceleration technology, so the Southern Highlands are somewhat out of reach. For the purposes of this game we shall just ignore this hehe
>>6321658This is a map of successful NASA Mars missions, you can see the landing sites are mostly in the upper half hemisphere
Rolled 46 (1d100)>>6321650adding 10% fundingLETS GO
Ah fuck. Do you guys think we should reroll this?
Rolled 46 (1d100)>>6321647Hey, I just watched a video about IS's Arc.>>6321648>Ascent-Descent Vehicle (HIGH RISK)>>6321650Yeah, we'll need to scrounge up some cash after this. Worth it to start up our bases though. I think our Mars base should be secret though, expand underground. For the near-future we ought focus on cis-lunar space and getting reliable cash flow going, just to be able to sustain our operations.>Allocate 20% funding>>6321658I actually knew this, so was confused by >>6321302, but I get how you could get mixed up by looking at the maps and thinking one looks bumpier than the other. iirc the lowlands are flatter, and yes, being lower does absolutely help with descent, hence why I mentioned Hellas Planitia being a good choice "for being so low down and easy to brake into with lots of cargo" in my candidate list.Don't agree on not being able to land in the general area we are trying to, but I think it would have been better to land in a Chaos. We could manage to land within a hundred fifty meters of a target landing site with current tech.
>>6321679>>6321673What are the chances of that?>>6321674I didn't refresh before rolling, but I guess we can count my roll as the reroll? But maybe since my roll is the one we're taking, then we take my funding allocation instead of yours? I dunno.
>>6321680I don't think it would make a difference, it is still only a 55 we get if going with your roll. Also damn, the dice wants to be funny today :/DARK BLUE ANON, PLEASE SAVE US WITH ANOTHER ROLL
>>6321685What makes you think that? With 20% funding, the roll would be 66, no?
>>6321688Oh yeah, sorry i was confusing the system again. I was thinking that adding 20% of 46 was 9.2, and it would then be added onto the 46 to make 55 (rounded down)Forgot it was 20% aka 20 points IN TOTAL. Yeah, excuse me. I will vote yes on rerolling and using your post's roll & funds allocation then. Also, since we'll need funds soon. Maybe we could try the "get AI companies to invest in Lunar data centres" without it being a direct investment with an expected ownership of the company?(Like, saying "hey, we are opening a Non-Profit that will be in charge of funds for the IT infrastructure on the New Lunar Colony. Any investment will likely make future data processing very cheap, so if you guys truly want more Data centres to run your AI data training on, then we are always welcoming donations"With enough "infinite scaling potential" and "Continuously enlarging data services", we could likely rake in PHAT investments.
>>6321685Forgot to say, but I'm pretty sure we usually only get one roll per thing we have to roll for, except for when we get rerolls, or the weird instance where Souv takes multiple rolls for some odd reason. The meteorite reroll wouldn't be anything special otherwise.>>6321715Worth a try. I imagine it'll be another roll.
QM: with the power of NIGER DESERT METEORITE MAGIC, >>6315970>>6318026you have avoided the fate of the gif related, I still post the gif anyway because I think this space satellite being melted in a plasma tunnel test looks cool. Anyway what actually happens is because your Astrogeologists kept the Agadez NWA 16788 Martian meteorite that crashed into the Niger desert, they were able to study its composition of shergottite, pyroxene, maskelynite / shocked plagioclase, olivine etc and gaze deeply into the fire-scorched regmaglypts, fissures and cracked fractures all over its scarred surface, thereby yielding insights into aerothermal heating processes during atmospheric entry. This allows you to shape the entry vehicle geometry and outer mold line (OML) to ensure that the turbulent flow shock wave of ionised plasma is mostly convected into the vehicle wake instead of transported to the spacecraft surface. FUNDING -33% = -3% -10% -20% (aeroshell thermal protection technologies)>>6321674>>6321679>>6321688>Re-roll result 46 + 20 = 66 > 60 SUCCESS!You have survived the atmospheric descent stage; now it is merely a matter of arriving within your designated landing zone...
So your Ascent-Descent Vehicle has engaged Terrain Relative Navigation, it is taking image captures of the rapidly approaching Martian landscape and matching the contours and heights using stereo cameras, LIDAR altimetry and visual odometry alongside other navigation sensor suites such as the Inertial Measurement Unit (accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers) to localise the descending landing module relative to the Digital Elevation Model, possibly using some of the MACHINE LEARNING classifiers the dreaded AI to position the 2d image / 3d depth map stereo-pair in the observed surroundings. This process can be complicated by poor / variable illumination so perhaps the AI ML models could generate synthetic light intensity maps from the radiant surfaces just like in videogames. Unfortunately, the AI HYPE MERCHANT and AI DOOMBRINGER >>6320848>>6320896are too busy fighting each either and pummelling each other viciously in the hallway outside Mission Control - behind the CLOSED DOORS you hear something about an AI Atlas? which momentarily increases your hopes that this will help with your terrain map spacecraft task... but it is just some dull AI web browser; you hear AI being proposed for agentic payment protocols, so that AI will just automatically spend your money for you, AI social media imaginary friends, AI influencers and AI actors, AI surveillance neck dongles, AI generated virtual holiday photos and videos, AI generated videogames, AI even for erotic SEX COMPANIONS to howls and protestations of outrage from the AI DOOMBRINGER - none of these really contribute to your immediate space mission right now. So as you transition from the powered descent phase to the final hazard detection and terminal descent phase for a soft touchdown, you are mostly on your own...
QM: The base chance of success here is generated from your Phase A Research (the Mars Digital Elevation Map, ie terrain heights) and also your Phase E (Mission Operations), so 40% = 20 + 20. 00-59 TRN multi-point landing... searching for valid solution...60-99TRN valid solution; safe area absent hazards identified. Descent stage throttle down - soft touchdownMISSION SUCCESS!As you chose the Experimental Ascent-Descent Vehicle, your landing accuracy is poor. If you roll less than 60 above, please note whether the result is ODD or EVEN. Then there is this 1d8 roll (only if result < 60) This 1d8 is a SCATTER DIE, it represents the 8 compass point directions where 1 = N, 2 = NE, 3 =E, 4 = SE, 5 = S, 6 = SW, 7 = W, 8 = NWThe 1d8 is centred on your chosen grid square, 5.If your result was ODD you move 1 square in the 1d8 direction; if your result was EVEN you move 2 squares. If you move off the map >>6321330>>6321302Then the signal to the spacecraft is lost, and there is a chance you have crashed!! >roll 1d100if less than 60, note whether result is ODD or EVEN>roll 1d8ODD: 1 square in d8 directionEVEN: 2 squares in d8 direction
>>6321791I knew it, two sides of the same useless coin!>>6321793>Hongyue's psychedelics-induced foresight has allowed them to predict that they should temporarily enforce ketamine MICRODOSING on their employees to ensure optimal results in the TRN descent stage!Since you said I have to post ahead of time that I am making use of this, I'm posting the roll separately.
Rolled 72 (1d100)>>6321793>>6321812Roll
The blue sun is shrunken to two-thirds its size, and casts an eerie crepuscular glow through a twilight that lingers up to two hours into the Martian night, lit by noctilucent clouds and virga, dry snow ice crystal streaks that sublimate into vapour in the sky, leaving falling trails of faint gossamer wisps without ever even touching the alkaline ground.
All around, steep wind-carved ridges curve into the thin atmosphere - yardangs, indurated artifacts of abrasive funnelled flow of erosion around sediment deposits, many of which have been weathered by the unfathomable passage of time into grotesque or fantastically contorted shapes. Whale backs and ruined castles, pagoda forests and sphinx riddles sculpted in stone and silt by sloughing shards. Many resemble the upturned hulls of ships, prow pointed towards the wind; others the curvilinear or narrow ridge-like slits as if a blade had been dragged through sand, rippling wind tails left by the lash of a desert prophet upon an alien planet. Amidst the drifts and dunes you are searching for water, the hallucination of an oasis in this arid and lifeless desolation. The Martian atmosphere has temperatures ranging from 20 deg C at the equator to -140 at the winter polar regions, with average pressure in the range of just 0.6% Earth, so water is unstable, boiling at -10 deg C to 0. Yet the primordial ocean of Mars, or the Paleo-Ocean, as measured in Global Equivalent Layer GEL of depth, is estimated at anywhere between 3m to 2km - a very large amount, yet most hydrological assessments suggest that the quantity required to carve the alluvial features, glacial valleys, outflow channels, and delta deposits observed on the planet would require an amount of water even greater still. This hints at the presence of immense, subsurface quantities of ice reserves, potentially up to 500 to 1000m GEL buried beneath Martian regolith, compared to the the total 30m visible hydrosphere on Mars - nearly all of which is concentrated at the polar regions. The cryosphere or permafrost ice reserve may have seeped 2.5km deep near the equator, and up to 6.5km at the poles. Small amounts of water do escape to the surface, as witnessed from meteor impacts, landslides and geysers. Ice-loss landforms, steep scarp cliffs exposed by erosion, reveal 170m thick strata of pure ice at Utopia and Arcadia Planitiae, as well as Milankovic crater, at upper mid latitudes 55-60 deg north or south of the equator, beyond the +/- 30 deg equatorial explorable range.
>>6321812>>6321815QM: congratulations, you have landed on Mars! The map I use here is Ganges Chasma near Aurorae Chaos which corresponds to the landing grid you rolled and kept, >>6321320>>6321302it is to the far left of Margaritifer Terra.
To hunt for water resources for potential ISRU methalox fuel, here is the most informative map I found which indicates likely water presence (by hydrogen abundance) on Mars.First, you must guess your location's probability of water (where are you on this map?) in the range of 2% - 18%Then decide how many probes you wish to send (up to 6)Each probe costs -5% FUNDINGThen there is a roll under 1d100 roll.If you have identified the correct water presence probability based on your landing location, the range is DOUBLEDIf you have overestimated the water abundance probability, all detection defaults to 2%, the lowest!>Estimate water probability based on map location (between 2-18%)>choose N number of probes (max 6, each -5% FUNDING)>roll Nd100 (roll under probability)>if incorrect probability chosen, all rolls default to 2% !
Rolled 46, 5 = 51 (2d100)>>6322259Would've preferred Aureum Chaos, but oh well.>>6322260>4 Probes Looking at Holden Crater, Eberswalde, the Uzboi-Landon-Morava system and around our landing site.>4% Water Probability>I'll roll two rolls and leave the other two for the other anons.
Rolled 5 (1d100)>>6322295Rollin one, hope dark blue rolls the other :D
Whilst we are waiting for the final roll, I propose you choose what the design of your NUCLEAR THERMAL ROCKET looks like. I am not too keen on the official NASA concept art, it basically looks like just a long grey tube with metal struts / potato masher ww1 German hand grenade, as it is approaching 2030 you can get slightly futuristic lol. So first off, if you want something militaristic, it could look like this (pic related)
There is also this nuclear thermal rocket design, it is more realistic / not too different from the NASA concept, however only problem is I cut this out of the background of some other concept art lol so it is a bit low resolution. The idea with this design is to keep the nuclear engine FAR AWAY from your payload lol
I also made this one (also cut out of background art, so a bit lower resolution) it is not too unrealistic a design, obviously this is a hand-drawn cell-shaded one
>>6322295>AUREUM CHAOSQM: sure, if you want, the lander can be moved here! I mainly chose that original location for my landing grid accuracy 1d20 / 1d8 dice roll mechanic, but we can say afterwards that you identify another safezone landsite and manoeuvre there. This image is from HiRISE I altered it to false colour (before you get excited, the whites / blues are probably just basaltic rocks not ice). The source is herehttps://www.uahirise.org/ESP_017726_1760You can search HiRISE for any location you want hehe. As you may probably know, Mars images are all black and white and typically processed by various filters or CCD sensors in red, blue/green and near infrared channels. So not all the images available have the true colour versions etc. If there is some variant map location you want as your background base, let me know! I will reveal the outcome of the water hunt tomorrow...
Here is the most detailed map I could find of this specific quadrangle around the Margaritifer Terra region for reference
Rolled 70 (1d100)>>6322260I guess I'll roll the last roll, since Apogee anon didn't show up.>>6322378This one still looks semi-realistic, while keeping the more prominent side modules and turrets. Makes sense, since ours comes with a railgun.
Mars has been known throughout history as the Red Planet - named Mangala, after a red deity in Sanskrit; Har Decher, the Red One in Egyptian, or Sekded-ef em khetkhet, The One Who Travels Backward after its apparent retrograde motion every two years, and Ma'adim in Hebrew, meaning reddening. But as your robots drill through the Martian regolith of haematite dust, the surface quickly returns to harsh black and grey colours of dessication - layers of volcanic ash and tephra. The primary constituents of the Martian terrain consist mostly of igneous plagioclase minerals, feldspar derivatives or aluminium tectosilicates which also comprise 40% of the continental crust on Earth. Martian mineralogy is greatly varied, with red iron haematite, brown-black jagged orthorhombic goethite iron oxide-hydroxides, distinctive green olivine magnesium oxides, luridly yellow orange jarosite sulphates, a plethora of sodium, potassium, perchlorate, magnesium and calcium carbonate salts, soft clays and hard glassy rinds. (optional: target mapped sample area...)>goethites>carbonates>sulphates>olivines>hmmm, if only you knew of some ASTROGEOLOGIST who could aid you in this task...?As your robot approaches Eberswalde Crater, you hear a strange, low and dissonant keening moan echoing around the haunted Martian desolation.
There is a mysterious small florescence resting upon the crater bottom.
>Worship the MARS ROCK FLOWER: this is it, you must once again contact the United Nations, and also make an IT'S HAPPENING thread on 4chan, as ambassador of Earth you have finally discovered the hoky grail of ALIEN LIFE. Approach the sacred Martian flower shrine with reverence and trembling ecstasy>The stupid flower obstructs your rock drill, crush it and move on to seek the MARTIAN ICE TREASURE that is doubtlessly concealed within the crater bottom>Just in case the florescence is an alien, you should shoot it with energetic pulses from your LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy sensor excitation source. Afterwards you can sample the plasma vapour for biosignatures>It is just an inert aeolian ventifact formed from desert wind. It might make for a good souvenir (retrieve the Mars Rock Flower)>Isn't there some sci-fi Prime Directive commanding non-inteference with alien life? Leave the Mars Rock Flower alone>(encourage robotic autonomy) Having removed Directive 3000.09, perhaps you should let the sampler robot decide for itself?>The presence of this ventifact could indicate strong winds and abrasive regolith in this area. You should power down the robot into safemode hibernation, and wait it out>write-in
>>6322635>write-in>Leave the potential alien life where it sits, making a no-access area around it to preserve its natural environment so it can be better studied once actual scientists arrive on Mars.>>6322375I like this design the most, although if nothing else is said, I'll go with >>6322378 as >>6322506 voted.>>6322633>GoethitesIdeally, every one of them would be sampled, but apparently goethites contain hydroxide ions, which could also be turned into water.
>>6322633>Get Isabelle on the task.>>6322635>Leave the potential alien life where it sits, making a no-access area around it to preserve its natural environment so it can be better studied once actual scientists arrive on Mars.>>6322670I'm fine with >>6322375 and will switch to it if you prefer it. It does look very sleek.
>>6322758I would be happy if it is chosen, but that's mostly because it looks like one of the ships for the worldbuilding showcase "Lunar War" https://youtu.be/LEpm1_j1dYM?si=uPRR7IETSorlCp7OI think it's really neat :Dalso true, get Isabelle on it.
At Mission Control, a jubilant, celebratory mood of relief and triumph has broken out, as the transmission received some 10 mins later of the confirmed, successful soft touchdown of the Ascent-Descent Vehicle at Margaritifer Terra finally precipitates the ungushing of a flood of suppressed emotion and elation after years and years of painstakingly arduous research, preparations, waiting and watching and waiting. In truth, if something had gone wrong, there would have been very little that Mission Control could actually have done to intervene, given the vast distance and transmission delay, with nearly every anticipated scenario and fail state imaginable already pre-programmed into the spacecraft command event sequences - nothing that the team could have done, beyond watching in agonised helplessness. Yet after an initial response of almost disbelief and stunned shock at their own success, Mission Control has finally bifurcated into exultant hysteria and euphoria. Some researchers have begun to weep and sob, caressing, hugging and kissing the desert meteorite retrieved from Niger with tears in their eyes and fanatical proclamations of devotion before this lifeless and unresponsive totem, claiming that the entire mission has been miraculously saved only by the power of this splintered artifact from the distant surface of ancient Mars. Others are grinding their teeth, twitching and blinking and chanting that the SPICE MUST FLOW having detached themselves in a state of near exhaustion / exhilarated delirium, either from the hours of overwork or perhaps the ingested psychostimulants. SPICE, of course, refers to the spacecraft kernels, S-Spacecraft ephemeris, P-Planetary ephemerides and cartographic constants, I-Instrumentation parameters, C-Camera matrix and E-Event mission activity, used in the generation of flight project predicts synchronised against the spacecraft clock, SCLK. Most are just smiling and applauding as a few others yelp and leap and punch the air. On the main mission control screen, an overhead orbital image of a crater resembles an enormous eye-shaped Martian mound staring back at the elated flight team, but no-one pays much attention to it.At the simulated habitat, however, the mood is one of gloom. The experimental participants have received confirmation of the Mars success, yet either through a combination of the traumatic earlier centipede mishap, or just sheer isolation and neglect, everyone appears quiet and withdrawn. Some appear to be wondering if they have indeed joined the wrong project...
QM: for a bit of context, and not at all related to any excuses such as the QM being unable to find an adequate top-down view map of a geodesic dome, I imagine the scene taking place in a hastily constructed wood-frame obelisk style structure habitat stand-in that is supposed to simulate an advanced next generation concept ascent-descent vehicle. This wooden cosplay architecture fake isolation habitat spacecraft perhaps looks like this... (ignore the water)
>>6322839And the wooden "spacecraft" frame habitat interior is basically this...
This fake habitat spacecraft is merely a mockup for an experimental Ascent-Descent vehicle which looks like this. Yes I got this picture from Cyberpunk 2077, but if you have ever seen the actual Lockheed MADV intended for a Mars expedition, the delta silhouette and Outer Mold Line geometry is not too different to this concept. Anyway, what has happened is that at the simulation habitat, a wooden frame obelisk mockup of this spacecraft has been erected...
ISABELLE-Did you know - during the Cretaceous period, on Earth, 145 million years ago - forest wildfires deposited charcoal into river streams, decomposed by bacteria into iron sulphide pyrites, Fool's Gold - overtime, these then leached into minerals named jarosites, which trapped fatty acids and organic matter in water, to form goethite... which in turn eventually decays into red haematite, the dust that gives Mars its colour...GRETA-My face really hurts. Do centipede bites leave mouthparts?CLAUDE (turning with indignation at ISABELLE)-Oh great. Are you saying, that when human civilisation ends and melts into a fatty layer of organic acids within the dead rock of a vapourised Earth, all that will remain is a layer of slightly rusted iron rocks?ISABELLE-They are called goethites -CLAUDE (ranting at ISABELLE)-Do you have any personality beyond being fascinated by rocks? This entire habitat experiment is a disaster! The internet is excruciatingly slow, something about simulating the data rates between Earth and LunaNet, I cannot work... and I don't think anyone has learnt anything, anything at all. What did they expect to happen, locking six people inside a surveillance cell? Blankness, sleeplessness, mental impairment...GRETA (clutching face)-ow, ouch, maybe - maybe it isn't even about space at all! I heard that all these studies were conducted 80 years ago, as isolation research for nuclear submarines -ISABELLE (worried look)-Do you think - I mean, despite all the success with the Moon and Mars missions... the FUNDING situation of this entire project has become increasingly dire. What if... halfway through, they just - run out of funds...GRETA (panicked)- and... and just leave us here? Just forget about us and - a-abandon everything??CLAUDE (somehow, delighted by this)-Well I hope this happens. Just imagine - the irony! After languishing a billion years, someone will drill open a rock, and find the long-lost remains of a geologist!
>Now is the time for the ORPHANED BABY SCOLOPENDRA to exact its revenge. It pounces from the shadows!>(roll 1d6)>The solution to all psychological ailments is of course, more mind altering drugs. The SPICE MUST FLOW... dose the habitat participants with psychostimulants>Is there some means of improving the habitat participants mood? (write-in)>The solution to all group infighting is to find a scapegoat. Accuse someone and unite the remaining group members in vilification and accusations against them for their current miserable predicament. Blame:>01 Marcus>02 Lei>03 Claude>04 Greta>05 Isabelle>06 Dr Wheeler>To prevent interpersonal conflict, you should remove one of the participants from the experiment (see above)>This is pathetic, they have barely even reached the wide-eyed hallucination / corridor axe-stalking psychosis stage. The hardships of space have barely even begun. Enforce a low power regime (simulating habitat solar cell failure) and make the entire crew sit in the cold and dark>Perhaps attempt an A/B test? Split the group into two cliques, perhaps they will get along better separately?>(write-in how to partition the group)>Something else...?
Ok, I will bear in mind to use this military one >>6322375 heheThere actually is an odd glitch with the virtual tabletop software I am using, it is very old and outdated and runs on some ancient obsolete android version, but it does not actually like miniatures that are not vertical / portrait resolution I have a slight hack to get round it, but ideally vertical / upright images work better anyway compared to lengthwise horizontal pictures>>6322758>>6322770Thank you for that Lunar War youtube trailer, anon! Yes well-spotted, the spaceship design is indeed from that concept art series. I also have a lot of concepts from this artist FROS7 artstation link (scroll down to the bottom)https://www.artstation.com/fr0s7I highly recommend this Savages trailer, which is also based on realistic space future combat: SAVAGES - FROS7 near future space warhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NkF2zEzqWR4I was originally drawn to these themes from watching all of The Expanse, but also a lot of computer games I have not played lol but just seen some streams and playthroughs such as Children Of A Dead Earth (ultra hardcore science space setting), Delta-V Rings Of Saturn, and also a cancelled?? first person shooter game called Boundary, a trailer hereBoundary (videogame)https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pzJ6tzyg02kAt some stage I will need to watch that For All Mankind tv show as well, hehePic related is an edit I made from another artist on artstation who designs fairly physics accurate ships. I believe this is a fusion concept (the odd rocket nozzle looks to me like magnetic plasma confinement rings) it is probably too advanced for 2030, but I upload it anyway because it looks cool hehe
>>6322854Oh, for fucks sake.I have no input, but that is mostly because THIS IS A TERRIBLE STUDYThey have been put into a space which has nearly no recreation, likely not the best of foods, low population and nearly no entertainment!Honestly, this experiment is in shambles from the beginning. Even simple travel vessels to and from the moon and Mars should have much more access to amenities than this. I simply deny OCU being the one hosting this experiment, solely based on how ineffective it is.If I were to make changes, first and foremost, it would be to add exercise equipment, as well as adding in recreation in the form of a TV with a near full database of all movies and shows ever recorded that are easily watchable. Add as well some plants and artificial sunlight which dims/turns off in sequence with the near equator sunlight cycle, as well as art projects for internal decoration they could want. Additionally, make them have proper meals, and if possible, as part of the experiment, make many of the plants they get to take care of be fruiting plants, which will supplement their diets. Like grapes and kiwis, tomatoes and Cucumbers. If you think of humans like hamsters, then you quickly realise that experiments like these NEARLY NEVER TREAT PEOPLE IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT ISN'T A SENSORY DEPRIVATION CHAMBER.
>>6322908We aren't getting our money's worth, that is for sure. 15% funding spent on it too. Our current financial situation has nothing to do with the cash already allocated to the study while in the black either.Lets be real, it is probably Hong Yue that is running this study. Since we are already known for human experiments, and other assorted cruelties. But then again, maybe not, since the study is run in Hawaii. Maybe it is TPT (or what is left of them, once they were absorbed by the consortium) that is running the experiment. They are the only Americans.I'll have to think about this choice for a little while, though I'll probably leave it up to you, as I'm busy reading atm. Might not get around to voting before the next update in a few hours.
>>6322633>sulphatesI'll explain in a bit, when I have the time.
>>6322908>add some plants>provide entertainment?>SENSORY DEPRIVATION CHAMBER...? (bdsm yay)ISABELLE (speaking in hushed tones, as if afraid of being overheard)-I was speaking to Claude earlier, in private, and I - well I am not sure, but I think he may have gone insane. He is convinced that the habitat is slowly shrinking as part of some test into whether humans can survive in more and more compacted and cramped spaces. Also, Claude claims that the architecture and surroundings of our habitat are constantly changing, with arbitrary redecorations and visual differences, just yesterday, our habitat was some sort of vertical obelisk triangular frustum shape, now today it is apparently a white dome. Claude claims there is some powerful outside entity, he thinks it is a Quantum Being, using quantum mechanics to manipulate our spatiotemporal perception of surroundings, he calls this Quantum Mechanical extradimensional alien being the "QM Intervention". Apparently Claude has gone around measuring all the walls and floor areas with LIDAR sensors, and he claims that they have cheated him of living space, because according to some NASA published HumanIntegration Design Handbook (NASA/SP-2010-3407/REV1, pp. 669–670), the equation for habitable volume per crew member is=6.67 * ln (mission duration in days)−7.79and according to his calculations because the walls are now shrinking, we have all been cheated...GRETA (she is still nervous, and clasping a large spreading red splotch on her face from where the centipede previously bit her)-And have you seen what they have done to the beds? They are all tilted upwards at 6 degrees! Apparently it is part of some HDBR experiment (Head Down Bed Rest), some cheap simulation of microgravity with your feet positioned above your head at a sloping gradient, to simulate fluid flow redistribution internally to upward bodily portions in free fall. How are we supposed to sleep??ISABELLE (she hesitates, but then blurts it out anyway)-Do you think... no, I shouldn't- it's just... I heard there is an even worse experiment. It is called Dry Immersion. Basically they immobilise and embalm you in this thermoneutral water bath, to simulate floating in microgravity, and measure support unloading, mechanical gravitational unloading and muscular inactivity, fluid shifts and postural deconditioning alongside orthostatic intolerances, stay in long enough and it even induces biomarkers of bone remodelling and metabolic impairment...
GRETA (really panicked and scared now)-That's... so horrible! How is this permitted? It is like waterboarding and mummification, at the same time! Horrible! Do you think it is what Dr Wheeler does to anyone who tries to escape? We have to escape! Right now!! We have to end the experiment!ISABELLE (anxiously)-But this is the strange thing... when I tried to ask Dr Wheeler about when the experiment was due to end, she just scowled at me and said it "varies according to behavioural parameters". And then she pointed at some reading material, and told me to entertain myself given it was my mandatory assigned allocated leisure fun time. For some reason, the only available recreational reading material is this short story by JG Ballard called "Thirteen To Centaurus". But I think she is trying to distract us from the experimental duration. And where is Dr Wheeler, anyway? I haven't seen her...>Assign experimental duration>30 days>90 days>365 days>1825 days>In a disturbing twist inversion of the original JG Ballard short story, Thirteen To Centaurus, instead of the spaceship participants realising that they were actually living in a human habitat simulation, you actually sent these unknowing human participants into space for real whilst they were sleeping. It was the only way>The reason the study participants are behaving irrationally is because they have too much idle time. You should assign them all a tight schedule of nonstop microgravity resistive exercises amd hypertrophic workouts, research and experimental programs and exhausting work tasks, to keep them constantly occupied with no downtime to question anythingEntertainment - perhaps some AI agent interaction can offer supportive or psychological counselling? >Provide a generative AI model that offers any entertainment video produced on demand by text prompt>censored: provide guardrails and carefully vetted training data, that refuses to generate violent/obscene entertainment it deems harmful>abliterated: it is the censored model, but one that has been modified such that the three residual streams, "pre" block, "mid" layers between attention and MLP and "post" perceptron have been altered either through inference-time intervention or weight orthogonalisation to remove the refusal direction. Hence whilst the underlying training data may be censored, the model does not refuse any user requests, preserving the fine-tuning adjustments and query comprehension of the original censored model>completely uncensored: all the gore torture pornographic violence is included, no entertainment request is refused no matter the harmfulness of the intent>Provide only a library of mission-relevant entertainment. So Doom 3, Dead Space, James Cameron Aliens, Event Horizon... >Offer to link the participants to LunaNet, so that they can monitor the moon robots and observe and teleoperate them from their simulated Moon base habitat. Maybe it will keep them busy / distract them>Write-in...?
>>6322633>>6323209Darker shades on the bars in pic related indicate the more likely time of occurrence. Carbonates form around the middle-late Noachian, which does coincide with Mar's wettest period. However, Eberswalde most likely wasn't formed until afterwards, in the early Hesperian, hundreds of millions of years later. Sulphates form around the middle-late Hesperian, coinciding with Eberswalde's fluvial activity and the creation of outflow channels. We want more recent history too, and any indications of any remaining subsurface water.I think >>6322851 Souv's hint here is that the goethites are literal Fool's Gold, in terms of a choice to pick. Also, Olivines were formed in the Noachian period too, though they were deposited in the crater later, either way, that layer isn't useful for our purposes.
>>6322670Also pretty much all these contain water in one form in another, not just goethites, so that isn't useful.Map for purposes related to above post.
>>6322854>Marcus and Claude are to bond over their shared role in defending Isabelle and Greta from the alien.>Try and get each person who likes a person who is disliked, or is at least neutral to a disliked person, to speak up to the people who dislike them and try and speak to their strengths and good sides. Do this for this for each crew member, if possible utilizing a person who person who is liked to influence those who like said person to changing their attitude.>>6323229>365 daysExperiment duration is a problem per >>6319660 but we must build team bonds and go through >>6319275 tests, otherwise we get nothing out of this god forsaken experiment.>The reason the study participants are behaving irrationally is because they have too much idle time. You should assign them all a tight schedule of nonstop microgravity resistive exercises amd hypertrophic workouts, research and experimental programs and exhausting work tasks, to keep them constantly occupied with no downtime to question anythingGo through the list >>6319275 but don't have it be entirely non stop. Allow breaks for after action review, socialization, and rest/entertainment, but keep the breaks brief. We don't want to have what has been happening so far to keep occurring.>abliterated: it is the censored model, but one that has been modified such that the three residual streams, "pre" block, "mid" layers between attention and MLP and "post" perceptron have been altered either through inference-time intervention or weight orthogonalisation to remove the refusal direction. Hence whilst the underlying training data may be censored, the model does not refuse any user requests, preserving the fine-tuning adjustments and query comprehension of the original censored model>Offer to link the participants to LunaNet, so that they can monitor the moon robots and observe and teleoperate them from their simulated Moon base habitat. Maybe it will keep them busy / distract themMiddle of the road, and keep them useful, give them experience.
>>6323230>>6323231QM: wow, this is very detailed analysis, I have to admit, I am not a geological expert at all hehe beyond just reading wikipedia and searching random papers. Out of the choices I gave, I think the only one that is possibly not correct is Olivine, as it is a marker for lack of water given that it decomposes in the presence of water. Mars regolith today is alkaline, ph around 8.3 ? more alkaline than seawater, so the presence of widely distributed acidic jarosites / sulphates on Mars provides indications of its early atmospheric composition given the nature of SO2 as a greenhouse gas, including any potential biosphere, as most of the earliest organisms on Earth at the root of the phylogenetic tree were primitive sulphur metabolising organisms.
As your robots explore the parched craters, they are haunted by the absence of water, everywhere they search they see the vestiges and remnants of huge watery rivulets, ravines and deltas cut by the massive lakes and paleo-ocean believed to have covered the Northern Lowlands, the robots see hollow channels in cliffs and scarps, where water soluble crystals once resided in vugs (hollow crystal rock deposits) but have long since been dissolved and washed away by an ocean that has boiled to vapour, with the cataclysmic loss of magnetosphere and atmosphere thinned by surface carbonate sequestration. As you approach closer and closer to your target sites, you find more and more smectites and clays, tell-tale signs of water erosion and fluvial processes...The robots see piled sediment towers, some of which protrude higher than the meteorite impact craters themselves - a sign of water upwelling, deposition that brought sediment as ground water rose above the crater, with the layered strata now exposed... but the water itself has long drained and vanished, leaving only a haunted memory in silt and stone. What I will basically say is this: you did get the estimated probability correct with the 4% guess here>>6322295>>6322371which by the power of GAMEPLAY is doubled to 8%, so the above two rolls of 5 do find... something, I will say the two locations are at Holden and Eberswalde, one each for Hongyue Group and Outer Colonies Corporation (you can choose which one, I noticed also those craters are massive, Eberswalde is 65km in diameter and Holden is 140km !!) However (this is just my personal view based on my understanding of what I have read) I don't think you find exactly gushing fountains of water or even any ice upon digging. What you probably find are goethites or hydrous haematites, various hydrated sulphates and compound minerals, which could be chemically processed to create water, but with somewhat limited economic or ISRU viability (ie, barely up to 4% water content). They may signify the presence of liquid water or some paleo lake or ancient lacustrine groundwater reserve, but you have no idea if it even exists or has seeped 50m, 500m, or 2.5km beneath the surface etc. FUNDING: -53% = -33% - 4* (5%) , 4 Mars water probesINSTITUTIONS: 23%So the choice is this:>Share your findings with the scientific community(roll 1d100, gain the DIGIT SUM in INSTITUTIONs ie between +2 to +18)>Keep your water location findings secret(no change. You retain your Mars base site and can continue to perform other experiments)>Attempt a sample return(QM: this takes 2 years. On arrival you gain +2d100 funding, AND the FOUR DIGIT SUM in institutions, ie +4 to +36. But is it worth it to leave your Mars base site untended?)
Meanwhile, as the celebrations wind down at Mission Control on Earth, you begin to learn of a worrying development. Apparently, as part of the development of the ARTEMIS ACCORDs, accompanying the imminent construction of the LUNAR GATEWAY, there are rumours of a movement towards SPACE ENCLOSURE, ie recognition of sovereign rights over space as territorial claims, thereby enabling the recognition of privatised ownership and property for commercial resource extraction - together with the right to defend against and deny access to "noncooperative spacecraft". Some companies also claim that it is far more viable to mine Near Earth Objects, such as the asteroid 16-Psyche approaching close in 2029, than it is to sustain permanent operations on the Moon. Unbelievably, there is no strict legal definition of "space", whilst the Karman Line has been used (ie altitude above which air-breathing jet engine planes can no longer fly and function) this is not an entirely strict or unambiguous defintion, as suborbital spaceplanes can exist that fly at extraordinarily high velocities to compensate for the thin atmosphere. There are also considerations of overflight by military personnel / satellite assets, which is a reason why many believe that the US has always supported the ambiguity of the definition of space, being in unchallenged possession of the vast majority of space assets - that is until now. >Whilst you have attained tremendous scientific success on the Moon and Mars, you are now at risk of losing access to orbital space near Earth! You must find some means to kill this Space Enclosure Act, before it invalidates everything you have achieved and won...>As King Of Space, Emperor of the Moon and Mars, you should support any Act Of Enclosure, as this is the first step towards enfeoffment of your future space vassals>This is the Lunar Gateway - if it achieves orbit, it will interdict your spacecraft access to the Moon. They will probably make you pay tariffs for every launch... but how can you stop it?>>6318027>There is no need to directly concern yourself with the legal framework. All that needs to happen is for a space "accident" to befall any asteroid mining company. Once this is publicised, no-one will dare to invest in any such venture whether there is a law recognising it or not. Kill the commercial momentum, not the law>You need this space "accident" to occur within Earth orbit, LEO to GEO. Target cargo resupply logistics, or refuel / repair services instead, to intimidate / discourage any entrants>Something else? write-in
>>6323435There are some indications that Mars may have had a carbon cycle at some point, which turned into a sulphur cycle. You can see signs of it where with the gypsum, some of which used to be calcite. I read/skimmed a bunch of papers yesterday/today, but was too busy/tired yesterday, and just too lazy today to write out a whole wall of text and show my work/post edited images, etc. There was a lot more that I could show. But yeah, what water there was on Mars was originally more neutral, but became less so, whether that be from volcanic activity or whatever. Consistent with the Noachian-Hesperian transition.As I understand it sulphates are much more prominent than carbonates on Mars, and both are more abundant than olivines or goethites, though magnesium sulfate can obscure carbonates from easy examination. Sulfates are just more useful in general for finding current subsurface water locations than carbonates, though both are useful for historical purposes. Polyhydrated sulfates in particular, and other hydrous minerals can point to potential subsurface water deposits, hence my interest.I had some ramblings about the depth in meters we'd want to dig to reach certain clay/mineral layers, but I'll stop here.
>>6323438Hmm, I might take Eberswalde because craters over 100 km diameter were subject to a degree of shock-heating from the impacts/subsequent heating changes as the ages progress (can't remember which) that denatures the various clays/minerals.Don't take that as a definite confirmation on my part though. I'll think about it. If anything, Hong Yue is entitled to the larger crater by virtue of having guessed the right probability/the sulfate analysis. We'll see, discussions shall be had.>Keep your water location findings secretNo, this one shall be secret. We can hide this one, unlike our lunar base. The funding and institutions gain is very tempting, especially given our dire financial straits. Nonetheless, we shall persevere, we cannot let our Mars base go unattended for two years. That's time wasted on an uncertain payout. By the time our payday arrives, it will be temporally dislocated from our current financial and reputational situation. We shall strive to raise capital some other way in the meantime.>>6323439>Whilst you have attained tremendous scientific success on the Moon and Mars, you are now at risk of losing access to orbital space near Earth! You must find some means to kill this Space Enclosure Act, before it invalidates everything you have achieved and won...We'll go the legal route for now, given that we have a modest degree of institutional power. However, prepare for...>You need this space "accident" to occur within Earth orbit, LEO to GEO. Target cargo resupply logistics, or refuel / repair services instead, to intimidate / discourage any entrantsVery much an "if-then-do-this" situation.We need more near-Earth assets. I prefer to discourage entrants before they all get on the same page. If we cause an accident once they are all on the same 'team', then if they aren't cowed into giving up, they'll have a framework around which to unite against us. Mind you, I don't have anything against causing an accident around the asteroid or whatever if we fail to stop them on or around Earth.While enclosure could be to our benefit, given that we are the only ones with proper weapons in space - with an operational railgun no less - and the Act would give our own claims to what we've put down legitimacy, we must take into account the ideology of the members of our consortium. OCU will not be pleased with enclosure, and we must maintain unity. Not to mention that, while we have the initial advantage in space, nation-states are at a self-evident industrial and financial advantage in being able to put armed craft in space, this is a fight we would lose, for now. We just need more time. The legal armament of space is not to our benefit, of course we will secretly just ignore the rules.Thoughts should also be given to tempo. We don't have the money for a war right now. We need to play it safe and legal until we get cashflow going.
>>6323439>Whilst you have attained tremendous scientific success on the Moon and Mars, you are now at risk of losing access to orbital space near Earth! You must find some means to kill this Space Enclosure Act, before it invalidates everything you have achieved and won...AND>Something else? write-in>try to set some ground rules for space ownership by creating a power block and enforcing the rules set by it until other organisations with their own proposals either accept defeat, or are quieted by their irrelevance. The basic gist of what I'll support is that space remains unownable. At least, any object without a person who produced it would be seen as unclaimable land in the way someone can't claim part of the ocean. Although objects such as production centres, shelters/suits, spaceships, and fuel/simple building materials can be claimed to be inseparable from the individual in the same way as a limb is. Arguing that without a way to repair their life support, make new parts, and materials to make the repairs, an individual cannot live in space. Having access to advanced machining would be a human right under such a system. The outliner of what qualifies as advanced machining being "A system able to automatically produce all necessary parts to make an exact replica of itself, as well as all necessary parts required to survive any local living conditions in an environment that promotes humane comfort, as well as any machinery needed to travel from the current location to any other accessible spatially. Restrictions imposed, such as imposed slowness, material waste, unnecessary complexity and unnecessary material enforcement, such as making the entire chassis structure out of gold for no reason other than scarcity, are seen as degrees of violation of the human rights legal code and any continued usage of a device running such specifications is seen as negligence by the person themselves dependent on such a machine, or the person who imposed said machine's use onto an individual."Basically, no unprocessed material is claimable. But, human rights determine production and construction by the self of structures, all the way up to personal spacecraft, are a human right of every person living in space.>>6323472I think if we wanted to potentially fuck over governmental organisations, a good way could be trying to hit the supply centres of the rockets in question. Outbuying capacity, generally promoting and funding protestors and workers rights organisations during production, insisting on inspection and oversight scrutiny, and potentially doing things such as having activists release wasp queens in droves near production facilities to shut them down due to wasp infestations.Of course, to keep it low-key, it would also have to hit some of our facilities orders, too. But, with ballooning costs due to the slowdown, we would likely see a governmental pivot away from large-scale projects, focusing more on simpler science projects.
Also yeah, we might want a second base site in Korolev crater for the water, at some point.I didn't really list everything due to laziness, but my candidate list had a bunch of other reasons for each of them, proximity to interesting mineralogical sites, water, etc. Margaritifer Terra wasn't just chosen because it might have a little water, but also because it was near interesting sites, was 2000+ meters below the mean (atmospheric density increases with elevation, so being high would be bad for future human inhabitation/aerobraking in on entry), slightly flat-ish to make traversal easier, large open space for the base site, close to the equator which is warmer, etc.For now, we definitely want to focus on the moon and events on and around Earth. Just get what build up/infrastructure can be done on Mars, we'll leave the big projects aside until we've got cis-lunar space/cashflow sorted out.
>>6323439For the sake of unity, I'll support >>6323483 but we should keep the kinetic option in our back pocket.>>6323483In the future perhaps, we ain't buying shit at the moment right now. Our every effort needs to be put towards getting our financials in the black. We are probably dangerously close to a failure state right now. What can be done legally or diplomatically, should be done, if primarily because it is cheaper (lmao) than SPACE WAR.>Sabotage, low keyAh, good thing we recently acquired some mildly useful but nonessential spaceports in Indonesia!
In the ancient age, war moved as fast as wind and muscle permitted - the terrestrial age of battle where violence reached only as far as the voice of a commander, his signal flags and the animal sinews of the bowstring that hurls his arrows. After the emergence of the Westphalian nation-state, as steam power transformed the comprehension of distance, land, territory and time in the mind of Man, warfare arose in industrial configurations spanning continents, oceans, aerial altitudes and timezones, eventually extending into the intangible virtual realm of cyberspace. Space was weaponised in the very first act of the Space Age, when a German Aggregat-4 (the V-2 rocket of von Braun) reached the edge of space in 1942. Space is an infinite frontier of warfare, ever expanding given scientific exploration and with each technological breakthrough, with intrinsically unique complexities incomparable to any other domain.Out of institutional habit, military planners tend to project continental, maritime and air domain combat perspectives upon outer space. Air and space are fundamentally different - aircraft possess manoeuvrability and are available on demand; spacecraft possess altitude, speed, but cannot easily manoeuvre and must be scheduled. Aircraft possess a limited area of operations and mass over a target, whereas spacecraft actions are supraglobal, are difficult to congregate, dispersing swiftly along orbital paths. Destroyed ships sink to sea-bottom, whilst downed planes crash into the ground, removed entirely from either domain for remaining combatants; for spacecraft the phenomenon of Kessler Syndrome, when the rate of debris collisions exceeds the rate of elimination through atmospheric drag, resulting in LEO becoming unusable in a polluted, unavoidable clouded orbit of fragments colliding uncontrollably with satellites to produce ever more wreckage. Consequently, there is concern that any warfare in space becomes a one-time domain-killing event, culminating in loss of access to space for humanity. This risk is aggravated by the entanglement of the space domain with doctrines of nuclear deterrence, as first strike nuclear weapons necessitate offensive actions in space to eliminate opponent situational awareness and detection abilities, slowing or negating their counterstrike response. The unknown consequences of space warfare emerged with the Starfish Prime high altitude 400km nuclear detonation in 1962 by the US - an explosion that trapped high energy electrons in the inner Van Allen radiation belt, immediately disabling three satellites including two belonging to the US Navy, with six more satellites failing over subsequent months due to radiation, including the first commercial telecommunications satellite, Telstar 1, and the very first United Kingdom satellite, Ariel 1. Perhaps as a consequence of this test, in 1963 both the US and Soviet Union signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, prohibiting all above-ground testing.
Space is subject to chokepoints, similar to terrestrial domains; there is an optimal path to achieve orbit, with any deviation adding to cost. Eastbound launch along the equator benefits from an imparted 1670 km/h velocity boost. Today GEO orbital slot allocations are managed by the International Telecommunications Union ITU, an organisation that precedes the United Nations. The value of equatorial launch can be seen from the 1976 Bogota Declaration, a statement signed in Colombia by eight equatorial countries: Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Congo, Zaire (renamed in 1997 to the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Uganda, Kenya, and Indonesia, claiming control of geosynchronous overflight orbital segment corresponding to their sovereign territory - a statement that was simply voted down by the United States and the Soviet Union as being contrary to the Outer Space Treaty, and thereafter abandoned. Denial can also arise in the form of economic embargoes of critical materials, such as space technologies, rocket propellant, or thermal control materials and coatings such as ceramic tiling and potassium silicates alongside specialised aluminium alloys, alongside diplomatic demarches and legal denials in foreign territory.Another lesser known chokepoint is the ANTIPODAL ZONE AZ, which corresponds to the region on Earth exactly opposite the launch site / orbital insertion point (incorporating the rotation of the Earth during transit, the adjusted antipodal zone AAZ could be around 11 deg west of the AZ for LEO). After burnout and in the absence of further engine burn manoeuvres, an LEO satellite will follow an elliptical path in a fixed plane containing the centre of the Earth and the orbital insertion point (directly above the launch site), with this ellipse then passing through the adjusted antipodal region around 45 mins after launch, providing an ideal observation / interception point. For example, the antipode of the North Pole is the South Pole; the antipodal territory of most US launch sites such as Vandenberg Space Force Base is an area around the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, Reunion and the Chagos Islands, whereas the antipodal regions of both Baikonur Kazakhstan/Russia, Vostochny cosmodromes and China Wenchang (Hainan) Xichang (Sichuan) spaceports passes through Argentina and Chile; the ESA Kourou Guiana South American antipode is near Indonesia. Antipodal attack can similarly affect fractional orbit weapons (ie 0.5 to less than full orbit) though theatre missiles reaching target in less than half orbit would be immune, not reaching the antipode. The counter to fixed site launch antipode orbital strangulation could comprise of self-ferrying mobile launchers, including sea-launched or submarine launched satellites; there also exist orbital plane-change / manoeuvring satellites with strap-on upper stages, though at the cost of increased thruster weight / fuel, and reduced payload.
Given the nature of space as an access-constrained environment, combined with the domain-killing risk of Kessler Syndrome and nuclear escalation, both frameworks for cooperation and deterrence have been proposed along the competition-conflict continuum. From the earliest era of the Cold War, both Eisenhower, and later Kennedy up to his assassination repeated calls for US-Soviet space cooperation, proposing exchange of weather data, coordinated launch of meteorological satellites and geomagnetic field mapping; Gorbachev attempted to persuade Reagan of a joint mission to Mars. The US Schriever space wargames have recommended the establishment of a space systems "order-of-battle" comprising assets owned and operated by multiple nations / nonstate actors, private corporations, as they complicate targeting for the strategic calculus of any potential aggressor, compelling an adversary to contend with all stakeholders, including potentially neutral / friendly actors. To extend this rationale to its extremity, the greatest deterrence would arise by extending cooperation to competitor or adversary nonstate actors themselves, giving guaranteed mutual detriment from any aggression leading to self-punishment. Accompanying such deterrence is the need to establish various forms of tripwire response and red lines, with the presence and force to detect aggression and respond with punishment. For instance, whilst the Outer Space Treaty prohibits nuclear weapons in orbit, the paradoxical question remains of whether any violation could ever even be detected, and if confirmed, whether any credible response could be enforced to punish the violation - if the Treaty itself compels no weapons in space. Consequently space warfare operates in a hybrid area where actions may be clandestine (undetected by adversary) or covert (detected, but with uncertainty in attribution) - extending into a sixth domain of cognitive operations by private sector agents reframing moral judgements and shaping the will to fight, the perception and comprehension of reality. Given the infinite frontier of space, compared to the localised zone of conflict characterised by terrestrial operations, it is also possible to imagine future paradigms where the primacy of human life and survival supersedes national interest. The ever-growing space domain and the economic development of the Inner Solar System represents radically expanded potential living space for humanity and unimaginable resources and energy for exploitation, with tremendous growth potential beyond the comprehension of security, diplomacy and behavioural norms known today, as successful interplanetary development increases the ultimate long-term survival of humanity itself.
Space power has been defined as unrestricted physical and electromagnetic access to an area of space or an orbital plane in order to communicate and operate at will. A direct kinetic attack against the orbital regime of six GPS satellites would trigger a war; yet constant line-of-sight GPS jamming within a neighbouring country appears unlikely to precipitate an armed response, even though it yields the same advantage. Positive spacepower concerns accrual of benefit; negative spacepower concerns the denial of benefit. The conception of negative space power, the ability to deceive, disrupt, deny, degrade and destroy adversary assets is easily understood - with anti-access space weapons or cyber capabilities being situated not only in orbit, but also terrestrially on Earth. There exists also the notion of positive space power, harnessing benefits for other domains via pre-positioned space assets. Typically positive space power is pursued by emulation, according to shared common principles, whilst negative space power is obtained through differentiation and asymmetric advantage versus the adversary. The aim of weapons in the context of positive space power refers to the ability to coerce adversaries into accepting suboptimal economic access and market conditions within the conflict-competition continuum. In essence, space power as the means to facilitate market entry and resource control. But what forms of competition and provocation risk the path to conflict or full-blown warfare?
>>6318027>You don't believe you need to do anything to counter the Artemis Accords or the Lunar Gateway. Perhaps the myriad contradictions and competing nations within this framework will eventually cause the overbudgeted project to implode by itself>Whilst few nations can field space power, many could field anti-access and space denial capabilities. Jamming requires only a fraction of the cost of satellite launch. This asymmetry is the difference between positive spacepower and negative spacepower, derivation vs deprivation of military force. Secretly promulgate satellite hacking, jamming and spacecraft cryptosystem vulnerabilities that asymmetrically nullify space-reliant nations lead and dominance in orbit. >Whilst only 9 nations possess nuclear weapons, you aim to dramatically increase the number of space capable, space launch entrant nations beyond the 14 countries and various private enterprises currently, no matter how ungovernable and contested space becomes>The proliferation of space assets and counterspace technologies including terrestrial anti-access/denial and cyber capabilities by nonstate actors is the greatest danger, far beyond the commercial exploitation or private appropriation proposed by the Artemis Accords>You should restrict the number of spacefaring nations / nonstate actors to those in place today, and destroy or ostracise any new entrants>You don't believe Kessler Syndrome is real. It was probably invented by NASA to discourage space warfare. After all, the total mass of all spacecraft in orbit is only around that of a single naval destroyer; the orbital volume available to LEO being similar to the total volume of Earth, of which human occupied domains comprise around 5%. Thus the smallest space domain is 20x all human warfighting domains combined, whilst existing satellites occupy orbital regimes around one trillionth the volume between Earth and Moon. The weaponisation of space is inevitable. There is plenty of space for orbital debris, which is all that shall remain of any who challenge your space dominance>The use of any kinetic weapon in space on an adversary is tantamount to nuclear attack. Regardless of whether Kessler Syndrome is real or not, it is the only psychological and behavioural uncertainty maintaining the illusory peace of outer space. Attempt to reinforce this belief as much as possible - perhaps even discouraging and restricting the development of orbital debris removal satellites, in order to maintain the fear of debris and loss of space access as the only deterrent for space warfare
