Leap Day Interception

29 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, communications, crew morale, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, stowaway

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 56 (1.1.56) 19:05 NST
Earth Date/Time: Monday, 29 February 2016 2:00 PM PST
Distance traveled: 12,623,747 kilometers Time Delay: 36 secs
Distance to Mars Rendezvous: 379,786,005 kilometers

The aft camera was focused on the ESS Carl Sagan as it approached. At a hundred kilometers away it looked big. This was the first flight of this design and while both the Sagan and the Queen Elizabeth II consisted of the same elements, the Sagan only had one rotating Quill section and the rest of the Quills were cargo sections.

The Sagan was longer than the QE II, but the with the exception of the stowaway, Zeke Jackson, the Sagan had no crew. The QE II was meant to carry all the ‘organics’ including humans.

The QE II had fired its ICP drive and was now travelling 94 kilometers per hour slower than the Sagan. The QE II would now slowly increase its velocity using chemical reaction engines. When the Sagan comes along the QE II will match its speed.

As the First Officer, Anna was in charge of the final maneuvers and in charge of merging the two ships into one. She was also responsible for the new crew member, Zeke, that snuck on the Sagan and faked his death. Anna was not pleased with Zeke; however, he would make her work easier.

Anna called over to Zeke on the Sagan. He responded quickly to her call, “This is Zeke.” Anna asked, “Zeke, I’m showing all hab sections powered up. Did you do a line check on all the fluid lines?” Zeke got to know most of the crew while he was on the construction team, but Anna tended cold and impersonal. He was cautious around her. “Yes, Ma’am. I did a pressure check and visual of all the lines,…twice. I have one line in Quill 1B that I’d like to check again. It was damp and I wasn’t sure if it was condensation or a small leak.”

Anna was doubtful. When she did a line check it took her three hours. He was saying he did it in two hours and did a visual survey twice. She would check the tapes later. She suspected he was trying to ‘Biff‘ her, but for now she would play along.

Anna continued, “You can go ahead and disconnect couplings between Quill 1 and the Core Command section.” Zeke replied, “That’s already done Ma’am, and I’ve sealed the bulkhead hatches and tested them. They are ready for SEP as soon as you are alongside.” Again, Anna was doubtful, but this she could check right now. She pulled up cameras on both sides of the bulkhead hatches and in fact, they were closed and sealed. She checked the status of the seal, and it was a green light to SEP.

Anna was impressed…a little..and she said, “Very well.” Zeke then took a chance, “Ma’am, may I suggest something?” Anna didn’t like pushy people, but she also didn’t have a good reason to refuse him. Anna said, “Go ahead.” Zeke said, “The Sagan is ready for the QE II’s hab section. I know we’re into evening, but it would take less than an hour to integrate your hab section as soon as you are here. That would leave the Command section, the cargo section, and the ICP section to integrate, and I can get do them tomorrow.”

Anna was amused. This guy had no clue of what he was talking about. He was going to do a week’s worth of work in two days. Anna decided to let him down slowly, “Zeke, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but that is pushing our schedule too much. I will run it by the Commodore, but I’m pretty sure will stick to the recommended schedule.” Zeke replied, “It doesn’t hurt to ask.” Anna responded, “No, I guess not. I’ll check in with you when we are alongside.”

Anna ended her conversation, and then called up the video of the Sagan for the last few hours. She was able to condense all the video by sorting for movement and the file now showed every place that Zeke had been. She began skimming and watched him work. He was fast. He decoupled and sealed the bulkheads faster than Anna thought possible. He wasted no motion. His visual check of the lines was brilliant. He had a cloth or paper and a vapor tester. He ran the paper down the hoses and looked for moisture then scanned them with the tester. He was especially thorough around couplings where a leak was more likely. She watched him come back the way he came checking the lines again.

Anna was going to wait to talk to the Commodore about Zeke’s idea, but she decided that maybe they should consider his plan. She climbed down two decks to the Commodore’s station and saw him talking to the Admiral. Jenna saw her and asked, “How’s Zeke doing?” “Very well,” she replied. “He’s amazing fast in his work.”

Jenna said, “I think you’ll like him once you get to know him.” Anna continued, “About Zeke, he suggested, and I discouraged this, but he suggested that we move the hab section over immediately once were alongside, and then he said he could get the other three sections done tomorrow. I know that’s ridiculous, but I wanted you to be aware of his suggestion.

Ken said, “Does he have the Sagan ready for SEP?” Anna said, “Yes, and I verified his work.” Ken looked at Jenna, “Your thoughts?” Jenna said, “As long as we can have everything ready on our end, then it would be great to transfer the flag tonight and be already settled in.” Ken turned back to Anna, “Can we have our section ready?” Anna was a little amazed they were taking this idea seriously…and a little defensive about whether she could have ‘her’ ship ready. Anna stood up straight and said, “Yes, we can be ready by the time we’re alongside.” Ken said, “Excellent, let’s make that our plan unless somebody has an issue with it.”

He tapped his pad to call the Comm Center. Krista Parker was on duty, “Yes, Commodore?” Ken said, “Krista, give me a Code Alert and tie me into the Sagan, and ESEP.” Krista said, “Yes, sir…….All stations, all hands, CODE ALERT from Commodore Hart.” Ken tapped in and said,

“Crew of the QE II and the Sagan. We are considering merging the Hab sections of the QE II with the Sagan and transferring the flag as soon as we are alongside. That would give us about one hour to prepare the QE II. The Sagan is ready to receive us once we are there. The cargo sections, the ICP drive and the Core Command would be integrated tomorrow. In ten minutes the First Officer will call for a go/no go from all the crew. Thank you.”

Jenna looked at her pad and laughed. Nick had sent her a message. It said,

“ESEP engineers are having cardios. Warn me next time you’re going to try to kill my staff. :)”

Ken then tied into Keira and Zeke, “Keira and Zeke, are you good with this?” Keira replied, “Zeke and I have been discussing this. I figured it was a no go, but it is really easy peasy.” Ken continued, “Zeke, are you good to go out in a pod and tug us?” Zeke said, “Pod is ready and I’m good to go.”

Ken then turned back to Anna, “Okay, Anna. Put it into motion. Do the go/no go, but don’t wait until then to start prep.” Anna said, “You realize that if we actually get all this done by tomorrow, we’ll be a week ahead.

Jenna said, “That’s it!” Ken and Anna looked at her. Jenna continued, “We’ve been trying to figure out what holiday to have for the first day of Sur 2. It is Assimilation Day, and we will have two days to plan it!

Number 29

28 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, death, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, engineering, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, Jenna Wade, JPL, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, physician, Quill, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, stowaway, Zeke Jackson

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Friday, Sol 55 (1.1.55) 19:44 NST
Earth Date/Time: Sunday, 28 February 2016 2:00 PM PST
Distance traveled: 9,089,555 kilometers

Anna replied, “Commodore, I can’t bring the lights up in that section.” Ken looked at Jenna and she said, “That rat bastard!……Anna, keep the lights up and Naomi, would you connected me to that section.” The Comm Director tapped a few commands on her tablet and monitor next to the one with Nick’s confused face on it came up black. Naomi said, “You’re patched in, Admiral.”

Jenna then said, “Zeke, what are you doing on my ship?” The black screen started to have patches of light on it, then they could see a gloved hand removing something over the lens. Someone gasped. Finally the monitor showed the bewildered face of Zeke Jackson in a low pressure suit floating in front of the camera. Zeke opened the faceplate of his helmet and you could see his breath in the cold, stagnant air as he said, “Admiral, ah…how did you know?”

Ken walked away from the group as he was starting to laugh. Everyone else but Jenna was in shock. Jenna said, “JACKSON, I’ll be doing the talking! You are on my ship and that makes you part of my crew! You will report to the hab section in Quill 1C where Anna will assign you quarters! I want you fed and rested and ready for duty at eight AM tomorrow! Is that clear!”

Zeke looked more confused and then a smile began to grow until it looked like it might break his face. He said, “YES Ma’am! Thank you, Ma’am! You won’t regret this!” He then disappeared.

Ken said, “Anna, turn up the life support in Quill 1C and assign quarters to Zeke Jackson.” Nick tried to protest, “But we can’t let him get away with this.” Jenna smiled and said, “That ship has literally already sailed. He’s mine now for the next two years.” Nick said, “ESEP will still want to press charges when he comes back to Earth.” “Nick, I might suggest that ESEP begin looking at it as if it were our plan all along. Otherwise, the public might think we’re so incompetent that we let a stowaway get on board the first mission to Mars.” Nick suddenly realized the public relations disaster waiting for them, and said, “GOOD point. We can credit Mr. Duncan,….for this elaborate test of our security. Oh, this is going to kill him when he finds out.” Jenna laughed.

The Command Team had gathered around Jenna. She looked at Naomi and said, “Naomi, would you raise Earth Prime Actual. I need to talk to Claude.” Jeanna said to Ken, “Can you build duty schedule for Zeke? I’d like to put him under Anna for the time being.” Ken said, “We’ll have him wake up the Sagan for us.” “Good,” Jenna replied, “He’s a good asset and we want him working for us rather than against us.”

Jenna then looked at Wendy and Kayla, “Kayla, he just went through an acceleration that wasn’t designed for humans. You’ll need to check him out when we rendezvous with the Sagan. Wendy, I think I understand Zeke, but I’ll need your assessment to make sure I’m not being influenced by his charm.”

Jenna was now speaking to the entire Command team, “We now have 29 members in our crew. We need to assess what that means for the mission. As far as number 29, Zeke had straight A’s in his engineering minor, but was on a basketball scholarship. He didn’t have a chance for an advanced degree. Everything in his work record indicates he is a brilliant learner. We should consider him as a graduate student and use him as such.”

Jenna was interrupted by Naomi, “Admiral, I have Commodore Dubois.” Jenna said, “On monitor two.” Claude’s image came up on a monitor and he said, “Good evening, Admiral. How can I help you?” Jenna said, “Claude, we found your missing equipment.” Claude looked knowingly, “Yes. My apologies. We’re still not sure how it was left on the Sagan.”

Jenna smiled, “Oh, you’re talking about the pod. Yes, we know how that happened, too.” Claude looked confused.

Extra Equipment

27 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, Arica, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, construction pod, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, 熊本市, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, engineering, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, Figueres, France, gravity, HD cameras, Holiday, Japan, Jenna Wade, Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, Perpignan, Peru, pod, San Jose, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, Spain, Time, Time Zones, Wendy Stevens

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Thursday, Sol 54 (1.1.54) 20:22 NST
Earth Date/Time: Saturday, 27 February 2016 2:00 PM PST
Distance traveled: 5,555,363 kilometers

In addition to its launch facility near Arica, Chile, ESEP has four ‘Centers’ around the world. The primary Center is in San Jose, California, USA. There are also Centers in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan 熊本市; and the twin Operation Centers in Figueres, Spain and Perpignan, France.

On January 30, 2016, all ESEP operations converted to Noctis Standard Time (NST) at the Mars landing site. Since then the Director of ESEP and most of his leadership team have chosen to move from Center to Center on Earth to stay with the daytime at the Mars landing site. This way they have a day of schedule adjustment when they fly to the next Center, but then they enjoy daylight on Earth at the same time the crew is on their day schedule. Currently, the leadership team is split between the twin Centers in Spain and France.

This also means the leadership team experiences late nights when the crew of the ESS Queen Elizabeth II is up late like tonight. Last evening the ship had a near disaster when the Munitions Officer was pulled out the firing chamber into space. His safety tether drifted into the ICP barrel just as a fuel pellet had been pushed out and he was sucked into space.

Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured, his space suit didn’t become damaged and leak, and the pilot was fast enough to abort the detonation of the pellet milliseconds before the computer sent the command. The crew also recovered quickly from the incident and was able to fire the ICP drive 45 minutes later. The QE II was now travelling at 147,258 kilometers per hour.

The ESEP leadership team and the Command team of the QE II planned a special mission assessment meeting tonight at six PM tonight and they were now two hours and 22 minutes into the meeting.

Nick was speaking from his office in Spain, “…our concern now is that the crew might develop a ‘cursed’ mentality about this mission.” Wendy spoke up, “Director, my ground team has expressed this to me and I am aware of the possibility of that attitude; however, my assessment is just the opposite. The crew has developed a “bring it on” attitude and my sense is that if we lost this ship the crew would just don spacesuits and grab the Sagan when it comes by tomorrow.”

Nick laughed, “I agree. This crew is a special group of people. I trust in your assessment and I’ll have a little chat with the our Counselling trolls down here.”

Jenna changed the subject, “Nick, when will your team move to San Jose?” Nick replied, “We’re leaving here the afternoon of Sol 60 and sleep in the air. Will be should be in the San Jose Center by eight AM of Sol 1.

Jenna said, “That reminds me, we have been talking about making the first day of every Mars month a holiday.” Nick lit up, “That’s a great idea. Do you have a plan for your first holiday?” “Not yet,” Jenna replied, “but we have almost a week.” Nick said, “Keep me posted and we will make it an ESEP-wide holiday.”

Nick continued, “In honor of the new holiday, let’s consider the final item on my list as our present to you. Ken, when the Sagan left dock our cameras picked up an extra pod on the ship. You were supposed to have three, now you have four.” Ken said, “How did it get there?” Jenna’s suddenly began to listen very intently. Nick said, “We don’t know how it got there. After the Sagan left, Claude’s team conducted the standard inventory and discovered a pod missing. We checked the video file and found it two days ago. With everything else, we decided to wait to tell you.”

Jenna suddenly showed her military persona, “Was the pod there on the Sagan before or after closeout?” Nick knew Jenna was asking an important question, but he didn’t know why it was important and said, “We’re not sure, we haven’t had time to do a review of the video to know when it was docked to the ship. It could have been weeks ago.” Jenna fired back, “But I’m willing to bet I know when it happened.”

Jenna had gone into another world, as if the meeting and everyone around her no longer existed. Jenna called to the First Officer, “Anna.” Anna was two decks above them but was participating in the meeting from her workstation. “Yes, Admiral?,” she replied. Jenna continued, “I need you to check out the Sagan section by section.” Anna was confused, “What am I looking for Admiral?” Jenna hesitated while she thought. If what she was thinking was correct, the camera may not see anything.

Ken suddenly realized what Jenna was thinking, and added, “Anna, in each section, turn the lights on and off while you have it up on your monitor and note if you see a change. Start looking at….Director, where was the pod located?” Nick was now fully confused, “Uhm, cargo section three, Quill four ‘D’. Jenna, what’s going on?” Jenna smiled and said, “Just looking for some lost equipment, Nick.”

The Second Push

26 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, Anna Flores, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, engineering, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, explosion, firing, fuel pellet, gravity, HD cameras, ICP, Jenna Wade, Ken Hart, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, pellet, science, space, space travel, spacecraft design, Wendy Stevens

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur 1, Wednesday, Sol 53 (1.1.53) 21:01 PM NST
Earth Date/Time: Friday, 26 February 2016 2:00 PM PST
Distance traveled: 2,021,171 kilometers

It was time for the second big push to Mars. The uninhabited ESS Carl Sagan successfully left Earth orbit at 7:42:58 AM NST and was chasing the QE II for a rendezvous in three days. The Sagan was up to its planned speed at 150,204 km/hr. The QE II had a two-day head start but was poking along at only 41,039 km/hr. Now it was time for the QE II to pick up the pace.

The mishap of two days before was on everyone’s mind. Twelve fuel pellets had been lost when the blast door was failing to close and then recycled the system to fire another pellet with the same outcome. The crew caught the problem within seconds, but it almost ended the mission.

Jeramy Prater, the Munitions Officer and the Engineering team fixed the problem and the gun was given new instructions to not fire a second pellet if the first one failed. Still, he wasn’t taking any chances of losing more fuel.

Prater stood in his spacesuit looking out the gap that the pellets would flow through in a moment. It was not a recommended place to be during active propulsion, but by being here during the firing, he could stop the process if it misbehaved again.

He looked up at the gun above him. The racks of fuel pellets and the push mechanism were in position for firing. In front of him were four guide rails for a push plate that kept the pellet from deviating from the path of the ‘barrel’. Two days ago this push plate caught the rack and went out of alignment causing the pellet to hit the blast door as it exited.

Everything looked ready for the ICP to fire its series of pellets. Jeramy checked to be sure he was clear of the pellet barrel. It would be a short day for him if he got in the way of a departing pellet. In his glove he held his safety tether that would keep him attached to the ship.

On the Command deck the pilot, Keira Choi, contacted Jeramy. “You set, Mr. Prater?” He responded, “I’m a go here.” Keira looked at the First Officer and nodded.

Anna looked at the Ken and said, “We’re good to go, Commodore.” Ken responded, “Ms. Flores, take us to 147K.” Anna opened ship wide communications and said, “All stations, all hands, stand by for ICP firing. Ms. Choi, give them a countdown.” Keira said, “Aye, aye.” Anna and Ken looked at each other and she shrugged. This “Aye” response was not what they were accustomed to with their former Pilot.

Keira gave the countdown,

“In 23 seconds,….15 seconds….10,…9,…8,…7,…6,…5,…4,….3,…2,…1,…Fire.”

Suddenly a voice called over the speakers, “MAN OVERBOARD, WE LOST HIM!” Ken yelled, “BELAY THAT ORDER!,” but his words were slower than Keira’s reaction. She had aborted the detonation at the first sound of crisis. She knew that there could be only one crew member at risk of going into space.

Instantly all eyes looked at the aft monitor and where there should have been debris and smoke from an explosion there was a tethered spacesuit thrashing wildly within a few meters of the explosive pellet. In the silence on the Command Deck everyone could hear desperate gasps over the speakers.

Jenna took control. “Prater, are you okay?” The only response sounded like a man drowning. Again, she called, “Jeramy, ANSWER ME!”

Wendy Stevens had been talking to Jenna a few seconds earlier interrupted, “Admiral, I don’t think he can.” Jenna knew what Wendy was implying. She locked eyes at Wendy and said, “Can you bring him down?” Wendy immediately pulled up her pad and hit the COM icon and said, “Mr. Prater, this is Wendy,…..I’m afraid you don’t have permission for a spacewalk.”

Jenna fired an icy look at Wendy and said, “You’re making jokes?” Wendy held up her hand to cut the Admiral off.

At first there was silence. The gasps on the speaker had stopped. Then a short laugh, followed by a longer one, followed by a continuous laugh. At this point everyone looked in disbelief, then smiled, then wild laughter broke out.

Jenna got herself under control and then waved to the crew on deck to be quiet. Jeramy’s laughter subsided and he said through breaths of relief, “Does…this…mean..I’m not going to die?” Wendy said, “Well, I can’t guarantee what’s going to happen once we have you back on board….the Admiral looks pretty pissed.” Wendy and Jenna looked at each other and smiled.

Jeramy said, “Ya, understood. Permission to come back on board.” Jenna nodded to Keira, who said, “Permission granted.” Jeramy quickly remarked, “Keira, you must have fast hands…I should be in little pieces right now.” Keira smiled. Then Jeramy said, “I think I can reach the pellet tether, do you want me to bring it in?”

In unison five voices all responded, “NO!” Ken said, “Prater, I want you to treat that pellet like a Rottweiler with a new bone…just back away from it and don’t make it angry.” “Aye, Commodore.” Prater replied, “I’m on my way.”

48 Seconds of Failure

25 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, Anna Flores, artificial gravity, astronauts, Commodore Hart, communications, Counselor, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, engineering, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, Jenna Wade, Jeramy Prater, Keira Choi, Ken Hart, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, Paige Flores, science, space, spacecraft, spacecraft design

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Tuesday, Sol 52 (1.1.52) 21:39 NST
Earth Date/Time: Thursday, 25 February 2016 2:00 PM PST
Distance traveled: 1,036,235 kilometers

The good news was that the ESS Queen Elizabeth II was on her way to Mars. Current velocity was 41,039 kilometers per hour. They had grazed past the Moon eighteen hours ago and it nudged their path enough to put them where they needed to be in order to rendezvous with Mars less than four months from now.

The bad news was that they might not be going to Mars. Less than 24 hours ago they were supposed to fire three series of pellets that exploded behind the ship to bring them up to escape velocity from the Earth. The first two series happened just as the engineers and munitions people had designed. A pellet was pushed out the aft section on a tether, a blast door closed, and the pellet was detonated at a precise distance. In milliseconds the computer analyzed the results and selected the next pellet based on explosive power and sent it out the aft to a precise distance. It took about seven seconds between the firings of each pellet.

Earth to Mars in 110 days

The first series was six pellets and the second series was ten pellets. Those sixteen worked perfectly. It was the third series of twelve pellets that were threatening a premature end to the mission.

As with the previous two series the pilot, Keira Choi had programmed in the firing sequence before initiation. The computer had established that the first two series had been too sweet, meaning the impact the explosions had on the velocity was greater than expected. They now needed the final series to be ‘sour.’ This involved the munitions person, Jeramy Prater, setting up a different rack of pellets, which required giving the computer new instructions. They had four minutes between the second and third series of firings to accomplish the changes.

Jeramy had a problem with the computer accepting the changes and did not have time to do a visual check of the pellet racks. When the time came for the series to fire the computer pushed out the first pellet and did not fire because the blast door did not close completely. The computer sensed the failure to detonate and compensated by immediately releasing the tether on the first pellet and pushed another pellet out with the same result. Every four seconds the computer pushed out another pellet with no detonation. In 48 seconds the ship lost twelve pellets.

Keira and Jeramy worked frantically to shut down the Impulse Cycle Propulsion or ICP drive. Jeramy was able to visually inspect the rack with cameras in the propulsion drive and within seconds he determined that the rack was slightly out of position. That caused the pellet to slide out and tap the blast door causing it to fail to completely close.

Jeramy and Choi had determined the problem, fixed it, and had a plan to resume the process within 115 seconds. On the Command deck Choi said, “Commodore, we have the solution. I can manually fire.” Ken looked at his First Officer, Anna, who watched Keira work through the problem, she gave a nod to say she agreed with Keira. Ken then looked at Jenna just as she was getting a text message from Nick the Director at ESEP Center on Earth and it said,

“ESEP advises ABORT.”

Jenna glanced at the message. ESEP had no authority to order any action. This was, as it said, an advisory; however, it meant that the smartest minds on Earth were giving her a course of action that could not be lightly ignored. Jenna didn’t hesitate. She knew what Keira had planned to do and agreed that it was an acceptable solution. Jenna didn’t need to say anything, but she wanted it to be clear this decision was on her.

“DO IT!”

In the next two minutes Keira manually ordered the computer to fire a pellet, detonate it, and then evaluate the result. She then ordered the next firing and the computer made the calculations of which pellet and how far away to detonate it. The process was slightly slower than the computer-managed firing, but produced the desired results.

Keira announced, “We are at speed and on course, Commodore.” Jenna looked at the Comm Director and said, “Naomi, Code Alert and tie in ESEP Center.” Naomi tapped on her pad, and said, “All hands, all stations, CODE ALERT from Admiral Wade.” Jenna then touched her tablet and said, “All departments, we need a full assessment of the event and of our current status. Report every at every quarter hour to your Director until further notice. All Directors report to my quarters immediately. Expect a long night.”

By midnight the failure was completely understood and a solution was devised and tested. The issue was that they were only at escape velocity from Earth and in two days they would have another firing, followed by a third series and in five days. They had lost twelve pellets which reduced their margin of safety inventory by a third.

ESEP Center was advising that the ESS Carl Sagan not initiate the Orbital Transfer Firing in two days, and that the ESS QE II begin operations to return to Earth.

Jenna relieved the crew and Command team at one AM. She decided that they would start again tomorrow and reassess the status of the mission with a decision to be made by the end of the day.

It was now after 9:30 PM NST and the entire crew was either in the Command deck section, or on monitor from their assigned station. Jenna began,

“Our current status is that with the failed third firing yesterday, we have lost a significant portion of our fuel safety margin. We feel we have addressed the issues of the ICP and resolved them; however, if we return we can be back to Earth in a few days and ESEP’s plan is to refit and relaunch us early in Sur 2. All of you have reviewed the report of our situation and have contributed to the assessment of your department. We now need to decide. Do we go or abort?”

Before her words had stopped echoing in the ship Paige Flores said, “Go.” within ten seconds everyone on the crew had joined the chorus of “GO!”

Ken and Jenna smiled at each other. This was the best crew. Jenna looked at Paige and said, “Ms. Flores, would you connect me to ESEP Center.” Paige smiled and said, “Yes, Ma’am!” Nick’s image came up and Jenna said, “We’re going to Mars. What’s next?”

The Big Silent Bang

24 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, engineering, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, head orbital transfer, Jenna Wade, Keira Choi, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, orbital transfer, pilot, science, space, space travel, spacecraft design, up orbital transfer

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Monday, Sol 51 (1.1.51) 22:18 NST
Earth Date/Time: Wednesday, 24 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

It was now after 8:30. A voice said…..

“Standby.”

Ken looked to the woman standing across the room seemingly oblivious to what was going on around her. He walked toward her and stopped a respectful distance from her. She felt his presence. “It looks like rain,” she said as she stared at the monitor. “We won’t need our umbrellas,” he replied.

They both looked at the video image of Earth. She calmly turned and faced him and smiled. Both knew that this would be the last time for at least two years they would be this close to Earth.

Jenna then looked over his shoulder at two women at the Communications Post. She made eye contact with the younger woman sitting at console and said, “Ms. Flores, ESEP Center, please.” Almost instantly the image of a Nick Castillo appeared on a monitor.

“Any words of wisdom, Mr. Castillo,” she asked? The man on the monitor smiled and said, “Try not to hit any of the big round things as you leave.” The crew all smiled, except for Keira Choi. As the new pilot of the ship, she wasn’t amused by navigation jokes.

Jenna sensed the unintended insult to her pilot and shot back, “Just keep the Earth and Moon out of our way and we’ll be fine.” Keira smiled. Nick smiled and then became more somber as he said, “Good luck and God’s speed.” Jenna replied, “Thank you,” then she looked at Ken and said, “The ship is yours, Commodore Hart. Take us to Mars, please.”

Ken nodded and looked at Anna, his First Officer. She understood what he wanted and she touched an icon and said, “All hands, all stations, CODE ALERT!” Ken then touched and an icon on his pad and said, “All hands, this is the Capt…..Commodore, secure for ICP.” He then looked at Keira and said, “Ms. Choi, you have a go.” Keira replied, “Aye, Commodore. ICP firing in sixteen minutes and thirteen seconds.” Ken remarked, “Aye, Commodore?” Keira smiled and said, “I’ve watched a lot of Star Trek.”

Everyone on the Command Deck moved to their stations and strapped into their seats. The ICP firing would not be exceptionally violent, nor would it be heard in space, but the QE II would begin to move and that movement would be perpendicular to the rotating Quills of the ship. Standard procedures required that everyone and everything be secured.

Now they had a long sixteen minute wait while everything was checked and double checked. Hundreds of steps would have to happen perfectly over the next sixteen minutes before the first of six explosive pellets would be pushed out of the aft section of the ship one by one. With each pellet there would be an explosion that would push the ship forward. If all went well, ten larger pellets would fire four minutes later, followed another twelve pellets four minutes after that.

The speed produced by the explosions will push the ship to 45,000 km/hr, enough to send the ESS Queen Elizabeth II out of Earth’s orbit….and towards a rendezvous with Mars.

SPECIAL BULLETIN: Orbital Transfer Firing Event

24 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Mars 2016

≈ Leave a comment

Earth Space Exploration Program (ESEP)
MARS MISSION UPDATE: SPECIAL BULLETIN

Written Media Briefing: 24 February 2016 15:00 PM PST (Sol 51 Sur 1 Year 1 23:16 NST)

ICP Firing Event

The Orbital Transfer Firing (OTF) of the ESS Queen Elizabeth II did not go as planned. There is no more information at this time. The crew and ground personnel are currently reviewing the situation and determining if the mission is threatened. The ESS QE II is at escape velocity and will pass by the Moon tonight between 6:30 PM and 7:00 PM tonight.

If the mission is aborted it would take about a week to return to Earth.

Further information on Earth’s first human mission to Mars can be found at www.Mars2016.org.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Noctis of Mars is a real-time science fiction adventure published online at www.Mars2016.org. The book begins at the commissioning ceremonies which occurred on 1 February 2016. Each day at 14:00 PT (17:00 ET) a new section of a chapter is published. The chapters are published each time the last section of a chapter is published.

The First Chapter can be read here: Chapter 1 – Commissioning Day

Au Revoir

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, Claude Dubois, communications, construction pod, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, death, Earth, Earth Prime, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, Jenna Wade, JPL, loss, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, Zeke Jackson

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Sunday, Sol 50 (1.1.50) 22:56 NST
Earth Date/Time: Tuesday, 23 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

Commodore Dubois voice was loud and insistent, “MR. JACKSON, RETURN THAT POD TO EARTH PRIME, NOW!” Jenna could tell by the video that Claude knew his only option was to talk him back on the spaceport. Then Zeke Jackson’s image came up on the Command deck’s primary monitor. He was in the pilot’s seat of a construction pod. Jackson looked calm…too calm. Jackson looked at the camera and said, “Commodore Dubois, it has been a pleasure serving under you….but if I’m not going to Mars, I’m definitely not going back to Earth….at least in one piece….au revoir!”

The monitor changed to an image of a small construction pod moving away from the spaceport and heading straight down toward Earth. On the Command deck a voice said, “Sir, he’s turned off the Comm.” Then another voice said, “Sir, Davis is in a pod and he is going to pursue.” A second pod was now in the image and it was following the path of the first one, but by now the first pod was almost too small to see.

From the second pod Davis reported, “I have him in sight, but I think he has used all his fuel to accelerate. I can keep him in sight with my camera, but I’ll never catch up to him.” Claude’s voice was now resigned. “Stay with him if you can, but don’t go out of safety limits.” Everyone realized that no one could stop Zeke now.

The Command deck’s main monitor now switched to the camera on the chase pod. It was continuing towards Earth. For the next 45 minutes the chase pod kept recording the fate of Zeke Jackson. Every few minutes someone on the Command deck could be heard trying to call him, knowing his Comm was turned off. As Zeke’s pod began hitting the outer atmosphere it started gyrating and then spinning. Claude ordered the monitor to be shut down, and then he left the Command deck.

This was the third time she had watched the video of the events leading up to Zeke’s death. The first was with Wendy and Ken last night less than an hour after it happened. The second was this morning when she played it for the crew, and now she was alone in her quarters and had to see it again. She knew how much it meant to Zeke to go to Mars, but no one had anticipated that he was suicidal. It made sense now that it happened, but Zeke was too full of life to think that he might end it for any reason.

But this was not a time Jenna could dwell on Zeke Jackson’s suicide. Yesterday the Earth Prime team closed out the ESS Carl Sagan and earlier today it undocked and moved into a similar type of orbit as the QE II, but they were thousands of kilometers apart. The QE II’s orbit was set to use the Moon to boost it on the correct trajectory, while the Sagan was taking a more direct path.

Tomorrow the QE II will fire a series of pellets to accelerate out of Earth’s gravitational pull. Then two days later it will accelerate again to approximately 100,000 kilometers per hour. A few hours before the second firing, the Sagan will begin a series of firings to accelerate to 150,000 kilometers per hour. A few days later the Sagan will catch up to the QE II and it will accelerate to match the speed of the Sagan. Then during the next week the two ships will become one.

There will be a time to mourn for Zeke, but it will have to wait a couple of weeks. Now, Jenna needed to sleep.

Leaving Port

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, Earth Prime, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, Jenna Wade, JPL, loss, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis of Mars, Noctis Standard Time, NST, science, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, Wendy Stevens, Zeke Jackson

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 49 (1.1.49) 23:35 NST
Earth Date/Time: Monday, 22 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

Earlier today the ESS Queen Elizabeth II undocked from Earth Prime and moved into a higher orbit. Everything proceeded smoothly and now the QE II has settled into an orbit that is 5,174 kilometers at apogee, and 3,317 kilometers at perigee. The ship’s current speed averages a little over 22,000 km/hr.

The QE II used chemical propulsion to move away from the spaceport, but once the ship was 400 kilometers away from the Earth Prime spaceport it test fired one of the small propulsion pellets for the Impulse Cycle Propulsion or ICP followed by the firing of a larger pellet almost three hours later. The ship will now remain in this orbit for two days before leaving Earth for Mars.

After Jenna had found her would-be stowaway on her ship again, she asked Commodore Claude Dubois, the Commander of Earth Prime spaceport to have a constant guard on Zeke Jackson. She also asked to have Zeke somewhere she could see him as the QE II moved away from the spaceport. She meant somewhere there was a camera so she could visually know he was still on the spaceport and hadn’t snuck on her ship again.

Claude did her one better. As the QE II drifted away, Jenna, and everyone on the Command deck saw three people in pressure suits outside the core Command deck of Earth Prime. One of them was strapped down to the bulkhead, and when she zoomed in she could see Zeke Jackson’s face in the suit that was strapped down. Zeke had a big smile and gave the QE II a thumbs up, which caused an outbreak of uncontrolled laughter on the ship and back on Earth Prime.

That was thirteen hours ago. Now it was quiet. There were no issues or crises. The ship was on its own power and they were now the farthest human beings from Earth.

ESEP recognized that the first mission to Mars would inflict psychological and emotional stress on the crew. That’s why the schedule was designed in stages. Like someone testing the water, then wading in it, then swimming in it. In future missions the closeout, undocking, moving to a higher orbit, and firing for the orbital transfer will likely happen in a ten-hour period.

But this mission has taken one major step at a time and grow accustomed to it, then take the next step. Jenna wondered if that was a form of cruelty for the crew. The feeling of being slowly torn away from everything and everyone they know.

Jenna was in mid-thought when a quiet knock came on her door. She didn’t say anything, she just walked over to the door and opened it. There stood Wendy with a bottle of wine. Wendy said, “I know it’s late, but…” Just then Ken opened his door just below and across from her. He apparently thought the knock was at his door. Wendy, saw him and asked, “The more the merrier?” Jenna nodded ‘yes’ and waved for Ken to come up.

In a few minutes they were all sitting and drinking a glass of wine. Ken said, “What was the deal with Zeke Jackson? I thought he would be unhappy to see us leave.” Jenna said, “I think I’m starting to understand him. He really likes us and while he wishes he could be going with us, he wants to see us succeed.” Ken shook his head, “Interesting guy.” Jeanna smiled and said, “You don’t know the half of it.”

Wendy said, “Did you know how many of the crew are friends with Zeke?” “No,” replied Jenna. Wendy continued, “Everyone I’ve talked in the last few days knows him and most refer to him as ‘Space Angel.’ He apparently got to know the entire crew and is, well, was the person to go to if you needed anything from the construction crew.”

Jenna became serious and looked at both of them and said, “Are we ready? Is the crew ready?” Ken spoke up first and said, “Yes, We are. We’ve had some distractions, but I think getting away from the spaceport will be good for us.”

Wendy waited for Ken, then said, “I agree with Ken, but maybe from a different perspective. We all knew that this phase of the mission would be one of the hardest. The closeout and undocking are two physical manifestations of separation from everyone we know. We expect some emotional trauma and I will be in constant contact with the crew. Honestly, that’s why I came here tonight. I needed to see how you’re doing,…so, how are you doing?”

Wendy wouldn’t normally put someone on the spot in front of another person, but Jenna and Ken are a team, and this was a perfect situation to let them establish a bond and push Ken into a more realistic perspective of what was happening to the crew.

Jenna understood Wendy, and she knew why Wendy was skating close to the edge of counseling protocols. This was an important moment for her and Ken. Jeanna paused and said, “I’m the type of person that lives through the emotions of the people I care about. I can separate my feelings from theirs, but it is important for me to see things from their viewpoint. I wouldn’t have wanted them to deal with the last-minute issues we have dealt with, but I’m fairly confident these experiences will be valuable later in the mission. It is highly probable that we will lose someone in the next two years, actually the projections are that we will lose three, but we will have to bear down and move on…”

At that point Jenna was interrupted by a tone from her workstation. Comm Center was trying to reach her. She stood up and crossed to her workstation and touched the blinking icon, “What’s up, John” John was the Comm Specialist on duty. He replied, “I’m sorry. We have an urgent call from Commodore Dubois. He asked me to wake you.” “Put him through,” Jenna said. John looked down, touched something on the panel and his face disappeared and Claude’s face appeared and he looked pained. Claude said, “Jenna, I thought you would want to know. Zeke Jackson just killed himself.”

Security Breach

21 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, interview, Jenna Wade, JPL, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, stowaway, Zeke Jackson

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 49 (1.1.49) 00:13 NST
Earth Date/Time: Sunday, 21 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

Jenna was still awake. In two days they would be leaving Earth orbit and the cord would be cut. There would be no turning back. It is what she had been working towards for years, but she had let the lack of issues during the last few months lull her into believing that they would be immune to last-minute problems.

The ship was in great shape. They were ahead of schedule on almost every checklist and if they had to leave a this moment, they could. What she didn’t expect was the personnel issues. Her crew was fine and had recovered from a last few days change in the pilot, but she didn’t anticipate a stowaway issue.

What really bothered her was that the stowaway, Zeke Jackson, was the type of person she would have selected for her crew….except she never saw his application because he only had a bachelor’s degree and it was in physical education with a minor in engineering. He also had barely passing grades…in his major, but straight A’s in his minor.

Zeke was on a basketball scholarship and apparently he was barely able to stay in school because he missed the workouts and sometimes practices. His coaches threatened to pull his scholarship if he didn’t focus on basketball. His distraction was his love for engineering, but they couldn’t offer him a full ride scholarship.

He graduated but getting an advanced degree was out of the question. He wormed his way into an ESEP job and quickly worked his way into space. His superiors always praised his work, but without at least a master’s degree he was lucky just to be on the construction crew. He was an expert in piloting several types of pods used in the construction of the ships, and was fully qualified for pressure suit work.

He was able to avoid detection when he was preparing the cargo section by using his skills as a pilot and his inch by inch familiarity with the ship. Zeke able to pilot a pod to the QE II using various structures to cloak his movements. He then docked to the cargo section and entered from the pressurized pod into the pressurized section.

Zeke only had one camera to fool, and once that was done he was undetectable. He was very careful and knew that if anyone suspected they might put a hidden camera in place. When Duncan had one installed in an attempt to catch him, Zeke recognized the fake component and created a new video loop of the scene from its perspective. He then used two tablets to fool both the original camera and the hidden one. Zeke’s only mistake was to think that the tablet blocked the motion detector.

Jenna realized that she hadn’t had anyone recheck the Zeke’s stowaway compartment to be sure everything was ready for departure. She was about to contact her Peyton Rhodes, her other reserve crew member who was on night shift, but then she decided she wanted to see it for herself.

She climbed up to the Command deck and checked in with the crew on duty, then continued up to the core. In the last section she was almost weightless, which is a relatively rare feeling on ships designed to have the crew work in a gravity environment.

The quill of the cargo section had been sealed, but she knew that it was still pressurized and heated so she opened the hatch and floated down into the quill. She noticed a light was on and someone was in the third section. She decided to find out why one of her crew was in the section, so she quietly approached. Zeke saw her staring at him as he turned around and he jumped and fell.

“How the HELL did you get away, and on board my ship???” she said with the best fake anger she could muster. He stammered, “I’m sorry, Ad..Admiral. I..I..did it the same way.” Jenna looked at him with genuine concern, “What did you do to the Security team?” Zeke was still rattled and said, “NOTHING, no nothing…they always stay outside the room…they don’t know I’m gone.” Jenna was relieved, and then said, “You are going to go right back and get in your bed. I am going to call them in thirty minutes and have them check on you. AND DON’T GET CAUGHT!”

Zeke couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He should be shoved out an airlock but the Admiral was giving him the chance to make this second violation go away without reporting it. He almost shouted, “Yes Ma’am!…and thank you, Ma’am!” Zeke began gathering up the equipment he’d brought over and when he looked up again Jenna was gone.

As promised Jeanna contacted the Security team and asked them to check on Zeke. In a minute the guard called back and said, “He’s sleeping. Do you want me to wake him up?” “Nope, but I would like one of you stay inside the room with him for the night,” she replied.

Red Handed

20 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, counseling, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, Jenna Wade, JPL, Mars, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, Time

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Friday, Sol 48 (1.1.48) 00:52 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Saturday, 20 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

It was almost one AM NST and Zeke Jackson had been under questioning for twelve hours. He was caught in a cargo area on the QE II and accused of attempting to be a stowaway on the first mission to Mars.

Mr. Duncan had both of his Security Officers on Earth Prime questioning Zeke and he was watching from his monitor in his office in Peru. Zeke flowed through the stages of interrogation. First he denied everything, then he acted annoyed, then he went silent, then he got angry, now he was back to silence.

Nick had told Duncan that he had to end the interrogation at midnight, but Duncan had interpreted that to mean that when his staff took an hour for a meal break, he could leave Zeke handcuffed at the table and add an hour on to the interrogation. Despite their efforts, they hadn’t learned much more than they could figure out on their own.

Duncan was feeling frustrated and his Security team was feeling cruel. They were leaving Zeke sitting at the table and going to bed, but then Claude Dubois walked into the room. Claude looked at the monitor at Duncan and said, “What have you learned?” “Not much,” Duncan replied. Claude looked at his exhausted former employee and said, “Has he been fed?” The Security team both shook their heads, ‘no.’ Claude then said, “Take him to the Commons area and feed him, and then let him clean up, then put him in Section J in one of the quarters. I’ll send two people to watch over him tonight and you two can get some sleep.”

Duncan did not agree with the Claude’s orders, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Claude was the Commodore of the spaceport and he could release Zeke if he wanted, or have him put to death. Duncan had pushed it farther than he should and ESEP was not an organization that condoned torture of anyone regardless of what they had done.

Duncan was embarrassed. He almost failed to catch Zeke and his failure was in front of three of the most important people in ESEP. Duncan didn’t like being embarrassed.

Closeout of QE II had gone ahead as scheduled. Jenna went off ship to see talk with Claude before the closeout. She had wanted to interview Zeke, but Duncan asked for him to be isolated for a few hours. The fear that he was some kind of terrorist was Jenna’s greatest concern, but after talking to Claude and reviewing Zeke’s history she was convinced he didn’t fit the profile.

Under Claude’s orders, Zeke was allowed to sleep until eight AM NST, dress, and eat. Duncan had planned to start the interrogation at five AM, but he discovered that Claude had talked to Nick about his methods and Duncan was ordered to stand down. Claude would take charge of the prisoner and Security would only be allowed to guard Zeke.

Nick, Claude, and Jenna had decided she would interview Zeke at ten AM. Jenna’s skill at assess someone in a short period of time was a natural ability that had only improved with her years of experience in solving people issues. She wanted to do this face-to-face, which involved her going off ship. After closeout, no one was supposed to cross the ship/spaceport barrier unless it was mission critical. They decided this was mission critical.

Claude had Zeke brought to his quarters and asked the guards to wait outside. Nick was present via the video monitor. Claude asked Zeke to sit down and asked him if he wanted anything to drink. He shook his head ‘no.’ Zeke was unsure what was going on. He expected the interrogation, but this was more like a friendly conference.

The door opened and Jenna walked in. Zeke immediately stood up and faced her. Jenna said, “Have a seat Zeke.” Claude asked her if she wanted anything and she said, “If you have tea, that would be great.” She turned to Zeke and said, “Zeke, do you want something?” Zeke said, “Ah, tea would be great.” Claude smiled. Already she had gotten farther with Zeke than Security and she had just walked in the door. He began preparing the tea.

Jenna sat down, looked Zeke in the eye and began, “First, I apologize for your treatment yesterday. What you’ve done is a major violation of our program, and you will answer for that in court; however, you were mistreated last night. That is unacceptable.” Zeke shook his head, and said, “Admiral, I deserved what I got, and I know I will be punished. I am sorry I have created a problem for you.” Jenna was not expecting Zeke’s humble attitude. She skipped her lead in questions and went to the heart of the matter, “Zeke, …why?”

Zeke looked down for a moment and then looked back at her and said, “You’re the best. Not only you, but your entire crew. I want to go to Mars and I want it to be with your crew. I would stay in a food locker the entire trip if it means I can go to Mars with you and your crew. If I had the chance…I’m sorry,…I would do it again.” Jenna said, “Why didn’t you apply for the crew?” At that moment Claude interrupted and said, “He can’t.”

Rat Trap

19 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, Jenna Wade, JPL, Ken Hart, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, Mr. Duncan, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, security, space, space travel, spacecraft, stowaway, Time

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Thursday, Sol 47 (1.1.47) 01:30 NST
Earth Date/Time: Friday, 19 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

CODE ALERT! Text in three parts to follow:

CODE ALERT – PART ONE: Closeout of ESS Queen Elizabeth II will occur today at 16:00 NST. All Earth Prime team members should have inspected and finalized all areas on the ship by 13:00 NST. No non-mission equipment should be left on the ship. Please account for all tools, suits, and other Earth Prime equipment and notify the Earth Prime Director’s Office of any missing items.

CODE ALERT – PART TWO: All non-essential personnel should be off ship by 12:00 NST today. Final inspections of all cargo areas will occur from 08:00 to 11:00 NST and Hab area inspections will occur between 10:00 and 13:00 NST. Inspection teams will work from stern to aft closing out areas behind them.

CODE ALERT – PART THREE: Security personnel will be at both entrance hatches at 12:00 NST today. All personnel must have proper authorization to enter the ship. At 16:00 NST all hatches will be closed and sealed. No one may enter the ship without pre-authorization of the Nick Castillo, Director of ESEP, Rear Admiral Jenna Wade, Commodore Ken Hart, AND Commodore Claude Dubois. Ship will depart from port at 10:35 NST on Sol 49.

The Code Alert was broadcast at 01:30 NST. It was now 05:34 NST and Jenna was rereading the Code Alert. She had read it yesterday after Duncan sent the final draft to her, Nick Castillo, and Claude Dubois. As she sipped the morning tea she wondered if it would work.

Early yesterday morning one of her crew had discovered evidence that someone was trying to stowaway on her ship. The person had left equipment in a cargo area that would keep him or her alive in an unheated and stagnant air environment.

In three days the ESS Queen Elizabeth II will leave the Earth Prime spaceport and because she will be under her own power, life support functions such as circulating air and heat will be shut down in some cargo areas. It was in one of these sections that equipment had been found that would keep someone alive for a few days.

Whoever was responsible was clever. They chose an area that none of the crew would have reason to enter. They had some type of quick attachment device that allowed them to put a tablet in front of the camera playing a loop of the cargo bay. A person would have to be the monitor to catch them putting the tablet in place and with almost 100 cameras in place, no one was going to catch it.

It took several replays of the video of the cargo area to catch the moment the tablet was put in place and it was not removed for 29 hours, so it was impossible to track down the person based on the time the camera was disabled. The person also managed to avoid all other cameras leading to that section. This person was good.

After the equipment was discovered yesterday morning, Duncan ordered it left in place. He had a hidden camera with a motion detector installed with a view of the equipment. Duncan left two security people hidden away near the cargo quill ready to arrest the person if they came back to check on the equipment. The perpetrator didn’t.

Time was running out. The person would likely board the ship just before departure from the spaceport. That would make him or her easier to catch, but it would mean the QE II would have to return and redock, which had never been done before. Ships are constructed with the first section already docked at the spaceport. Docking the mass of the entire ship would be nearly impossible. They had to catch the person before the QE II undocked.

Duncan decided to try to trap the person at the closeout. By having the inspection of the cargo areas end at 11:00, and the putting Security in place at the ship entrance hatch at 12:00, he felt that the potential stowaway would try to check on his or her equipment during the hour after the end of the cargo inspections, but before Security took positions at the hatches.

Jenna, Nick, and Claude all agreed, but now Jenna was having doubts. This person was not stupid and they had avoided detection on a ship covered in cameras. Somehow it didn’t make sense that they would fall for the trap.

Jenna dressed for the day and headed to the Command Commons area to grab some breakfast. Only Ken, Nick, Claude, and her knew about the plan to catch the stowaway. One of her reserve crew members knew about the equipment, but he was told to not discuss the situation with anyone. Most of the Command staff came to the Command Commons area while Jenna was there, but she kept the conversation on the closeout events, and avoided any hints that a significant security issue was overshadowing the day.

The morning kept the crew busy with the closeout procedures, but at 11:00, Jenna and Ken announced that they would have a working lunch in her quarters. The two of them climbed down to the Commons area to get a lunch ration, prepared it, then headed down to her quarters.

Once there she contacted Duncan and Nick and pulled up the camera feed from the hidden camera. Jenna knew that nothing had happened or else she would have been called. She looked at both of Duncan and Nick on the monitors and said, “You don’t mind if we eat, do you?” Nick said, “No.” Duncan was unresponsive. Jenna was concerned that if they didn’t catch him or her the departure schedule might have to be pushed back, but at this point it was up to Duncan, and she and Ken would just have to focus on their jobs.

Over the next hour Ken, Nick, and Jenna talked about mission issues. None of them were significant, but lately all their conversations had been about major issues. This was one of the rare times when they could chat about the mission rather than discuss the mission.

At 11:58 NST, Nick said, “It looks like our person didn’t take the bait.” Duncan replied, “It doesn’t make any sense. He has to know that his stuff could have been found. He should have come.” Jenna joined in, “May he’s changed his….” Jenna looked closer at the monitor and then said, “Mr. Duncan, what is that flashing icon at the bottom of the screen?” Duncan casually answered, “That’s just the motion detector icon.” Jenna tried again, “But why is it flashing.” Duncan thought for a moment, “Uhm, well it flashes when it senses….wait, we would see the person…unless….but he couldn’t have…he doesn’t….” Jenna interrupted him, “Mr. Duncan, he has fooled your camera and he’s there.”

Before Jenna had finished Duncan had sent the signal to his staff on board. Hopefully, it would not be too late.

Stowaway

18 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, crew, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, Edward Duncan, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, Jenna Wade, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, Noctis Standard Time, NST, security, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, stowaway

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Tuesday, Sol 46 (1.1.46) 2:09 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Wednesday, 18 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

Everyone at ESEP knows the Director of Security as “Mr. Duncan,” and only a handful know his first name is Edward. Mr. Duncan is a former Marine with Special Forces training who rarely lets his ‘all business’ persona down. He is not the type of man you would feel comfortable calling him by his first name.

Duncan had wanted to send a Security officer on the first Mars mission, but that idea was declined. Instead he was allowed to train four of the crew in security and safety procedures that were above and beyond their normal responsibilities. They were also sent to a Special Forces boot camp for five weeks. The four were Anna Flores, the First Officer, Jeramy Prater, the Munitions Officer, Ian Banks and Peyton Rhodes who were both reserve members of the crew.

It was just after 2:00 AM NST when he got a call from Ian on the ESS Queen Elizabeth II. He was sleeping, but he answered the call within three seconds, “Security Actual.” Ian said, “Mr. Duncan, I’m sorry if I woke you.” Duncan did not do pleasantries and said, “What’s the problem.” “It’s happened again,” Ian replied. Duncan was now completely awake and said, “Same place?” Ian said, “Not exactly, but the same section, and the same equipment. Should I wake the Admiral?” Duncan’s mind went into combat mode. He said, “No. I’ll set up a call for later this morning. Send me pictures of where it was and a report on how you found it. Be sure you give me the section number. I need it within thirty minutes….and then stand guard in that section until I send relief,” He ended the call before Ian could respond.

It was shortly before 6:00 AM NST that Jenna checked in with the Comm Center. Paige was on night shift again. Paige said, “Good morning, Admiral. How did you sleep?” Jenna smiled. Four days ago she thought Paige would be leaving the crew, but now Paige was the morale officer of positive emotions. Jenna responded, “Great actually. How was your night?” Paige said, “Good. Ian has some issue that came up last night. Mr. Duncan has set up a call with you and the Director to talk about it. I tried to schedule it for eight, but Mr. Duncan insisted it be at 6:30.” Jenna said, “No problem. I’ll get ready and come up.” Paige quickly replied, “Oh, Mr. Duncan wants you to take it in your quarters.” Jenna was now more concerned, “Alright. Where’s Ian?” Paige scrunched up her forehead and said, “He’s in one of the cargo sections. Apparently Mr. Duncan asked him to guard something.” Now Jenna was really concerned.

Jenna showered and dressed, then went up to the mess and prepared a breakfast ration then returned to her quarters. She had made tea and was scanning her emails. She was tempted to contact Ian to find out what was going on, but she learned a long time ago that sometimes it’s better to let information come to you than to try to out maneuver the messenger.

At exactly 6:30, she was sitting at her workstation and the message icon began blinking. She touched it and the Director, Nick Castillo appeared on one screen and Mr. Duncan appeared on another. Nick and Jenna said, “Good morning,” but Mr. Duncan said, “I have Commodore Dubois and Commodore Hart on standby and I’d like them to join this call.” Jenna said, “I’m fine with it.” and Nick nodded. On two more screens Claude DuBois, the Commodore of the spaceport, and Ken Hart, the Commodore of both ships, appeared.

After they said, “Good morning,” Jenna broke in, “Mr. Duncan, would you care to explain why one of my crew is guarding an non-hab cargo section?” Jenna had not been accusatory, but everyone knew that Mr. Duncan had no authority to order any of her crew to do anything.

Duncan knew that he was on thin ice and did something he rarely did. He apologized, “Admiral, I apologize for my actions. I needed someone to keep a watch on the area and I didn’t want to wake you up to get authorization to put one of my people on board.” Jenna understood, but she knew she would have to talk to her crew about taking orders from others.

Nick said, “What’s the problem?” Duncan continued, “When we performed security sweeps four days ago on your ship we found some equipment that was not registered in one of the cargo sections. It was some oxygen equipment and a low pressure, thermal suit. I didn’t want to alarm anyone because there could have been several reasons for it to be there by accident. We logged it, removed the equipment, and I notified your security crew to check the section periodically and report anything unusual.”

Jenna asked, “What happened last night?” Duncan corrected her, “This morning actually. Ian was on night shift and decided to check the section. At about two AM he found another pressure suit and oxygen.”

Ken said what everyone was thinking, “We have someone who wants to join our crew.”

Talking Paige

17 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book, Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, engineering, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, Time

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 42 (1.1.42) 6:07 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Sunday, 14 February 2016 2:24 PM PST

Jenna had finished her video call with Nick Castillo and then contacted her Comm Officer, Paige Flores. Paige wanted to meet with her, but under the circumstances she decided to put Paige off until she could dress for the day. Jenna also wanted the ship’s Counselor on standby in case she was needed.

Paige Flores was the youngest crew member. She was 27 and like all crew members, she had a special talent that uniquely qualified her to be on the first mission to Mars. Paige’s gift was her understanding of electrical and computer systems. She had a doctorate in electrical engineering and a masters in computer science; however, she looked more like a model than a geeky engineer.

Paige rarely formed attachments to anyone but her older sister, who was also on this mission. Anna Flores was the First Officer and Jenna had selected her to be on the crew six months before she began interviewing for a Comm Officer. ESEP administration was initially hesitant to have sisters on the same mission, but both were highly qualified and Jenna wanted her. It was the Counseling team that cleared the way for Paige to join the team because they wanted to study familial relationships during long-term missions.

Jenna was beginning to regret selecting Paige because she suspected that her maturity, or lack of it, might be a factor on this mission. Jenna was looking through Paige’s file to remind her of why she selected her when her door chimed.

“Come in,” Jenna said. Paige entered and said, “Good morning, Rear Admiral. Thank you for letting me come talk to you so early. Do you mind if I ask the Counselor to come and join us? I really would like her to hear what I have to say.” Jenna was already confused, but she touched her tablet to call Wendy. In a moment Wendy’s voice said, “Good morning, Jenna.”

Wendy knew that Jenna might ask her to come into this meeting, but she didn’t want it to sound like she knew. Wendy was surprised when Jenna said., “Wendy, Paige and I are meeting in my quarters and she asked if you could join us.” Wendy paused for a moment and thought to herself, “Paige wants me there?” She then realized she was creating an uncomfortable silence and blurted out, “Be right there!”

Paige then launched into her next thought, “I’ve been talking to Wendy and she has given me a different perspective on my situation and I really want her to hear this.” Jenna motioned to Paige to sit down and asked her if she wanted tea. Before she could answer the door chimed and without hesitation Paige said, “Come in!” Suddenly Paige realized that she should not have invited someone into the Admiral’s quarters. Paige said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that.”

Wendy came in and Jenna said, “That’s okay, but are you nervous?” Paige said, “Yes, I am. I’m not sure exactly what to feel right now.” Jenna said, “That’s understandable under our circumstances.” Jenna looked at Wendy and said, “Have a seat. I’m getting tea for Paige and I, would you like a cup?” Wendy said ‘yes,’ and Jenna began putting together a tea-tray for them.

Wendy decided to probe Paige while Jenna made the tea, “What’s going on, Paige?” At that invitation Paige launched into a stream of words,

“I talked to Dane last night….which was great….he’s doing better….he found out his wife was leaving him….that wasn’t good, but he’s okay…he and I were having an affair….he didn’t tell me he suspected Trice was cheating….Abby’s a mess because this other guy was trying to replace Dane as her father…I like Dane, but he’s now in this mess….I know ESEP knows about our affair….I was really mad at you Jenna, but Dane helped me see that he couldn’t have stayed on this mission….I want to stay here, but maybe I’m now too involved….I don’t want to be involved…”

At this point Wendy took control, “Paige, let me see if I understand your concerns. You were involved in a relationship with Dane, but you concerned that he needs to sort things out without you, you don’t want ESEP to hold this relationship against you and you want to stay with this mission, and you were mad a Jenna because you thought she kicked Dane off the mission too soon, but you understand there was no choice…is that everything?”

Paige looked at Wendy blankly and paused. Paige said, “Yes…yes, I believe it is.”

Jenna had sat down with the tea-tray and had poured everyone tea. She looked at Wendy and they both smiled. As Jenna handed Paige her tea she said, “Paige, I have no concerns about you or your ability to do your job. The only reason I would replace you is if you wanted off the ship, and I’m hearing that this mission is your priority. Wendy can help you sort out any issues you’re having about your relationship with Dane.”

Jenna paused and then continued, “Finally, I pleased to hear that both you and Dane understand that he had to go to his daughter. It is human nature to want someone to blame for the outcome of this tragedy, and I expected both of you to have some anger directed at someone. I’m not offended and I’m pleased you have forgiven me.

Jenna reached out to her and took her hand and said, “You’re part of our crew, period.”

Paige’s face and body began to relax. Jenna thought Paige might start crying, but she didn’t. Paige said, “Thank you. That’s all I needed to hear.”

Jenna said, “I’m going up to grab a bite and then head up to the Command deck. Why don’t you head off to sleep?” Paige responded, “I can’t. I won’t be able to sleep until I know the countdown has started.” Jenna said, “Alright, then come up with me for breakfast and then we’ll both go to the Command deck. The countdown starts in three hours, and then you can head off to bed.”

The three of them ate a quick breakfast and then headed to the Command deck. Jenna had a flood of messages coming in but she asked Paige to prioritize them and between the two of them they worked through them with ten minutes to spare before the countdown commenced. By this time a long list of divisions and departments had given the ‘go’ to start the countdown.

All of the Earth-based stations had completed their checklists and now the spaceport was finishing up their list. It was up to the departments onboard the ship now. As it came down to the last ninety seconds, Anna, the First Officer, was running down the final four sectors,

“Science?” “GO!”

“Comm?” “GO!”

“Engineering?” “GO!”

“Navigation?” “GO!”

Anna then turned to Ken and said, “Commodore, we have a go to begin the countdown.” Ken turned to Jenna and said, “Rear Admiral Wade, we are ready to commence countdown with your approval.”

All eyes and the cameras focused on Jenna and she said, “Comm Officer Flores, everybody seems to think we should go to Mars. Do you agree?” Paige looked a little startled as all focus came to her. She smiled and said, “I agree!” Then Jenna had another surprise for everyone and said, “Then Comm Officer Flores, would you give the Commodore your approval?” Everyone on the Command deck was beaming. After all that happened in the past week, this made it all right. Paige turned to Ken and said, “You have approval to commence the countdown!”

Ken snapped back to the Anna, First Officer Flores, your sister says we can go!” Everyone wanted to laugh but they had cut the process too close and Anna quickly announced, “COUNTDOWN begins on MY MARK, in six, five, four, three, two, one, MARK!”

In 251 hours, seventeen minutes, and 32 seconds the ESS Queen Elizabeth II would begin her journey to Mars.

Trust and Betrayal

16 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, biology, botany, communications, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, death, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, Jenna Wade, loss, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Labyrinthus, science, space, space travel, spacecraft

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 42 (1.1.42) 5:10 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Sunday, 14 February 2016 2:27 PM PST

The four primary ESEP project teams are divided up into five-year stages. The Stage Four project team was devoted to planning and putting into motion the necessary resources for programs and projects that will be needed fifteen to twenty years from now. The Stage Three project team took the work of the previous team and continued developing and revising the overall plan for ESEP programs that would occur in ten to fifteen years. Stage Two handled the five to ten-year time frame, and Stage One made the planning that started twenty years ago become reality.

In general, Stage Four consisted of architects, engineers, researchers, and scientists designing the next generation of ships, habitats, and Earth/space/Mars production facilities. Stage Three consisted of logisticians, managers, engineers, and scientists that developed factories and tested new concepts and equipment. Stage Two consisted of actual pre-production and production work, and Stage One put everything into place, and then followed through with the support and maintenance of those programs.

Most ESEP personnel in the first three Stages tend to stay with their team; however, people who are critical to the success of the development of a particular project often float into the next Stage to keep consistency to the project or program.

ESEP began work in 2003. Stage Four and Stage Three have been working concurrently for over a decade and Stage One only became distinct from Stage Two in 2011. This process of growing the project teams into four umbrella groups has helped manage some of the chaos, but it also causes friction between project teams, especially when one team has fallen behind.

Jenna joined ESEP in 2010, and was assigned to the Stage Two Science division because they kept falling behind on their programs. In a six month period, she had made significant progress. Her success led to her transfer to team developing the first Mars mission. It was several years behind schedule and she was given the unusual position of overseeing both Stage Two and Stage One teams.

Within days Jenna had identified that problem with the first Mars mission was an incompetent program Director on the Stage Two team and a Stage One Director that was attempting to sabotage the Stage Two Director in order to cover up some of his failures. Jenna’s first move was to remove both Directors and then she found people within the teams to move up. Within a year the first Mars mission was back on schedule.

Jenna was not the type of person to apply threats and intimidation to turn things around, but rather had an uncanny ability to determine where a problem existed, who was being stifled in making progress, and then clear out the issues that were holding people back.

As word got around, ESEP administrators had multiple requests from divisions and programs to have Jenna temporarily help them move forward. When it came time to choose someone to lead the first, and most complicated, mission to Mars, ESEP’s only issue was whether or not they could afford to have Jenna off-world for over two years.

At this moment Jenna was sitting in her quarters on the ESS Queen Elizabeth II talking to her boss, Nick Castillo, who was standing in his office in San Jose, California. Nick and Jenna did not have a boss/employee relationship. Jenna’s talent was getting people to get things done and Nick’s talent was to understand Jenna’s talent and to make sure she was in an environment to use her talent to the maximum extent. Jenna trusted Nick and knew he would never intentionally deceive her or abuse that trust in any way.

When Nick said he had cargo that ESEP wanted to put on her ship and he couldn’t tell her what it was, she knew that whatever it was, Nick had good reasons for the secrecy and she knew that he would not endanger the crew or ship.

Nick resumed the conversation, “The cargo is a small A-1 size box. It has special environmental handling requirements. Alexander Rivera will be the only crew member to be briefed.” Jenna thought for a moment and then said, “Will my Biology Officer be told what he is handling?” “Yes,” Nick replied, “He will be made the program chief once he agrees to the experiment, and if he doesn’t agree to it the experiment doesn’t go on the mission.”

Jenna was now satisfied, but she thought she would probe a little more, “Why can’t we know?” Nick was not supposed to give any hints, but he felt compelled to reassure Jenna. Nick said, “It is an experiment that has a high probability of failure, but if it works the crew will be very happy. We don’t want to elevate expectations and then be the cause of the crew’s disappointment.”

Jenna had one last question, “Why can’t I know.” Nick’s expression changed, “That was my call. I am authorized to tell you and Ken, but I’d like both of you to be surprised along with the crew.”

That was all Jenna needed. She would be the first, and probably last commander to let an unknown experiment on a Mars mission, but that is what made Jenna unique. She said, “Okay, have your people talk to Alex and if he agrees then it’s a go. I’ll talk to Ken.”

Jenna changed the subject, “How are Dane and Abby doing?” Nick frowned, “It’s gotten complicated.” Jenna wondered how much more complicated anything could become than losing your spouse, your in-laws, becoming a single parent, and being taken off the first human mission to Mars. Jenna had to ask, “What’s going on.”

Nick sighed and said, “Technically, this is probably a confidential issue, but since our Recovery Team learned of it at the same time Dane did, I can tell you. Trice was having an affair and planning on leaving Dane. She apparently had been with the other man when she went to pick up her mother. When he didn’t see her or hear from her he assumed she was dealing with the family crisis. Finally after two days he shows up at Dane’s house and learns from our team that Trice had died. It was a big scene with the guy, Dane and Abby. Trice had been taking Abby on her dates to let her get to know him. Apparently Abby was becoming attached to this guy because he was playing the ‘Dad’ role while Dane was gone.”

Jenna stared at the monitor for a moment then said, “Crap.” Nick continued, “There’s more and this may affect you. Dane was having an affair with Paige.” Suddenly Jenna was reminded that Paige was waiting to talk to her. She said, “Nick, we may need that replacement Comm Officer.”

Valentine Gifts

15 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, communications, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, science, shuttle, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, Time Zones

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 42 (1.1.42) 4:58 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Sunday, 14 February 2016 2:15 PM PST

As the Rear Admiral and commander of the Mars Mission, Jenna Wade approved every item coming on board the ESS Queen Elizabeth II and the ESS Carl Sagan. Cargo didn’t leave Earth until Jenna approved it.

Now the ESEP Director was telling her that something was already on the way to the spaceport, Earth Prime, to be loaded on to one of her ships. Nick wouldn’t be calling her if it was routine cargo, and it wouldn’t be in route unless ESEP wanted it to go on the mission.

It was about 5:00 AM and Jenna had not slept well. It was Valentine’s Day on Earth, and the crew was dealing with loss. This was not a good time to be forcing a new wrinkle to the mission.

Jenna looked at the monitor the man who stood in his office 2,500 kilometers below. She masked her emotions and then said, “What’s the cargo?” Nick was in a difficult spot. Jenna had the authority to refuse any change to the mission and with what had happened this week, any other commander might take the position that no further changes would be made before the ships leave Earth orbit. This was now a test of Jenna’s emotional state as much as it was a change in the mission.

Nick said, “We have two experiments for you to approve.” One, you’ve been briefed on, and the other I can’t tell you about.” Any other person might have launched into a tirade. This was a breach of her command authority and according to protocol she should reject the new experiments.

However, Jenna did not become the first commander of a mission to Mars by accident. She had an extraordinary ability to listen and gather all the information before taking actions. She also was able to act quickly in a crisis on whatever information she had at the moment. Nick’s statement intrigued her, rather than enraged her.

Jenna smiled and said, “Go on.” Nick knew this was a good sign, and he was a little disappointed with himself for thinking that Jenna would behave like a normal person.

Nick continued, “The OPB team had a break through and they want to send a test batch with you to Mars.” Jenna was very familiar with the subject. OPB stood for Oxygen Producing Bacteria and an experiment was planned for this mission, but they couldn’t find a way to turn off the bacteria if it got out of control. There were strict rules about introducing a biologic element to Mars if it couldn’t be controlled.

“Did they find a switch,” Jenna asked? Nick smiled and said, “Exactly, they have a counter agent that not only switches it off, but kills the bacteria and then consumes itself. The end result is a filmy paste that doesn’t spread or blow away. I watched them kill a batch. It’s impressive.” Jenna was not surprised that Nick observed the experiment. He wouldn’t have considered the experiment unless he observed it.

“What’s the set up,” Jenna asked? Nick replied, “A three-chambered experiment within an isolation box. The bacteria are sealed inside a container inside one of the vacuum-sealed chambers. Martian soil and atmosphere is added to another chamber and sealed. First atmosphere is allowed to enter the third chamber and the air is shared with the bacteria chamber. If all goes well the bacteria is then exposed to the soil. Parameters have been established for growth rates and oxygen production. Too much of either and the bacteria is killed. We still need your Science Director to approve it.” Nick waited.

Jenna was hesitant about OPB. If it survived in the Martian environment there was the potential that it could escape and grow uncontrolled. Bacteria and viruses had a bad habit of unintended consequences, especially when they are human-designed. Jenna also knew that if she didn’t take the experiment it would be on the next mission, and she preferred to have direct control of the program than have to oversee another commander.

Jenna said, “Alright. I’m sure Lanny will go for it. He was disappointed when we canceled it. Have your Science team brief Lanny. I’ll let him know he has the authority to approve it.” While she had been talking she typed out a text to her Science Director. Jenna knew that it might be a matter of seconds before the ground science team contacted Lanny.

Jenna then looked up at Nick and said, “Now, about that experiment you can’t tell me about.”

Valentine’s Night

14 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, communications, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, Jenna Wade, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, Noctis Standard Time, NST, Pacific Standard Time, PST, space, space travel, spacecraft, Time, Time Zones

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Saturday, Sol 42 (1.1.42) 4:43 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Sunday, 14 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

Jenna couldn’t sleep. It was almost 5:00 AM and she had been awake for two hours. This week was not the week she had anticipated and later this morning the 10-day countdown would begin to send them off to Mars.

The replacement pilot came on board two days ago, but the crew, including Jenna, was still dealing with the emotional circumstances of the loss of their former pilot, Dane Paris, on Tuesday morning.

He lost three immediate family members in a matter of hours and suddenly was a single parent. ESEP was able to get him from the ship to his daughter in less than 24 hours, which was a small miracle performed by a dedicated ESEP team.

Jenna had talked to him briefly on Thursday, and Nick Castillo, the Director of ESEP, was forwarding reports to her from the Counselors that had been assigned to live and care for him and his daughter while he worked through the grief and life changes resulting from the loss of his wife and in-laws.

As for the crew, they had been trained to accept the loss of a crewmate and move on, but this was different. They lost a crewmate, but he was still alive and he was suffering. They couldn’t be there for him.

Even worse was the reality of the situation. Every crew member knew that during the two-year mission things might change with the people they left behind. None of them realized how significant the changes could be, and how suddenly it could happen.

Dane was lucky in some aspects. His family tragedy occurred while the ship was still in orbit, and still attached to Earth Prime, the orbiting spaceport. In ten days there was no turning back. Whatever happened on Earth would be literally be on a different world.

Two weeks ago, ESEP worldwide and orbital operations switched over to the time zone of the landing site on Mars. That meant adapting the Mars clock and calendar. The Mars calendar didn’t have Valentine’s Day on it. It didn’t have any holidays, but that didn’t mean the crew wouldn’t be thinking of family and friends during Earth holidays.

Jenna was sipping her tea in her quarters and thinking that the timing of this couldn’t be worse. Currently the Mars night, their night, was Valentine’s Day for much of the western world. During the crew’s morning tasks they would likely be reminded of the people they would be missing during the next two years. Jenna had considered a light duty day for today, but with the start of the countdown, this morning would require everyone at their stations. The afternoon would be anticlimactic as the first few days of the countdown were designed with long, open time periods to allow any issues to be resolved without holding up the count.

Jenna checked in with the Comm Center for any pending messages before she dressed for the day. She touched the Comm icon on her pad and the voice said, “Good Morning, Rear Admiral. You’re up early.” The voice was Paige Flores who was covering the night shift. Paige had developed a close friendship with Dane Paris, and her mood this morning seemed out of line for her emotional state the last time they talked.

“Good morning, how was last night?” Jenna asked. Paige replied, “It was good. I talked to Dane last night.” Jenna was glad to hear they had a chance to reconnect, “How’s he doing?” Paige mood seemed to become more serious, “He’s still trying to deal with everything, but he’s focusing on helping his daughter deal with the loss of her Mom and grandparents. That seems to be helping him.”

Jenna had suspected taking over the role of nurturer for his daughter, Abby, would help him out of the emotional hole he could be sucked into. Jenna said, “That’s good. Dane’s a great father.”

Paige agreed and then moved the conversation on, “Admiral, the Director would like you to contact him as soon as possible, and you have some other messages, but would it be okay if I came to talk to you after you call the Director?” Jenna was curious why, but decided not to ask now. She hoped that Paige wouldn’t be requesting to leave the ship. “Of course,” Jenna replied, “Monitor my call and come down when I’m done.”

Jenna put her concerns about Paige to the side and focused on her call to the Director. She would have been woken if there was an emergency, but lately the Director hadn’t been the source of good news. About ten seconds after she finished her conversation with Paige a flashing icon appeared at her workstation. Paige had set up the video call.

The image of Megan, Nick Castillo’s assistant, was on the monitor. She said, “Rear Admiral Wade, good morning. The Director is on his way.” Jenna smiled and said, “Megan, thank you for all your help in these past few days. If I could requisition you for our mission, I would.” Megan smiled and said, “Thank you, Rear Admiral. It is a pleasure to help out in any way I can. The Director is here.”

Jenna could see the doorway to Nick’s office suite across from the camera and within seconds of Megan saying he was ‘here,’ he stepped into the room. Megan had an uncanny sense of her boss and Jenna wondered if she was really human.

Nick looked up at the video monitor and said, “Good morning, Jenna. I didn’t mean to have you woken.” Jenna replied, “I was awake and checked in. They didn’t wake me.” Nick said, “Can’t sleep?” Jenna shook her head and said, “Not last night. If things go well this morning I might order a nap for the crew.” Nick smiled and said, “If you do that, I’ll do the same here. I know your crew was hit the hardest by the tragedy, but I didn’t realize how much everyone down here would be affected.” Jenna said, “I’m halfway serious about the nap.” Nick replied, “I’m completely serious. If all goes well this morning we’ll both stand down our people until 10:00 AM tomorrow. Claude’s team has been asking to help out. I’m sure he can find people to cover shifts for you.”

Jenna then said, “Wait, we have the countdown starting. Are we going to put that on hold?” Nick shook his head, “No. We’ll start the countdown and do the immediate tasks related to initiating it, but…,” at this point Nick turned to his assistant, “Megan, how many tasks would we delay if we stand the crew down from noon today until ten AM tomorrow?”

Megan scrolled through her tablet for a few seconds and said, “32 non-countdown tasks are scheduled and 15 meetings. The total allocated time to recover from a delay is 28 hours and seven minutes.” Nick turned to Jenna and said, “Maybe it’s not..” But Megan interrupted, “Of course, if those the tasks are rescheduled to be done concurrently it will take one hour and 43 minutes.”

Nick smiled again, then frowned, “What about the meetings?” Megan replied, “Most of the meetings can be eliminated and combined with the end of day meetings.” Nick had a thought and then touched an icon on his tablet. A now familiar voice said, “Security Actual. What can I do for you Director.” Jenna noticed that Megan began quickly typing out a message on her pad. Nick seemed unaware of her activity and continued, “Mr. Duncan, I think we should follow your recommendation and stand down operations for the security sweep you suggested.” Mr. Duncan was clearly confused, “Security sweep?….I’m not…..” Mr. Duncan paused. It became apparent to Jenna that Megan had sent some type of message to Mr. Duncan and he resumed his response with enthusiasm, “YES. The security sweep from noon today until ten AM tomorrow…do we…do I need more time to do this sweep? Nick was clearly enjoying this and replied, “Now, Mr. Duncan, we can’t hold up the program too long…noon today until ten AM is all we can afford I’m afraid.”

Megan had continued typing while they talked. Mr. Duncan then added, “Very well, I’ll send out….” At that moment a message marked urgent popped up on everyone’s tablet. The conversation stopped as everyone read it. It said,

CODE ALERT! MESSAGE IN TWO PARTS TO FOLLOW:

CODE ALERT – PART ONE: All non-critical operations will stand down after countdown initiation. Today at noon, all non=critical mission operations will stand down until 10 AM tomorrow. All non-critical task and all meetings are to be rescheduled. The Office of the ESEP’s Director will issue a new schedule later today. All questions and concerns should be forwarded to that office.

CODE ALERT – PART TWO: Security will be performing a routine security operation from noon today until 10 AM tomorrow. This was planned but unannounced for security reasons. This is not in response to any known issue or concern, but a test of pre-departure security. Thank you for your cooperation.

Mr. Duncan then resumed, “Correction, I’ve sent out a message to all…I think it’s all…operations….Actually, Director, I would like to do a security sweep of both ships and Earth Prime.” Nick looked at Jenna on his monitor and she nodded. Nick said, “You have the Rear Admiral’s approval and…” Nick looked back at Megan who was once again typing, then he continued, “I’m sure Claude will be contacting you shortly with his approval.” Mr. Duncan said, “Excellent, thank you.”

Nick continued, “How’s the new pilot doing?” “She’s a little rattled right now,” Jenna replied. Jenna had a pilot in mind to replace Dane, but it turned out the pilot was in training to advance to Captain and would have had to give that up to go on the mission. Jenna and Ken bypassed the top two candidates suggested by the Director and offered the position to the third person on the list.

Nick decided to ask, “Why did you select Keira over the others?” Jenna smiled, “We liked her.” Nick was not going to accept a non-answer, he said, “She was kicked off one ship for insubordination and she was the pilot on the shuttle crash eleven months ago.” Jenna replied, “It was because of those events that we selected her. The ship she was kicked off of was captained by Williams, who you fired this week, and on the shuttle crash, everyone walked away, which, under the circumstances is a miracle. She’s been tested and proved herself.”

Nick smiled and said, “I’ve learned to trust your judgement. In fact, Megan gave me the list with Keira’s name at the top, and I moved her to the third option.” Jenna said, “You need to stop doing that. Megan’s way smarter than all of us.”

Nick smiled and glanced over his shoulder at Megan at her station. She was involved in a video call with three other people. Nick quietly said, “I found her in a bottle walking on a beach” Megan looked over her shoulder at Nick and said, “I heard that….Master,” and then resumed her video call.

Nick and Jenna both laughed. After a moment Nick became serious and said, “There is some cargo coming up to you that we need to talk about.”

Jenna’s smile disappeared.

Top To Bottom

13 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, communications, Crew Alert, crew morale, crew recovery, Dane Paris, death, Earth, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, family, grief, loss, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, shuttle, space, space travel, spacecraft

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Tuesday, Sol 38 (1.1.38) 8:47 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Wednesday, 10 February 2016 3:30 PM PST

CREW ALERT! Text in three parts to follow.

CREW ALERT: PART ONE – Effective immediately all non-critical functions are to be suspended. The evening and night shifts are suspended for at least on day. Crew will go to minimal schedule for the remainder of the day and a team from Earth Prime will come onboard to assume routine duties for at least 24 hours. These team members will be on temporary orders and report to the Command team of the QE II.

CREW ALERT: PART TWO – Effective immediately, Dane Paris has been reassigned to temporary duty at the San Jose Space Center in California and will report to Nick Castillo, ESEP Director.

CREW ALERT: PART THREE – Dane Paris lost his wife and mother-in-law in a traffic accident this morning. His father-in-law is also in very critical condition from a heart attack that occurred prior to the traffic accident. Dane will be leaving on a shuttle in the next hour to be with his thirteen year-old daughter.

Jenna looked up from her pad and looked at Nick on her monitor and said, “Does Claude know yet?” Nick smiled and said, “Megan just wrote this, I didn’t know until now.” Then the smile disappeared, “No. No one has been contacted. This needs your approval before we can act.” Jenna knew that Nick’s assistant, Megan, was good at her job, but the Crew Alert message she put together was perfect. She anticipated the steps needed to respond to the crisis and worded the message in a way that put the action first and the reasoning last. People would stop reading after they learned of the tragedy.

Jenna said, “Send it out and tell Megan she’s brilliant.” Nick’s smile returned and said, “Now you know runs the show around here.” Jenna and Ken smiled, then Jenna said, “Tell Claude to send over four people if he can spare them, and if we need more we’ll work it out with him. Also, his medical team should be on standby. Our medical team is going to be working with the Counselor for the next 24 hours.”

Nick said, “Good. Now from the top. Mission? Jenna looked at Ken and both nodded. Wade said, “We’re still go.” Nick continued, “Orbital transfer date?” Ken asked, “How long until we have a replacement?” Nick said, “Megan’s putting together a list of six candidates now. I’ll rank them and send you the list within an hour. All six candidates are receiving orders to immediately go to Peru. If needed, we’ll put all six on a shuttle and have them at Earth Prime within 48 hours.”

Jenna interrupted, “Nick, we will choose someone by the end of the day. I already have someone in mind that Ken and I need to talk about. If he agrees, we will offer him the job later today.” Nick replied, “We’ll continue to move the six to Peru until we have a confirmed replacement.”

Jenna turned to Ken and said, “What do you think?” Ken said, “I can think of at least three people who could sit in the pilot’s seat in two days and be ready to leave on the 24th. I say go.” Jenna turned to Nick and said, “We’re go on the date.”

Nick then said, “Crew recovery?” ESEP had protocol for how to deal with a crisis and then return back to a normal schedule. It was flexible based on the nature of the crisis. It required an assessment of ability of the team to focus on their job responsibilities. Jenna thought and then said, “The Command team will discuss it, but right now I’d say the crew will be at fifty percent tomorrow, 75% on Thursday, 85% on Friday, and 95% by Monday. I think we can resume light duty tomorrow, and a full schedule by Saturday. Nick was always impressed by Jenna’s ability to realistically analyze a situation.

Nick said, “Question Marks?” Jenna thought for a moment and said, “Paige. I didn’t know about her friendship with Dane, so I don’t know the impact. I’ll know in a couple of days.” Nick frowned and then added, “Okay, I’m sending up a list of Comm Officers. Choose one of them and we will reassign that person to Earth Prime. If you need to make that change I want to have them within walking distance.” Nick paused and then said, “Great job today.”

Jenn replied, “It’s not over yet.” At that moment Megan approached Castillo and gave him a piece of paper. He read it and then looked up at the camera and said, “Dane’s father-in-law was just died.”

Taking Care of Family

12 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, communications, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, HD cameras, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, science, space, space travel, spacecraft

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Tuesday, Sol 38 (1.1.38) 8:17 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Wednesday, 10 February 2016 3:00 PM PST

The three of them in orbit watched helplessly on Wade’s monitor as the ESEP Director, Nick Castillo, had been sidetracked by an uncooperative, and now former, Captain. Castillo handled the problem efficiently, but onboard the ESS Queen Elizabeth II a personal crisis was unfolding as their pilot, Dane Paris, was about to learn of a tragedy in his immediate family.

Rear Admiral Jenna Wade was startled by a call to her pad from Dane. She hesitated, but then responded, “This is Jenna.” Dane’s voice was unsure, “Admiral, I was called to my quarters for a call from the Director of ESEP and I’ve been on standby for over thirty minutes. Do you know what is going on?” She knew she couldn’t seem evasive, but she also couldn’t tell him two close family members had been killed and another one was in the hospital over the COMM link. She said, “I’m talking to the Director now, and he’s been dealing with a personnel issue while we’ve been on standby. Why don’t you come to my quarters and you can talk with him as soon as he’s available.” Dane replied, “Okay, thanks.”

When she looked up she saw Nick Castillo on her video screen listening to her conversation. Castillo said, “Jenna, I know you can handle this, but I’ll be happy to tell him, or I can let you do it and I’ll standby if he needs to talk to me.” Wade replied, “I think it’s good for him to understand your investment in the situation. When he gets here I’ll tell him, but I think it would be best if Wendy, Ken and you were visible to him.” All nodded in agreement.

Stevens quickly jumped in, “Director, do we know the condition of his father-in-law?” Castillo, glanced back at his assistant who was on a video call to someone at her workstation, but she seemed to sense Castillo was looking at her and she looked back while still talking to the other person. Castillo said, “I’ll have Megan get an update, but our last report said he was critical, on life support, and possibly brain-dead.” His assistant waved her acknowledgment without breaking her focus on the video call.

Stevens jumped in again, “Director, if you don’t mind I’d like to send Earth Prime’s Counselor down with Dane. This is going to hit Dane in stages and he will need someone with him at all times.” Castillo responded, “Of course. We can get Nirav back up in a few days, or they can reassign someone to replace him.” Stevens then said, “I’m recommending a Type I Recovery authorization because of the circumstances.” Castillo responded, “Send me the request and I’ll sign off on it and put it in place today.”

A Type I Recovery was the highest level of ESEP family support. It was a support plan for a person or family dealing with the loss of a high-profile employee under public circumstances. It involved Security for the family as well as constant in-home assistance by ESEP Counselors who could authorize almost any expenditure for the comfort and support of the survivors. It normally wasn’t meant for the death of family members, but in this case the media attention would likely be overwhelming once word got out.

Stevens then said to Wade, “We should bring Paige in.” Wade looked confused and Stevens continued, “Paige and Dane have been spending a lot of time together.” Wade said, “I didn’t know that,” and then she touched the icon for her COMM Officer and said, “Paige, please report to my quarters.”

There was silence for a few moments and Wade was feeling for Dane’s loss. She said, “Dane’s daughter is twelve.” Stevens corrected her, “No, she’s thirteen. She had a birthday last week.” At that moment a crisp chime sounded. It was the door chime.

Wade opened the door and saw Dane and Paige standing there. Wade waved them in and asked Dane to come over to her workstation. Stevens moved in next to Paige and put her arm around her. Dane looked quizzically at Hart and Paige looked quizzically at Stevens. Dane saw Castillo standing in his office on Wade’s monitor.

Wade didn’t wait for Dane to ask any questions, she just started by saying, “Dane, the Director has just informed us about some tragic news in your family. Your father-in-law had a severe heart attack this morning and was taken to the hospital. Trice went over to take her mother to the hospital and they were in a car accident. Trice and her mother were killed.”

Wade knew to let this set in for a moment, but she also knew that Dane’s mind would be racing as soon as the reality of the news hit him and so she tried to talk before his emotions exploded and he stopped listening.

Wade continued, “We’re trying to get an update on your father-in-law’s condition, but at last report it was extremely serious.”

Wade paused, then continued. “We’re sending our staff to pick up Abigail from school and they will take care of her until you can get to her.”

Wade paused, then continued again, “The Director has ordered a shuttle to take you back to the surface. It will be ready to leave Earth Prime in a little over an hour.”

Dane asked the most important question on his mind. “Does Abby know?” Now Castillo spoke up, “No. Not yet. We wanted you to tell us what to do. She is getting out of school about now and we can arrange for you to video her there, or we can take her home. We can also tell her if you would like.”

By this time Paige had moved over and put her arm around Dane. She now understood why she was there. Dane said, “I’d like to tell her…as soon as possible…she’ll be scared if she doesn’t understand what is going on….I need to pack…”

Wade had seen this before. It was all starting to hit him. Dane would have a blur of thoughts looming in his mind and then fading away as the next thought consumed the first. He would effectively be non-functional for several hours.

Wade began mapping out the next steps for everyone, especially Dane. “Paige, you and Wendy take Dane back to his quarters to call Abby and pack. Ken and I will join you there in a few minutes. Paige, only pack what he needs for the next few days. I’m going to ask you to pack up the rest of his stuff after he is on the shuttle.” Wade knew that Paige would likely need to have a schedule of tasks in order to deal with Dane’s tragedy. She also suspected that it hadn’t set in with her that her friend would not be going to Mars with her. Counselor Stevens was going to have an intense few days as Paige and the crew absorb the ramifications.

Dealing with people in crisis was familiar territory for Wade. She started repeating information to Dane multiple times to keep Dane from shutting down. Wade grabbed Dane by the shoulders and said, “Dane, you need to get over to the shuttle after you talk to Abby and pack. Nirav, the Counselor on Earth Prime, is going to join you. Dane, we will arrange to have someone with you all the way back home and you will have ESEP staff at your home to assist in any way needed.”

Wade avoided the issue of Dane being removed from the first Mars mission. It was too complicated to discuss now and it was just one more tragedy to pile on everything else he had to deal with today.

Stevens stepped in and shepherded Dane and Paige to the door. Paige suddenly realized she had left her post temporarily and needed to let someone know she was not returning immediately. She turned to the Admiral and said, “My post…” Wade replied, “I’ll inform Naomi of the situation. For the rest of the day you are temporarily assigned to Wendy.”

The three of them left. Wade looked at Hart. For a moment they both felt the magnitude of what had happened, but both of them knew that they would have to stay on task until all the pieces had been put back together.

Wade asked, “Ready?” Hart nodded that he was, and both of them turned their attention to Castillo who had watched the drama unfold as he stood in his office 2,500 kilometers below. Castillo broke the silence, “Do you want to do this top, down?” Wade answered, “Crew announcement first, then top, down.”

Bad Attitude

11 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, communications, crew morale, Earth, Earth Space Exploration Program, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, fired, HD cameras, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, science, separation, shuttle, space, space travel, spacecraft

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Tuesday, Sol 38 (1.1.38) 7:47 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Wednesday, 10 February 2016 2:30 PM PST

Rear Admiral Jenna Wade, Commodore Ken Hart, and ship’s Counselor Wendy Stevens had all just been informed by the ESEP Director, Nick Castillo, that their pilot, Dane Paris had just lost his wife and mother-in-law in a car accident after his father-in-law had been taken to a hospital following a severe heart attack. Castillo had said he couldn’t inform Dane of the tragedy until Wade had made a decision, but he didn’t say what that decision was about.

Wade, Hart, and Stevens knew what he meant. After the commissioning of the ship and crew, ESEP had to let the Mission Commander make any decisions that impacted the ship or mission. Wade turned to Hart and said, “I’m willing to hear Dane out if he wants to stay, but I think he has to go to his daughter. What’s your view?” Hart didn’t hesitate, “If he wants to stay I will try to talk him out of it. For his sake and for his daughter’s sake.” Castillo jumped in, “Wendy, do you concur?” “Absolutely. How soon can we get him down?” she asked. Castillo glanced back and said, “We have a shuttle that just left 30 minutes ago. I’m calling it back and we can have him with his daughter sometime tomorrow.”

Castillo was about to say more when his assistant came up to him and whispered to him. Castillo turned angry and exclaimed, “What the hell?” and then he looked at them and said, “Standby, I still need to talk to you.”

With that he turned and went to his assistant’s station and put the conversation on speaker. Castillo said, “What’s the problem, Jake?” Jake was one of the pilots running shuttles and equipment from the surface to the orbiting spaceport, Earth Prime, where the Queen Elizabeth II and the Carl Sagan were currently docked. Jenna and Ken recognized him from past trips and when he interviewed with them to be on their crew. Jake answered, “No problem, it’s just that Captain Williams is asking me for further information and has ordered me to continue to de-orbit.”

Wade knew Captain Richard Williams. She had also interviewed him for the position on her crew. Williams was a former naval fighter pilot who had close friends in high positions in the U.S. Navy. He was arrogant and self-confident to the point that you couldn’t trust him to be realistic or honest about his crew or ship. Wade had no problem rejecting his application.

Castillo went into a low, measured tone in his voice. It was as if he was about to kill someone or something. Castillo slowly said, “Let me speak to Richard.” Jake looked over his shoulder and said, “Captain, Director Castillo wants to speak to you.” Behind Jake a man with short blonde hair that had receded far back on his head floated up behind Jake. He told Jake, “Put me on speaker, please,” and then said, “Good morning Nick, look we’re already on our way down and we’re at our maximum weight. There’s another shuttle leaving tonight, so we’re just going to stay on schedule and de-orbit.”

Wade hadn’t seen this in a long time. During her first years in the Royal Navy she would run into some arrogant Commander that would attempt to counter her decisions. What they didn’t know is that she always made sure that her superiors were well-informed and in complete agreement with the plan she had initiated. Typically, she would watch a Commander self-destruct in front of her when they tried to slap her down and humiliate her in front of her boss. She knew that Williams had no clue of what he had just done. It was uncomfortable to watch and she had a good idea of what was coming next.

Castillo became eerily calm when he said, “Richard Williams, you are relieved of Command effective immediately. You are to leave the Command deck and you are not authorized to make any further communications. You are to report back to Earth Prime where you will take the tonight’s shuttle back to Earth. Jake, I am temporarily promoting you to Captain. Just a minute.” Castillo could see Williams still floating behind Jake with a look of confusion on his face. Castillo continued, “Dick! Get off the Command deck!” Williams blinked, then turned and floated away.

Castillo then said, “Jake, can you get the ship back to Earth Prime immediately.” Jake smiled and said, “Yes sir, I’ll have her docked within the hour.” It was pretty obvious that Jake wasn’t smiling at the promotion, but at Williams visit with karma. Jake obviously disliked being under Williams command. Castillo then said, “Do you have anyone from Security on board?” Jake replied, “Mr. Soon is on board.” Castillo said, “Have him contact my assistant immediately and once you are back at Earth Prime contact my assistant for further instructions. You can plan departing within the hour after you return. Thank you, Jake”

Castillo touched an icon on his pad and a voice said, “Security Actual.” Castillo quickly said, “Mr. Duncan, Richard Williams is no longer employed. I am asking Mr. Soon to take charge of him on the Tortuga, at Earth Prime, and then on the shuttle tonight. Would you deactivate his authorization and have a detail meet him with his belongings when he lands tomorrow and then escort him home and collect any ESEP material.” The voice replied, “Done.”

Castillo then touched his pad again and another voice with a French accent said, “Earth Prime Actual, how may I help you Director?” Wade and Hart recognized it to be the voice of Claude Dubois, the Commodore of Earth Prime. Castillo said, “Claude, the Tortuga is returning to you under my orders. We have a crew member on the QE II that has had a family tragedy and he needs to get back on Earth ASAP.” Claude somberly replied, “Very well, we will take care of it.” Castillo continued, “Claude, I have also fired Richard Williams. Would you confine him to quarters and then send him back on tonight’s shuttle. Mr. Soon will be in charge of him.” Claude’s voice betrayed his glee, “Of course.”

Family Crisis

10 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, communications, counseling, Counselor, crew morale, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, family crisis, HD cameras, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, space, space travel, spacecraft

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Tuesday, Sol 38 (1.1.38) 7:17 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Wednesday, 10 February 2016 2:00 PM PST

Each crew member on the ESS Queen Elizabeth II carries a personal tablet or pad that connects them to the ship and the onboard communications system. It can be used for video calls between crew members or to any department of Earth Space Exploration Program (ESEP) Command.

However, normally tablet communication is audio only and off ship communication is channelled through the Comm Center on the ship or through workstations around the ship. This protocol can be bypassed under certain circumstances, so when Rear Admiral Jenna Wade pad indicated she had an incoming call on her tablet from ESEP Actual, she knew it was important.

“This is Mars Mission Actual,” she said. The Director of ESEP, Nick Castillo was not usually somber, but his voice had a very serious tone as he skipped all pleasantries and said, “Jenna, I need you in your quarters for a video call. I also need Ken and Wendy there.” Wade knew there was no point in asking why. Castillo clearly needed to discuss something without anyone else hearing the conversation. Jenna said, “On my way.” Wade was about to end the call when Castillo added, “Jenna, I also need Dane to go to his quarters and wait for a call.” Wade simply said, “Acknowledged.”

From Castillo’s tone and instructions Wade knew there was some type of emergency and everything else would have to wait. Wade called Commodore Ken Hart and Counselor Wendy Stevens and told them to report to her quarters immediately. She then decided to have Paige Flores, the Comm Officer, contact Dane Paris. The Comm Center contacting Dane for a private video call would not be unusual, but coming her it would indicate something ominous.

Wade had surmised that this must be a personal issue for Dane as the ship’s Counselor would not be needed if the emergency involved the ship or the mission. As she arrived at her quarters Wendy Stevens was waiting outside. Stevens said, “What’s up?” Wade said, “Nick wants to talk to us, but it must be something about Dane.” As they were going in Ken Hart arrived and asked the same question. Wade said to both of them, “Nick has something for us and Dane has been asked to go to his quarters for a call, my best guess is a major personal issue.”

Wade crossed to her office and touched a flashing icon. Immediately Castillo was on the bigger video monitor over Wade’s desk. He was standing in his office talking to his assistant who was a younger woman whose focus was solely on her boss. He turned to them and said, “My apologies, give me a moment.” He then turned back to her and said, “Tell the pilot to hold station until further notice. Let him know the Tortuga may have to go back.”

At that point she turned to a console behind them and a man sitting at a Command station on a shuttle appeared. She was talking to him she was on a headset and was obviously trying not to disturb her boss’s conversation with them. Castillo came closer to the camera and said, “Jenna, Ken, Wendy, we have a problem that is going to affect your team. About seven hours ago Dane’s father-in-law had a severe heart attack and was picked up by ambulance.”

Wade’s heart sank, but Castillo went on, “For whatever reason his mother-in-law stayed behind until Dane’s wife arrived. The two of them were driving to the hospital, and I don’t have all the details yet, but apparently they arrived at a light that had just turned green and the went through when another car was racing through the intersection trying to beat the red light. They were hit square on the driver’s side and both Dane’s wife and mother-in-law were killed.”

Wendy spoke immediately. “Does Dane’s daughter know?” Castillo said, “Not yet. She gets out of school in about 45 minutes and we’ve asked the police and the school to let us handle it. Dane’s mother and sister live in Denmark and his wife’s sister lives on the East Coast. There is no family near his daughter…uhm…,” Castillo glanced at his pad, then continued, “Abigail, to pick her up or stay with her.”

Two minutes ago, Dane Paris was preparing for a trip to Mars. Everything in his world was about to change.

Castillo continued, “I asked you to order Dane to his quarters so he would be occupied while we talked. Dane has checked in with us and is standing by. Before we talk to him I need your decision Jenna.”

The Missing Piece

09 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, counseling, crew morale, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, psychology, science, space, spacecraft

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Friday, Sol 34 (1.1.34) 9:51 PM NST
Earth Date/Time: Sunday, 7 February 2016 2:00 AM PST

The wine and the late hour was starting to wear on both Wade and Stevens. They had gathered at 5:00 PM for the Admiral’s Mess with the rest of the Command team. It was now five hours and later and they were still dealing with ship business.

It was Counselor Stevens job to constantly assess the crew and tonight was her first chance to speak privately to Rear Admiral Jenna Wade since she came on the ship. Wade shifted in her chair and leaned forward to pick up the wine bottle and pour more wine in Stevens’ glass, then she finished off the rest of the wine in her glass. Wade said, “You’ve read my file, you been on board for a week, what’s your opinion?”

Stevens was being backed into a corner, but she expected nothing less from Wade. Normally she would turn this around and tell the crew member that she needed to ask the questions, but Wade was not a normal crew member…or normal human.

Steven’s began, “You are one of the most interesting persons I’ve ever encountered. Your father was an engineer and your mother was a psychologist. Both had advanced degrees and you were a late, only child. You honored both your father and your mother by double majoring in engineering and psychology and you did it in five years. You then got your masters degree in social psychology with a thesis that involved the social dynamics of sailors on a Royal Navy ship.”

Stevens stood up, took a sip of wine, stretched, and then continued, “And then things become interesting. Whether it was because of your thesis or because your grandfather was an officer in the Royal Navy, you joined and attended officer training at Dartmouth. Upon completion you served ten years in the Royal Navy, the last five on the HMS Illustrious. As I said before, you were probably in line for a prestigious post on the newest British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth II, but you left the Royal Navy in 2010 to join the ESEP.” Stevens paused again and sat down.

Wade sat in silence. She knew Stevens would have looked at her record, but she was surprised at the detail that Stevens could recall. Stevens either had an amazing memory or she was very intrigued by her history.

Stevens resumed, “I couldn’t find an unenthusiastic review of your work in your file. Everywhere you’ve been your superiors gush over your skills of managing people, logistics, and just getting things done. It seems like the harder the task, the more you dive in and find the answers.”

Wade said, “You certainly know my history. I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone my grandfather was an officer in the Royal Navy.”

Stevens replied, “It’s my job to find out more than what’s in the file; however, I’m missing part of the picture.” Wade knew what Stevens was probably talking about, but decided to play dumb. She inquired, “What part?”

When you were vetted they only found one significant relationship and that was for two years and you ended it with her shortly before you joined ESEP. My experience has been that work is often a substitute for harder things like relationships and that usually is a personality time bomb. Care to fill me in?”

Wade knew that any good psychologist would see the obvious lack of a personal life and be concerned. She had self-assessed her lack of relationships and it was the part of her life that she found uncomfortable.

Still, she confronted challenges and she knew it would be better to be open with the Counselor than to let her guess. Wade looked down at her glass and then looked at Stevens and began,

When I was in Secondary school I fell in love with a young man who I believed was my perfect match. We were together for over a year and I was sure we would get married after graduation. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the same plan and we broke up. My mother helped me work through the loss, but it changed our relationship. From then on she questioned me incessantly about any potential relationship and it became easier to simply avoid them. College gave me a chance to focus on my education and career goals and I didn’t have time to become romantically involved.” Wade took her last sip of wine.

After a moment Wade began again, “The Royal Navy was virtually the same as school. No time to become romantically involved and there were the of issues with rank and sex. I did have one night stands, but never with a sailor or officer. I also discovered that I enjoyed being with a woman as much as a man.

While I was still in the Royal Navy I had met someone in Portsmouth and we kept in touch. At some point we started becoming serious and we moved in together. It was fine as long as I had time away, but it became tedious the more time I spent at home. I eventually decided to make some changes in my life and leaving her and the Royal Navy were those changes.”

Stevens sat in silence for a moment then suddenly said, “OK,” and stood up. She continued, “Another psychologist would have a field day with this, but I just want you to be aware that we should talk about any romantic feelings you develop on this mission for a crew member. You know from your naval experience the complications of romantic relationships; however, ESEP’s position is that crew romances are okay as long as they are consensual, open, and don’t distract from the duties and mission.

My concern is that if and when you begin having romantic feelings that you might need help on how you construct a new personal life within the confines of this monster of a task you have taken on. You are an extraordinary person who has done extraordinary things and will continue to do amazing things. I will be there if things get out of your comfort zone and I don’t expect you’re going to give me much work unless you catch a love bug. Fair enough?”

Wade smiled and stood up. “Fair enough.” Stevens then said, “Get some sleep, tomorrow is another long Mars day.” With that Stevens turned and walked toward the door. Wade followed her, told her thanks and good night and closed the door.

Wade was impressed. She had not expected Stevens to validate her life path and put her lack of relationships as a cautionary concern, rather than a psychological red flag. She began to realize why the Nick Castillo, the ESEP Director, recommended her as ship’s Counselor. She collected the wine glasses and the empty bottle then stopped.

“Damn, she’s good,” Wade quietly said to herself.

Wine For Two

08 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, Counselor, crew morale, engineering, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, Jenna Wade, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, physician, science, space, space travel, spacecraft design, Wendy Stevens

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Friday, Sol 34 (1.1.34) 9:21 PM NST
Earth Date/Time: Sunday, 7 February 2016 1:30 AM PST

Roman Guzman, the Director of Engineering had left the Rear Admiral’s quarters 45 minutes ago, and the ship’s physician, Kayla Summers just left. Rear Admiral Jenna Wade was now alone with Wendy Stevens.

In the last two hours they had discussed the mental and emotional health of the entire crew, with the exception of the four people who were in the meeting. Wade knew what came next.

Stevens began, “Why did you select Guzman?” Wade replied, “You mean to bring into this meeting?” Stevens responded, “No, I know why you did that. He needs to see the bigger picture and you included him so he would understand the human aspect of this mission…but why did you select him for the crew, and as the Director?”

Wade had been asked to be the Director of the first Mars mission almost three years ago and the given the Commander position in late 2014. She didn’t immediately pick her crew, but rather choose people to work in various functions on the project and evaluated them as potential crew members. She had brought Guzman into ESEP within weeks of taking the Director job in 2013, and he was the first person to be selected on her crew. No one had ever asked why.

Wade said, “You know I brought him into ESEP before right after I was made project director.” Stevens said, “Yes, and I know he came out of the Royal Navy like you did, but he served on one of the ships after you, correct?” Wade smiled and said, “Sort of, I was a Commander on the HMS Illustrious until 2009 and then left the Royal Navy for ESEP in 2010.” Stevens interrupted, “You were a shining star on the Illustrious and the Royal Navy probably wanted you for the HMS Queen Elizabeth II.”

Wade laughed and said, “I was good at handling events and planning and we were the best ship the Royal Navy had left for PR events. As for the HMS QE, I would have liked to serve on her, but I’m not convinced she’ll ever come out of dry dock. Regardless, after I left the Illustrious was put into a refit. As it was it was coming out of the refit they were having multiple systems problems. In early 2011, I was asked to take a short leave to return to the Illustrious to get it back on schedule.”

Stevens interrupted again, “And that’s when you met Roman Guzman.” “Not exactly,” Wade replied, then continued, “There was a Chief Engineer on the Illustrious that was a blowhard. I kept after him for answers to a fuel flow problem we were having and he kept giving me excuses. Then one day the problem is solved and the Chief Engineer claimed the solution came to him in a dream. I didn’t buy it and six months later I learned that it was Roman Guzman who figured out the problem and fixed it. I started looking into his record and realized he either was consistently lucky, or very talented in solving problems.”

Stevens said, “He tends to have a myopic view.” Wade replied, “Show me an engineer who doesn’t. He’s loyal to the cause as long as he knows he’s part of it. Are you concerned?” Stevens thought for a moment then said, “Knowing his history helps. It sounds like he is very protective, but that’s okay providing he doesn’t mark out his territory and go to war with you.” “Not a concern.” Wade said, “If he jams in his heels it’s for good reason, otherwise, he’s a team player.”

Wade decided it was time to move on, “Dr. Summers?” Stevens took a drink of wine and said, “I can’t tell much about her that you don’t know. Unfortunately, it will be a crisis situation where I’ll have the best opportunity to assess her, but that probably won’t happen until we’re in route to Mars.” Wade tried to reassure her, “Summers has a lot of ER experience. I think she will be fine.”

Wade knew they had come down to the final crew assessment and said, “And what about me?”

After Dinner Conversation

07 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, biology, communications, crew morale, engineering, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, physician, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Friday, Sol 34 (1.1.34) 7:21 PM NST
Earth Date/Time: Saturday, 6 February 2016 11:30 PM PST

The first Admiral’s Mess was now approaching two and a half hours. Rear Admiral Jenna Wade said, “Let’s save something for us to discuss at Mess tomorrow. I’d like Wendy and Dr. Summers join me in my quarters. Roman would you join us also.”

Roman Guzman was the Director of Engineering so he could see no logical reason he would be invited to join the Admiral and the ship’s Counselor and physician for a meeting. At the beginning of the Admiral’s Mess he had made the mistake of complaining about the Counselor, but the Admiral had already dealt with that in an not-so-subtle manner.

They cleared their food containers and then divided up. Pierce was on duty tonight and headed to the Command deck to check in. Hart went to his quarters below and Lanny Deaton headed to his quarters in the Science Quill. The rest of the Command team followed Wade to her quarters in the same section as Commodore Hart.

Command quarters were twice the size of the regular crew quarters and included a bathroom with a shower. Crew quarters were roomier than one might expect on a spaceship, but they were primarily a place to sleep. Command quarters were a place to sleep, work, and meet with small groups.

Rear Admiral Wade’s quarters were functional, and well kept. The video displays on the wall showed a live view of the outside of the ship with Earth in the background. This view wasn’t an accurate placement of the real scene as the Quill they were in was spinning at the rate of two revolutions per minute. The rest of the walls were of a two-hour looped recording of a tropical scene with a waterfall. The exception to this were a video console and monitor over a work station in her ‘office.’ There the displays were of ship systems and status reports.

Wade invited the three to sit as she gather glasses and a bottle of wine from a locker on the wall. She started pouring wine and Guzman quickly said, “None for me, Admiral.” She replied, “Do you have a drinking problem?,” She knew the answer as she would not have put a recovering alcoholic in charge of Engineering. He said, “No.” Then she followed up and asked, “Do you drink wine?” Again, she knew the answer when he said, “Yes.” Wade then smiled and said, “Good. Consider this an order: You will drink a glass of wine. That goes for the you two,” Stevens and Summers looked at each other and said, “Aye, aye, Rear Admiral.”

As Wade passed out the glasses of wine she said, “Roman, I wanted you to join us so we could talk about the process of ongoing crew assessment. As I said at Mess, we are entering the unknown when it comes to the impact of stress and isolation on our crew. We can’t just fire someone and get a replacement, so we have to assess and respond to issues before they become a crisis. Wendy, would you explain our system.”

Wendy set down her glass and said, “I look at every crew member from three perspectives. I talk to them and try to understand their self perception, I talk to others to determine what they perceive about the crew member, and finally, I develop my own perceptions of the crew member. I then send a video report of my findings to a team of psychological and sociological professionals on Earth. They then develop a plan for me, for the Team Director, and for the Command staff that is designed to meet that crew member’s psychological and emotional needs.”

Guzman said, “It sounds like you have us down to a fine art.” Wade replied, “We don’t, but it’s not like we’re working with a propulsion gun and we know exactly what output each pellet will have. We are working with perceptions and with imperfect humans. We are not trying to manipulate people, just keep a constant awareness of their mental state and, when needed, step in with support.”

Stevens said, “You should also know that our assessment process on this first mission is as much about research as it is counseling. The hope is that by closely monitoring our crew, the ground team will develop better strategies to help crew members on future missions.”

Wade took back the conversation, “At least three times a week the three of us will meet to discuss crew member assessments. When the plan involves taking action to address the acute needs of a crew member we will likely bring the Director over that crew member into our meeting so that everyone is on the same page. Periodically, we will bring in a Director to review all of their team members. Since you’re here tonight, Wendy, let’s run through the Engineering team.”

Guzman took a big drink of wine.

Admiral’s Mess

06 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, crew morale, engineering, ESEP, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, Jenna Wade, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, physician, Roman Guzman, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, Wendy Stevens

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Friday, Sol 34 (1.1.34) 05:21 PM NST
Earth Date/Time: Saturday, 6 February 2016 9:30 PM PST

During the construction and configuration of the ships people tended to adapt to the pattern of sleeping and eating that worked best for them and the team they worked on; however, now that the crew worked in shifts a pattern of eating and sleeping at coordinated times began to take hold.

It had been six days since commissioning of the ships and crew and Rear Admiral Jenna Wade decided to resurrect a time tested naval tradition, the Admiral’s Mess. Wade served ten years in the Royal Navy and though she had been with ESEP for the last six years, she still kept the military culture as her internal guide.

Almost all of the Command team had gathered already and had selected and prepared their supper. This was a process of grabbing the ration container scheduled for the meal, placing in a doorless, microwave-type device and attaching it to a sensor/tube connector. The sensor identified the meal, added appropriate amount of water vapor and/or steam to the each section of the container to hydrate and thaw the food. At that point the induction plate under the ration heated each section to its correct temperature.

When the ration was ready the person disconnected the tube, removed the top cover, and the food was ready to eat. The ship did have some raw food on board, and the means to prepare it; however, preparing meals was among the lowest priority on this mission, and with the exception of special occasions, it was designed to take the minimal amount of time.

Six of the seven members of the Command team had gathered in the fifth section of the Command Quill. They were already eating their rations and were sitting at a bar-like table that surrounded the central corridor of the Quill. It was an odd place for eating because anyone moving up from the Command living quarter or moving down from the Command deck would pass through the eating area.

However, it did provide an eating arrangement where everyone faced each other, which promoted interaction between people. That was considered vital by ESEP as the crew would function better if involved in social activities during the months and years they would be disconnected from civilization.

Already at the bar were Rear Admiral Jenna Wade; Commodore Ken Hart; the Communications Director, Naomi Pierce; Science Director, Lanny Deaton; Engineering Director, Roman Guzman; and Dr. Kayla Summers, the ship’s physician.

Admiral Wade broke in on the casual conversations, “Our Counselor will join us in a minute, but we should probably begin.” Guzman jumped in, “Regarding Dr. Stevens, I know our team members have to meet with her after we are underway, but she has already been taking my team away for her sessions. Is there a way you can tell her to back off until after were underway?”

Wade calmly looked at Guzman, and said, “First, no one is ever to call her ‘Dr.’ Stevens. She has doctorate degrees from both Stanford and Harvard, but she and ESEP share concerns about the perception of the title of Psychologist or Doctor. If you go to someone to get medical help you want to know they are a professional, but if you want to have someone open up about their concerns and fears they need to be perceived as someone they can talk to at their level.”

The rest of the Command team looked uncomfortable in their chairs. Wade’s had yet to respond to Guzman’s question, but everyone knew he was about to be slapped down hard.

Wade continued, “Each person here has an important function to perform for the success of this mission, but none of us can function without the entire crew working together. In addition, we are about to leave civilization as we know it and experience stress and separation that will test even the most stable person. Wendy’s function is to assess our crew and determine the needs and limitations before we have a crisis.”

Wade paused and nobody said a word. Then she continued, “Before we leave Earth I want to know if we have anyone who shouldn’t be leaving with us, so in answer to your question, yes, Wendy will be interviewing, and re-interviewing your crew, and unless it is at a critical time in your area, Wendy will have full access to everyone on board at anytime.”

“Sorry I’m late. What did I miss?,” Stevens said as she joined the rest of the Command team at the bar. She was met by silence, then Wade said, “I was talking about the crew evaluations your conducting. How are they going?”

Commissioning Ceremony: Queen of Mars

05 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, crew morale, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, Governor of Mars, Jenna Wade, JPL, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, NASA, science, space, space travel

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Sunday, Sol 29 (1.1.29) 1:41 PM NST
Earth Date/Time: Monday, 1 February 2016 2:37 PM PST

The promotion of Captain Hart to Commodore presented an interesting problem. Normal navy ranking placed a Commander below the rank of Captain. This had not been an issue as Commander Jenna Wade had been placed as the ranking officer of the Mars Mission and Captain Hart’s ships were to serve that mission.

However, as Commodore, Hart’s rank was two steps over Commander Wade and the difference would be hard to ignore as both Hart and Wade were both former naval officers. Wade was not the type to be concerned with a rank or title, but it did raise the question of what would happen if Hart and Wade disagreed on an issue?

The crew may have been aware of this issue as quiet discussions among them continued after the applause died down. Castillo became aware of this and decided he needed to keep the ceremony moving. The Director of ESEP once again gave Mr. Duncan a signal. Mr. Duncan moved forward to the edge again and then announced, “COMMANDER WADE, REPORT!”

Mr. Duncan’s attempt to bring order to the section have the effect it should have so the new Commodore stepped forward next to Mr. Duncan and announced, “CODE ALERT!” The crew instantly returned to attention as Mr. Duncan and Commodore Hart stepped behind Castillo. By this time Wade had arrived at the side of the ESEP Director who began again,

Commander Wade, the Earth Space Exploration Program has designated you as Commander of the Mars Mission. We also designate your crew of 27 astronauts listed in your orders, and any subsequent additional and/or replacement personnel to be under your command until such time as you are relieved of you duties on the Mars Mission.

Unlike the promotion of Captain Hart to the rank of Commodore, this announcement was merely a formality. Jenna Wade had been their leader for the past year and she had already been designated as the Mars Mission Commander. There was polite applause, but it wasn’t the wild applause of the last announcement. Castillo quickly waived for the applause to stop and then resumed,

However, in order for you to fulfill your responsibilities we are promoting you to the rank of Rear Admiral in accordance to naval tradition.

The Command deck exploded with applause as Wade’s new rank was not only deserved, but necessary. Castillo was not finished and he continued,

Jenna Wade, ESEP has decided that while the Mars Mission is one of exploration, it is also one that must consider the human and societal aspects of creating a community on another planet. Therefore, on the day that the first plant sprouts in any habitat on Mars, that location will be considered a colony of Earth and you are designated to act as Governor of Mars until such time as relieved of that duty by order of ESEP.

Castillo had done it again, but this time surprise was more of shock. All the discussions of ESEP’s mission to Mars had carefully avoided the mention of colonization for fear of reviving memories of disastrous efforts on Earth to colonize less developed countries in past centuries.

However, there was a reality that the ESEP administrators knew had to be addressed. Three more missions would arrive at Mars while Wade’s team was still there. Would the new missions have a different command, and how would each mission integrate with the priorities established by the first mission? Someone had to be that leader and the highest ranking officer of the first mission was the logical choice.

Commander Wade’s personality and background also qualified her for the position. The problem was that no one had discussed this with her, and making the announcement to the world at the same time she learned of it was forcing her to accept the decision.

She knew she would be the ranking officer until she returned to Earth and she knew she would have the most information and knowledge of any mission Commander, but Governor of Mars was a more powerful position and it came with more responsibilities.

Still, the declaration was a smart move for ESEP. It gave them over two years to assess the situation and determine who should be the next Governor of Mars. When she returned to Earth they would have a new Governor in place and the program would move on. With Wade as Governor, it effectively ended any issues of an arriving Commander conflicting with the established procedures and protocols.

Still, Wade was caught off guard. She felt flashes of embarrassment, pride, and anger. She knew the public announcement was meant to avoid discussion and forced her to accept the decision, but to the people watching it was a great honor that was being given to a rising hero of humanity.

She composed herself and fought back the emotions. At this moment she must show humility and acceptance of this honor. Later she would take Castillo to quiet place and inform him of her displeasure of how this was handled.

Commissioning Day: A New Command

04 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, astronauts, Captain Ken Hart, Commodore Hart, crew morale, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, JPL, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, NASA, science, space, space travel, spacecraft

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Sunday, Sol 29 (1.1.29) 1:29 PM NST
Earth Date/Time: Monday, 1 February 2016 2:25 PM PST

The possibility that carbon dioxide was building up to dangerous levels in the Command deck once again crossed Castillo’s mind. He shook off the thought and continued the ceremony. He leaned to Mr. Duncan and quietly gave him a ‘go’ signal.

Mr. Duncan was a former Marine and he was all business. His function at ESEP was Director of Security. Castillo knew Duncan was the person to bring order and dignity to this ceremony.

Duncan marched to the edge of the platform, looked straight ahead and announced, “CAPTAIN HART, REPORT!” Captain Hart, also former military, moved to Castillo and stood at attention. Castillo began,

Captain Kenneth Hart, you are given the command of the Queen Elizabeth II and also of the Carl Sagan. Upon arrival at Mars you will establish and assume command of Mars Spaceport Prime.

However, we have learned we have a problem.

When her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth was briefed on this mission she apparently pointed out an issue we have overlooked. She asked how can one person be Captain of two ships. She is, of course, correct. For this reason ESEP has promoted you to the rank of Commodore effective immediately.

During the enthusiastic applause Castillo took a small open box with his Commodore’s new insignia and a folder containing documentation of his new rank and his written orders and gave it to Hart.

Hart was not forewarned that he was being promoted. As he absorbed the announcement he realized that ESEP had solved an issue that he hadn’t thought of before. His status as Commodore would place him in charge of all activity to and from Mars Spaceport Prime, which would be odd for a Captain. Promoting him to Commodore made perfect sense.

Castillo reached out and shook Hart’s hand and warmly congratulated him, then leaned into him and quietly asked, “Are we going to have a carbon dioxide issue in here?” Hart replied, “You mean too many sets of lungs in here?” Trying not to show concern Castillo said, “EXACTLY!” Hart leaned into the Director’s ear and said, “No, we’ve upped the air. We’re good.” The Director smiled with relief and said, “Oh thank goodness, the last thing we need is alarms going off during the ceremony.” Hart replied, “Oh we turned off the alarms. If there is a problem we’ll all just die.” Hart smiled and backed away. Castillo hoped he was joking.

Commissioning Day: Queen Elizabeth II

03 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

artificial gravity, astronauts, Commissioning, communications, crew morale, engineering, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, JPL, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Standard Time, NST, Pacific Standard Time, Queen Elizabeth II, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, Time, Time Zones

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Sunday, Sol 29 (1.1.29) 1:10 PM NST
Earth Date/Time: Monday, 1 February 2016 2:06 PM PST

Many of the same people present on the Command deck of the ESS Sagan were now present on the Command deck of the ESS Queen Elizabeth II. The main difference was the presence of all 28 members of her crew. QE II Plaque

For years engineers, scientist, and crafts people had been thinking, planning, designing, and building on a dream to send humans to Mars. Now the entire program became real. Today, two ships and a crew of 28 would officially become Earth’s first interplanetary ambassadors.

Commander Jenna Wade began the final Commissioning ceremony with a nod and one word, “Captain.” At that Captain Ken Hart followed the same procedure he had done earlier in the day and broadcast a “Code Alert,” which meant everyone to standby for an important message to the crew.

As the Captain, anyone on his ship, with the exception of Commander Wade, was subject to his orders; however, this ceremony included many more people than those standing in the Command section. Around the world millions of people watched as this group of people orbiting 2,500 kilometers above Earth were witness to history. Today Earth would commission the ships and crew to be committed to take humanity to the fourth planet.

After this morning’s ceremony Earth had commissioned the ESS Carl Sagan. Now, the second ship, the ESS Queen Elizabeth II and the entire crew would be commissioned.

Again, it was Nick Castillo, the Director of the Earth Space Exploration Program or ESEP, that would conduct the ceremony. In his hands he held two cloth covered plaques. Everyone knew one was the ship’s plaque, but the other object was a mystery.

Castillo stepped to the edge of the platform near the center of the Command deck and began,

For over a century we have pretended that we still had ‘frontiers’ on Earth. There are many things we still need to explore and understand on our planet, but no place on Earth is really a frontier. This ship and crew, along with the sister ship the ESS Carl Sagan, are reviving the exploration of a true frontier.

Since 1960, Earth has sent 46 unmanned missions to Mars. Only one-third of them made it. The ones that did make it have given us volumes of data; however, the knowledge we have gained about Mars and interplanetary travel will double within one year after we set foot on Mars.

Human exploration is the most efficient way to truly explore a frontier as vast as Mars, and now we are ready to step past the millions of kilometers between Earth and Mars and write the next chapter of human knowledge.

Castillo paused as the everyone applauded. He looked around and realized that this was the largest group of people to ever gather in space. At that moment it hit him. His smiled suddenly disappeared. What would happen if the carbon dioxide in the air rose to toxic levels? He briefly considered stopping the ceremony, but then quietly reassured himself that alarms would go off if there was a problem, so he continued and hoped that the ceremony wouldn’t end in an embarrassing scramble for oxygen,

On the 24th Earth day of this month, and the 51st Mars day of Sur One, this ship will lead humans to another world and they will do so on a ship named after one of history’s most constant leaders, Queen Elizabeth II. For over sixty years she has served as Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Today we thank her for service to humankind and name this ship in her honor.

Castillo removed the cloth from one of the covered objects and held it up for the remote cameras to zoom in on while the section was filled with clapping. He then handed to plaque to one of the ESEP VIP’s standing behind him, and then Castillo continued,

As the first ship to begin our human journey to Mars it has been designated as the Flagship of Earth’s coming fleet of ships. It will pass this designation to the ESS Carl Sagan once the two ships integrate, but it will retain Flagship status anytime she flies as an independent ship.

It has also been decided that the ESS Queen Elizabeth II will be the first ship to carry back a crew from Mars in April 2017.

He unveiled the second plaque designating the QE II’s Flagship status and again held it up for all to see. After a brief period of applause Castillo handed the second plaque to the man behind him and turned to one of the other ESEP VIP’s who looked more serious than the rest and said, “Mr. Duncan, if you please.”

Commissioning Day: Seeking the Incredible

02 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, Carl Sagan, communications, crew morale, engineering, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, HD cameras, High Definition, JPL, Mars, science, space, space travel, spacecraft design, Time

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Sunday, Sol 29 (1.1.29) 9:10 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Monday, 1 February 2016 10:06 AM PST

Several of the remote-controlled cameras inside the Auxiliary Control Deck, or ACD, were active and broadcasting the scene on the ESS Carl Sagan. One of them zoomed in on a man standing on the sixth deck of the ACD holding a flat object covered in a soft cloth. He was Nick Castillo, the Director of the Earth Space Exploration Program or ESEP. Castillo looked at the 21 people in the Command Deck and then began,

Carl Sagan said, ‘Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.’ Today, I stand on the Command Deck of a ship that will take us in search of the incredible. Often space programs justify their existence by explaining that what we learn out there will help us better understand our world. This is true, but the exploration of space elevates us as a species.

We are not merely seeking a better understanding of Earth, but a better understanding of the human being and the context in which we all exist.

The incredible awaits us and now we have Archimedes’ lever that will take us there. This ship, the Earth Space Ship Carl Sagan, is that lever that is big enough to move our world to Mars.

Almost fifty years ago we took a step off our home world and landed on the Moon. The impact of taking that small step has carried humans into a new age of technology and economic success. It is long overdue for us to take the next step.

The Carl Sagan will not take our crew to Mars to touch it and quickly run back home. Almost all of this ship will stay in orbit around Mars, or serve as human’s first habitat on the surface of another planet.

With this ship we honor Carl Sagan for his vision, his brilliance, and his love for humankind. Without people like Carl Sagan we would still be nomadic tribes subject to the whims of nature and superstition.

And so, on behalf of the Earth Space Exploration Program, I commission the Earth Space Ship Carl Sagan. May she take us to the incredible and beyond.

As everyone applauded he uncovered a plaque that had the name of the ship and an image of the man for which it was named. People moved to Castillo and shook his hand.

Captain Hart moved over to Commander Wade and said, “Do you suppose Carl Sagan ever imagined this?” Wade looked at him and said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he meets us on Mars and offers to show us the sights.”

Commissioning Day: The Carl Sagan

01 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Mars calendar, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2016, artificial gravity, astronauts, communications, crew morale, engineering, ESEP, ESS Carl Sagan, ESS Queen Elizabeth II, gravity, JPL, Mars, Mars Mission 2016, Mars time, NASA, Noctis Standard Time, NST, science, space, space travel, spacecraft, spacecraft design, Time, Time Zones

Mars Date/Time: Year 1, Sur One, Sunday, Sol 29 (1.1.29) 9:04 AM NST
Earth Date/Time: Monday, 1 February 2016 10:00 AM PST

There was no doubt this was the Auxiliary Command Deck or ACD, but it was odd. It was designed to be functional in a weightless or gravity environment. It was a ten meter diameter section with multiple layers of control stations down its thirty meter length. It looked like a nine-story silo with partial decks reaching out to the center. On each deck there were chairs facing the outside wall.

The walls had video displays that extended up to the ceiling and on each screen were live images of inside sections of the ship, the view around it, data or information vital to ship operations, or personnel on the QE II, Earth Spaceport Prime, or at one of the ESEP Earth-based Centers.

Each deck hung in space. They extended toward the center, but stopped leaving a two meter circular corridor the length of the Command section. In addition, each floor had three gaps with ladder-like rungs protruding out of the wall to allow crew members to easily move between floors.

Only six mission members were in the ACD of the Earth Space Ship (ESS) Carl Sagan, named for the famous scientist who rebooted science in the minds of millions of people.

Eight more managers and directors of Earth Spaceport Prime were also loitering in the ACD. They needed no tour because most of them had been intimately involved with configuring both ships in advance of this first human mission to Mars.

The rest of the crew was on board their sister ship, the ESS Queen Elizabeth II or QE II. In three weeks all 28 crew members would leave Earth orbit for Mars. This ship would be piloted by remote control to meet up with the QE II a few days after it left Earth orbit.

Carl Sagan, 1934-96, Scientist, Author, Educator, Visionary

Ann Flores, the First Officer, kept checking her monitor. She was following the progress of the VIP tours being conducted by Captain Ken Hart and Commander Jenna Wade. They were leading six Earth Space Exploration Program (ESEP) executives around the ship in two groups. The ESEP Center Director, Nick Castillo, was with Captain Hart’s group and they were returning down the Quill to the ACD.

Captain Hart and his tour slowly descended down the guide pole in the central corridor into the ACD. Flores quickly turned from her monitor and stood at attention and announced, “CAPTAIN ON DECK!” Immediately the crew moved to the edge of each of their floors and stood at attention.

The Captain said, “At ease.” and then he looked at Flores and frowned. “We’re not going to do that all the way to Mars are we?,” he asked. “It is protocol, sir,” she replied.

The Captain moved his VIP’s to the Command Floor. Just as they settled in on the Captain’s section Flores announced, “COMMANDER ON DECK!” Again, the crew stood at attention as Commander Wade and her tour descended to the Commander’s section across from the Captain.

Wade looked at the Captain and said, “That’s going to get old, quick.” Hart replied, “She’s enthusiastic,” and then added, “Today is a day for formality. I’m sure we won’t be ‘announced’ once were underway.” “Good.” Wade said, “This isn’t the Enterprise.”

Castillo interrupted, “I believe it’s time.” Wade looked at Castillo and nodded, then turned back to Hart and said, “Captain.” At that the Captain pulled out his tablet and hit the COMM icon and said, “All hands, all ships, this is the Captain, CODE ALERT!” At that all the crew members on both ships stood at attention their stations watching the screen in front of them. Around the Command Deck life-sized screens showed astronauts at attention on both ships ready for what was to come.

Hart then announced, “Crew of the Carl Sagan and Queen Elizabeth II, standby for an announcement by ESEP Director Nick Castillo.”

Noctis on Mars

~ A Real Time Virtual Mission To Mars

Monthly Archives: February 2016

Leap Day Interception

Number 29

Extra Equipment

The Second Push

48 Seconds of Failure

The Big Silent Bang

SPECIAL BULLETIN: Orbital Transfer Firing Event

Au Revoir

Leaving Port

Security Breach

Red Handed

Rat Trap

Stowaway

Talking Paige

Trust and Betrayal

Valentine Gifts

Valentine’s Night

Top To Bottom

Taking Care of Family

Bad Attitude

Family Crisis

The Missing Piece

Wine For Two

After Dinner Conversation

Admiral’s Mess

Commissioning Ceremony: Queen of Mars

Commissioning Day: A New Command

Commissioning Day: Queen Elizabeth II

Commissioning Day: Seeking the Incredible

Commissioning Day: The Carl Sagan