Question What do you want in a Base?

[T.Neo]

I am casually ugrading Olympus base, and I wanted to know what people want from a base.

I have seen an "olympus upgrade" on OH, but I want to do something differant, immersive, like Acension Wideawake on Mars.

Any suggestions?

 

[penlu]

Vertical launch sites, communications towers, hangars, a decent taxiway system, a runway or two maybe, and of course inflatable domes and habitats, etc.

 

[yagni01]

Retractable dome landing pads like Clavius Base might be fun.

 

[Imagineer]

... a runway or two maybe...

The atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars is rather low.

Do the math:

How much ground speed will you need to lift off? About 500m/s

What kind of tires will hold together when turning that fast?

How much runway do you need to take off? About 10km + a few more km to slow down in the event of an aborted takeoff.

That would be some runway! :speakcool:

 

[C3PO]

The atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars is rather low.

Do the math:

How much ground speed will you need to lift off? About 500m/s

What kind of tires will hold together when turning that fast?

How much runway do you need to take off? About 10km + a few more km to slow down in the event of an aborted takeoff.

That would be some runway! :speakcool:

:rofl: True, but you could have a dirt RWY for unmanned resupply gliders, or just a target for airbag bouncing.

Oh, and a toilet.:lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

You can also land on a short runway on mars, but not unpowered. Imagine flying a Cobra for landing. In fact, one autopilot idea for the Black Dart was making such a landing automatically.

 

[C3PO]

You can also land on a short runway on mars, but not unpowered. Imagine flying a Cobra for landing. In fact, one autopilot idea for the Black Dart was making such a landing automatically.

Are you talking about hover assisted landings?

 

[Urwumpe]

Are you talking about hover assisted landings?

No, about a powered glide Hover landings would require more fuel than that.

 

[C3PO]

No, about a powered glide Hover landings would require more fuel than that.

Yes, but a powered landing would mean a of a rollout on Mars.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yes, but a powered landing would mean a of a rollout on Mars.

Not really, imagine flying at more than 90° pitch. But other than a hover assist landing, you can still use aerodynamics. You just have to do the pitch down at the right altitude over the runway, at the right rotation speed. Such an approach works on Earth with TVC equipped jets, also automatic.

 

[C3PO]

Not really, imagine flying at more than 90° pitch. But other than a hover assist landing, you can still use aerodynamics. You just have to do the pitch down at the right altitude over the runway, at the right rotation speed. Such an approach works on Earth with TVC equipped jets, also automatic.

Now THAT's scary. I'll stick to a 30'ish AoA with hover assist, thank you.

You could use a Delta(winged)glider and use hovers to keep vertical speed down. They will also help to slow down. Real deltawings use high AoA's on approach/landing anyway.

 

[Eagle]

It will look more realistic if you give a little distance between landing zones and anything important. I'm rather surprised when I park a tail sitter at a base with an anonymous warehouse 4m from the main landing pad.

I might be better to space a little further than Wideawake does too. Mars has a thinner atmosphere so hot exhaust gasses aren't slowed in as short a distance.

Really, what I like is something that looks like it could really be built.

 

[Pilot7893]

Hangars of various sizes for my different ships. Maybe even a few vertical towers, for rockets on crawlers.

 

[T.Neo]

Maybe even a few vertical towers, for rockets on crawlers.

And just why are huge, crawler intensive rockets a good idea on Mars, an outback wilderness where everything is bound to break?

 

[Urwumpe]

What about having at least mobile general purpose service structures, which you drive to larger VTOL vehicles or rockets and which fully enclose it. Depending on the size you plan, you could make these fit comfortable on a typical truck sized vehicle.

Also, what about having the base underground, like you create a small hill, into which you have a "Cayenne Mountain"-like entrance.

 

[T.Neo]

Also, what about having the base underground, like you create a small hill, into which you have a "Cayenne Mountain"-like entrance.

That'll probably be what early Mars bases will look like, But I'm trying to stick more to the current Olympus base setup. Most structures will be underground, or at least covered with regolith, though.
The feature I'm currently thinking about is the underground hanger, it would be nice to have a hanger at Olympus that you can actually go into!

 

[T.Neo]

Here is the current status:

Here is the bigger picture:

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/gallery/data/500/thumbs/olympusimprovement.JPG
Any suggestions?

 

[Imagineer]

Any suggestions?

First, the "big picture" link points to the thumbnail.

Some Ideas:
1) A tower or observation window overlooking the landing pads and hangar.
2) Communications antennae. They're going to want high speed internet (with terrible latency :download: )
3) An obvious path to the gardens
4) Fuel storage tanks
5) Random weather stations and other gear.
6) Tire tracks and foot prints in the dust :dry:

 

[T.Neo]

First, the "big picture" link points to the thumbnail.

Gaw, darnit. I can never get images to work.

1) A tower or observation window overlooking the landing pads and hangar.

That is actually already there, on top of the hill, it just isn't very visible from above.

2) Communications antennae. They're going to want high speed internet (with terrible latency :download: )

That is next. However, you do realize that the internet on Mars takes 8-24 minutes to show a webpage from Earth? I'd get terribly frustrated with that.

3) An obvious path to the gardens

That is next. Shouldn't be too difficult.

4) Fuel storage tanks

This is coming up.
I'll have them further away from the main base, to be safe.

5) Random weather stations and other gear.

That'll also be next. I was thinking or a couple more hills in the area.

6) Tire tracks and foot prints in the dust :dry:

Hmmm, that would be a bit harder, since I don't know what is what on the surftiles, but I may make a "dirt road" mesh, that would be the paths that have been cleared of rocks and are used often.

Other then that, solar panels will be next. And maybe a nuke powerstation. Wouldn't want our colonists being left in the dark...

 

[AstroCam]

Read Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - nice description of the first 100 setting up a Mars base....

But yeah, a small PWR nuke reactor (Model it as a spacecraft - that way you can have it venting steam into the atmosphere ) with solar/wind power backups would probably be the way to go.