CHAPTER 12 – PHASE THREE
10:18 (GMT)
Tuesday, November 21, 2045
MCC (Mars Colony Craft) 001 flying rover transport craft
On approach to Olympus Mons
5,800 kilometers west-northwest from Mars Base One
‘’We are on final approach to Olympus Mons, guys. Do you want me to land in a specific region of the volcano or do you want us to first overfly it, Roman?’’
Roman Denisovich, who was leading this prospecting expedition, thought for only a short moment before pointing the ridges marking the south and southeast limits of the huge extinct volcano to the pilot of their craft.
‘’Land at the western extremity of those southern cliffs, Peter. They mark the limits of where the crust sank below the mountain’s base due to the weight of all that old lava. The cliffs should tell us a lot about the kinds of minerals that are contained in Olympus Mons. Also, our unmanned drones indicated that there was a significant magnetic field emanating from that area.’’
‘’You’re the boss, Roman.’’ replied Peter Walsingham, who played with the flight controls of his craft to both slow it down and to cut their descent rate. Their flying rover transport craft could have been mistaken for a simple but large wheeled rover vehicle if not for the chemical rocket engine with pivoting gas exhaust nozzles and large fuel tanks attached to its back. It couldn’t be said to be aerodynamic for one penny and overall was rather ugly, but it was in Walsingham’s opinion a well-designed and eminently useful and versatile vehicle for the Mars astronauts. The two recently-delivered craft had quickly received the nickname of ‘grasshopper’ from the colonists, because of their ability to both roll on the ground for long distance, thanks to their ten large wheels, and for their ability to rocket their way around Mars in elongated ballistic trajectories with the help of their rocket engine with vectoring exhaust nozzles, which made possible vertical takeoffs and landings. With Mars Base One facilities now including operational chemical production plants using only local minerals and water for the local production of N2O4 oxidizer and of MMH rocket fuel, the colonists could now refuel at will their new vehicles without having to wait for rocket fuel coming from Earth at tremendous transportation cost and time. With such vehicles now at hand, along with a number of much smaller flying scooters, the colonists were now free to roam most of the planet in order to find mineral deposits that could ensure the long-term viability and self-sufficiency of the colony. Mars Base One was already self-sufficient in terms of potable water and oxygen extracted from Martian brine and could already provide for a sizeable proportion of its needs in vegetal foodstuff, on top of having a very productive poultry farm that now provided a steady supply of fresh eggs. The one area where the colonists were still having problems was with the production of fresh milk and meat. The two attempts to date to bring to the surface of Mars at least a couple of dairy cows had ended in failure, with the poor beasts dying during transport due to the rough conditions during shuttle atmosphere reentry.
Checking his descent rate via his instruments, Peter Walsingham made his craft perform a ninety degree turn eastward, then rotated downward his rocket engine nozzles to slow down his craft’s fall. Two minutes later, the ten large wheels of his vehicle, mounted on independently sprung suspension arms, touched down on the thick dust and sand surface of the planet. Peter didn’t lose a second and switched on at once the geared electric motors incorporated into each of the ten wheels, making the rover roll forward at a speed of about twenty kilometer per hour. As the rover rolled past the six kilometer-high cliffs, keeping a rough separation distance of 500 meters with them, Roman and his three geologists eagerly examined the rocky walls of the cliffs with the help of their binoculars and of the powerful optical telescope attached to the swiveling camera mount fixed above the crew compartment, in the nose of the rover. Roman spoke with near glee as he looked at the near vertical walls of the cliffs they were passing by.
‘’With so much lava having flowed and accumulated over and under the slopes of Olympus Mons, there should be a treasure trove of useful ores here, ready to be exploited by us. In fact, much of this planet’s surface is made of igneous material disgorged by old volcanoes like this one. While we already found numerous large deposits of aluminum, magnesium and titanium ore around our base and Melas Chasma, we should find here plenty of iron ore deposits worthy of exploitation.’’
Peter Walsingham, who was periodically checking the sensors readings of the rover, then made a remark that made the geologists glanced at the rover’s magnetometer.
‘’Well, I would say that we are getting close to one big deposit right now, Roman: our magnetometer is starting to become crazy.’’
Excitement mounted suddenly in Roman as he looked at the magnetometer’s readings.
‘’That magnetic field seems to come from around our ten o’clock. Turn in that direction and get as close as you can to the base of the cliffs, Peter.’’
As the pilot obeyed him, all the geologists pointed their binoculars in the said direction.
‘’That part of the cliffs stands at the end of a large trench complex formed on the volcano’s slopes by a collapsed network of underground lava tubes.’’ said Yves Dorval while scanning visually the surface of the cliffs dead ahead. ‘’This would be the ideal kind of terrain to find big ore deposits. From the strong magnetic signature we are getting now, my bet is that we are heading towards a significant deposit of magnetite.’’
‘’I concur!’’ replied Frey Thorvalsson, who was a volcanologist on top of being a geologist. Being highly concentrated on visually examining the rocky cliffs ahead as the rover kept approaching them, he was the first to notice a particular area at the base of the cliffs. It appeared to be the denuded end of an old lava tube filled with solidified magma and it was huge, measuring a good three kilometers in width and over two kilometers in height in its part emerging from the dusty ground at the base of the cliffs. It was distinguishable mostly thanks to its deep black color. What was however truly attracting Frey’s attention was the fact that the low Sun’s rays reflected on many parts of the rock surface with a kind of metallic luster. A big grin then came on his face.
‘’Guys, I believe that we are now approaching one hell of a huge deposit of magnetite ore filling that old lava tube dead ahead.’’
The three other scientists, on hearing him, immediately concentrated their attention on the said lava tube, taking only seconds to agree with him.
‘’Damn, you are right, Frey!’’ said Tim Garland. ‘’From the color and degree of light reflection, I would add that this looks like an ore vein with a very high concentration of magnetite. If so, this could become a prime location to mine iron for our nascent colony. I can’t wait to go collect samples from that rock face and analyze them.’’
‘’Well, we came here to do just that, Tim.’’ replied Roman, sounding happy. ‘’Peter, get us to the foot of that lava tube. We will then go out to take samples of those rocks. Let’s start selecting and unpacking our equipment, guys.’’
Some twelve minutes later, the big rover stopped and parked a mere forty meters from the rock cliffs. Peter felt relief when he saw on his instruments that the cliff overhang above him now masked the rover from much of the cosmic radiations showering constantly the surface of Mars.
‘’Good news, guys: the cliff overhang we are under has cut the cosmic radiations we were receiving in the open by 74%. This spot could actually be a good one to eventually locate a mining base.’’
‘’That’s to my liking, Peter.’’ replied Roman, who was about to enter the airlock of the rover with his three geologists. ‘’It will also help cut on the amount of radiations we will absorb while working outside.’’
Peter nodded grimly to that: radiation exposure was a constant danger on the surface of Mars, the lack of a magnetosphere around the planet and the thin atmosphere allowing the constant rain of charged particles from cosmic radiations and from solar wind to bathe Mars with little or no attenuation. Scientists studying that problem via explorer drones and satellites had calculated that astronauts exposed to typical levels or radiation on Mars and in space during a 880 day mission would receive a total radiation dose of a bit over one sievert, enough to increase by five percent the risk of developing a fatal cancer. For the colonists on Mars who were going to spend their whole lives on the planet, finding ways to decrease their exposure to radiations was not only important, but also vital to their survival.
Carrying a variety of prospecting tools, instruments and sample boxes, the four geologists, led by Roman Denisovich, eagerly walked to the nearby base of the cliff, which was partially covered with dust, sand and fallen rocks. Spreading out first, in order to collect as varied a set of mineral samples as possible, the four men then started eagerly chipping away at the black rock face with their prospector picks. It took them only a few minutes before attaining a consensus.
‘’That’s magnetite ore alright.’’ said Frey Thorvalsson on the radio. ‘’Judging by the size of this vein, I believe that we have here at the minimum a few million tons of high grade iron ore, my friends.’’
‘’I believe that you can add some appreciable quantities of chromite ore to that, Frey.’’ added Yves Dorval. ‘’My laser spectrometer is reading a magmatic differentiated layer here as being made up of chromite.’’
‘’Hum, finding sizeable ore sources for producing both iron and chromium this early in our prospecting expedition is certainly a very encouraging thing.’’ said Roman, feeling most happy. ‘’If this vein does go deep, like for more than a few kilometers, then we will have found a most valid site for our first planned mining center. I can’t wait until cargo ships could deliver our first mining equipment set. Okay, collect and tag a few samples here, then we will get back in the rover and continue exploring the base of Olympus Mons. With luck, we should find plenty more ore deposits, both around and at the top of the volcano.’’
The next five days of prospecting around and on Olympus Mons proved Roman correct, with multiple large ore deposits of the various forms of magnetite, including ulvinospinel, an ore containing titanium, plus many deposits of chromite and of olivine, or magnesium iron silicate, found. The prospectors also stumbled on a vein containing the gemstone form of olivine, better known as peridot, a green, translucent crystal. At the end of those five days of hard work, the team was ready to fly back to Mars Base One, where they were going to be able to make more complete analysis of their samples.
After landing on the open canyon floor of Melas Chasma, outside Mars Base One, the team’s flying rover rolled up the access ramp built a year and a half ago and drove down the tunnel leading to the rotunda sheltering Mars Base One. However, the rover had to first cycle through a giant airlock before it could enter the rotunda. The recently completed airlock, along with four more airlocks plugging the ancient lava tubes connecting with the huge underground dome of the rotunda, was designed to be large enough to let pass craft as big as cargo landers, manned landers and heavy orbital shuttles. With those multiple airlocks in place, it had then become possible to fill and pressurize the rotunda with breathable air, which had been heated to a most tolerable 22 degrees Celsius. Now, the Martian colonists were finally free to walk around the wide rotunda without having to wear a spacesuit. That had constituted a vital, crucial step in making the colony more livable in the long term. To help fully take advantage of that huge step, the colonists had brought in from the outside large quantities of Martian soil, then had spread the soil in a thick layer over the rocky floor of the rotunda. In about a month, a number of cargo landers were due to bring in hundreds of young trees, which were then going to be carefully planted around the rotunda, where they would grow to eventually become the first forest on Mars.
After emerging out of the entrance airlock of the base, the flying rover turned left and followed a wide paved surface roughly following the southern wall of the rotunda, until it stopped on the refueling pad of the base. There, four technicians who had been waiting for the MCC 001 came forward and, using electrical elevating chariots, plugged two liquid transfer hoses to the tanks of the flying rover: one for the N2O4 oxidizer tank and one for the MMH fuel tank. Refilling the tanks of the rover took only minutes, after which Peter Walsingham made his vehicle roll to its assigned parking spot along the southwest wall of the rotunda, next to the already parked MCC 002. Yves Dorval couldn’t help hesitate for a second before opening the visor of his spacesuit, once he was out of the rover with his five companions: the time when you had to go around the rotunda with a sealed spacesuit was only a month ago. He then looked around and up at the powerful floodlights installed around the upper levels of the rotunda in a manner to provide indirect light to reflect against the ceiling of the cavern. Also installed around the rotunda were water sprinkler systems meant to wet and irrigate the new soil cover, which had been planted with grass seeds and a number of potted plants, berry bushes and small fruit trees.
‘’I hope that we will find a lot more such underground caverns that we could pressurize and landscape like this one: they make the perfect locations for our future cities. Too bad that we found up to now only one similar cave with access to water.’’
‘’Oh, I am confident that we will, Yves.’’ replied Roman. ‘’The morphology of Mars points to the probable formation of many such underground domes and I would in fact not be surprised at all if we found an underground rotunda under the slopes of Olympus Mons, or under one of the three volcanoes of the Tharsis Rise. Well, let’s hop on that electric cart and go to the main habitat: I am getting quite hungry.’’
‘’I’ll second that!’’ added the big and powerful Frey, who had a legendary appetite. Acting on that, the five men put their precious samples boxes in the back of the cart, then sat in it, with Peter then starting to drive it towards the original complex of pressurized habitat modules built some eighteen months ago.
Their first concern after taking off their spacesuits in the dressing room module of the base and putting on their ‘fat suits’ was to go secure their sample boxes inside the geology lab module. As soon as that was done, Tim Garland excused himself with the others while walking out of the lab in somewhat of a hurry.
‘’Please excuse me for leaving this quickly, guys: I really missed my little Jason during those five days.’’
His companions smiled in comprehension at that: Tim was the proud father of a six week-old baby boy, which he had conceived with the pretty Jodi White, a New-Zealander agronomist who had arrived at the base some ten days after the initial surface team.
‘’Smooch him for me, Tim!’’ nearly shouted in response Peter Walsingham before thinking out loud to himself. ‘’Damn, I better get myself a nice woman before I become too old to make kids. Maybe I should start using my charms on Layla.’’
‘’Naah! Too late!’’ retorted Frey Thorvalsson. ‘’She is already taken.’’
‘’Taken? By who?’’
‘’By me, of course!’’ said Frey with a big grin. ‘’You think that I would have let such a pretty woman walk around without noticing her? More importantly, she noticed me: us Nordic hunks always have a big effect on women.’’
‘’Yeah, the old Viking effect indeed: they invaded other countries and took women there because their own women were tired of their big hunks.’’
While Frey made a falsely indignant face at Peter’s retort, the three other men burst out into laughter at that barb from the British pilot.