Hard science topics, especially on space exploration, are always a panel or a presentation at Armadillocon.
“Space Tries to Kill You” (7 August 1100 HRS) featured moderator William Frank, NASA Chief Training Officer, backed up by panelists Alan J. Porter, Marina Lostetter, Avery Parks, Dantzel Cherry, and Stina Leicht with lots of audience interaction. He said that there would be no Kobayashi Maru an unwinnable scenario that requires reprogramming the computer to win. Instead, Bill Frank read scenarios, and then first the panelists and finally the audience offered their solutions to the emergencies. Throughout, Frank congratulated everyone on our clear thinking and encouraged us to apply to NASA.
There was a call for drones.
Frank said that orbiting is not possible but station-keeping is.
Another problem is that our billionaire boss who funded the mission scrimped on the budget and left out something we need now.
There was more discussion as the panel talked out this first exercise.
You wake up and smell smoke.
- Alert the crew.
- Call Mission Control.
- Locate the source and open the vent to vacuum.
- [etc.]
- [etc.[
- Cut off power to the source
- Get a portable vacuum cleaner because that will show the flow of smoke from its origin.
- Push the FIRE alarm.
- Leave. Close (open) (seal) all vents. Shut down the module.
- Do not fight the fire.
Fire hangs in a sphere because there is no gravity. (I did not shout out that this has been known since 1857 and John Leonard Riddell’s “Voyage to the Moon.”)
11. There are two smoke masks for the crew.
12. Troubleshoot the problem.
Among the crew were two millionaire space tourists and it was suggested with some humor that perhaps we did not need to alert them. In fact, said William Frank, you can assume that everyone has been trained in all procedures. So, consider them part of the crew.
You are in a standard capsule (Apollo, Soyuz, Boeing Starliner, etc.). You have failure to separate from the booster.
After much questioning for details and suggestions that were rejected as unworkable, we were told to abandon the crew module, get into the capsule, separate, and abandon the failed booster and module.
 |
| I provide this here and now to help visualize the problem. There was no PowerPoint. |
Bill Frank said that your priorities are:
- Crew safety.
- Vehicle safety.
- The mission.
Several times, it was suggested that our billionaire boss cut corners. In the final scenario, Stina Leicht said that our boss was a libertarian so our safety was not his concern. Personally, I thought that was disingenuous. Libertarians join the rants against crony capitalism and the incompetent narcissists who rake in the loot from what was classically called “rent-seeking” and in the case of the Former President was literally and truly rent-seeking from artful deals involving eminent domain.
Other Panels and Break-out Sessions
Search Engine Optimization for Writers and Artists (12:00 Noon. Matthew Bey Moderator with Porter, Hardwick, Chang, and Sarath, all with SEO street cred.) I took a lot of notes. When I tried it the next morning, nothing worked. Apparently, Google Blogger works very differently than WordPress. I could follow none of the pathing. One thing I can do is go back and put alt text descriptions in all of the illustrations. I never cared if this blog was popular. I get paid to write for others. Here I write for myself. After 11 years, I have had over 424,000 page views mostly in the USA with occasional spikes from Russia, India and China; and yet only seven followers.
Ask an Archaeologist with Dr. Betsy Bevis. (2:00 PM – back on civilian time). Prof. Bevis’s specialty is classical archaeology, the Greeks, Romans, and their contextual civilizations. It is an area that I know well enough having written a dozen articles about classical and archaic numismatics for The Celator. She was informative, enlightening, engaging, and lively. She exposed errors in popular media such as The Mummy and she spoke candidly though carefully about the relationships that are subjected to trial by ordeal on a dig. (It can cost you your marriage, your career, and your friendships.) During her presentation, Dr. Bevis did have some problem with environmental noise impacting her hearing but we all worked with her on that and no one was left out.
Howard Waldrop: A Fireside Chat with Mr. National Treasure (15:00 hours).
We all enjoyed his flowing monologue across many streams of thought and experience about how books become movies (or not). “People ask me how I’m doing. Hell, I’m in assisted living and they let me out once in a while to do things like this, you know, so that’s it…. Now, speaking of Felicia Day, as I was saying awhile ago…”
PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS
Elon Musk and the Audacity of Entrepreneurship
“Star Trek: Discovery” and the Conflict of Values
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