#Cryogenic Fuels

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), which are being developed for use in electric vehicles, rely on nanoparticles called catalysts to trigger electricity-producing reactions between hydrogen and oxygen. Most PEMFC catalysts contain platinum -- a scarce and precious metal. There is therefore a pressing global need to develop catalysts that can generate the most power while minimizing platinum content.

Manufacturers integrate these catalysts in complex assemblies called catalyst layers. Until now, they had to do so without a detailed picture of the resulting structure, as traditional imaging processes almost always cause some degree of damage. Vasiliki Tileli, head of the Laboratory for in-situ nanomaterials characterization with electrons in the School of Engineering, has found a way around this challenge. By imaging catalysts and their environment at below-freezing temperatures using cryogenic transmission electron tomography and processing the images with deep learning, she and her colleagues have succeeded in revealing, for the first time, the nanoscale structure of catalyst layers.

"We're still far away from PEMFCs without platinum, which is very expensive, so in the short term, we need to reduce platinum loading to make this technology viable for mass production. It's therefore imperative to understand how platinum sits in relation to other materials within the catalyst layer, to increase the surface area contact required for chemical reactions to take place," Tileli explains.

Read more.

[abcergh]

Global Cryogenic Fuels Market Size, Share, Growth Analysis, By Product Type(LNG, hydrogen), By Distribution Channel(Direct sales, distributors)

Global Cryogenic Fuels Market Insights

Global Cryogenic Fuels Market size was valued at USD 105.6 billion in 2021 and is poised to grow from USD 112.04 billion in 2022 to USD 179.93 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 6.1% in the forecast period (2023-2030).

Cryogenic fuels are fuels that are cooled to extremely low temperatures so that they can exist in a liquid state. The most common cryogenic fuels are liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX). These fuels are used in rocket engines because they provide high thrust with relatively low weight. Cryogenic fuels are stored in tanks that are heavily insulated to keep the fuel at its low temperature. Liquid hydrogen must be stored at a temperature of -253°C, while liquid oxygen must be stored at a temperature of -183°C. The use of cryogenic fuels is essential for space travel, as they provide the high thrust needed to escape the Earth's gravity and reach orbit. In addition to rocket engines, cryogenic fuels are also used in some high-performance aircraft engines and in some industrial processes that require extremely low temperatures.

The global cryogenic fuels market is expected to experience significant growth in the coming years, driven by various factors. The world is moving towards a low-carbon economy, and there is a growing demand for clean energy sources such as LNG, hydrogen, and biogas. Cryogenic fuels play a critical role in the production, transportation, and storage of these fuels. Industrial gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, and argon are used in various industries, including healthcare, food and beverages, electronics, and chemicals, among others. The growing demand for industrial gases is expected to drive the demand for cryogenic fuels in the future. Technological advancements in cryogenic storage and transportation are driving the growth of the global cryogenic fuels market. The development of advanced cryogenic storage tanks and transportation systems has improved the efficiency and safety of cryogenic fuel transportation. The development of infrastructure such as LNG terminals, pipelines, and storage facilities is expected to drive the growth of the global cryogenic fuels market. The construction of new infrastructure will increase the availability and accessibility of cryogenic fuels. Governments around the world are implementing policies and regulations to promote the use of clean and sustainable energy sources. This is expected to drive the demand for cryogenic fuels in the coming years. The shipping industry is adopting LNG as a marine fuel due to its low emissions and cost-effectiveness. This is expected to drive the demand for cryogenic fuels in the marine sector.

Global Cryogenic Fuels Market Segmental Analysis

Global Cryogenic Fuels Market is segmented on the basis of product type, distribution channel and region. By product type, the Cryogenic Fuels Market is segmented into LNG, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and others. By distribution channel, Cryogenic Fuels Market is segmented into direct sales, distributors, and online sales. By region, the Cryogenic Fuels Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America.

Cryogenic Fuels Market Analysis by Product Type

The dominating segment in the global cryogenic fuels market based on type is the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) segment. LNG is the most commonly used cryogenic fuel due to its high energy density, low emissions, and ease of transportation. The demand for LNG is increasing globally due to the growing demand for natural gas as a fuel for transportation and power generation. In addition, the increasing adoption of LNG as a marine fuel is also contributing to the growth of the LNG segment.

The fastest growing segment in the global cryogenic fuels market based on type is the hydrogen segment. Hydrogen is a clean-burning fuel that emits only water vapor and can be produced from a variety of sources, including renewable energy sources. The increasing focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the shift towards a hydrogen economy are driving the growth of the hydrogen segment. The use of hydrogen as a fuel for fuel cells, transportation, and industrial applications is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, driving the growth of the hydrogen segment in the cryogenic fuels market.

Cryogenic Fuels Market Analysis by Distribution Channel

The direct sales segment is expected to dominate the market due to the increasing demand for customized solutions and direct communication between the manufacturer and end-user. Direct sales involve the sale of cryogenic fuels directly from manufacturers to end-users such as industrial gas companies, energy companies, and transportation companies. This distribution channel is preferred by large end-users who require a high volume of cryogenic fuels and have the resources to handle logistics and transportation.

Distributors act as intermediaries between manufacturers and end-users. They purchase cryogenic fuels in bulk from manufacturers and sell them to end-users such as hospitals, research laboratories, and welding companies. This distribution channel is preferred by small to medium-sized end-users who require smaller quantities of cryogenic fuels and do not have the resources to handle logistics and transportation.

[apas-95]

Did you know that NASA engineers considered the failure rate of some critical shuttle parts to be about 1 in 100 (significantly greater than what NASA upper-management considered the failure rate to be, and what was considered at all acceptable by the certification process)?

Do you know that NASA engineers currently have no idea how many rocket launches the next mission in the Artemis program (in 2 years!) is meant to involve, because the mission plan relies on SpaceX being contracted to deliver a supply of cryogenic fuel to the crewed Orion (™ Lockheed-Martin) capsule in orbit - a procedure that 1: has never been attempted before on any spacecraft, let alone the Orion™ capsule, not even in uncrewed technology demonstration flights; and 2: would require an as-of-yet unknown number of SpaceX 'Starship' launches, because said vehicle does not actually exist at time of writing?

Did you know they're planning on using this 'starship' as the crewed lander? A design for a lunar ascent vehicle, that is, that does not use hypergolic fuel, that relies on a swing-out crane as the only entry and egress point? During the original moon landings, the LEM had so many redundant methods to make sure it got astronauts off the surface of the moon, that in the most absurd, extreme case, where every single mechanism fails, there's a procedure trained into the astronauts to climb around the outside of the capsule, take a pair of bolt-cutters from the equipment box, physically cut the couplings holding the capsule to the lander stage, and take off to get home. Artemis' proposed lander, on the other hand, is planned to be a vehicle whose design didn't even include heatshields until it was realised it would obviously need heatshields, which are ceramic tiles bolted after-the-fact directly through the steel hull, because SpaceX had decided to mass-produce the original-design hull sections all at once for all the 'starships' first, before doing any integrated testing.

We're seeing the exact attitude that led to the shuttle disasters not being prevented now expressing itself in (and even through) the Artemis program, a project pushed harder and faster through the gates than it should be, by a government (and NASA administration thereby) desperate to advance the eponymous Artemis Accords (that goes unsigned by China, Russia, and much of the world) and reneg on all previous space charters that onsidered ownership, commercial exploitation, and military usage of space forbidden. Something bad is going to happen, and it's going to happen for the sake of SpaceX and the military-industrial complex at large.

[marketreportsdiscovery]

Cryogenic fuels are fuels that require storage at extremely low temperatures in order to maintain them in a liquid state. Cryogenic fuels most often constitute liquefied gases such as liquid hydrogen.

[faytelumos]

Into the Black With a Matchstick, pt 3

I'm keeping this as the taglist, but feel free to DM/comment/Ask if you want to be added/removed.

Please, if you haven't read the first parts in awhile, check out the recap I have linked for your convenience. :3

@c00kieknight, @jxm-1up, @midnight--architect, @robinparravel, @thepotatoofnopes, @those-damn-snippets; @thelazywitchphotographer, @tildeathiwillwrite

first previous recap

cw: bad math

---

Whatever the fuck the newcomer with Admiral Paxie was, it was not helping Adina's already overtaxed brain.

It had been bad enough seeing that Paxie was so huge they could barely even fit into the ship. It was bad enough that Adina was in charge of probably all that was left of the human race, that she had no way of figuring out if these aliens were truly friendly or just acting like it, bad enough that she was starving and dehydrated and high and had the worst God-damned headache she had ever had in her life.

And now she had to let some six foot tall cave-dwelling-mantis-snake-vampire walk around in the ship. It was like this thing was specifically made to be as creepy as possible, and when it got down on all eights—

She had dropped the ship's remote helm tablet, almost on her foot, and she was still shaking from the heart attack the sudden noise had caused her.

When they got to the bridge, which was thankfully open enough to allow Adina and John to put some space between themselves and the aliens, Paxie pulled the nightmare fuel aside. Adina subtly let out a sigh of relief and busied herself at the control panel.

Frankly, she didn't know what she was looking at. This was John's job. But the drugs in her brain were starting to prove themselves a bad idea as her body's discomfort reared its ugly head, and she couldn't stop thinking. Four times during the walk from the dock she had considered waking up a Marine to protect her and John from these monsters. And that wasn't the mind of a diplomat. That wasn't the thought of a leader she could trust.

Just get through this. Get through this meeting, and then food, water, and real sleep.

The smaller Xoixe stepped up to the LCD screen with most of the interactive display on it. John sidled up, too, probably to make sure Adina didn't hurt anything. Good.

"I heard this ship carries its life-forms cryogenically?" the smaller Xoixe asked. Adina looked up, and as soon as she did, John gently moved her hands and started clicking away at the panel's keyboard.

"Uh, yes," Adina replied. Looking up into the suit made it slightly easier than looking into four eyes and a big, sharp-toothed mouth. Maybe they wouldn't have looked so intimidating if her head wasn't throbbing. "Yes, our crew was specifically picked for the task of determining the viability of another planet for colonization. But the human lifespan isn't long enough to make the trip at our curr — with the technology we had." Adina put a hand to her face, pretending to wipe the sweat on her forehead, seeking the cold relief of her own touch. 26 million years…. "We were only supposed to be space-borne for 150 years…."

"If you don't mind my inquiry," the smaller Xoixe said as John kept typing. Adina looked up. The large alien had sat back on their haunches and was carrying their own tablet, made of a sleek plastic-looking material. "Is it possible for me to acquire standard medical parameters for your species? I'm a xenomedic, but since this is our first encounter, I have nothing to go on."

Adina stared for a moment. A xenomedic. So they'd brought a doctor aboard on their landing party. A group of three, and they'd saved a seat for a doctor. Adina didn't even know what the nightmare's job was, but when she glanced over, she realized there were no weapons on anyone. The nightmare perhaps could have used their claws, but looking again, their limbs didn't seem strong enough to hold Adina or John down if they started throwing punches. Both Xoixes had their claws entirely covered in their suits, and there was no attempt to make the suits sharp on the outside.

So maybe they really were friendly. Or maybe they did a really good job at acting like it. There weren't many ways to tell. Did this species even lie? How inherit was lying for intelligent species? Did Earth animals lie? Yes, Koko the Gorilla had told a lie. Had she learned that from humans?

The Xoixe was staring at her.

"Okay," Adina rasped. "Follow me."

---

"Lieutenant Harrison?" Paxie asked once Captain Ramirez and Ensign Kime were gone. Sergeant Klte shifted behind them, out of view of the little alien. Harrison turned away from the console after a lengthy delay.

These creatures looked more and more like prey the longer Paxie studied them. All except for their forward eyes. It was uncanny. Harrison's eyes were bright and round outside of their black, circular pupil, and it made it all too clear that they were looking directly at Paxie.

"Yes… Admiral?" Harrison said. Paxie shook their head slightly to focus their thoughts.

"Would it be acceptable for Sergeant Klte to take a look around your ship? We're curious as to how your vessel has lasted for so long in open space."

Harrison… laughed again. It was loud and sharp, and they opened their mouth and bared their teeth to do it.

"If you figure that out, I'd like to know, too," Harrison said. Paxie quirked their jaw.

"How do you mean?" Klte moved behind them, too.

"Our ship was meant for a 150 year journey," Harrison explained, still baring their blunt teeth. "Even that was ambitious for our level of engineering." They turned to the console and began hitting buttons. They were small buttons compared to the Xoixe's controls, and they clicked and snapped as they pressed and navigated. "We've made unmanned — that is, autonomous and without organic passengers — bodies before. To go into space. But even those tend to give out after a few decades. A-a group of ten years."

Paxie stepped closer and looked down to the readout. It wasn't intelligible; their suit was only equipped with an audio and radiation translator. Harrison gestured to something with their flat, soft digits.

"The requirements on the system for self maintenance, self regulation, and self repair on top of the requirements for life support and cryogenic maintenance are, to put it lightly, a-fucking-lot." Paxie blinked at the unexpected candor. Klte shifted, too. "Compare that against the life expectancy of our alloys in open radiation, extreme heat and cold shifts, and micro-meteorites, and this thing would have been lucky to land us safely if our trip got extended to 300 years." They looked up again. Paxie tilted their head, mind reeling.

Surely they were misinterpreting what Harrison had said.

Surely there was no way that a species would strike out into the open universe without both FTL drives and shielding dampeners.

"You don't have a significant issue with micro-meteorites…?" Paxie asked, and even as they said it, they were afraid of the answer. "…Do you?"

Harrison was bearing their teeth again.

"Oh, it's one of our biggest engineering challenges."

Paxie stared. They couldn't help it. They didn't know what to say. They weren't even breathing for a moment.

"You must have left in a hurry," they rasped. Harrison laughed again.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" they laughed, turning back to the console.

What did that even mean?!

Paxie was starting to feel light-headed. They wished they could take off their environment suit. Klte must have noticed their distress.

"Allow the Admiral and I a moment to converse," it hissed. Harrison flinched, then nodded, watching Klte. It gently pushed Paxie back towards the shuttle, turning off both of their translation protocols. "I'm concerned at this species' sense of self preservation," it said in the Xoixe language.

Paxie laughed, hissing the air sharply through their scaled lips. "Eme is concerned at how well they'd treat other kinds if they treat themselves so haphazardly."

"Exceptionally poorly."

Both of them laughed as they reached the pod. Paxie stepped inside where they could turn around back towards the ship.

"Take a breather, Admiral," Klte said. "I'll see what I can find out."

---

"Adina?" John called. Adina looked up; she was just coming back to the main control room now. The nightmare was still there, but it was down the hall, examining wiring bundles and the hull. How large was its forebrain? Was there a chance it could be tampering? "Adina."

Adina blinked and looked to John. He waved her over. She left the Xoixe's, Kime's, side to see him. He pointed to the numbers on the LCD screen.

"Can you double check me?" he whispered. She highly doubted it. She was a biologist; she knew how to clear her browser cookies and turn her phone off and on again. Anything technical on the ship was John's job now.

She looked, anyway. He was pointing at the ping count from Earth's homing beacon. It was around 800. She sagged to see that. The ping was supposed to communicate with The Solstice quarterly. So it must have stopped working after 200 years.

He pointed to the Most Recent Ping section.

19,406,771 years, 18 days, 16 hours, 2 minutes ago

Wait… what?

It should have been right around 26 million years ago.

"What?" she uttered, leaning in.

"That's wrong, right?"

"It should be…."

What could have done that? The ping system went off every three months. If it had run for… what, 5 million years? Then there should have been 20 million pings.

Why would Mission Control reduce the ping rate?

They wouldn't. Especially not after The Solstice failed to report a landing. Had something happened on Earth?

But, no, just like this ship couldn't last 26 million years, that pinger couldn't last 5 million. So what was happening?

"Wh…" Adina uttered, blinking. What was going on? What was causing this? Were both times just wrong? Was there a way to check? "Wha-what's the mission runtime?"

John stared at her for a moment before turning and hurriedly clicking away at the keyboard. She watched, and then she felt the nightmare get closer to watch, too. She stiffened her shoulders, but tried not to be too nervous-looking.

Hopefully, they couldn't tell. But she had just given Kime normal human biometric parameters….

"Holy shit, what," John whispered. Adina leaned forward.

Mission Elapsed Time:

60 years, 57 days, 1 hour, 43 minutes

"What?"

"One of these is wrong," John whispered. Adina looked up for Paxie and saw the nightmare watching her from the dark corridor. She flinched and gasped, slapping a hand over her heart, then turned to Kime.

"What are our coordinates?" she asked. "Do you have a star map we can see?"

Adina tried to calm down as Kime typed away on her tablet. One of these time ranges was wrong. But if it was the 26 million years (she desperately hoped 26 million years was wrong) then why had they gotten 200 years worth of pings? Maybe Mission Control was desperately trying to reestablish a connection? But 800 pings? That was a bit much.

Kime offered the tablet. Adina took it, and as soon as she did, the display somehow gave her an even worse headache. She blinked hard and moved the tablet away.

"Woah," she grunted, squeezing her eyes shut. John took it from her and grunted like he was straining to lift something.

"Shit," he swore, squinting at the tablet.

"Oh, no," Kime said, "you only have two eyes."

John huffed and offered the tablet back, then rubbed his eyes. Adina had her hands on her temples, trying not to squeeze her head too hard. The dizziness was back with reinforcements.

"How are we gonna do this?" she grunted.

"Do you have universal file translators?" John groaned. "Like the language? The audio?"

"We might, in a sense," Kime said slowly. "Let me make a call."

Adina nodded delicately so as not to jar her brain too hard. That seemed like a strangely cryptic response, but she couldn't think too hard right now.

As soon as they figured all of this out, she was going to sleep like the dead.

---

next

[rwac96]

Batman Contingencies: Gamera

Agamemnon Contingency: "The Last Hope"

Gamera, known as 'The Last Hope' by the ancient Atlanteans, is also labeled the 'Guardian of The Universe' by JSDF, G-Force, and Monarch. Like Mothra, Gamera is a Guardian Kaiju known to defend the Earth, not necessarily humanity. From the records I've gathered referencing this creature from ancient Atlantean monoliths, Gamera is the last of a group of advanced, bio-engineered giant turtles created in the ancient past. The purpose is unclear, though there are many possibilities: To defend themselves, to combat something called 'The Shadow of Evil' and 'The Great Enemy', or to protect humanity. It is clear that despite Gamera being destructive, it's evident that he protects humanity, specifically children, from destructive Kaiju and hostile extraterrestrials. He was first discovered in 1965, awakening from his slumber after a nuclear warhead detonated in the Arctic.

Seeing the devastation from the blast, Gamera became enraged, laying waste to Tokyo once he reached landfall. His rampage came to an end when the JSDF lured him to an experimental rocket ship, launching him into space. He would return to Earth in 1995, thirty years after his rampage, the emergence of giant, avian-like Kaiju known as Gyaos emerged and wreaked havoc upon Japan. The JSDF and G-Force mobilized to combat the Kaiju, though Gamera proved to be the more benevolent when he saved the life of a young boy from the Gyaos. Through months of research, it was discovered that Gamera had a supernatural origin, unlike the number of monsters that were a result of radiation exposure. Gamera draws his power from a mystical life force known as Mana, which, according to Doctor Fate and Aquaman, is an essential essence that gave him life.

Despite Gamera being a Guardian of Earth, in his battles against Kaiju such as Gyaos, Virians, Legion, Irys, and Godzilla, he leaves collateral damage in his wake. His connection to humanity, namely a young woman named Asagi Kusanagi, thankfully restrains him from performing more reckless tactics. Through an Atlantean Magatama, a priest or priestess can command Gamera, sharing a psychic rapport with him. From what Oracle gathered regarding Miss Kusanagi, she's a woman with a conscious who believes in Gamera's role as one of Earth's Protectors. But, there was an incident where he fell under the thrall of a rogue scientist, Greta Karbone, who got hold of a Magatama, which she manipulated with her own latent telepathic abilities to gain control of him. With him enthralled, she used him along with her own creation, Viras, to lay waste to Paris but was thankfully stopped by Asagi and the arrival of Mothra.

Gamera has numerous abilities that range from immense strength, unleashing and absorbing fire and plasma, flying, regeneration, converting energy, and manipulating his own body, these abilities make him a dangerous opponent. This contingency is in place should Gamera break his connection with humanity and grow reckless or a Magatama fall into dangerous hands. If a scenario such as Dr. Karbone getting another Magatama should occur, the first step is to destroy it or in a sense, strengthen Kusunagi's connection with Gamera. An alternative is to concoct a spell that drains the mana from the Magatama, breaking the user's connection with Gamera. Should the situation escalate, the next step is to deploy an experimental Mech known as the 'Titan Bat'.

Unlike other Anti-Kaiju Mechs, this one is in line with my moral restraints, even if Gamera is a monster. The mech is armed with Cryogenic technology that can freeze him. But, Gamera has a history of studying his opponents, which would prolong the confrontation. The technology within the mech is connected to a Batsuit that makes controlling it without issue, though it is fueled with a potent but draining battery. Stalling him would end in disaster and a mass loss of life. The metal alloy can withstand atomic blasts, though it is unclear if it can withstand plasma blasts.

Gamera is one of the remnants of Atlantis past and a Guardian of Earth. His death or corruption would be a tragedy, as the good he did for humanity makes him an essential ally...should we find ourselves against terrestrial and extraterrestrial threats.

[indiegone]

Helion's colour ref bc i kept forgetting how to draw him :'

a little rambling on his lore (may change someday):

Helion, a term in chemistry referring to the nucleus of helium. Forged in Iacon as a science lab field supervisor (specifically for anything that needs cryogenics)

Modeled for versatile and sudden movements, efficiency, and 3 different options for mobility (gliding, hovering, running) at all times.

Flight engines can run on energon, earth jet fuel (both last him a long while), or hydrogen (least effective, used as a last resort).

Runs much cooler than most other bots due to having a cryocooler built in. Carries around a type of fire extinguisher chemical blend at all times (commonly liquid nitrogen) , shoots it out of his arm or foot.

Fled from Nyon, and Cybertron as a whole, when rumors that citizen safety was being threatened, never bothered to look back or figure out who, as long as he got his colleagues and friends there out then they are safe. He does not want to return.

Never changed his Cybertronian helicopter model even when he crash landed on earth at the south pole, decided to become an industrial freezer instead. Got found by some scientists who never bothered to tell anyone out of Antarctica about his existence, they're pretty happy with him around actually!

He adores the job he had on Cybertron and is more than happy to help out the scientists, mostly because of his machine capability of processing chemicals safely for the humans and dispensing it in the exact amount they need. In turn, the scientists bring jet fuel and gives him regular maintenance and system checks.

Mostly docile and prefers to protect and flee than attack. Huge advantage withstanding extreme temperatures and small spaces doesn't guarantee durability against huge impact forces. He knows this well from observation.

The humans would refer to his stance nowadays as an anarchist due to him, while admitting to choose becoming a neutral, would rather take the government and factions that caused this mess down as a whole. He doesn't have any will to take actions as such and does not answer to nor want anything to do regarding his political stance.

Extra information not directly regarding him, but related to his lore in general:

he fled with his colleagues from Nyon, who he's not exactly close to. He barely remembers who they are anymore but he hopes they're alright, even without him to look after them on earth. He does miss his friends who didn't get to see leave from the evacuation.

the "spaceship" they used to escape was the titan who's assigned to accompany Helion's group from Iacon to other places on a regular basis. He was not fond of this titan at first but after some time drifting through space they become quite close. On earth, they got separated upon passing through the atmosphere, this titan would later be referred to as Pacific when Helion finds him again after years pass.

When Pacific does find Helion, he informed him that most of his colleagues and friends have left earth by tagging along with either Autobots or Decepticons, while some did stay on earth under either faction names. Helion feels slightly disappointed at this and asks him to leave, Pacific would not see him again for another 5 years and never spoke of the factions again with him.

Helion secretly feels a little guilty when the humans bring jet fuel to him on one of his first few critical maintenance on earth, it took quite a while for him to be assured that they're equally as happy to share things as he is with them. Sometimes, they would have sleepover parties near the base door connected to the hangar so he doesn't feel lonely.

by human standards, Helion is warm. He knows he isn't by Cybertronian standards though, he is just slightly colder than the average bot. The humans don't care about that apparently, nor did they care about the fact that he hates the ladders being used on maintenance and would rather hold up the tiny flesh beings. Seems like some of them enjoy that.

by size, Helion is about the same size as seekers, if not just being more squared and dense from his Cryocooler/ Industrial freezer alt mode kibbles. He's mostly specialized wires and tubes in a casing, thus hurting his plating won't do too much critical damage. Unless someone cuts off a number of the wires from him and doesn't return it.

his internal chemical processing build and chemical reserves actually allows him to make his own emergency fuel; hydrogen! In reverse, the same system allows Energon to be processed into Nitrogen and other chemicals, but Jet fuel is more complex to process so it makes less chemicals for him to use but lingers as fuel for long.

[apod]

2023 April 6

Terran 1 Burns Methalox Image Credit: Relativity / John Kraus

Explanation: Relativity's Terran 1 Rocket is mostly 3D-printed. It burns a cryogenic rocket fuel composed of liquid methane and liquid oxygen (methalox). In this close-up of a Terran 1 launch on the night of March 22 from Cape Canaveral, icy chunks fall through the stunning frame as intense blue exhaust streams from its nine Aeon 1 engines. In a largely successful flight the inovative rocket achieved main engine cutoff and stage separation but fell short of orbit after an anomaly at the beginning of its second stage flight. Of course this Terran 1 rocket was never intended to travel to Mars. Still, the methane and liquid oxygen components of its methalox fuel can be made solely from materials found on the Red Planet. Methalox manufactured on Mars could be used as fuel for rockets returning to planet Earth.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230406.html

[inquisitor-apologist]

Reason 552 Barriss should’ve been (Fulcrum) in Rebels: how much harder the Luminara episode would’ve hit if she’d been there.

Barriss had never expected to see her master alive again. She'd lived with her death for a decade and a half; Barriss had felt the Purge, and so few had survived. But she'd never been sure, and the scant hope she'd kept alive for so long had desperately wanted to believe that Trayvis's info was good, that Luminara lived, that she could find her master again. And she had. Imprisoned in a cryogenic coffin, fifteen years gone and dead, her once-master. Luminara Unduli, Knight of the Jedi Order, General of the 71st Elite Corps, Master to a traitor and heretic. Dead, just like the Republic she'd defended.

They'd put her in a force-damned sarcophagus and used her bones as a beacon, tempting survivors to their deaths. Barriss wanted to cry, to scream, to be sick. It wasn't right. Jedi burned their dead. Barriss should--what? What should she do? What could she do? There was no fuel for a pyre, no Masters to preside, no one left to mourn. No one but Barriss, and Barriss was a traitor. She could not give her a proper funeral. Luminara was dead, and still, Barriss failed her. That was all she could ever do, it seemed.

She rested her head against the cold transparisteel of the casket. It was all so wrong. She remembered her last conversation with her master in a cold, featureless visitation room of Coruscant High-Security Republic Penitentiary. Luminara had told her that the Jedi had managed to get her execution date permanently postponed, and Barriss had cried. She'd told her she was being deployed to Kashyyyk, and Barriss had cried. She'd told Barriss goodbye, and Barriss had cried. She'd done that a lot back then. It seemed she was getting back into the habit.

Tears froze on the cold surface of the coffin.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, but what she meant was, could I have saved you? If I'd been there, if I'd never Fallen, if I was still your student, would you be safe? Could I have taken the blaster bolts for you, let you get away? Is there a world where our places are inverted? "I'm so sorry, Master. I don't... I can't..."

She remembered Luminara’s smile. Her gentle, firm presence warm and welcoming even when Barriss had been at her lowest, screaming her hatred from behind cell walls. “It does not matter what you have done, Padawan,” Luminara had told her when she had finally seen the truth of the Temple bombing, sobbing on the floor of her cell. “All that matters is you see the light, change your ways and make amends. It does not even matter if you fail along the way. The dark road is treacherous and difficult to climb out of. What is important is that you try.”

Barriss Offee was not a Jedi. The Temple was destroyed, the Council murdered, the Code abandoned. She could never call herself Jedi again and know that it was truth. That did not matter, not now. What mattered was that her Master was depending on her one last time. She could not hold a proper funeral, but that didn't matter either. She would try.

She stepped back from Luminara's coffin.

She ignited her lightsabers, one white, one blue.

She slashed through the transparisteel, careful not to let the blades touch her Master.

Cold white steam materialized as freezing, fifteen-year-old air leaked out.

Luminara's corpse fell forward, into the gouged transparisteel, with a small thump.

Jedi funerals were short, simple affairs. The body was ritually cleaned, then laid out on a stone slab. Any who wished to pay their respects could come to mourn. The ceremony was held exactly three days after death and lasted perhaps fifteen minutes. Afterward, their lineage would hold a small party, remembering the fallen's life and celebrating their memory. The dead were free, released to the total harmony of the Force. There was no need for extended grief periods or complex rites. A life was to be remembered, missed, honored, not held on to.

Barriss breathed out, composing herself.

There had been so many funerals in the war; Barriss knew precisely what to say and do. Her lips moved, almost on their own.

“There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.”

She cried, and a small, blue flame ignited in her palm. She continued.

“I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me. You are one with the Force, as all things shall be. May you find justice; May you find peace. May the Force be with you.”

Her body shook with uncontrollable sobs. The flame in her hand grew larger and brighter. She cried as she pressed her hand against her Master’s cold, dead corpse and watched the fire take hold. The Force Fire left no smoke; it ate through Luminara’s body, dropping her ashes on the cell floor.

Luminara was free. It was too much. Barriss collapsed to the floor and wept.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA Artemis science, first intuitive machines flight head to moon

A suite of NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations is on the way to our nearest celestial neighbor for the benefit of humanity. Through this flight to the moon, they will provide insights into the lunar surface environment and test technologies for future landers and Artemis astronauts.

At 1:05 a.m. EST on Thursday, Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At approximately 1:53 a.m., the lander deployed from the Falcon 9 second stage. Teams confirmed it made communications contact with the company's mission operations center in Houston. The spacecraft is stable and receiving solar power.

These deliveries are part of NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, which includes new solar system science to better understand planetary processes and evolution, search for evidence of water and other resources, and support long-term human exploration.

"NASA scientific instruments are on their way to the moon—a giant leap for humanity as we prepare to return to the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "These daring moon deliveries will not only conduct new science at the moon, but they are supporting a growing commercial space economy while showing the strength of American technology and innovation. We have so much to learn through CLPS flights that will help us shape the future of human exploration for the Artemis Generation."

While enroute to the moon, NASA instruments will measure the quantity of cryogenic engine fuel as it is used, and during descent toward the lunar surface, they will collect data on plume-surface interactions and test precision landing technologies.

Once on the moon, NASA instruments will focus on investigating space weather/lunar surface interactions and radio astronomy. The Nova-C lander also will carry retroreflectors contributing to a network of location markers on the moon for communication and navigation for future autonomous navigation technologies.

NASA science aboard the lander includes:

Lunar Node 1 Navigation Demonstrator: A small, CubeSat-sized experiment that will demonstrate autonomous navigation that could be used by future landers, surface infrastructure, and astronauts, digitally confirming their positions on the moon relative to other spacecraft, ground stations, or rovers on the move.

Laser Retroreflector Array: A collection of eight retroreflectors that enable precision laser ranging, which is a measurement of the distance between the orbiting or landing spacecraft to the reflector on the lander. The array is a passive optical instrument and will function as a permanent location marker on the moon for decades to come.

Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing: A Lidar-based (Light Detection and Ranging) guidance system for descent and landing. This instrument operates on the same principles of radar but uses pulses from a laser emitted through three optical telescopes. It will measure speed, direction, and altitude with high precision during descent and touchdown.

Radio Frequency Mass Gauge: A technology demonstration that measures the amount of propellant in spacecraft tanks in a low-gravity space environment. Using sensor technology, the gauge will measure the amount of cryogenic propellant in Nova-C's fuel and oxidizer tanks, providing data that could help predict fuel usage on future missions.

Radio-wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the Photoelectron Sheath: The instrument will observe the moon's surface environment in radio frequencies, to determine how natural and human-generated activity near the surface interacts with and could interfere with science conducted there.

Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies: A suite of four tiny cameras to capture imagery showing how the moon's surface changes from interactions with the spacecraft's engine plume during and after descent.

Intuitive Machines' Nova-C-class lunar lander, named Odysseus, is scheduled to land on the moon's South Pole region near the lunar feature known as Malapert A on Thursday, Feb. 22. This relatively flat and safe region is within the otherwise heavily cratered southern highlands on the side of the moon visible from Earth. Landing near Malapert A will also help mission planners understand how to communicate and send data back to Earth from a location where Earth is low on the lunar horizon.

The NASA science aboard will spend approximately seven days gathering valuable scientific data about Earth's nearest neighbor, helping pave the way for the first woman and first person of color to explore the moon under Artemis.

IMAGE....A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:05 a.m. EST on Feb. 15, 2024. As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines’ first lunar mission will carry NASA science and commercial payloads to the moon to study plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies. Credit: NASA

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Improving MgH₂ hydrogen storage with oxygen vacancy-enriched H-V₂O₅ nanosheets as an active H-pump

With the depletion of fossil fuels and global warming, there is an urgent need to seek green, clean, and efficient energy resources. Against this backdrop, hydrogen is considered a potential candidate for replacing fossil fuels due to its high energy density and environmentally friendly nature. To realize the development of a hydrogen economy, safe and efficient hydrogen storage technologies are crucial. Compared to traditional compressed hydrogen and cryogenic liquid hydrogen storage technologies, solid-state hydrogen storage is considered a safer and more efficient method. Magnesium hydride (MgH2), as one of the most promising solid-state hydrogen storage materials, has attracted attention due to its abundant elemental resources, high hydrogen storage capacity, good reversibility, and non-toxicity. However, the relatively high operating temperature of MgH2 limits its large-scale commercial application in vehicular or stationary hydrogen storage.

Read more.

[space-cowboy-101]

🥽 Park Seonghwa, as depicted in a (hopefully near) future Fallout/Apocalypse au.

i’m kinda mad at myself for not putting a little perk picture for hongjoong because both seonghwa and yunho have one and i would’ve used this one for him had i done it. either Small Frame (because it’s hongjoong lbr), Magnetic Personality or Perception. but enough about hongjoong!

seonghwa’s cute lil bashful vault boys 😭 i searched through so many to find the right ones and those two describe him the best in the story, if i’m being honest.

and the nuka cola girl because 1. seonghwa sees the posters and definitely wants to try the outfit on, and 2. he loves nuka cola. who doesn’t. don’t tell him about nuka-world 😳

i’m not really sure where his story is going but i’m excited to write his involvement with hongjoong and how their relationship effects things.

anyway, his little summary thang! (that i now realized i didn’t do for hongjoong…i’ve failed my boy 😔)

Vault life is the only life he’s ever known, having been born into it unlike the old world that he’s heard about from folktales that may or may not be true. It always intrigued him how they had trains that followed tracks built above busy roads and could see a sky that wasn’t manufactured or a display created using a projector. The dwellers that travel outside the Vault told stories of the wastelands, the radioactive lakes and streams, the abandoned buildings and homes that can potentially house super mutants or raiders, and the bright blue sky that seemed to be the only thing not touched by the nuclear blast. But seeing it for himself was as possible as a radroach being killed by a good wack to the hard shell.

A Vault is what he started his own family in and a Vault is where he found a new one when the doctor and his scavengers carry in a dweller from another Vault, the features of the man dewey from the cryogenic system he was inside of before he was found.

‘Military Official’. ‘Air Force Pilot’. ‘Captain’. Those are the words they used to describe him and it caught his attention when he knew he shouldn’t have been listening to their conversation.

It wasn’t until he seen him with the baby the doctor had brought to him, that he came to the realization that this man—Kim Hongjoong—had charmed him with just a glance and the smile full of relief and love that he gave his son when he picked him up from his temporary crib.

…and remember; Vaults were never supposed to be where humans thrived under the pressure of a nuclear holocaust, but where they were tested during the events of one.

i know for a fact that i can’t post the yunho picture without spoiling his entire story 😩 i shouldn’t have added that obvious of a picture to it but i did…and now i have to live with the choice. oh well, i’ll probably post it next week or something 💀

what do you guys think of it so far? 🥹 i get so invested in these stories that they’re all i talk about for a while and honestly tumblr really do be getting it out of my system now. i feel like writing lil drabbles or whatever for my stories and posting it on here since my long stories will be on ao3 but i think i’m incapable of writing anything that isn’t longer than 30 chapters tbh. last time i did, the yungi one-shot was well over 30k words and it got turned into my dragon age story :D fun!

if you have any questions about my au’s or the characters, please don’t be afraid to ask! i will answer in paragraphs and in depth because i love them 🙂 i get so excited about people showing interest in the things i love and i get excited about ateez and yeah 👍🏻

which reminds me, thank you for the likes on my other posts 😭 i hope i can continue to fuel the ateez tag with as much au’s as i can think of and make someone’s day a little brighter with my little ideas!

bye y’all! 🫶🏻👋🏻

[craftingcreatures]

Welcome to Spero

Exoplanet Ahuizotl 593-d is about 15 light-years from Earth, located in the habitable zone of a yellow dwarf star much like our own. It is a rocky world, with an axial tilt of 7.2 degrees and a diameter of just over 12,000 km. It has a single large moon, somewhat smaller than earth's and very different in origin and composition; this moon is a recently-captured long-period comet, composed mostly of water ice beneath a dark protective layer of organic dust. Ahuizotl 593-d was renamed to Spero (meaning "hope") when it was chosen as a candidate for terraforming and colonization.

Prior to human arrival, Spero was a dead world. Though once tectonically active, it ceased to be so long before humanity arrived, and countless aeons of erosion have ground down the mountain ranges and filled in the ocean basins with sediment. Where once tall mountains stood proudly, small, wind-blasted rocks are all that remain; and where once vast oceans surged, endless fields of sand dunes stand still and lifeless. The only true topography that may be found is the rims of innumerable impact craters, slowly being worn away by the ravages of wind and sand. The largest of these is over 1,000 km across, and is relatively young, at a mere 80 million years old; It has not had time to erode away as completely as some of the other craters, and its eastern rim contains mountains that are much higher than anywhere else on the planet - nearly 3,000 meters high.

The oceans are not completely gone - they are buried, to be certain, but the water still exists deep beneath the sediment. In certain places, scattered across the globe, ancient seawater seeps to the surface, forming saltwater oases - in the depths of the largest crater, these springs seep into the basin to form a permanent lake. However, by far the largest body of water is the Mare Vagus, the so-called "wandering sea": a shallow, hypersaline body of water which travels around Spero's lowlands, propelled by the forces of erosion and deposition. On the windward coast, soft rock and sediment are slowly carved away, only to be re-deposited as sand or silt on the leeward coast; harder rock resists erosion, and may deflect the Mare's trajectory against the wind to the north or south. in this way the seas move across the planet, leaving behind them a trail of salt crystal evaporites that can be seen from space. These bodies of water fuel a small but consistent water cycle - a few freshwater rivers snaking down from the highlands are fed by rainfall.

Despite the bleakness of the landscape, the planet is habitable. The air is breathable, the rivers drinkable, the soil nontoxic, and the sun is almost identical to our own. In a universe where habitable planets are exceedingly rare, Spero is a veritable oasis, and within ten years of the planet's discovery humanity was already putting together a plan for colonization. However, the sheer distance from earth to Spero makes for an imposing barrier; the fastest starships in the human fleet (at 1/6th the speed of light) would have to travel for 95 years to reach it. It would be two hundred and fifty years between the arrival of the first probes and the arrival of humanity on the planet's surface. And humanity did not arrive alone. They brought with them their crops, their livestock - everything needed to prepare a planet for permanent human habitation.

Transporting plants and animals across interstellar space is not an easy feat. Due to the 95-year time gap between launch and arrival, everything living must be either put in cryogenic stasis or maintain a breeding stock on the spaceship for the duration of the flight. Since storage space is a limited resource on ships and carrying that many moving animals, plants, and people (not to mention food and water and life support systems) would be unimaginably expensive, cryostasis was by far the preferred option. For most plants and some animals, this made transport downright easy; simply keep the desiccated seeds or cysts into a low-temperature freezer and thaw them out upon arrival. Thousands of seeds could be transported this way while barely taking up any space at all. Hundreds of species from over 450 different families were brought to Ahuizotl.

Animals, on the other hand, needed a little more consideration. Cryogenic stasis is a complicated affair (though much simpler than transporting moving, breathing animals for 95 years) and requires some specialized equipment. Multiple tanks of liquid nitrogen were needed for every individual animal, plus the metabolic suppressors and the actual stasis chamber itself. For an average-sized human this resulted in a set of equipment which weighed some six hundred pounds and took up almost 2.5 cubic meters of cabin space. For a fully grown cow or camel, the requirements were even more ludicrous.

Fortunately, these huge apparatuses could be shrunken, if the animals themselves were also shrunken. If transported as embryos, with development completed in artificial wombs upon arrival to the planet, each individual animal only took up one-eighth of a cubic meter of space. This was much more reasonable, and so many more individuals could be transported, enough to preserve genetic diversity for multiple species. Even so, space was at a premium, and only 18 species of animal were introduced (three of which could undergo cryptobiosis and were simply chucked in the freezer with the seeds).

Colonization occurred in several waves; the first wave included bacteria, algae, and certain lichens and fungi, and began the process of terraforming by beginning soil production and establishing the foundation of the artificial ecosystem the colonists hoped to create. The second wave included more complex plants, including mosses and ferns, and the first animals - tardigrades, rotifers, and other small creatures which would recycle nutrients. Once these organisms were established and thriving (as determined by robotic probes), the third wave - including the first hardy crop plants, larger invertebrates, and the first fish - arrived. Finally, in the fourth wave, humanity arrived (accompanied by the remaining seed species) to be greeted by a thriving, if taxonomically limited, ecosystem.

~o~O~o~

Seed List

All species introduced to Ahuizotl underwent genetic manipulation and hybridization to increase hardiness and heterozygosity, maximizing chances of successful establishment and survival into the future. Species were chosen based on hardiness, adaptability, and – most importantly – usefulness to humans. The vast majority of plant species introduced were crops, producing food, timber, or other important products such as rubber and medicines. Animals were either livestock, herding animals, or detritivores necessary for healthy soils and nutrient cycling. Pest species were strictly avoided. Thanks to the extended time spent in cryogenic stasis (as well as close inspection and quarantining by scientists prior to freezing), diseases and parasites were almost completely eliminated.

(Plants not included in this list; there are too many to count. If it's reasonably hardy and useful to humans, it's safe to assume it was brought along.)

Domestic Goat ~ Capra hircus Cattle were rejected for colonization due to their size and feed requirements - the productive pastures needed to raise them effectively simple didn't exist. Goats were introduced instead, as they could survive better on the sparse scrubby vegetation which had been established by that point. Goats were introduced for their milk, meat, and leather, and for their ability to survive in harsh environments.

Domestic Sheep ~ Ovis aries Sheep were introduced for meat, milk, and (most importantly) wool. The sheep arriving on Ahuizotl were hybrids between several different wool-producing breeds, mostly of the fine-wooled merino type. Though unable to survive without human care due to the need for periodic shearing, the breeds chosen were very hardy and could survive in harsh climates.

Dromedary Camel ~ Camelus dromedarius Camels were introduced as pack animals and long-distance transport to desert outposts. They were also used for milk production. Camels were chosen based on their hardiness, pre-adapted to the desert climate of Spero as they were; able to survive on very little food or water and carry heavy loads for long distances, they would be invaluable, especially since Spero had no oil or petroleum deposits to produce fuel for motorized vehicles.

Domestic Donkey ~ Equus africanus asinus Horses were considered for colonization as a means of transportation on a world where fuel was a highly limited resource, but were ultimately rejected in favour of donkeys. Donkeys were smaller than horses, but much hardier and required fewer resources. Donkeys were also used extensively for plowing and transportation in pulling carts - they were also significantly easier to handle and more comfortable to ride than camels.

Domestic Dog ~ Canis familiaris Dogs were introduced as herding animals for goats and sheep, much more efficient than robotic substitutes. They had the added bonus of providing companionship to the human settlers (on a planet with a total population of less than 500 spread out over a vast area, loneliness was an ever-present problem). The dogs brought to Spero were all mutts with strong herding dog histories; border collies, blue heelers, and Alsatians were all prominently featured in the pedigrees.

Domestic Pig ~ Sus domesticus Pigs were introduced mostly for their meat, but also for leather, manure, and disposal of organic wastes. They were also introduced for their unique ability to provide organs and tissues useful in medical applications, such as their heart valves. Hardy animals, able to survive on garbage, pigs were well adapted for surviving the turbulent early years of colonization.

Domestic Chicken ~ Gallus domesticus Chickens were introduced for their meat and eggs, and their feathers were also used as a natural fiber for stuffing cushions and other necessary textiles. The chickens introduced were hybrid mixtures most similar to Indian and Polynesian breeds, but also included genes from western breeds such as leghorns, orpingtons, and wyandottes.

Common Carp ~ Cyprinus carpio Fish was a critical nutrient source for the developing world, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids that could not be efficiently produced by plants. Although humanity makes use of many kinds of fish, most species require more advanced ecological environments to thrive. Carp, on the other hand, don’t; and while not typically considered food fish by western cultures their meat is tasty and nutritious. It is their ability to thrive in low-quality environments which made them better choices for colonization than more popular fish.

Flathead Mullet ~ Mugil cephalus Mullets were introduced for many of the same reasons as carp. Adaptable, hardy, and able to survive in a wide range of temperatures and salinities, their diet of algae and bacterial scum allowed them to thrive in Ahuizotl’s estuaries. Unlike carp they congregate in large schools and so can be harvested in large quantities, an invaluable attribute once large numbers of colonists began arriving and expecting to be fed. The mullet introduced to Spero were genetically modified to have a flexible life cycle and a broader tolerance of salinity; they do not need to return to saltwater to breed, though they can still survive there just fine.

European Honeybee ~ Apis mellifera mellifera On earth, bees are of critical importance, pollinating a huge proportion of the crops we rely on to produce our food. Thus, bees were practically guaranteed to be included in the seed list. Not only do they pollinate flowers, but the honey, wax, and other products produced by beehives are valuable commodities. The bees introduced are exclusively from the Western subspecies (A. m. mellifera); this is to prevent aggressive and swarming behaviours exhibited by hybrid bees on earth.

Common Woodlouse ~ Armidillidium vulgare Woodlice were introduced as detritivores, aiding decomposition of excess organic matter and helping to keep soils fertile. This particular species was chosen based on its adaptability and hardiness compared to other woodlouse species, as they can tolerate drier conditions.

Common Earthworm ~ Lumbricus terrestris Earthworms were introduced to aerate the soil and help keep croplands healthy. They also help to remove organic detritus such as fallen leaves and help mix soils, bringing nutrients within reach of plant roots. This species was chosen due to its ability to survive in diverse habitats.

White Rat Springtail ~ Folsomia candida Springtails were chosen as detritivores, recycling organic matter and keeping the soils fertile and healthy. They also serve as extra food for woodlice and earthworms. This particular species was chosen due to the ease of culture and adaptability.

Cherry Shrimp ~ Neocaridina davidi Freshwater shrimp were introduced to help control the growth of bacterial and algal mats in riverine environments, keeping waterways clear. They also serve as a secondary food source for carp. This species was chosen due to its ease of culture.

Ramshorn Snail ~ Planorbarius corneus Like the cherry shrimp, freshwater snails were chosen to help keep down algal growth and keep waterways and rice paddies healthy and productive. They, like the shrimp, also serve as a secondary food source for carp.

Brine Shrimp ~ Artemia franciscana Brine shrimp hold little value to humans, except as a food source for mullet, carp, and other marine species. They were mainly included because, as eggs, they can survive being frozen for long periods of time and so did not require the heavy cryogenic stasis equipment needed for most other animals. During early colonization they were used as a feed for the recently-thawed fish fry, and continued to be eaten by subsequent generations of larval fish.

Rotifer ~ Brachionus plicatilis Like the brine shrimp, the rotifers were included as larval fish food and because they could be transported easily and in large numbers with nothing more than a simple freezer. They were one of the first animals introduced to Ahuizotl, along with tardigrades, and were intended to form the base of a self-sufficient aquatic ecology.

Tardigrade ~ Milnesium tardigradum Tardigrades were chosen as pioneer animals to help create usable soils. They also provide food for larger invertebrates such as snails, isopods, and springtails. Thanks to their ability to withstand low temperatures for long periods of time in a cryptobiotic state, they could be brought in large numbers in a simple freezer.

~o~O~o~

These eighteen species of animals - and hundreds of species of plants - were cultivated to form a self-sufficient ecosystem in the dusty, dry wastes of Spero. Croplands, orchards, and timber plantations were planted along the banks of the rivers; farther from water, scrubby grasses and hardy forage plants grew in the infrequent rainfall. While the vast majority of the planet was still hostile desert, endless sand dunes or bare rock swept clean by the wind, humanity managed to eke out an existence along the narrow inhabitable margins of the rivers.

Until a cataclysmic event destroyed humanity's hope of creating a new home... and simultaneously laid the groundwork for Spero to become a thriving paradise far beyond their wildest dreams.

[czaresss]

Industrial Fishing Simulator I

06/13/2024 - Actual Play-Report

The Enceladus Case

Part I: Summary

NOTE: Usually in Industiral Fishing Simulator player character’s are called ‘Survivors’ and scenarios/adventures are called ‘missions.’ But I won’t necessarily use that language here.

On 20th November 2811, several days earlier than expected, the Survivors awoke from cryogenic stasis aboard the Typhoon-6, a special transport shuttle which was assigned to carry the crew and its precious cargo (P-class Thinking Engine Data Cores) to a space station called Dione B where the crew would be working for the Nebulon Corporation for various roles. The crew of the ship was made of up six individuals: Tyrande, an android medical officer; Semblant, a khardimon astroecologist; Isha Mayo, a human engineering officer and crew lead; Pal Minno, a mechanical specialist; Jane Beaudelaire, a simulacrum computing technician; and Terra Hayim, the navigational officer. All but Terra were players. 

All of the crew had assignments to complete upon waking from cryostasis, but when they first awoke, alarms in the ship were blaring and the ship’s Thinking Engine interface, NESSI was alerting the crew that the ship’s only escape pod had been remotely authorized to launch and was jettisoned. Additionally, Terra Hayim was missing from her cryostasis pod which was heavily damaged on the interior and exterior from brute force. It seemed as though she might have busted her way through from the inside but also the computing system of her pod was also compromised remotely. While the crew gained their bearings, they went about to complete their work assignments which were as follows: 

Tyrande (medical officer)

Inventory medical supplies in Medbay, investigate busted cryostasis pod.

Investigate the file of Terra Hayim.

Semblant (astroecologist)

Biomedical equipment inventory: scuba and pressure suits if necessary, oxygen tanks for all crew. 

Investigate biomechanical nanobots.

Isha Mayo (engineering officer)

Assure that precious cargo is secure and locked.

Contact Dione B Chief Engineer Ren Sarrow to report status.

Pal Minno (mechanical specialist)

Post-cryogenesis engine status check for the Typhoon-6.

Check fuel and oxygen levels.

Jane Beaudelaire (computing technician)

Review ship diagnostics with NESSI. 

Try to trace remote authorization of drop pod launch.

The crew split up to take on these various tasks as they woke up. Tyrande first discovered that while all of the medbay’s supplies seemed to be intact–the ship’s supply of anti-nanobiotic injectable medication was missing. She did not investigate Terra Hayim’s medical file. It was Tyrande who would find scuba equipment and oxygen tanks for the crew while Semblant began investigating the nanobots. Tyrande found that most of the crew had identical small angular cuts on their ankles but were turning up negative for nanobot infection in the full-body med-scanner. Semblant took samples of the nanobots and discovered their components: tungsten alloys, obsidian, non-Nebulon Corporation make, smaller than a nanometer, magnetic, etc. Semblant found traces of nanobots with her yiv-beat reader tool throughout the ship (a Yiv-Beat Reader is a scanner that detects radiation, radio telemetry frequencies, and other signals invented by a Glain scientist from Earth called Yiv Yarrow). Semblant also found nanobots in her and Terra’s shared quarters where Terra seemed to have stashed scuba equipment in her locker. 

Meanwhile, Isha Mayo logged into the crew-lead office, confirming the worst–that the precious cargo of the Typhoon-6 was missing and that someone had made a valid entry to the office. She attempted to contact Chief Engineer Ren Sarrow but found that all radio frequencies were being jammed by a signal originating on Enceladus which was also where the signal which remotely authorized the drop pod’s launch would be traced to by computer technician Jane Beaudelaire. Pal Minno would then find via the main engine room diagnostics system that the ship’s oxygen line and main ventilation shafts and fuel lines were leaking due to a growing corrosion which was burning a hole through the side of the Typhoon-6 (likely due to nanobots eating through the inner guts of the ship). Jane tracked the drop pod towards the rogue signals on the surface of Enceladus near the south pole.

The crew would then regroup (at this point, a 30 minute timer was set). Alerts went off from NESSI declaring hull instability and that the ship would need to make an emergency gravitational turn around Enceladus in order to avoid destabilizing and crashing into the moon. The crew elected to grab supplies and cordone off the portside where the corrosion was occurring and also attempt to decontaminate the ship of nanobots using a ship-wide decontamination protocol where they would lock themselves in the auxiliary engine room, shut off oxygen for the whole ship and burn everything away. Eventually, the crew decided they might need to try and assess the damage more fully and Jane volunteered for a spacewalk. She was hooked  up to the escape pod airlock and arduously climbed towards the portside of the ship where she discovered that near the corrosive damage–three massive three-legged spider-like robots were anchored to the hull, they began to pursue her but she made it back inside just in time for one of the robots to reach the door. It began shooting the airlock trying to break in when Pal cast Affix, locking it in place. The crew then decided they’d have no choice but to pursue the escape pod and land on Enceladus. 

Together, they plotted a course dipping around the moon and made a survivable crash landing into the icy crust of the south pole, dividing up oxygen tanks and pressure suits while they used energy weapons to cut through the sides of the ship to make it into the water before the ship would sink into the cold ocean below. Using Pal’s wrist-navcomputer where they had downloaded the Typhoon’s memory drives and navigation information, they traced the escape pod to where it crashed, locating the wreck. The escape pod had been torn open, there were signs of a slight struggle with a leftover nanobot-laden arm belonging to Terra left in the pod. The P-class Thinking Engine data cores were still missing and they began to receive signal readings from a nearby artificial structure which seemed to have the same frequencies as the signals that were jamming radio communications before. 

Narrowly escaping mysterious shapes swimming in the deep, the crew made it to an abandoned Nebulon Corporation laboratory–Naiad A. They had previously learned that when Neb Corp explorers discovered multicellular lifeforms on Enceladus, a lab was constructed but then abandoned due to “unknown circumstances” according to the official public report. In the abandoned lab, the crew discovered a strange black and white angular two-person ship, and Jane and Pal were able to lock it in the moonpool. On the other side of the lab, something seemed to be happening in a sealed medical chamber. When Pal knocked on the door, it was opened but a large three-legged drone robot carrying a rotary saw which the whole crew immediately opened fired at and destroyed. Inside this chamber was some kind of medical laboratory where there were tanks of living organs in life support tanks. On a medical bed, Terra Hayim, unconscious on life support was undergoing a surgical procedure which was half-completed, transforming her into one of these three-legged drone bots. She is still alive. Her blood, coursing with nanobots. Also, one of the P-class Thinking Engine Data Cores was being installed into Terra.

Investigating the computers in the room, the crew finds that whoever was responsible for this situation was using the equipment in the abandoned laboratory to hack Nebulon Corp technology to send the rogue signals. They discovered that the manufacturer of the strange technology like the robots and nanobots and ship docked in the moonpool is an organization of which there are no public records in Neb Corp systems called the Trappist Federation. They also recovered the lockboxes of stolen P-class Thinking Engine Data Cores. In the end, the crew was able to contact Dione B who will send ships to pick up the crew and debrief. 

Part II: Play-Report, System Check

Well, well, well. I mean that’s how it went. This was a really solid game two of Industrial Fishing Simulator. We had at least one person that I knew of in the group (Color/Jaci - Semblant) who had never played a TTRPG before–ever. We played for about 4 solid hours not including about 15-30 minutes of character creation in the beginning. The system was able to handle most every situation easily. One player (Bee - Tyrande) who had played FishSim game one and for whom this game was her second ever time playing a TTRPG reported feeling wayyyyy more comfortable playing this time, felt like she was able to inhabit her character more easily. Another player (Envee/Nat - Isha Mayo) was able to get everybody right into the roleplaying mood as the lead engineer on the starship, giving the players orders in character, grouping them into assignments. Also, giving each individual character a scenario-specific directive/job really helped put everyone into their characters and get everyone involved right away–helped us to discover issues happening on the ship really easily, break the ice with everyone, etc. 

I was initially worried about some mechanical items - (1) that the Will and Stress statistics in the game would be too convoluted and similar to make sense, but it worked out for the most part. I ended up using Will mostly for items involving Investigation an Awareness so I might consider changing Will to something like Aware or Perceive. I think Will also includes things like stealth as well so we won’t change anything just yet, but we’ll see. (2) The loss of Sanity equals temporary madness and all of the temporary madness effects are 100% roleplay-based which the players were generally able to get a grip on, but I think it might be hard to keep that consistent. I brought this up as a concern–whether we should have a madness effect cause a detriment to rolls or something but everyone disagreed with that notion. So, I’ll leave it as is and let them interpret their temporary madness as it comes over them. 

Spells work great. Spells, first and foremost, are extremely high risk–everyone who cast a spell during this game using their grimoires which I believe only ended up being Jane (Emma) and Pal (Olive) successfully pulled them off. But spells can potentially kill the caster or other players and alter the game entirely, but every spell is extremely powerful and can be interpreted fairly openly. I don’t put specific ranges on most of the spells because I want to interpret the usage situationally and so far it seemed to work like a charm. Affix is the favorite spell of the crew at the moment and ended up being pulled off successfully two or three times on the Trappist Federation Furies. 

Things we need to expand on in the rulebook–like priority things: (1) what special tools do; (2) finish the spells; (3) expand the damage tables; (4) relic tables and appendices.

Part III: Personal Note

I’m really glad that this session went well. Our very first Industrial Fishing Sim game was like a modern Homer’s Odyssey in the North Pacific but felt a lot less satisfying and there were too many players. This game The Enceladus Case was really quite fulfilling. Most fulfilling TTRPG experience I’ve had in a long time. We had a full mission that wrapped up completely to a point where I’d feel satisfied not returning to this storyline if I didn’t feel like it–but we can also continue the mystery of the Trappist Federation too. 

Despite playing TTRPG games of many sorts (Mostly Call of Cthulhu albeit) for nigh fourteen long years, this is the first time I’ve done a play-report. So, thank you for reading! I’ll try to keep these up as we keep playtesting Industrial Fishing Simulator.

Thanks! - clio <3

[lonestarflight]

Space Shuttle Discovery during the operations for the test of the External Tank, before its scheduled launch in May 2005.

"A propellant-loading test of Discovery's External Tank (ET) is scheduled for April 14. During the test, the tank will be filled to launch levels with ultra-cold hydrogen and oxygen propellants, known as 'cryogenics.' The test is designed to evaluate how the tank, orbiter, Solid Rocket Boosters and ground systems are performing under full 'cryo-load.' Throughout testing, engineers will observe the effectiveness of key safety modifications made to the External Tank."

STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" mission, since the tragic loss of Columbia in February 1, 2003. Originally scheduled for May 15, this mission was delayed several times. An unresolved fuel sensor anomalies in the External Tank prevented Discovery from launching until July 26.

Date: April 13, 2005

NASA ID: KSC-05pd-0708, KSC-05PD-0708_2