Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (29 page)

Chrissie got out of her seat. “We
have coffee, tea, juice, Danish, and I’ll bring it around in just a second.”

Mark again turned to Jeff. “I like
your airline. Very nice.”

Jeff smiled. “Thanks, but it’s a
pretty small fleet. This is it.” He glanced forward into the cockpit and saw
Abby pointing to one instrument, switch and control after another, while the
Senator watched intently, nodding his head as she spoke. Jeff smiled with
satisfaction.

An hour later they were on the ground
at Quonset, shutdown and parked in front of their new hangar.

Senator Landers climbed out of the
cockpit, beaming. “Jeff, thank you so much. That was a real experience.” He
turned around, “And Abby, what an education. I enjoyed it immensely.”

Abby smiled graciously. “Any time,
Senator.”

On the tarmac Jeff motioned to
their new hangar. “Senator, before we hit the road, let me show you what we
have here. There’s something of a shortage of hangar space here at Quonset so
we leased some space from the Airport Commission and built our own. It serves
not only to hangar the plane but it will also eventually house our flight
training simulators.” Inside, Jeff led the group to what amounted to nothing
more than two automobile-sized plywood boxes. “We’re still some time away from
settling on final designs for both the command module – the primary purpose for
which is Earth re-entry – and the Mars lander. However, we have a conceptual
idea of what both will be like and we’ve begun construction on two generic simulators,
which we will eventually outfit and equip to exact specifications. Our plan,
not unlike many of the Crew Exploration Vehicle concepts of a few years back
that were presented to NASA, including Orion-Altair, is to build upon the
Apollo program. Apollo worked, many times, and we see no reason to reinvent the
wheel. In fact, our current thinking on the command module calls for a virtual
duplicate of the Skylab Rescue Module – nothing more than an Apollo command
module, modified to seat five instead of three. And of course it makes our job
much easier as engineering drawings already exist.”

The Senator interrupted, “I see
your logic, but aren’t you talking about 50-year-old technology?”

Jeff smiled. “Well, fundamentally,
yes, but it works. And frankly, we haven’t the time nor the resources to ‘fix’
what, in our opinion, isn’t ‘broke’. Now obviously there are many Apollo
systems that can benefit dramatically from modern technology. Flight
information systems for one. To provide both commonality and ease of learning,
we intend to utilize an instrument panel in both the command module and MAV –
Mars Ascent Vehicle – that looks very much like what you just saw in that
Citation out there; a glass cockpit. In fact, if at all possible – and we
believe it is – we intend to use a commercially available, off-the-shelf system
such as the Garmin G1000. It works, it’s reliable, proven, lightweight, easy to
learn, and it’s cheap and is available right now, today.”

“Huh. Interesting. Now, how is
your… is it MAV? Going to work?”

“Yes sir, MAV. Very similar to the
ascent stage of the Apollo lunar module. It will have to be a bit larger to
accommodate twice the crew, and carry a great deal more fuel, but essentially
the same. We have a detailed presentation prepared for you at our office.
Perhaps we should head down there now.”

“Fine.”

Chrissie pulled to a stop in front
of Wrentham House.

Before reaching for the door
handle, Senator Landers peered out the window. “Impressive. You work here?”

Jeff nodded. “Work and live.”

Gabe and Susan were waiting for
them in the foyer.

“Senator, I’d like to introduce the
rest of our team. This is Dr. Gabriel Frederick, Gabe, our head of engineering,
and Dr. Susan Lú, space medicine.”

Introductions were made all around
then the Senator turned aside to Jeff looking a bit puzzled. “The
rest
of your team? This is it? I had expected a sizable building full of people.”

“This is all I need, sir. As I said
back at the hangar, we haven’t the time or the resources for a multi-billion
dollar, decade long project development cycle. Anything the five of us cannot
do will either not be done, because we deem it unnecessary, or will be
subcontracted. We have not the need for a workforce of hundreds or thousands as
those people already exist within the commercial aerospace industry. And we
fully intend to make use of them, just as NASA does, though on a somewhat
smaller scale.”

“Well, alright. Nothing like a
compact organization to get things done.”

“That’s our thinking. Senator, if
it’s alright with you, I’d like to get started immediately. We’ll be happy to
show you the amenities of Wrentham House in due time, but your time is valuable
and we have much to show you, and I’m sure you have many questions.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

“Very good, sir. Then if you’ll
follow me, we’ll go downstairs to the, uh, nerve center of the operation.”

As they walked through what was
formerly the recreation room, now the ‘projects’ room, Senator Landers stopped
to look at the two space suits Susan had brought up from ILC.

“Are these the real thing?”

“Yes sir. Thought you might like to
take a look, so we brought these up this week from ILC Dover down in Maryland.”

“I’m familiar with ILC.”

“Good. This is an I-suit that we
will use for EVAs in space. It’s a conventional entry suit that operates at
comparatively low pressure, similar to the EMU utilized on the shuttle and the
ISS, but considerably lighter. And, as you can see from the size, this is one
of Susan’s suits.”

“These are suits that you will
actually be wearing?” He asked with some surprise.

“Yes sir. Again, off-the-shelf
technology. We are not asking the aerospace industry to invent anything. And if
the aerospace industry has anything in their storeroom that will meet our needs
that they have already amortized, that’s fine with us. ILC already had these on
hand, along with others and an assortment of parts, and, with some freshening
up prior to launch, will work just fine. The other suit here is a Mark III,
another ILC design, which we will be using on the surface. This is one of
Gabe’s suits, but we thought it would be a pretty good fit for you and, if you
would like, this afternoon you’re welcome to try it on.”

Senator Landers’ eyes lit up. “Yes,
by all means. That would be great.”

Jeff led the group into the
theater, got everyone seated, and pointed to Chrissie at the control console,
“Hit it.”

On the screen appeared the mission
schedule.

Today:                                     October
13, 2012

Pathfinder launch:                 December
7, 2013

1
^st
cargo launch:                    December
15, 2013

Pathfinder arrival:                 September
30, 2014

1
^st
cargo landing:                   October
19, 2014

Re-supply ship launch:           December
27, 2015

2
^nd
cargo launch:                   February
20, 2016

Crew launch:                          March
22, 2016

2
^nd
cargo arrival:                   August
19, 2016

Re-supply ship arrival:          September
29, 2016

Mars arrival:                          October
3, 2016

Mars landing:                         October
5, 2016

Mars liftoff:                            March
14, 2018

Earth splashdown:                 October
12, 2018

“Senator, most of the Mars
proposals published to date call for a split-mission involving two launch
cycles, separated by approximately 26 months, the launch opportunity window
based on Earth-Mars orbits. We see no reason to depart from this conventional
wisdom. As shown, our plan calls for the first launch – cargo destined for Mars
– in December of next year, just under fourteen months from now. That cargo
will arrive and land on the planet ten months later. Our second cargo launch
will take place in February of 2016 with crew launch to follow about three
weeks later. Upon arrival, the crew will transfer to the lander, and
immediately descend to the surface. The crew will remain on Mars for about
seventeen and a half months, departing in March 2018 and arriving home on Earth
the following October.

“As you may imagine, this is an extremely ambitious
schedule. We could of course wait another 26 months for the next Mars
opposition – the closest approach to Earth – but there are problems with that.
First, Earth’s orbit around the sun is fairly concentric. Mars’ orbit is a bit
more elliptic and the roughly biannual oppositions vary considerably in
distance. In 2003, the opposition, at 55.7 million kilometers, was the closest
it had been in nearly 60,000 years. The 2018 opposition, when the crew is
scheduled to return, will be only slightly greater than that at 57.6 million
kilometers. The 2020 opposition is somewhat more distant, 62 million
kilometers. After some two and a half years in space and on Mars, I believe the
crew will deserve – and want – a quick trip home. The second problem is that
time is money; the longer we wait, the more expensive this gets. Third, this
can be done now. The entire world has been putting this off for decades and
appears content to continue doing so for many more decades to come. We see no
reason to procrastinate any longer. We can do it now, so let’s do it. And
finally, those of us that are dedicated to this mission have effectively put
our lives on hold for, at present, six and a half years. And frankly, we’re not
getting any younger, particularly me. I want to do this while I still can.”

Senator Landers raised his finger
and interrupted. “Jeff, did you just say, in not so many words, that
you
intend to go on this mission?”

“That’s correct Senator. My idea,
my money, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Huh. I’m sorry, that thought never
even occurred to me.”

“Sir, after all I’m putting into
this, I have no intention of staying home and watching it on television.”

“Well, I suppose I can understand
that. Have you selected the rest of your crew?”

“I have.” Jeff pointed around the
room. “Abigail Nolan, pilot. Gabriel Frederick, flight engineer and navigator.
Susan Lú, flight surgeon and planetary geologist.”

The Senator sat upright, glanced at
each of them and gasped. “I’m… speechless.”

Jeff smiled. “This isn’t just the
design team, Senator, this is the crew. And Christine Mallory back there will
remain behind and manage ground control. This is an owner-operator mission,
Senator. That gives each of us a bit more incentive to get it right. And, while
I’m on the subject, please don’t read anything into the crew gender mix. I
chose the very best people for the job without regard for race, creed, color…
or gender. It’s simply luck of the draw.” Jeff lied, a little. He had to.

Senator Landers looked around the
room again. “And all of you really want to do this?”

Jeff’s team nodded in unison.

“More than you could possibly
imagine, Senator,” said Abby.

The Senator shook his head. “My
word. You are brave people, I’ll give you that much.” He nodded to Jeff.
“Continue.”

For the next hour and a half, they
explained the mission, sometimes in broad brushstrokes, elsewhere in great
detail. Each of the team members covered specific areas: Abby – launch, landing
and Earth splashdown; Gabe – orbital maneuvers and the transits over and back;
Susan – planetary habitat, research science, and crew issues; while Jeff
discussed cargo, logistics, the landing site, planetary exploration and filled
in other details as necessary. For the most part Senator Landers just sat
quietly and listened.

“And, the good Lord willing and the
creek don’t rise, on Friday, October 12, 2018 we splashdown in the south
Pacific, hopefully to be plucked out of the sea by a US Navy aircraft carrier,
if the government is amenable, otherwise a chartered commercial recovery
vessel.” Jeff nodded to Chrissie to bring up the room lights. “And there, in a
nutshell, is the plan. Do you have any questions, Senator?”

The Senator stood and stretched.
“Hundreds. But allow me to chew on this for just a bit first.” He shook his
head. “This is incredible. You’ve done all of this in just six months?”

“Four, actually. It took me a
couple months to get organized.”

“You know Jeff, if I were President
of the United States – which I will never be – I would appoint you Director of
NASA.”

Jeff grinned. “And if you did sir,
I would respectfully decline.”

The Senator smiled. “And I wouldn’t
blame you. I do have one question that immediately comes to mind on a subject
you did not discuss. How much is this gonna cost?”

“And there’s a reason why I didn’t
touch on that. To date, we have concentrated our efforts on the ‘how’, not the
‘how much’. There are a seemingly infinite number of variables involved and
it’s really hard to say at this point. Still, cost is certainly an issue and we
have priced everything we can that actually has a price tag attached, and given
the rest our best guess. In answer to your question, we are currently
estimating somewhere between two and three billion.”

“What?” the Senator asked with
noticeable surprise. “You’re joking?”

“No sir, I am not.”

“Jeff, NASA spent over ten billion
dollars on the Constellation Program and all it accomplished was a single Ares
I test launch. And the most recent figures I’ve seen call for another hundred
billion just to achieve a return to the moon eight to ten years from now.”

“Yes sir, I know. But we are not
NASA, and we’re not the government. We do things a bit differently.”