Interesting scenario

[Spinward Scout]

The I.S.S. Silver Queen suffers a wreck in an Asteroid Belt. The only survivors are three people. From what's left of the ship, between them, they have three airtight rooms, one spacesuit, three days' worth of air, a week's supply of food, and a year's supply of water. There's no communicator, but a settlement is on a nearby asteroid.

How would you get out of this and rescue yourselves?

And can you name the story?

 

[Arthur Denger]

The I.S.S. Silver Queen suffers a wreck in an Asteroid Belt. The only survivors are three people. From what's left of the ship, between them, they have three airtight rooms, one spacesuit, three days' worth of air, a week's supply of food, and a year's supply of water. There's no communicator, but a settlement is on a nearby asteroid.

How would you get out of this and rescue yourselves?

And can you name the story?

A Bad Case of 'Roids ??

Define "nearby".

Is there power? With a suitably qualified engineer on board, the water could probably be electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen. That could help stretch the breathable air supply.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Define "nearby".
Is there power?[/FONT][/COLOR][/B]

They could see the asteroid from a viewport - but the settlement was on the other side and didn't see the accident.

They could see in the rooms. I don't remember if it explained how. But even if they had power - the three rooms were staterooms. They did say the doors were airtight.

This is one I always wanted to work up as an adventure and see what the players came up with compared to the story.

 

[Whipsnade]

And can you name the story?

SS,

It's an early Asimov short story. Can't remember the title.

You poke a hole in the water tank in the right place and the reaction pushes the wreck close enough to the settled asteroid to be noticed.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[BlackBat242]

"Marooned off Vespa", by Isaac Asimov.

His first published fiction - "Marooned off Vespa" - appeared in Amazing Stories in 1939, although he had had several other stories rejected during the previous two years.

 

[Icosahedron]

Thanks for the spoiler, Bill. Probably the best solution - who am I to argue with Asimov?

However, in the spirit of alternative responses, I was thinking of water electrolysis to extend air supply too, though in practice it would be CO2 poisoning that killed them, unless the scrubbers were still working.
Also a spacewalk, taking one of the crew to the asteroid to get help. On a vacuum world of low gravity, you may not even need a re-entry package.

 

[Arthur Denger]

A creative solution for Asimov's 1939-vintage science, but I'm uncertain how successful that course of action really would be. Punching a hole in the water tank might work, provided it's not a self-sealing tank (though by the 57th Century, that doesn't seem very likely). Also, since there would be no way to control duration or alter the vector of the water "burn", what is to prevent the wreck from accelerating smack dab into the asteroid, or zipping right on past it?

...I was thinking of water electrolysis to extend air supply too, though in practice it would be CO2 poisoning that killed them, unless the scrubbers were still working.
Also a spacewalk, taking one of the crew to the asteroid to get help. On a vacuum world of low gravity, you may not even need a re-entry package.

Good point about the scrubbers. Yeah, I didn't realize it was line-of-sight. Send one guy out in the vacc suit with the mattress from his bed to minimize impact when he reaches the settlement asteroid. The tricky part would be getting the individual on a proper trajectory so that he doesn't overshoot and fly off alone, untethered, even further into the Belt.

In zero atmo with low grav, a re-entry pak would be superfluous, wouldn't it?

 

[kafka47]

In the 57th century, one hopes that computers are part of a network in which all ships operations can be routed into different terminals...allowing the bridge to be in the Cargo Hold or the Engine Room in a Stateroom providing you have the neccessary security protocals.

 

[pendragonman]

Detach the water tank from the wreck. Jury-rig a set of thrust deflectors on a valve on the tank. Have the person with the vac suit "ride" the thrust bottle that is the water tank to the settlement. Return via ship from the settlement and pick up the other two.

 

[Jame]

You presume that the vac suit doesn't have some sort of EVA Jet pack. Just light up the jet for a bit, then decelerate and manuever.

 

[Arthur Denger]

Detach the water tank from the wreck. Jury-rig a set of thrust deflectors on a valve on the tank. Have the person with the vac suit "ride" the thrust bottle that is the water tank to the settlement. Return via ship from the settlement and pick up the other two.

Shades of Slim Pickins in Doctor Strangelove, "Yeeeeee-haw!"

Again, I'm thinking in terms of classical Traveller starship & small craft architecture: non-life support areas of the vessel (between hull and bulkheads) honeycombed with water (fuel) storage, rather than a single cylindrical water tank.

In the 57th century, one hopes that computers are part of a network in which all ships operations can be routed into different terminals...allowing the bridge to be in the Cargo Hold or the Engine Room in a Stateroom providing you have the neccessary security protocals.

I'm also thinking that if all that remains of the vessel is three passenger staterooms, likely there would be little infrastructure and zero tools (except maybe a multitool) with which to do any jury rigging. Computer terminals, network hubs et cetera would be non-functional if the ship's computer becomes disabled (or missing)! Not to mention the lack of power. Redundant systems notwithstanding, I'd have a hard time believing those staterooms would have a UPS or battery backup (except maybe for the alarm clock).

That may sound extreme, but this seemed to be presented as a 'bare bones' scenario. I was a little surprised that the staterooms themselves still had air, since the first thing most people would do is to leave their stateroom to find out what made the big BOOM. That would be human nature, would it not?

 

[Whipsnade]

Thanks for the spoiler, Bill.

Icosahedron,

What spoiler?

The OP wanted the solution and the work it came from. I answered both questions.

Probably the best solution - who am I to argue with Asimov?

Asimov's solution was borderline for the 1939 assumptions underlying it and, as Arthur correctly points out, is totally B.S. now. I remember reading it years ago as a young teen and thinking This is crazy...

Leaving aside all the orbital course computations that Arthur was wise to mention, in the story Vespa can be seen by the marooned men and Asimov's solution is to move the wreck close enough to Vespa so that it can be seen in turn. Of course, in 1939 radar was still a military secret, but wouldn't any asteroid settlement worthy of the name have radar? And shouldn't that radar be able to pick up a wrecked spacecraft in what is said to be human visual range?

How about transponders? Okay, the ship's radios are wrecked, but the transponder isn't working? We find aircraft blackboxes on the sea bed thanks to the tiny signals they emit. The airplane carrying them may be aluminum confetti strewn across several square kilometers, but the transponder is still 'singing'.

You can rope in other incongruities like flight plans too, but Asimov's solution is more of a science trick than anything else.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[ChalkLine]

In zero atmo with low grav, a re-entry pak would be superfluous, wouldn't it?

JTAs notes that the re-entry kit has a de-orbit thruster, powerful enough to change orbit.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

...in a Stateroom providing you have the neccessary security protocals.

Oh no! Never in a stateroom! At least not on the ships where I have control. Now, if the ship the PCs are riding on is so silly as to allow this to happen.... :devil:

I was a little surprised that the staterooms themselves still had air, since the first thing most people would do is to leave their stateroom to find out what made the big BOOM. That would be human nature, would it not? [/COLOR][/FONT][/B]

Or, to simply walk through a hatch into a vacuum space without checking... :nonono:

Bill, a lot of Asimov's science was sketchy even then. He admits it (see The Early Asimov, vol 1).

 

[aramis]

Fritz:

A lot of us have the idea that voice comands with voiceprint and observational biometrics verification are fairly standard from anywhere, and that terminals can be temporarily authorized from pretty much anywhere; both from DGP's SSOM and from implications in Bk8: Robots, as well as the materials in TNE and Survival Margin.

The question is not one of Plausibility but of requisite utility. For example, the ship's doc usually operates out of his stateroom on the smaller ships.

Can these terminals be locked out? yes.
If the staterooms are all that is left? No computer to allow the protocols...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Darn tootin'! If I'm gone, there shouldn't be any pax left, doggone it! And, I ain't lettin' no dirty pirate hack into my computer from his stateroom!

Of course, way back when (like, the '80s) I designed my ships with individual computers for certain functions (yeah, so it sucked up a few dTs of cargo space...) on a network. And, the ones accessible to pax were totally off the ship's control network. Of course, I also had grav plates in the ceiling (for anti-hijack) and monomolecular wire that would string across the passageways for anti-boarding by Zho. So, I might be a little paranoid about security....

 

[Icosahedron]

Icosahedron,

What spoiler?

The OP wanted the solution and the work it came from. I answered both questions.


Have fun,
Bill

The OP asked 'How would *you* rescue yourselves', which indicated to me a desire for alternative responses rather than the 'correct' one (its actual feasibility aside).

It seems we read the request differently.
However, since the original solution is no better than the alternatives suggested, there's no harm done - and my jibe was meant to be in good humour anyway.