Emergency Situations
- Thread starter Gadrin
- Start date
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Yes, Fast drug slows your metabolism so you use less Oxygen (if you don't look at the science too closely - but that's the case with anything Traveller). Provided you regulate the Oxygen flow, as Aramis said.
Of course, as a technicality, you wouldn't be able to perform many actions - not even standing up. Standing is a constant balancing act between muscles and gravity. Slow those muscle reactions by a factor of 60 and you fall over.
Slow drug would create some problems, too, inertia may prevent things from working as fast as you want them to - air resistance on a door, return springs on a keyboard, etc.
But I'm digressing.
Of course, as a technicality, you wouldn't be able to perform many actions - not even standing up. Standing is a constant balancing act between muscles and gravity. Slow those muscle reactions by a factor of 60 and you fall over.
Slow drug would create some problems, too, inertia may prevent things from working as fast as you want them to - air resistance on a door, return springs on a keyboard, etc.
But I'm digressing.
E.D.Quibell
SOC-13
Yes, Fast drug slows your metabolism so you use less Oxygen (if you don't look at the science too closely - but that's the case with anything Traveller). Provided you regulate the Oxygen flow, as Aramis said.
Of course, as a technicality, you wouldn't be able to perform many actions - not even standing up. Standing is a constant balancing act between muscles and gravity. Slow those muscle reactions by a factor of 60 and you fall over.
Slow drug would create some problems, too, inertia may prevent things from working as fast as you want them to - air resistance on a door, return springs on a keyboard, etc.
But I'm digressing.
It's a good digress, please continue ...
Regards,
Ewan
Right it's basically being stoned for 60 days; I think GURPS calls
it an opiate derivative and even ST:Voyager mentioned one that
would "make long tedious trips into ecstatic..." blah, blah, blah.
I've never scuba'd or worn a space suit (of course) but I'm just
wondering how O2 flow works on those things. I don't think
scuba forces air into you constantly.
My mom is on a respirator and she's got an O2 concentrator that
feeds in O2 at 3 liters. Yesterday power went out and I had to
put her on the big O2 tank for about 45 minutes until power came
back.
Naturally that led me back to a scenario I had brewing... :devil:
>
it an opiate derivative and even ST:Voyager mentioned one that
would "make long tedious trips into ecstatic..." blah, blah, blah.
I've never scuba'd or worn a space suit (of course) but I'm just
wondering how O2 flow works on those things. I don't think
scuba forces air into you constantly.
My mom is on a respirator and she's got an O2 concentrator that
feeds in O2 at 3 liters. Yesterday power went out and I had to
put her on the big O2 tank for about 45 minutes until power came
back.
Naturally that led me back to a scenario I had brewing... :devil:
>
Lycanorukke
SOC-13
Thinking on the power though - you may be able to extend the oxygen to last 60 times longer, but what about the batteries in the LS unit and things which require power (scrubbers, pumps, cooling garments, etc). How long could they be expected to last?
o:Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Gadrin, I think Lycan was talking about the powered components in the suit. Those may define your survival limits - especially if you need to turn your suit heater up to combat the reduced body temp of your lowered metabolism - but maybe that's one of those aspects you shouldn't examine too closely - along with the heat dissipation problems associated with a doubled (or thirtyfold increase!) metabolic rate on Slow drug.
EDQ, there's not a lot more I can add, apart from the above, it's just a matter of thinking about what other things are happening around you and at what speed relative to you. Think about what will actually happen faster or slower and what won't - both inside and outside your body.
EDQ, there's not a lot more I can add, apart from the above, it's just a matter of thinking about what other things are happening around you and at what speed relative to you. Think about what will actually happen faster or slower and what won't - both inside and outside your body.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
I've long included the Fast drug (no antidote though) as standard in the Vacc Suit survival pack with an automated set of functions on the Vacc Suit to accommodate it. A bit belief suspender stretchy but at the cost (to replace it if used) I can live with it.
It permits the suit to maintain life support for the full duration of the drug effect (minus any life support used before resorting to it of course) and onboard computers compensate for the time perception difference (mmu operations, commo - records and slows down received for playback, records outgoing commo and then transmits it at normal speed, etc.)
It permits the suit to maintain life support for the full duration of the drug effect (minus any life support used before resorting to it of course) and onboard computers compensate for the time perception difference (mmu operations, commo - records and slows down received for playback, records outgoing commo and then transmits it at normal speed, etc.)
Likely I'll be corrected if I'm wrong but I believe it does. (I wish I could remember that five minutes spent at the bottom of a friend's pool wearing his gear better . . . )
Depends on the suit, but a vacc suit's power supply probably can outlast air tanks. I usually assume a default 1 week power supply for devices, robots, and suits. Then I modify that by specifying an "extended" power cell for longer operation, or a "lite" power cell for "a bit longer than a day".
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Lycanorukke
SOC-13
Apologies for not being clearer.
A SCUBA system doesn't need power because the 'waste products' are just vented away and the rest works on pressure differentials. A space suit however is closed circuit, so the CO2, water vapour (from breathing), body heat, etc has to be managed and removed. Even if the CO2/H2O scrubbers were chemical (no power needed) fans are still required to get the CO2 from the helmet to the scrubbers - and especially in a zero G environment forced ventillation is _not_ optional. And no coolant flow opens the real possiblility of heat exhausion. So the spaceman could be dead even with plently of O2 in the tanks.
While it could be purged manually to space (IIRC the current ISS PLSS has this capability) this would dramatically reduce available oxygen and forgo the use of fast drug.
I would go with Robjects idea though as it seems logical. A long life power supply far in excess of the tank capacity to prevent flat batteries at inconvienent moments. So ignore me.
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ThunderChilde
SOC-13
Just a thought, wouldn't it be sensible to build in solar power collection capability into the standard space suit exterior? Free power in the right conditions, would help with reducung solar thermal heating issues too. I would assume that by the 57th century solar conversion efficiency would be approaching 100%. Granted it would only be of use in a solar system, and not inside of a wreck or whatever.
It would answer your question though, or solve the dilema as it were.
It would answer your question though, or solve the dilema as it were.
Well GURPS ultratech offers a vacc suit being powered for about
6 weeks at GTL 10 which is TTL 12-13. Some are less, at GTL9 which is
TTL 9 or so at about 36-72 hours.
I'm just wondering about O2, is it a constant feed or "on demand" ?
If it's on demand, then I think the 60:1 ratio will hold up. That means
with FAST you could stay in a vacc suit for ~1.5 jumps just having to
change your batteries.
Probably 1 person would be designated as Baby Sitter and rotate
with the others, bringing them out after X days, etc.
It's likely there'd be energy banks (really big batteries) that you could
plug into once main power and backup power are gone.
>
6 weeks at GTL 10 which is TTL 12-13. Some are less, at GTL9 which is
TTL 9 or so at about 36-72 hours.
I'm just wondering about O2, is it a constant feed or "on demand" ?
If it's on demand, then I think the 60:1 ratio will hold up. That means
with FAST you could stay in a vacc suit for ~1.5 jumps just having to
change your batteries.
Probably 1 person would be designated as Baby Sitter and rotate
with the others, bringing them out after X days, etc.
It's likely there'd be energy banks (really big batteries) that you could
plug into once main power and backup power are gone.
>
Lycanorukke
SOC-13
Looking at the schematics and reading on the operation (here), it looks like a constant circulation in the entire suit.
The 'clean' air enters in the helmet, and the 'used' air is removed at the extremeties, so you have a constant flow throughout the suit (powered by fans). Additional oxygen is added as necessary from the oxy tank and controlled by flow sensors. This would prevent unexpected buildups of CO2 in places which could be nasty if they suddenly got breathed.
So most of the air in the suit is constantly recycled with new oxygen added as it gets low. The limit of use would be this 'top up' tank.
Edit: Looking a bit further, the actual flow in current suits is manually controlled and set at a 'preset' rate with the flow sensor confirming the flow rate (not controlling it), so if the astronaut starts hyperventilating or the like they would need to tweak the flow rate to compensate. The reasoning seems to be O2 sensors are a point of failure, and to keep things as simple as possible to prevent failures they are left out. A high tech suit could be more clever, with an onboard computer detecting and adjusting oxygen replenishment automatically. Assuming it works of course...
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It's reasonable to assume that suit designers would have considered these types of emergencies and built their suits to deal with them, especially at tech levels 10+. Heck, I'd expect a space suit to have its own dose of fast drug, especially if it's the type kept aboard specifically for emergencies. After all, once you're suited up, taking any sort of external medical dose is difficult if not impossible, and suiting up once you're on fast drug is equally problematic.
If you have a current subscription to online JTAS, you can play Miscalculation, a solo CT adventure that I wrote about an x-boat pilot who finds himself in exactly this situation -- fast drug, a vacc suit, and a long wait. It's in the May 5, 2009 issue.
Steve
If you have a current subscription to online JTAS, you can play Miscalculation, a solo CT adventure that I wrote about an x-boat pilot who finds himself in exactly this situation -- fast drug, a vacc suit, and a long wait. It's in the May 5, 2009 issue.
Steve
