by T I WADE
After a few more minutes the meeting was over and the scientists went back to work. A second meeting of only the heads of departments was due to start as soon as coffee and snacks were consumed.
Only the core of Ryan’s selected scientists from over the years, thirty-six very clever men and women, attended the second meeting. Ryan Richmond outlined the first strategy compiled by the team over the last several weeks. He had spent hours with each man and woman discussing with them their part of the project, what they were expected to achieve, and whether it was the correct way to fit into the master plan.
“First of all, you, the thirty-seven people in this room, including me, have all worked on this project for the last decade or more in different parts of the country, totally unknown to the other teams. We have my five most important team section-heads here:
Atmosphere and space propulsion design and production,
Alloy and metal management, design and production,
Water and electrical production,
Space environmental studies, and
Space Biology.
“You are the only ones privy to the projected timeline and project description information. Our timelines are far shorter than I‘ve told the rest of the team, and that is to make sure that if word of what we are doing escapes, we are at least a month, hopefully half a year, ahead of the information released. Our plan is to have our first spacecraft on its way within thirteen months, not fifteen months as suggested in the last meeting. With our new gridded, electrostatic ion thrusters, our first foray into asteroid mining will be on a little-known asteroid, one mile in diameter and three miles in length, which will pass within 200,000 miles of our moon’s orbit, and 600,000 miles from earth, during October of next year.
“This asteroid is named DX2014 and it was found by the Hubble team six years ago. It is pretty small, very unimportant, and the only recordings of its flight path were done to determine any potential danger to earth. The asteroid passes earth every thirty years; this next pass is its closest to earth for 200 years, and will not get any closer to earth until three passes from now in 2099.
“Data received from a friend working at Hubble’s control center shows that it is very possible that native platinum, mixed with a pure source of nickel or cobalt may be found in small rubble piles on its surface. This means that either there is a small gravitational force, or the object has enough magnetic power to attract particles to its surface. Either or both of these factors will be of benefit to our mission as they will help our space ship bond itself to the surface.
“My old university friend is on the Hubble team, and he spent several days over a period of months looking at this piece of rock. As I said, his real purpose was to determine any future danger of its hitting earth, but he also secretly spent time on several different tests for me; it was he who contacted me a decade ago. He started this whole operation.
“DX2014 is travelling through space at a little more than 3,000 miles per hour faster than our own planet travels through space, and we plan to board the rock in May while it is still incoming, and approximately 4.5 million miles from earth. Our flight from takeoff to landing on the asteroid is expected to take approximately twelve days. The spacecraft will curve in towards the target with a long left curve to align itself with the speed and direction of the asteroid. It is not coming straight towards us, but at a 47 degree angle to earth.” Ryan paused to look at his notes.
“Our mining scientists and designers have decided on a form of loose-rock collection which uses an electronic sweeper to gather up small stones and rocks rather than actually burrow under the surface. Our current plan on the drawing boards gives us a maximum of thirty days to collect small nuggets on the surface from the rubble piles I mentioned. We are going to have astronauts–spacewalkers to sweep them up, or physically pick up pieces of rock, and hopefully gather twenty tons of valuable material before their return trip home. This project will require two astronauts and a couple of the electronic, rechargeable sweepers we are beginning to manufacture.
“We expect our astronauts to push the machine over the surface; its brush type sweeper will gather any solid metal rocks, up to the size of a marble. Once the machine has collected a load of a few pounds, it will be maneuvered by the astronaut back to the ship for analysis. If the metal is found to be valuable, it will be stored. Any non-valuable metals will be deposited back on the surface of the asteroid in marked piles. I’m hoping native platinum, and then rhodium or iridium, will be combined in the particles of rock; both are more valuable than platinum and are supposed to be far more abundant out there than here on earth.” Ryan took a sip of water.
“In the mining craft we will have a Magnetic Metal Analyzer or an MMA, to test the rocks we collect, and transmit and store the information in the spacecraft’s computers as well as its own memory. Two of our planned three space ships, Astermine One and Astermine Two, as I would like to call them, will have four separate compartments behind the flight control cockpit. In our latest drawings our ship looks like a fat oval Cuban cigar, but we will make sure it has a bright silver color in case anybody out there wants to light her up.” There was much sniggering.
“The pilot and crew supply compartment will be behind the flight deck and will slowly empty as supplies are used up to make more room for long-term travel. The rest of the cargo will be loaded into ten empty aluminum canisters loaded pyramid style in each of the last three compartments. The second chamber behind the cockpit will also be loaded with outbound xenon and liquid hydrogen cylinders. The rear three cargo compartments will have smaller side doors underneath the larger spacecraft’s two long roof doors. These smaller cargo hatches are for placing cargo into the holds. The fifth and slightly larger compartment will also store the mining machinery on the outbound flight, and the compartment will hold the “Magnetic Metal Analyzer System” or MMA. This is the machine which detects metals in rock. It will be on a table that can be pulled out of the side door to be used outside the craft. It has been suggested that all of the mining equipment and any spare gas, food, and water canisters could be left behind for a second visit, if our first visit proves financially positive.
“We can return to earth’s orbit with approximately twenty tons divided between the three rear cargo bays. A mix of rock and powder will be our best load. My idea, and I’ve had agreement from several of you, is that the ship will not reenter earth’s orbit, but dock with one of our shuttles which got it up there in the first place. If you guys have done your jobs, the shuttles will have taken up another dozen loads of spaceship-building materials, and our first permanent spaceship will be underway. Naturally, the shuttles, which we haven’t named yet, will be full on their outward journeys and empty on return flights. Once we dock with whatever we have up there, figures show that we could transfer a maximum of four tons from the mining craft for each shuttle-return flights to earth.
“So, for our first project I have managed to procure the loan of the U.S. Air Force experimental C-5 Galaxy, on orders from the president himself. All our shuttle and spacecraft dimensions have been subject to the dimensions of this particular aircraft which will arrive in a few days, now that the runway resurfacing project is complete. Hangar #3 was specifically constructed to house the C-5.
“This particular C-5 was modernized with an extra-large rear-loading ramp which opens up the whole cargo interior. The more modern C-17 Globemaster rear-loading ramp was designed from this aircraft’s rear-door experiments. Unfortunately, the C-5 door was redesigned too large and the cargo bay has always had problems pressurizing during flights above 25,000 feet. She has stood virtually unused at Dover Air Force Base for a couple of years, even after the Air Force spent a decade trying to get the larger door to seal against the outside pressures, without success.
“The second plus for us is that during testing of the large door, more powerful engines were added to her to reach higher altitudes. These engines have less than a thousand hours of flight, but can get her up
to level flight of 47,000 feet on full power for a maximum of four minutes with a load of 250,000 kilos, or 250 tons; that’s long enough for us to jettison its load by rolling it out of the rear door in a climbing altitude.
“Our two teams of twenty aerospace engineers working around the clock will complete construction of the first shuttle and, once it is ready, place it in inside the C-5 for an aerial test launch. The rear cargo load ramp will be removed for all of our launch operations.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have the following exterior maximum dimensions for our second-stage shuttle: height of our shuttle, 12 feet; width, 16 feet; length, 138 feet; maximum craft weight empty, 40,000 pounds; solid and liquid fuel weight, 210,000 pounds; cargo weight—which will be either spacecraft weight or supplies—4.1 tons or 8,800 pounds. The dimensions inside the C-5 allow for front loading rails; they will be installed a minimum of three inches around the shuttle and will keep the shuttle in place during takeoff and allow for a clean exit out of the rear door area. Our shuttle design shows a sleek-looking oval tube with fully retractable wings and tail which will be fully deployed four seconds after exiting the rear of the C-5.
“A second, and possibly a third shuttle will be constructed as backups, or to keep the C-5 busy flying, as each shuttle-flight will need a ten-day turnaround time. I estimate that three flights a month per shuttle are possible within twelve months. The third stage, our four-ton spacecraft, will fit snugly into the shuttle’s cargo bay. We will have another meeting with you, and her production crew in a week. That is it for this meeting. Does anybody have any questions?” A few hands went up.
“Who is going to do the space work up there?” was the first question.
“I hope to be one of the two men, maybe on the second or third mission. However, depending on what supplies are needed to keep men in space for certain amounts of time, maybe we will only have one pilot and one shall we say “treasure collection specialist” up there to begin with. Those personnel haven’t been identified yet. Next question?”
“Where will the spacecraft fit into the shuttle? And since the project will need large amounts of xenon gas for extended distances of space flight, where is the gas to be stored if you are aiming to fill the ship with cargo?”
“Good questions. Has anybody seen those wooden, brightly painted Russian nesting dolls?” Most of the group nodded. “The spacecraft, shaped like a tube, will fit into the cargo bay of the shuttle, just like those dolls fit into each other; in space it will float out of the cargo bay through two long rectangular doors on the roof of the shuttle, much like the NASA shuttles of old. We have the new designers who joined from NASA last year to thank for that design. Second question: We will have used up a good proportion of fuel to get there. That amount of the fuel, xenon gas, will be stored in removable containers which can be left on the surface if necessary. For the return trip, the fuel will be stored in pressurized tanks in the hollow interior walls between Compartments Two and Three inside the spacecraft. This wall will not have an entrance hatch leading into the rear of the craft, the rear compartments will. Next?”
“How sure are you that any precious metals will be brought back to earth?”
“My Hubble colleague spent many hours observing the rock through the most powerful telescope possible and also checked over dozens of theories. The small asteroid looked large and very visible through the lens the last time he showed me a couple of months ago. It was large enough to see shadows on its surface showing particles of rocks called rubble piles. Also, the asteroid is shaped like a hot dog roll. It is more of a rectangular, oval shape than round, and slightly pointed on one of its two ends. These ends are much shinier than the center part, showing dull debris around its middle area. The asteroid revolves slowly, not only end over end only, but clockwise, at two revolutions an hour. End-over-end, it completes one full circle every sixty-one minutes. It will be slightly difficult to get our ship down, but once that’s taken care of, we’d better start praying that there is something of value there, and not only cheddar cheese.”
Chapter 3
Jonesy, meet VIN.
Colonel John Albert Jones, usually called “Jonesy” by his old Air Force crew, was a natural pilot, but his straight talk, direct manners and often loud rebuffs of superior officers, were among the many reasons he had been passed over for promotion a dozen times in his career.
He had often “explained” to superior officers, and even the President of the United States one day, “Where they should park their bikes!” Jonesy was not afraid of anybody, or any aircraft. He had flown hundreds in his lifetime and, although he had even crashed a couple, the Air Force courts never find fault with his flying. Long before any crashes, he often he told the mechanics what he subconsciously felt about the aircraft he had just flown; unfortunately, the problems he detected were usually forgotten as soon as he left the hangar.
Jonesy wanted to fly ever since he could remember. The earliest house he could remember his family living in was inside an Air Force base. His father was one of the most decorated pilots of the Second World War and the Korean War, and was more respectful to superiors than his wild son. In 1965, the family moved to Andrews Air Force base, just outside Washington DC and, when he was twelve, the boy did everything in his power to catch a ride on any aircraft leaving Andrews.
Jonesy was a tall kid for his age. He had tousled blond hair and freckles on his nose. If anybody noticed him, they would see a tall, blond-haired, skinny, freckly kid with startling blue eyes.
His father was often abroad, still flying and teaching Air Force pilots in Germany, Japan or Korea. The times he was home, he did his best to get his crazy son aboard any aircraft he could, but the Air Force had many rules and regulations about allowing snotty-nosed little brats aboard a million-dollar-plus piece of equipment. Even holding the rank of captain, his father was not high enough up the chain of command to bend the rules.
His mother, Meredith, ran the base commissary and worked long hours. His only sister, Beth, three years older than he, was at the stage of noticing teenaged boys and disliked her brother’s attitude enough not to worry if his usually dirty and freckled face didn’t appear in her small vision of life for days on end.
The Jones family was the usual military family, always busy, often separated, and really enjoyed laughter, jokes, and life during their infrequent get-togethers, especially at a friend’s or base party.
So, Jonesy went about getting hours in the air another way. Many aircraft took off daily from Andrews—fighters, bombers, cargo aircraft and fuel tankers. There wasn’t enough room for a boy his size to slip aboard a fighter, nor were the bombers much use. Who wanted to sit on top of tons of bombs for a free ride? Not many, but if that was the only choice available he sometimes considered it.
One of the earliest times he was caught Jonesy was thirteen; he was at Ramstein Air Force base in Germany sneaking out of a just-landed transport, and into a second one about to head back stateside to Dyess Air Force base in Texas. His father, based at Dyess at the time, was phoned about his son appearing suddenly at Ramstein. Within thirty-six hours, Jonesy was back at home at Andrews, via Italy and Dyess, where strong discipline was administered courtesy of his father and his leather Air Force belt.
Another time, two months later, he was found scrounging for food outside the rear kitchen entrance to the Officers’ Mess at Misawa Air Force base in Japan. His father, still at Dyess, pleaded with the Air Force military police to return his boy to Andrews. This time it took him two weeks to return, the happy boy flying in the cockpit of several aircraft from Misawa to Andrews, via Korea, Turkey, Germany and the Azores.
He was banned from approaching any aircraft, or even the runway areas and, because of him, several additional cameras were mounted around the inner base of Andrews Air Force Base.
With the added surveillance on him, he was now grounded for a year before his father was relocated to Ramstein in Germany, and his family followed him there. By now Jonesy was an e
xpert in free military travel and within twenty-one days of moving into base accommodations, the recently-erected security cameras at Andrews recorded him enjoying his newly achieved freedom. His father was again warned and all he could say to an angry base commander, was that all his fourteen-year old son wanted, was to fly.
Jonesy was caught three times in his fifteenth year, and six times in his sixteenth year. On his seventeenth birthday he was discovered again monitoring the controls of a Boeing Stratotanker over the Pacific. The flight was enroute to Hawaii from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. He was dressed as the co-pilot of the long flight’s second flight crew. He even had even arranged to wear the sleeping pilot’s jacket.
The first flight-crew’s pilot-in-command was rather shocked upon returning for his second shift, and noticing this rather young looking captain monitoring the cockpit while the pilot-in-command was fast asleep and snoring loudly next to him. The co-pilot was also found fast asleep in the small quarters behind the flight deck; nobody had awakened him.
Jonesy had already forgotten how many times he had been caught actually flying aircraft. Again he was in real trouble, flying a USAF jet without a license, even a motor vehicle license, and for the umpteenth time his father, a newly-promoted colonel, was brought before a panel of senior officers.
For two days they grilled the poor man, who hadn’t actually done anything wrong, about controlling his son. After pleading with the panel, Jonesy was to be automatically accepted into the next year’s group of Air Force recruits, if he stayed away from all U.S. military aircraft.