[MOD] Colony Interior
1. Living Level
The Colony
In general, the walls and ceilings of the interior are a white, matte, hard plastic. The floors are a gray, rubberized material. The walls, ceilings, and floors are not seamless, but are composed of panels that can be levered open with a prybar and removed to allow access to the electrical wiring, water pipes, ventilation system, cooling system, and EM field generator. Corridors are wide enough for two adult humans to walk side by side. Doorways into all rooms are set into bulkheads, with six-inch risers coming up from the floor and down from the ceiling, and too narrow to admit more than one adult human at a time. Bulkheads and doorways are also set at intervals in all lengthy corridors. Each door is fitted with a viewport and indented handle and can be slid manually in and out of a pocket in the bulkhead. When closed, the doors can be sealed airtight by pulling a lever, located on both sides of the bulkhead next to the door, from the up position to the down position. A second, smaller lever next to the door-seal lever closes and seals valves in the ventilation and plumbing where they pass through the bulkheads.
Also located next to each door, on both sides of the bulkhead, are an intercom, a light switch, and a hand crank LED flashlight. Pressing and holding the transmit button and speaking into the intercom transmits to every intercom in the colony. The LED flashlights produce one hour of light for every minute of cranking. Lights for each room or corridor section are turned off or on with the push of the button, with the exception of the Rec Room. Lights in agricultural sections and most of the larger rooms are sulfur microwave lamps; lights in the smaller rooms and Rec Room are clusters of LEDs. To save energy, all overhead lights automatically shut off from 22:00 to 6:00 and cannot be turned back on during this curfew period. Single blue LEDs placed near the floor in rooms and corridors provide just barely enough light during curfew for a human to make out the shapes of objects, similar to the diffuse ambient light at night on Earth.
Fire extinguishers are located inside of every room, attached to the wall next to every door that passes between a room and a room, or a room and a corridor. A green LED digital clock is located in each room on the outermost wall near the ceiling. A large display shows the time in hours and minutes based on a 24-hour clock, and a smaller display below this indicates the day of the week and calendar date, which is based on an Earth year (for instance, SUN 17-01 would be Sunday, the 17th of January). A few electrical outlets are scattered about in the kitchen, machine shop, slaughterhouse, and laboratories for use with small colony appliances, but are different in design, voltage, and frequency from any current Earth standards.
The colony is cooled by heat exchange between the colony’s atmosphere and a refrigerant, and between the refrigerant and the cold vacuum of space. Pipes on the south side of the colony carry refrigerant to the exterior of the colony to be cooled, then just inside the outer walls to cool colony air, which is then distributed through the ventilation system. The colony’s default interior temperature is 70˚ F.
The colony is protected from cosmic radiation by an electro-magnetic field generator located in the center of the colony, along the base of the tether. An electro-magnetic field is generated between the transmitting coil beneath the colony and the antenna above the colony, and encompasses the entire building. The Tesla coil can be accessed by removing panels from the innermost walls on Floor 3, and the transmitting coil can be accessed by removing floor panels and exposing a crawlspace below Floor 3. The antenna encircles the tether on the exterior of the colony, two meters above the colony roof.
Sleeping Quarters
Sleeping quarters come in two different plans, two-bed and four-bed. The beds are bunked; the white plastic frames are attached to the walls and can be folded up into the walls. The top bunk can be accessed by a ladder at the end of the bunk closest to the door, also set into the wall. The mattresses and pillows are memory foam, the sheets are beige linen, and the blankets are light blue acrylic. Small doors set in the wall near the foot of each bed open to small closets containing a bar and a few hangers, a shelf above that, and on the inside of the door, a hook and a full-length mirror. Small tables fold down from the wall opposite the door. In two-bed quarters the square table will fold down in the corner of the room, one side flush with the wall, just large enough to accommodate a chair on each of the two remaining sides. In the four-bed quarters the tables will be rectangular and twice as large, with room for a chair at each end and two on the longer edge. The chairs are aluminum and can be stacked.
Toilets
Each toilet will contain a ceramic and plastic commode, aluminum sink, and mirror, as well as appropriate installations for a roll of toilet paper, a bar of soap, and a hand towel. The mirrors are not glass, but are made of sheets of a reflective metallic substance that is not easily scratched.
Showers
Each shower room contains five shower-heads separated only by curtains. A drain is set into the floor beneath each shower head, and set into the wall are knobs for hot and cold water, small shelves for soap and shampoo, and hooks for washcloths. Shelves are set into the wall near the door for clothes and towels.
Laundry
Along the outermost wall of the Laundry are three large-capacity washers and a large sink. Along the innermost wall are three large-capacity dryers. The washers, dryers, and sink are stainless steel. Next to one of the doors is a white plastic shelf for detergent storage. In the middle of the room is a large, white plastic table for laundry sorting and folding, under which are several white plastic laundry baskets.
Dining Area
The dining room is designed to comfortably seat fifty human-sized people. The only features in the room are five cafeteria-style tables, each seating ten people (five on each bench). The table and bench surfaces are white plastic, and the frames are aluminum; the tables can be folded or wheeled around.
Kitchen
The kitchen contains a central island with a countertop for food preparation over storage drawers and cabinets. Against the walls are more drawers, cabinets, and shelves, two sinks, a toaster oven, three microwave/convection ovens, electric range and large oven, consumer-style refrigerator and freezer, and a large, commercial-style dishwasher, designed to wash all of the day’s used dishes in one go. The various drawers, cabinets, and shelves contain the usual standard dishes, eating utensils, cooking utensils, cookingware, cloth napkins, etc.
Food Storage
Food storage mostly contains three large walk-in refrigerators, three large walk-in freezers, and several rows of standing shelves for non-perishables. The storage room also contains three dumb-waiters for hauling food up from below. The dumb-waiters are hand-operated; a cable attached to the dumb-waiter is fed through a pulley and then wound or unwound from a reel by turning a crank. The reels can be locked in place when the dumb-waiter is being loaded or unloaded or not in use. Finally, the room contains a tank of water pumped from the lower levels, from which it is distributed to all parts of Habitation.
In total, the colony's initial food reserves equal 720 units, sufficient for the initial inhabitants plus four more for two months, comprising the following items:
Limited (two-month) rations:
Dried fruit: apples, bananas, raisins, pineapple, coconut
Freeze-dried foods
-beef teriyaki
-hamburger
-jerk chicken
-pork stew
-tuna salad
Frozen vegetables: carrots, corn, green beans, green peas
Frozen raw meat: chicken, turkey, tuna steaks
Granola
Granola bars
Jerky: beef, salmon, turkey
Macaroni and cheese, instant
Multivitamin supplements
Protein bars
Ramen, instant
Roasted nuts: almonds, walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts
White sugar (very limited)
Whole oats (Two month rations have been used up.)
In addition, the colony contains bulk reserves of the following items which should suffice for an extended period of time if used in moderate quantities.
Limited (two-year) rations:
Baking powder
Baking soda
Cocoa powder
Coffee beans
Salt
Tea, loose leaf, black
Vitamin D supplements
Infirmary
The Infirmary comprises a large main room and a number of smaller rooms. The main room contains storage for common medical supplies and twelve beds; the beds are on aluminum frames with wheels that can be locked in place. In one corner of the main room is a small toilet, similar to the toilets near the sleeping quarters, with the addition of a shower. Beyond the toilet is short hallway opening into four small rooms. The two smaller rooms on the left are doctors’ offices; each office contains a narrow, white plastic desk up against one of the walls, a console connected to the Rec computer, two aluminum chairs, a gray metal filing cabinet, and a white plastic shelving unit. The two rooms on the right are private/quarantine rooms. Each private/quarantine room contains two rolling beds, two rolling hospital overbed tables with aluminum frames and white plastic table surfaces, and two aluminum chairs.
On the other side of the main room are three more rooms, the examination room, the surgery, and the scrubbing area. The examination room, which opens into the Medical Lab, contains an examination table, a digital x-ray and lead aprons, beam-balance physician’s scale, rolling aluminum stool, and white plastic storage shelves and cabinets. The digital x-ray includes the x-ray table and a small hard-drive for storing digital x-ray images, connected to the usual console set-up: a wall-mounted twenty-inch touch screen, shallow, white plastic desk, and black plastic keyboard. The surgery contains a simple operating table, a rolling anesthesia cart, two rolling instrument tables, two rolling stools, a console connected to the digital x-ray hard-drive, a few containers for disposables, and shelves, drawers, and cabinets for common surgical supplies. All furniture in the surgery is stainless steel, for ease of sterilization. The final room in the Infirmary is the scrubbing area, which opens into the Medical Storage Room. The scrubbing area contains two large stainless steel sinks and stainless steel countertop, a small clothes washer, a small clothes dryer, an autoclave, and stainless steel shelves and cabinets.
Medical Storage
Medical storage contains shelves of medical supplies. The aluminum and plastic shelves are labeled by letters, with sections of each row of shelves labeled by numbers. Charts by the doors list the available supplies in alphabetical order, and the sections of shelving where they can be found. There is also a small shelf of medical reference books.
Supply list:
Acetaminophen
Adrenalin
Albuterol
Antacids
Antibiotic ointment
Aspirin
Benadryl
Cough drops
Cough medicine
Eyewash solution
General anesthetic
Glucose gel
Hemorrhoidal cream
Hydrocortisone cream
Ibuprofen
Lorazepam
Morphine
Penicillin
Prozac
Pseudoephedrine
Ritalin
Spray-on topical antiseptic/anesthetic
Tetracycline
Adhesive bandages
Blood pressure cuff
Cotton swabs
Elastic bandages
Gauze
Hydrogen peroxide
Inhalers
Iodine
Isopropyl alcohol
Liquid bandages
Medical tape
Optical microscopes, slides
Pressure bandages
Saline solution
Scissors
Silicone lubricant
Stethoscope
Thermometers
Tweezers
Bonesaw
Cautery
Crutches
Curved needles
Forceps
Gloves
Hemostats
Hypodermic needles
Lead bib
Masks
Scalpels
Slings
Surgical sutures
X-ray sheets
Medical Lab
The Medical Lab contains four stainless steel rolling stools, and a couple of stainless steel lab benches in the middle of the room. The following equipment is arranged along the walls: two fume hoods, a centrifuge, an autoclave, an incubator and water bath (both with temperature control and agitation racks), a refrigerator and freezer, three compound microscopes, an emergency shower, and two sinks, each with faucets for tap and DI water, and eyewash heads. The remaining space is filled with assorted stainless steel shelves, countertops, cabinets and drawers, which contain appropriate and assorted glassware and tools.
Library
The library contains shelves of actual physical books. Because space is limited, only one copy each of the most popular works and the most commonly useful reference books (including manuals for colony equipment) is available, printed in English. Fiction is alphabetized by author’s last name; nonfiction is organized by subject. Other books are available in digital format.
Ballroom
The ballroom is simply a large, empty room with no furniture. Its purpose is to be a space where a variety of activities can occur: parties, dancing, sparring, wrestling, whatever. The longest wall is lined with a series of large mirrors.
Rec Room
The purpose of the Rec Room is to provide the colonists with relaxation and entertainment, for their mental and emotional health. The main section of the room is populated with collections of furniture, mostly squishy couches, squishy armchairs, footrests, small end tables, and coffee tables. The couches, armchairs, and footrests are made of synthetic materials, either plush or leather-like, and come in dark blue, dark gray, and tan. The end tables and coffee tables are white plastic. The room also contains a few more standard rectangular, square, and circular white plastic tables and standard aluminum chairs. A shelf contains an assortment of board games, cards, dice, chips, and whathaveyou. A corner of the room holds a pool table, ping-pong table, foosball table, dartboard, and associated equipment (balls, cues, chalk, paddles, Velcro safety darts). Panels of light switches near the doors can adjust the lights in different sections of the room, allowing Rec Room users to have the lights off or on, bright or dim, without disturbing users in other sections of the room.
The most significant feature of the Rec Room is the secondary computer, used for nonessential systems. The Rec computer, located near the centermost wall of the Rec Room within a light gray plastic casing, contains the reference/entertainment database, and is also the receptacle for any public or private logs colonists might wish to keep in digital format. The database comprises a massive collection of books, films, and music, as well as the following handful of simple games: Tetris, Asteroids, Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Zork.
To access the resources available on the Rec computer, a colonist uses one of eight main consoles or one of twenty portable consoles. Five of the main consoles are located along the walls in the main Rec room at a shallow, white plastic desk with an aluminum chair, and each comprises a black plastic keyboard and a twenty-inch, flat, touch-screen monitor on the wall. A sixth console is located in the theater, and two more are located in the Infirmary offices. From the main consoles one can access the entire database, or select a portable console to which to copy a few select items. The portable consoles are thin, lightweight, and can be used in two modes. In “closed” mode a console is ten inches by seven inches, with a power button and a view-screen on the top that employs a touch-interface similar to an iPhone. In “open” mode the top folds up, revealing a second touch-screen and keyboard, like a laptop computer. A portable can be used for about six hours before needing to be recharged. When not in use, a portable can be folded into “closed” mode and slid into one of twenty slots in the storage unit. A plug in the back of each slot connects with a port in the side of the portable; similar to USB, this connection is the conduit for both power and data transfer. All consoles can be turned on and off with a button next to the screen, and have both speakers and headphone jacks, on the sides of portables and on the side of the keyboard at main consoles. A number of different kinds of headphones are available in a bin near the portable storage unit.
Within the Rec Room is a smaller theater room. At the front of the theater is a six-foot flat screen and speaker system, which are connected to a computer console in the back of the room. Seating for fifty is available; the seats are pretty standard theater fare- fixed to the floor in rows, cushioned, dark gray synthetic fabric, armrests.
Gymnasium
On the southern end of the Gymnasium are a number of exercise machines: two elliptical machines, two stationary bikes, two stair steppers, and a rowing machine. All of the machines have very minimal electronics, and are powered entirely by kinetic energy. A section of the middle of the room is left as open space for stretching, crunches, yoga, etc; a punching bag is hung from the ceiling near one wall, and a collection of medicine balls, balance balls, and mats is kept near the other wall, as well as a small shelf with sanitization/cleaning supplies. At the northern end are a number of assorted weight machines and assorted free weights, and a large mirror takes up most of the wall at the end of the room.
Observation Deck
The Observation Deck is a circular, dome-shaped room situated on the roof of the colony and accessed by a ladder coming up from below. The entire eastern half of the dome is transparent, revealing a panoramic view of ice, wheeling stars, and the looming presence of Morpheus directly overhead. A small number of chaises longues and ottomans are scattered about, in the same assortment of colors and materials as the furniture in the Rec Room, as well as a few white plastic end tables. A sliding door can be pulled across the hatch in the middle of the floor, sealing off the deck. Since the door is located in the floor, the intercom, flashlight, light switches, fire extinguisher, and clock are located on the section of wall closest to the hatch, in the 'northwest' quadrant of the room. The light switches adjust overhead lights in the western, opaque half of the room, brightening, dimming, or turning them off and on.
Misc. Storage
Misc. Storage contains shelves of miscellaneous, general supplies. Like Medical Storage, it contains aluminum and plastic shelves that are labeled by letters, with sections of each row of shelves labeled by numbers. Charts by the doors list the available supplies in alphabetical order, and the sections of shelving where they can be found. Additionally, in the northernmost corner of the room, a plastic bin contains the following sports equipment: a basketball backboard and hoop, a basketball, a soccer ball, a set of orange plastic cones, and a ball pump.
Supply list:
Baking soda
Bedsheets, cotton
Bias tape
Biodegradable feminine hygiene products
Biodegradable laundry soap
Biodegradable shampoo
Biodegradable soap, bar
Biodegradable soap, liquid
Blankets, acrylic
Brooms
Butcher paper - white, yellow, red, blue
Cloth rags
Contraceptives
Craft glue
Crochet hooks
Dental floss
Deodorant
Duct tape
Dustpans
Electrical tape
Fabrics (varied colors and textures)
Fabric shears
Facial tissue
Gloves
Glue gun
Hairbrushes
Hairdryers
Hand lotion
Handtowels
Hot glue
Knitting needles
Lip balm
Masking tape
Mason jars
Paintbrushes
Painting palettes
Paints (tempera, watercolor)
Pencils
Pens, ballpoint
Pens, felt-tipped
Pens, felt-tipped, permanent
Pins
Ribbon
Rubber cement
Scissors
Scotch tape
Scrub brushes
Sewing machine (manual)
Several boxes of 8.5"x11" white paper
Sewing needles
Sheets, linen
Silicone lubricant
Sponges
Superglue
Thread
Toilet paper
Toothpaste
Towels, varying sizes
Washcloths
Yarn
Yarn (acrylic, various colors)
Yarn (wool, various colors)
Control Room
The Control Room contains three items that are vital to colony operations: the battery bank, the radio control station, and the main computer. The centermost wall of the Control Room is lined with the batteries that are charged by the solar panels and provide all of the colony’s power. The north corner houses the radio control station, a white plastic console covered in screens, switches, dials, and buttons, and an aluminum chair. The radio is primarily useful for colony-to-spacesuit communication. All the spacesuits are permanently set to one comm frequency; the control station’s broadcast microphone and receiver speaker can be set to either the EVA frequency or custom frequency mode with the flick of a switch. Should one wish to broadcast and receive on a custom frequency for whatever reason, one can scroll through the radio band by turning a dial; the selected frequency is displayed on a red LED display. A button next to the microphone must be held down to broadcast; the mic switches off when the button is released. A button next to the speaker turns the speaker on and off, and a dial controls the volume. The control station also receives video from spacesuit cameras. The suits can broadcast in any one of four video channels; the channels can be viewed on four screens in the station console, which can also be turned on and off with the press of a button.
The main computer, or Icelus Station Essential Systems (ISES) computer, takes up most of the southern corner of the room. Like the secondary/Rec computer, it is encapsulated in a light gray insulated plastic casing to protect the computer and ammonia cooling system. ISES is accessible via the usual computer console set-up: touch-screen, narrow plastic desk, keyboard, and aluminum chair. When the screen is turned on, the most prominent feature on the “desktop” is an icon labeled ISES User Interface; when the icon is touched, the ISES voice-recognition user-interface software (nicknamed “Isis”) is activated. ISES is responsible for automatically regulating the colony’s temperature, atmospheric composition, energy consumption, and agricultural functions such as adjustments to the photoperiod and nutrient levels- essentially ISES performs tasks too complicated for the colonists to accomplish efficiently. ISES monitors all of the colony’s instrumentation and can locate and identify faults or make adjustments as directed.
Chemistry Lab
Half of the Chemistry Lab is taken up with stainless steel lab benches, sinks, and three fume hoods. The fume hoods contain reagent disposal drains that connect to a vent on the “southern” face of Icelus. After being scrubbed for atmospheric gases, the waste solids, gases, and liquids are vented into the vacuum, and centripetal force throws the waste off into space. The sinks have tap and DI water faucets, and eyewash heads.
The other half of the lab contains lab benches and large/complex instrumentation: an IR spectrometer, a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, a MelTemp melting point apparatus, an oven (for sustained heat and desiccation), a consumer-style refrigerator and freezer, and insulated containers for maintaining more extreme temperatures.
Along the wall near the middle of the room is an emergency shower. Around the room, against the walls, are a number of shelves, cabinets, and drawers for the storage of other lab equipment such as heating mantles, hot plate/stirrers, balances, gloves and other protective equipment, cleaning supplies, assorted glassware and other lab supplies (including distillation equipment), and assorted reagents, solvents, buffers, indicators, etc.
Machine Shop
A small assortment of machining equipment and several steel work-tables are scattered around the Machine Shop floor. The walls are lined with white plastic shelves and gray plastic bins holding smaller metalworking tools. Scrap metal is stored at one end of the room in bins and racks.
Machining equipment:
Lathe (assorted mandrels, spinning tools, and attachments)
Glassblowing furnace
Press brake (assorted dies)
Rolling mill (can be adjusted to different thicknesses, and for plate roll bending)
English wheel (large, with assorted anvil wheels)
Drill press (assorted drill heads)
Belt grinder
Supply list:
Acetone
Acoustic earmuffs
Blowhose
Blowhose attachments, various
Bolts, assorted
Bristle brushes
Brooms
Calipers
Clekos (assorted sizes)
Crocodile clips
Desoldering pump
Drawing dies, assorted
Dustpans
Emery cloth
Face shields
Files
Flint lighter
Flux (assorted formulations)
Forming/planishing stakes, assorted
Forming rounds, paddles, tapers; graphite, assorted
Glass knives (tungsten carbide), assorted
Glass scraps and rods, assorted
Hammers, assorted
Hand-held drill (assorted drill bits)
Lubricants/coolants
Multi-stoppers (for glasswork), assorted
Nails, assorted
Nuts, assorted
Powered shears
Rivet set
Rivets, assorted
Safety goggles
Scrap metal [sheets (foil, leaf, and plate), pipes, and wiring in assorted dimensions and made of assorted metals]
Screwdrivers, assorted
Screws, assorted
Solder (assorted alloys)
Soldering gun
Soldering iron (assorted tips)
Solder wick
Studs, assorted
Tap and die sets, assorted
Tape measures
Tin snips
Tongs
Tweezers
Washers, assorted
Waste bins
Wire brushes
Work gloves
Wrenches, assorted
Hangar
The Hangar is a large, empty room that can function as an airlock. The Hangar is two stories tall, and is accessed by a stairway crossing over the Track and up to a doorway on the second floor, which opens onto an aluminum catwalk overlooking the Hangar. The door is identical to the other bulkhead doors. The floor of the catwalk is a grate, and the catwalk surrounded on all sides by a railing. A gate in the center of the railing overlooking the Hangar can be latched closed or opened inwards. Two stairways, also with railings and grating for the steps, lead down to the floor from either side of the catwalk. On the sides of the Hangar are lines painted on the floor at an angle to the wall, delineating what appear to be parking spaces (three spaces on each wall) for ATV-sized vehicles. At the head of each space is small coil of electrical cable, plugged into the wall at one end. Otherwise the room is completely empty.
Two doors open to the outside. Outside of each door is a metal ledge, as wide as the door and broad enough for a human to stand on it. The smaller door, located on the north wall of the Hangar, is in the style of the bulkhead doors. The second door takes up almost the entire west wall of the Hangar, and an electric motor rolls the door up against the ceiling like a garage door. Controls for pressurizing/depressurizing the Hangar and opening and closing the larger door are located on the wall next to the catwalk door, with one set of controls inside the room and one set outside the room. Two control panels are located on the exterior of the Hangar, next to the outer doors. A clearly labeled button performs each function; to avoid mishaps, a switch on the inner control panel overrides the outer controls. Signs next to all doors and control panels give the appropriate warnings against opening exterior doors when the Hangar is pressurized, opening the interior door when the Hanger is depressurized, or depressurizing the Hangar if someone is inside without a spacesuit. Displays indicating the pressure inside the Hangar are also located next to all doors. Because the room is so large, when the Hangar is depressurized the air is pumped into a large chamber directly below the Hangar.
Airlock
The other exit from the colony is a smaller Airlock on the east side of the colony, under the Observation Room and near EVA Storage. The door to the Airlock is accessed by taking a staircase up and over the Track and back down to ground level. Like the Hangar, the Airlock can be pressurized or depressurized manually by pressing buttons on one of two control panels next to the inner door, one inside the Airlock and one outside, or on one of two control panels on the exterior of the airlock, next to the outer doors. Also like the Hangar, the outer controls can be overridden by a switch on the inner control panel. Two doors open to the outside, a smaller, bulkhead style door on the north wall, and a double door on the east wall; when unlocked, the two halves slide apart, creating an opening that is twice as wide as a normal door. Signs next to all doors and control panels give the appropriate warnings against opening exterior doors when the Hangar is pressurized, opening the interior door when the Hanger is depressurized, or depressurizing the Hangar if someone is inside without a spacesuit. Displays indicating the pressure inside the Hangar are also located next to all doors. Both outer doors feature the metal ledge just outside.
EVA Storage
The south end of the room contains racks upon which ten spare spacesuits are hung, with room for many more. The spare suits are designed to fit essentially humanoid colonists (five fingers, no tail, etc.); a couple of the suits are sized for colonists that are three to four feet tall, and one suit would accommodate a colonist about seven feet tall, but otherwise the suits cover a range of sizes appropriate for fairly average-sized humans.
The suits are one piece, including gloves, boots, and helmets, and are entered from the front; they are designed to operate at atmospheric pressure while retaining ease of mobility, and to regulate internal temperature. They are sealed via the use of a high-tech nano-material that operates similarly to a zipper, but on a nanoscopic level. When “zipped up”, the material is airtight; a flap can be snapped in place at the top to protect the “zipper pull” and prevent the suit from being unzipped accidentally. A “backpack” built into the back of the suit holds the oxygen tank, carbon dioxide collection tank, and a rechargeable battery that runs suit systems. The tanks can be removed and replaced, and the battery can be plugged in and charged while the suit is on the rack. The oxygen tank holds enough pressurized oxygen for, on average, seven hours of breathing. The exterior of the helmet features a headlamp and a video camera. The interior of the helmet contains a flexible straw connecting to a Camelbak-style water pouch in the back of the suit; biting on the straw opens the valve, allowing the flow of drinking water. The helmet also contains a radio receiver, transmitters, speakers, and broadcast microphone. The microphone is hands-free, switching on automatically when the colonist is speaking and switching off after a few seconds of silence; consequently, the first syllable of a statement does not get broadcast. The left forearm of the suit holds an instrument panel for monitoring and manual control of suit functions; the panel is protected by a hard, transparent cover which can be flipped up to access the controls. The instrument panel features digital readouts of the time, suit’s remaining oxygen, internal pressure, and rate of oxygen consumption. The panel also features dials to adjust the volume of the radio microphone and speakers, a dial to switch between video broadcast channels, power switches for the radio receiver, transmitters, camera, and headlamp, and a de-ice button. When the de-ice button is pressed, a web of wires woven into the outer skin of the suit heat up for several seconds, flash-evaporating any ice that has become attached to the suit; inside the suit, the colonist may feel a slight increase in warmth for a few seconds.
Beyond the spacesuit racks are racks of oxygen and carbon dioxide tanks. The oxygen tanks can be filled at a valve and pump against the wall that pipes oxygen from the oxygen tanks directly below the EVA Storage room. Another rack against one wall holds utility belts that can be fastened around the waist on the outside of the spacesuit; the belts have various pouches, clips, and loops that can hold a variety of tools for maintenance outside of the colony. A large, white plastic storage cabinet holds a supply of what are essentially highly absorbent diapers, which can be worn beneath clothing for waste collection during extensive EVA.
At the north end of the room are a number of white plastic shelves and racks and gray plastic bins holding replacement parts for colony maintenance (such as plastic interior wall panels, exterior panels, and PV cells, repair materials (such as electrical tape and sealing gel, which, when sprayed into a seam or small space, expands to fill the space and create an airtight seal), and equipment (such as prybars, dynamic rope, climbing harnesses, carabiners, ice axes, and crampons).
2. Maintenance Level and 3. Agricultural Level
Recycling center
The vast majority of this room is occupied by the automated recycling machine. Pipes and tubes from around the colony are directed to their specific input areas in the machine, which breaks down all waste and repurposes it. Most is returned to the water tank as pure water; the rest is concentrated into a nutrient solution for the plants, or pumped into the kelp tank. ISES controls the operation of the recycler, and for the most part the colonists will be able to ignore this machine entirely, unless something goes wrong with the equipment.
Pressure and backup oxygen tanks
While two of these are technically on this level, they are connected to the airlock, providing a space for the pressurization and depressurization of each airlock. The other pressure tanks, as well as the tank of pure oxygen, are contained in a room that takes up the southwest quarter of the exterior section of the maintenance level. While access to this room and manual control of the tanks' contents are provided in case of emergency, the computer system should generally be able to manage the contents of the tanks automatically.
Water supply
Like the atmospheric supply, the water supply is generally controlled by the computer. Recycled water that is suitable for drinking and bathing is held in this reservoir, and is pumped into the tank that supplies the kitchen as well.
Agricultural storage
The agricultural storage room contains all the necessary tools and materials to maintain and harvest the aeroponic crops as well as the livestock and kelp tank. Shelves along the west wall contain packets of seeds and small potted starter plants for everything that the colonists can grow. These seeds and starters are all dwarf, high-yield, fast-maturing varieties which, when planted, will be harvestable or bear ripe fruit within a maximum of six weeks.
The south corner of the room contains plastic bags of crop nutrients, in dry crystallized form, and several gallon-sized plastic containers of organic biocontrols. Also in this storage room are canvas bags full of chicken and pig feed, enough to last two months; a small refridgerator with sealed tubs of giant kelp phytospores, and periwinkle snail and spot prawn (spot prawn larvae perished) larvae in saltwater medium; two aluminum wheelbarrows, four small wheeled aluminum pushcarts, four pairs of stainless steel shears, four pairs of stainless steel scissors, and numerous plastic buckets and tubs in a variety of sizes. On a high shelf on the east wall are replacement lightbulbs, several boxes of q-tips, and an assortment of butchering equipment; below these are replacement sections of aeroponic and hydroponic racks, plastic tubing, misting pumps, a shovel, a pitchfork, and an assortment of bolts, screws, connector segments, and the necessary tools (screwdrivers and wrenches) to use them.
Seed packets for:
Anaheim chilies
Anise
Basil
Bell peppers
Black beans (western)
Black grapes
Broccoli
Butter lettuce
Butternut squash
Carrot
Celery
Chamomile
Cilantro
Corn
Dill
Eggplant
Green beans
Jalapeno chilies
Kidney beans
Mustard
Oregano
Peppercorns
Pumpkin
Red onion
Rice
Romaine lettuce
Soy
Spinach
Strawberries
Sugar peas
Tomatillo
Tomato
Wheat
White onion
Yellow onion
Zucchini
Starter plants for:
Avocado
Bell pepper
Blueberry
Cucumber
Dwarf cinnamon tree
Dwarf lemon tree
Dwarf lime tree
Dwarf orange tree
Dwarf plum tree
Garlic
Ginger
Kiwifruit
Red potato
Russet potato
Sugar beet
Sweet potato
Tomato
Yellow potato
Zucchini
Aeroponic and hydroponic replacement parts
Buckets, plastic
Butchering knives
Chicken and pig feed (hay, enriched feed pellets) (2 months' worth)
Container of saltwater medium with giant kelp zoospores (1)
Container of saltwater medium with periwinkle eggs (1)
Container of saltwater medium with spot prawn eggs (1)
Garden shears, stainless steel (4)
Hydroponic growth substrate
Lightbulbs (LED and microwave)
Nylon rope (5mm diameter)
Organic biocontrol
Pitchfork
Plastic stakes (1 meter tall)
Pushcarts, wheeled, aluminum (4)
Q-tips
Scissors, stainless steel (4)
Shovel
Starter nutrient blend
Wheelbarrows, aluminum (2)
Processing room
The largest room on the second floor, the processing room has two large tables on the east side, a set of dumbwaiters that go to the kitchen storage room, and a grain thresher and three sorting bins on the west side. There is a tap on the water tank that is connected to the kitchen storage room, as well. The grain thresher, made of plastic and aluminum, is an old-fashioned hand-cranked model that requires two people for its operation.
Chicken coop
The chicken coop is divided into two areas - a small "yard" with a floor of pea gravel, a hose attached to the south wall, and a drain underneath, and an enclosed shelter with ramps leading up to nesting shelves, with a floor of straw. Four adult Leghorn hens and one rooster reside here - these chickens are incredibly prolific egg-layers, but they are skittish and nervous, likely to stay far away from anyone who enters the coop. And for chickens, they are excellent fliers.
Pig sty
Similar to the chicken coop, the pig sty is floored with pea gravel, and has a few drains below and a hose on the north wall. A large, moveable plastic tub and trough are contained within, as are two sows and one boar middle white pig. These are quiet, calm pigs which weigh about 61.8 kg (136.2 lbs) at maturity, 16 to 18 weeks after birth. Sows bear an average of eight piglets per litter, once a year.
Slaughterhouse
This is a simple room, with smooth walls and floor, a hose protruding from the east wall and a drain in the middle. A couple of meathooks hang from the ceiling; a shelf and a row of metal cones are hung along the south wall. The slaughterhouse also functions as a double-door system with the chicken coop and the pig sty.
Kelp tank
There is little in this room other than the 18' by 18' aquarium, filled with salt water and kept at a temperature of approximately 52 degrees F. The bottom of the aquarium is one foot deep with large basalt stones. An aeration pump system and a water intake and outtake system both maintain water quality as necessary.
Cropping rooms (Includes 3. Agricultural Level)
The three rooms here, as well as the entirety of the agricultural level, are initially empty, but for an array of aeroponic and hydroponic racks. Aeroponic setups are generally long triangular prisms in which the plants can be grown on the sloping surfaces while the interior space is occupied by misters and irrigation pipes. These fill the majority of the rooms, and the majority of space in the rooms; however, for plants better suited to hydroponics, the rooms in outer ring of the agricultural level are constructed with hydroponic shelves along the walls. Nutrient solution for the plants is pumped directly into the growing areas, and additional spigots are available for expansion or customization of the arrangement of aeroponic growing racks.
Lighting in the agricultural rooms is produced by an array of sulfur microwave lamps, much like the rooms above. The light produced is comparable to sunlight and can be set separately from the lighting above to produce optimal light cycles for plant growth.
The Colony
In general, the walls and ceilings of the interior are a white, matte, hard plastic. The floors are a gray, rubberized material. The walls, ceilings, and floors are not seamless, but are composed of panels that can be levered open with a prybar and removed to allow access to the electrical wiring, water pipes, ventilation system, cooling system, and EM field generator. Corridors are wide enough for two adult humans to walk side by side. Doorways into all rooms are set into bulkheads, with six-inch risers coming up from the floor and down from the ceiling, and too narrow to admit more than one adult human at a time. Bulkheads and doorways are also set at intervals in all lengthy corridors. Each door is fitted with a viewport and indented handle and can be slid manually in and out of a pocket in the bulkhead. When closed, the doors can be sealed airtight by pulling a lever, located on both sides of the bulkhead next to the door, from the up position to the down position. A second, smaller lever next to the door-seal lever closes and seals valves in the ventilation and plumbing where they pass through the bulkheads.
Also located next to each door, on both sides of the bulkhead, are an intercom, a light switch, and a hand crank LED flashlight. Pressing and holding the transmit button and speaking into the intercom transmits to every intercom in the colony. The LED flashlights produce one hour of light for every minute of cranking. Lights for each room or corridor section are turned off or on with the push of the button, with the exception of the Rec Room. Lights in agricultural sections and most of the larger rooms are sulfur microwave lamps; lights in the smaller rooms and Rec Room are clusters of LEDs. To save energy, all overhead lights automatically shut off from 22:00 to 6:00 and cannot be turned back on during this curfew period. Single blue LEDs placed near the floor in rooms and corridors provide just barely enough light during curfew for a human to make out the shapes of objects, similar to the diffuse ambient light at night on Earth.
Fire extinguishers are located inside of every room, attached to the wall next to every door that passes between a room and a room, or a room and a corridor. A green LED digital clock is located in each room on the outermost wall near the ceiling. A large display shows the time in hours and minutes based on a 24-hour clock, and a smaller display below this indicates the day of the week and calendar date, which is based on an Earth year (for instance, SUN 17-01 would be Sunday, the 17th of January). A few electrical outlets are scattered about in the kitchen, machine shop, slaughterhouse, and laboratories for use with small colony appliances, but are different in design, voltage, and frequency from any current Earth standards.
The colony is cooled by heat exchange between the colony’s atmosphere and a refrigerant, and between the refrigerant and the cold vacuum of space. Pipes on the south side of the colony carry refrigerant to the exterior of the colony to be cooled, then just inside the outer walls to cool colony air, which is then distributed through the ventilation system. The colony’s default interior temperature is 70˚ F.
The colony is protected from cosmic radiation by an electro-magnetic field generator located in the center of the colony, along the base of the tether. An electro-magnetic field is generated between the transmitting coil beneath the colony and the antenna above the colony, and encompasses the entire building. The Tesla coil can be accessed by removing panels from the innermost walls on Floor 3, and the transmitting coil can be accessed by removing floor panels and exposing a crawlspace below Floor 3. The antenna encircles the tether on the exterior of the colony, two meters above the colony roof.
Sleeping Quarters
Sleeping quarters come in two different plans, two-bed and four-bed. The beds are bunked; the white plastic frames are attached to the walls and can be folded up into the walls. The top bunk can be accessed by a ladder at the end of the bunk closest to the door, also set into the wall. The mattresses and pillows are memory foam, the sheets are beige linen, and the blankets are light blue acrylic. Small doors set in the wall near the foot of each bed open to small closets containing a bar and a few hangers, a shelf above that, and on the inside of the door, a hook and a full-length mirror. Small tables fold down from the wall opposite the door. In two-bed quarters the square table will fold down in the corner of the room, one side flush with the wall, just large enough to accommodate a chair on each of the two remaining sides. In the four-bed quarters the tables will be rectangular and twice as large, with room for a chair at each end and two on the longer edge. The chairs are aluminum and can be stacked.
Toilets
Each toilet will contain a ceramic and plastic commode, aluminum sink, and mirror, as well as appropriate installations for a roll of toilet paper, a bar of soap, and a hand towel. The mirrors are not glass, but are made of sheets of a reflective metallic substance that is not easily scratched.
Showers
Each shower room contains five shower-heads separated only by curtains. A drain is set into the floor beneath each shower head, and set into the wall are knobs for hot and cold water, small shelves for soap and shampoo, and hooks for washcloths. Shelves are set into the wall near the door for clothes and towels.
Laundry
Along the outermost wall of the Laundry are three large-capacity washers and a large sink. Along the innermost wall are three large-capacity dryers. The washers, dryers, and sink are stainless steel. Next to one of the doors is a white plastic shelf for detergent storage. In the middle of the room is a large, white plastic table for laundry sorting and folding, under which are several white plastic laundry baskets.
Dining Area
The dining room is designed to comfortably seat fifty human-sized people. The only features in the room are five cafeteria-style tables, each seating ten people (five on each bench). The table and bench surfaces are white plastic, and the frames are aluminum; the tables can be folded or wheeled around.
Kitchen
The kitchen contains a central island with a countertop for food preparation over storage drawers and cabinets. Against the walls are more drawers, cabinets, and shelves, two sinks, a toaster oven, three microwave/convection ovens, electric range and large oven, consumer-style refrigerator and freezer, and a large, commercial-style dishwasher, designed to wash all of the day’s used dishes in one go. The various drawers, cabinets, and shelves contain the usual standard dishes, eating utensils, cooking utensils, cookingware, cloth napkins, etc.
Food Storage
Food storage mostly contains three large walk-in refrigerators, three large walk-in freezers, and several rows of standing shelves for non-perishables. The storage room also contains three dumb-waiters for hauling food up from below. The dumb-waiters are hand-operated; a cable attached to the dumb-waiter is fed through a pulley and then wound or unwound from a reel by turning a crank. The reels can be locked in place when the dumb-waiter is being loaded or unloaded or not in use. Finally, the room contains a tank of water pumped from the lower levels, from which it is distributed to all parts of Habitation.
In total, the colony's initial food reserves equal 720 units, sufficient for the initial inhabitants plus four more for two months, comprising the following items:
Limited (two-month) rations:
Dried fruit: apples, bananas, raisins, pineapple, coconut
Freeze-dried foods
-beef teriyaki
-hamburger
-jerk chicken
-pork stew
-tuna salad
Frozen vegetables: carrots, corn, green beans, green peas
Frozen raw meat: chicken, turkey, tuna steaks
Granola
Granola bars
Jerky: beef, salmon, turkey
Macaroni and cheese, instant
Multivitamin supplements
Protein bars
Ramen, instant
Roasted nuts: almonds, walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts
White sugar (very limited)
Whole oats (Two month rations have been used up.)
In addition, the colony contains bulk reserves of the following items which should suffice for an extended period of time if used in moderate quantities.
Limited (two-year) rations:
Baking powder
Baking soda
Cocoa powder
Coffee beans
Salt
Tea, loose leaf, black
Vitamin D supplements
Infirmary
The Infirmary comprises a large main room and a number of smaller rooms. The main room contains storage for common medical supplies and twelve beds; the beds are on aluminum frames with wheels that can be locked in place. In one corner of the main room is a small toilet, similar to the toilets near the sleeping quarters, with the addition of a shower. Beyond the toilet is short hallway opening into four small rooms. The two smaller rooms on the left are doctors’ offices; each office contains a narrow, white plastic desk up against one of the walls, a console connected to the Rec computer, two aluminum chairs, a gray metal filing cabinet, and a white plastic shelving unit. The two rooms on the right are private/quarantine rooms. Each private/quarantine room contains two rolling beds, two rolling hospital overbed tables with aluminum frames and white plastic table surfaces, and two aluminum chairs.
On the other side of the main room are three more rooms, the examination room, the surgery, and the scrubbing area. The examination room, which opens into the Medical Lab, contains an examination table, a digital x-ray and lead aprons, beam-balance physician’s scale, rolling aluminum stool, and white plastic storage shelves and cabinets. The digital x-ray includes the x-ray table and a small hard-drive for storing digital x-ray images, connected to the usual console set-up: a wall-mounted twenty-inch touch screen, shallow, white plastic desk, and black plastic keyboard. The surgery contains a simple operating table, a rolling anesthesia cart, two rolling instrument tables, two rolling stools, a console connected to the digital x-ray hard-drive, a few containers for disposables, and shelves, drawers, and cabinets for common surgical supplies. All furniture in the surgery is stainless steel, for ease of sterilization. The final room in the Infirmary is the scrubbing area, which opens into the Medical Storage Room. The scrubbing area contains two large stainless steel sinks and stainless steel countertop, a small clothes washer, a small clothes dryer, an autoclave, and stainless steel shelves and cabinets.
Medical Storage
Medical storage contains shelves of medical supplies. The aluminum and plastic shelves are labeled by letters, with sections of each row of shelves labeled by numbers. Charts by the doors list the available supplies in alphabetical order, and the sections of shelving where they can be found. There is also a small shelf of medical reference books.
Supply list:
Acetaminophen
Adrenalin
Albuterol
Antacids
Antibiotic ointment
Aspirin
Benadryl
Cough drops
Cough medicine
Eyewash solution
General anesthetic
Glucose gel
Hemorrhoidal cream
Hydrocortisone cream
Ibuprofen
Lorazepam
Morphine
Penicillin
Prozac
Pseudoephedrine
Ritalin
Spray-on topical antiseptic/anesthetic
Tetracycline
Adhesive bandages
Blood pressure cuff
Cotton swabs
Elastic bandages
Gauze
Hydrogen peroxide
Inhalers
Iodine
Isopropyl alcohol
Liquid bandages
Medical tape
Optical microscopes, slides
Pressure bandages
Saline solution
Scissors
Silicone lubricant
Stethoscope
Thermometers
Tweezers
Bonesaw
Cautery
Crutches
Curved needles
Forceps
Gloves
Hemostats
Hypodermic needles
Lead bib
Masks
Scalpels
Slings
Surgical sutures
X-ray sheets
Medical Lab
The Medical Lab contains four stainless steel rolling stools, and a couple of stainless steel lab benches in the middle of the room. The following equipment is arranged along the walls: two fume hoods, a centrifuge, an autoclave, an incubator and water bath (both with temperature control and agitation racks), a refrigerator and freezer, three compound microscopes, an emergency shower, and two sinks, each with faucets for tap and DI water, and eyewash heads. The remaining space is filled with assorted stainless steel shelves, countertops, cabinets and drawers, which contain appropriate and assorted glassware and tools.
Library
The library contains shelves of actual physical books. Because space is limited, only one copy each of the most popular works and the most commonly useful reference books (including manuals for colony equipment) is available, printed in English. Fiction is alphabetized by author’s last name; nonfiction is organized by subject. Other books are available in digital format.
Ballroom
The ballroom is simply a large, empty room with no furniture. Its purpose is to be a space where a variety of activities can occur: parties, dancing, sparring, wrestling, whatever. The longest wall is lined with a series of large mirrors.
Rec Room
The purpose of the Rec Room is to provide the colonists with relaxation and entertainment, for their mental and emotional health. The main section of the room is populated with collections of furniture, mostly squishy couches, squishy armchairs, footrests, small end tables, and coffee tables. The couches, armchairs, and footrests are made of synthetic materials, either plush or leather-like, and come in dark blue, dark gray, and tan. The end tables and coffee tables are white plastic. The room also contains a few more standard rectangular, square, and circular white plastic tables and standard aluminum chairs. A shelf contains an assortment of board games, cards, dice, chips, and whathaveyou. A corner of the room holds a pool table, ping-pong table, foosball table, dartboard, and associated equipment (balls, cues, chalk, paddles, Velcro safety darts). Panels of light switches near the doors can adjust the lights in different sections of the room, allowing Rec Room users to have the lights off or on, bright or dim, without disturbing users in other sections of the room.
The most significant feature of the Rec Room is the secondary computer, used for nonessential systems. The Rec computer, located near the centermost wall of the Rec Room within a light gray plastic casing, contains the reference/entertainment database, and is also the receptacle for any public or private logs colonists might wish to keep in digital format. The database comprises a massive collection of books, films, and music, as well as the following handful of simple games: Tetris, Asteroids, Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Zork.
To access the resources available on the Rec computer, a colonist uses one of eight main consoles or one of twenty portable consoles. Five of the main consoles are located along the walls in the main Rec room at a shallow, white plastic desk with an aluminum chair, and each comprises a black plastic keyboard and a twenty-inch, flat, touch-screen monitor on the wall. A sixth console is located in the theater, and two more are located in the Infirmary offices. From the main consoles one can access the entire database, or select a portable console to which to copy a few select items. The portable consoles are thin, lightweight, and can be used in two modes. In “closed” mode a console is ten inches by seven inches, with a power button and a view-screen on the top that employs a touch-interface similar to an iPhone. In “open” mode the top folds up, revealing a second touch-screen and keyboard, like a laptop computer. A portable can be used for about six hours before needing to be recharged. When not in use, a portable can be folded into “closed” mode and slid into one of twenty slots in the storage unit. A plug in the back of each slot connects with a port in the side of the portable; similar to USB, this connection is the conduit for both power and data transfer. All consoles can be turned on and off with a button next to the screen, and have both speakers and headphone jacks, on the sides of portables and on the side of the keyboard at main consoles. A number of different kinds of headphones are available in a bin near the portable storage unit.
Within the Rec Room is a smaller theater room. At the front of the theater is a six-foot flat screen and speaker system, which are connected to a computer console in the back of the room. Seating for fifty is available; the seats are pretty standard theater fare- fixed to the floor in rows, cushioned, dark gray synthetic fabric, armrests.
Gymnasium
On the southern end of the Gymnasium are a number of exercise machines: two elliptical machines, two stationary bikes, two stair steppers, and a rowing machine. All of the machines have very minimal electronics, and are powered entirely by kinetic energy. A section of the middle of the room is left as open space for stretching, crunches, yoga, etc; a punching bag is hung from the ceiling near one wall, and a collection of medicine balls, balance balls, and mats is kept near the other wall, as well as a small shelf with sanitization/cleaning supplies. At the northern end are a number of assorted weight machines and assorted free weights, and a large mirror takes up most of the wall at the end of the room.
Observation Deck
The Observation Deck is a circular, dome-shaped room situated on the roof of the colony and accessed by a ladder coming up from below. The entire eastern half of the dome is transparent, revealing a panoramic view of ice, wheeling stars, and the looming presence of Morpheus directly overhead. A small number of chaises longues and ottomans are scattered about, in the same assortment of colors and materials as the furniture in the Rec Room, as well as a few white plastic end tables. A sliding door can be pulled across the hatch in the middle of the floor, sealing off the deck. Since the door is located in the floor, the intercom, flashlight, light switches, fire extinguisher, and clock are located on the section of wall closest to the hatch, in the 'northwest' quadrant of the room. The light switches adjust overhead lights in the western, opaque half of the room, brightening, dimming, or turning them off and on.
Misc. Storage
Misc. Storage contains shelves of miscellaneous, general supplies. Like Medical Storage, it contains aluminum and plastic shelves that are labeled by letters, with sections of each row of shelves labeled by numbers. Charts by the doors list the available supplies in alphabetical order, and the sections of shelving where they can be found. Additionally, in the northernmost corner of the room, a plastic bin contains the following sports equipment: a basketball backboard and hoop, a basketball, a soccer ball, a set of orange plastic cones, and a ball pump.
Supply list:
Baking soda
Bedsheets, cotton
Bias tape
Biodegradable feminine hygiene products
Biodegradable laundry soap
Biodegradable shampoo
Biodegradable soap, bar
Biodegradable soap, liquid
Blankets, acrylic
Brooms
Butcher paper - white, yellow, red, blue
Cloth rags
Contraceptives
Craft glue
Crochet hooks
Dental floss
Deodorant
Duct tape
Dustpans
Electrical tape
Fabrics (varied colors and textures)
Fabric shears
Facial tissue
Gloves
Glue gun
Hairbrushes
Hairdryers
Hand lotion
Handtowels
Hot glue
Knitting needles
Lip balm
Masking tape
Mason jars
Paintbrushes
Painting palettes
Paints (tempera, watercolor)
Pencils
Pens, ballpoint
Pens, felt-tipped
Pens, felt-tipped, permanent
Pins
Ribbon
Rubber cement
Scissors
Scotch tape
Scrub brushes
Sewing machine (manual)
Several boxes of 8.5"x11" white paper
Sewing needles
Sheets, linen
Silicone lubricant
Sponges
Superglue
Thread
Toilet paper
Toothpaste
Towels, varying sizes
Washcloths
Yarn
Yarn (acrylic, various colors)
Yarn (wool, various colors)
Control Room
The Control Room contains three items that are vital to colony operations: the battery bank, the radio control station, and the main computer. The centermost wall of the Control Room is lined with the batteries that are charged by the solar panels and provide all of the colony’s power. The north corner houses the radio control station, a white plastic console covered in screens, switches, dials, and buttons, and an aluminum chair. The radio is primarily useful for colony-to-spacesuit communication. All the spacesuits are permanently set to one comm frequency; the control station’s broadcast microphone and receiver speaker can be set to either the EVA frequency or custom frequency mode with the flick of a switch. Should one wish to broadcast and receive on a custom frequency for whatever reason, one can scroll through the radio band by turning a dial; the selected frequency is displayed on a red LED display. A button next to the microphone must be held down to broadcast; the mic switches off when the button is released. A button next to the speaker turns the speaker on and off, and a dial controls the volume. The control station also receives video from spacesuit cameras. The suits can broadcast in any one of four video channels; the channels can be viewed on four screens in the station console, which can also be turned on and off with the press of a button.
The main computer, or Icelus Station Essential Systems (ISES) computer, takes up most of the southern corner of the room. Like the secondary/Rec computer, it is encapsulated in a light gray insulated plastic casing to protect the computer and ammonia cooling system. ISES is accessible via the usual computer console set-up: touch-screen, narrow plastic desk, keyboard, and aluminum chair. When the screen is turned on, the most prominent feature on the “desktop” is an icon labeled ISES User Interface; when the icon is touched, the ISES voice-recognition user-interface software (nicknamed “Isis”) is activated. ISES is responsible for automatically regulating the colony’s temperature, atmospheric composition, energy consumption, and agricultural functions such as adjustments to the photoperiod and nutrient levels- essentially ISES performs tasks too complicated for the colonists to accomplish efficiently. ISES monitors all of the colony’s instrumentation and can locate and identify faults or make adjustments as directed.
Chemistry Lab
Half of the Chemistry Lab is taken up with stainless steel lab benches, sinks, and three fume hoods. The fume hoods contain reagent disposal drains that connect to a vent on the “southern” face of Icelus. After being scrubbed for atmospheric gases, the waste solids, gases, and liquids are vented into the vacuum, and centripetal force throws the waste off into space. The sinks have tap and DI water faucets, and eyewash heads.
The other half of the lab contains lab benches and large/complex instrumentation: an IR spectrometer, a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, a MelTemp melting point apparatus, an oven (for sustained heat and desiccation), a consumer-style refrigerator and freezer, and insulated containers for maintaining more extreme temperatures.
Along the wall near the middle of the room is an emergency shower. Around the room, against the walls, are a number of shelves, cabinets, and drawers for the storage of other lab equipment such as heating mantles, hot plate/stirrers, balances, gloves and other protective equipment, cleaning supplies, assorted glassware and other lab supplies (including distillation equipment), and assorted reagents, solvents, buffers, indicators, etc.
Machine Shop
A small assortment of machining equipment and several steel work-tables are scattered around the Machine Shop floor. The walls are lined with white plastic shelves and gray plastic bins holding smaller metalworking tools. Scrap metal is stored at one end of the room in bins and racks.
Machining equipment:
Lathe (assorted mandrels, spinning tools, and attachments)
Glassblowing furnace
Press brake (assorted dies)
Rolling mill (can be adjusted to different thicknesses, and for plate roll bending)
English wheel (large, with assorted anvil wheels)
Drill press (assorted drill heads)
Belt grinder
Supply list:
Acetone
Acoustic earmuffs
Blowhose
Blowhose attachments, various
Bolts, assorted
Bristle brushes
Brooms
Calipers
Clekos (assorted sizes)
Crocodile clips
Desoldering pump
Drawing dies, assorted
Dustpans
Emery cloth
Face shields
Files
Flint lighter
Flux (assorted formulations)
Forming/planishing stakes, assorted
Forming rounds, paddles, tapers; graphite, assorted
Glass knives (tungsten carbide), assorted
Glass scraps and rods, assorted
Hammers, assorted
Hand-held drill (assorted drill bits)
Lubricants/coolants
Multi-stoppers (for glasswork), assorted
Nails, assorted
Nuts, assorted
Powered shears
Rivet set
Rivets, assorted
Safety goggles
Scrap metal [sheets (foil, leaf, and plate), pipes, and wiring in assorted dimensions and made of assorted metals]
Screwdrivers, assorted
Screws, assorted
Solder (assorted alloys)
Soldering gun
Soldering iron (assorted tips)
Solder wick
Studs, assorted
Tap and die sets, assorted
Tape measures
Tin snips
Tongs
Tweezers
Washers, assorted
Waste bins
Wire brushes
Work gloves
Wrenches, assorted
Hangar
The Hangar is a large, empty room that can function as an airlock. The Hangar is two stories tall, and is accessed by a stairway crossing over the Track and up to a doorway on the second floor, which opens onto an aluminum catwalk overlooking the Hangar. The door is identical to the other bulkhead doors. The floor of the catwalk is a grate, and the catwalk surrounded on all sides by a railing. A gate in the center of the railing overlooking the Hangar can be latched closed or opened inwards. Two stairways, also with railings and grating for the steps, lead down to the floor from either side of the catwalk. On the sides of the Hangar are lines painted on the floor at an angle to the wall, delineating what appear to be parking spaces (three spaces on each wall) for ATV-sized vehicles. At the head of each space is small coil of electrical cable, plugged into the wall at one end. Otherwise the room is completely empty.
Two doors open to the outside. Outside of each door is a metal ledge, as wide as the door and broad enough for a human to stand on it. The smaller door, located on the north wall of the Hangar, is in the style of the bulkhead doors. The second door takes up almost the entire west wall of the Hangar, and an electric motor rolls the door up against the ceiling like a garage door. Controls for pressurizing/depressurizing the Hangar and opening and closing the larger door are located on the wall next to the catwalk door, with one set of controls inside the room and one set outside the room. Two control panels are located on the exterior of the Hangar, next to the outer doors. A clearly labeled button performs each function; to avoid mishaps, a switch on the inner control panel overrides the outer controls. Signs next to all doors and control panels give the appropriate warnings against opening exterior doors when the Hangar is pressurized, opening the interior door when the Hanger is depressurized, or depressurizing the Hangar if someone is inside without a spacesuit. Displays indicating the pressure inside the Hangar are also located next to all doors. Because the room is so large, when the Hangar is depressurized the air is pumped into a large chamber directly below the Hangar.
Airlock
The other exit from the colony is a smaller Airlock on the east side of the colony, under the Observation Room and near EVA Storage. The door to the Airlock is accessed by taking a staircase up and over the Track and back down to ground level. Like the Hangar, the Airlock can be pressurized or depressurized manually by pressing buttons on one of two control panels next to the inner door, one inside the Airlock and one outside, or on one of two control panels on the exterior of the airlock, next to the outer doors. Also like the Hangar, the outer controls can be overridden by a switch on the inner control panel. Two doors open to the outside, a smaller, bulkhead style door on the north wall, and a double door on the east wall; when unlocked, the two halves slide apart, creating an opening that is twice as wide as a normal door. Signs next to all doors and control panels give the appropriate warnings against opening exterior doors when the Hangar is pressurized, opening the interior door when the Hanger is depressurized, or depressurizing the Hangar if someone is inside without a spacesuit. Displays indicating the pressure inside the Hangar are also located next to all doors. Both outer doors feature the metal ledge just outside.
EVA Storage
The south end of the room contains racks upon which ten spare spacesuits are hung, with room for many more. The spare suits are designed to fit essentially humanoid colonists (five fingers, no tail, etc.); a couple of the suits are sized for colonists that are three to four feet tall, and one suit would accommodate a colonist about seven feet tall, but otherwise the suits cover a range of sizes appropriate for fairly average-sized humans.
The suits are one piece, including gloves, boots, and helmets, and are entered from the front; they are designed to operate at atmospheric pressure while retaining ease of mobility, and to regulate internal temperature. They are sealed via the use of a high-tech nano-material that operates similarly to a zipper, but on a nanoscopic level. When “zipped up”, the material is airtight; a flap can be snapped in place at the top to protect the “zipper pull” and prevent the suit from being unzipped accidentally. A “backpack” built into the back of the suit holds the oxygen tank, carbon dioxide collection tank, and a rechargeable battery that runs suit systems. The tanks can be removed and replaced, and the battery can be plugged in and charged while the suit is on the rack. The oxygen tank holds enough pressurized oxygen for, on average, seven hours of breathing. The exterior of the helmet features a headlamp and a video camera. The interior of the helmet contains a flexible straw connecting to a Camelbak-style water pouch in the back of the suit; biting on the straw opens the valve, allowing the flow of drinking water. The helmet also contains a radio receiver, transmitters, speakers, and broadcast microphone. The microphone is hands-free, switching on automatically when the colonist is speaking and switching off after a few seconds of silence; consequently, the first syllable of a statement does not get broadcast. The left forearm of the suit holds an instrument panel for monitoring and manual control of suit functions; the panel is protected by a hard, transparent cover which can be flipped up to access the controls. The instrument panel features digital readouts of the time, suit’s remaining oxygen, internal pressure, and rate of oxygen consumption. The panel also features dials to adjust the volume of the radio microphone and speakers, a dial to switch between video broadcast channels, power switches for the radio receiver, transmitters, camera, and headlamp, and a de-ice button. When the de-ice button is pressed, a web of wires woven into the outer skin of the suit heat up for several seconds, flash-evaporating any ice that has become attached to the suit; inside the suit, the colonist may feel a slight increase in warmth for a few seconds.
Beyond the spacesuit racks are racks of oxygen and carbon dioxide tanks. The oxygen tanks can be filled at a valve and pump against the wall that pipes oxygen from the oxygen tanks directly below the EVA Storage room. Another rack against one wall holds utility belts that can be fastened around the waist on the outside of the spacesuit; the belts have various pouches, clips, and loops that can hold a variety of tools for maintenance outside of the colony. A large, white plastic storage cabinet holds a supply of what are essentially highly absorbent diapers, which can be worn beneath clothing for waste collection during extensive EVA.
At the north end of the room are a number of white plastic shelves and racks and gray plastic bins holding replacement parts for colony maintenance (such as plastic interior wall panels, exterior panels, and PV cells, repair materials (such as electrical tape and sealing gel, which, when sprayed into a seam or small space, expands to fill the space and create an airtight seal), and equipment (such as prybars, dynamic rope, climbing harnesses, carabiners, ice axes, and crampons).
2. Maintenance Level and 3. Agricultural Level
Recycling center
The vast majority of this room is occupied by the automated recycling machine. Pipes and tubes from around the colony are directed to their specific input areas in the machine, which breaks down all waste and repurposes it. Most is returned to the water tank as pure water; the rest is concentrated into a nutrient solution for the plants, or pumped into the kelp tank. ISES controls the operation of the recycler, and for the most part the colonists will be able to ignore this machine entirely, unless something goes wrong with the equipment.
Pressure and backup oxygen tanks
While two of these are technically on this level, they are connected to the airlock, providing a space for the pressurization and depressurization of each airlock. The other pressure tanks, as well as the tank of pure oxygen, are contained in a room that takes up the southwest quarter of the exterior section of the maintenance level. While access to this room and manual control of the tanks' contents are provided in case of emergency, the computer system should generally be able to manage the contents of the tanks automatically.
Water supply
Like the atmospheric supply, the water supply is generally controlled by the computer. Recycled water that is suitable for drinking and bathing is held in this reservoir, and is pumped into the tank that supplies the kitchen as well.
Agricultural storage
The agricultural storage room contains all the necessary tools and materials to maintain and harvest the aeroponic crops as well as the livestock and kelp tank. Shelves along the west wall contain packets of seeds and small potted starter plants for everything that the colonists can grow. These seeds and starters are all dwarf, high-yield, fast-maturing varieties which, when planted, will be harvestable or bear ripe fruit within a maximum of six weeks.
The south corner of the room contains plastic bags of crop nutrients, in dry crystallized form, and several gallon-sized plastic containers of organic biocontrols. Also in this storage room are canvas bags full of chicken and pig feed, enough to last two months; a small refridgerator with sealed tubs of giant kelp phytospores, and periwinkle snail and spot prawn (spot prawn larvae perished) larvae in saltwater medium; two aluminum wheelbarrows, four small wheeled aluminum pushcarts, four pairs of stainless steel shears, four pairs of stainless steel scissors, and numerous plastic buckets and tubs in a variety of sizes. On a high shelf on the east wall are replacement lightbulbs, several boxes of q-tips, and an assortment of butchering equipment; below these are replacement sections of aeroponic and hydroponic racks, plastic tubing, misting pumps, a shovel, a pitchfork, and an assortment of bolts, screws, connector segments, and the necessary tools (screwdrivers and wrenches) to use them.
Seed packets for:
Anaheim chilies
Anise
Basil
Bell peppers
Black beans (western)
Black grapes
Broccoli
Butter lettuce
Butternut squash
Carrot
Celery
Chamomile
Cilantro
Corn
Dill
Eggplant
Green beans
Jalapeno chilies
Kidney beans
Mustard
Oregano
Peppercorns
Pumpkin
Red onion
Rice
Romaine lettuce
Soy
Spinach
Strawberries
Sugar peas
Tomatillo
Tomato
Wheat
White onion
Yellow onion
Zucchini
Starter plants for:
Avocado
Bell pepper
Blueberry
Cucumber
Dwarf cinnamon tree
Dwarf lemon tree
Dwarf lime tree
Dwarf orange tree
Dwarf plum tree
Garlic
Ginger
Kiwifruit
Red potato
Russet potato
Sugar beet
Sweet potato
Tomato
Yellow potato
Zucchini
Aeroponic and hydroponic replacement parts
Buckets, plastic
Butchering knives
Chicken and pig feed (hay, enriched feed pellets) (2 months' worth)
Container of saltwater medium with giant kelp zoospores (1)
Container of saltwater medium with periwinkle eggs (1)
Container of saltwater medium with spot prawn eggs (1)
Garden shears, stainless steel (4)
Hydroponic growth substrate
Lightbulbs (LED and microwave)
Nylon rope (5mm diameter)
Organic biocontrol
Pitchfork
Plastic stakes (1 meter tall)
Pushcarts, wheeled, aluminum (4)
Q-tips
Scissors, stainless steel (4)
Shovel
Starter nutrient blend
Wheelbarrows, aluminum (2)
Processing room
The largest room on the second floor, the processing room has two large tables on the east side, a set of dumbwaiters that go to the kitchen storage room, and a grain thresher and three sorting bins on the west side. There is a tap on the water tank that is connected to the kitchen storage room, as well. The grain thresher, made of plastic and aluminum, is an old-fashioned hand-cranked model that requires two people for its operation.
Chicken coop
The chicken coop is divided into two areas - a small "yard" with a floor of pea gravel, a hose attached to the south wall, and a drain underneath, and an enclosed shelter with ramps leading up to nesting shelves, with a floor of straw. Four adult Leghorn hens and one rooster reside here - these chickens are incredibly prolific egg-layers, but they are skittish and nervous, likely to stay far away from anyone who enters the coop. And for chickens, they are excellent fliers.
Pig sty
Similar to the chicken coop, the pig sty is floored with pea gravel, and has a few drains below and a hose on the north wall. A large, moveable plastic tub and trough are contained within, as are two sows and one boar middle white pig. These are quiet, calm pigs which weigh about 61.8 kg (136.2 lbs) at maturity, 16 to 18 weeks after birth. Sows bear an average of eight piglets per litter, once a year.
Slaughterhouse
This is a simple room, with smooth walls and floor, a hose protruding from the east wall and a drain in the middle. A couple of meathooks hang from the ceiling; a shelf and a row of metal cones are hung along the south wall. The slaughterhouse also functions as a double-door system with the chicken coop and the pig sty.
Kelp tank
There is little in this room other than the 18' by 18' aquarium, filled with salt water and kept at a temperature of approximately 52 degrees F. The bottom of the aquarium is one foot deep with large basalt stones. An aeration pump system and a water intake and outtake system both maintain water quality as necessary.
Cropping rooms (Includes 3. Agricultural Level)
The three rooms here, as well as the entirety of the agricultural level, are initially empty, but for an array of aeroponic and hydroponic racks. Aeroponic setups are generally long triangular prisms in which the plants can be grown on the sloping surfaces while the interior space is occupied by misters and irrigation pipes. These fill the majority of the rooms, and the majority of space in the rooms; however, for plants better suited to hydroponics, the rooms in outer ring of the agricultural level are constructed with hydroponic shelves along the walls. Nutrient solution for the plants is pumped directly into the growing areas, and additional spigots are available for expansion or customization of the arrangement of aeroponic growing racks.
Lighting in the agricultural rooms is produced by an array of sulfur microwave lamps, much like the rooms above. The light produced is comparable to sunlight and can be set separately from the lighting above to produce optimal light cycles for plant growth.