Amirhan desert mission, day 337
For the past two days we have been forced to see the world a little differently than usually. We have looked at everything as a potential part for a vehicle that would get us to Ashakati. We have been looking for things to build the thing we can sit on, the part we call the sled, and the thing that will propel us forward, the motor.
In those two days we have managed to build us a vehicle that will take us to Ashakati. I hope. We have so far only tested it in a range our ropes can reach, just in case it doesn't work and Ismen (who has been driving) would have to get back to the hub some other way. That did happen, a the first few times, and a few times since we got it to work. But we hope it is ready now to use to cross the desert without safety ropes attached to something stable. We are calling out little vessel Discovery, since we hope it will help us discover a way to find our colleagues.
The hub and the barn are both a mess. We have used anything we have thought might be useful, since we are probably not coming back. We are using a few thin plastic panels from the roof of the barn as the base. The material doesn't have to be thick or especially durable, since the friction that would wear through it is so low, and light materials require less energy to move around. However, the bottom needed to be something that keeps its shape, since we have to attach the propeller to it for it to work properly. Yesterday at first we tried only sitting on a plastic sheet and holding the propeller in our hand to move and steer, but it did not work very well. So a proper solid base was a better choice. We attached sides to it, so we or more likely some of the equipment we are taking with us would not accidentally drop off in for example a curve.
The propeller was a much more difficult matter. We didn't have anything big enough that would use electricity to rotate something fast for it to work. We do not even have a fan, despite the fact we are in a desert. We tried many things before something finally worked. I have to admit though, Ismen was the one who took care of the motor. Being scientists, both of us are a far cry from a proper engineer. Note for any future missions in Amirhan desert, or probably other missions too: take with you an electrical engineer. It may save your life one day.
Either way, Ismen was able to build a strong enough a motor to rotate big enough blades to accelerate both of us and the equipment. That assuming there are not any bigger hills on the way, which there should not be. At least there was not the last time either of us visited Ashakati, which was months ago. Although the others have been discussing the hills too, and Ismen says Ndali and Enembe both say there are no hills too big on our way. If there somehow happens to be some (this is Amirhan, after all), going around them should not be too big of a problem, unless the detour turns out to be very, very long. We will take all the rest of the food we have with us. Ismen also had to take apart one of our computers to build the motor. I don't exactly know what parts he needed from it, but he said it was essential. and I was busy with other things at the moment. We will not be needing those computers in the future any way,
Another, bigger problem we may face is wind. We are moving with solar energy turned into wind, and if the wind blows against us, we will have to counter the acceleration caused by the push of the wind on us, and possibly keep ourselves moving uphill. Luckily it is rarely very windy in Amirhan. Of course the air is moving all the time, but we only get strong winds during sand storms, so we will probably be fine.
We are spending one more night in the hub, since it would make no sense to leave any more tonight. So tomorrow morning we will leave. We sent the others a message through the microwave oven so they will know we will not be able to communicate anymore, but they know Ismen knows what is going on with them. I am still not sure if this is the right thing to do, since there is no way to know how any of this two time lines -thing works, but having given it a lot of thought in the last two days, I believe this gives us a better shot at finding each other again that anything else we might do, even if the probability of this working isn't too high. I also admit I am completely tired of this snow. It was quite fascinating at first, when it was only snow, but not being able to go out and do measurements and research is not good for me. So if there is a chance we will get to a place with no snow or even only snow, I will take it. It is not a scientific reason, I admit, and I feel like I should be taking more out of this incredible once in a lifetime opportunity to study this place before leaving, but there is not much we can do in these conditions we have not already done. Of course since we now have Discovery for moving around in these conditions, if we can not find a way to the other time line, we could come back and continue our research as best we can. At least we would no longer be confined to the hub.
So we are leaving tomorrow. I need to stop writing now, since I am moving all the data and everything else from the last two weeks to an external harddrive to take with us, including my logs. Even if we can not do any more research here, there is no reason to throw away everything we have done since the snow came.
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The topic for tomorrow is Quiet.
~matu
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