Reference to "The Martian"?

[AeroAviation]

Just noticed this on my career mode, please tell me if im late to the party and I will go into the shame corner for wasting your time

[Dafni]

I saw that too and had a little giggle to myself. The game is full of references like that.

[DaMachinator]

Even mods have references. The Universal Storage oxygen tank has "Please don't stare at the stirrers too hard."

[Mjarf]

I giggled too when I saw that reference. I love all the humor in this game, it makes me happy.  

[The Aziz]

You're kinda late, but instead of sitting alone in a corner, enjoy related music

 

[max_creative]

Yep. Also, SC-9001 in space high over Jool (correct me if I'm wrong) has an "Open the bay doors" reference. If you want to see it, go do science there! Also, remember that the TR-2L is not certified for really cool jumps.

I know a bunch of other things, but I won't spoil them.

[jlcarneiro]

11 hours ago, DaMachinator said:

Even mods have references. The Universal Storage oxygen tank has "Please don't stare at the stirrers too hard."

Didn't get this one...

[Gaarst]

This has already been noticed, and IIRC it was there before the movie came out (might still be a reference to the book though).

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

 

1 hour ago, Gaarst said:

This has already been noticed, and IIRC it was there before the movie came out (might still be a reference to the book though).

No. It was not there in 1.0.2, when I undertook a mission to read all of the part descriptions (Don't ask)

[Hobbes Novakoff]

1 hour ago, jlcarneiro said:

Didn't get this one...

IIRC on Apollo 13, everything went wrong and exploded because the wires leading to the stirrer ended up exposed. So, when the astronauts activated the stirrers, a spark got generated and then everything was on fire.

Then again I may be completely wrong about the exact details. Pretty sure it's an Apollo 13 reference.

[richfiles]

Specifically, the oxygen tanks of the command service module had heaters and stirrers. During the manufacture of the tanks, a spec change went un noticed, and old specced parts rated for a lower voltage were used on a higher voltage supply. The testing resulted in the thermal switch that regulates the heaters being fused. This caused the tanks to reach extreme temperatures internally, during the manufacture and testing phase, and also resulted in the damage that caused the accident during the Apollo 13 mission.

In order to get accurate pressure readings of the cryo tanks, they must "stir" the tanks. A fan inside stirs the contents so it's evenly distributed. In the Apollo craft, there were oxygen and hydrogen tanks in the Command Service Module. These tanks feed into fuel cells to generate the craft's electricity, and the "waste" of catalysing oxygen and hydrogen is H₂0... the water they use for everything from system cooling to drinking.

The oxygen tanks had been stirred multiple times on the trip already, and would have been stirred multiple times later, had they not blown. One tank eventually sparked during one of these routine tests, about 3/4 of the way to the moon. When the oxygen tank exploded, it ripped up the plumbing, and they pretty much lost all the oxygen needed for the fuel cells. Mind you, they still had oxygen for breathing. Other systems were capable of providing that. Without the fuel cells, they could not keep the Command Module's batteries charged. They had to preserve a minimal amount of electric charge for re-entry, and worse, the C/SM was so badly damaged, they were afraid if they burned their main engine, the whole shebang would just go up in a bang. They had to shut down the Command Module, including the AGC (Apollo Navigation Computer) after copying the data out by hand to paper and entering it into the LM AGC. They all had to pack into the tiny Lunar Module, using it as a life boat. Because they didn't have a replenishable source of electric charge on the CM, they couldn't run the heaters, meaning the craft got VERY cold inside.

There was very little water as well, thanks to the fact that they got their water from that lost oxygen and the fuel cells it fed. The only water they had for 3 men was what the LM could supply, a vessel only meant for a 2 man crew, and only meant to be used during the Lunar descent, surface EVA, and Lunar ascent. One of the astronauts got a urinary tract infection due to the dehydration and near hypothermia they were suffering from. On top of that, the 2 man LM couldn't filter the carbon dioxide out of the air for 3 people on the full duration of the return trip... Suck in a gulp of air out of a bottle of carbonated soda... That's what breathing high concentrations of CO2 feels like, and they were near the unsafe limit. Beyond the safe limit, they would have lapsed into unconsciousness, and then death. The exceptionally talented ground crew, and the highly trained Apollo crew managed to figure out how to fit a Square Peg into a Round Hole. The CM Lithium Hydroxide CO₂ scrubbers were square, and would not fit the round hole for the LM scrubbers. They got it figured out with duct tape, a plastic bag, the cardboard cover from a checklist, and some hoses off a space suit... Duct tape, sheer genius and determination, and a bunch of junk saved Apollo 13.

Anyway, they used the LM engines to do their course corrections, and at one point even had to shut down the remaining LM AGC. They had to do a manual burn at one point, using the sight of the Earth through a window as a reference, and all around, never even knew if their parachutes would even deploy, after all the time spent frozen, or if the heat shield was even intact, as it was directly up against the C/SM, where the explosion had occurred.

Remember kids... These guys managed to fly their craft back home and MADE IT, after having nearly frozen like popsicles, without drinking hardly enough water, and while nearly suffocating at one point in the flight! They endured those hardships for 4 days! They had the "right stuff" indeed! Those men were truly the best of the best of the best, picked out of the toughest, most resilient of candidates. Mad respect to them. 

 
That's the mess of explodyness they managed to not die in!
See that stuff hanging out... That's all supposed to be inside the round bit. 

Oh yeah, please don't stare at the stirrers too hard. They get embarrassed and their little fan motors get all red and then they just can't take it anymore, and then boom! They just can't handle the pressure anymore!  

Edited June 23, 2016 by richfiles

[jlcarneiro]

@richfiles, thanks! Not only for clearing it out, like @Hobbes Novakoff had done, but for the WAY you did. Thank you!

Edited June 23, 2016 by jlcarneiro

[DaMachinator]

Yeah, the "don't stare at the stirrers" is an Apollo 13 reference.