Project TransHab3 (Was: How many notebook workstations on the way to Mars and back?)

[Wishbone]

Am outfitting the interior of a TransHab model with hardware. Right now there are, across 3 levels:
16 soft stowage boxes,
1 Martian sample isolation container,
1 veloergometer,
1 treadmill,
6 sleeping cubicles behind a water tank shield,
1 wardroom table,
1 freezer,
1 microwave oven,
GOx and GN2 high-pressure tanks,
1 Sabatier reactor,
1 WC,
1 shower,
1 Oxygen generation system,
1 Ammonia removal system,
1 medical complex (CHeCS),
1 four-bed molecular sieve,
1 warm-air waste dryer,
1 maintenance and repair "workshop".

The question is, how many notebooks should be there? At the moment there are 6 notebooks in crew quarters, 1 "maintenance" NB, 1 NB at the wardroom and 1 medical workstation, 9 in total. Is that enough for the flight that may last up to 210 days from one planet to the other? I assume there'll be tablet computers used for IMS work, but they are too small to model.

 

[PeterRoss]

There must be at least one more very old notebook to play Doom.

 

[Urwumpe]

First of all, you should have one per astronaut, for doing housekeeping or just for reading messages or watching videos. Must not be a good one, but if astronauts need to fight for reading their emails, you introduce friction. These could then also be used for dealing with the science, since the science systems are generally separated from the GNC.

Next, I would calculate roughly with 3 notebooks per level for GNC and data processing. This depends on actual procedures and can be more or even none dedicated to a level, that usually sees only rarely visitors. some stations are critical there and need many notebooks in their vicinity for redundancy, others are just manned during maintenance.

It might be smart having four notebooks on the "flight deck" all the time, and have 4 more notebooks stored for maintenance or for working on other GNC stations or as spare for the 4 critical ones.

And yes, one old notebook to play Doom.

 

[N_Molson]

Concerning personal data, it seems very important that each crewmember can have it's own safe, unshared, password-secured storage space. They must be able to be sure that no mission control can look into it. Seems very important for the psychological health during a long trip. Since they can't have a real physical privacy, they must be allowed to have a virtual one. It leaves space to breath in some way.

I don't know what are the rules about this aboard nuclear submarines, but it could be interesting to look into that (apart the fact that submarines have very limited windows of data transmission for stealth purposes).

 

[Wishbone]

Good ideas, thanks. I've added the DOOM workstation, sleeping bags and personal bags, and I'll be adding more GNC-related stations. There is a personal notebook in each cubicle, so no fighting for e-mails here. The degree of redundancy is still an open issue, and thanks for the "science stations" reminder.

Another item, "marginally" related to reliability: the TransHab will have to be left crewless in Martian orbit for sixteen months. The checklists for conservation and de-conservation must be quite large...

EDIT: Re: personal "virtual space". Since crewmembers will be going down to Mars for 500 days, it makes sense to run their private software in a virtual machine, and transfer the VM files on a DVD-R to Mars and back, instead of taking their notebooks with them.

 

[Wishbone]

Progress update: attaching the current state of affairs...