My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

Mission Log – Solar Day 480

Today's Hermes news: "We can no longer see your rover on the ground. The dust storm is too thick. The center of the dust storm is about two hundred kilometers due east of you, but the edge... Mark, the dust storm has now covered this planet. Most of the planet's surface. We can only suggest that you try to separate the clutches of the two wheels while the surrounding ground is still relatively flat to see if this can save some power."

Of course, we have already tried this method after waking up this morning and finding that the battery was only charged to 71% of its total capacity. TM is of no use at all. Today we still only traveled 51.8 kilometers.

If we had been driving at our normal pace all day, we would have decided today whether to go east or west around Cromlin Crater. The way things are going, it's probably a bit reluctant for us to get there tomorrow. Going forward we will have to make some tough decisions.

Before we set out to charge the solar panels today, we also tried using magic energy to power them. A magic energy to electrical energy converter is installed in the spaceship's bridge control system where emergency magic batteries are normally connected. Today we plugged a magic battery into the system and started running on the power it provides. However, after about a minute and a half, Starlight stopped the experiment because she could see the battery indicator dropping with her naked eyes while driving, which showed how quickly the magic energy was consumed.

After we set out the solar panels (which had dropped to only 59% of their peak efficiency), we recorded the current reading of the battery we were using, as well as the time we spent in that minute and a half (admittedly is the distance traveled in which the vehicle is accelerating most of the time). Then we did some calculations and got the following results.

As a very rough rough estimate, a mobile RV consumes twenty kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour at top speed. This works out to consume one kilowatt hour every three minutes.

And we only reached top speed about half of the minute and a half we were traveling by magic. The mobile home needs a long run-up to get up to speed, so we only traveled about half a kilometer and consumed (again, this is a very rough estimate) five hundred watt hours.

Also during this period, the battery dropped from full charge to 95%.

In other words: this battery can support us for ten kilometers before running out. The running time is probably just over twenty minutes. After conversion, this battery is basically equivalent to an ordinary battery with a rated energy storage of approximately ten kilowatt hours.

It should be boasted - it far exceeds the rover's battery in terms of weight and efficiency, and can also compete with the lighter but larger habitat battery pack. However, considering that I have never seen Starlight use a very small amount of magic battery energy to achieve certain feats that require megawatts or even gigawatts of power even if it is possible to be driven by electricity, I still have to talk about the operation of this magic power converter. The efficiency is really ridiculously low.

But that's not actually the problem. The real issue is the time it takes to recharge.

If it weren't for the dust storm, we should have a little more than seventy Pirate Ninjas' charging capacity every day, of which only fifty-four Pirate Ninjas can actually be stored. Every day when we set off we add about seventy kilometers of driving range to the battery.

If we connect all twenty-one small magic batteries to the rover's power supply system, and the electricity generated is only used for driving, it can support us to travel a total of 210 kilometers. The current charging rate of these batteries is only 1.4% per day... which means that it takes a full 67 days from zero to fully charged.

sixty. seven. sky.

And during this period we are absolutely not allowed to do anything that relies on magic.

And during this period, those giant batteries will steadily lose stored energy at a rate of 0.5% of a conventional battery per day.

And during this period, Dragonfly's body will begin to collapse little by little.

We would only consider this option if we were truly desperate and at the end of our rope. And another prerequisite for this solution to be reasonable is that we have to be much closer to residential areas or Schiaparelli than where we are now. Judging from the current situation, we are almost halfway, but compared to the residential area and cave farm, the MAV is slightly closer to us. If these two hundred kilometers can get us to a safe zone, it might be worth it; otherwise, we might as well save our magic energy and think of other ways.

Let’s just hope we find out before the light fades completely.

Oh, and in case you're still asking, "Why can't you just use the magic batteries to travel a distance that matches their charging rate?" All twenty-one batteries here collect approximately 1.4 of their total capacity per day. %. The total added up is equivalent to 29.4% of the capacity of a single battery, which is almost less than three kilometers. In the current situation we are facing (the term is “impossible”), this approach is certainly not worth it.

It is better to cherish the present moment and spend precious resources on keeping the changelings, dragons and ponies healthy... one day is a day that can survive.

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 490

ARES 3 solar day 481

No howling wind could be heard outside the mobile home. There was no rustle in the dust blowing against the exposed skin of the ship. The only power comes from the flashing glow from the tungsten wire discharge brushes installed on the outer skin mounting points of the old Amicitas, which is faintly visible outside the bridge window.

However, the dust haze of the previous few days has turned into a thick fog, and clouds of dust are swimming in the sky driven by weak Martian winds. The dim afternoon sunlight outside the car was very different from the glow of stars, but it reminded the ponies of moonlight. A dust storm surrounded them.

Considering that they only ran out of power after traveling only thirty-six kilometers, and the solar panels could only generate electricity at 42% of their normal capacity, every passenger in the mobile home was clearly aware of this. The siege is getting tighter.

There is no good news to say from Hermes. Today's situation report is even more severe; the center of the dust storm is located 140 kilometers east-northeast of them. The main body of the dust storm is almost motionless. Although it is no longer expanding, the eye of the storm is thickening. According to their estimates, only about 10% of the sunlight in the core of the dust storm can reach the surface of Mars... This value continues to decrease. If the dust storm maintains its current intensity, it will take more than a month to pass through the Cromlin crater; judging from the broken terrain outside the car, the mobile home should be near this area.

"So the current situation is like this," the six of them gathered on the bridge to discuss countermeasures, and Mark was the first to say, "We have a total of three options. First, we can stay where we are and hope that the dust storm will last longer than expected. Pass as quickly as possible. Do you need to talk about the likelihood of this situation?"

No one said a word. Everyone knew that this dust storm was coming specifically for them.

"Yes, I think it is unlikely. Then there is a second option; turn east-southeast and start heading towards Schiaparelli as fast as we can. This way we will be closer to the center of the dust storm, but not close to the center of the dust storm. At the same time, we are moving in the opposite direction to the dust storm, so we may be able to leave the dust storm earlier. We can rely on the RTG and your spacecraft's system to run the life support system, so we should be able to move slowly at least a little bit every day. Climb forward.”