Robert Crawley
Wed, 30 Oct 2002 07:41:29 -0800
As much as I want to test out some thermate, I think the water jets idea is definitely going work. Needs a rotating head with a bit on the tip, so either an electric motor, or have its spinning motion powered by the water pump (which would last a lot longer), which sucks the water back in, heats it up, and spits it back out. A gallon of antifreeze would probably go a really long way. Is there such a thing as non-toxic anti-freeze? Heating the water on Europa will need a radioactive power source, but we can probably get away with batteries here. So you could probably get the thing to the point that all you would have to do is switch out the power source (and upgrade to rad hardened) and it would be ready to ship to Europa. The biggest problem I can foresee is jets getting clogged. Which can probably mostly be solved by coating the inside of the hoses with RainX and adding a couple ounces of RedLine Water Wetter to the anti-freeze to break down the water tension.
Robert Crawley Elite Precision Fabricators, Inc. Programming (936) 449-6823 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-europa@;klx.com]On Behalf Of Robert J. Bradbury Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 8:10 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Power requirements In response to my inquiry to Dr. Behar, he provided the following information: > The 2 20KW generators was for electric power, to run pumps, > controls, computers, etc. > The 480KW was what was calculated to be produced from burning diesel to > heat up the water. So we are *not* talking a small amount of energy to burn the holes in the ice. The 480KW would seem to be required over a period of 12-24 hours (the time required to drill the ice holes). Robert == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/