RE: Power requirements

[Schmidt Mickey Civ 50 ES/CC]

Question about antifreeze, years ago before the advent of ethylene glycol
(toxic) people used alcohol. But the problem with any type of anti-freeze or
other chimical is that it will be continually dilutted as more ice is
melted. I think reliance on a heater will be best. To impart rotation the
jets need only to be vectored to impart rotation.

Mickey D. Schmidt, Dir.
USAF Academy Planetarium
Center for Educational Multimedia
USAF Academy, CO 80840


-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Crawley [mailto:programming-epfi@;txucom.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 8:33 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Power requirements


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


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