Appleton Laboratory Station Log

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
March 14, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

I have finally gotten to making the first log entry for Appleton Laboratory. We hassled with the various approvals needed from both Bretonia and the Confederation of Freeports (CoF) for nearly a month before we could begin construction. We tried to get a better location closer to Freeport 1 for radiation shielding purposes. However, we failed to convince both the War Cabinet and the Confederation of Freeports to allow it. Ultimately, Bretonia signed off on a 10 K distance, but the CoF would only allow a 15 K minimum distance. We attempted to appeal the CoF decision, but had no success, and ultimately built 15 K from Freeport 1 using the Freeport as a shield from the sun. We informed the Bretonian government of the new location and of the shortening of the base’s name from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to simply Appleton Laboratory. Some of the staff brought up the issue of possible confusion with Rutherford Spaceport, so we decided to shorten the name. We are now listed as a registered base in Bretonia.

Things have been crazy since we put the station up a week ago on March 7th. Hardly anything worked, and we were scrambling to get the shield generator online. We finally succeeded that day getting all the supplies we had stockpiled on Freeport 1 moved over to our station, and getting the generator online.

Later that night, we were able to get the rest of the supplies imported to finish construction of our storage module, so we weren’t so cramped.

This week we have just been working on getting all of the systems up and running as well as working on upgrading the power core to accommodate all of the additional space we will need. We contracted with the Iki from Kishiro to ship in the Optronic arrays from Kusari, which was the furthest away supply we needed. We also contracted Bowex to ship in 100,000 units of industrial hardware.

Our core upgrade is being completed as I am writing this, and we will begin construction on more cargo expansions to hold all of our equipment we will need to bring in.

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
March 15, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

The power core upgrade was completed last night. We also completed an extra storage module soon afterward. The extra room is nice, you no longer have to be a contortionist to get through the cargo bay. We are currently working on building another storage bay. Once this one is completed we should be able to move all of our equipment that is still on Freeport 1 over to Appleton.

We thanked Bowex for all of their prompt shipping of industrial hardware, I still need to send them the funds for the bonus, but am waiting on a name to send it to. We also asked Bowex to help with our additional Hull Segments we need shipped in. Unfortunately, we need so many, and need them so quickly, that we can’t wait on an exclusive contract. Hopefully, they will be able to help.

We really can’t do much research until we get the extra space. I have gone out a few times to test the prototype mining array. However, no one has had time to look at the data I collected, and we ended up having to sell most of the ore I collected before it was analyzed to make space for construction supplies. Thus, we lost a good first opportunity to analyze the array’s performance.

The next time we upgrade the station’s power core will be a much more orderly affair, we will be able to do most of our research while it is being upgraded, so there will be much less of a rush.

This afternoon we will be finishing up the next cargo storage module and starting construction on our last cargo storage before the next power core upgrade.

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
March 16, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

The hull segments for the last storage module continue to trickle in. We hope to finish it up in a few days, some of our attention has shifted from building the station to getting our research underway.

I was able to take a couple of the MK II prototype mining arrays out yesterday to do some testing. Unfortunately, both arrays began overheating very quickly and I had to stop to let them radiate off some heat. This was a slow process since many of the components have such low temperature limits, and we didn’t design much in the way of radiators into them since they were supposed to be low power devices. I only cycled them in temperature twice to ensure the issue was repeatable. I asked Jordan to take a look at them since the thermal management was his area on the design. He is dismounting them now to have them moved to the thermal lab we are setting up.

This malfunction bothers me quite a bit, we tested the MK I prototypes in Tau-23 for hundreds of hours and never had any thermal management problems. The MK II graviton mining arrays are are supposed to be even lower power consumption than the MK I. I shouldn’t worry too much, we will see what Jordan turns up in his analysis.

Speaking of Tau-23, this station has been much more of a breeze to get setup than when we built IMG Research Station in Tau-23. For one thing, Bretonia was much quicker in responding to our communications that was Gallia. We are just over a week in, and are pretty much to the point on station contstruction that we with after operating IMG Research Station for a couple of months. You wouldn’t think the experience of building a station would make that much of a difference, but it definitely does. We also have better access to supplies here in Omega-3 than we did in Tau-23. I think it took us a week just to get the shield generator working on IMG Research Station. So far we also haven’t had to deal with any threats such as when the Contari Lance sieged IMG Research very soon after we got the shield generator up. I was so happy when we finished our field research in Tau-23 and sold that station, I swore I would never get involved in building or managing another station… but here I am again. It is amazing what necessity will convince you to do….

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
March 23, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

We finally finished up the last cargo storage module we will need for awhile. We also shipped in all of the reinforced alloy, robotic hardware, and hull segments we will need for the next power core upgrade. I will start the arrangements this week to have the rest of the supplies we will need for the next upgrade shipped in.

Jordan took a look at the mining arrays that were overheating. Apparently, it wasn’t a heat dissipation problem but rather a power utilization problem. The array was drawing 10 times the power it was supposed to, and thus the thermal management system was overwhelmed. Jordan is trying to track down where the extra power draw is coming from because the graviton emitter seems to be functioning normally, and it is the highest power consumption device in the unit. We will wait and see what he turns up, and hopefully this will turn out to be an easy fix.

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
March 24, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

I have made some inquiries about getting the rest of the supplies we need for our power core upgrade. So far, the only contract I have gotten finalized is one with Kishiro to ship us the Optronic Arrays that we need.

Jordan discovered some disturbing information on the overheating problem with the mining array. Apparently some of the superconductors we were using for the power transfer lost their superconducting ability and gained a significant resistance. This caused huge power losses in the device and overheating. We are replacing the superconducting conduits now, but we are not sure what caused them to lose their superconducting properties. When we get them pulled out we can look at them closer.

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
March 28, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

Bowex completed the industrial hardware shipment I had requested before I ever even got it logged that I had hired them, and I have already sent them the bonus for their timely delivery. Based on what they said, in their final message, I asked around my researchers, and it seems that Alyssa had a chat with one of the Bowex employee’s and probably said a bit more than she should have…. hopefully it won’t affect the other contracts.

Kishiro was very prompt with accepting the contract, but has yet to ship anything to our station. Hopefully they will get to filling our contract soon. I am still waiting to hear back from Gateway.

We replaced the superconductors in the mining arrays, and they did operate normally again. However, we are keeping a close eye on them and they are once again degrading. Albeit very slowly. We are trying to determine what is causing the problem. Yesterday, we were able to do more testing of the arrays than we had been able to do in the entire time we have been in Omega-3. We got lots of good data, that looked very promising. Alyssa is still working on getting all of the data from the ore samples. Jordan is analyzing the superconducting conduits to see if he can isolate the source of the problem.

I also met up with some of the primary fleet of IMG, and I accompanied a convoy to Tau-23. Though, I didn’t return with them and used the opportunity to take care of some business on Java station where we still have a few items in storage. I went ahead and brought back a couple of instruments on my return, including the spectroscopic ellipsometer.

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
April 6, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

The supplies for the core upgrade are trickling in. As of 3:08 this morning Kishiro still needs to ship another 30,000 Optronic Arrays and Gateway needs to ship another 17,095 heat sinks.

Jordan has determined that the damage caused to the superconductors is from sort of high energy radiation. However, the radiation from the Omega-3 sun should not be intense enough to cause this kind of damage. We were worried about it affecting some of our very sensitive instruments on Appleton, and is why we positioned our station where we did. However, it should have almost no effect on these materials. Jordan calculated that it would take over 1000 years of constant exposure to the most severe radiation emitted by the sun to cause this kind of damage.

We surveyed the area and cannot detect levels of radiation that could cause this. It seems to have a very specific effect on these superconductors. Alyssa is working on making a crude radiation detector out of the superconductor material to attempt to isolate the source of the radiation since it seems to be the only material on the ship that is affected.

Alyssa also thinks that there might be a solution in Nomad technology, apparently their neurological systems can be made into superconducting materials, and they are very radiation hardened. I have no experience with them, but Alyssa worked with them for some time in Omicrons before she joined up with us. I am going to look into seeing how much of a pain it would be to get a few samples into the lab to look at.

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
April 26, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

I was a little delinquent on making my log entries. I ended up taking a last minute invitation from some old colleagues to visit them on Planet Cambridge over the last two weeks and see some of the work they have been doing. They have been working on a new graviton emitter technology that looks very promising. If they can work out a few technical difficulties, I will consider seeing if I can incorporate the technology into the mining array.

Jordan was supposed to make the log entries, but he failed to do so, I guess I am lucky the station was still here when I got back...

Both the Gateway contract and the Kishiro contracts have been completed. The one exception is that I need to send the bonus to Kishiro for completing it on time, but I am still waiting to hear back as to where to send the funds.

While I was gone, Alyssa determined after extensive study believes that this unknown radiation is coming from hyperspace. We need to heavily modify a hyperspace scanner to help detect the source of the radiation. I think we may build it here instead of trying to buy one and modify it. It will require quite a bit of time and infrastructure to build the facilities to build the scanner, but I think it is the best option. It will give us full control over the design, maintenance, and operation of the scanner. This operation is a little outside what our original purpose in this system was, but since no one seems to be able to offer an explanation for the radiation, I think this is a scientific mystery worth investigating. I just have a feeling that there is something here worth chasing.

I still need to work on obtaining some Nomad technology to see if that can be a solution for protection from the radiation for our superconductors. I haven’t gotten to it yet.

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
May 10, 822 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

It has been busy around the Appleton lately. We finished the core upgrade on April 29th, and quickly got an extra storage module built. We are currently working on putting together the facility to build our modified hyperspace scanner. Hopefully it will be finished soon and we can get on with building the scanner and see if we can isolate the source of the radiation.

With all of the commotion on the station with the construction, we have made very little progress on the mining array. I am composing a message to the Bretonian Government to see if I need any special import licenses for bring Nomad materials into Omega-3. I did some research, and I I think we are okay to import them, but I know Bretonia likes to keep a handle on things that go on in this system. I am going to put Alyssa in charge of figuring out how to get them and to safely deal with them, I know nothing about them. I just don’t want the BAF showing up on our doorstep.

-End Log Entry

[kornon]

Official Appleton Laboratory Station Log
February 23rd, 829 A.S.
-Recorded by Dr. Ron Kosher

It has been a long time since I made a log for the station. After Appleton Laboratory's destruction almost 7 years ago our group somewhat scattered. I will describe the circumstances around the destruction in another log entry. However, today I just want to get some logistical information down in the log while I have the information handy.

I was able to round up most of the old crew including Jordan the mechanical lead Alyssa the physics lead. Everyone was interested on picking up where we left off on the graviton based mining array. We had made some great progress on the MKII array, and gotten it quite efficient at Cobalt ore mining. The fields in Omega-3 have since dried up and there is now an active beryllium field in Omega-48 and we are going to continue work on the array to continue to optimize it for additional ores, starting with beryllium.

We once again contacted the Bretonian government about building our base but found that they no longer have jurisdiction over Omega 3. Regardless, we informed them of the construction and granted access to Appleton to their police and military.

We contacted Freeport 1 about rebuilding Appleton once again trying to use their solar array as a shield. We proposed 2.5k away from Freeport 1, but they wanted us to stay 5k away. We provided them some more information, and they agreed to let us build 4k away from the Freeport.

We got the base built at the agreed upon location and got the shield generator and cargo expansion up the same day, February 10th. We contracted US| to provide materials for our core upgrade and that was completed on February 17th. We have now contracted US| again to build our next core upgrade, and they are well on their way to getting us all of the materials.

-End Log Entry