Post by Catsmate on Jan 17, 2024 19:34:04 GMT
Yes, I'm starting another thread despite the unfinished ones....
The Unmissing Tractor 31.
The cold, polar, wastes of the planet Earth have long been an area subject to exploration, and death of course.
It’s also been the location of some interesting vehicle designs, for example the US Antarctic Snow Cruiser (which I mentioned in the Camp Century thread) and the Soviet Kharkovchanka are good examples of these.
The latter was (and sort-of is) a massive, tracked, all terrain vehicle and mobile Antarctic research base. Rather like something out of Classic Traveller. Unlike the ASC it was a functional and useful design
Historically the USSR built six of these enormous vehicles, which were moderately successful in operations in the Antarctic from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Another feature of Polar exploration in the 1960s and 1970s was, part of the Zeitgeist really, the use of nuclear power. Both McMurdo and Camp Century used nuclear reactors for power and heat and both the US and USSR developed small reactors for remote outposts. For example the US ML-1 which was a truck mounted reactor1.
Now we depart from our history, into the different history of the Whoniverse.
In 1965 a second generation Khark design was developed, using diesel-electric population initially, with two diesel generators (for redundancy) powering electric motors to drive the treads. This would mitigate some of the issues with the first generation tractors, regarding vibration and diesel contamination.
Around the same time a compact, efficient and (it was hoped safe and reliable) fission reactor was developed. The reactor was able to fit into a single ’20 foot’ shipping container when operating, and could be shielded sufficiently to allow for humans to work close by it.
Partially as a publicity stunt it was decided to deploy a number of the reactors to Antarctica, where the heat and power would be very useful and reduce the issues with diesel2 resupply.
As part of the stunt it was decided to use one of the reactors to power a tractor and drive it across the continent, with minimal resupply; demonstrating the Superiority of Soviet Science!
The reactor was far too bulky to be included in the tractor without designing a completely new vehicle. But the Khark was designed to tow one or more tractors. So a trailer unit, with its own electric drivetrain was built around the reactor, complete with it’s own crew accommodation.
The tractor is large, ten metres long, 3.5 metres wide, and four metres high (to the top of the observation dome), somewhat larger that the historical designs. It weighs about forty tonnes, but thanks to metre wide tracks it has very low ground pressure and excellent mobility. The trailer is about the same size and mass.
The tractor can make 60km/hr, though this is risky unless on a flat surface. A cruise speed of 30km/hr can generally be maintained, thirty degree slopes climbed and five metre gaps negotiated. It's also amphibious.
The interior has, as with the preceding design, eight bunks, toilet, shower and a small galley with oven. The trailer has four additional berths for the reactor technicians (two of which are also security officers), allowing them to remain on-board in case the trailer is detached.
The units are connected by a heavy-duty towing cable, along with power cables and heated air and water connections3.
The trailer also has facilities to refill the reactor's nitrogen supply4 and the oxygen tanks used by the explorers. Allowing for food a team of twelve could operate independent of the outside world for several months.
On 03DEC1965 the first nuclear tractor, called simple '31', left the Soviet Vostok station on a maiden trip to the geographic South Pole, arriving at Amundsen–Scott Station on 24DEC. After exchanging gifts with the multi-national (well mostly US) team there, the vehicle left on 27DEC.
And disappeared.
Despite immense efforts the tractor, it's reactor and the twelve men have never been seen again.
Then, almost sixty years later, they return....
1. Truck carried, not when operational; it was intended for a 150m human exclusion zone when running.
2. Interestingly in the true cold of the Poles diesel freezes into a solid that can be cut with a saw. This is disconcerting to watch.
3. Which use a two-stage heat exchanger to avoid radiation contamination.
The Unmissing Tractor 31.
The cold, polar, wastes of the planet Earth have long been an area subject to exploration, and death of course.
It’s also been the location of some interesting vehicle designs, for example the US Antarctic Snow Cruiser (which I mentioned in the Camp Century thread) and the Soviet Kharkovchanka are good examples of these.
The latter was (and sort-of is) a massive, tracked, all terrain vehicle and mobile Antarctic research base. Rather like something out of Classic Traveller. Unlike the ASC it was a functional and useful design
Historically the USSR built six of these enormous vehicles, which were moderately successful in operations in the Antarctic from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Another feature of Polar exploration in the 1960s and 1970s was, part of the Zeitgeist really, the use of nuclear power. Both McMurdo and Camp Century used nuclear reactors for power and heat and both the US and USSR developed small reactors for remote outposts. For example the US ML-1 which was a truck mounted reactor1.
Now we depart from our history, into the different history of the Whoniverse.
In 1965 a second generation Khark design was developed, using diesel-electric population initially, with two diesel generators (for redundancy) powering electric motors to drive the treads. This would mitigate some of the issues with the first generation tractors, regarding vibration and diesel contamination.
Around the same time a compact, efficient and (it was hoped safe and reliable) fission reactor was developed. The reactor was able to fit into a single ’20 foot’ shipping container when operating, and could be shielded sufficiently to allow for humans to work close by it.
Partially as a publicity stunt it was decided to deploy a number of the reactors to Antarctica, where the heat and power would be very useful and reduce the issues with diesel2 resupply.
As part of the stunt it was decided to use one of the reactors to power a tractor and drive it across the continent, with minimal resupply; demonstrating the Superiority of Soviet Science!
The reactor was far too bulky to be included in the tractor without designing a completely new vehicle. But the Khark was designed to tow one or more tractors. So a trailer unit, with its own electric drivetrain was built around the reactor, complete with it’s own crew accommodation.
- These would be the four technicians, two of whom were mainly security; here was surprisingly little enthusiasm about sleeping a metre from an operational fission reactor, even amongst the kind of people who explore the Antarctic.
The tractor is large, ten metres long, 3.5 metres wide, and four metres high (to the top of the observation dome), somewhat larger that the historical designs. It weighs about forty tonnes, but thanks to metre wide tracks it has very low ground pressure and excellent mobility. The trailer is about the same size and mass.
The tractor can make 60km/hr, though this is risky unless on a flat surface. A cruise speed of 30km/hr can generally be maintained, thirty degree slopes climbed and five metre gaps negotiated. It's also amphibious.
The interior has, as with the preceding design, eight bunks, toilet, shower and a small galley with oven. The trailer has four additional berths for the reactor technicians (two of which are also security officers), allowing them to remain on-board in case the trailer is detached.
The units are connected by a heavy-duty towing cable, along with power cables and heated air and water connections3.
The trailer also has facilities to refill the reactor's nitrogen supply4 and the oxygen tanks used by the explorers. Allowing for food a team of twelve could operate independent of the outside world for several months.
On 03DEC1965 the first nuclear tractor, called simple '31', left the Soviet Vostok station on a maiden trip to the geographic South Pole, arriving at Amundsen–Scott Station on 24DEC. After exchanging gifts with the multi-national (well mostly US) team there, the vehicle left on 27DEC.
And disappeared.
Despite immense efforts the tractor, it's reactor and the twelve men have never been seen again.
Then, almost sixty years later, they return....
1. Truck carried, not when operational; it was intended for a 150m human exclusion zone when running.
2. Interestingly in the true cold of the Poles diesel freezes into a solid that can be cut with a saw. This is disconcerting to watch.
3. Which use a two-stage heat exchanger to avoid radiation contamination.
Fond as I am of At the Mountains of Madness (and especially the Assault on the Mountains of Madness campaign; it has the Habakkuk after all) I did not intend the intrepid Soviets to stumble over the Elder Things and their city.
