Melting fuel

[GypsyComet]

^ I like the idea of the melter at the end of the hose. You could even have the hose not need to come out of the fuel scoop hatches for those nice water skimming refuels 8)

A heater head and slurp hose on a boom is what I mean when I refer to a "Mosquito Rig". You stand off of an iceball out in some system's halo (aka, the Kuiper and Oort) and "sting" it for a meal. Not fast, but better than no fuel at all.

The Mosquito Rig, or at least its name, came from a rare period of lucidity on the TML some years back.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

This sounds like a good idea as part of the tonnage of a fuel processor, but the length of the boom would only be a few meters. Long enough to reach from the hull to the ground while landed and the landing gear extended. It would prevent the necessity of boots on the ground, unless there were special circumstances involved.

 

[BFalcon]

I still like the idea of boots on the ground - firstly it stops players' characters from getting lazy. Secondly, it raises the danger level - on a strange planet, they don't know what's out there, on a comet, there may be ice crystals or rock/metal fragments that can tear open Vacc suits, leading to a non-combat encounter that's every bit as deadly as anything else (and truly iconic of space adventures). Thirdly, speaking of iconic, the image of vacc-suited characters standing on a comet would be pretty good for setting the scene on Traveller. Lastly, it diverts player funds from the big Boomsticks and onto various useful bits of kit when you start having them have to go planetside - they'll need thermal gear for an ice planet at the least - unless they want to risk hypothermia (in which case it's a good excuse to try out the Scout rules on survival...)

Also apparently overlooked here - too much steam from automated systems too close to the ship and you have another problem - iced up landing gear - steam will condense on the metal parts of the hull, including the joints of the landing gear, but also on the hull itself and will refreeze in seconds (which is why you see ice on the faces/beards of arctic explorers - it's their breath freezing). Having a hose far enough downwind from the ship will avoid that as much as possible, as will someone adjusting the steam output at the nozzle end for the weather and temperature conditions.

 

[GypsyComet]

ice crystals and rock fragments?

Do whatever you need to do to acquire and read Benford & Brin's "Heart of the Comet". Do it now.

While you're at it, read Charles Sheffield's "Manna" (part of the McAndrew Chronicles), and Jeffrey Kooistra's "Dykstra's War". The halo will never be boring again.

 

[atpollard]

I would duct tape all of the ship's electric blankets to the refueling hose, set it over part of the ice and run an extension cord back to the airlock.

 

[fschiff]

Digest Group's MegaTraveller Starship Operator's Manual
has a task (on the very last page!) to mine ice for fuel. How canon this is, and whether you think its applicable for your game is up to you.


Getting Ice as Fuel
To "mine" an icy body for unrefined fuel:
Routine, Vacc Suit, Mechanical, varies:see below (hazardous)
Referee: The time increment varies depending on how much fuel there is to collected: use 1 min per kiloliter of fuel to be collected.


Yes it does say "is to collected". Yes it does have two skills listed for the task. MT allowed two skills to be used as part of task check, although I don't ever remember that coming up.
For MGT I'd allow Vacc Suit or Mechanical, with whatever was the appropriate stat for the player. A routine task is a +2 of course.

 

[zero]

I would just keep the test as Mechanic. Vacc-Suit skill I generally keep for how well versed chars are with armour suits and never use checks for it.

Could someone make a comparison between kiloliter and dton?

 

[BFalcon]

Well, depends if they want to actually do anything remotely complicated in vacuum, I guess... if not, then they won't need the vacc suit checks... but I'd be asking them to make them in any environment that's not friendly to humans...

1 kilolitre of water would be 1 ton of mass, but I'm not sure about the hydrogen.

 

[Captain Jonah]

kilolitre = 1cubic metre.

1 ton depends on density of water but if you are going by volumes then 14 kilolitres = 1Dton