Astrobiology - Ancient Mars History - A Temporal Biotope

[hypnogogia]

What’s the device to the right of the Oase crystal skim?

 

[hydrophyte]

What’s the device to the right of the Oase crystal skim?

That's just a DIY internal filter. It's adequate.

 

[Aleron]

[UWSL]hydrophyte[/UWSL], you are doing something unbelievable here!​

Being a teenager I was impressed by Ray Bradbury's novel "The Martian Chronicles''. I saw myself as a Mars researching scientist, I tried to imagine the Martian nature penetrating ours and turned my attention and energy to the mysterious world under our feet. I took some part time jobs to collect money and buy a magnifying glass and some big 3 litre glass jars. Then I did many exploration trips to a forest and fields nearby to collect specimens of many species of mosses and lichens. I kept that collection in glass jars for a couple of years, watched mosses grow through the magnifying glass, drew sketches and made notes in my diary. I imagined myself a Mars explorer, LOL...
Later I moved to another region, my diaries and sketches were lost , and now I have only warm memories of those beautiful times of miracles. Thank you for this bitter-sweet feeling of nostalgia.
When I came across your thread here I was unpleasantly surprised with the improper use of the term "biotope" in regard to the bacteria inhabited terrarium. Now after a full dive into it I want to start a similar project myself.

You are doing a fantastic research in this mesmerizing bacteria world. Your ideas and DIY equipment are something beyond even my imagination!

Btw, I missed the point of atmosphere in the bacteria biotope: is it the same as in your environment or do you "cook" it to be closer to the Martian?

 

[hydrophyte]

I formatted a new poster for the Mars terrarium project mainly with pics I had handy already and got it mounted too.

I'm expanding the astrobiology with a new idea, kites, among a few other additional concepts. I'll explain more later when I have more components built, but here is the first kite, a 34" X 45" rokkaku. This traditional Japanese kite design is easy to build and one of the best for lifting payloads.

I also got my Urban Ninja out. This thing is tons of fun and I could fly it for hours.

 

[MichaelJ]

I'm expanding the astrobiology with a new idea, kites, among a few other additional concepts. I'll explain more later when I have more components built, but here is the first kite, a 34" X 45" Rokakku. This traditional Japanese kite design is easy to build and one of the best for lifting payloads.

Your work is profoundly fascinating. And now it turns out you fly kites too! I had so much flying kites as a kid!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[hydrophyte]

Your work is profoundly fascinating. And now it turns out you fly kites too! I had so much flying kites as a kid!

Cheers,
Michael

Thanks for stopping by! I'll round up a few more things and explain the connection with these ideas.

Kitebuilding and kite flying are really rich areas to explore and a nice way to get outside. If you might want to pick it up again, that Urban Ninja kite is extreme fun to fly and available as a free plan.

Kite project: the urban ninja 2024

That just requires a few specific sewing supplies such as the correct thread for ripstop nylon. I cut a few corners building mine, but it went together fine and flies fantastic. I've spent many hours flying it.

 

[hydrophyte]

A couple more updates...

I've built another rokkaku for one of the astrobiology projects. I made this one with a couple of fabric half-yard scraps and it's only 50" tall, so it's probably not big enough to lift the ~4 ounce payload I have in mind with the sensors + data logger (second pic below), but I'll build another one with the same theme and more like 60". That should be enough lift.

Weather looks good for kite flying this week and I'm eager to get this one up in the air.

I also rounded up aquascaping rocks for another astrobiology aquarium setup. This approximate layout will go into a 18" X 6.7" UNS tank.

 

[Koaan]

one of the astrobiology projects.

Hey FYI, it looks like your studio page is down 😕

 

[hydrophyte]

Hey FYI, it looks like your studio page is down 😕

Yes I know. WordPress hosting expired. I'm looking for a better value.

 

[Koaan]

I'm looking for a better value

I can vouch for these guys, I use them for my business site. Great up time and world class Tech support, they can solve anything and they're right there on the chat at all hours 👍

 

[hydrophyte]

I got out with the new Rokkaku yesterday for some new sci-fi/astrobiology photos. We had our usual light & variable breeze and it was a good deal of work to keep kites up in the air, but the new one flew well.

 

[hydrophyte]

More kite pics...

Most of this is astrobiology/aquarium/terrarium-related. I'll have to explain some more with more posts. The larger grey + gold + red Rokkaku is lifting a sensor + data logger + housing assembly.