Traveling through Space

Posted byJaime CarrolloPosted inUncategorized

Welcome home Artemis explorers!

I got so involved and excited watching the return of the Orion Integrity crew that I an only now sharing my own successful venture: the rainwater collection tank has touched down!

The rainwater collection system is not rocket science. But it was not without its challenges. For example, getting black PVC pipe for downspout, finding best location for tank, calculating rainwater flow based on my roof area for sizing downspouts and conveyance lines, determining volume of tank, and so on.

Tank erection, Part 1. In which you can see me running around bossing everybody.
Tank erection, Part 2. This video does not include the installation of the tank top, but you get the idea.
After building the tank and installing the cover, the inside is swept with a magnet and then a geo textile is tossed onto the tank, shown above. After covering the tank bottom with the geo textile , the bladder, already inside the tank is spread out and hung from the top of the tank.
Here is the tank and the black PVC downspout. The two inlet lines at the tank are temporary, in case it rains this weekend – and a bit of rain is forecast although not nearly enough to fill the tank.
And by the way, the tank crew of Isaiah, Cody and Pablo performed like the Artemis lunar explorers.

The pump house is yet to be built. It is in the design phase and will be furnished with pump, filters and UV treatment. It will also house my sprinkler controls and direct water to Sleepy Holler, the somewhat ethereal campground at the top of Ghostly Glen.

The space travellers must be getting ready for a well-deserved sleep in earth’s gravity. What an exciting adventure they had. I followed them in amazement at the design of the Orion space machine, the precision of their flight, the teamwork of multiple crews, the Promethean technology, the science and engineering, and the human desire to continually push our boundaries and expand our knowledge. But mainly I thought about mankind and our voyage through space and time upon this planet which, with all its animals and plants and oceans and cities is our home. Carl Sagan said we are made of stardust. More intimately, we are made of earth dust. From that little spark of life millions of years ago to beings with the amazing gift of consciousness, we are on the precipice of realizing our immortality: that life is death and death is life.

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