The idea of his machine is to create water from dirt. Why keep running it on his journey? All you need is recycle the water you need in the ship. Creating additional water would take great amount of space.
Classics are names that everyone heard, yet most have never seen!!
1. Any water recycling system is going to have some losses/inefficiencies that require the addition of some water from external sources over the course of time.
2. His dirt-to-water conversion machine needed to be run often enough as a kind of continuous diagnostic test to make sure it was still in operating order as he approached Mars (so they could turn him back if it failed along the way).
3. My bigger problem with the water issue is that the mission had an "abort & turn back" option for both ships/astronauts. All the extra fuel needed to do that could have gone toward extra food & water to help them out if they got into trouble during a "sorry guys, it's a one-way/no turning back" mission (which is actually being considered with the current thinking about real manned missions to Mars).
The only return would be from a slingshot effect using Mars to make the U-turn. There is no other way to do it. Ditto Apollo 13.
shareInefficiencies or not, a water recycling system is mandatory. He said it was a closed system, true, but bone dry, false. It can't be both, his sweat, perspiration and breathe would have made the capsule damp, like the moisture problems they had in Apollo 13
What are they doing? Why do they come here?
Some kind of instinct, memory, what they used to do.
Why wasn't that machine tested and perfected before launch, considering how important it was supposed to be?
Regardless, carrying a few hundred extra liters of water would have been prudent
What are they doing? Why do they come here?
Some kind of instinct, memory, what they used to do.