Water Calculations - Was it Worth It?

[Captain Obvious]

When they got on the planet they had no idea there wouldn't be nearly as much pure water. I do believe they should have split up to look for water and then brought the cart. By the time they found the water they had no choice to take whatever they had. Some water is better than no water.

Seriously, the lure of ancient technology for me was how advanced it was. Nothing about destiny is advanced so far except for it's stark differences in technology compared to atlantis which was advanced.

This sad ridiculous design of the technology, logic in the systems, design of the ship, mission and every single plot point so far makes little to no sense for all we know about the ancients so far.

Tim

OK, you have made this same argument in 3+ threads, but have completely ignored the logic of using chemical based life support- it is easy to fix! You are assuming that the high tech solution is the most "Logical" when in fact, maintaining the system with minimal parts and support from "Home" is FAR more "Logical"! You need any of a half dozen common oxidizers + water and you are good to go. The fact that the ship has these systems just supports its intent to be self sufficient. Ditto for the Solar power. It is far more "Logical" for the ship to not need outside help!

[Avenger]

Yea... but ... leaving their most ancient city... able to be resurrected by simply having the ancient gene but the destiny well that's locked up tight. Because the plan was to send this ship out to follow the seeder ship... then gate on board... but to insure they could safely explore the universe in this thing they built engine and shields which would work for hundreds of thousands of years but an enviromental system that would fail from no use and lock it down so tightly that even the basic systems to sustain life and support habitation would require some way to acess the ships computer... of course getting the ship to randomly stop at planets just in the nick of time that's supported without unlocking anything.

Ever think that gene technology was developed long after the Destiny was built? It was developed to prevent the Wraith from using Ancient tech in Pegasus. It makes sense that Destiny does not have that tech if it predates it.

Seriously, the lure of ancient technology for me was how advanced it was. Nothing about destiny is advanced so far except for it's stark differences in technology compared to atlantis which was advanced.

This sad ridiculous design of the technology, logic in the systems, design of the ship, mission and every single plot point so far makes little to no sense for all we know about the ancients so far.

Tim

This is the oldest Ancient tech we've seen. It's supposed to look old and not work as well what they found on Atlantis. Most of what we know about the Ancients comes from Atlantis and that information is extremely new, in comparison. Atlantis had been occupied by Ancients approximately 10,000 years ago while the Destiny is hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years old. It's a time capsule, of sorts. Of course the technology on Atlantis is going to be new and better.

[Skydiver]

The topic of THIS THREAD is did young and scott's mission to get water pay off or not

If you want to generally express your POLITE AND RESPECTFUL opinion about SGU, we have threads for that. If all you want to do is rant and rave, please take it elsewhere.

Discussion we welcome, 'yelling and screaming' (virtual or not) we do not.

[leanbarton]

Oh Detox, for some reason you don't like me, the point is that their method of water gathering was horribly inefficient and ultimately pointless. You would have thought that they would have tried a little harder to solve the disappearing water problem.

We know that the TPTB will blame the bugs for the missing water, but that also really doesn't make sense. Where did the water go? Even if the bugs were somehow made out of water and used it to reproduce themselves there were no where near enough bugs to account for the mass of tens of thousands of liters of water. If the bugs weren't the problem and they still were losing water, all the resources and manpower they spent on this mission would have gained them absolutely nothing, a few more hours of life at the most (and probably not even that if they are still losing water)

Wow, really? You seem to have a powerful knowledge of what fictional alien life can and can't do. Please enlighten us...

Also, if I remember correctly, the second time Young and Scott came back there was no ice, because Scott was on the sled. That's why we don't see how much ice they came back with, because there was none.

[kinseySG]

This entire episode seems like a useless gesture, and put the characters at risk for very little payoff. We see Young and Scott bring back a sled-full of ice which is transported back to the ship. We aren't shown how much they managed to bring back on the second trip, but given that the "hover platform" is being used to carry Scott, it was probably very little.

Transporting ice is by far the least efficient method of moving water because water expands as it freezes taking up more space and becoming more bulky, but since it was all they had, lets run the math...

1 gallon of water = ~7.65 pounds depending on the temperature and density.

The "hover platform" allowed them to carry more... so lets assume maybe 300 pounds of ice. (could be more or less, but it wasn't a huge amount)

300 lbs of ice = 39.21 gallons = 148.42 liters

For human survival, the absolute minimum daily water requirement is only about 5 liters per day, whereas the daily requirement for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, as well as for assuring survival, is about 50 liters per person.

Going by the barest minimum (5L) they brought back enough water for 30 people for one day. Given that the expedition is ~80 people, it doesn't appear to have been a very successful mission.

It may be like the magical lime and last forever, but TPTB should realize that it was not even a days worth. Was the entire attempt even worth it?

its a program, not real life let it run its course it was a good episode stop picking at the needle thin errors that they make

[Descended]

Wow, really? You seem to have a powerful knowledge of what fictional alien life can and can't do. Please enlighten us...

Also, if I remember correctly, the second time Young and Scott came back there was no ice, because Scott was on the sled. That's why we don't see how much ice they came back with, because there was none.

Touche... although I do remember it being called the "Law of Conservation of Mass" - but I guess alien bugs don't have to obey the fundamental physical laws of the universe. The only possible explanation is that the bugs broke it down into hydrogen and oxygen, which doesn't make any sense either since that requires way more energy (its an endothermic process) then it liberates, so how could it help them.

[skratakh]

Touche... although I do remember it being called the "Law of Conservation of Mass" - but I guess alien bugs don't have to obey the fundamental physical laws of the universe. The only possible explanation is that the bugs broke it down into hydrogen and oxygen, which doesn't make any sense either since that requires way more energy (its an endothermic process) then it liberates, so how could it help them.

Zing... exactly my problem, where did it go, seems like a big plot hole to me

[beafly]

Ok, lets see if this logic holds water ()

First, Let's assume the ship knew the vast majority of water on the ice planet was worthless. The ship has been correct thus far with the stops it has made, though not always for the reason the crew has guessed.

Second, Let's assume that the ship knows the crew would be incapable of procuring any significant quantity of water via the stargate due to the atmosphere / suit limitations.

If these two assumptions are correct, we can only assume that the ship had correctly identified the issue: the sand entity, and presented them with the most perfect place to resolve it. A vast frozen planet of water/ice for the entity to escape to.

[GateroomGuard]

I'd say Young and Scotts mission was worth it. I mean just sitting on the ship while the water level goes down all the while being able to gate to an ice planet, it makes no sense. If only for morale they should have gone. If they only brought back a teaspoon of water it would have been worth it. They may not have accomplished much or bought a lot of time but at least they accomplished something and bought some time.

[Avenger]

Ok, lets see if this logic holds water ()

First, Let's assume the ship knew the vast majority of water on the ice planet was worthless. The ship has been correct thus far with the stops it has made, though not always for the reason the crew has guessed.

Second, Let's assume that the ship knows the crew would be incapable of procuring any significant quantity of water via the stargate due to the atmosphere / suit limitations.

If these two assumptions are correct, we can only assume that the ship had correctly identified the issue: the sand entity, and presented them with the most perfect place to resolve it. A vast frozen planet of water/ice for the entity to escape to.

Excellent point, indeed. After all getting rid of the alien entity was the most important thing that needed to be done. The ship could probably find a more suitable planet to take on water.

[SoulReaver]

Zing... exactly my problem, where did it go, seems like a big plot hole to me

there's the explanation, it went out the plot hole :|

[Avenger]

Zing... exactly my problem, where did it go, seems like a big plot hole to me

Well, living things excrete waste products in some manner. They also could have been splashing around in the water tank, come out dripping wet and the water could have ended up on the floor for all we know.

[Sonicbluemustang]

They didnt gain nothin cause the barrel they probably half filled with water to catch the buggies was water lost too thrown thru the gate so to speak. an equivalent to what lil they harvested.

[Shpinxinator]

I think the point of the mission was no so much to refill the water tanks but have a secondary supply because they didn't know why water levels were dropping in the first place

[Skydiver]

I don't think the ship is as sentient and 'thoughtful' as rush thinks it is.

it's a coincidence that they found the replenishment for hte filters, and it's a coincidence that they found the ice

In rush's mind, anything and everything the ship does is 'perfect'.