Which lights do you take with you to planet Altair IV?

[scott.cr]

Imagine this: It's the year 2200 and you are a crewmember of a space ship that's about to leave for the Altair star system 16 light-years from earth. The mission is to rescue a group of stranded colonists from that star's fourth planet ("Altair IV"), and the voyage to and from Earth will take one year each way.

Altair IV is an uninhabited planet that has gravity and atmosphere similar to Earth. The terrain is expected to be Mars-like; extremely rocky, craggy, with very high mountains and very deep canyons. Once the ship touches down, crewmen will work and live around the ship similar to RVing in a campground. It is expected that there will be nighttime security patrols, close-quarters work onboard the ship, and there is a possibility of unknown hostiles on the planet surface. The ship carries a "moon buggy" type rover, but of course, it has no headlights.

Oddly, flashlight technology has come to a standstill so what's available to you is the same exact equipment available to a common early 21st-century "Flashaholic." Since you have to pay for your own equipment, you have budgeted 500 21st-century U.S. dollars for lights.

WHAT DO YOU BRING?

(BTW, read more about Altair IV, the Forbidden Planet.)

 

[65535]

I tell PK that if he gives us a Beast for our trip and a couple of U2's it would be great publicity, and that is my light supply.

 

[scott.cr]

Looks like you and I are the only interstellar travelers here. Too bad, I was hoping to jump to November 17, 1955 in a DeLorean DMC-12 in the next thought experiment.

 

[Walt175]

To save weight, don't take any with you. Just have Robbie whip up a bunch of McGizmo's when you get there.

 

[Burgess]

I'd wanna' have something with an S-O-S mode.


When those Altairian Zombie Predators start stalking me
during my nightly patrols,
i could easily summon assistance. :help:


And then, i could thumb my nose at all those who claimed,

-- for the Past Hundred Years --

that nobody is EVER gonna' need that gosh-darn S-O-S mode.



PS: could also demonstrate to the EvilAliens,
the old "vent with flame" trick.


:sick2:
_

 

[MarNav1]

The same ones I'd take to the Temples of Syrinx!

 

[Nyctophiliac]

Does Robby have a momentary mode?

Imagine what torchy delights await in the Krell laboratory.

I think I'd take a lumaray - it would fit right in.




'Where have you been, Robby? I've beamed and beamed!'





Be lucky...

 

[lctorana]

A chrome 2D fisheye with zinc-carbon batteries and MES bulb.

 

[monkeyboy]

Does the moon buggy have a cigarette lighter socket for charging?

 

[turkdc]

Seriously guys. It's threads like these that make us seem geekier than we already are due to our obsessions with light emitting tools. We need more threads like, which light would you take to Hollister if you were going clothes shopping. THAT would make us seem cool.

 

[Burgess]

. . . . and if i ran into someone else who had the same flashlight as ME ?


OMG


I could just DIE ! ! !



_

 

[lctorana]

Seriously guys. It's threads like these that make us seem geekier than we already are...

So...

...which light should one take to the next Star Trek convention?

 

[Daekar]

Assuming that a fusion reactor or solar panel array and associated battery banks will provide all needed electricity, I'd take only NiMH powered lights because of the long-term durability of their batteries.

Headlamp = Seoul-modded PT Apex w/Pelican 4D hip-pack
EDC = L1D-CE
Heavy Patrol Light = 6D ROP-Hi
Buggy-light = 12V socket powered HID spotlight

 

[Dances with Flashlight]

OK. Seriously. Walt175 is right on. Interstellar travel requires so much energy that every single ounce that must be transported is precious beyond measure. So unless Robbie could replicate some new McGizmo's (who could argue with that choice? by comparison, we left junk on the Moon), I think I'd attach a little Arc AAA-P to the spaceship keyring. No SOS mode, but weight savings would allow me to take along a pretty good knife or a some cyanide capsules.

 

[Gaffle]

I just gotta throw something in here.

In the year 2200, about 193 years from now, we should have lights implanted in our frickin arms or something. Some silly little L0D that uses a grain of sugar (as the emitter) to spit out serious amounts of light. This gadget will also have runtimes that last YEARS. Screw that hour crap in 2200.

I don't know if I am the first, but slap some kind of bio light in my arm. Its all good.

 

[Burgess]

Oh, so THAT'S why the MoonBuggy has no headlights !


They're gonna' be "built-in" to OUR heads by year 2200.

:candle:


Hope by then, they've cured that nasty little "vent with flame" problem.

:devil:
_