Electricity free spaceship

Assume there's a spaceship in earth orbit that its crew of 24 want to get to Mars, the crew are all humans and possess all of modern day knowledge and equipment, is it possible for said ship to make the (one way journey) without any electricity while the crew get there alive?

Think something like space Amish: no purposeful using of electricity regardless of how it's generated; if static (or any other type) electricity is created it's fine so long as it's not being actively used to operate the spaceship or anything in it... so no batteries but combustion & chemical reactions are fine. (Yes I am aware that Amish use some electricity; it's an analogy, not literal Amish.)

Necessary assumptions list:

• The ship has been designed from the ground up without any electricity
• How it got to earth orbit doesn't matter, it's already there
• No magic
• Modern day tech
• No electricity can be used, this journey is sponsored by a super-rich man in order to win a bet (the rich do some crazy shit)
• Price and efficiency are not an issue, it just needs to get there with the crew still alive
• It doesn't need to land, Mars orbit is enough

I tried thinking of it by each component of the spaceship and this is what I got so far:

• Rocket engine "“ shouldn't be much of an issue as it can be controlled with mechanical valves to control fuel flow with a chemical/mechanical ignition
• Direction control "“ small puffs of compressed air to point the ship to the right direction should still be possible
• Lighting "“ ideas?
• Air life support "“ biological plants or algae air recycling? one of the biggest things I'm not sure of how well it will work
• Waste disposal "“ mechanically powered vacuum pumps airlock and throw it all away
• Food "“ it might be a months long journey but it's still short enough to allow non-perishables canned good and other dry kept food to be the only source of food needed so no cooling needed
• Water "“ Some recycling and\or purifying should be possible with muscle power alone, will likely still need to carry more water from the start to compensate but seeing how price is not an issue the extra fuel costs are acceptable

posted almost 5 years ago

cypher‭

1 reputation 10 0 0 0