Hampture Update for 1/7/2019: More Megahab Construction Progress!

Finishing up the ballast pod mounting process. Next up is either mounting the heated floor pad inside, or cutting out the hole in the lid for the ceiling window. In the meantime, check out those articles on the Patreon page!

Hampture Update for 12/31/2018: Nuts, Bolts, and Robots!

New videos weekly, with new articles mid-week. Articles are accessible only by Patrons, but videos will remain visible to everybody.

Hampture Update, 12/23/208: MegaHab Construction Progress

Just got done drilling holes for bolting the ballast pods to the main habitat shell. Would you guys like occasional articles on the Patreon page about the history of manned undersea laboratories? I thought that might make for some entertaining supplementary content.

Hampture Update for 12/16/2018: New Cage, and Names Reveal

Hampture Update for December 10, 2018: I Bought New Hamsters!

RIP George and Scott.

I went on vacation recently, leaving a certain roommate in charge of feeding my hamsters. In retrospect I should not have entrusted him with this task. I arrived home to find them dead in their cages because he'd forgotten about them. Because of this, I've had him evicted.

I will be holding off on buying new hamsters for a while, to mourn the loss of George and Scott. They were very old at least, and lived full lives. Still, it's an infuriatingly senseless way for them to die.

Lake Test

While on vacation I took the opportunity to test out the life support gear with a real habitat, in a real lake. Depth was about 4 feet, power coming in from the solar panels averaged 39 watts, power draw from the air pump and heaters totaled 8 watts. 

Looks like I was overly conservative in prior estimates. In the Summer at least, this should prove to be more than necessary by a long shot. It's nice to have that safety margin when lives are on the line.

Not much to see underwater as I kicked up a lot of sand and debris walking around, emplacing the habitat. I didn't get many photos as the battery ran out soon after this and I forgot the charger for this specific type of camera battery. Fuck you, Olympus, let me charge your camera the same way I charge my phone!

This one's a bit more clear, the debris cloud has settled but it's off kilter. Still gives a good idea of what conditions are like in the lake and what sort of scenery a hamsternaut would see outside the habitat.