Mimas ("Mimas: Impact") is a small moon of Saturn and rated "Intermediate" in the game. It shares the vacuum with the Moon but has two difficulties of its own: a very weak sun and no water ice. The values come from the planet data sheet.
At a glance
| Value | Mimas |
|---|---|
| Gravity | 0.97 m/s² (9.9 % of Earth) |
| Day length | 1,200 s, day share 48 to 52 % |
| Year | 11,415 solar days |
| Air | vacuum |
| Temperature | no outside temperature (no air) |
| Sun | 13 to 17 W/m², only about 30° high at noon at the start location |
| Weather | none |
| Start locations | Central Mesa, Harriet Crater, Crater Field, Dust Bowl |
The weakest sun in the game
At 13 to 17 W/m², only about one per cent of the sunlight the Moon receives reaches Mimas. The start location lies far to the south (58.4° south), and at noon the sun stands only about 30° above the horizon. Flat panels deliver practically nothing. On top of that, Saturn covers the sun for a good 2.5 minutes every day according to the data sheet (calculated).
A Solar Panel hardly pays off here. There is no wind in a vacuum. So power comes from generators, such as the Generator (Solid Fuel) with solid fuel – Mimas has coal – or the Gas Fuel Generator. More in Generators compared: solid fuel, gas, Stirling, wind, RTG.
No water ice
Mimas's ore profile contains no water ice. There is oxite, volatiles and nitrice, though, as well as all metal ores and uranium at depth.
So you have to make or buy water. One route is combustion: according to the combustion table hydrogen and oxygen react at a ratio of 2 : 1 into steam; 2 mol of hydrogen and 1 mol of oxygen become 3 mol of steam. One piece of volatiles yields 20 mol of methane and 2 mol of hydrogen when it melts. You separate the hydrogen from the methane in the Filtration, with a volatiles filter taking out the methane.
A worked example for one litre of water (about 55.6 mol):
- Hydrogen: 55.6 × 2 ÷ 3 ≈ 37 mol, the hydrogen from a good 18 pieces of volatiles.
- Oxygen: 55.6 ÷ 3 ≈ 18.5 mol, less than one piece of oxite.
So hydrogen is the bottleneck. Trading is easier: the liquid trader sells water for 12 per litre, the gas trader for 18. More in Trading: satellite dish, trader classes, landing pad.
Vacuum and walls
As on the Moon there is nothing outside. Every room is filled entirely from ice, and the full inside pressure bears on the walls. The iron wall holds 200 kPa and is enough for normal rooms. You dump waste heat through a Medium Radiator, which is designed for vacuum.
Low gravity
At 0.97 m/s² Mimas has the lowest gravity of all worlds. That is good for rockets: a pressure fed gas engine lifts almost four times as much mass here as on Mars (see Rockets: structure, fuel, launch).
Weather
Mimas has no weather – no storms, no solar storms. Whatever you build is left alone.
First steps
- An airtight shelter, breathing air from oxite and nitrice.
- Power from a generator instead of the sun.
- Buy water, or burn it from hydrogen and oxygen.
- Set up a trader contact early.
Next steps
- All values: Planet data sheet
- Comparison: Moon: vacuum, full sun and solar storms, Europa: cold and oxygen
- Power without sun: Generators compared: solid fuel, gas, Stirling, wind, RTG
- Combustion and gases: Atmosphere and pressure