Knife For the First Manned Mars Mission (inspired thread)

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Ten_Mile_Knives

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Feb 9, 2018
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Hey all, I was reading a thread called "What is the toughest Stainless Steel today..." and @darkaether said "Who cares? We aren't designing a knife for the first manned flight to Mars." and it got me thinking. With all of this talk of the first manned mission to Mars floating around, what currently existing knife do you think would be most suited to aid astronauts in the harsh Martian landscape (if any).

This is Mars we're talking about so I don't think money is any object here!

Should it be a folder, or a fixed blade?

What steels?

Blade geometry?

I think something close to the Government Mule Blunt Nose by Emerson would be ideal:
EOD-Steel-600x287.jpg


I would also love to hear suggestions for a new knife designed from scratch to be used as well.

I personally envision something similar to a dive knife, I don't think it needs to be stainless because there's no oxygen or water there but it should have a blunt tip so as not to puncture suits/craft. It should have some kind of actually functional cordage/ strap cutter. And I don't think it should be a folder because of all of the fine dust and sand. A white G-10 handle to resist extreme climate and radiation, and if we're getting really fancy a mirrored TiN coating on the blade to prevent heating from solar radiation as much. Finally I think steel wise, maybe CPM-3V or Spectrumwear?
 
What more could an astronaut need when they'll probably only use it to open tubes of food paste ?


I actually went to Mars a few weeks ago, it was just a 3d ride at an amusement park but it sure seemed real. The only knife in my pocket was a Vic classic forgotten in my wallet, and I was just fine.
We had no need for knives, we were too busy flying our pods away from giant alien beasts and swatting away these little alien bugs that were chasing us.

In all seriousness though I believe something like a Victorinox classic might be as much knife as an astronaut could need.
Combine this with an Ontario strap cutter and I'm not sure what else theydt really need.
 
craytab said:
How about one that can protect from radiation?
Click to expand...

I don't know that something the size of a knife would provide much protect, but if you want to block gamma radiation you need something really dense like lead, ect. and to block certain particles you could use boron in various forms. Maybe say a Boron-Carbide coating over a tungsten laminated blade.
 
I think a Super Tinker would be my logical choice.

My nonlogical choice would be some sort of Khuk, because when in doubt.. Pack a Khukuri!
 
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A SAK is already standard gear on both Space shuttle and space station. A few astronauts have already fixed a few things with one.
 
I dunno about a large blade but a Sak sounds good.
Plainly, there's not a tree in sight!
Lots of red dirt though.
So weight issues and all...
But, let's just sneak one aboard .
as we'll never know what's out there.
 
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