jfull

I think the only situation we'd ever build a ground-launched nuclear-pulse craft would be if we needed to get a WHOLE LOT of people off planet very quickly (preservation of mankind in a doomsday scenario) But the amount of payload you could launch would be mind-blowing. Plus I've seen a concept where the whole craft takes off from Earth, transfers to Mars, and lands (using its piston plate as a heat shield and giant landing foot no less) without staging. It would be the ultimate way to shoot a colony to mars, as the whole craft could be dissembled for building structures.

I really wouldn't like to see this kind of engine used on a crewed vehicle. The vision I had for it was a Skylon (or perhaps more like HOTOL, with the engine at the back) type unmanned craft, but with increased cargo capacity and lower propellant requirement. Basically just an effective way to get hardware into orbit, not people

You could significantly reduce radiation concerns by launching from the middle of the desert, and of course making the craft an unmanned cargo ssto

This is kinda the stuff I'd rather not have brought up What I want to know is if the technology could work, since we have built prototypes of NTRs and Nuclear ramjets years ago

Someone may have brought this up before, but how easy/difficult would it be to create an engine that could function as both a Project Pluto style nuclear ramjet and an NTR? I've been thinkng about it, and I can't see anything preventing such a design from being built, but I'm not an expert on either technology. The only issues I could see would be that the nuclear jet mode probably wouldn't be able to reach the same speeds or altitude as the jet engine mode of a Sabre-type engine. But as long as it could get the craft above a fair bit of atmosphere, the NTR mode should be able to get it the rest of the way to orbit. (IRL NTRs not being as low thrust or as impractical in atmosphere as those in KSP). One thing I want to make clear: the idea of putting live nuclear reactors in the air or into orbit is controversial and I understand all the reasons why. I'd be concerned about the safety of a craft using engines like these myself, despite the benefits. But lets try to avoid any heated discussion over the ethics of nuclear propulsion.

I agree a Nuclear Thermal Turbojet/Ramjet would be wonderful If you wanted to do something truly amazing though... you could make a hybrid Nuclear Thermal Jet and Rocket basically an engine that can use its reactor to superheat either air or liquidfuel

There could still be a significant amount of dry ice crystals carried by the wind though. Mars has tons and tons of dust that remains suspended in the air for a long time

I think liquid nitrogen requires significant pressure as well as low temperature to remain liquid. Otherwise it will just boil off as nitrogen gas. at very low temperatures an normal pressures it will become solid nitrogen ice.

there's no problem with using sandbox to get there

One thing you could do to be fun without being too unrealistic, is have a small moon with an exceptionally thin but oxygenated atmosphere. just enough that you can use jet engines if you fly very low and very fast. And nothing like laythe's generous atmosphere. It could be an icy moon of of one of the two outermost giants.

I'll get this as soon as moons are added, definitely. Don't feel that you need to make a lot of moons or super unique moons though. Too many planet mods seem to have planets and moons that are way too outlandish for some people.

Minmus is so fun for bases Its where I learned how to do precision landings

They may have been using so many traditional rockets to assemble the Endurance that it wouldn't have mattered if they launched one more with the crew. The production of fusion-based engines might have been very limited.

Its going to be interesting if, potentially, there will be 3 or more manned stations being operated simultaneously within the next 20 years. It may not seem like a lot of progress has been made in space exploration, but we are on our way to having more humans working in space at one time than we've ever had before.

If our survival depended on it, yes, yes we could.

I don't see much of a use for another International Space Station. China will have its own space station comparable to Mir in the next decade, and we will hopefully have the the first commercial space station in that timeframe as well. Those stations will meet the demand for LEO-based facilities. Unless, of course, the ISS2 you're referring to would be built somewhere other than LEO.

This just in: government agents have placed Velocity on the international no-fly list

Still the weirdest Kerbal name I've ever had

If Kerbal Engineers can fix things and Kerbal Pilots provide SAS, what functionality do Kerbal Scientists provide? Are they the only ones who can collect science from experiment modules? Or will crew reports and EVA reports return more science points if they're performed by a scientist?

Its a cruel, cruel bureaucracy that we have now... Orion was the common component for many many different mission proposals. Orion got prioritized because it seemed like it was needed, but by the time it was ready, most of the missions we wanted it for have been put on hold.

I'm still not a huge fan of this system... It just seems to present far too many extreme planets and moons

You know, it occurs to me that the Endurance's landing craft might not actually need a lot of thermal protection. All modern craft need it because they make as small of a de-orbit burn as possible, and almost all of their braking is done via atmospheric friction. With their insanely high ISP and thrust fusion thrusters though, the landing craft could make a much more substantial de-orbit burn and reduce their re-entry speed considerably.

I may not use the fuselage system once the revamped MK3 system comes out, but I think I'll be using the engine pods and intakes

that would be amazing, but I'm not sure if it will happen. China may want to focus on lunar exploration for a while even after they land their first man on the moon. If I'm not mistaken, the moon has some importance in Chinese culture, and a lot of their manned space program's purpose seems to be to inspire some degree of patriotic pride in their people.

How exactly does the higher thrust RAPIER compare with the stock one? As in, how is it balanced?