shynung

The latest version of Deadly Reentry has an inflatable ballute heatshield, if I remember correctly.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane has a cruise speed of mach 3.2, yet it only needs 2 turbojet/ramjet hybrid engines (P&W J58), rather than rockets. If further research on scramjets yields something airworthy, we could get mach 5+ airbreathing engines that is more efficient than even the SSME. Also, you might want to look at Aquarius rockets.

I think 'Lucifer' is more appropriate, now that we know what it's like down there...

A Space Launch System Launch System? Better stock up on those SLS boosters. Also noteworthy in difficulty was designing a return vehicle that can withstand Venus' atmospheric temperature and pressure. No currently-available material is able to withstand this level of abuse while also doing useful work. I'm beginning to wonder why we named such a planet after a goddess of love and beauty.

Why provide something to counter the acceleration produced by the aforementioned system? Measuring its direct acceleration would yield the same results with much less hassle. The boon on this magnetic-field-pusher device is that it is propellantless; it requires nothing aside from electricity (and being placed in a magnetic field) to produce thrust. Ion thrusters still need propellant to function, typically xenon gas, which have to be replenished every so often. The only hurdles on using this technology are development costs and power requirements (which dictates effective system TWR, taking into account power generators and other subsystems). Otherwise, the concept is sound.

Like this?

People typically buy a new phone every 18 months or so. The old phone doesn't have to be damaged or unusable, merely outdated is enough. There are exceptions, however, on both sides; some people change their phones every few months, some don't do it for years.

Gas turbines are quite loud. I'm thinking something on the range of a mini-turboprop engine minus the propeller. Noise suppression would be a challenge, at least. On the plus side, most of the components are rotating, rather than reciprocating. Possibly less engine vibration, if balanced correctly.

What phone? Please elaborate.

Phones or anything else that needs no input energy are just as plausible as perpetual motion machines; which are impossible. Even RTGs can run out of fuel; it just happens decades later, depending on the chosen fuel. We can, however, design one that has enough battery reserve to last its entire service life (typically 1-2 years). Alternatively, they can be made to constantly charge itself, similar to how wristwatches wind their spring using energy from hand movements. Problem is, neither of these technologies have enough power density to be stuffed into a smartphone frame.

Seems like a Kerbal way to lose an entire station. Other than playing darts in an inflatable module, I think.

Understood. Go for new content; we'll pick 'n place what we need then. Waiting patiently for KSO 25, in the mean time.

Sure, I'll separate it myself if needed. Having options from the start, though, would be really nice.

I'm going straight up in that shot. Notice the navball readouts. Also, smoke from the NASA SRBs should at least go the same direction with the XS-25 if I actually am flying to the side rather than upwards.

I think I found a bug. Why is the smoke not aligned with the flame?

helldiver, I'd suggest releasing the EWBCL in a separate pack, like Nertea did with NFP. It would be helpful to people wishing to use it without needing the bulk of KSO parts.

Nope. The license forbids redistribution by anyone else other than TouhouTorpedo himself. I'd consider this mod dead, now that TT has that signature...

Early Russian rocket scientists thought that the whole outer surface of the spacecraft has to be shielded from reentry heat. They used sphere-shaped crafts, because these has the most volume for the least surface area, minimizing heatshield coverage needs. Later on, conical/bell-shaped designs were found to consistently and automatically align itself relative to the airflow in a specific configuration, which is wide-end first. By using these designs, the heatshields now only have to cover a part of the ship.

I'm rather skeptical about this. Most of the technology the OP mentioned are still in the drawing boards. The closest thing in the list to reality is SpaceX's reusable booster, and that's still a WIP prototype.

Why did they not use the SRBs as a smaller crew launch vehicle, a la Ares I?

I don't think using the comet's mass as propellant is a good idea if one were to capture it into Earth orbit. The best LH2/LOX engines can manage about 450 seconds of ISP, while ion drives have ISP in the thousand seconds range. However, if the capturing spacecraft had nuclear reactors in the first place, using the liquid water (or H2/O2) as NTR propellant could yield a greater ISP than burning it outright. Though, I have to admit, no matter what engine we use to capture it, it would probably still take decades to successfully capture a comet to Earth orbit. The possible gains (tens, maybe hundreds tons of fuel not needing launch costs), though, are almost irresistible. By the way, I have read NASA's DRM 5.0 (DL'ed a copy of it weeks ago). On the ISRU section, they have 3 options to consider: Martian O2/Earth CH4 (which you mentioned), Martian O2/CH4 from Earth H2, or Martian O2/CH4 from Martian soil H2O. Plan #1 requires the most payload delivered to the surface, while #3 requires the most power generation capacity. Plan #2 is somewhere in the middle of the 3.

The Deep Impact spacecraft, along with Rosetta, has successfully rendezvoused with comets, each carrying a bunch of scientific sensors and sub-spacecrafts (an impactor and a lander, respectively). I believe replacing these payloads with ion thrusters along with RTG/solar panels and some propellant wouldn't be much of a challenge, but I may have missed some other considerations. Stock KSP does not provide ISRU capabilities to the player. Only modded copies does. However, I agree that we are more likely to launch fuel refineries rather than tanker spacecrafts in the near future. ...Which is Zubrin's Mars Direct plan, if I recall correctly. I personally find the plan intriguing. I never heard of the ISS having a Sabatier reactor installed within it before. Interesting fact, I must say.

The Moon Landings of the late 1960s-early 1970s were mostly politically-induced, which explains why there is only one mission specialist crew on the whole program (the geologist). Colonizing Moon using 1960s technology would be highly impractical. Besides, the Moon back then has practically no value at all. The discovery of the Moon's polar ice-water was quite recent compared to the whole Apollo missions.

KSC is proud to announce that the Prometheus lander, part of the ongoing Jool Direct mission, has been launched successfully. Here are the highlights:

If you're on Windows, the 'ding' is an error indicator, which means it failed the file copy from the compressed download file. I'm guessing a corrupted RAR/ZIP file. Try downloading again (and hurry, before Spaceport deorbits), and try copying again.