Rakaydos

You dont need genetic engineering to change a species beyond reconition. Evolution gave us hands, but inteligent design gave us pockets. Homo sapiens started as a savana pack hunter that literally chased prey to death, zombie apocalipse style. Our brain developed with the need to track prey we couldnt see, so we could run them down under the hot african sun while avoiding alpha predators. Now we spend most of our lives sitting at desks excercising something that was, at best, a secondary adaptation. No wonder the US has a weight problem.

Which could lead to an interesting gender dimorphisim, where only the (fe)males are telepathic speakers.

A creature that can read the electric fields of it's prey's nervus system, knowing which way it will jump before it does so. this same electric telepathy also applies to packmates near enough to "synch" with, allowing them to coordinate even in total darkness. The only implausable bit is a dedicated "transmitter" for signalling other electrically-sensitive creatures

Since Microwave Beamed power is considered something of a miracle solution to orbital lift, would it also work for a brachistone transfer? Of course you wouldnt be using a thermal rocket- too inefficent. But the microwave rectennas could just as easilly power the same sort of applications a reactor might, without the onboard mass or political issues.

For "last mile delivery" I know Amazon is looking into Quadcopter Drones to deliver right to your door. (or even you personally)

Historically hydrogen cars have been propped up as an alternative to electric cars, given just enough funding to say "we're working on it" and forgotten. Electric cars are only a thing because Tesla. Which is more than hydrogen cars are.

Might be easier than you'd think. http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_locations.html As for waiting for an hour for a charge... you were going to have supper, were you not? 300 mile range at freeway speeds is a bit under 5 hours of travel... so drive, have a big breckfast while the car charges, drive more, have lunch and sight see, drive more, have supper... you'll be there in 2 days.

An orbital tug needs to be an order of magnatude more efficent than a normal drive system to make up for all the extra burns it needs. Thats why I feel an electrodynamic tether based tug is the best bet. It "cheats" by using earth's magnetic field to push off of, instead of conventional propellant. Not useful for deep space exploration, but amazing for low earth operations.

By changing the password that goes with it. And access card. Something you are (biometrics), something you have (card) and something you know (password). Need at least two to access.

Biometrics shoud never be the whole answer. However, they should be PART of the answer.

but it means stripping out most of the Oxygen tank's insulation, as there is less of a thermal differential between the oxygen and methane, then there is between oxygen and air temperature.

At that point, perhaps you could just make the entire oxygen tank out of a thermocouple- you cool the O2 by heating the methane surrounding it, keeping both liquid.

Hmm... Eliptical orbit shown in a double-period rotating frame of reference. That is, imagine a satelite over the equator that orbits once every 12 hours... as seen from a point above the north pole that rotates with the planet. The satelite reaches Apoapse over point A at time 0. 6 hours later, it has reached periapse 180 degrees away... but the planet has rotated 90 degrees under it, effectively putting the satelite in point c. 6 hours later, the satelite is back at apoapse, but the planet is 180 degrees out of alignment. This means from the PLANET's view, the satelite is at Point B. it'll take another orbit for the planet to rotate back under it to put Apoapse at Point A. ...it is true, from a certian point of view.

Mechanical wiper would run into the problem of sandpapering the solar panels into uselessness with the martian grit. I'd like to see a mars rover/satelite combo that runs the rover on microwave beamed power. Rectennas dont care if they're covered with a thin layer of dust, and the powersat can be repurposed to power (or help power) a followup mission.

Especially if Ceres is right on the frost line, so while the ice is subimating, it's doing so at a, uh.... glacial pace.

The effect is inconsiquential, though, compared to the main pruplusion. If they could get rid of it entirely without losing efficency, they would, because it cuts into the drive's operating life.

My point is that powdered silver would have a higher albedo than powdered sugar- silver has a higher albedo than white.

Military craft dont care about economy, only effectiveness. The us army is one of the least efficent, but most effective, bureaucracy in the world.

At which point, the question is how much armor do you have, and how much G force and radiation your crew can take. EDIT: and wether the solution is worse than the problem.

Given an equal sized rocket, no. That's true for the nuke as well.

Orion doesnt just use nukes, it uses "shaped charge" nukes that deliver 50% of the explosive power of an atomic bomb in a relatively narrow beam. This beam is an extremely dense particle beam that bounces off the plate to push the craft foreward. The problem with doing this with conventional explosives is that it suks. You''re losing 50% of your potential thrust, that would be better spent in a rocket. The reason it works for nukes is because it's the -only- way to use high-supercritical fission (as opposed to controlled supercriticality, like NERVA) without blowing yourself apart- all the efficency is in the fuel, not the drive.

I'm pretty sure an albedo of .9 would be silver, not white.

The long range missions plan, last I heard, was: 1) LEO Cubesat (in progress) to prove we can. 2) LEO propulsion test- Electrotether, ion (or Canne if it seems like it's panning out by then) sat that is trying to generate a lunar flyby from LEO, such that the sat leaves earth SoI and returns 1 year later. 3) Aerocapture testing- repeat the LEO prupulsion test with a heat shield, attempting to aerocapture into orbit after the year in space. 4) Mars intercept and aerocapture- launched from GTO into a lunar slingshot, 1 year in space, an earth slingshot to mars, and martian aerocapture. If possible, radar map phobos. 5) Phobo landing attempt- No fancy science gear just follow the last mission profile, get into the mars/phobos L1 point, and "fall" a few KM to phobos's surface with ion retrothrust.

Sounds like an anti-satelite weapon. Laser would do the trick. Doesnt have to be forign either, if the air force decided the satelite was expendable.

TWR is still an issue. I did the numbers when we were consideering an ion mission- a 4.5 KG sat with one of the marketed cubesat ion drives would barely even hover. Phobos is tiny, but electric propulsion is equall weak.