Rakaydos

Earth is in the middle of the sun's Goldilocks zone. But the goldilox zone doesnt mean everything. Venus is the same size and is in the same zone, but has boiling acid clouds instead of water, and is much hotter. Mars is in the zone as well, but is too small- the air is all thin like the top of mount everest, where the snow never melts even in the summer, even near the equator. We think Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter may be in Jupiter's Goldilox zone, too! Just barely, though... the surface is all ice. But there might be water under the ice.

Tell him someone on the internet wants him to check his math- turnover happens halfway, and you're only at half speed, so it should take at LEAST 4 times as long for a zero-zero intercept as a direct flight.

Given that light (and thus lasers) is perfectly elastic, it seems reasonable enough for this topic.

...because I couldnt figure out how to re-dock my own, payload carrying design, I challanged Andrew to do it for me. Unfortunately, he doesnt leave anything in orbit, but the basic concept is comparable.

Oh well. Too bad about the Buzzard Ramjet... that would have been the perfect interstellar drive. (fusion torch that doesnt bring it's own fuel)

I usually see the phrase "datum" instead of Sea level used for other bodies. Not sure how they deturmine "datum" altitude, though.

And if we have warp drive technoligy, we could get there in minutes. Your point?

the real problem is that firing the laser produces more heat than being hit by the same laser. Therefore it's only practical to have laser weapons mounted on things with more heat tolerance than their intended targets. IE: An asteroid base that can dump it's heat into the nickle-iron, shooting at a missile which has a heat producing reaction engine and tanks of explosive fuel.

Orbit a Quantum thruster (1n per kilowatt, does not carry it's own propellant and so has infinite ISP) and a fission plant with a thousand year half life. Hook them together and point them at alpha centauri.

How many bananas per day is a laptop's radiation?

The hyperedit may disqualify it, but you should post it over at the "Reusable Space program" challange. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/69358-An-Affordable-Space-Program-making-the-reusable-spacecraft-pay-off

They FINALLY revised their explanetory PDF packet. http://www.jpaerospace.com/atohandout.pdf Now I'm curious what "Projected energy active Drag Reduction" means.

You need to multiply by 4. Not only do you need to slow down, but you need to start slowing down when you're only at half speed (halfway there)

"be bigger" is not something mars easilly duplicates.

Water hazards within a biome generate separate science from the land portions of the biome. IE, if you head westsouthwest of KSC, there is a lake on the west coast where you can get Desert Science, that stacks with "normal" desert science. By the same token, you can get a full science load from a water splashdown, then another full science load from the island airstrip.

Tokomak reactor components, for assembily in orbit? Those things are HUGE.

Not to mention, it would be easier to simply put a lander capsule directly on an ICBM without bothering wih the spaceplane or orbit-loitering capability.

Hmm... instead of using Nitrogen, crack the sulfiric acid into oxygen and hydrogen, fuse the hydrogen into helium for power, and use helium and oxygen as breathing gasses.

From this statement, I make the assumption that you've never worked with a goverment agency.

If the lifting gas is a tad on the heavy side, perhaps replacing the nitrogen with helium, like in scuba tanks? Everyone would talk funny, but it would increase the lifting capability of the bubble. Helium is rare right now, but once fusion reactors start being more common, helium becomes a manufactured good.

Not if Jovian Tides keep stirring the mess enough to prevent it. likewise, Lunar tides and the earth's Roche limit may interfere with a "space junk sargasso"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_%28disambiguation%29

To get into orbit without reaction mass, you need a space elevator. To accelerate in space without bringing your own reaction mass, you need a Bussard Ram fusion torch drive, or a quantum thruster.

It's an intrigueing idea. My headcanon varient puts a number of small asteroids into an atmo-synchronus orbit and mines them, while using the cloud city as a base of operations for a long-term terraforming effort. If you can manage an atmo-synchronus orbit space elevator (.9g is easier, but the longer day is painful) it would be relatively easy to ship venus's atmosphere to orbit, to be sent to other worlds. Co2 and Nitrogen for mars, for instance.

Make another topic. This is not about colonising, which the floating cities do nicely. it is about terrraforming, which is far more difficult.