Meecrob

We would have to define parameters to determine which combustion cycle is more effective...except for fuel to noise conversion: turbines win every time! @lajoswinklerre: deflagration - Thanks, I just keep walking right into these stupid mistakes, don't I?

Fair enough, that would actually be a challenge! Maybe in the future we could have multiple challenges that cater to the different styles of players. A build challenge, a launch challenge, maybe a "how far can you go with these parts" challenge or a "do this with the least dV"? I dunno, I'm sure other people have suggestions as well. I just feel that dragons as a theme kinda clash with modern science fiction. Same as I wouldn't ask people to make rockets in say Skyrim or something.

Vulcan should do well, ULA is pretty good at not producing explosions.

With regards to piston engines at least, "detonation" is how you say "the fuel-air mixture in my combustion chamber is exploding, not burning rapidly." With regards to this failure, its why it didn't look like say the Falcon 9 failure, compare this fireball to some of the SN8-15 flop test explosions...you can see the the fireball moves faster in the latter examples. Conflagration is the technical term for subsonic releases of energy by combustion..I do like the one Scott Manley video on Saturn V engine start where he called the initial burning of the gases before full propellant pressure as "casual combustion"

When it works, you will be laughing. Don't let them get you down. Its cool to hate Elon right now. He could cure cancer and people would still have a bone to pick. Not that he is amazing...In fact, Lets hear it for the CEO, Gwynne Shotwell!

I want to believe. Its tough though. A "we get we disappointed you, but please be patient, we are trying our best" would maybe help, or are apologies lame for the kids these days?

And this stockholm syndrome expectation of us kinda stuff is exactly why I'm looking up mods for the first game. I dunno how you can be handed an IP with such a die-hard fan base and manage to lodge splinters up our butts. I would rather have nothing than whatever this joke of a game is. This is like if I dated someone 10 years ago and met them recently, only they are now on meth and constantly tell me how they are so amazing while they have already wet their pants in public right in front of me. You guys don't get it. You have to face the public when you screw the pooch. you cannot hide when you ask for money...like our hard earned money that you guys are keen to take, but not keen to deliver on.

Haha, don't give T2 the idea they can make more money off merch than the game. But they already have pivoted.

misread - please delete.

Honestly, this AMA gave me vibes that they think I am too stupid to get that things aren't awesome...like its a "me" problem?

Exactly. This game sucks right now. To whoever did that AMA, you seriously showed your ability to stick your head in the sand, but not make a game. I mean "whoever" because Shana didn't just stream-of-thought those answers, I'm guessing

I'm just saying its lame. I thought challenges would be something applicable to y'know? Space?

I'm being a bit facetious here, but with regards to the pad destruction, and the aspirational requirements of taking off from Mars, they probably racked up a large percentage of "Edison" data points. (the whole "I know 10,000 ways to NOT make a lightbulb" thing) Seriously though, I have to imagine they knew the pad was going to be destroyed and wanted to see the extent of the damage. Many are comparing to NASA and how they prefer to execute first time, every time, but SpaceX already has a pad with a deluge system being built in Florida, its not like they are going "what happened? It should have been robust enough?" Sure, its probably a lot worse than they calculated, but we are talking about the first prototype pad. Sorry, you are correct, overpressures can cause explosions, I was sloppy, wording wise, to imply this was not an overpressure/BLEVE event. Thanks for the correction

Maybe I'm on the wrong forum or playing the wrong game, but could we have challenges that involve space? Like the second word of this game's title?

It was so un-spectacular, that I had my buddy wound up for a second or two when I showed him the replay. I was a jerk and told him Starship was a cover for a cloaking device program. The "tumbling out of control" was just the entry maneuver. The stream's commentary killed that joke, but its almost like the vehicle just slipped beneath the waves...if the sky was water.

An explosion is an exothermic reaction that propagates at greater than the speed of sound. Lol, I'm not sure we watched the same video. I saw two fireballs that were tamer than when I start my barbecue and have a bit too much propane under the lid. Pressurization has nothing to do with it because ( I forget who all posted it upthread) the FTS depressurizes the tanks by unzipping them along a pre-determined weak point. Edit: Has anyone on the inside actually given a proper description of the separation sequence in degrees? Or are we all just guessing?

I'm not extremely knowledgeable of what a technical director does, but wiki says: "In software development, a technical director is typically responsible for the successful creation and delivery of the company's product to the marketplace by managing technical risks and opportunities; making key software design and implementation decisions with the development teams, scheduling of tasks including tracking dependencies, managing change requests, and guaranteeing quality of deliveries and educating the team on technical best practices. Typical responsibilities: Defines the technological strategy in conjunction with the development team of each project: pipeline, tools, and key development procedures Assesses technical risk and mitigation plan Establishes standards and procedures to track and measure project's progression Evaluates development teams, identifying strengths, problem areas, and developing plans for improving performance Evaluates interview candidates for technical positions Scouts for and evaluates new technology and tools as opportunities for innovation and development excellence Oversees technical design documentation process for correctness and timeliness Provides input to the other disciplines on the practicality of initial design goals and impact to the overall project timeline Evaluates software implementation on design and task thoroughness Helps to identify high risk areas for the project director Identifies weak software systems that need code improvement and schedules corrective action, when possible Creates automated test process for system features, where possible, and contributes to the build system Aids in all stages of post-production including during finalizing" If that is accurate, it sounds like the technical director was fired for not delivering (however it is puzzling he was not replaced), or jumped ship (perhaps due to conflicts with the publisher, or some other reason they were prevented from doing their job), and was just being professionally courteous with their public statements. You don't get interviews in the future by telling the press negative things about your employers from the past. Either way, it sounds to me like a game in the state of KSP2 desperately needs a competent technical director.

Does this mean you actually think the launch will go well? If you thought it would blow up, you'd have"been concerned" afterwards

Hold on a sec...I didn't know @kerbiloidhad two accounts! I'm just messing...no harm intended.

Thank you; what you just stated is exactly what I'm getting at. It seems to me that the stars are like a natural analogue GPS that we don't have to launch satellites to utilize.

I mean how do you navigate between GPS constellations? With regards to Starship, my first thought was "Wow, Elon really wants to launch on 4/20." I really hope not, because I don't think I can handle the onslaught of "Yo, dudes! I was so high while I watched that rocket go so high" comments.

Thanks! But I mean its flight endurance...I know its got long legs and will be filming the test attempt, but taking off early to observe the starship flight is confusing me....Unless they launch to texas, then refuel, then launch for the photo flight. But I'm just guessing.

...showing off its got a bigger gas tank than my car if its launching this early. Edit: seriously, is it landing there or orbiting the launch site?

Root extensions are there to lower the stall speed/increase the operational range of degrees of angle of attack...kinda the same thing but from two different directions. Vortex generators are there to basically un-turbulate airflow in regular flight (low AoA). They are not there to help you if you decide to do aerobatics. Root extensions are specifically for high angle of attack flight. Obviously they are like one big vortex generator, but the design regime is totally different, hence the different aerodynamic shapes. Edit: These are vortex generators: This is a root extension: They are two totally different things...

Also, GPS is a signal that can be lost or jammed. IGU is self contained. I think I am missing something here...but it seems to me (obviously I'm NOT a rocket scientist) that GPS is a dead end for space. What do you do between the GPS of Earth and the GPS of the Moon or Mars or any other destination in the solar system that we hypothetically set up a GPS around? Have a "Milky-Way Positioning System" out by the Oort cloud?