PB666

OK so I completely removed the mesh filter and renderer components, previously I was only shutting the renderer down. The green mesh is the same, we shall see . . . . . . Does the directory structure in Hierarchy window matter? I use: Game Object [Part Tools] _Game Object __[Mesh-Part] _Game Object __[Mesh-Collider] Because I could never assign the collider to the root object. Yep it worked, get rid of the filters and non-collider meshes, make sense. Thanks.

Tagging on this old thread with a new problem Collider meshes can anyone give step by step instructions from blender to Unity on how exactly to create a collider mesh without having to recreate a complex mesh from scratch. The problem with my colliders is that they are also importing the texture. The only answer I can see is exporting the triangle file, and reimporting it into blender, but what are the best setting for materials and texture on the collider in blender?

Most textures are 1024 x 1024 and you can simply create a png file in Paint with dimensions 1024 x 1024 Here are the config codes.... texture = [your paint job].png This is frequently placed in a bracket . . . . MODEL { model = [location of the model you intent to paint] texture = [your paint job].png scale = [DX], [DY], [DZ] } you can simply create a multicolor paint job and see where the colors show up.

Given my last construct there appears to be some truth to this one I see this design as problematic, because what you are doing is moving all the attachment points obviously distant point, even the flat thin colliders on my object had the radial decouplers well off the sides of the object. Why cant he use a combination of box and mesh colliders? For the floor and ceiling just over the hallway, box colliders running the length that overlap with the side colliders, the side colliders made out of a pentagon with 2 "right angle" corners and 3 >90' angle corners.

I was reading the other thread on the dancing kerbal and though I might give the box collider a try, this is what I came up with like you said 4 colliders appears to work. I'm going to put them to the test now.

The part won't work unless I can create a concave cavity on the 'private' face. Otherwise I will have to cut it into several pieces and if I do that I will create segmental flexibility (something I was trying to avoid, keep the part count and strut conn count down) This is one of 12 sides. This is a 1.25 meter access (top), its a starting level repair facility capable of handling multiple 1.25 FF craft. In my prototype I found that a central port was necessary to guide the ships into a turn basin, once at the same Y plane as the repair ports the ships stop, unselect the central port, select a side port and dock. The area next to the docking observation area will have standouts for lighting, etc. In the second image you see the planned crew transfer. This is for a 2.5 meter core facility, In a piece below the image the transfer path make a right turn surfacing under of Cupola module. The current 1 M core does not allow for transfers because 2* pi * .625 = 3.9M, 4/12 = .33 M and this is too small to allow for crew transfers given the structure needed for secure connection and post-launch stability.

I figured that was it and I remembering seeing the flip normals button, lol, we shall see how much stuff I need to flip. Thanks, I need now to figure out a way to merge multiple colliders in Unity, it looks as if the shell part will need at least 2 colliders if not more. Do you physically have to merge the colliders or can that overlap with one another?

You can never get too confident with Unity I have been moving pretty fluidly from Blender to Unity working cylinder mods, cylinder to sphere merges, etc. So this morning I was going to make a station connector. It essentially a fuel tank that has been repurposed to hang 12 structural panels that will enclose a factory (in this case the factory diameter is 8 meters but that is immaterial). I wanted the connector to have a wall thickness of 0.125M and so I took a 0.625M 48gon {X,Y,Z} = 0,0,0 de-faced the N-gon and plopped a 0.5M 48-gon {X,Y,Z} = 0,0,0. My thinking here is that as I upscaled the factory I could provide conduits in the factory wall for nauts to travel to the observation points or ports in the wall sides (this sounds strange but the walls begin vertical and curve into the RingConnector part, so the kerbals start out traveling XZ and end up traveling Y until they hit a port connector.) So this is real simple in blender, I de-faced the interior N-gon, {X,Y,Z} went to Object mode and joined the two objects. I then connected the interior and exterior and material, texture, UVunwrap and paint. A few minutes of work. There were no normalization issues, an no other obvious issues. I going to try a few other things in blender like inversion In blender everything looked great, In Unity only two forwardmost surfaces and the bottom face was visible, and as one change perspective on the ring, the back two surfaces would disappear. It would be nice in Blender that if Unity is going to have a problem that Blender would give a 'heads up'. I need to get this working because I eventually want to create passageways in my factory walls for nauts. If Unity can't figure out a simple washer shape it has no hope of figuring out a passage in 1/24th Ovoid section.

I've looked around here but haven't seen anything. Im sure it exists. I would like to create an object that reflects like a view port, it doesn't need to be back lit, its going to be an observation deck for a factory and so it needs basically to appear like one way glass. Im thinking this has to represent added texture layers on top of the UV mapped textures.

Of if you have MS Office Excel On any right triangle with central angle alpha, distal angle beta, c = length of the hypotenuse, the length of the other two sides a and b are: [a] =c * SIN(RADIANS(alpha)) =c * COS(RADIANS(alpha)) =c * SIN(RADIANS(beta)) [a] =c * COS(RADIANS(beta)) [a]/ =TAN(RADIANS(alpha)) /[a] =TAN(RADIANS(beta)) [alpha] = DEGREES(ASIN(a/c)) [beta] = DEGREES(ACOS(a/c)) [beta] = DEGREES(ASIN(a/c)) [alpha] = DEGREES(ACOS(a/c)) you can actually cut and paste these (everything from the equals sign right) as long as you Name your the range of your angles and c is the Range name for hypotenuse, and so on. BTW on blender I find myself doing alot of trig, so. . . . . . . . . . . An example, Blender produces polygonic cylinders which orient one edge on 0', and you want your collider mesh face to straddle 0' so the parts snap on a flat surface. If the collider mesh is 24-gon this means that each face spans 360'/24 = 15', The cross-section of a radially symmetrical polygon is actually one of the most basic trigonometrical problems, because each face represents the greco-semetic chord. And using the Pythagorean theorem if you know the cord lengths of 180 degrees (diameter) or 60 degrees (radius) you can calculate the length 90, 45, 22.5, 11.25, or the cords for 120, 30, 15, 7.5 degrees without knowing sin or cosine, all you need to know is that a circle is compose of points equidistant from the center and that c2 = b2 + a2 If Chord 60' = 1 therefore sin 30'=0.5 and the cosine 30 = 0.866025 (definition of isosceles triangle, Pythagorean theorem) 1-0.86602 = exterior radial at 30' = 0.133974; (0.133974[SUP]2[/SUP] + .5[SUP]2[/SUP])1/2 = 0.51763 = chord 30' (Pythagorean theorem) Since the chord 30'/2 = sin 15' then sin 15' = 0.51269/2 = 0.25882 and since the cos 75 = sin 15 = 0.25882 But I digress, The chord of 15 degrees/2 = sin 7.5 degrees. This solves one problem in that you can rotate your mesh in blender by 7.5 degrees. But in the equation above we see in the second line of code that there is an exterior radial. If your collider mesh is a de-gon version of the texture mesh which with smoothing is virtually circular cross-section with a radius, then the difference between the texture mesh cord rmin and collider mesh cord rmin = rmax (1 - cosine 7.5') = rmax 0.0085. Have you ever noticed that, for instance, the strut connector starting mesh disappears into the structure you connected to, here is one reason. This is almost undetectable if the fuel tank is small (rF1=0.625), but if you rescale your tank to say 7.5 or 10 or 12.5 then rmax can expand to the point that you no longer are able to see maneuvering thrusters (as happens with scale mods of stock parts). This is particularly problematic because the all the symmetry points you have now made flat by shifting 7.5 degrees is also now exactly at the rmin. Knowing this gives a means for manually changing the radius of the N-gon in the Object mode in blender as long as you know what the maximum scale of modding is going to occur with a part (say 15 meter diameter disk) and the maximum amount of sinking that can be allowed with an attachment. Lets say our tolerance is 0.05 meters for a maneuvering thruster and r = 0.625M for a cylinder ~ rescaleFactor1, the we can rescaleFactor to 5.88 before the tolerance is exceeded and we have to make a different collider mesh for that part. Another way to put this is that if tolerance is zero then we have to increase size by 0.0086 for each factor over 5.88 so if you want a tank that is F12 radius, then that tanks collider mesh needs to be increased to 1.0045X its original collider mesh radius. Off symmetry maxima part installations would no longer touch the texture unless surface attachment of those parts is designed to sink into the structure. IOW you can neccesarily solve the problem unless with you go for a denser collider mesh, but at least you know the tradeoffs, and you could design mods of strut connectors that are more visible, or thrusters that stand out further.

Replying to the old post, it is interesting how different two different processes can be. While the learning curve is still fresh in my mind .. . . . . This will get someone into the game, doing well at the game, . . . . . . Design 1 Have concept or need Build prototype out of existing parts (including my own stock part mods - heavily modded) in KSP Evaluate feasibility Design 2 Formulate the best starting geometry in Blender (cylinder, square, sphere, icosphere) Draw out what will need to be modified and how. Desired inter-part interactions (e.g. snap points) where will parts snap or attach (i.e size and shape of snap points, orientation, position X,Y,Z) will it need strut connectors, engines, decouplers, to attach other parts (e.g. nose cone of a rocket might need a flat spot for an antenna or a maneuvering thruster, sides of fuel tank may need vertical flat places for side mounts) Drafting (Blender 3D-View editor Object and Edit Modes) New blender file opens with 3D View editor window open in Object mode Delete default object and camera ([right click] and [del]), add extra light sources if desired. 3D View pull out right panel (tiny "+" in editor's upper leftmost corner; menu display and shading settings) this shows object or vertex coordinates when needed 3D View left panel tab Create select. Visual can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71CIu-Pkn3k Set coordinates (usually {X,Y,Z} = 0, 0, 0 setable in 3D cursor - left panel top In top right panel Add Primative chose Mesh type Bottom right panel Add [Selected geometry] adjust core parameters governing complexity (e.g. vertices and N-gon versus triangluation) and size. Object mode radius = 0.625, 1.25, 1.875 meters? Make core Edit Mode modifications (culling, extruding) Various steps RefineEdit Mode modifications (adding new points, trimming and fashioning, merging) Infinite possibilities Pulling hair out and screaming may help (taking breaks and working-out is better) Count triangles (convex points only) - Plan ahead the triangle limit is 255. Each Ngons use (N-2)/N-gons triangles. Cylinder side triangles = Cylinder faces * 2. If count too high _or_ the following make collider mesh decide if a box or capsule mesh will suffice otherwise use Unity mesh collider and move directly on. Basic texturing in Blender for detailing In the Properties editor (Usually the right most Panel below the Outliner editor).... Assign material (new material, name material) This is the sphere shaped icon Assign texture (new texture) (image or ....., UV) This is the red white checkerboard icon. Preparing the Paint area(s) in Blender Duplicate the 3D-View editor (that little stripey triangle at the corner of the editor window drags right) and switch the nascent editor type to "UV Image Editor" (left bottom corner menu of new editor) In 3D-View, Edit Mode left menu tab, Shading/UV use the "edge select" tool to select or use [Ctrl] left mouse drag to surround edges to "Mark Seams" In 3D-View, Edit Mode, display method select "Wireframe" and select all (keyboard toggle a selects and deselects) left panel, Shading, Recalculate "Normals" Parse mesh into sections. left panel, Uvs click Unwrap then select "Unwrap" (Use manual unwrap - marked seams) Keep all selected UV Image Editor move sections (Right click on section and G,R and S) so that they are most easy to paint UV Image Editor menu bar UVs ....."Export UV Layout" Painting the UV layout in bit image drawing program. Design paint map. MSPaint (or equivilent) - Paint and save (UV layout will appear if not covered so make sure its covered also) Applying the Detailing In Blender - 3D-View mode, Edit Mode, display Wireframe then select all (vertices, edges and faces) In 3D-View, Edit Mode select left tab Shadings/UV section Shading subsection "Normals" recalculate if any vertices have been moved. Optional. In the same section chose the smoothings (3) at top of section In UV Image Editor, menu Image select Load Image and then select painted detail file- Image should appear under highlighted UV map In 3D-View, Edit Mode while still all selected display Solid In 3D-View, Edit Mode right panel select Shading (collapsed), expand and then select "Textured Solid" option box 3D-View Bottom menu Mesh select Face and subselect "Smooth Faces" if desired Deselect all and use edge select tool. Examine texture carefully, correct by renormalization if necessary. Check for orientations (unwraps are sometimes antiparallel orientations) check for unpainted or faded paints Go back to first step if problems exist (if things look the way they are supposed to pat oneself on back and take a 20 minute break - breath) All directives are in place (drafts, texturing, detailing, normals) Finalize the Model (Optional) 3D-View Object Mode - transform or rotate object as needed (snap positioning) Select object (periphery should be highlighted) Move desired origin to {X,Y,Z} = 0,0,0 Move 3D cursor (right panel, nearer to bottom) to {X,Y,Z} = 0,0,0 In panel under Object Mode Tools tab, Set Origin chose "Origin to 3D cursor" Note: the small white square should have moved from the objects center of geometry to desired origin. Save, place and name file for Unity (If this is your first time save file once before painting also) Preparing Unity for part Creation. Unlike Blender Unity does not start out wanting to build parts for its target (KSP), strange as that may seem since KSP runs on Unity. KSP however uses other textures and has limitations on collisions, etc. This means there is a bit of voodoo that needs to go into crafting. Voodoo step 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71CIu-Pkn3k Find online the ksp Part Tools 0.20 and install these. This creates Part tools option in new projects, these need to be installed into the [unity Path]\Editor\Standard Packages folder Open Unity First time openers will be asked to create a new project, others should File select New Project (Optional) If you don't want Unity cluttering up documents with Gbs of junk, create and select new directory Select Part Tools from the options (A good rest point) Project will appear. In the Project/Console, Assets/PartTools [right mouse] select from menu "Show in Explorer" Voodoo step 2. Leaving Unity for Explorer Find the Part Tools 0.23 and extract these to a convenient folder. Voodoo 3: explore the "Project" subfolder Delete the three folders Unity just added. Voodoo 4: locate, copy and paste the Part Tools 0.23 folders (3) into the [Project]/Assets/PartTools folder, close ..0.23 Voodoo 5. Find the Blender Model and its paint job ([fileName].blend and [flieName].png) copy and paste into the [Project]/Assets/PartTools. You can also import these from the Project window In Explorer Go to KSP game data and create a new folder for Unity to "Write" to. Remember this locations path. Close Explorer - any opened folders Unity should be active, if not select Unity Voodoo 6: all done wit da voodoo. Unity momentarily zombie up, take a break, it will wake up. If you got this far your are moving at c Unity top menu GameObject drop down and "Create Empty". It should ask you for empty GameData directory. Use directory created in step 12. Heirarchy child window (left) GameObject select, then (right screen) examine Inspector panel. (recommended) Name the model, its used in the game. Inspector panel (right) , define the detail texture format (MBM - popular) Preparing Imports. Whether added to game object or not, the imports need to be prepared Project window, Assets/PartTools [new Blender Model] left click Inspector panel shows tasks for Model check option: Generate colliders - if you want a Unity Mesh Collider if not prepare to add your own or another type. LightMap UV click Apply button Scroll down to Texture/Shading subpanel (bottom, Spherical textured icon). Select Shader, from the drop down list chose KSP and choose a shader (e.g. KSP/diffuse) Select texture inset [select] button and then double click the detail file. Break time, let Unity update. Project window, Assets/PartTools [new Blender Model] Left click _or_ 'if it works' the click the image in Preview and drag the file to the Heirarchy child window "GameObject" and drop it. A child process should be created. It has now been imported into the Part that is to be written. A part can now be made. ----All of this above is just getting the resources needed to craft a part, below is actually crafting, writing and configuring ------ Preparing the Part (yes, finally we are here) Basic simple part. Not for a 150 model composite part. Heirarchy GameObject/ child=[model] select Inspector panel review. The part now has a collider, but if your part had concave surfaces it may have problems, check convex Project/Console window click tab Console inspect for errors. If too many triangles (>255) then Stop - you may want to make a collieder mesh in Blender proceed with a Box or Capsule collider If the choice was to use a different collider then Heirarchy GameObject/[model] select then examine Inspector uncheck and delete Mesh Collider, in the top right there is a gear icon left click and select "remove component" At the bottom of inspector there is a button called [Add component] push and scroll down to Physics select and then mouse across and select a collider (sphere, box or capsule) Once selected the collider will need to be manipulated to get it position appropriate to the object. You can examine your collider (green emmissives) by turning off the surface mesh (inspector), and rotate object, turn the surface mesh on when you are done (or give yourself a dope slap). If everything looks good then make sure your coordinates are correct position, rotation and scale are correct Position should be X= 0, Y=0, Z = 0 (unless otherwise desired) Rotation should be X = -90, Y = 0, Z = 0 . . .This swaps the Y and Z axis from blender orientation to KSP orientation Scale vectors should all be 1 (unless otherwise desired) Finalizing the Part Heirarchy GameObject select then inspect Inspector window, are all the specific corrects (target directory, model name, texture file type) hate to screw up now. Write (god that was easy, but wait till we get to testing) Preparing to Test the part locate the specified [new parts gamedata] directory. There should be a nascent .mu and .mbm file in the directory Find a KSP part that behaves most similarly to the new part, preferable with node priorities that are similar Copy that cfg from that parts gamedata directory to the specified directory Open the cfg with a text-file editor Change the "mesh =" entry to new Unity model file (*.mu) in the same directory Change the "name =" entry to make it unique in KSP Change the "title =" entry so that the title is unique in the game (and so you can find it when game launches) Eliminate submodules containing "MODEL{"..."}" with "scale = " , "texture = " , "model = " transforms. "rescaleFactor = 1" Remove any modules that the part shouldn't or can't use At this point I would use a simple "node-attach = " at the bottom of the node list Make sure your attach rules are set properly Initial Test Open KSP, if the game hangs up it means there is something really wrong with the part (then sorry Alt-F4). Open a sandbox Remembering the title see if the part appears by name in the targeted part category Add a capsule and a tank (unless it is a capsule) See if the part will attach to these. Brevity needs for you to test and blow up the part at least once, take pictures so we all can laugh at them. Refined Tests Even if the part is not exactly desired, refine the config file for the next version Node Attach and node_stack The bottom of this list is the priority attachment position and vector, those that ride up the list are positions that other parts attach to. At most I have gotten one node_attach and the bottom two node_stack to work, but this might not always be true, so if the desire is to stack, place the prefered stack position and vector on the bottom, and second most favored stack point after. For testing just double slash the rest Modules added and tested, Fuel volumes correct to appropriate volumes Costs - if you have gotten here set the cost to 0 you deserve a break Tech Tree (I would use the conserved lower branches, I have alot of errors in my mods because of tech tree issues) Author, change name and of course reference other authors if the ideal is borrowed from that person. Description - change Mass volume is a cubic function of geometric mean of magnitudes of all dimension therefore if the part is roughly the same size as another stock part and of equivilent density then borrow stock part mass, if the part is double the linear dimensions then the mass is 8 fold higher and volume is also eight-fold higher. Breaking force and torque may need to be adjusted. Until 1.0, if you make an Aerodynamic part the only means is to adjust the drags. Parts with low drag can create problems when decoupling, so sepratrons may be needed. Drag is the square function of airspeed below Mach speed. It is caused by work done on air as it moves around the object (air is accelerated forward and outward then decelerates). The amount of acceleration depends on the shape, a sleek shape accelerates air more slowly and more outward then upward, but the effect is not linear and below the speed of light a bow shock in front of objects moves air a considerable distance in front. At Mach air cannot move and progressively piles up at high density on the leading surface, unless the outward velocity is slower than the speed of sound, creating intense drag. A sleek surface allows the gas to move laterally at less than speed of sound velocities but fluctuations of profile can create 'piles' behind the leading edge (visible as a shock cloud when breaking speed of sound), large enough that they can (and have) tear a craft in half. Even at below the Mach a need to move air rapidly (such as a propeller or around the Jet engine) can cause craft to increase drag considerably. A sub-mach jet sped to the ground is most likely to lose parts on the lagging control surfaces, first. KSP does not factor any of these into the game, so its best to conservatively lower drag. Using Parts Parts can be scaled to various sizes and occupations Using rescale Factor and create scale mods, the new part is modern, does not need "scale =" Borrowing the model and create a Model subsection and use the texture file. For example retexturing can repaint a LfOx tank to a Lf tank, or Mono tank. Dimensional scaling can be used to turn cylinders into ovoid cylinders or Tall parts into flat tanks Move the parts to appropriate GameData areas, back up the parts folder in preparation for game upgrades Look for design defects, and start over again. I don't even think this is complete, prolly left some critical simple step out, lol, but this is alot more than what I have seen, most of which is either not useful or only useful with a low complexity Model. As a matter of fact it needs a recommended section on creating a node_collider in blender an exporting it in a different format. Really detailed section on exporting from Blender and importing both the mesh and the node_collider into Unity.

I had the same problem, I was building a rocket and re-engineered the tip of the rocket so that it was flat and would accept a thruster or antenna in the down-mounted orientation. somehow in doing that I got areas that I could not fill in. It may be because there are polygons in the area that are not flat and therefore you cannot add a face to them. You might try creating triangles out of the polygon. I have noticed in blender performing certain repeative operations that coordinates that are supposed to be on fixed axis drift ever so slight (the lowest digit of precision). I have had to manually correct these. If you don't mind me latching onto your texture thread I have my own texture problem. when I design my map in blender it looks like the image on the right, but in Unity and the game it looks like that on the left. I previously go some textures starting with a UV sphere (unfortunately the collision mesh was too large and the capsule mesh does not fit the contour) now I am using an Ico Sphere and I get the following. The appearance is not bad, its quite attractive on the pad but I was going for aerodynamic, not Buckminster fullerene architecture.

I finally got Unity to work and produced several parts in KSP. This is a bizarre problem. THe problem was my C drive went from being 80% full to 99% full in the process (I have no clue why). So I had to move Unity. I deinstalled and reinstalled the program (latest versions both) In a much larger drive. The last part I made (a bullet shaped tank) ran hideously slow in KSP. I found a directory with a tremendous number of temporary files. I installed the 20 part tools and load the 23 tools on top of them. The blender files are no longer recognized by Unity, not old files that previously worked that it recognized, and now not fairly simple files,. I'm thinking I have to completely scrub Unity from my system, there is some file cached some place that is creating a conflict, but where and how do I fix it? It did manage to load 1 part, but the part had no texture and when it showed up in KSP is was invisible (it was based on the same blend file previously used). After that nothing worked. Has anyone had a similar problem? UPdate: I removed blender and Unity with about 16GB of space on my SDD. (I found a bunch on Unity files on my Public user directory which I had to manually remove freeing up 4GB of disk space in and above what I previously reported). As soon as I installed Unity on another disk, 4 to 5 GB immediately disappearred. I previously have completely removed anything having to do with Unity from the system, and the unity files are not in the Public User directory, so . . . . . . Resolved (I hope): Both are reinstalled, I managed to make a test fuel tank amazingly in KSP a pentagon shaped tank can do a SSTO, no accounting for aero, lol. Whatever Unity has added to the C drive, I cannot find, it has not grown from its original state. I suspect what happened in the first place is that Unity overwhelmed the SSD and started glitching out, it probably place a few poison-pill files around that kept it from running properly. By removing everything and changing completely the installation directory, it couldn't find the pills or I removed them.

From someone who used to commute to work on a bicycle, the biggest problem with bicycles is not weather, that something most cyclist can work around, the biggest problem is lousy motorist. To the original post. Hydrogen should be used, and would be used. Consider why 1. No greenhouse emmission or any emmisions in urban environment (Name one Chinese city that would not benefit from this) 2. Portable, storable at higher densities than electricity. 3. Once converted can be transported anywhere by standard pipelines already in place, cheaply. 4. Can be used to convert fuels like coal and tar sands into highly prized liquids including types in gasoline Hydrogen should not be used extensively until electrogeneration is improved by several fold.

1. HIGH ISP Ion drives in pairs with chain-link fencing, Roll out the fencing and start knocking stuff into decaying orbits. The Cannae drive if it works has a job, go and deorbit stuff. All it has to do is put something in an orbit that will decay in a couple of years. Once it does this it corrects its own orbit and starts looking for the next object. 2. Take a look at my Space Port, if objects were sent to this at EOL, then you could have a bot pick them up and put the objects inside. At some point they could be recycled into space hotels. http://i.imgur.com/0NNRaJe.png 3. You could collect all the debris into packages put a shield on them and bring them back to earth and create a used satellite museum and research institute. How about that space shuttle, the one device we had that could actually return a payload.

You need one more option [X] Tired of silly-arse polls.

I know, scarey, I did not know there was life in the Space Lounge. Their instrument is degassing a compound, this fatty acid is likely a product. If the fatty acid is actually Martian, I should point out that long chain fatty acids without some sort of 'zyme' are unlikely. Past experience tells me that this is likely a contamination, not martian derived. Fatty acids are important because they are an essential element of the membrane, what is means is that its hard to seal of 'proprietory' processes without a membrane. If this proves to be Martian in origin it likely means that the step between milieu reactions and cellular reactions also took place. Many viruses do not have membranes, but are considered living

Or repair it, smaller ships for that matter, hopefully someday build ships. 6 kilotons at launch 1.35 kilotons when fueled. This is what I did today.

Hah, wrongo bucky . . . . . . whats going to change is some 1s and 0s, unless you have a quantum computer in which case maybe.

Death Star did not have a filled metal interior. If you hurled a 5 meter iron object at a death star it would likely go through with a nominal loss of velocity.

IM beginning to think this thread is Lunacy.

The reason gasoline is not used is that it has a rather high level of aromatics, the stabilization energy of aromatics takes away from the final energy released from the chemical reaction. In addition these compounds have a high carbon to hydrogen ratio, which takes away from the bond energy/gram of fuel. Its not much worse the kerosene, but still.

They have a third problem or lets say two, physics and biology. Mars is a long way from earth most of which is pure space, and humans don't live well in pure space (they tend to undergo lyophilization). Unless they can contract with the Russians, to build their vehicles, they don't have a ghost of a chance. I don't see how you can call it a scam per say, if you told them there that they would be returned alive to Earth once landed on Mars, that would be a scam. It you tell them its a trip with no return, when their dessicated bodies crash into Mars, they got what they signed up for. As for the suppliers, . . . , . . . , . . . . companies do all sorts of stupid. Remember the broadband movies online, that was about 10 years ahead of it infrastructure under active development by another now Dutch owned (is vestiges) company called ENRON. Their motto was why not? (The answer was cause its friggen stupid).

I doubt they can do it, they are having problem fulfilling their contract obligations with the joint strike fighter.

Thank you, I was looking for that graphic.