Bill Phil

Presumably we would have to be very advanced to be able to employ any kind of FTL drive. Not only would we have advanced theories to explain the universe but also extremely advanced computers. If we have a large number of telescopes (particularly large ones at that) across colonized space... Well, then I don't see a problem if you're just jumping within a galaxy. We can do surveys of the Milky Way galaxy and make predictions on future locations of objects. This will have uncertainty, and there will likely be regulations on low certainty vs. high certainty jumps. As humans expand across the Milky Way technology and infrastructure would likely continue to advance. Observation stations will be established that regularly deliver information about star systems and positions to the appropriate authorities where it can be accessed by travelers, reducing risk substantially across human space. Eventually surveys of the Local Group's galaxies will be possible and then intergalactic jumps will be carried out, likely by unmanned vehicles initially, which will then attempt a return jump. If it succeeds then it can report on the positions of certain objects within the galaxy. If not... try again. Of course we could just do incremental jumps using a daisy chain of jumpships between galaxies and just exchange messages, passengers, and cargo across at each stop. That way each individual jump has a lower risk until the other galaxy has been more accurately mapped. I wouldn't be surprised if expansion to other galaxy groups and even some nearby clusters could be done over time, maybe even the entire Virgo Supercluster... Redshift is a change in the wavelength/frequency of light - ergo it is an intrinsic property of light being changed. I would call it an intrinsic property of light from distant objects. Only works within a certain range of distances (on the intergalactic scale) and of course still has uncertainty.

Somewhere, out there, a new star has been born...

One can argue that we can’t hide period, given that civilization emits waste heat.

It’s not the hardware, it’s the logistics.

Boeing. Just, Boeing. And of course bad project management. But Boeing is putting a pretty large wrench in the NASA bureaucracy, not communicating properly with many NASA project teams among numerous other problems.

Sourced straight from the mouths of individuals working on the project at Marshall Space Flight Center.

I’ve heard that some guidance equipment will be mounted off kilter on the first vehicle. Someone appears to have screwed something up for that.

Isn’t this only possible with the DLC, making it inherently optional? (Or do the engines come with the stock game but the electric motors don’t?)

One thing I forgot to mention is that a mol of Al2O3 is significantly more massive than a mol of H2O. What matters isn't energy per mol, but energy per kilogram. A mol of water is roughly 18 grams, and a mol of Al2O3 is roughly 102 grams, much more massive. 1 kg of oxygen is about 31.25 mol of the diatomic substance. To get that output from inputs we need 62.5 mol of water and 20.833 mol of Al2O3 to get 31.25 mol of diatomic oxygen. This requires 17,862.5 kJ for water and 34,905.7 kJ for Al2O3. That difference is only a factor of about two, and there's far more oxygen in non-water sources than in the water. Plus we get aluminum after splitting it (more than a kilogram per kilogram of oxygen, if my math is right), which can be useful for space construction. Plus we don't have to set up shop at the poles to get access to this. I recommend leaving the water alone and using it as it is: as water. Either for hydration purposes or for others. We can bring hydrogen from Earth - at least initially. (Footnote: I haven't done the math on this kind of thing in some time, so I may have gotten it wrong, I don't think so however, but you never know)

True. But some interesting inflatable/expanding mirror technology could make large scale solar thermal fairly low in mass, and if supercritical carbon dioxide is used as the working fluid the mass of the actual heat engine can be reduced significantly as well, not to mention potentially more efficient than many, if not most, alternatives.

Yeah but the thing is there’s plenty of available energy to use, provided you have enough collection area.

Yes, but with the electric motors and the lack of oxygen in some atmospheres, it allows for some cool possibilities on other planets. Well, not quite. If your station has 100x the moment of inertia it will rotate 100x slower unless that is prevented through some mechanism. Mass and moment of inertia are related to each other and are analogous, but the physics of rotating objects is not only dependent on mass, but also the distribution of that mass.

I’ve found that prop authority limiter affects performance in flight. Mostly max speed. Got to 247 m/s in level flight pretty easily in a plane that used to max out at about 115, just by adjusting the authority limiter. I’m using the track editor to adjust it for all props at the same time.

Yeah I know what they want to do, I’m just not sure if it can be done. At least in the near future. We know engines can be 3d printed but other components may not be able to for some time. Of course an entirely 3d printed rocket would be awesome.

I've noticed strange behavior related to the orientation of the props compared to the direction of rotation. I built a kind of P-38 plane with the idea of having the two sets of props counter rotate, so I set them up opposite each other. But when trying to fly I had to make the two sets of props rotate in the same direction to get net thrust, even though the props were set up so that they would generate lift while rotating in opposite directions. I did notice the model changing based on the authority limiter, but I don't think it really affected the thrust.

I think you have to actually deploy the props in general and authority limiter doesn’t matter.

I think it only really works well if you have electric launch capability to deliver payloads to lunar orbit from the lunar surface. One idea I’ve read about is to bring hydrogen from Earth and acquire oxygen from the lunar surface. Also energy intensive, but it’s not too bad. With electric launch infrastructure you could just deliver raw regolith that’s been compressed to a standard density. Then the oxygen can be removed from the regolith, and if we wanted to we could get metals and some other stuff from the regolith as well which could be beneficial for space infrastructure. Of course you need an electric launcher on the Moon. And that’s not easy to do. I wonder how well a slingatron would work on the Moon...?

I got something to fly so that’s cool.

Today I fired up 1.7.3. Haven't played in a while and I decided to wait until the propellers were added. Well I got really confused.

Yeah I thought it was something like that. Didn't know how to change the angle though.

Yeah I'm very confused as well. I can get it spinning but it doesn't produce any thrust. I don't know what to do to make it work. Hmm. I'll try that later.

Nice. Can’t play right now but I can’t wait.

Cool stuff. I’m not sure how much you can get away with in a rocket with additive manufacturing though.

Okay, I'm starting to feel spoiled with all the amazing additions to the game and its DLC... That said, I've really seen this game mature, especially recently. Just need a visual overhaul and some nuclear reactor parts...

I’ve been driving a 2006 Honda Odyssey for a few years. Been a great vehicle and has over 200k miles on it. Honestly I haven’t taken good care of the car, but it’s been fairly reliable even so. One thing I like the appeal of is the VW Beetle design, not the new ones though.