Kibble

Map from Viking data, color adjusted to what a human would see, plotted to sphere in Photoshop, animated by myself

Xenophobes can't visit Botswana, nor X-ray Canadians. ggsdirp

So I was learning about the colors Mars would look to the human eye, and then I found a equirectangular map of Mars, and used the Photoshop Cutout and Posterize filters to make it look like cartoony, and then I used the Match Colors filter to make it fit the Martian colour scheme. Then I (this part was super long and super hard) learned how to draw a great circle on an equirectangular plot, and filled in one half with black for the night side, and then with the Photoshop 3D feature to map it to a sphere. Its like a (geographically and visually accurate) cartoon of Mars! (Edit!) Updated to be more sophisticated! The new image is how Mars would appear to a satellite looking from the Sun-Mars Lagrange Point-1, at the time and date of this edit. (Roughly 1:00 Martian Universal Time, in Mars Northern hemisphere's mid-winter)

So will PPTS have a parachute/adaptor part so you can attach SSVP drogue on top?

Am I the only one thinking:

I <3 Vanamonde

I would love different kinds of docking ports! Probe and drogue which lets you transfer astronauts and fuel, APAS type to connect modules and for big cargo vehicles, and Kontakt/Gemini-Agena for just mechanical connection.

Yay Alexei!

I don't think it needs Lagrange points. It would be totally awesome to have n-body orbital mechanics, but that would require a complete overhaul of the code (like what the amazing eggrobin is doing). Plus the patched conics model works well for most things, and is easy to understand.

I like the new Vostok a lot better - the old one with the black heat shield didn't look very Soviet, or even very spacecraft-like.

Buzz Aldrin is my hero <3<3 He figured out orbital rendezvous, invented the neutral buoyancy lab, proved manual labour in micro-gee environments was possible, invented the free-return trajectory, and walked on the woofing Moon!

Angrily, we intimidate fat umpires with rakes. cylten

6/10 I've seen you, recognise the username!

Oh yeah I've read thru that stuff. Boosters with F1s would be super awesome, but what I meant is that most of those concepts were never seriously considered. Mostly cause it would require new kerosene infrastructure at the pad, modifications to the launch platform, and all that boring accounting stuff. Pragmatically solids were the only choice - and that's if Block II even flies. Block IB will likely be NASA's super-heavy launch vehicle for many decades.

You can find a very long discussion of it here - http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/113172-Inflatable-module-for-ISS In case you don't wanna read it all, I think it might be nice to have a inflatable 3.75m part, but I would love some regular 3.75m parts! Its within the diameter realm of US Lab and the various MPLM-derived stuff.

Omg the legendary Hop David! I didn't even know you were on this forum <3 I completely agree that astronauts working in conjunction with robotic probes makes them both more effective!

Cutting down mass is only one component of optimizing spaceflight. Being economical, robust, and simple are equally important. Inflatable pressure vessels are more complex, have more failure modes, and are less economical because of how much work it takes to convert one from big empty space to a useable facility. Not that this means they have no use, they would probably be good for expanding a preexisting space laboratory for some more volume, without the cost of a Proton payload class rocket flight. But they certainly won't replace the aluminium-can configuration which has worked so well for the past 44 years.

Nice antenna dish! I will be using on all deep spacecraft

There are much more important issues with piloted interplanetary expeditions than internal volume.

Really just use Procedural Fairings. They've completely replaced decouplers for me.

There was never any question that the advanced boosters were going to be big solid rockets built by ATK.

People in submarines have no way out - if the submarine breaks they all die. In the event of an emergency on orbit, assuming they don't immediately die, they can just get in the Soyuz and deorbit. Home in a few hours! When do you think trips onto orbit won't be limited to people who aren't astronauts or the ridiculously wealthy? Anybody who wants to go to space probably knows its going to be a little smaller than their 8-bedroom manor. And do I have to mention again that not a single person in history has gone crazy or whatever from the tight spaces on orbital spacecraft?

How much can you pack into a rigid core while still making it slim enough for its reduced diameter to matter?

centaur omg cannot wait for atlas v release

We're not talking about average humans, we are talking about astronauts! And people rich enough to afford to become spaceflight participant. I'm a dog. Bark bark! Personally, I wouldn't mind spending 6 months in Mercury, if it meant I could fly in space!