ChrisSpace

http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/ship-specs/

The value I got was r=106.549m (3dp). Is this correct or did I mess up slightly? In any case, thanks for the visual. When I first asked the question I was a little worried someone would misinterpret what I was asking, but you got it spot-on.

How do I calculate the maximum size of a sphere that can fit into a pyramid 1600m tall with a diamond-shaped base 900m long and 220m wide?

So is the colonialism a corporation-run thing or a government-run thing? Hmm, that reference was more about the bit where you said: "It'd follow a vigilante who has the ability to control people and uses it to stop crime in his city, in rash and sometimes cruel ways, other than that, he's pretty normal." and "He basically gets a personality that will do anything to stop crime, including murder. "

Quick question: How did humanity (or whatever sub-faction of humanity this is) manage to colonize and begin terraforming Mars before finding this life? So basically Code Geass with a time-traveller as Zero and no superpowers. Sounds pretty cool, actually. That was just one reason out of many. It literally could not have ever been a joint operation. Never. At least not without some serious history alterations. Actually, I remember a while ago when this video was uploaded (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQMciy2QLOs) and after thinking about it's conclusion I tried to combine both forms of time dilation to create a scenario in which humanity (or some other species) could live octillions of years into the future. The math behind it is complicated, but it all works. Somehow. Hmm, that sounds like it would be more interesting if they talked about every major thing between the late 50s and now, not just the space program. Like how we spend millions of dollars every year on setting up an activity that involves a bunch of people kicking around an inflated ball. There's something really similar on the Alternate History Wikia, I think it's called "space race never ended" or something like that. I tried that before, it turns out the earliest you can make manned spaceflight happen without massively altering history is the late 30s or early 40s. Two words: Light. Yagami.

I'm not so much talking about the science behind the super-starfish so much as I'm talking about the most realistic reaction the humans on Earth would have to it being, well... it. My thoughts exactly. That's why I'm not even trying to understand it any more than I'd need to formulate my idea.

Alright, so as the title suggests, this theory of mine contains spoilers, so if you haven’t watched LIFE, go do so before you keep reading. You’ve watched it? Great! Let’s begin. So it’s pretty hard not to forget the ending. Calvin reaches Earth in the relative comfort of one of the escape capsules, lands somewhere in South-East Asia, and a few fisherman open up the capsule so it can get out. So, that’s it, we’re all dead, right? Wrong. Very wrong. If all my research and theorizing has been even slightly successful, then within a minute of the screen going to black, Calvin, the fishermen and the surrounding islands are atomized out of existence in a blinding white light. Now, let’s step back a bit and see how I came to this conclusion. First, let’s look at it from the perspective of the people on Earth, specifically the ones in charge of everything. Now, communications with the ISS may have been lost but they could still tell that something serious had happened and that that thing that had happened could threaten all of humanity. Remember, it didn’t take long for them to launch an attempt to boost the ISS into deep space, which meant they’d already determined Calvin’s isolation to be worth more than a $200 billion space station and the lives of several astronauts. Now imagine what they’d be thinking when they see the attempt fail. They’d be so terrified that I actually can’t think of a good analogy to use for them. Now, if I were in charge, here’s what I’d do: I would do everything in my power to bring as much of the world together as possible together in humanity’s last stand against Calvin. That means using everything in humanity’s arsenal to destroy it if it reaches Earth. And what’s humanity’s best tool for destroying things? Nuclear weapons. Now, if I’m not mistaken it was said that after the failed attempt to boost the ISS out of orbit it had 39 minutes before hitting the top of the atmosphere. That gives fourty-something or fifty-something minutes before the fisherman open the capsule. Now, that may not sound like enough time to implement the plan I imagine would be put into place, but it turns out it is, and even if it wasn’t, this “Plan B” would’ve been put into action at least as far back as when the shove-the-station-into-deep-space Soyuz was launched. IIRC t takes about 6 hours for a Soyuz to get from the launch pad to the space station, which is plenty of time to implement my plan. So, what is this plan I’ve been alluding to? First, every orbital-debris-tracker and satellite-observation platform on and around the Earth would keep a close eye on the station, carefully looking at everything that comes off it. IIRC we already have the ability to track everything larger than a tennis ball, so seeing and tracking Calvin’s capsule should be no problem. Next, every time something from the station enters Earth’s atmosphere, the point of touchdown would be quickly calculated and once it has been confirmed with a margin of error of less than a hundred meters or so, humanity’s strength would be launched from multiple airbases, missile silos and submarines. Well, that escalated quickly. But at this point, this is what I think would actually happen. Now, you may think that Calvin could simply tolerate the nuclear detonations and continue on its way, but you’d be wrong. In the whole movie the only extreme conditions we’ve seen Calvin tolerate are the surface of Mars, the heat from the flamethrower and the vacuum of space. Compared with being within a few hundred meters of multiple nuclear detonations, that’s all easy. Just look at NUKEMAP and you’ll get a good idea of what kinds of conditions Calvin would be subject to. Oh, and that’s not all. In the end of the movie we see that Calvin has landed in what is probably South-East Asia, and you know what’s right next to South-East Asia? China. And you know who has the most powerful nuclear weapons in the world? China. Their 2 most powerful nuclear warheads types have yields of 3.3 or 4-5 megatons, and for comparison both the atomic bombs dropped on Japan had a combined yield of just 0.035 megatons. And the travel time from the silos to Calvin, remembering that the missiles were probably launched right after the touchdown site was confirmed (i.e. while Calvin was still in the air), gives no time for Calvin to have escaped beyond certain-death range. And even if China didn’t push the button, other nation’s nukes would only take a few extra minutes, if any extra time at all. So in conclusion, I believe that the ending of LIFE was one not foreshadowing humanity’s downfall, but merely the deaths of a few fishermen along with one of the most short-lived villains in sci-fi horror movie history. (PS: If this theory is right, then it means none of the astronauts would’ve survived regardless of which capsule landed.)

It sounds a lot more interesting than what really ended up happening.

Taking into account the accelerating expansion of the universe, what's the most distant object that could be reached by a spacecraft that left Earth now at 99.999(insert lots of 9s here)999% of the speed of light?

SR-71 Blackbird. It flies through the stratosphere at Mach 3, it looks like it came out of a sci-fi action movie, and not one was ever shot down.

"We have enough money to get the job done, and we won't postpone our timeline by a single day!"

If you want to commit mass genocide but only have a few nuclear warheads, try surrounding each of them in a few hundred kilograms of Cobalt. This'll create a new kind of fallout which will be much more effective over a much wider area.

Hearts of ron IV: Harry Potter's third wheel gets his fourth game. Tar Citizen: A cutting-edge molten ashphalt simulator. The Stanley Arable: Stanley searches for a location suitable for growing crops. No Ma's Sky: Mother's aren't allowed into space. Pulsar lost colon: On a planet orbiting a pulsar, your job is to find the sentient, escaped colon of one of your comrades. Fate of the Word: You get to decide what does or doesn't enter the dictionary.

8/10, would beat Sealand but not the Galactic Empire.

Apollo 1: A movie with a very anticlimactic ending. Ron sky: Harry potter's third wheel escapes to the far side of the moon with WWII technology.

Granted, but it takes hours to heal even a small scratch, and you have to press your finger on the wounded area the entire time. I wish I didn't have any more Writer's Bloc.

http://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-comparison-detail.asp?form=form&country1=greece&country2=turkey&Submit=COMPARE

And do you have a source for that? I mean, that number's a lot higher than what I imagined.

How much does Sealand weigh? As in, the entire platform.

Sounds like Sealand/Liberland but... IN SPAAACE!

I've edited the front post again, trying to take in as much input from the last few months as possible.

I thought I changed that ages ago... alright I'll change it today.

Yes, you can still be in the project.

I assume you're taking into account all the numbers shown on the actual presentation (it's available as a pdf download on SpaceX's website I think). Overall I'm really excited about this mod.

I should actually come up with a sufficient answer to the second half of my question on my own, what I really need help with is the first bit: