cubinator

It doesn't have the off-center nose flaps.

That the plane was a hologram.

Yeah, there will be a balance between added mass and expansion ratio gains. Probably you can calculate both wrt nozzle length and find where they intersect for maximum efficiency.

It was going slower than expected, it reached supersonic late. I wonder if something actually blew up in the system or if the FTS went off due to an incorrect trajectory. Great job for a first flight!

There is a convenient nuke just 108 million km away. Also, wouldn't they want to take the atmosphere to put some of it on Mars?

But this last sentence makes me laugh: It just seems so absurd.

Of course not. They'll fly the test flight, maybe get a couple of operational flights in if the rockets are almost already built, if we're lucky.

Speen!

I like a good radial booster separation.

Closest Approach 0.1 km Rel. velocity 175 m/s

They're just getting those "EVA while flying low" reports.

Oh my god. I think it does, actually. I'm not kidding.

That's even more horrifying than a normal headcrab. Because if Gaben is a headcrab, then Half Life 3 can never get made.

RGV guys really upgraded, huh?

Yuzhaan Vong? The extragalactic guys that would have made better villains for the sequels?

A wormhole. Make the trip short using noneuclidean space.

Click

That would be a really good part of SLS to have on fire.

What's up guys - currently trapped in an elevator! Hopefully not for long. At least I've got my water bottle. Update: I'm out.

Huh, interesting. Would be cool if they are trying to play catchup with Starship.

I think two-stage rapidly reusable lifters will be popular on Earth, single stage ones almost everywhere else. Unless maybe some really huge single-stage rockets get made for Earth. Moon and other smallish bodies will have a rail system built that sends cargo into orbit. High-energy propulsion such as nuclear saltwater can be explored and developed away from Earth, such as at Mars or the Asteroid Belt. Explosions here will not disrupt the delicate biosphere. Someone will probably attempt to terraform Mars, and maybe Venus too. This is a long-term (~1000 years) effort and would only succeed if humanity achieves very sound footing socially. By the point humanity has either stopped aging, invented adequate hibernation, or created/integrated with sentient AI the first trips to the Stars will begin.

Well that's an easy problem to solve, simply add more struts!

My two cents: putting the nozzle outside the main hull gives you more volume for fuel and/or saves the mass of the skirt. Of course there are tradeoffs and depending on your flight profile and range of uses either one could be the better option.

If the gravitational constant was 9.81 we'd be so screwed.

Solid propellants are often compressed powders.