Ultimate Steve

Well, I have a study hall but I still can't watch it because of the darned school internet filters...

I'd guess it would be the first mission classified as a non test flight.

Chapter 16 - Hot Stuff

This needs to be in a video game.

That was my lead idea, actually, I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it reasonable!

You know, this would also make an interesting KSP planet pack... Starting on a habitable world binary with another habitable world.

1. Pardon any ignorance I may have, but why not? Is there a technical reason why a binary system couldn't exist that close? I did look up roche limits and stuff, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like they could work out. If I read the article right, the moon could exist ~20 times closer to Earth and still be able to exist, although tidal interactions and the moon getting there in the first place would be big problems. 2. I'm not against using radio to communicate, especially later on, but I'd like the initial discovery moment to be a bit different. I've done some more thinking and I think I know how I want it to go, but I'd rather not say it here in case I do end up writing the story...

Thank you all for these responses. 1. I'm guessing that you could probably see those cities with telescopes and stuff. 1 and 2. I was planning on making the two planets pretty close to each other, closer than the Earth and Moon are to each other to make travel between the two reasonably simple, if anything in space can be considered simple... 3. I had considered this, but even with shipping: 4. You could get telescopes on the boats, which, even if you had to spot the other planet's boats, would still be technically possible... This is probably the best idea yet, actually, if we ignore the odds of there only being habitable land on those exact halves of planets. 5. This is one of my biggest problems so far. While it would be a great way of first contact, I'm aiming for another feel. Unfortunately it's likely they would discover each other by radio if sudden visual wasn't an option. 6. They are going to be strong in different areas, and probably at least a decade off of each other in the important areas. For example, if one planet has a thicker atmosphere and/or lower gravity they will probably be better at atmospheric flight than the other world. If one world has harsher weather, they will likely be better at building things. But as far as both species being at approximately the same level of progression, even though it's improbably, I'll handwave it and call it "it had to happen somewhere." Ahh, I forgot, it's 2018, all the good ideas are already taken... Although my idea is different enough than this that I think it will work. Thank you all for your responses!

Title gore for sure, but this is a bit complex... I recently had the idea to write a story about a system of binary planets, both with intelligent life at similar stages of progression with different strengths. In one sudden event the civilizations would be made aware of each other and they'd attempt to explore space in some way, etc... What I'm currently struggling with is how to make the sudden reveal seem realistic. The best idea I have right now is to make one of the planets extremely cloudy, so very little light makes it ot the surface, so not even the star will be distinguishable most of the time. But then the clouds would have to somehow disappear without altering the atmospheric composition. And the life on the planet would have to adapt to much more solar heating and a bunch of other things. I have one idea to eliminate the need for a reveal entirely but I'm not sure I want to go for it... Any ideas on if or how this would be possible?

I don't know what to say, except for "Aww." "I'll miss his cameos" and "F."

Chapter 15 - Moar Planets!

Wow, for a lander, the dry mass can only be 27% of the full mass assuming a hydrolox (450s) or 15% assuming some hypergolic (315s). That's down from 41% hydrolox and 27% hypergolic.

Cars as shuttles... This sounds familiar.

It's almost certainly not this, but because we're out of ideas, maybe it's a keybinding issue?

I want one! Where is this?

No reusability, just as a BFR test.

Elon, what the Falcon? You've said no, yes, no, yes... Which is it?

Alright, thank you for considering my feedback! I don't think I've ever heard of many other planet pack authors doing this! Hopefully I chose the right new base location factoring in future temperature change (in the chapter) even though it doesn't really matter that much. The following is a very Kerbmun focused chapter. I will do other stuff after the Kerbmun situation is stable. I would very much like to get back to planetary exploration and maybe manned missions before too much longer. Chapter 14 - Rise of the Zeppelins

I, uhh, flew a zeppelin around an alien moon.

I don't for one second buy martian colonies within 6 years. I only believe men on Mars within 6 years for about half a second. I am also looking forward to SLS/Orion (although the program could be run way better). However, given the facts: The Raptor is doing full duration test fires The worlds largest carbon fiber fuel tank was built and tested, albeit to failure and for and older version of the proposal More test tanks are under construction The land for the factory has been purchased Someone has bought a launch SpaceX has a strong track record of getting things done SpaceX are currently the world leaders in reusability and cost efficiency (as far as rockets go) I believe that BFR will happen. Do I believe that it will come in under budget? No. Do I believe the timeline will stick? No. Do I believe that everything will go smoothly? No. Do I believe that it will do everything it's been advertised to do right off the bat? No. EDIT: Do I believe it will look exactly like the 2018 proposal? No. Does believing that it will exist at some point in some form make me a "Musk Cult Member?"

Hopefully someday. At least this week and the week before it is/was tech weeks.

1. Yeah, temp varies with lattitude, and although I thought I made my base high lattitude enough, I guess not, daytime temperature peaks at 172... Just under freezing at the poles. And imagine the humidity... Maybe if I get that zeppelin up there I can move the base, but for now it's spacesuit only... Oh, well, that's the joy of playing an in-development pack! 2. Yeah, I think that was just bad spaceplane design on my part... But once I post Ch. 14 you'll see I found a solution... But once limited oxygen is a thing then it probably won't work any more!