Spacescifi

Ha, I do not even worry about propellant in scifi. Since if that is what a vessel is relying on, even refueling at a gas giant is problematic. Even with a grav-dampener to negate a planet's pull, gas giant skimming would take time and either require burning more fuel, or using an electroplasma jet to reach space. And the electrodes that make the plasma wear out over time, so only so many uses can they have before you either replace them or you just no longer use your electroplasma jet. As for passenger comfort and translation of stored goods moving about the ship I only have one word. Well two actually. Make it three. Passengers. On. Airliner. If you have flown you know what I am talking about.

Yes. How does that relate to the discussion though? I am not sure what point you are making here? Orbits are great like that, but for rendezvous, some rocket burns are inevitable. Otherwise crashing or missing the target altogether is the result.

True, but that is why a vessel can flip over and retroburn, or just yaw to rotate and turn around and then retroburn. With a scifi rocket drive that has thrust for several days, and the ability to throttle the thrust up or down, I feel no need for putting anymore nozzles on a vessel than necessary.

Indeed. I only completed training, played level one, and then quit. I hated the star wars bolt lasers, since if they gave real insta-beam lasers I would have much easier time hitting stuff while drifiting. Later on in levels I am certain spaceships that shoot back show up, but given the trouble I had with rocks... I stopped after level one. Try it. You will see how hard manual spaceflight is. I still think they should have had flight assist.

Texas. BBQ. Sandwich. Accept no substitutions.

It is realistic as far as newtonian maneuvers are concerned, and I can tell you that real docking with the ISS seemed a lot similar to the careful thrusts I had to make during the training segment to fly and stop within a box. Also the lack of a speed cap. Yeah the stars wars lasers and the asteroids were'nt real, but asking for that is probably a bit much in what is a cheap game anyway. Also chances are you saw the wrong game. If you type in free 3D asteroids game and search for the link that should be the real deal. Found it! http://www.grassgames.com/asteroids/

It is not often discussed that I have seen, but rocket plumes in vacuum can cause all sorts of problems for scifi or real space vessels like: 1. The expanding particles can create backflow on the hull, meaning if any part of your hull is near the plume, the plume WILL push it in the opposite direction. I doubt even if KSP simulates that. This can make attitude adjustments more difficult/sensitive. 2. Thermal damage to the hull the plume backwash hits. 3. If you're using an advanced magnetic nozzle for a fusion or antimatter thermal propellant heated rocket, your exhaust plume will probabaly also toss plenty of charged particles out the sides, if what I read is correct. I read it from this: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1000936112000246 And I quote: There are several accidents caused by plume effects. During the mission of the U.S. “Gemini” manned spacecraft, because no protective covers were used, the observation windows of this spacecraft suffered serious plume sediment contamination. Another accident happened during the service of the Japanese “BSE-1” satellite which was launched by the United States. The plume of this satellite’s attitude control thrusters contaminated the solar cell surface and reduced the power of solar cells. Besides, in the U.S. “Voyager” Spacecraft, several 0.9 N rocket motors were used for orbit adjustments. The flight data showed that the plume impact resulted in a 22% drop in the motor’s average thrust and a 60% drop in torque of the satellite. Although some preventive measures were originally introduced to reduce the plume’s direct contaminations and impingements, the design still could not protect the satellite from the plume impacts. Moreover, the plume contamination also caused a poor performance of the tracking instrument in Mariner 10. Though Mariner 10 recovered its normal function through a series of spacecraft adjustments, the control system consumed incidental fuel and shortened the lifespan. End of quote. All of thus seems to point to this conclusion, that an optimal rocket ship that reduces negative plume effects in vacuum will have a minimum of nozzles, not a multtitude. Ideally, I think having one or gimballed two nozzles on the rear of the ship would be ideal. Is it not true that a spaceship can do all basic maneuvers with just TWO gimbaled rear engines? Pitch can be done by verical tilting of the nozzles up or down, yaw could be done by sideways tilt left or right, and roll could be done by by pitching one nozzle up while another down. Such a design favors either a broad saucer hull or a long cylinder, although a cylinder would have a slower roll turn rate since it's engines are closer to the center. What do you think?

Well provided I have flight assist so that I don't spin myself into a 6g spin over frustration over weak thrusters... I would be fine with it.

I downloaded and played the game asteroids 3D. It was realistic, but also stuck on hard mode. Even real life would be easier since in real life you have radar and better controls with computer aided flight assist With asteroids 3D EVERYTHING is manual. You can yaw with weak thrusters that nonetheless will speed up overtime into an almost endless spin. Pitching the spaceship seems a tad bit more timely with response time. Nonetheless, the thrusters TOTALLY lack flight assist, meaning every thrust turns you. You literally have to double and triple tap your thrusters just to go straight and even then you're likely to be veering off to the side like you're on ice. And there is no radar to speak of, just a bunch of camera screens and a laser and health bar display. Knowing all this kind of took all the fun out manual spacefligh for me. If they ONLY had radar that alone would have made a difference, along with separate displays rather than putting 5 screebs on one page for you to view simultaneously while also controlling a ship that slides like it's on ice. I was considering myself fortunate to shoot one asteroid, let alone two. If you play it, you too may begin to also loathe manual spaceflight like me. Without flight assist, separate viewscreen displays or radar? Sorry. Do not wanna go to space. Thought I did before.

So let's do fusion vs metallic hydrogen... the final battle of the space propulsion rocket systems! In one corner we have fusion, which has how much ISP? In the other we have metallic hydrogen, with a theoretical ISP of 1700 seconds! Only it would melt all known materials currently used for rocketry, or so I have read. Still, scifi can gleefully ignore that detail. So for a scifi universe where metallic hydrogen's extreme heat can be coped with via better materials, which is better? Fusion or merallic hydrogen? Would having better heat resistant materials make/put fusion and metallic hydrogen on the same ISP level? Is fusion less ISP than metalic hydrogen? Would a fusion thermal metallic hydrogen fueled rocket be just as good as or nearly as good as an antimatter thermal methane propelkant rocket? Thanks in advance!

Fission fragment rockets could potenially be put on an SSTO, but the exhaust is cancerous I have read. Fusion I suspect is the same. Starfish Prime was a test where researchers blew up a nuke up in the upper atmosphere if I recall correctly. The result was more radiation in Earth's Van Allen belt. The concern was not just for astronauts but satellites too. Both could be harmed from the radioactive particles orbiting the planet from the nuclear rocket. Even antimatter does not have totally safe exhaust. I remember someone here once said that thermal antimatter propellant exhaust would be cancerous enough to merit putting it in an isolated area. In other words, even with a theoretical SSTO, landing one at a native's 21st century tech airport may give one out of ten nearby cancer. Unless ANYONE can convince me that fission, fusion, or thermal antimatter propellant exhaust is safe enough to land with at a modern airport, I am skeptical about using it in fiction. I actually prefer metallic hydrogen, since the exhaust is simply an overwhelmingly powerful chemical reaction. No radioctive particles involved in the exhaust if I read correctly. What TV show or movie is that from and how does it relate to what we are discussing? The lady with the knives looks threatening but human otherwise. Why does everyone look so... down?

True. Is it not sad how obvious uses of superior technology ruin the premise of many a scifi franchise? In other words, instead of boldly going in person like Captain Kirk or Archer, the aliens would just orbit and send in a probe for reentry that blows itself up, but not before dropping a bunch of cyborg insects and a info pod for them. Cyborg because unlike normal insects, they have been bioengineered to reproduce and RETAIN basic tech that allows them to record information in cellular form. Even today it is known that cells can hold a tremendous amount of information longer than digital storage. It can even be converted to digital format! So all the insects to 'save' what they see and hear around the natives for a few years. Then you can arrive knowing far more about the natives than they would like. I actually prefer this to aliens just arriving and by some miracle tech automatically knowing the language like Zod.

Depends on how hard it is to SSTO, since lets not kid ourselves, to get crew back and up with ease you need that capability. No matter whether you send a gift or a crew, SOMETHING is coming outta the sky LOL.

I seriously do not think any civilized race should be lacking this, especially if meeting new lower tech races and exploring is what they do. There are a number of tasks I think should be undertaken. 1. Introduction. If you have come in peace, there are ways to at least demonstrate it, even if the natives do not understand you yet. Leave a few gifts you think they could use that are fairly harmless perhaps? A flashlight that will run for years? A computer that will do the same? Assuming they use such things. A camera with petabytes of memory? 2. Overcome the language barrier ASP. The fastest way to do this is to live among the locals, so send some intrepid courageous crewnen and let them live among the locals for six months or perhaps a year or two. Allow for some losses of crew and be prepared to accept that as the cost of communication. Afterward let said crew instruct a universal translator AI, so that anyone with it can now understand the natives with the UT. 3. Decide whether or not to uplift the natives. Whether a scifi race does or not depends a lot on their values and goals. For example, a race used to dealing with monolithic scifi cultures my find the political quagmire that is Earth too much. Especially if they already know of other monolithic cultures. That's my two cents, what do you have to say on this?

You are not gonna wanna hear this but I have one word for you. Actually two. Skylab it. Nothing of importance will be on it by the end of it's mission anyway.

It is now

I have had second thoughts on the wings. The alternative to wings is constantly sweaty eye stalks, unless in cold weather. Since wings can and do get in the way, and all I really wanted was eye-stalks. Gross perhaps, the sweaty eyestalks. I guess one could always wrap them with ice pack sleeves. That would work, since in the story they already have tech more advanced than modern tech. Ice pack sleeves is simple and even we can do that. The 'eyes' will be simple hard green lenses, just like IR goggles, but they can retract within the elephant trunk-like stalks when not in use. Goat eyes I do not like the look of, and I also think human eyes superior. Color I may change for alien effect, which has little effect on vision anyway. Longer days/nights mean hotter/colder periods. My guess is that AC will be a big deal there, and animals will likely burriow underground to endure the heat, perhaps a lot of subterranean tunnels and caves? Which the aliens used in ancient times but no longer need to with their air conditioners.

Punishment for failure in battle. Klingons can be cruel to their own LOL.

Klingons have universal translators. So they can speak and understand your language.

1. Actually their vision is required to be perceptible to the reader, as they could be a main character. Nonetheleless, I really like the rainbow infrared vision. 2. Sure I could use flaps but I think that is a bit much when all I wanted was eye stalks. Yet I could recycle an old Idea I once had that to me is far more interesting. Insectoid wings mounted on the sides of the shoulder about as long as the arm. They sweat to cool the extra heat the body rejects from the eye stalks. Almost useless except for waving off flying insects and sweating. Since they cannot fly. Live on an Earth world with 1g. In space inside a their spaceships though... oh yes they can fly! Shoulder mounted wings would enable flight there, and given their humanoid size, they won't buzz or whir while flapping. Just make a soft flapping noise, noyhing more. Nearly silent. 3. Serious advantage of infrared vision? Easy. 48 hours long of daylight. 48 hours long of night. 96 hour days. Sleeping hours? Normal 8 hours roughly. So seeing at night is kinda needed now.

Interesting. So... her stalks should have eyeballs on them? Eww! Well it could work. Close your normal eyes and open the other ones. Funny eh? Solid black eyes perhaps? I know black absorbs heat more, but if we can keep the stalks cool enough it won't even matter. Guessing the vision could be all red or green like infrared goggles. Or perhaps something more useful like this: As this shows the warmer and colder regions of anything. Useful for disease diagnosis, probably even a good lie detector. Plus it just looks awesome! Perhaps some sort of weird body coolant is siphoned to the stalks to cool them off. I also think these aliens would sweat more profusely to keep the stalks cool at all times. I doubt they would like the heat unless they could make plant or other unique clothing that absorbed their sweat so they still stayed dry. Otherwise they would be drenched walking around in the heat. I would expect them to be prolific water drinkers too. Don't cool enough and your infrared stalk vision starts going dim. Eventually it will go black. But it can recover whenever a person cools their stalks and body down enough.

Okay. I am okay with that. A few questions though: 1. What do they need infrared antenna for? 2. How should the antenna look? Especially if they already have the famous Mark 1 human eyeballs? Certainly infrared antenna would'nt or should'nt look like this? Don't get me wrong, she's a beauty. but beauty ain't winning this. Science will. So.. what would or should infrared antenna look like?

Thanks

How well would you do in class? What class will they teach? You can choose Gowron (guy sitting in chair) Grillka (lady Klingon), or (Worf, should need no introduction). What classes would each teach? What subjects? For they are all at your middle school? How many students end up at the hospital? If any? Rules: They teach normal human subjects, but the police will not interfere if for whatever reason a Klingon feels the need to act... Klingon. I have always found DS9 klingons to be hilarious. Their culture. EDIT: Ooops. Sorry. Meant to put it in the lounge. Please place it there mods. Thanks. Sorry.

Good point. So I can freely have fun with it then. Until they disprove it. Which should not be for.... some time. Bwahahahaha!