SOXBLOX

The procedural wings! Be still, my heart! At any rate, hooray! And I watch these Easter eggs with interest...

Is "Starbase, TX" officially incorporated yet?

So, first you gotta find an energy source. The Sun and geothermal are the two we see on Earth. Next, you need working fluids which are liquid at space temperatures and pressures. Maybe doable for Mars, but, say, Sedna? Triton? Nah. All I can see working are bacteria. Maybe. Oh yeah, and tardigrades. They're even more indestructible than lawyers.

Since this is pure magic, as fast as you like.

Is this a term for eco-advertising? Cause if it is, I like it.

Found it. Yeah, it's the Hadley engine. I remember that from another smallsat startup for sure...

On the website, the image of the engine says "Ursa Major Technologies". Weren't they producing engines for someone else, too?

LOL. That takes care of that.

Just out of curiosity, which engine do you think is more difficult to manufacture? Raptor or the jet engine?

LOL. Exactly. If these guys are compensated for their labor, and can choose who to work for, they ain't slaves. Now we're calling apples oranges. So, these employees hold multiple jobs. Big deal.

Gah! That fairing is ugly. I forgot they still use it...

Can they leave when they please? Are they compensated for their services? (Room and board counts.) If yes, then you have invented employees. This is absolutely true. And on a civilizational level, we have to worry about this, too. Slavery has always been an economic drag, and a cultural time bomb waiting to go off. It could destroy a lot of civilizations. Better in the long run to not have it around. No, you couldn't. That's something in which you have a choice. This "Alpha slavery" isn't like that. It causes subservience, and the giving up of natural rights. The other thing doesn't. Anyway, can you imagine what would happen to a billionaire guy who said, "Hey, I've got some genetically engineered slaves to sell!" nowadays? Both sides in American politics would burn him alive. Do you have any ideas on how to change those ideas, so the populace would be amenable to the suggestion?

I think I'll steal this if you don't mind.

I'm pretty sure that here in the States, and at least for electric lines, you have to pay for installation. So, if you build a house in the sticks, and the nearest supply is two miles away, you get to pay for two miles of lines and poles. Maybe there are government programs to help you out, but I think that's how it works... So, for those who are scattered all over Appalachia or the Midwest, Starlink internet is probably a great deal.

So you assume beliefs like this can be genetically hard-coded? Or do you propose putting these people through brainwashing?

What comes in between these 10km hops and orbital flight? Anything? Do you think they'd do a hop to somewhere besides Boca Chica?

So, in other words, do biological experiments on other human beings? I'm fine with people modifying themselves, provided they don't inflict such deformities on future generations.

Thanks! That first one is the one I read on this, a while ago. It was in some book I got from the library... So, oxygen can come from ilmenite, pyroxene, or olivine. The Rosenberg paper says that an initial amount of hydrochloric acid would be needed, but after that, Earth would only have to supply water. Of course, now we know that the Moon has water. Maybe this could work...

So, it's probably like coking from kerosene, but worse. But would SiO2 even be solid in this environment? I can't imagine fine sand blowing out of a rocket nozzle... I'm thinking that its benefits, if any, would be the hypergolic and ISRU aspects. Like @Spica said, you still need hydrogen, which on the Moon can really only be found in ice deposits. I was wondering if it would have slightly-worse-than-methane performance, but without needing carbon. IDK about production of silicon from regolith. I'll check in the morning...

Silane, or SiH4, is the silicon analog of methane. It is pyrophoric, which, as far as I can see, means it's hypergolic, and has decent thermal properties, according to a paper I read. It could be produced from abundant silicon in the lunar crust, etc. What do you think? Would it be a good fuel for lunar use?

Wait, whaaa? I had no idea they were doing this! I thought it was just a concept under development... Awesome!

LOL, me too. It goes straight over me here in East Texas. I actually kinda hope it does fall around here. I wanna see that thing break up...

No, my point was that it will always be cheaper to settle, for example, the Gobi, rather than space. I did not say it would be more environmentally friendly. But "environmentally friendly" isn't such a great motive, is it? He was pointing out the flaws in your logic. You can use the same argument you made using those quotes to say, "Since lots of people have said perpetual motion is impossible, they will be proven wrong in the future".

Aaaand so the environmental problems in the Gobi Desert, where there's breathable atmosphere and no dangerous radiation, are harder to deal with than the problems in space? Hah! Ehm, no. I think it's feasible. I just don't think that there's enough money in it for folks. Sure, if you got all the different pieces of space industry to line up perfectly and simultaneously, it would work. But who knows. Maybe we'll see this happen someday.

I would be happier to see them reduced to mag 8 or higher. That way we amateur astronomers can take pictures of things besides satellites. That would be fascinating. Hey forum, we need volunteers to go see these people! lol