razark

I assure you, NASA does not bribe its way past the laws of physics.

What does "Age of Empires style marketing" mean?

There are also members of the species that like to go places and see things that no human has ever before, for the simple reason of "Because it's there".

What exactly is "Aerospace engineering"? All the engineers that I deal with are classed as "aerospace" engineers, without regard to what their education actually is. My father was an electrical engineer by education, but he later had to learn at least the basics of mechanical and chemical engineering as well. I'm just wondering what "aerospace engineer" means in the outside world.

The truth is that we're 20 years away from sending people to Mars. The sad part is that we've been 20 years away from sending people to Mars since the 1960s. We have the technology to do it, but no one will fund it today. People are working on making it cheaper, but it will take time to get there. Mars One is a gimmick. It's never going anywhere. Mars to Stay is the name of one model of going to Mars. Among others, it's been championed by Buzz Aldrin, a world famous boxer also known for writing the book on space rendezvous and an EVA during Gemini. (He might have done something else...) The idea is to send a colony without provision for bringing them back. (Isn't this how Australia got started?) It's cheaper, it's doable, and it's probably not going to be popular with the public.

I'm guessing that the electrical engineering field is less likely to have the funding rug pulled out from under it. Of course, if you start in the aerospace industry as one, you might find that years later, you're learning another field. My father started as an electrical engineer putting American radios into Soyuz, and retired more than 30 years later having to learn mechanical, chemical, and aerospace engineering along the way. (And management. I think that's what finally got him to retire.) Of course, if you work for the government, every engineer is an "aerospace engineer", so I'm not sure exactly what that field covers at the university level.

Just wondering, but are these "official" sources such as the Announcements forum, where the most recently announced release is 0.24.1?

The current "Mission Control" functionality should be under Administration.

Only because it was central to the show. Watching the show, how many times was the ship captured, nearly captured, disabled, overrun by diseases, computers/engines/life support/vital technology not working, etc? If it was named anything besides Enterprise, it wouldn't have lasted through an entire episode.

Aside from it being Star Trek: The Next Generation, not Star Trek: The High School Years? Wesley was like the Borg. Useful once in a while, but when you insist on throwing him in everything all the time, it gets bad. The character wuld have been fine in small doses, but he seemed to be the "We need to finish this episode, so... Yeah! Genius kid saves them all!"

This right here. It's a pain to get all the way down the the surface, and only then realize you have a light or an RCS thruster blocking the hatch. I've done it before without trying. I was messing around, and launched straight up. Hit the Mun.

One of my favorites.

Yes, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounding_rocket

X, but now X.

So, copyright used to promote people to do new stuff, but now it just prevents them from doing the stuff that's already been done?

Gotta love those classics. I have an .mp3 file of that one. I sent one to a friend. He spent a couple minutes messing with the volume. What's really amusing was that it was the second time I sent it to him.

I just wonder why you'd start the engine before you intend to launch. I agree, though. I've had a few times that I've set my throttle, timewarped to my launch window, and then watched as my vehicle slowly settled to the ground, or fell over, or just barely started moving. If the throttle is going to be set at load, it should not reset wen I change it.

Sadly, yes. There are areas of the country that would see large numbers of signs being torn down, for one. (Or, to keep with the stereotype theme, shot down...)

Signs wear out and need to be replaced. All we do is start replacing signs with new ones that list both metric and miles per hour. Require all new cars to be sold with metric/whatever speedometers, and wait. After a few years, start replacing worn out signs with purely metric ones. And if people can't match the number on the sign with the number on their speedometer, they don't need to be driving anyway. Change the system in use, and people will learn the new system. They can adapt, and those that don't will die out eventually.

It appears the probability was 1.

Arcade? Not until they finish the first person shooter!

While the Yangtze river may be filled with silt and not "real" pollution, is it normal for that river to fill with silt? Or did the silt end up in the river due to other human activity (construction, agriculture, etc) upstream? Just because it's not industrial waste doesn't mean it's good, excess silt that shouldn't be there can be considered pollution. Cleveland?

I do this as well, except for the 5. But now that you've mentioned it, I'll probably add that to my setup, and maybe a key for SAS, as well.

Zorkmids? Triganic Pu?

Whatever I can enjoy with friends and/or family. That's what truly makes a meal worthwhile. Although, if I have to be specific, the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding my father makes every Christmas, served with my mother's Bearnaise sauce.