Scotius

One sniper is all it would take to deal with such threat. Unless your bad guy has super-armor too. Then soldiers would use anti-tank missile. Or drones with explosives. Or mortars. or call A-10 flight and BRRRRRRRTTTTTT!!! him into oblivion. Nec Hercules contra plures.

And people wonder why older European spaceflight enthusiasts tend to be bitter LOL I still remember how happy pretty pictures of HOTOL and Hermes made me feel. They seemed in arm's reach...

Oh, there IS some real hardware? Wow. Maybe wonders will never cease? Maybe this thing will actually fly one day?

Ah, "Dying Earth" genre. Where everything evolved, except humans - for some reasons.

On Earth the closest things we have to shapeshifters are octopuses and squids. Just watch some videos of those animals changing shape, colors and even texture of their bodies. It's simply unreal. As for gasbag users, It could be an adaptation towards migratory lifestyle. Normally such animal would live on the ground, feeding, grooming and doing daily things with gasbag deflated and shrunk or folded on his back and sides. Perhaps even hidden safely under leathery or chitinous covers - like wings of a beetle. When it's time for migration - due to change of season, lack of food or for breeding, this animal could start gradually filling bag or bags with hydrogen, while metabolizing walking muscles for energy and to shed weight. Finally it would be able to take off - to either fly away using wings or similar structures, or simply float away with wind to hopefully reach its destination. Where it would again deflate the gasbags and start eating to rebuild leg muscles. What could be the source of hydrogen filling the bags? Maybe bacteria in specialized organs. Or maybe electric organs similar to electric eel's, electrolising water into hydrogen and oxygen - just like electric eels do.

Only way to be sure? Wide spectrum cameras covering full sphere around the craft. And laser\maser emitters firing beams randomly in all possible directions as fast as possible. Unless potential enemy is 100% invisible to all wavelengths of EM spectrum, eventually it will be hit and it will be registered by cameras. But then, you can't be sure that whatever you looking for isn't partially shifted to another dimension - which would mean laser beams would go through it without interacting.

Considering that allegedly Shuttle's RCS activation could be detected from as far as asteroid belt, this wouldn't help much. There is no stealth in space.

Probably no one is keen of dealing with multiple small combustion chambers placed around the ship. Each coming with its own risk of a RUD happening while burning. Cold gas is usually safer, methinks.

Jeb, Bill and Bob celebrate Holidays by decorating antenna of their lander with empty snack wrappers. On Vall, close to Vallhenge. Still months until return window to Kerbin opens. But boys are in good spirits

Probably money saving measure. Why crumple 12 meter tank if you can get the same data from destroying 8 meter one?

In other words: Diversification is the key. Let's not put all our eggs in one basket. Time and practice will show which method of producing energy is optimal.

For a second test flight, it was amazing. Now it's time to analyze what went right, and what went wrong. And lastly, third time's the charm!

Eh, give it a couple of months in a decaying orbit and problem will be gone.

Apparently they had rough landing, with capsule tumbling from too much lateral velocity. Not sure if it was caused by wind, or parachute malfunction. Taikonauts are fine, it seems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toWIIZcxAUI

Did you just broke the rule No. 1? You did!

With Israel planning to accelerate the deployment of Iron Beam system, we should get more data about effectiveness of lasers in combat. Apparently during trials system was able to destroy missiles, artillery and mortar shells. Considering it has rather short range (up to 7 km.) it suggests both very short reaction time and the ability to deliver significant amount of energy in very short time. Now I'm wondering if similar system could be attached to space stations, to protect them from space trash? Maybe not destroy space junk outright, but push it away - to a safer orbit. Possibly even decelerate piece enough to make it burn in the atmosphere faster? This way station could serve as a space janitor, cleaning its orbit of garbage over time.

Just use pulsed weapon. With short enough pulses you will notice the flashes, but locating where they are coming from will not be easy. Unless you are looking straight at the source - which won't be healthy!

Sometimes jokes just write themselves. Honesty though - I do hope BO will display more Ferociter under new boss. Because Gradatim got old long time ago.

Unless SN wants to use their own launcher, instead of hitching a ride on SH. On one hand it may be less economical, but on the other hand it provides more options and elasticity.

Or so we think. Which is a bit of a reach, because our current knowledge is based on single sample. Meanwhile Sllorps from the world of Duzamur discuss how rare life must be on energy poor, cold worlds of galactic rim...

Flesh and metal, eh? It just asks for trouble. Jump from the fifth floor? Why not - after all you have tough metal skeleton. Then you land... and all squishy tissues let you know how displeased they are with being put under very violent deceleration. Either go full metal "ghost in the shell" or stay human and stay safe.

Too bad we don't have any functioning seismometers on the Moon anymore. Those left by Apollo missions were turned off in the 1970'ties. There would be valuable data to obtain from relatively high-speed crash.

I just take issue with firing people, and dressing it up as "Optimization of workforce". Soulless af.

"Optimizes workforce." Yeah, right. Less people now has to do more for the same pay. Quality of work will not suffer at all...

Good news. I'm glad to hear Voyager is not lost yet.