Drunkrobot

Six men have known solitude like none other. Mike Collins, Dick Gordon, Stu Roosa, All Worden, Men Mattingly, and Ron Evens stayed inside and piloted the Command and Service Module while their crewmates went down to the surface of the Moon. I really wish this son of a ***** could hold three people. An unfortunate quirk in the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous mission plan is that one person would have to stay behind so they could dock to the returning Lunar Module. Once the other two separated, all that had to be done to completely isolate the CMP from the rest of humanity was for the CSM to follow it's trajectory around to the far side, where radio signals from Earth, or from the astronauts on the near side, couldn't reach. On one side of the Moon, this. On the other side, everything else humanity has. It's safe to say that they were alone. Let's say that you, as an Apollo astronaut, was given the role of CMP. What would that make you feel, knowing you'll have to train so hard to only get 110km from the surface? How would you deal with the isolation? Would you worry about the say of your Moonwalker comrades, because remember, if they die down there, you would be the sole survivor. Or would getting a view of the Moon that not even the other two crewmembers will ever get help make you feel secure as a vital part of the mission?

How many developed countries (the sort of countries likely to get these drones first) have such an unprofessional police service that officers using them for clay-pigeon shooting would be a daily occurrence? In my country, at least, standard officers don't even have guns on patrol, so this problem won't even happen here.

Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott, inside their Gemini 8 capsule, in March 1966, set out to do what many people once regarded as physically impossible-rendezvous and dock with another object in space. They caught up with the Agena Target Vehicle, successfully joined with it, then promptly detached and made an emergency landing on Earth when they discovered their spacecraft was trying to kill them. This will be the second most impressive thing they will ever do. A centuries-long process from calculations on the blackboard, to prototyping, developing and final construction of vehicles, to testing in orbit culminated in the joining of two vehicles in space. This ability to join two craft into one has made possible the Moon landings and the space station programs since, producing more knowledge of both the Earth and the Cosmos beyond than the intellectual cost of making orbital rendezvous and docking possible. This makes the idea of stuffing two guys into a spaceship that could never survive re-entry, then detaching them from the spaceship that can, seem less crazy. Project Gemini was all about learning new skills. These new skills made the Moon the most well-understood body in existence, other than the Earth. For example a way we never developed docking. That would make Direct Ascen the only possible mission plan. This mean the lander must dedicate more of it's mass towards fuel and engines, leaving less for experiments, tools, cameras and rocks. Result: less science. Apart from allowing bigger rockets, for father out places, to be possible, and more science instruments to bring with you, how can the game represent the scientific benefit of new abilities? How about each "special" part (docking ports, for example) has a significant task, or "mission highlight" you must perform written to it? When you successfully perform it (first docking with another craft), some of the science you spent on getting the part is refunded to you. If you spent X amount of science points unlocking rover wheels, you get back 1/4, or 1/2 X points when you land a rover somewhere, and so on. In real life, mission highlights, like docking to a spacecraft or testing a new spacesuit, were put under scientific analysis (i.e. to make that certain component better). In-game, the player could design a mission that accounts for the highlight, a sort of "mini-tutorial" to that area of the game. A shallower learning curve is a needed thing in this game! This can also give rookies some incentive to try out some things they have neglected (I'm a rocketman, and I've had no reason to go into planes).

For your cognitive-stimulation and entertainment, I give you birds-eye images of the Apollo Landing Sites. Apollo 11 Apollo 12 Apollo 14 Apollo 15 Apollo 16 Apollo 17 Just to show what footprints would look like.

I think we can all agree that we are living in the future. We've found the Higgs Boson, there's a rover on both the Moon and Mars, and we are seriously considering operating pizza delivery via unmanned drone. Freedom pizzas. Our world increasingly relies on the concept of an unmanned aircraft. The air forces and intelligence agencies of the world have been quick to note their use, and said use in spying and strikes are a hotly debated issue. This has, of course, influenced many people's opinions on how much impact drones should have on everyday life. First, the takeout food. Then, online shopping. Finally, the nuclear missiles. What are your opinions on these little machines, and the role they have to play? Should we be investing in them? What jobs will they have?

Apollo 11, sure, preserve the site, the first steps on the Moon is the closest we have to "sacred ground". When you look at the landing site in terms of lunar science, it is pretty dull, so we're not losing much anyway. Other sites, like 15, are interesting enough to be revisited, either by robots or manned missions.

Recently, I have completed my first career mode manned mission to Minmus. To complete this mission (and acquire sweet, delicious science), I had forced myself to do what is (in my opinion) crazy and suicidal. But hey, that's Kerbal Space Program for ya! At KSC-Astronaut Lounge Shepford: I'm telling you, Buzz, we're never getting a good mission. Buzz: Don't be so pessimistic. We and Halfury played back-up for Jeb, Bill and Bob for their Munshot, didn't we? Getting on a backup crew pretty much guarantees a slot on a later prime. S: I said GOOD mission. The top-brass are talking about putting up a "space station". Ask any lab rat on this Kosmodrome what they're doing, they're either sketching up designs for a laboratory module for said space station, or shaping up an air-breathing rocket, for a vehicle to reach said space station without making it rain rocket parts. It all points towards this hypothetical "later prime crew" going up 100km to live in a tin can for a few weeks. Spending ten days inside a Moho capsule is enough for me. B: I wouldn't be quick to make up my mind. Kirrim's been mentioning that the Administer had put out an order for two Satnie Vs a few months ago, both be used this year. Sure, one of them's for sending up the station, but the other? Whatever it's used for, it's gonna be pretty flippin' cool. Gene: Boy's! How are you both doing? S: We're doing fine, sir. Bored out of our minds, but we're fine. G: Well, that is about to change. How would you two kids like to go to Minmus? S: KSON? Why is it named after a comet? G: Your mission is expected to be the highlight of this year's activity in space, just like comet KSON! B: But didn't KSON go round Kerbol and disappoint everyone by fizzling out of existence? G: You've hit the nail on the head, Buzz! I'll leave you two with Wernher to explain the rocket itself. Wernher: What do you think? It's impressive, no? B: The Satnie V is certainly impressive, but that was to be expected. But what's that on top of it? W: We've decided to split the craft that will journey to Minmus into two-a lander module, that one of you will use to actually reach the surface... S: Can I say one thing. W: Go ahead. S: I CALL LANDER! B: I CALL-DARNIT! If there's one person on this planet more famous for being second than you, it's me! W: ...While the Command Module stays in orbit around Minmus, and brings the two of you back to Kerbin. S: What's that thing in the middle? W: That is the EXtravehicular Pressurized/Radiated Instruments for Minmus Excursion aNd Testing, or EX.P/R.I.M.E.N.T module. B: It's missing the second "E". W: We know. The chief acronym officer has had a month's pay docked form his salary. Anyway, the Lander Pilot-that's you, Shepford-will bring it down with him to the surface, run the tests on the ground, do an EVA, and come back up to rendezvous with the CM. EX.P/R.I.M.E.N.T is then docked to the CM, the lander undocks, and the two of you come back. B: Question. W: Yes? B: That big capsule is designed to only keep the crew alive for a round trip to the Mun. How's it going to last all the way to Minmus? W: Simple-We're only keeping two Kerbals alive, not three! Six months later: S: YEEEEEEEEEAH! B: NOOOOOOOOO! Duke (CAPCOM): Relax, guys. You've got a good trajectory. Right down the middle. B: You try to remain calm when you have an inferno glued to your ass! D: Stay classy, Buzz, you're on TV. S: We report, Stage-A detached. Making final orbital insertion burn now. S: I love being an astronaut. Pay is terrible, you work in a cramped, noisy, dangerous office, you eat through a straw, the team-building exercises are non-stop, and good luck getting health coverage. But sweet lord, what a view. G: Attention all flight controllers, I need a go/no-go for Trans-Minmus Injection Burn. BOOSTER? BOOSTER: Ya, go. G: RETRO? RETRO: We're go, FLIGHT. G: FIDO? FIDO: Go for TMI. G: GUIDANCE? GUIDANCE: Go. G: EECOM? EECOM: Go. G: GNC? GNC: Go, FLIGHT. G: INCO? INCO: We're go. G: NETWORK? NETWORK: Go. G: TELMU? TELMU: That's a go. G: FAO? FAO: We're go. G: SURGEON? SURGEON: Buzz is hyperventilating, but we're go. G: CAPCOM? CAPCOM: Shepford says go. G: We are go for TMI, we are go for Minmus. S: Are you feeling better yet? B: When I'm not being crushed into my seat, yes. S: You hear about those "thermal rockets" that the Beta propulsion team have been working on? NERVA, I think they call it? Apparently, the Thrust-to-Weight of the thing isn't all that high. Maybe they would give a smoother ride? B: You know you're in the wrong profession when "nuclear reactor with a hole in the back of it" is the preferred, comfy choice. D: Guys, FIDO reports you've made a perfect burn. You make a course straight to Minmus, fly-by, and then go on to a collision with the Mun. S: That's great news Duke. We brake into an orbit around Minmus, and Stage-C makes a "hard-landing" on the Mun. Brilliant! B: Just one quick question. What if neither of our engines work? What do we do to avoid crashing? D: ...You have go to dock with EX.P/R.I.M.E.N.T. S: C'mon, Dr. Docking. Show your work. B: I'm doing it, keep your pants on. B: Like a Boss. Our sailors of the Kosmos put Sir Issac Kerman in the pilots seat, and make their way to the tiny frozen world of Minmus. S: What's that speak of dirt on the window? B: That, Shepford Kerman, elite astronaut and hero of the Kerbal race, is Minmus. S: Oh. In orbit around Minmus S: KSC, we are pressurizing the rest of the universe. I'm leaving the CM now. S: This is the greatest moment of my life. B: Excited for your landing? S: No, I'm just glad that I'm not sharing the same atmosphere as you anymore. B: The feeling is mutual. S: Alright, let's go get some rocks! D: Your landing site is near to the Minmie I surface probe. Go see how well it's been doing all this time. S: I would like to say I'm tense, but it takes SO LONG to fall on this moon. B: Imagine playing golf. A good drive would get it halfway round the thing. S: Contact light! Engine cutoff! I've made it down, KSC! B: That's good to hear, Shepford! I've got the best view you could get up here. You're a brisk walk away from Minmie I. Shepford get's some needed rest for what he about to do. In the KBC "live news" room, Kerbin Emmett: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls around the world, I'm Emmett Kerman, and this is the KBC. Alan "Shepford" Kerman, only the forth Kerbal in the history of our species to walk on another world, and the first to do so on Minmus. Who could forget Jebediah's historic "one small step". Now, as we get live TV images of KSON Minmus lander, with Shepford hanging on the mobility extender, we will see what he has chosen to say to mark this momentous occasion. S: YAHA! Jeb, it may had been one giant leap from you, but I remembered to soften the landing suspension. Gosh-DARN this moon is beautiful. E: Hmmmm, "Yaha" it is then. S: It takes a few seconds to land on each step. The surface doesn't "crunch", it looks to be a flat sheet of ice. I'm developing the need to take off my helmet and eat key lime pie. D: But you hate key lime pie. S: I know, that's whats so weird about it. Meanwhile, in Minmus orbit D: Ok Buzz, we're about to hit LOS, see you on the other si-- B: Well, this is it. I'm totally alone. With Shepford and the rest of Kerbalkind on the other side of Minmus, I'm more isolated than anyone who has ever existed. Anything I say, there is no chance of anyone ever hearing me. ... I COLLECT STAMPS! There, I've finally said it. I admit it, I collect stamps. That's the first step, isn't it, to kicking a habit, admitting what is wrong with you? S: The patriotism-enhancing device is activated, KSC. D: Copy that, we are felling very patriotic down here. S: I'm making my way to Minmie. I suggest some sort of car to be brought along on future missions. D: Scared of a little walk? Double time it, pilot! S:It's bigger than I expected from the pictures. It hasn't been pushed over or anything, which probably means that the rocks don't come alive when I'm not looking at them. The primary antenna had failed to open, it seems. Wait, let me try something. S: O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? D: Shepford, please get back into the lander, before you lose your last marble. B: 30 metres, 20 metres, 10 metres, 5 metres, and docked. S: Hey Buzz. B: What is it? S: WAAAAAAZUUUUUUUUUUP! B: Get in before I lock the hatch. S: Lander detached. We're ready to come back home. S: Hey Buzz. B: What? S: Remember when we launched? B: What about it? S: Remember how I enjoyed it? B: Yes. S: Now's the time to worry. D: Good chute, guys! Brace yourselves for final approach and litho-breaking. Now, some of you may have noticed something. When a Kerbal takes a surface sample, or does an EVA report, and gets back into a pod, both get stored into that pod, and they can't be transferred to different pods. How did I get around this? S: This is the stupidest thing I've ever done! Minmus has such low gravity that the EVA pack has enough delta-v to reach orbit. Shepford did the science, blasted his way to the CM, and got in, packaging the report/sample into the correct pod, then got back out and landed next to the lander. Fix your game, Squad! Anyway, thank you for reading this post! I appreciate the fact you put time into reading this, unlike those worthless quitters whp stopped reading halfway through. I don't usually submit into Fan Works, so tell me if this doesn't belong where it is. See ya!

I know the use of GIFS on the forum is rather looked down upon by the community, but if you could send a few from this video you've found my way, that'll be great.

If any aliens were to come our way, then they wouldn't be after raw materials or slave labor. In fact, they wouldn't be after anything that would be against our best interests, because that would require them to invade us. That would not end well...for them. Any sort of alien invasion wouldn't be the curbstomp you would expect. On one side you have: 7 Billion humans, all now 100% committed to making life for the invaders as ugly and short as possible, with a planet full of resources to employ towards this goal. On the other side, you have: An isolated armed force, with limited soldiers, ammunition and supplies. Even if they capture some land, they would need significant time to build infrastructure that could replace said supplies. The defenders (humanity) knows the terrain better than any form of life in the universe, they can survive anywhere with minimal technological assistance, and their equipment is masterfully engineered to work as effectively as possible in any given corner of the planet, from the sands and jungles of Africa to the blizzards of Antartica. The attackers are literally lightyears away from whatever planet they evolved and trained on. The entire biosphere is their potential enemy, everything from pathogens doing major direct damage to them (forcing them into "spacesuits", and making their entire body a weak spot for human forces), to the atmosphere and terrian being so incompatable with their equipment, it makes the attrition involved with "invading Russia in the winter" look like a walk in the park. Their only, ONLY, advantage is their technology, but remember, although they will be advanced enough to travel between the stars, that doesn't mean they will have weapons that blows us out of the water. It may turn out that the key to interstellar travel is some Law of Nature that we are about to discover (think of how much we've advanced in Physics in the last 100 years, and how much we will in the next 100), and the invaders have a few decades advantage on us. Even 200 years might not mean that much, given that humans have every other thing going for them. Then, once survivors of the first few battles snatch the guns from the cold, dead hands of the invaders, and the greatest minds humanity has are mobilized to pick apart those guns, we would be closing that gap. The 400 year tradition of "encounter, capture, test, understand, innovate and destroy" would be used to give the invaders a crash-course on exactly how horrible we can be if we wanted to be. Acts of underhanded hostility that we today associate with terrorists would give the attackers one huge frickin' headache. Once a few alien cadavers are put under the knife, biological and chemical weapons enter the arsenal (I doubt the Geneva convention applies here). If they were about to capture a city, we bury the biggest nuclear weapon available and we leg it. Would we have a chance of annihilating them? Not a very big one. Would we be destroyed anyway? If they could adapt to the planet, if they wanted us dead as much as we wanted them, that is pretty likely. Are we so good at killing stuff that the aliens would take one look at Earth, estimate how many of their kind would descend to that hellhole and never come back, and go "Nah, let's just leave those crazy mothertruckers alone."? Absolutely. So, if they wanted anything to do with us and our planet, they would most likely come in peace. What they want will have something to do with Earth life, including us. Since we've gone to the trouble of learning as much about Earth as we can, they'll probably prefer to ask us for the data instead of learning it themselves. Our culture, from ancient tales and confident religions to modern economic and military doctrine, would fascinate them. It has been stated earlier in the thread that we might be terrifyingly advanced in some way compared to even them. Maybe the climate of their home planet wasn't as varied as ours, and they marvel at how we conquered such a wild, unpredictable world. Maybe there is only a tiny area of their planet covered in water, and vast navies of steel never entered their imagination before meeting us. If their planet has slightly lower gravity than Earth, they might have never required the performance that our rockets have (~90% of Earth gravity is low enough that a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle is possible with current rockets.), and the genius we've poured into this field would mean alot to them. The reverse, of course, is true. It'll take a while for Wikipedia to procure the culture of a second intelligent race. If they were generous enough to give at least a hint to what technology got them across the interstellar void, our scientists and engineers would devour that knowledge like a fat kid with chocolate cake, and the sudden knowledge that we are not alone would hopefully give humanity a goal: to elevate itself to the galactic stage. [EDIT] I really did plan to have a much shorter post than this. Sorry!

In stock KSP, pretty much the only two practical applications of Space Stations is: 1.Fuel depots 2.teh lulz It is likely that one or more parts will be added to the game to allow the players to set up some sort of laboratory, either in orbit or on other bodies, in version 0.23. But for now, the idea of constructing an orbiting complex, for whatever reason, is rather shallow and does not have much purpose. What mods have you seen that added some kind of functionality to space stations?

I'm willing to back colmo's theory of general narrativity. Yes, it was a very scientifically accurate film, yes it was the best film I've ever seen, and yes, I will be getting the DVD of it for Christmas because it's "film so good you watch it at the cinema and then buy it as a DVD" good, but even this film has to bend physics a little. If Kowalski (side note: Kowalski Kerman=necessary game name. Get it done, Squad!) didn't die, then the plot would've lost quite a bit of the drama (reaching the Chinese space station via landing rockets would've been something he would instantly think of). One of the reasons, in my opinion, that diamond hard sci-fi films like Gravity and Europa Report don't happen as often is because they enter a sort of "uncanny valley". Star Wars and Star Trek are closer to fantasy (operating under author-created rules i.e. the force, warp drive) than science fiction (works under the laws of nature as we understand them), so we don't mind if they break the laws of physics. But with Gravity, billing itself as realistic, it risks being attacked for making the odd mistake. I love science, and seeing more stuff like Gravity on the big screen would be brilliant, but I can forgive the makers of the film for bending the rules a little for the sake of plot. I go to school for the perfect stuff!

It's not what you often think is a space program. It's more a collection of aerospace companies, large and small, that create satellites and experiments and things like that. The government helps to fund these companies, as well as being a part of ESA. Britain did develop an entirely native launcher (British rocket, British satellite, although the launch was in Woomera, Australia) back in the early 70s. Due to cuts in funding, the whole program was shut down, and yet to be replaced. Britain remains the only country made developed the capability to put a sizable payload into orbit, and then give it up without working towards replacing it. That would be one of the things I change!

The sort of people who play games that demands knowing the works of Kepler and Newton are also the type of people who stay up to date on the space endeavors of the human race. And even the most international, globalized individual of that sort of people pay extra attention to the endeavors for their country of birth. We still treasure the knowledge that our adventures to the cosmos earns us, as we should, but we all also dream of a man in a silver suit hopping out of a spaceship on some distant world with our own flag of choice, and stabbing it into the alien dirt with all the patriotic fervor he could muster. That's one small step for a man, and one bloody big bald eagle holding the camera. This, in my own opinion, is healthy. Nations are, by definition, large groups of people who share conman values and cultural heritage, and seeing people who share that with you do the incredible is one hell of a way of promoting optimism, and in the case of spaceflight, scientific excellence. Besides, it's a great alternatives to that other method of boosting national pride through scientific achievement. Therefore, it makes total sense for people on this forum to have at least a basic understanding of what the whole world is up to in space, but have a more detailed understanding of the efforts of their own nation. Someone from Canada will have a better knowledge on what CSA has been doing than I do , while they may lack knowledge of Britain's stuff that I have. Countries tend to put stuff they're proud of on their money. How many other countries can boast a robot space arm as a national treasure? What I want to know from you is this. Say you were at home, getting stuff done, when you hear a knock on your door. You answer, and you find two men in dark suits. They tell you that you've just been giving free-reign on every asset your country has that regards space exploration-as well as a hotline to every private company based in the country, and 1% of the total budget. Everything is handed to you as it is right now, and what you do with it is up to you. You can't spell "efficient" without "totalitarianism". First, give an overview of what the current space program is like, in reality. Than, say what you would have done, which programs you would start, and which ones you would cut out. Lastly, what would expect to have in place in 5 or 10 years time. Before anyone complains that the question is unrealistic, let me tell you something-I know it's unrealistic. This is just a fun little game where we ponder what we would do if given this dangerously absurd amount of resources, and maybe learn about what other countries have done and are proud of.

Isn't some of the more, ah, shall we say, "polarizing" articles not as open to editing? Otherwise you might get things like "Barack Hussein Obama is a murdering terrorist Nazi" or "Margaret Thatcher was the Ice-maiden of Azgoth". All the time. In my usage of the site, it has been a very useful tool, a good way to get the basics of any topic. It's up to you to go out and search for a more in-depth look into said topic.

The original question concerned a hypothetical situation were NASA had to choose between two of it's flagship robotic missions. For the question's sake, assume all other programs are safe from cuts. If you wish to discuss the ISS and it's role in space exploration, both manned and unmanned, then please find another thread to discuss it on.

On the 4th of July 2012, the wonderful people manning the Large Hadron Collider at CERN announced that they almost definitely found hard evidence of the Higgs Boson predicted by the Standard Model. Stare long and hard at it, folks, because this is the most important family photo you will ever see. Finding this "goddamned" particle was so important because it provided experimental backing of the existence of the Higgs Field, the interaction with which being what gives particles mass. Understanding what gives anything this most fundmental of properties is obviously needed to develop a complete understanding of the Universe. Here's to you, super-science machine. "But what is the actual, real world benefit of this one little particle?" Says the idiot in the corner. Wait, actually, that is a good question. While knowing more about how the Universe works is a worthy goal for the human race, we could also use the fruits of our labors to improve the human condition. Don't think I'm one of those armchair politicians who wants to gut the experimental physics budget and send it straight to curing cancer or whatever. It's simply that recently, in Physics class, conversation turned to it's discovery, and the cost of the project to find it. One boy in the class said "What had we got from it?". My immediate thoughts turned to what area of the body would cause maximum pain if I punched it, as I thought about it, I wondered to myself "In 50, or 100 years time, how will the human race be affected by this newly opened chapter in particle physics?". When a new area of theoretical physics opens up to study, it appears to the general public, and indeed to many contemporary scientists, as "useless". Then, when the aspects of it is quantified, tested, how it effects the "real world" is brought to the limelight, and the people who pay attention understands how it can make us powerful. Then, often after decades of study, new inventions utilizing it make their appearance, often changing the world. While it can take a human lifetime, several lifetimes even, for the benefits to come about, when they do they come hard and fast. Maxwell's equations, 1873 Television from the Moon, 99 years later. Already, the Higgs Field is on it's way to being a part of everyday society. With it discovered, effort know turns to measuring it, pulling out how it works from Natures bosom. The International Linear Collider will build on LHC's legacy of particle-smashing to begin refined study of the Higgs Field and it's Boson. The next contender in impressive scientific megaprojects that begin with "International". What I'm asking you is, how do you think humanity in the future will be using the Higgs Field in practical applications, similar to how nowadays we use electromagnetism for radio, and atomic nuclei for fission. No idea is too far fetched, nobody in 1850 would've ever guessed what we have achieved using their work. The Higgs Field gives stuff mass, so whatever we use it for, it's going to be really cool! After all, the next generation will be standing on the shoulders of giants.

I don't mean for this thread to get political, and I'm no expert on how the United States deals with it's budget, but i think that it's Congress who is the final voice on any change in the budget. If the President wanted to increase the funding going to NASA, he has to send the tweaked budget to Congress for approval, and the "new" budget could be completely ignored if they wished not to. This pretty much means that if a company builds a road but doesn't get paid, or some vanity project goes several times over budget, or indeed if an icon of the space program is forced to shut down, then it's the guy in the White House who is to blame (funny how that works). At least it's a little better than how we (the UK) deal with our interests in space. It's pretty much boils down to what can make the most hard cash, like satellites. This means no exploration program. To the original question...I don't know. Saturn and it's moons is a fascinating place, and it's a place we will be cut off from for a long time when Cassini is turned off. However, find life, even the evidence of previous life, on Mars is really exciting, and the social media people at JPL have successfully convinced me Curiosity is a living thing. Slight edge to keeping MSL, but I won't be happy about losing either.

I hope that one day we would be able to run time in reverse, to reintroduce life to this dead world.

There's no reason the robot has to go up there alone. It could come along in a manner mission, and go into the caves ahead of the humans, connected to an operator on the surface with a cable. Once a better understanding of the caves has been made, the astronauts go in, to do more in-depth work. OK, you compute pi, and I teach you about this thing called love.

There has been a lot of talk about Gravity, and the things in real life space exploration that it presents (By the way, if you want to mention something that happens in Gravity, leave out spoilers, for the sake of people like me who have yet to see it. Only mention things that you've seen in the trailers, thanks! ). What doesn't seem to get much talk, at least on the forums, is what real astronauts (and cosmonauts) could do if they found themselves "off structure". Don't worry. This is just an old suit filled with radio equipment for an outreach program, and totally not the one crewmember who constantly had One Direction playing on max volume. This video by Khan academy (http://youtu.be/By-ggTfeuJU) explains something that they could if they had something "massive" on their person. As they were drifting away from their spacecraft (or spacestation), they throw the object in the opposite direction from the spacecraft, and by Newton Third Law, the object exerts a force on them, hopefully strong enough to accelerate them towards a handrail. I'm interested in whether real EVA suits have masses fitted on, so the astronaut would defiantly have something to throw. In my opinion, the best safeguard against such an accident would've been the MMU, or Manned Maneuvering Unit. This guy either feels very big, or very small. Used in real life by Space Shuttle astronauts, beginning with Bruce McCandless II, and by professional space-hunk George Clooney in Gravity, this RCS pack gives the astronaut control over their trajectory relative to the spacecraft, and their own attitude. Bruce McCandless II The point of the MMU is to assist astronauts during EVA (It was used to reach defunct satellites without the Shuttle having to dock to them), but had obvious applications for emergencies. After the Columbia accident, however, it was grounded, replaced by SAFER, or Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue, which is designed specifically in case the astronaut became untethered. What would people on the ground, and other crewmembers do if an astronaut was "lost", and what is your stance on what should be done, what pieces of equipment would you make use of?

Was anybody else thinking of the rope Luke Skywalker used to cross the gap in the Death Star in A New Hope? I think these could be scaled down too create something similar to it.

With all due respect, jwenting, it is my personal opinion that "The entire population of the planet that actively supports the biosphere remaining as varied as possible is in on a massive conspiracy that plots to totally destroy the human race." is one of those things that is *not* happening in reality.

Reading through a few of the posts, I've noticed the idea of "us vs. them" come up often. What would you define as "us"? If you asked that question to humans that lived a few centuries or millennia ago, their answer would likely disgust you. Imagine two members of a tribe, coming across the ruined remains of another village. One asks the other "Who lived here?" "Another group." "What happened to them?" "Our warriors came and killed them all." "Why did they do that?" "Because they're not us, and they posed a threat to us." This basic excuse has come up countless times in our history. The excuse that "we" are the top priority, and "we" can do whatever we want to "them", if it gives "us" a better chance of survival. The thing is, though, that the boundaries of this Special Club of Who Gets to Live Longer is expanding all the time. If I lived 200 years ago, and you asked me the question "Who is us?", I would've probably said "White British Protestants". Today, I would say "Humans". Expanding the idea of "us" to all the life forms that have a right to exist, I would say all life. No species deserves total extinction, even the pathogens that have killed us by the billions over our history should be kept alive, albeit in sealed environments, to keep Humans safe. Which brings us to the hypothetical alien life forms in the question. Say we are colonising Mars. We do a total sweep of the planet, and all we find is fossils, at most. It would be our duty to terraform Mars to suit Earth life, to make a dead world alive agian. If we find alive microbial life, at least in hibernation, then it gets very sketchy. It defiantly deserves to exist, if only for the fact that it is life that was created completely independently of our biosphere, and is scientifically priceless. The dilemma is to what extent it exists, between "Total freedom from Earth life" to "Existing only in the lab". Surrendering the vast stockpile of resources that is Mars to the microbes would probably never happen, although by the time we could seriously be thinking of permanently changing the climate of Mars for our needs, the practises of mining asteroids and the Moon, as well as building habitats in space from those materials, would take away much of the practical allure of Mars anyway. The preferable choice would be to make Mars suitable for both the Microbes and us, and live in-and I hate to use the word-harmony. If we ever come across complex life, say in the underground oceans of Europa, then we don't do anything that would endanger their survival. We would be playing God to deny the Europeans the right to their own world, we made that mistake far too many times in our history. We can observe, learn as much as we can, maybe even try to coexist, but not do anything that would drive them to extinction. So, to summarise: Sterile world: RAPE AND PILLAGE! World with simple life: Try to make the world more suitable for the both of us. World with complex life: Preserve them, even if it means not getting to live there. Given the strict requirements needed to support life (as we know it, at least), there is an awful lot of dead worlds out there for us to spread Earth life to, anyway. If there was an ultimate good, it would be "Make the rarest and most amazing structure of matter in the Universe-life-as abundant as possible, with as many different forms of life as possible".

Well, I have my new desktop background decided upon! What better way of showing how LEO is a part of our daily lives than taking a symbol of international unity on a spacewalk outside a structure built by international unity. I suppose you could keep the torch inside a container with pressurized Oxygen for it to stay alight. Probably for the best it isn't lit, we don't want another Mir moment!

Recently, Slitherine Ltd has released BARIS successor Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager. Link: http://www.slitherine.co.uk/games/BA_SPM_Pc Now, obviously, this new game and KSP are very different, but there are elements to both could borrow from each other. My question is: Do you see anything in Space Program Manager that could be used in KSP? Or anything that has given you inspiration for suggestions? Side note: If you're looking for a Let's Play of the game, then check these guys out: They know a thing or too about space trivia, and they're pretty funny too!