jfull

If you can make a fusion reactor, there's no reason not to make a fusion rocket. You wouldn't need to mess around with the ion engines because you'd get much higher velocity plasma directly from the fusion (and thus, better ISP)

The thing about modders is... they're usually already working on the projects and ideas they want to do.

Eventually I'll use it to play "space janitors" Some unlucky Kerbals are going to have the dull job of deorbiting old upper stages.

You seem to be under the impression that ozone has fantastical radiation-blocking properties. Ozone is certainly the most radiation-blocking gas in our atmosphere, but you'd need quite a bit of it to protect a spacecraft

No, it doesn't release more energy than there was to begin with. Also, it doesn't convert all its mass into energy, as much of the radiation it puts out would be in the form of particles (with mass). That being said, it certainly would be converting some mass into energy, quite a bit of energy. It would probably outclass fission and fusion, but not be as effective as antimatter annihilation. However, considering that antimatter will always require amounts of energy equivalent to twice its mass in order to be produced, a singularity would certainly be useful for producing energy (you could just keep "feeding" it controlled amounts of any kind of matter)

Yes, but what if there's a point where it can no longer evaporate due to its size?

So, as many of you may know, a singularity will emit Hawking radiation and, in the process, steadily lose mass (provided it isn't taking in mass). They do this because their event horizons disturb Quantum Vacuum Fluctuations, pairs of particles that flash into existence and then annihilate each other. This means that very small singularities will only last a few fractions of a second, due to the large surface area of their event horizons when compared to their mass. Now, conventional theories assume that black holes evaporate until there is nothing left, but I have to wonder if it might leave some remnant. Is it possible that a singularity could reach so low a mass that its event horizon is no longer large enough to interact with the vacuum fluctuations? (I want to say something like "a radius below the Planck Length", but I honestly don't know enough about that) Such a singularity would be unable to interact with normal matter, would (probably) be neutrally charged, but would still have some small amount of mass. And now this is starting to sound like it would fit the definition of Dark Matter. Obviously, all the black holes that have ever existed wouldn't be enough to produce enough of these singularity remnants to account for the mass of Dark Matter in the universe? Is it possible that they could have been created by the high energies of the first few moments of the Big Bang though? If these singularities are possible, it would be hard to say how many of then might be floating around Of course, it would be pretty easy to shoot down this idea with some research and a bit of math. It might be that a tiny singularity would not actually have the properties I've described. Also, it may be that a singularity simply cannot have an event horizon that small. Perhaps I'll do the math to determine what size event horizon would be produced by a singularity with the mass of the lightest elementary particle...

Actually, everything I've read indicates it will be more like a claw-type part (the Devs are calling it The Claw). It will function like a docking port, except that it can attach to any part at any angle. You will also be able to transfer fuel through it. Seems like it could be useful for some kind of "space janitor" ship I know I have quite a few large, partially fueled upper stages in Kerbin orbit, it might be time to de-orbit those.

Well, if something goes wrong before they've established infrastructure, they may need some way to get back into orbit, or simply relocate to a different location on the surface.

I have some doubts about whether antimatter will ever be feasible to produce and contain

Lets suppose that, a few centuries from now, humanity has a need or desire to send a significant number of craft to other stars. Unfortunately warp drive and other FTL concepts are either still beyond our technology or have been proven to be outright impossible. In this scenario, what kind of propulsion technology would you use and what kind of craft would you build? I would imagine that at that point we might have many giant solar arrays orbiting the sun and beaming power back to Earth. However, they could also beam their power to giant laser stations of some kind. My craft would have solar sails and be pushed as far as possible by intense laser beams. When the beam no longer becomes effective, it would jetison the sail and use pulsed nuclear propulsion to continue accelerating. By using a sail, it could avoid having to carry quite a lot of reaction mass for propulsion. Even further in the future, I think it would be ideal to use small singularities for propulsion (yes that's a valid propulsion method, as a small singularity will radiate away all its mass)

In fact, you can! In my understanding you'd only get thrust on the order of something like an ion engine, and it requires a very long tether. This is not, however, repulsion-less/reaction-less, in the same way that gravity assists are not reaction-less.

I don't use Mechjeb. I've been everywhere but Eeloo without ever using it. I do use a combination of Precisenode (which basically just gives you fine control over manouver nodes and tells you your ejection angle) and Alexmoon's interplanetary transfer calculator web-tool for making good hoffman transfers, but other that that I do it all myself.

Anyone remember the original animated miniseries that was on before episode 3 came out? Animation style was the same as Samurai Jack. It was pretty great

Deep space ship parts and station/base parts seem pretty tied at the moment, perhaps you could divide your effort between those? I actually voted for new tech tree nodes, though it might be best to work on those after this pack contains a greater variation of parts.

My new Gateway Station Its a multi-purpose station with capacity for up to 36 crew (or space tourists) The giant panels are from Near Future Propulsion, and the hab modules are from Porkjet

Yeah, thats where they're from. Definitely a very impressive set of panels

I finished work on my giant Gateway Station. The habs are porkjet's and the giant solar arrays are from Near Future Propulsion. I just need to send crew to it now, and I'm considering moving it to geosynchronous orbit.

I used your habitats heavily in the construction of my giant Gateway Station The max crew capacity is 36, but I don't even have that many Kerbals to send to it at the moment!

I've been taking a break from interplanetary stuff and focusing on building a monster of a space station And this is just the beginning! Habitat modules are from Porkjet, giant solar arrays and radiators are from Near Future Propulsion

I see Thanks!

Has Squad said when they'd be posting the stuff they showed off at SXSW?

I think the first IVA he'll be doing is the cockpit

too many parts out there have unrealistically thin walls...

Remember that the mk-2 fuselage is only as tall as the mk-1. If you try to put Kerbals to either side they're going to run out of headroom. and you still need to use some of the space for insulation and structural integrity purposed I say 3 seats, right down the middle.