meve12

I'll say several slowships are in fact seed ships of some variety. Although the evacuation wasn't exactly coordinated. The important thing to note about the setting is that nothing in the Solar System survives when The Cannonball comes through-just being in space wouldn't save you. You need to be outside the Solar system. Spaceborne colonies is a possibility for when the Arks arrive (They're not exactly designed to land) but even then they'd still need lots of metals, plastic feedstock and such, and they have the tech for relatively cheap surface-to-orbit travel.(Which I'm saying is laser launchers)

Nice. Now get some biplanes and shoot it down!

I had an idea for a hard scifi TV show setting a few days ago. Google doc with notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YxMypvopOI8HXbXfzCRvth9ynoLbY5qxpBGWlX33Tf8/pub The short of it: There's a thriving, increasingly posthuman interplanetary civilization. Then a dim neutron star blows through the Solar System and wrecks everything in it. The last of humanity and associated species now resides in six humongous generational ships called Arks, as well as other less ambitious starships, enroute to other solar systems with exoplanets. One of the arks develops Alcubierre drive. Several feats of espionage later, all the Arks have Alcubierre drives. The drives, however, can't move enough mass to either move an Ark or evacuate it faster than just having the Ark arrive as planned. What Alcubierre ships can do, however, is set up seed colonies and mining outposts around neighboring stars, or carry freight and mail. Or, in the case of the show itself, checking out and salvaging/culturally integrating/rescuing slowships-there's a lot of them, they tend to be somewhat shoddy, and not all of them weathered the slower than light exodus very well. Would like more ideas for worldbuilding. I kicked this around on /tg as well, but it didn't get any attention worth note.

Ya might enjoy these: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns.php http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns2.php

Freethinker, I'd like some help. I'm trying to add an Oxidizer option to the fuel switch. It works-it fills a tank with only Oxidizer just fine. Just that it fills exactly the same amount, in units of fluid, as the LiquidFuel option, which is not enough of it to burn the same tank's worth of LiquidFuel. Is there a way to fix this? EDIT: Wait, nevermind, figured out what's up. Apparently 1 unit of Oxidizer or LiquidFuel equals 1 kilogram, period. So same density, hence same tanks carry same amounts for both. Main problem is fuel mix, not tankage. Here's the edited IntegrateInterstellarFuelSwitch. Changes are in green.

Sevenperforce, don't mean to toot my own horn, but have you considered this?

Also: I have to agree with him. The last three regimes especially are going to be problematic. ...Suppose we use a biconic shape for reentry, with the ability to "open" a section covering the intakes like a flower?(This section would be just aft of the cone.) On the way up, you open that section to enlarge the air intakes to scoop more air at higher altitudes-on the way down, after reentry, you open it more fully to stabilize the craft butt first, and land vertically on the engine. EDIT: for general idea of shape:

Have you considered using a maglev sled for launching? Sorta a StarTram-lite. Should let you get to Mach 1 or 2 straightaway, without needed a run-up with the engine. How does that effect things?

A quick review: It's a good first draft. But: Everything seems very, very compressed. There is almost no description of detail, and events seem to move by faster than I can absorb. Dialogue, especially in the briefing, seems compressed and disjointed. There's no real since of character or identity. Paragraph breaks are in weird places. Some where they shouldn't be, a lack in some places where they should. What I recommend(all optional): Think about what everything looks like, in detail.Take notes. Also think over how everyone acts and feels, in detail, and take notes on this. This may sound like you're not entirely in control of the character's actions-this is a good thing. Break down the first paragraph into three parts: The bedroom, the corridor to the mess hall, and the mess hall itself. Dr.Jone's message should be organized, parred down a bit, and padded with what actions we can see him doing on the screen. We don't really need to know just how many people died in the Mexican Civil War, say, just mention that event in passing. Likewise, we didn't really need the comparison to Middle Ages to get that the remaining survivors are holding out for a nonexistent miracle. Here, less is more. Also: I recommend you read 'Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly' by Cail Levone. It's geared for younger people, but it's full of good advice on writing fiction.

Funny thing, the magsail as a concept came about when some guys computed the drag a Bussard Ramjet would exhibit. It's a lot. Your Bussard Ramjet can and probably will double as a magsail for the deceleration stage.

No, actually. Since we're just skimming off the top of the atmosphere, we don't need a lot of energy to maintain the scooper's speed. It does need to thrust continuously, though. Hence the use of an electrodynamic tether. ....which wouldn't work around Venus, for lack of a planetary magnetic field. Maybe we can use excess gas in an arcjet thruster?

I'll just point out that we need not make a cloud base to harvest gases from Venus's atmosphere. http://www.alnaspaceprogram.org/blog/?p=25 This way, you can use a Venus space station to construct your cloud base from Venus's atmosphere, without needing to get into and out of Venus's atmosphere for maintenance. It also means we don't need a cloud base for a Venus presence to be economically viable. Say we sold CO2 and nitrogen to space habitats further out-system....

The LANTERN engine's not quite what I meant. What I meant was have the NTR have an option to 'burn' oxidizer instead of liquid fuel. Then again, hot oxygen is corrosive as Hades. So you've got good reason (other than gameplay) to say no to that.

Nice. Is there going to be an option to produce liquid fuel later down the tech tree? If not, can you include an option to use oxidizer in the NTRs? Less isp, more thrust due to higher molecular weight.

Porkjet? You still there? Or are you busy?

[quote name='5thHorseman']Back in the ISS, an orbit later, if you fire it [s]right[/s] wrong.[/QUOTE] I'd go with 'right'. You'd need an extremely steady hand to hit the ISS on that trajectory even if you got the timing exactly right.

KSK, what are the kerbals using for power for Hope 1-2? Did they figure out RTGs early on?

Porkjet, are there going to be more surface compatible inflatable habitats for V2, or are you leaving that to MKS?

The Viking program was launched soon after the Apollo program ended, and the probes were roughly as sophisticated as the ones here. I think he has the right timing here, seeing as all of kerbalkind is on the clock.

I agree with this. Also, mk.2.5 nosecone.

Would it be a good idea to use a solar-ion stage for a mission to the outer gas giants? You could use the solar panels to power the ion engines close to Earth, and also power the probe at your destination. Might save on mass over chemical engines.

Get a claw and an ion tug? So you can play catch the debris between events.

I think he meant the other way around, but both points are valid.

So what does first, second, and third comsic speed mean?

So how many colonists does it carry?