meve12

TOO LATE! Muhahahahaha! So how's the eve lander coming?

The part where the plasma doesn't actually touch the nozzle? That's what you have the unobtainium magnets for. Heck, you don't even need to have the reaction inside the nozzle, if you're using magnetism to contain it. Just outside the nozzle works just as well, and makes most of the waste heat radiate straight into space. And what little heat gets radiated onto the nozzles gets dumped out the radiators. I've been trying to derive the design from scratch as a learning exercise. How would the rocket scientists calculate the tank mass?

Funny that dinner that couldn't be beat keeps getting beat.

By the by: does anyone have any idea how to calculate the mass of the propellant tank? The only way I know how makes me keep adding smaller and smaller amounts of propellant to the design ad infinitium.

Agreed, on both points. I still think .7c cruising speed is overambitious for a cargo ship, though. It's not like unobtainium would rot in the cargo hold, right?

Is that including payload? And it calls for 2100 tons of fuel for it for a .92c trip. Which is about the same mass ratio as the AM beam core design I was calculating.

In any case, .7c is stupidly fast. Can't they try for a more sane velocity, like .25c or something?

I decided to derive the design of the Venture Star on a whim just now. The required DeltaV for the reaction drive is 1.4c. Assuming two AM Beam Core engines(Exhaust Velocity of .3c) and only carrying 350 metric tons of cargo and two 10 metric ton engines (no structural mass, no tank mass, or anything else), I calculated that the total mass of the Venture Star would be 67,084.36 metric tons. 93% of which is propellant. So 100,000 tons is in the right ballpark, assuming they go for the most efficient antimatter engine I can find.(Photon drives are another matter. EDIT: And now you know why everything in the human colonies of Pandora is locally produced. EDIT EDIT:Incidentally, the acceleration for this version of the Venture Star starts at 20 gravities and works it's way up. There is clearly not enough mass. I'd never thought I'd have to say that.

I get the sudden and disturbing feeling this "lander" is some sort of game-changer. One on the order of the printing press. EDIT: Not because of the welding, mind you.

It is, I think. Plates, magazines, and everything.

Better yet; Are they rotating crew?

Seeing as you've mentioned the IXS in a joking manner before, I'm not entirely sure that's the case. Or maybe that's just my hind brain suspecting a Poe's Law.

So instead of a star destroying explosion, you get a world shattering one that sprays antimatter and chunks of Earth in every direction?

Seeing as the Zubrin drive uses what amounts to a continuous prompt super-critical reaction contained in a nozzle that amounts to little more than half a bowl with fuel valves, that's somewhat academic. Although, unlike the majority of fission power plant designs, breaching the tank would indeed result in an explosion.

EDIT: So I take it the nuclear one is from another space program entirely? The Apollo one is at least recognizable. IS that from the rival space program?

Interesting. What's the lifting gas used?

Shame. I thought we'd discovered something to give Flowerchild an aneurysm.

He doesn't mean that; he means it's too caustic for the swearword filter. And it's a bit difficult to disprove something woven from whole cloth, so to speak. EDIT:To demonstrate my first point: this is a crock of .....

Apologies, it was past optimal bedtime for me. That being said, a single alien lifeform covering and penetrating the entirety of Titan might count as having Titan itself being alive, right? Or at least amounting to the same thing. EDIT: Wait, this is quibbling over semantics. Shutting up now.

And how do you keep the enemy from following you? Even just grabbing the ladder before you can maneuver can prevent you from using RCS as a weapon, and he has the tools to work his way in unless you go out after him. That being said, if the door opens outward you have another, somewhat comedic weapon.

A good point, with one problem; maneuvering behind him without him turning after you would be difficult, as he'd want to be able to keep an eye on you.

Are we using man-in-balloon suits, or skinsuits? Not an expert in hand-to-hand combat, but we can assume a few things: 1. Newton's third law means that not only will the swing push us back unless we were anchored, but the hit would also push the enemy away, cutting energy delivered(and thus effectiveness) to a quarter of what it would normally be. You would have to anchor yourself to the enemy for any unpowered weapons/fisticuffs to be really effective, although using the MMU as a booster for a flying hit might work. 2. Assumption one also applies to thrown weapons. 3. You have a finite amount of MMU fuel and tools. So I think in this scenario there would be two phases of combat; The first would consist of what could charitably be called dogfighting: Both combatants would maneuver with MMUs in an attempt to make a perpendicular pass with the enemy so as to use thrown projectiles most effectively, whilst denying the enemy a shot at you. This would continue until MMU fuel or tools are reduced to "minimal"(this would vary on preference) levels. The second would consist of tackling and grappling the enemy, preferably with a weapon to maximize damage and allow for more effective defense. If an combatant opens this phase by using a weapon as he's tackling the enemy, the increased relative speed will give him a powerful opening attack; otherwise it will come down to each combatant's skill in grappling.

Titan itself might not be the critter in question. Suppose a fungal-like creature colonized the moon at some point in the distant past and now covers the entire surface, as well as penetrating into the interior?

I have to say, having the AI wig out on them as an equipment failure instead of a sudden (but inevitable) betrayal is kinda refreshing.

Notably, said canyon was formed by disintegrater generated lightning.