Frogbull

I like this shuttle Boeing concept : 3 stages-planes-rockets recoverables.

Not sure, we must not forget that we will soon have new gas giant planets.

It's not a plugin you ask, it's a whole new game.

I work on it.

I think (not sure at all) they have to made that choice because of rounding mathematics. Just look how Jool is buggy near the surface (cause of its hard gravity force).

Ok, I've finished to extract all the actual KSP planets/moons textures. (Moho, Eve, Gilly, Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, Duna, Ike, Dres, Jool, Laythe, Vall, Tylo, Bop, Pol and Eeloo) I've also extracted all the bump maps. I do not know if someone has already done what I've done and I do not know if the devs approve data extraction (KSP is covered by copyright laws, I respect that). So I will not share the original textures if the devs don't say "It's ok". I made some renders with 3DS Max (each major planet/moon with its respected radius) all in Full HD format (1920x1080) : Moho, Eve, Kerbin, Mun, Duna, Dres, Tylo, Vall, Laythe, Jool and Eeloo (the only one I have not placed in front of Jool) Kerbin and Mun Duna Eve and a quick done oranged Eve (like Venus with no atmosphere), I don't like the actual Eve, I posted about that in this post Kerbin with clouds ! (it's going to rain I think ) Eve and my custom oranged Eve with a heavy atmosphere (like the real Venus) For my first "HD Texture", I will try to change Eve texture for a more Venus-Like type. Only the colors will change, the surface will still the same. PS: if you want some screens, like a Kerbin in the nights with cities lights or a complety new style for Laythe (the closest Jool moon), write it; I can do it if you don't ask the impossible. PS²: I always used the Alpha for my PNG so it's easy to change the background (for a simple black background or a space-like with a lot of stars).

All the Mir engineers are dead ? All the Energia engineers are dead ? All the Buran engineers are dead ? All the Cosmonauts are dead ? You must tell them to join their coffins, they forgot. A good part of them still work in the Space industry. (Zombie apocalypse perhaps ? ) At the Soviet Era the Soviets build the too complex N-1 (30 engines for the first-stage, pure madness! ) but it was the same engineers that built the Soyouz (the first flights of the Semiorka were disastrous!). The NASA made the Space Shuttle with an incredible number of design mistakes; and it's not a complex probe they lost but 14 human lives ! You judge too quickly... Space industry is extremely hard. When you are a Space Engineer : You have the pressure of your hierarchy. You have to handle the latest technologies (and sometimes it's risky). You have the fear to see your budget cutted. The public don't like you because they think "why Spend money for Sci-Fi dreamers ?" (they forget in passing that without these dreamers they would not have their ****ing GPS and a lot of technologies...). So yes, sometimes they make huge mistakes, they are not infallibles but Chinese engineers are not exceptions.

A large layer of regolith is enough; you don't need to go deep underground. And, if the Moon base is based on the South Pole, it would be a mess to not have a direct view of the Earth. On the South Pole the Earth is always in the "sky" like the Sun (except when the Sun go behind the Earth for a very short time).

Salut XaTriX, sois le bienvenu.

Russia can send men in Space, the USA can't. Which of those sounds like they have more capability to you? You said before that Russia had do nothing about the Moon during the last 35 years and now you're talking about Luna-Glob; it sounds contradictory, no? Luna-glob can be compared with Chang'e program: sure. But Chang'e program can be also compared with the old Luna program. Luna-glob is delayed: sure (like a lot of Space programs, even some Chinese programs are delayed) Chang'e program is the most innovative Moon program: not sure, it's more a demonstrative program (China do its way step-by-step and it seems to be the best way to advance and, ofc, they do it well) Fobos-Grunt failed in Space so it's a piece of **** ? No, the problem was the Zenit launcher. Irony is cruel, this Russian failed is a common failed with China, cause of the Yinghuo-1 probe. Same for Mars 96 ? And what about Mars Climate Orbiter ? Accidents happen, the Chinese will have some (I hope not but it's a no-negligible probability). Space is dangerous, we know that since Komarov and Columbia reminded us cruelly. The Russians have Angara almost ready to be launched, China has ... ? Long March 5 ? Which country has landed probes on Venus ? Which country has the more manned flight hours ? All the ISS modules were easy to build ? Easy to launch ? Easy to dock ? All were build in the Soviet Era ? It is easy to dismiss Russia, their spatial policy is not easy to follow and they have made a lot of mistakes; but you've to do some mistakes to advance. Unless you think China will never make mistakes ? Absolute perfection until Mars landing ?

The ESA (European Space Agency) is testing the use of 3D printing for more efficient lunar base construction. What do you think of this concept ? Source : http://www.esa.int/Highlights/Lunar_3D_printing

If some do not know the principle of Skylon, here's a video that sums up very well the thing.

Good exemple, bad conclusion. I don't said Russia is the most advanced country in the world cause they launched Spoutnik; I said, at the moment, they are technological advanced (in the spatial domain and nuclear warheads, not in all sciences) in comparison with China. This advance is largely due to its past, I concede. The // with the British Empire is good, even after the WWI, the WWII and the independence of its colonies; the United Kingdom is still one of the major porwerful country (diplomatic, economic, military) at this time. China has a powerful economy (much better than Russia, or the UK ^^), year after year China takes points and soon, its economy will be the lead-economy in the World (ahead of the USA), but actualy, China is not the lead-economy. In the same way, China will surely (not 100% sure, a new chinese leader can stop all the research and let China at this level, history is not written in advance; Obama has canceled Constellation as a moron ) overtake Russia in the Space domain in the coming years but, actualy, this is not yet the case. The current Russia has a much better economy than 20 years ago. With political will they can keep their advance, will they try ? I don't think so but who knows ? (JFK was greatly influenced by von Braun dreams, and Khrushchev by Korolev and Glouchko... Hope one great scientist will make Putin dreaming...)

They had the Luna programme between 1959 and 1976, they have nothing to prove (unlike Chinese). Russia has taken time to recover from the collapse of the USSR and the Elstin years have been disastrous. China is not immune to a sudden collapse and the russian economy is going better, history has shown us that we can not predict anything for long periods. If nothing changes (and I do not think this will change, I agree with you on this point), then yes, China will be the main dominant Space country in front of everyone (including USA). But this is not the case at the moment.

It's like the beginning of the jet engine (but we can draw a parallel with other technologies, the steam engine is the perfect example of investors stupidity), nobody wanted to invest it in the beginning, then when the technology proved its superiority, all manufacturers have made projects like sheeps... EADS (and others) wants to be sure that the project will be viable in the short term before investing. They are not safe, so they do not invest.

Sources: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/nk33.html and http://www.russianspaceweb.com/rd193.html Is it smart to restart the production of an 60's engine ? I don't think so; but they can (I never said it will not be expensive). Because... they have the plans and the technology; did the Chinese can build an equivalent to the NK-33 (N-1 engine) or RD-170 (Energia engine) ? Answer is NO (at the moment). Do not make me say what I did not say, this is an old tactic of rhetoric. [French]Et comme je vois que t'es français, je suppose que t'as vu notre ancien président abuser de cette tactique, donc évite stp. [/French] I never said Shenzhou is a Soyouz made in China; it is clearly a Soyouz inspired rocket but it's not the same base. The Chinese have reason to be proud of their creation and I applaud with both hands. What I said is that the Chinese (at the moment) don't have invented something that yet surpasses technologies invented by the Russians and the Americans in the past. This may change if the Russians and the Americans continue to do "nothing" (not a lot) as is the case now.

The public does not care about Space (especially in times of economic crisis), a politician can not finance such a project if he wants to be reelected, it's ugly but it's like that. Now, if a politician makes decisions at the beginning of its mandate, it can do a lot of things (even impopular). Who knows...

Chinese power will attract more and more people. As Mir project in its time. It's a good news for space conquest. But I do not want a Sino-American alliance, since the Russian and the USA work together, they don't do a lot of things. I prefer the small Cold War perfume, it grows the competition. The Long March 2F does its job (and does it well!), but it is clearly not an innovative rocket (like you said, hypergolic fuel for a manned rocket is scary, now when we know that NASA has planned a time to use the Atlas V for manned flight, it's relative) that everyone wants to copy. The Antares uses NK-33 soviet engines of the 60's (N-1 engines); if you have blueprints, you can put back into prod. You're right, that cost a lot but when you know you have the certainty that something works, you do not have to invest a lot in R&D. Go into the unknown changes everything (and the Chinese do not take too many technological risks). For a stupid politician, a modern project with low cost launch is the key. For my part I prefer proven technologies (unprofitable, like the old Soyuz) rather than innovative technologies not yet mastered (but I know that the future depends on these new technologies). They aren't so slow (manned flight in 2003, EVA in 2008, space rendezvous in 2012) but they do not innovate enough (at the moment, they want a nice propaganda, not big failures on TV live). When the Chinese will do something that Russian have not already done, I would consider them in second place (and that could be done quickly); and I think in the same way for the first place (held by the USA since Apollo). Now we all know that one of the big advantages of China is, unlike Russia and the USA, its good financial health. But history is not written in advance, when JFK gave his speech in 1961 the USA did not know a lot about Space (only one short suborbital manned flight), 8 years later they had set foot on the Moon. Political will can change everything.

No, clearly not. This is an improvement of an existing technology; this is not revolutionary. But that "old" technology is still better than what the Chinese have at the moment. The actual Long March rockets aren't better (but I waiting a lot about the Long March 5 performance), that all I said. It's nice to compare arguments, the tone isn't the most friendly but respect is present. If there is confrontation it's mostly, in my opinion, because Kryten is, like me, very disappointed by the lack of Space innovations of the two giants (USA and Russia). There is a share of frustration that is expressed. I think we'd all be happy if the Russia and/or the USA had been re-engaged in ambitious Space programs.

Atlas V uses RD-180 engine (1999), it's not a thirty years old engine... Why Americans prefer to use a Russian engine for Altas V first-stage ? The Angara will used RD-191 engine (2001), it's not a thirty years old engine... RD-191 and RD-180 are derived from the RD-170 originally used in the Energia, that's why you said "thirty years old engine" (26 years exactly) ? Russians have to burn the plans cause they have made one of the best liquid-fuel rocket engine in the end of the 80's ? Chinese have an equivalent ? I don't think so...

Make your choice ! For me, our Moon is the most intriguing... She taunts us all the time.

Nice work !

Russians can sell Space Travel to richest tourists !! (sad joke ^^) But yes, they have the plans so the Russians can do it again, but what interest except the glory ? And please, 30 years ago... Buran spaceflight in 1988, Zarya in 1998 (1st ISS module) was built by Russians (USA just financed it). The many success of their Protons and Soyouz. Their new launcher (Angara). Do not be contemptuous, they have evolved since 80's. They work(ed) on Kliper, Phobos-Grunt, Venera-D, Louna-Glob. And for your NASA question, I'm a Saturn V fan... I'm one of the people who think stopping the Saturn program is the worst bull**** NASA has done. Why they don't improved the Saturn like the Semiorka (Semiorka -> Vostok -> Soyouz) ??? I don't know, probably a stupid decision because of morons politicians who saw in the Shuttle program a lower cost (hindsight, what a mistake...). Just think of the ISS, 30 launches just for the assembly : 400 tons in LEO; Skylab it's 90 tons in LEO; so we can easily imagine only five Saturn V were needed to build the ISS ! But the Saturn V was not perfect (despite its failure rate of 0 it has a lot of problem : pogo oscillation, engines problems) and it costed a lot (less than the Shuttle Program; I know but... yeah, easy with hindsight). The Cold War justified that take foolish risks and huge budgets, it is no longer the case now (which did not prevent accidents). I know NASA want to build Ares V/SLS; a Saturn V clone... I know that. But will they get the money ? Chinese go into Space primarily to demonstrate their power. But what China does now (at the moment), the Russians and the Americans can do it.

You are right, the fall of the Soviet Union knocked out the Russian space program. But the Russians have sent probes to the Moon, Mars, Venus, they still have the plans of Energia and Buran. They have the experience of Mir. The finances of Russia are much better now than in 90's, they lack the political will. But they can get back into the race quickly, just as Americans. This is why I still consider the Chinese behind (but at the rate they are going, they might lead the race in less than 20 years).

If I understand you, we must consider the Soviets were technological advanced between 1975 and 1981 ? (USA don't sending humans into space during this period) The manned flight is not all. It's true that it's impressive (you don't have a movie about Venera/Rover explorations, but you have Apollo 13, Mission to Mars, Sci-Fi with manned flights, etc.). Tomorrow's technologies have to be invented. Engineers will never be TV stars but they do a titanic work, don't forget it.