p1t1o

My KSP build take about 6-8 mins to load so I tab out whilst that is happening, usually I'll load KSP halfway through an episode of something.

The problem is, nobody really can say, other than very broad guesses. I think that was a problem with the referendum in the first place, neither side had much hard data about what a brexit would mean. And why would they? Its an incredibly complicated thing. The whole thing happened too fast, and was triggered by very wrong reasons. It could turn out to be a good thing, but *we dont' know*. No choice really but get behind the decision now, see if some good cant be done. At least its an opportunity to shake things up?

Word. What is the neutron flux like in an average (say in-system, interplanetary) bit of space? Is activation a likely problem?

Its hard to call, you may have small children...but you may be heading towards small children. There's gotta be situations where you'd say "Either way, its going to be tragic." and I'm not sure if having a machine make the call might not sit well *even if you would make the same call* - at least you'd have made it.

Seeing these just kinda made my day a bit

It may be negligible, but that link does not mention neutron radiation at all (except for use in the production of gamma sources via neutron capture...). According to the link, all food irradiation is done via gamma/X-rays, occasionally electron beams. Oh there might be a misunderstanding here. I know that food is often preserved using radiation, but in this context "irradiated" referred to space radiation, since the thread is about starch as radiation shielding. My question was about whether or not the neutron flux from space would risk inducing radioactivity in something that might later be consumed by the crew, if for example the starch was from a "potato-shield".

What about neutron activation?

There is already a mechanism in-place. Something like, IIRC, 1000-10,000 DNA repairs are made every day, in each individual cell of your body. It sounds like it would be quite hard to replicate that with CRISPR. Perhaps with future techniques the process could be enhanced somehow.

This was quite interesting, even if it was from Gizmodo. Jist of it is: A survey showed that people want self driving cars to attempt to minimise any casualties in an accident, even if it means putting the safety of its own occupants at risk. However, the same survey showed that not very many people would be willing to travel in such a car... http://gizmodo.com/your-self-driving-car-will-be-programmed-to-kill-you-de-1782499265

"Possible within the laws of physics" is different to "Feasible" Funding is *definitely* the biggest hurdle, that and political will. **edit** THIS WAS MY 1000th POST!!!! Duuu-na-na-na, na-na, na-na you can't touch this! Duuu-na-na-na, na-na, na-STOP. HAMMERTIME.

Howabout psychological support? On a multi-week/month journey somewhere cooped up in a tin can, it might be benficial to spend a few minutes/hours a day in a nice spacious (no pun intended) VR environment. Or communicating with loved ones in a more immersive setting. In the limited volume of a spacecraft, it could also have value simulating things that need a lot of space, sports for example. Or even things like a really big pinboard for all your science notes. You could have a virtual lab onboard the craft. Or a virtual pub!

I wasn't suggesting that there are real-world solutions on the ground right now, only that it was feasible. And if we are talking *sub*-orbital, then super-feasible. Whether or not you would want to build one, or whether or not anyone will ever try that hard to do so, or how much benefit they would be, are debates for another time/place, but as a technological challenge, it is within humanity's near-term reach, unlike say, FTL or space elevators.

Yeah, I don't understand that part. Grown from what? Space-soil? You're gonna have to lift all the raw materials. I suppose you might one day grow it in lunar or martian soil (???) but then you have to carry all the water there anyway, soooo?

Its actually only about 6% hydrogen by mass, as opposed to say water, which is 11% hydrogen by mass and then there is polyethylene (or other hydrocarbon polymers), which approach ~16.7% hydrogen. Starch may have utility as a sort of "multi-use" raw material, where it could contribute to shielding, but if we are talking "What makes an optimal material for space radiation shielding?" I don't think starch makes a great choice. I read the link provided, which does indicate it has some utility, but it speaks mainly of stability and absorption cross-section is not discussed. As a heatshield it sounds more promising, as when you look at it, it is structurally fairly similar to the phenolics used in current heatshields.

Hi All, First off, lovely looking mod, I've not used it yet but the shuttle looks super! Questions: The shuttle engines - do they gimbal automatically through the centre of mass, or does that need to be manually controlled? The two different boosters, any difference other than cosmetic? Thanks!

I think, correct me if Im wrong, but when it comes to radiation shielding, its the type of atoms you have that matter, and not how they are bonded to each other. There is no magical compound that is better at shielding than another compound with the same density and atomic makeup, chemical bonding doesn't play a part. The sort of radiation that is absorbed by chemical bonds will be of too long a wavelength to be dangerous. I think. Anyway, starch has quite a lot of carbon, and I've never heard carbon being a great shield for anything (other than thermal). Its probably ok-ish, in that it is mass between you and the radiation, but its too heavy to be an efficient neutron absorber and not heavy enough to be an efficient gamma/X-ray absorber. I think. If you do have a lot of starch on board for some other reason though, storing it in between the crew and space will be of some benefit.

@K^2 Makes sense, but: Are we sure this follows? Signals? We only know this through inference, nothing can be sent or received due to this phenomenon. Well, in a manner of speaking, relative to our position. Travel between here and there (and hence, travel between two different times) is not possible. Currently.

The eye is just the black dot in the middle, the white part is an RCS tank.

Some sign of communication with the...entity. I think someone tried to claim the prize, possibly even using KSP. (hint: you already know how the exchange goes): https://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic=62555.3965;wap2

Mmmmm, I hope thats not the explanation, it seems like something that is either fixed or not, and when it comes to the stability of orbits in a space sim, it really shouldn't be a "maybe". I mean, it sounds fixed, and the option to toggle/tweak isn't going to do any harm, but it jumped off the page as "odd" to me. Hey-ho!

I wanted to add a few more things to the list, but they all turned out to be variations of "He believes this trash because he believes this trash because he believes this trash etc..." and there's only so much mileage you can get out of that. He makes much more sense as a living entity if you consider him a religious nut, and his religion is his own personal science. Like a one-man religion. At times I wonder if I am being too harsh or closed-minded, then you see him use words like " asstronuthole " and feel better about the whole thing. Good. Advice. He is fascinating though, I wanna follow him around for a day, see what gets up to, see how he survives...

He actually has all of the figures on his website, all of the Apollo 11 figures, for example. But he found that slightly different figures are quoted in different sources (imagine that!) which he says shows they are all fake. He also layers it with a healthy topping of "Its just tooo hard theres no way it could be done." There is a lot of "you have to arrive at position X with velocity Y going in direction Z, and if you don't, you crash." with the implication that this means it must be impossible. Its all very vague. For example, heatshields don't work. Why? Because they melt, obviously, duuh. At least he makes a small departure from your run-of-the-mill nutbar in that he's quite insulting about it, which can be refreshing: "You probably suffer from cognitive dissonance..." ; "Media incl. newspaper chief editors are kindly requested to get psychological assistance..." It must be very frustrating for him to be the only sane person in the world. **edit** ooooomg....the reason he thinks all atom bombs are fake? Because nuclear weapons only produce pure energy so an explosion should only be a flash of light - so where does all the smoke come from? And of course (quote) "But you cannot compress an atom or a solid piece of metal by a collision. It just bounces." Someone help me please I cant stop reading it...

Yes the auto-version checker often gives false alarms, if it works, it works.

Oh is that different? Are there 2 mods? Its up there because I saw this:

He's not selling a book by any chance.... **edit** Of course he is. Weirdly, they are not about crazy space theories but crazy...ferry disaster theories? Also, he doesn't think A-bombs work either. I've got a good way to demonstrate that to him... Anyhoo, Im getting sucked in by the crazy, disconnecting.