Halo_003

So, I'm curious about how smart it would be for the world's space agencies to collaborate on building a Hermes style transport ship for manned Mars exploration(picture below). My thought is, if they all get together, splurge and build a highly efficient/designed to last ship where the computer systems and electronics are easy to replace, then it could also likely be used for beyond Mars exploration missions. Such as a flyby of Venus, etc. Yes it would be required to overengineer some systems and to include a nice buffer on the amount of dV onboard, but I was curious if otherwise it makes sense to do it this way? Am I totally off base here or does that actually make a decent amount of sense?

I think stock weapons is innocent enough. If you don't want them, don't use them. I don't complain like hell about all the jet engines and parts just because I only use rockets 99% of the time. I would rather see factions like you would have in Civ 5, so maybe a competing space agency or two, so that you could have a race to the Mun, compete for launch contracts, etc.

About 35C GPU, 40-45C on CPU under max load, typically both around 30C when on KSP. That is my water cooled desktop though, my Surface tablet generally around 55C on games.

I disagree. The Eve and Tylo landers are likely to be the heaviest parts, so I would advise hitting one of those first. (assuming he uses staging.) Just IMO.

Well sort of. I bought a Surface Pro 4 w/ i7 6650U, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD in late November. It actually runs KSP RSS really nicely. 16GB RAM because of Autodesk work, and because the Iris GPU in it can pull up to 1.7GB from the system RAM, and I didn't want to be left with <6GB (available) when playing 3D games. My desktop is still running an i7 3820 @ 5.0GHz, 16GB 2400MHz DDR3, GTX 580 3GB @ 1050MHz, 2x90GB SSD RAID 0 for OS, 120GB SSD for documents and 3D models/projects, and 240GB SSD for games. CPU and GPU are both water cooled, haven't felt the need to upgrade it yet lol.

I guess the question really is what does space have to offer us in the near future. If someone can figure that out and create a demand for launches I think things will rapidly change.

Why would you need a space elevator on Gilly? You can almost jump into orbit.

Makes sense, thanks! Say SpaceX wanted to strap a F9 first stage on top of a plane, could it work? And what kind of plane would it require?

Interesting. If it wouldn't fit inside could they in theory strap it on top of a plane like the Energia tank? Or would they need to modify a plane too much for that to work?

Thanks guys! So if for example SpaceX had done a 4 or 5m diameter for the F9, how would they best move the first and second stage? Would it fit inside something like a 747? (Have looked but can't find relevant info on it.) Or would the best option be via barge or rail?

IIRC, SpaceX limited Falcon 9 diameter to 3.66m because that was the maximum possible for road transport. So how are larger stages moved? For example, how would the CBC on a Delta IV be transported? What about SLS stages? Is a boat their only option? Or could they transport by rail or maybe a really big airplane? I was trying to search for this last night to see if (hypothetically) you could fly a 4-5m tank on a 747, but I couldn't find any relevant info on it.

Unless you're playing with RSS and Realism Overhaul you're cheating.

I use it with my Surface Pro 4 over Bluetooth all the time. It's not amazing, but it does work out decently enough.

Reduce TWR, at liftoff you want to be around 1.1, use SAS, and if needed you can use Vernor thrusters at the top of the rocket to help balance.

Let's say hypothetically it gets announced that KSP 2.0 will not be produced with Unity. I'm curious if other game engines could be used instead. For example, could they use CryEngine or Unreal Engine? Would these work for all of the physics etc required? Personally, I'd drop $120+ for KSP on CryEngine, I'm just curious if it's even possible in theory. (I know it has a 99.9999% probability of not happening, that's okay.) This isn't a suggestion, I'm just curious if other game engines would have worked. If so, why was Unity chosen?

So to be clear, no shuttle style launchers are allowed? I play on the 4x scale Kerbin mod, this will be an interesting challenge to try out.

Personally, I like your line of thought. That would be a cool mission profile, albeit expensive.

This just means you're ready to move from kiddie KSP to FAR+Real Solar System+Deadly Reentry+TAC Lifesupport. Start a game in sandbox with those installed, even the most rudimentary mission takes ridiculous power to make happen. If you don't want RSS, try k64x (the 6.4x scale mod) or the 4x scale mod. 4x scale makes dV to LKO about 6km/s, which is a nice balance between realistic and moderately easy. Launching an interplanetary probe or rover in RSS is no joke.

That was SO AMAZING. I'm in Jacksonville, FL, and I got to see it from my yard. I saw it go up, watched the stream on my Surface tablet, and then watched it come back down through the clouds.

Just wanted to pop in and say this is an amazing mod. Not quite so scaled up that it becomes hard to build everything in the hangar, but big enough to make it more challenging. I've been playing at 4X scale for the past few days and had an absolute blast.

[quote name='FleshJeb']Herbs of dubious legality.[/QUOTE] "Even though the members of the International Space Station (ISS) are floating [B]thousands of miles[/B] above us..." Think the author beat them to that.

Broken link, here's a working one: http://main.slooh.com/event/...-space-junk-crash-landing-on-friday-the-13th/ Edit: I lied it changed mine too.

In all seriousness can we talk about this? What would this sort of system entail? Never heard of it before now.

Now for those who have, how many of you guys are using it with the i7 chip? I'm also not worried about the 256GB being a limitation, my desktop right now only has 360GB (3x120GB SSDs). I have a 21.5" monitor that I use with my desktop. Eventually I will replace it with a larger screen though, if needed I can use the SP4 with it. Other games would really be anything in my library of 150+ games, anything from Sim City to Crysis 3, Battlefield 4, etc. I'm not looking at the SP4 as primarily a gaming device, but the ability to play all of those is pretty cool. I'm also considering a Razer Blade QHD+ IF they release a new on with a Skylake CPU, the Surface Book with the dedicated GPU, an MSI GS60(I think). Sort of all your ultrabook size devices that have any shot at doing a game or design software decently.

(This might not be the right spot exactly, please move if not.) I'm considering the top end Surface Pro 4 with 16GB RAM and the 256GB SSD. I'm curious if anyone has used a SP3 or SP2 and has any idea how well it runs KSP and other games on medium/low settings. Thanks!