DerpenWolf

So Inspiration mars, a Privately funded organization looking to do a Mars and possibly Venus flyby, is expecting their project to cost around 1-2 billion dollars. The organization believes that they can at least provide $300 million dollars (a third of which provided by Dennis Tito) and have so far been unable to convince the US government to invest the extra ~$700 million or so dollars. Despite this I still think that they may be able to pull the mission off with the $300 million (or at least reasonably close to it). I think I have a few reasonable ideas on how they might be able to pull this off but I want you guys to yell at me when something won't work and be sure to suggest ideas of your own!!! Expected requirements: -Life support lasting for 501-589 days depending on the launch date -About 1360 kg of dehydrated food stuffs (Noting this as it is a known required payload mass) -Reentry capsule with a heat-shield that can survive -Additional module of some kind probually for living, life support, and other key things -Heavy lift vehicle that can get everything on a trans-martian orbit -Some way to do small adjustment maneuvers What I'm thinking about: After pondering some of this stuff for awhile I realized that SpaceX may actually be able to provide Inspiration mars with two essential components of the mission, the capsule and the launch vehicle. -The Falcon Heavy is expected to start flying in 2015 and is expected to be capable of delivering around 14,000 kg on a trans-Martian orbit which might be enough to pull the mission off in a single launch if weight can be kept down. I think that the expected launch cost is about $100 million but I'm not certain on this -The Dragon Capsules (either variant assuming that they are going to be very similar in construction) should be able to survive up to two years in space (meaning that the seals wont go bad or something like that, life support wont last nearly as long) in addition to that we know the dry mass of the dragon 1 should be about 4200 kg and has room for about 6000 kg to orbit. I have no idea what the exact specs of the dragon 2 (any data on it is massively appreciated) but I'm assuming the mass of the thing will be about 5500kg or so. Dragon 2 is the preferred capsule as it has the Draco thruster package that works as a launch escape system as well as pre installed propulsion system that I assume could be used for course adjustments. My main concern is that a custom heat shield might be required, not sure on this though do to conflicting data. This pretty much leaves us with the extra module that will be holding pretty much all of our life support, supplies, and other various things with an allowed mass of about 8500 kg. (we probually have spent about $170 million on the launch and dragon capsule, leaving $120 million left to be spent) Now I'm Assuming we can probually make a pressurized tube to fit all of this stuff inside for about 3500kg (this estimate is based off of what a striped down dragon capsule might weigh if you removed a lot of unneeded mass, ie, heat-shield, other junk). So now we have about 5000 kg of mass left and we know we need at least 1360 kg of food so that gets brought down to about 3640 kg left to work with. The question is that enough for everything else? (recycling systems, water, etc. Preferably packed in such a way to provide a good amount of radiation shielding) What do you think of this rough idea? Possible? Am I a space Yokel? Be sure to tell me in the comments and tell me how you think such a mission should be pulled off!

When they start doing more IVA's I hope they go back and try to make a few of the other ones more practical for actual use as well as improve aesthetics. Both of the capsules and the Mk 2 spaceplane cockpits could defiantly have some work done on them to make it so that you can use the window views a bit better and more practical for docking and actually flying the craft from that specific perspective (you cant really see whats in front of you for the MK-2 cockpits and It would be nice if they made it so you had a better view for docking with the big capsule as the zoomed view is currently slanted). If squad can improve the IVA's for the older command pods when they add new ones then Ill be very happy!

That is an excellent point... Mars has a few big rocks in orbit already an maybe we could use some big nukes (A lot of them) and deorbit one of them (there might be a few complaints...).

YES!!! I knew someone else must have known about the F-111! But yea I pretty much love the looks of this plane and alot of its other aspects and capabilities! Here is a image of it dumping fuel Despite my better judgment I really want to see a modernized version of this airframe.

So I'm wondering what it would take to make mars semi habitable, meaning that Hellas Planitia (area with the highest air pressure on mars) has a air pressure above the armstrong limit. How might we accomplish this? What is the best way to accomplish this? Basically I'm wondering what it would take to make it so that humans might be able to survive without a pressure suit on mars (not necessarily breathable, you will still probually need breathing equipment and a warm suit).

I made a VTOL SSTO Dropship that I have named "The Pig" Largely due to its absurd fuel consumption.

Just about to hit 1000 hours (999)!!! But yea I'm getting 2.5 cents to the hour right now!

I've done a Ion engine-Jet engine SSTO before but have yet to do a RCS-jet engine SSTO, Probably should considering xenon gas is pricy now

Can't remember when I first origionally landed on the moon but I think it was within 15-40 hours counting the time in the demo. What I do recall is that my first landing attempt went perfectly! However I didn't quite know how to return effectively and got jeb stuck in the weirdest ever orbit. After many failed rescue attempts (couldn't rendezvous as a noob and had to abort each attempt) I eventually just downloaded mechjeb and had it do the hard work for me. I also recall that I broke kerbins SOI before I ever got into a kerbin orbit in the demo... I still remember how to build that craft.

I like Bill due to the fact that he can fix Jebs mess and keep him flying. He has also done some very crazy adventuring. (spent years in orbit after a hell kraken attack on Duna and messed about with the wreckage for starters) Also I just don't like Bob for whatever reason...

Ok, so recently in order to avert boredom I've been reading stuff about fusion and ideas on how we might create a reactor and I have a few questions. -How can we use energy created by a reactor? -From what I understand it seems that toroidal fusion reactors would work by accelerating mass around in a circle and then oscillate the mass so that it interacts with itself, Is my understanding correct? Its just that it seems a bit weird. -So the desktop sized hobbyist device known as a Fusor seems to have the main problem that is the fact that most of the deuterium hits the inner cage. If this problem could be averted then would this actually function as an effective reactor or would many other problems plague the techniques it utilizes? -ICF fusion, The national ignition facility is pretty crazy and has had very good results, what are your thoughts on this? -What do you suppose Lockheed Martin is up to? -What are major advantages and disadvantages to the various methods one could use to induce fusion? What do you think would ultimately work out the best? -If its possible, what do you think would be the best way to use controlled fusion technology to propel a spacecraft? (use power to run a big Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster? Direct ejection of exhaust? Etc....???)

Nice! Looks like that thing totally dwarfs the mega carrier I made a while back!

Loving the space station missions! Also Kerbal experience is pretty awesome!!

Ok so as of now engineer kerbals can only repair 3 things despite their 5 levels and scientist kerbals only really give you extra science (which is still pretty good). In order to make both types better I'd like to see the following things added. -At level 4 engineer kerbals can repair solar panels -Scientist kerbals are the only ones who can remove data from experiments (they are the only ones who know how to do it) If you have any other ideas for kerbals please mention them! (engineer still needs something at 5!)

Why are you still in .23.5? .25 is out right now and you can make a mini shuttle with the parts from it! In addition to that the new Mk-3 space shuttle parts will be out with the next update which is imminent!

Ok so I'm wondering what the ideal size would be for a spacecraft centrifuge, including large (space station) and small sizes (interplanetary craft). So here are a few questions I have based on the topic: - What RPM will feel comfortable for the passenger (I'm guessing that sitting in a)? - What RPM(s) is most appropriate for making sure everything remains structurally sound? - What minimum % of gravity (I KNOW ITS NOT A GRAVITATIONAL PULL) do you think would be needed to help keep the astronaut(s) healthy? - What sizes/RPM would you think work best for a large and small spacecraft?

If mass increases with velocity then does the gravitational pull of that object increase as well?

I know that we believe that there is a large amount of dark matter in the middle and on the outer edge of our galaxy but apart from that where else do we find it? Also how do we know where it is? Just trying to get a better understanding on this bit if physics!

Just wondering if anyone else has started to develop rockets using the new spaceplane parts! I've been messing around with the idea and have found that they actually work quite well! I even found a way to make a pretty much perfect fairing for one of the engine types! So, Has anyone else messed about with things like this?

Ok, so I pretty much want to take a crack at making a very simple 2D overhead space combat game. I somewhat doubt that I'll accomplish much but I am willing to at least try and give it my all. I'm pretty much looking for some simple engine that can do what I need (also that is free or not overpriced or something? no clue what the scoop is, totally new to all of this stuff). Also note that I am not insanely good but not absolutely terrible at coding, but I am willing to learn a heck of a lot to figure this stuff out. Here is the bare concept of what I want to do. -Think of the game as realistic space chess. I pretty much want to make a basic 2D solar system with planets, stars, and moons as the base battle field (I might even want to make it so it generates randomly at some point). I don't need to have gravity assists in but I would at least like to be able to make it so crafts can be captured by other bodies. - For the spacecraft you are basically commanding a small fleet and can spend X starting currency on constructing it (Might and ways to make money). I want the craft to be able to rotate and to be able to change which side is facing where as well as to be able to make it so different sections of a hull may have different thicknesses. I pretty much want to be able to give a vessel a command to move to location X following a specific route if need be to avoid fire as well as manage different aspects of the vessel like weapon targeting and firing as well as cargo and reactor usage. (I might also want to mess with things mounted on the hull of the vessel at some point as well) No clue if any of this will yield anything as I might just end up totally confused and shove this in a corner full of tears and crushed dreams but I have some free time so I want to give this a shot. Initially I probually just want to get some kind of derpy 1970's arcade game like thing working as most of what I've mentioned is probually going to be VERY long term. Idk, what do you think? Should I even bother?

Well I suppose the appearance of the craft depends on the requirements. One thing you defiantly want is a hull that can resist radiation and micrometeorite impacts or at least some kind of big magnetic shield system to keep out radiation and things of the like. Your armament pretty much comes down to projectiles, light beams, and missiles. A lot of laser weaponry could probually be countered with some sort of cloud gel chaff stuff or something to help defuse light. You might even want to coat your ship in some sort of aerogel like stuff if it would help at all (and not burn off). Missiles can probably be countered with other missiles and laser weaponry (Though missiles that turn into a cloud of debris before they are intercepted could be a pain for such systems). Railgun/projectile slugs MIGHT be able to be countered with a magnetic shielding system (Vaguely recall hearing something about the US navy looking into something like this to protect battleships). Apart from that you could have algae tanks as an addition to any temporary food stores (bring a heck of a lot of spices). Propulsion would likely be either an electric thruster, an Orion drive system, or maybe even be a fusion engine. Part from that your going to want a bunch of nuclear/and or fusion reactors. Of course all of this assumes we just don't drop nukes or big rocks on each-other instead. Also Here is a wikipedia page about Salyut 3 and its fun surprise http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salyut_3

Always cool to see someone making a new manned spacecraft!! Can't wait to see how this all turns out!

I was the first person to make a duna SSTO that used ion engines I also managed this back in early .23.5, Not sure if anyone else had landed a asteroid on the VAB on rocket engines legitimately before this though. May have been the first but I have no clue. Here is a bunch of the significantish stuff I have made over the years My first major undertaking, It involved moving a massive vessel I had constructed into Duna orbit (it was pretty huge for me at the time and was during my very early days) First Jool Space Station (also the only) My First Jet and Ion engine SSTO A big, modular laythe base in route getting a gravity assist by the mun Another Duna Station SLS Orion SLS Block II A very nice looking SSTO A mega carrier with launch tube and lots of room And a very cool semi realistic craft that has a more realistic launch system And last but not least, Kerbal Pool Program

Added some more stuff to bottom of the original post to consider. Haven't seen anything on their plans for recovering the second stage, mind sharing some links?

I would defiantly like some more audio input from the game. I've been listening to books whilst I play