mdatspace

And? This technology existed in the 70s. NERVA ring a bell?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Zucker Tried to deliver mail by rocket. A few people died.

For me, it was easy to survive the wait. Why? http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?737027-This-Is-Madness-Story-Of-The-Crumbling-Europe-House-Angelos This got me playing the game, and Czo was updating this AAR during the time. On the latest chapter in that thread: Since the Timurids are arriving, the mongols will be fighting them. Since they arrive with 150,000 troops, the the Khan will have plenty of trouble. They have 50k more troops, though, but still. This is good for the Romans, as they can take back Moesia and more.

*crickets*

Why put Europa clipper on SLS? The Rocket is overpowered for that and it is not cheap as a launcher. A Delta IV heavy would do.

You are right. But where is the funding for this mission? If this mission wants to go further than a proposal, there needs to be funding.

There is no deep space habitat for Orion. Without that, Orion is a cis-lunar taxi cab. Where is the funding for this mission?

Many politicians want the moon as our primary BEO destination. In my opinion, private companies should be focusing on the moon, not NASA.

Some RD F-1s still survive.

The Nuclear rocket(or NTR)is used for interplanetary travel. It has a very high Isp, meaning it is very efficient. It is heavy and does not have much thrust, so it is a poor choice for a booster stage. Do not bring too many along because of their weight. The NTR can also be used as a lander engine in places where there is low gravity and tenuous atmospheres, but you need to place landing legs on structural parts such as girders or beams because it is quite long.

And not tested. And nuclear.I will not open this can of beans further.

I like your CK2 AAR and I do not even play that game!On the topic of this AAR, I have found Rozer's favorite hobby:explosive aerobraking.

I knew that. However, there is volcanism in the past.

I agree with you all. NASA cannot leave LEO with humans on board. We have gone backwards after Apollo ended.

Not a volcano on the moon?Look at the lunar mares. Those are like flood basalts. Those are volcanic. Mars has water to mine and there are martian sinkholes which provide protection from micrometeorites, radiation and weather. You have much less water on Venus, and it is harder to extract.

Exploit it but put a colony there. That is my idea.

I concur. The moon is the most viable destination for colonization in the near future, in my mind. My regrets?We never did any long-term stays on the moon. We should have followed up after Apollo.

Venus is harder to get off from. Also, how will you extract resources? Heat resistant technology will not last long in those pressures.I would say Mercury would be better than Venus in many regards. Ice, easier to take off from, better solar power generation, etc. Cons? The suns gravity well. http://einstein-schrodinger.com/mercury_colony.html

Edited my comment.December 17:0.23 Waiting room creates a mess of 502 bad gateways.

Already posted.

Ion engines OP? They are the only engines which give you 20 minute burns.

I will restate a part of my comment from the last post of page 5: "I weighed down nuclear propulsion with real political and environmental problems so it would not be the easiest way out. Anybody who has used an LV-N in KSP knows why NTR is a good idea for interplanetary travel."

Liquid fluorine is the chemical from hell.I would not go anywhere near it.

I agree with this.Bureaucracy is complicated and inefficient. I used to be skeptical of commercial crew, but I am now less so. I want to see them send their first man into orbit and then I will throw my skepticism off of a cliff. Companies tend to do the cheapest thing. They use current technology and build on it. They use what works. Also, they are not strangled by bureaucracy. That is why I have hope for them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripropellant_rocket "In the 1960s, Rocketdyne fired an engine using a mixture of liquid lithium, gaseous hydrogen, and liquid fluorine to produce a specific impulse of 542 seconds, likely the highest measured such value for a chemical rocket motor." That Isp.