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As you can tell from the various answers, the question has to be more specific in order to get an actual answer, as it can be applied to many things. When most people talk about wanting a 64 bit version of KSP, they're referring to the instruction set, in this case the AMD64 instruction set which AMD created and Intel licensed. While there are possible efficiency improvements, the most noticeable change between AMD64 and the previous standard of x86 is that the former can address more than 4GB of RAM fairly easily. On the other hand, 32 bit vs 64 bit can also refer to the size of data, where a 64 bit integer has much greater range, and a 64 bit floating point value has much more precision.

CHAPTER 30 DERELICT SHIP *** JEB: Sid, could you just tell me what is it that you- SID: It's – it's a ship. A fraking huge ship. JEB: Ship...? But – but it's impossible! There are no spacecraft here other than ours! NED: Are you sure it isn't some long forgotten probe or something like this? Maybe a jettisoned fuel tank? SID: I know what I see. It's definitely a ship – here, I'm sending the data from the camera. And it's enormous: it looks like it's almost as big as “Proteusâ€Â. I think I can also see… dear Kod… JEB: Talk to me Sid, what do you see? DANREY: Sid, could you- oh crap… JEB: For frak sake, what is it?! SID: Hammer and sickle… it has hammer and sickle on the fairings. Sweet mother of Kod, it's a Soviet spacecraft Jeb! NED: Holy crap. Holy frakin crap. JEB: No fraking way! The Reds never made it to Ike's orbit. Am I right BERTY? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Affirmative, commander. The last manned missions to Duna was Kinese landing almost ten years ago. Since year 2019 there were no manned flights beyond Mun orbit. NED: So how is it possible that they can see the fraking ship out of the fraking window?! BERTY v.2.0.8b: I'm afraid I don't know, Ned. I must admit that this discovery is very puzzling. It means that we are forced to reevaluate what we know about space program of the former Union of Kerbal Socialist Republics. SID: Jeb? What shall we do? Try to contact the crew? DANREY: If there is any. JEB: No. Move close to get a better look but do not try to dock. And be careful – Kod only knows what the hell it's doing here and why it was sent here. DANREY: Copy that. RCS online. Approaching the spacecraft. SID: How come they put something so big here? Unbelievable. DANREY: Hmm. I think I saw these modules somewhere. SID: You did?! Where? When? DANREY: I'm not sure, it has to be a long time ago, but I think that- SID: What? DANREY: “Proteusâ€Â, this is LAMGML. I think I know what this spacecraft is made off. JEB: Go on. DANREY: These modules – I saw them in study published by KASA in the middle of the nineties or so. You know, this proposed international space station we never build? It was to consist of some Krussian parts, including few modules of the Mir-2, which… NED: Which was to be deorbited but instead they put it on Minmus orbit! SID: No, they tried to put it there but the engines failed during insertion burn and the whole station escaped Kerbin's SOI and drifted… into… space… NED: Frak me. Is it possible? JEB: Let's not jump to the conclusions so easily, alright? BERTY v.2.0.8b: I must agree with the commander. We do not posess enough data to determine the origin or the nature of this object. DANREY: But if this is Mir-2, than it had to be heavily modified: I can see a 2,5 meter docking port, not to mention whatever is inside the fairing. I think that – wow! Can you see this? NED: Well I be damned: they have LKs too? JEB: Not one but two landers actually -look. SID: There is also a Soyuz – or is it Progress? - docked to the ship. Damn it, it's so surreal to see this so far from Kerbin… DANREY: “Proteusâ€Â, we're moving by the fuel tank. It, uhm, it has a cluster of four engines. I think its from one of their heavy boosters. It was, err, Electron? JEB: Proton. Incredible – they must have utilized all leftovers from the Cold War space program to build this. SID: So what do you want us to do, Jeb? Should we try to dock? JEB: No. Try to contact the crew. NED: Crew? What if it's unmanned? I mean, they couldn't have sent people here, right? And if they did, it was decades ago, even before “Kadmos†flight. I don't think we- JEB: We won't assume anything. If there's anyone stilll alive on board, there's nobody coming to help them but us. Do it, “Alphaâ€Â. DANREY: Roger. Okay, we're transmitting on all frequencies, we should- BERTY v.2.0.8b: Warning. Communication with the LAMGML “Alpha†will cease in 30 seconds. JEB: What? For how long? BERTY v.2.0.8b: 56 minutes and 34 seconds. DANREY: Oh, that's just great. SID: What are we supposed to do Jeb? JEB: Dock to the ship and investigate! We'll contact you when ###### SID: Jeb? Jeb?! DANREY: It's pointless, there is a whole planet in between us now. We'll have to wait. SID: Damn it all! Why we didn't synchronize our orbits so that we'll always be in range? DANREY: We did? But now we're on a very elliptical and eccentric orbit just like this… station. SID: :sigh: DANREY: Shall we dock or try to contact them first? SID: Well, you've heard the man – we're boarding the ship. DANREY: And contact. Securing the connection… Good thing there was a standardization of the docking ports back during the Cold War. SID: I think so. DANREY: So now what? We enter the ship, right? SID: In our spacesuits – we have no idea whether there is atmosphere on board. It's quite probable that after all these years some micrometeorites punctured the hull. DANREY: All right. Initiating depressurization. Huh. SID: What? DANREY: It's just like in these old sci-fi movies – mysterious derelict ship investigated by a small team. Funny, isn't' it? SID: No, not really. DANREY: Now when I'm thinking about it, there was always, well, something on the ship, you know? Weird artifacts, alien creatures, maybe some crazy robots… And blood. A lot of blood. And there was- SID: Could you stop please? DANREY: Sorry. Hey, you aren't afraid, are you? This is not science fiction you know – there are no aliens. SID: Dan, we're in a spacecraft above Duna's moon. DANREY: So? Oh, it seems that the connection is secured. SID: Good. Let's go. SID: Recording test. Three, two, one. Ahem. We're about to open the hatch to the unidentified spacecraft found on the low orbit above Ike. It's origin and mission is unknown, we believe it may be Krussian space station Mir-2 modified for a long-term habitation in deep space. Okay, open it Dan. DANREY: Crap, it's heavy. Hmpf! The hatch is opened! I can, uhm, well, it's quite dark here despite the emergency lights. SID: Check the atmosphere. DANREY: Give me a second. Pressure is 836,78 Pa. Hmm. It's was breathable apparently, there are very low levels oxium, azot, some water vapor and C02, but I'm getting also traces of… what? What's H2NN(CH3)2 ? SID: Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine. Proton's fuel, extremely toxic. Frak. DANREY: Toxic and hypergolic. We're lucky that we depressurized – good call, prof... Sid. SID: Luck has nothing to do with this. All right, since nobody can survive without oxium we shouldn't be expecting a welcome committee. Let's go. DANREY: Wait. What could be in this plastic bags? SID: Waste or broken parts. Why? DANREY: Let me check. Oh my – look at this! Water, food, even some clothes… all intact. SID: I don't like this. DANREY: You think we could use these supplies? SID: If there was a hydrazine leak I don't think this would be a good idea. Besides, this is still property of the Krussian government. DANREY: They can already sue us for breaking and entering, you know. SID: Leave it for now. Come on, we have to get to the command module. DANREY: Copy that. You know what, I still don't understand one thing. SID: Yes? Watch out for these pipes. DANREY: There are two LK docked, right? But there is also a docking port we used because it was free – do you think there was another lander docked to it? SID: Perhaps. So far we don't even know whether there was any crew here. DANREY: Is Mir-2 even capable of a long term habitation so far from Kerbin's magnetosphere? SID: Well, like you said it must've been heavily modified, but they wanted to use it as a Minmus station so I doubt reinforcing it a little bit more was a big problem. But there is something much stranger to all this. DANREY: Crap. SID: Careful, this may be toxic. DANREY: Sure thing. It must've leaked from a cooling system, at least few hundred litres. Strange, it's the first time I see so much water out of the container since Kerbin. So what is it, Sid? SID: What I don't understand is how come we didn't know about this? It's not like you can hide a rocket delivering cargo to orbit. And they must've performed at least one or two extra flights to prepare the ship. Unless… DANREY: Unless we knew. SID: … DANREY: No, it cannot be. There must be some other explanat- DANREY: Well I be damned. SID: So there was a crew – look. DANREY: So where are they? We didn't find any, uhm, remains – they couldn't just vanish in the thin air. And they didn't land, both LKs are still here. SID: Can you see this pulsating light? I bet it's the communication systems console. Uhm. DANREY: Of course, it's in Krussian. Do you…? SID: Nope. DANREY: Neither am I. Crap, I knew that I should've learn this language. SID: Well, it's not like we cooperated with them after Apollo-Soyuz, so it's completely understandable. Hmm. Okay, I'll try to turn it off. DANREY: And? SID: Check the frequency. DANREY: I can't hear anything. SID: Hmm. Touch the wall, maybe it switched to the intercom. DANREY: The wall? Oh, vibrations, sure. http://youtu.be/nOyIO8CW0jo SID: Good Kod… DANREY: Do you know this signal? SID: I – I think I do. It's impossible but… it's the “Kadmos†distress beacon. DANREY: What?! SID: … DANREY: How come they have the same signal as “Kadmos†did anyways? SID: I have no idea but hearing this after all these years… it's creepy as hell. DANREY: Huh. SID: What is it? DANREY: So far from Kerbin it's useless anyway… what if it isn't what we thought it is? SID: What are you talking about? DANREY: Well, what if it isn't a distress signal but a warning? SID: Come on. DANREY: I'm serious now. Or maybe its purpose was not to draw mission control attention to the spacecraft but something else? SID: Really, Dan? DANREY: Hey, I'm just saying. Contact as a reason of why we are here was your idea anyways. Besides, there is one strong argument for my theory. SID: Which is? DANREY: Where's the crew, Sid? SID: Let's get out of here. DANREY: But the supplies- SID: Frak this. Whatever happened here, it's not our business. We shouldn't have entered. DANREY: Frankly, I didn't expect to hear that from a scientist. Are you not curious ? SID: I'm but I have a bad feelings about this all. Let's go. DANREY: Roger that. SID: … DANREY: … SID: There is other explanation. DANREY: You mean the signal? SID: No. Well, yes, partially. KASA spent a lot of money and effort to make sure that we'll investigate Duna. But why Duna, why not Dres or Eve or any other planet? I suspect they discovered something, or to be more precise, they detected something. A signal. DANREY: Wait, you can't mean that- SID: Exactly. What if Duna is really just a dead wasteland and they just accidentally pick up the signal from Mir? DANREY: … SID: We can't tell them. DANREY: What? SID: Who knows what would BERTY do when he finds out? We'll report that the whole spacecraft was contaminated by hydrazine leak and that we couldn't get to the crew or what left of them because it was too dangerous. I just need to delete the recording on the EVE cam… DANREY: I don't know, Sid. What if this derelict ship is somehow connected to our mission? We should investigate this. SID: After all we've been through do you honestly believe we'll get any clear answer? DANREY: Well… SID: I bet that even if they know something about this all, they won't tell us anything. We'll be better off if we try to solve this on our own. What if Rozer or KSC have some hidden agenda concerning this ship? Hell, what if BERTY has some orders we don't know anything about? DANREY: These are good points. Gigantic Soviet station above Ike somehow got unnoticed for all these years? It's kinda hard to swallow. SID: Okay, recording deleted. Well, technically it's not a lie. Listen, just trust me on this, all right? We can always tell them what we really saw but for the time being let's pretend that we didn't find anything, all right? DANREY: :sigh: Okay. I hope that we're making a good choice. SID: We do, Dan. We do. *** MISSION STATUS ***

Alternatively, talk through with him what you had trouble with and explain how you solved it; admittedly a tutorial may be needed in game too, but don't pass up the chance to help a dude out with personal experience, there is no better teacher!

Unity Talk finally posted. And it was while the forums were down.... OP updated. I've given up on trying to find a recording of their talk at PAX. Up till now I was checking youtube multiply times a day to see if anything else about KSP at PAX would be posted. This thread will of course be ready if anyone else finds something.

You should talk to Bobcat. He or at least one of this team made movable airlocks for his HOME pods.

Wasn't there talk about adding the Kerbalizer into the game for variety? I don't see any reason to rush that process, so I'm content to wait until that time for female Kerbals. In fact, that'd be the perfect time to add them so that the devs can assuage any accusations of maliciously sidelining other's pet features/optimizations.

True, teraforming takes forever, we will probably seed planets in the habitable zone without life but not wait. Add that planets with life is the most interesting places to visit. Try to get funding for an manned interstellar mission to an bunch of boring planets without life Yes the planet will be contaminated by microorganisms from earth, pretty much impossible to avoid. An manned mission to Mars will make it hard to say if Mars has lift, at least it will have life after we left. Now an planet with an advanced ecosystem will probably not have any niches for the eartlife to take over easy. An primitive ecosystem like earth an billion years ago would likely to be taken over by earth life. Probes will show how different the alien biochemistry is from our own. As for colonization, the difference between colonization and research is blurred, at least if we talk about slower then light travel, you will stay an long time probably the rest of your life.

Anyway guys, I didn't know it was a decompiler and that's why I did offer that, but since it's one, and it's against the rules, let's not talk about any other decompiler possibilities. humm I will have to try that and see if it's a better way to get the model info.

It is true, sexual dimorphism varies. An alien species would not necessary follow human norms, or even have similar biology to earth life. But my point is this: Kerbals are not a real species. They were created to be characters in a video game. They have two eyes, a head, on a neck above a body which has two arms out the side, and two legs sticking out the bottom with which they walk. They talk. They eat. They show emotion. The develop technology. Kerbals are based on humans. It is a game designed to be used by humans. That is the reason for the human bias. Giving non-human characters anthropomorphic features is one way to encourage humans connect to that character. If it had a race of realistic spiders instead of kerbals, the game would have quite the same appeal. So if kerbals have genders, it would make sense for them to follow human norms. Anything else would just be distracting, and wouldn't add much to the game, IMHO. Adding female kerbals to the game will add a sense of completeness. In the room I'm in, about half are boys, are half girls. In my Mun base, I only see male-looking faces. Something is missing there.

Just a suggestions, deadly reentry simulates damage to parts from over heating or G forces, why not talk to the guy that made that mod and talk about implementing damage into this?

Again, the models _are not taking up lots of space and memory_. The limit for KSP that people talk about with "size" of mods is _memory_. And models aren't taking up much memory. What's taking up memory is the _textures_ for the models. Novapunch uses pngs and tgas. Kethane uses mbms. See my previous post--mbms are uncompressed, of _course_ they take lots of space on disk. Try zipping one up; that's how big an equivalent resolution PNG would be on disk. But remember, image file type _does not_ have correspondence to KSP's memory use! Resolution does.

Talk about real time capsule stuff: Some of these are over a year old, and come from Version 0.14.2!

You're the one claiming reactions stop, that there is a lower limit on reaction rates under which it stops. I'm saying it will slow down, possibly by a lot, but never really stops. Slow metabolism is still metabolism. If you put alcohol dehydrogenase in a flask of alcohol, keep it barely above the freezing point and wait a few years, what happens? I've never said methanogenic life was definitely for sure possible, just that we don't know if it's impossible. If you dismiss anything that is considered reasonable but not proven to work as being utterly impossible, of course it is easy to assume life is impossible in liquid methane. You won't find oxygen beyond trace levels anywhere but on Earth. Oxygen is very reactive, and will start hypergolic reactions with strong reducers. There is more reactive stuff than it, for sure, but you're tracing a line in the sand here. Stronger oxidants than oxygen are found on other planets, like sulfuric acid or nitric acid, and the true nightmare stuff usually requires fluorine, a rather rare element, or chlorine, and I wouldn't be surprised to find traces of some in various atmospheres. We don't know how much time. The oldest fossils are 3 billion years old, and some structures 3.5 Billion years old are disputed. It means life could have appeared very quickly once the rocks solidified. We don't know if it takes weeks, years or millions of years for life to appear when the conditions are right. In the case of Titan, the gradient comes from extra-planetary ionizing radiation, the gradient will be there for a long time.. The upper atmosphere is where H2 is produced. Part of it is blown away, part of it sinks, and the concentration drops to zero when reaching the ground, which means something is consuming it. As noted, it could be a purely abiotic process, for example a catalytic reaction, except we don't know any mineral catalyst working efficiently at that temperature. There is a mystery here, and if we assume the observations are correct, it will bring nice, shiny, new science. Does it really need to be a pure carbon chain? couldn't something like a carbon chain with an Oxygen, Nitrogen or Sulfur in the middle do the trick? Remember that even if they're not stable in wet, oxygen rich environment at 300K doesn't mean they can't exist in cryogenic methane. And some polymers are listed with glass transition temperatures as low as -125°C. Still hotter than liquid methane, but not that far away. When I talk of peer reviewed papers, I don't mean NASA pres releases. The McKAy paper says that if there is methanogenic life on Titan, it will be widespread and have a large observable impact. He also shows there is plenty of energy for metabolism and that life breathing H2 would result in it being depleted at the surface, as well as liquid and solid complex organic molecules. It is a testable claim and a reasonable explanation of Cassiny-Huygens observations. He also cites low solubility in methane and low temperatures as issues, and addresses them. 1) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103505002009 2) http://www.scopus.com/record/display.url?eid=2-s2.0-0036766102&origin=inward&txGid=0FC44B2EA42EADE91AF4CE9BE14E1167.FZg2ODcJC9ArCe8WOZPvA%3a1 3) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0273117787903589 4) http://www.springer.com/earth+sciences+and+geography/earth+system+sciences/book/978-3-540-20627-9 5) http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11919&page=74 The last link briefly talks about the solubility problem, and paper 3 assumes large amount of dissolved stuff in methane. What do you mean by solvents need to react? Water can be both a solvent and a reactive species, but I don't see why you would need a reactive solvent.

SQUAD have a team of tester who test the game intensively the way SQUAD want and the way they thing the game will be played. That is the Q&A part of the development. As a player of an early access your goals are: - play the game the way you want to play it (certainly different from the vision SQUAD had), and if you encounter any bugs, follow that guide line (isolate the bug, find how the dev can reproduce it, report it with all the info) - Keep playing, and when you have idea on how to improve a feature or the game, let the dev know with the suggestion forum, Make sure to research if it has been suggested before or already confirmed/denied by the dev (and that is is not in the what not to suggest list) - If you have any art skills (writing, drawing, speaking, videos etc...), use the forum blog or other to share the story of your space program. Every one love to hear what is going on with other space program. - Share the love, talk about ksp. As simple as it sound, but the more people share their love of ksp, the easier it is for the dev to stay motivated. Developing such a game with a small team is very stressful, and they work hard on it, so all those story of player space program, all those fan arts and magazine review does keep the dev motivated, because it really show them that the player are behind them.

Except that those cultures have existed for a loooooooooooooooong time, having a historical heritage and most of the culture in America is extremely young pop-culture, if we ignore the little things that the first new America's travellers have brought from Europe that got mostly forgotten. So it's not exactly just like that. The cultures on the continent of Europe are very diverse, so it kind of ticks me when people talk about "Europeans" and "Europe/EU is a country". Just sayin'...

CHAPTER 4 1961: WE CHOOSE THE MUN *** 25th MAY, 1961 MAX: Good afternoon, James. Nice office. And the nameplate – James Kebb, Administrator of the KASA. Nice indeed. JAMES: :sigh: MAX: What's up? You've succeeded, man – von Braun is limited to the design bureau and you are the new KASA's Administrator. Kod only knows how you did it but nobody can say that you aren't good in personal games. You should rejoice! JAMES: Very funny. You know damn well in what position this puts me now. MAX: What are you talking about? JAMES: This frakin address to Kongress! Are you living under a rock or what? MAX: Well, I find it very inspiring. JAMES: Inspiring my butt. This is madness – von Braun's lunacy was substituted by this madman's so called “planâ€Â. To go to the Mun before the end of this decade… This is disastrous. MAX: I don't follow, James. We'll get more money and resources, so- JAMES: The point is, Max, that we can't do this! Do you have any idea how impossibly hard this project is to realize? We're going to need technologies that don't exist yet, procedures we're not sure are feasible to execute, completely new spacecraft using cutting edge technology and rockets – frak, don't even get me started on the rockets. MAX: Okay, it's a huge challenge, we all know that, but don't you think that this is doable? JAMES: Doable? Listen – even if it is, in which I doubt, but even if so, than we're putting at stake everything. From a political point of view I can understand this on some level – Reds have won the race to the orbit, so Kennedy is proposing a race to Mun. New game, our rules, they have to adapt to it or loose – that's smart. But why before the end of the decade?! We have less than 9 years! And if they beat us to the Mun… MAX: Yes? JAMES: Than it's game over. If we can't do this while concentrating all our strengths, our economy, military, eggheads – than the Reds truly are better. Or at least that's how they will be seen by the whole world. Their ideology and the way they organize their society is superior to ours. Kod, we could loose the Cold War because of this. MAX: I think you're too pessimistic, James. We can do it. We have the potential, remember? And with the right leadership… JAMES: Oh, shut up. MAX: … JAMES: … MAX: Ahem. So what are you going to do? JAMES: I'm going to the Green House to talk with him. MAX: Talk? JAMES: Ask for more money – what else could I do? It'll cost at least several billions. We need new budget, new flight schedule, much more employees – at least several thousands engineers more. And more kerbonauts, of course – we need to start recruiting right now. We have to start thinking about upgraded spacecraft, there are public procurements for all parts to be prepared – oh, we're gonna need more lawyers too. And some lobbyists in the Kongress. And some good plan to put this all together. Sweet Kod, this is nightmare. MAX: James, if you need my help, just let me know. You're my boss now anyways. JAMES: Hmm? Yeah, you could be useful. MAX: Err, thanks. I guess. JAMES: Okay, Max – you are going to prepare report for me about the readiness of the Atlas rocket. We need some good stunt to show everyone that we're serious about the President's plan. Maybe full orbit or something? Whatever, it better be big; you have two weeks to prepare this for me. And I want the launch within six months – are we clear? MAX: James? Are we serious about the President's plan? JAMES: Do we have any other choice? He may be a bloody idiot by demanding the impossible from us but he's still the fraking President. The problem is there is no plan, just political wishful thinking. :sigh: Okay Max, leave me alone now, I have a lot of phone calls to make. 5th JUNE, 1961 JAMES: Okay, I'm listening. MAX: Ahem. So. This is the Mercury-Redstone rocket we're currently using. JAMES: Really. MAX: It's capable of sending one man into suborbital flight. He's not a pilot, since he can't really control the flight, more like a passenger. Last month Alan used this rocket to become the first Kermarican in space, next month there is one more flight scheduled. This time however the capsule will be using the liquid retro booster, not solid fuel like the last time. This should give us opportunity to test several- JAMES: Listen Max, this is good idea – small change but quite a big scientific gain, I like it. But I told you to concentrate on the Atlas. MAX: Yes, about that. This is the Atlas booster. MAX: We expect it to be able to accelerate the capsule for additional 0,6 km/s in comparison to the Redstone. It'll be enough to put the spacecraft in orbit, albeit barely enough. JAMES: Hmm. I can't say I'm impressed – why only 600 m/s? The tests indicated that there will be bigger difference. MAX: Ahem. Well, calculations made by doctor von Braun were correct. But he forgot that there are three engines instead of one in this rocket. JAMES: :sigh: Let me guess – the mass of the other two engines lowers the total delta-V to merely 600 m/s better than the Redstone is capable of. MAX: Exactly. JAMES: Wonderful. Are you sure that the orbital flight is possible with Atlas? MAX: Yes. No. I mean, I don't know. I mean, well, it should be. Ahem. JAMES: :sigh: Tell von Braun to calculate everything once again. And than double- and triple-check this. I want one of our kerbonauts to make a full orbit within 6 months, Max. And like President said, it's not something I'm willing to postpone. MAX: Sure thing. Ahem. James, have you spoke with him? JAMES: Whom? Oh, sure I did. It isn't that bad – he's not a visioner-type at all. MAX: Err? And this is a good thing? JAMES: Well of course it is! You see, he only cares about the Cold War and we're just one more weapon in this conflict. He understands this and he's not willing to change this, with all the consequences for our manned program. MAX: What do you mean? JAMES: We will get as much money as we need to send a man to the Mun by the end of this decade. The sky is the limit, Max – Kongress will give us its full support. And with a craptone of money we won't have to beg Army or Air Force for anything. Quite the contrary – we're going to be the biggest player in the whole aerospace industry in the country. MAX: This is great! JAMES: Yeah, but here's a thing – Kermarican flag on the Mun is the goal. We have to beat the Reds and prove them that USK is the superior power and nothing else matters. But – and you're not going to like it – this has to understand literally. Any project which won't help us get to the Mun is thrashed indefinitely. Every bit of science which isn't going to take us closer to this goal is considered unnecessary and financing it is wasteful. MAX: But… but there is so much to know, so much to explore! We can't just- JAMES: We can and we will, Max. Don't forget what's at stake here. You think I wouldn't prefer to get money on real science? But this is the reality, like it or not. However, we still are going to spend billions on the new spacecraft and rockets and all this stuff. And every bit of science we will be able to slip under the radar by connecting it to these projects is our and kerbalkind gain. Do you understand me? MAX: I think I do but you're right, I don't like it at all. And von Braun and his men are going to be really disappointed. JAMES: Like I care about it. And by the way – there is a new spacecraft to be designed. I think we'll let the McDonnell take care of this: as our prime contractor for the Mercury capsule they are most likely to do this fast. I'm gonna need you again, Max. MAX: Oh. JAMES: You'll be responsible for reporting me progress on the development of the new spacecraft. However, first we need to know what we want from it. MAX: Err? JAMES: Specification, Max? And to do this, we need to create some roadmap, you know, thing we need to practice before we go to the Mun. You have one month, Max. MAX: One month?! But- JAMES: Come on, you have all KASA for your disposal! Gather the best eggheads we have and do some brainstorming. MAX: But- JAMES: I'm sure von Braun will have some crazy ideas, but don't let him think we have an unlimited budget. Speaking of which, I have to call to the Vice President. MAX: But- JAMES: No buts! Go now and bring me this report in four weeks. It's vital for our success, Max – I'm sure that the Reds are already working on something. Hell, maybe I should talk with CIA about this? MAX: But- JAMES: I said go! There is no time to lose - the space race has already begun!

Oh crap I forgot to paste the URL. Deerrrrpppp http://www.braeunig.us/space/propel.htm Edit: btw, all my interest in doing the config to add new fuels was prompted by talk of the nuclear rocket being broken in Real Fuels. Or rather it prompted a lot of research in which I discovered that even in the aerospace industry, not everyone is enamored with nuclear rockets in general (or hydrogen as a propellent in nuclear rockets). Great Isp offset by a choice of having to accept either lower reaction mass or voluminous H2 fuel tanks to compensate. I've come to the conclusion that even once you fix the tank mass issues, nuclear works the way it probably would in reality. So maybe the problem is reality sucks.

Hey Idobox, you need to change your news source, it has 10 years of delay. First, To day there are companies that sale PERFECT samples of 10mm x 10mm to be used in studies, I also read even bigger perfect sheets made. But now (i mean some years back) there is a new method to produce graphene called Chemical Vapor Deposition CMD. With this method (is a lot cheaper) they already made sheets bigger than 1 square meter. In fact there is not limit to how big it can be. Is not a perfect single layer. But they found than graphene it does not need to be perfect to keep they amazing properties, even with flaws these sheets keeps the 80% of their qualities. http://www.zmescience.com/science/physics/graphene-strength-cvd-0306201/ http://web.ornl.gov/adm/partnerships/events/Dec_Spark/Speight_Graphene%20v5.pdf http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130306-bend-and-flex-for-mobile-phones University in South Korea showed it was possible to create roll of metres of the material, and demonstrated it on touch-sensitive tablet screens. And since then Sony has built a machine that can create rolls of the material 100m long About carbon nanotubes you can made sheets like the one that I post 2 pages back that are real big, of course is not a perfect carbon nanotube, but their properties are close. But if you want a perfect long carbon nanotube then it is half meter. And they had a 99,5 % of chance to produce them. http://www.defence.pk/forums/china-far-east/265310-worlds-longest-carbon-nanotube-276-times-steel-s-tensile-strength.html Also they already know techniques to joint these samples in perfect way. So is time to everyone open they eyes, CNT and Graphene are already here. We know many products that use CNT, but also there is many products on sale that use graphene. Like tennis racket, filters, sensors, etc. In 5 years into the future we will see many graphene products, like touch screens,CCD for cameras, earphones, supercapacitors, etc. In 10 years from now would will start to see some airplanes or cars made of composites materials using graphene and tons of other products. Right now they increment by 5 or 10 times the tensile strenght of metals using only a 0,00004% of graphene with the CVD method. http://www.tsunster.com/graphene-makes-copper-500-times-stronger/ I dont see many future in that aplication, I read 3 years back about a similar idea with more benefics in my opinion. http://www.gizmag.com/et3-vacuum-maglev-train/21833/ How is vacuum it can reach velocities about 6500km/h and it is very efficient from the energy point of view. But all these methods needs a huge investment, I mean, you need to start build all the circuit from zero. And is not cheap. Why made that if we can had ways to fly (without a particular destination) using electric airplanes with superconductor motors that will be very light and efficient in the same time scale than the first 200 km of hiperloop circuit would be made. Agree, but there is nothing bad to talk about far future addons.

Here's a typical enzyme. (human alcohol dehydrogenase) Let's not think about this particular enzyme. Let's consider their very srchitecture. Carbon chains with various attachements. What do you think happens with complex organic systems at cryogenic temperatures, regardless of their environment? They crystallize because their very fabric crystallizes. I'm not talking about the macromolecule as a whole, with its special domains. I'm talking about its basic chains. Give me an example of the basic huge molecular structure you think could stay normal at cryogenic temperatures. I dare you. You haven't demonstrated the reaction rates are sufficient for any metabolism. You're holding onto a simplistic model that doesn't take into account that metabolic molecules work at all temperatures. Using your logic, we should be talking about very fast enzyme reaction rates at 2500°C, too. I'm talking about membranes. Not phospholypid membranes per se. There needs to be a separation, true, but a stable membrane is needed. A structure. Makeshift ones you're mentioning remind me of coacervates which might have played a role in early stages of abiogenesis and have never been proven to work at cryogenic temperatures. We can talk about its bonds, and we can talk about the behaviour of pure element in bulk quantities. The latter is an artificial thing. Nature will not produce it. There are far more reactive chemicals than oxygen, and you won't find them around in nature. They're inside special containers, or made in situ and exist as transient molecules in designed reactions. Life won't appear out of thin air. There is a huge gap between simple organic chemicals and first cells, and life is not a fixed point. You can't say "there, that's when life started". We know one thing. It takes time. How could life evolve if the conditions are continuously changed? It can't. If there are no stable, special repetitive conditions over a long period of time, you can only expect increase in entropy and chemical balance, ie. loss of gradients. Are you referring to this article? http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/titan20100603.html I don't share the hype. It reminds me of that "oxygen on Enceladus" news. If A can, so can B... That's being philosophical and not taking seriously the science behind it. The reality is that NASA's astrobiologists need money, and the media likes sensational news. Remember the "arsenic life"? We already knew that As-substituded nucleic acids decompose spontaneously. Did that stop NASA from the hype? No. What else would astrobiologists do? They pump out models and hypotheses. Titan's upper atmosphere is where the reactions happen. Sun irradiates stuff and it falls down, probably being fixed by the ground in exchange for something else. It might be a simple cryogenic geochemical circle... or observational mistake. Other than that... the hot depths are where liquid water exists. Pockets of underground lakes with colder tops and hot vents, circulating water tainted with organic molecules for hundreds of millions of years in the same container - that's how you increase chances for abiogenesis. We have no concieveable possible molecules other than organic polymers to begin with. If you know one, please inform me cause I have no idea. Everything made of carbon chains (and it will be carbon) is stiff at cryogenic temperatures. Polar solvent is needed because it offers vastly more interactions. Solvent also needs to react (college org chem). Liquid methane is inert. Water and ammonia are reactive. NASA's astrobiologist are primarily concerned by Titan's depths, and NASA's chemists about the atmosphere. I've yet have to read them talking about life on the frozen, inert surface. I think that, too.

Banned for not following the rule 1003. Rule 1003: Do not talk about inceptions, neither think about it or eat it, because it isn't Krakken-free.

"Life certainly requires polymers for storing information, and complex organic molecules for building membranes. There is no life without membranes, they're essential. Again, thermodynamic talk." No, life needs separation for evolution to happen. And guess what, there are other ways to create separation than phospholipid membranes. One way is to use polar hydrocarbons to form membranes, an other is to use droplets of polar solvent in an emulsion. "Oxygen is not extremely reactive." Oxygen cause fires and explosions. Try to get a heat source close to a mix of carbon dust and oxygen to see. Or try to get any pure element in contact with oxygen and see what happens. Anything that is a stronger oxydizer is scary as hell in my book. "Evolving life requires special and stable conditions, and then after some time, products can take over the world." This one is simply wrong. We simply don't know what is required for life to appear, we only have conflicting hypotheses about what might have happened on Earth. If we use Schrödinger's definition of life, the only thing that is absolutely required is an energy gradient. There are probably other restrictions for life to happen, but with only one sample, we can't say anything about what is needed. on the thermodynamic stuff, K^2 knows better than me, and I don't see the point in paraphrasing. But on Titan, we have ethane being consumed as it goes close to the surface, probably reacting with hydrogen to form methane. That is the proof that significant chemistry can happen on organic molecules at that temperature. There is no known mineral catalyst that can account for that, so it is unknown chemistry happening there. I think everybody agrees abiotic processes are a simpler explanation, and are thus more likely to be the explanation to this imbalance, but if abiotic chemistry can happen, so can biotic. Your whole argument is life needs these type of molecules, a polar solvent and a higher temperature. The temperature argument doesn't stand, the polar solvent is seriously questionned, and you can't prove that the molecules used by life on Earth are the only able to fulfill that function. In particular, there are a number of molecules that aren't stable in water, do you know enough in non aqueous low temperature organic chemistry to affirm no equivalent of amino acid chains can exist? Finally, some people with more knowledge than me, that spend their whole day thinking of alternative chemistries for life, hired by prestigious entities such as NASA mananged to publish papers in peer reviewed journal explaining the basics of possible cryogenic methane based life. If refuting them was as simple as saying proteins don't work in cold methane, they probably wouldn't get published, or get hired in their current position.

Chapter 4: The Diplomats and A Tiny Cabin *Two months after the last chapter* Jeb: Is everything clear B9K? B9K: Yes Commander. Green lights across the board, we have a clean sky, and Minnimus Security is standing by. Jeb: Great. Connect me to mission control- I need to let them know that We are clear. B9K:.... Connected. Jeb: Mission Control, this is OverWatch Station, come in MC. MC: We read you loud and clear OverWatch. Jeb: The sky is clear- Diplomatic mission are a go. MC: Have you got enough room and board for the passengers until the tug gets there? Jeb: Ready for diplomats and Persons of Interest. I think we have enough food, unless they start scarfing down stuff. MC: You can never be too careful Jeb. Jeb: Right. please send another couple ration boxes with the passengers. MC: Oh, your relief is on-board as well. We are re-assigning you. Jeb: Where to? MC: To the Diplomatic mission. Jeb: Well then- I will await them. B9K, please keep an eye on the Gavioli Readings- we need to make sure that our.... Visitor from the SWARM stays on Minnimus. B9K: Yessir. I have checked with one of the Minnimus probes, and they have an artillery cannon locked onto Nostalgia for Infinity. Jeb: I need to get packing! *** Back on the Launchpad at KSP, the Civilian transport Bill's Vengeance is on the Launchpad. *** MC: Bob, Kirk, you are cleared for launch. Bob: Alright. Kirk- Please check to see if we have everyone. Kirk: Right. Pilot Bob! Bob: Not me. Everyone else. Kirk: Right, sorry. Representative Pseudo? Rp. Pseudo: Present. Kirk: General Kirlak? G. Kirlak: Present. Kirk: Representative of Verolan Aerospace? Rp. Jonah: It's Verolan Space and Aeronautics Ltd. Kirk: I will try to remember that. Representative of Pili Industries? Rp. Jeremiah: Here. Kirk: Kallon Industries' Rep? Rp. Markus: Here. Why didn't you check us in when we were walking past you to board this vessel? Kirk: Because I was checking other things. Vice President of New World Homes? Vp. Maccus: Present. Kirk: Alright. Everyone sit back, and relax- we need to depart within the next minute or so to rendezvous with the Station. Bob: Ready for liftoff. MC: This is ground-tower. Your vector looks good. Graviloli signatures clear, and weather is stable. Kirk: Launch in 3. 2. 1. Bob: FIRE!!! MC: Kodspeed. Bob: I love my Job. Kirk: Altitude 500 meters... 1 kilometer.... 2 kilometers. Bob: Boosters deactivated in 3. 2. 1. Activating Main engine now. Kirk: Separation looks clean.Burn-Trail looks good. Bob: Low-burn engaged. Passengers, please be ready for acceleration at 1.21 g's. *THOOM* Rp. Jonah: Now I see why the R&D People keep pushing for vibration-baffling. Kirlak: You might want to fund that. We have a couple nearly-silent engines, and they are really useful. Rp. Jonah: Will you be willing to share some of the blueprint designs? Kirlak: Gladly. Vp. Maccus: I also would like to see those- we have designs for a first-landing base on Duna, and the engineers want to baffle the nuclear engines. Kirlak: After returning we should set up a meeting between our R&D teams that focus on noise-cancellation. Bob: Coasting to outer atmosphere in 3. 2. 1. *Engine "Thoom" noise dies down." Kirlak: Jettisoning escape-cap. *THUNK* Bob: Gentlemen, we are in space. Kirlak: Internal engine fire detected- primary system for engine gimble offline. Bob: Do we need the fuel to make the rendezvous burn? Kirlak: No, but it means we will be unable to get to Minnimus with the next engine- it only has so much nuclear material. Bob: MC, come in. We have a problem. Vp. Maccus:What's wrong? Bob: Don't worry. We have it under control. Bob: Kirlak, please seal the passenger compartment. Kirlak: Will do. *SSSSSSSTH* Bob: Mission control, do you read me? MC: Yes Bob, we read you. We have been reviewing sensor data- it turns out that the main engine will explode if you activate it for the rendezvous burn. Bob: That's what we are afraid of. MC: Our plan is this- We have a garavioli-silenced tug in the construction area. We have calculated it will have enough d/v to get you to Minnimus and safely land your craft, but only if you drop the nuclear engine. Bob: Alright. Why don't we just land using the nuclear engine after dropping the tug stage off in orbit? MC: The nuclear engine does not have enough shielding on it to prevent the near-luminal particles from penetrating it and causing a reactor meltdown. Kirk: But what about the cabin? Are we sufficiently shielded? MC: More then enough- but not enough to prevent back-scatter. The shielding acts like a re-directing crystal for the particles, bouncing them out in a direction to your front and rear. Bob: I see. the particles would get FUNNELED to the reactor.. MC: You can see why we don't want to have this happen- having a thermonuclear reaction killing all our diplomats... Is not ideal. Bob: Alright. Jettisoning Main engines. Burn for rendezvous burn 1 in 3. 2. 1.... Done Bob: Pitch burn in a couple seconds... Burning. Kirlak: ****** Bob: I cannot hear you- press the intercom button. Kirlak: Should you tell us when the major-acceleration burn happens? Bob: Yes, I will tell you. Burn in 3. 2. 1. Kirlak: BRACE! Rp. Jeremiah: Brace for what? Rp. Jeremiah: OH... Ow.... Rp. Jonah: My lungs are being pushed into my feet. Kirlak: Bob- we should have stopped accelerating now. Whats going on? Bob: The nuclear material has breached the quartz shell- It's going to keep burning until it's out of fuel. B9K: If we shut off the fuel flow the engine will explode. Kirlak: Shouldn't you contact MC? B9K: No need. We have a contingency in place already. Bob: We are turning around in 10 seconds. Kirk: Simulation looks good. B9k? B9K: Ready for takeover for the turn-around. B0b: B9K, the controls are yours. B9K: Turning around now. B9K; Radioactive cores will be depleted in 10 seconds. Decreasing fuel flow. B9K: Radiators are working in overtime.... B0b: Any chance of meltdown? B9K: No. We are clear for interception. *Beep Beep Beep* B9K: Incoming from Overwatch Station. Jeb: Hello Vengeance..... That is an ominous name. Bob: Yes. Yes it is. Are we clear for entry? Jeb: Yes. You are on the adjusted vector. B9K: Burning for stationary-placement. B9K: Engine valves rupturing. Ready for decoupling the engine assembly. B9K: Waiting for you Bob. Bob: Decouple the assembly. B9K: Decoupling... B9K: Nuclear engine away. Bob: Alright- activate the docking subroutine. B9K: Docking engaged. Overwatch Station, which port is available? B9K Overwatch: Docking port size large, we only have one port that fits. Orient intended docking port to planetary North. B9K: Alright. B9k: Entering vector for approach... Jeb: If you guys dock like that, I will be unable to transfer over without EVA gear. B9K: Is that a problem? Jeb: I don't have EVA gear in here. B9K: Re-orienting. Bob: And... Docked. B9K: Optimizing and syncing memory..... Opening internal airlock. Opening extra visitor modules. Bob: Alright everyone- there will be a bit more space to move around, until the tug rendezvous with us so we can dock. Kirlak: I might recomend that everyone go to the bathroom, and use the zero-G showers before the tug gets here. We will not have too much time. *The passengers start arguing about who gets to use the showers first.* Bob: There are 6 showers. Enough for everyone. *The passengers start arguing about who goes where.* Kirlak: Don't try Bob. They will always find something to argue about. Jeb: FINALLY! I have been up hear for almost a month, and I am stir-Crazy! Who's my replacement? Kirk: I am, Sir. Jeb: Great. There are a couple terabytes of movies in the main computer, and the internet connection we rigged using the quantum-comm works really well. No lag-time. Kirk: Will I be bored for that long Sir? Jeb: Unless the SWARM decides to attack, yes. Kirk: Alright. Bob: Tug arriving in 10 minutes. Jeb: No time to waste! *** Ten minutes later *** Bob: Everyone boarded for the trip to Minnimus? Jeb: All aboard. B9K: Inflatable modules deflating.... Done. B9K: Unmanned Tug in visual range now. Would you like a picture as seen by the tug? Jeb: Sure. Jeb: That's... Cross-bracing, isn't it? B9K: Yes. Closing hatches... Sealing bulkheads... Disconnected from Overwatch. B9K: Docking with the tug in 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. Jeb: Brace for connection! B9K: 3. 2. 1. *thunk* B9K: Docked. Tug AI: Greetings, PASSENGERS. Please hold on as acceleration will commence at 2.6 times sea-level gravity. Jeb: Doesn't this Tug have a B9K AI? B9K: The tug's systems were not optimized for the psycho-kinetic environment for my consciousness. It is... Unable to host any SWARM minds, but it is barley capable of flight. Jeb: How will it be able to pull us into orbit if it's that dumb? B9K: The original copy of me, in MC, is currently feeding the ship it's telemetry through the Quantum Link. Jeb: You are driving this ship? B9K: Not Directly. I am telling the ship what calculations it needs to do, with the variables it has, and it executes. Jeb: Sounds risky. B9K: I am simplifying it. I am controlling it, but in a very secure manner. Tug AI: Acceleration at 2.6 times sea-level gravity for 10 seconds... Mark. *Everyone feels the acceleration. Most start groaning as they suddenly feel like another version of them is sitting on their chests. Tug AI: Acceleration decreasing to 2.5. 2.0. 1.0. Freefall. Minnimus intercept in 3 days. Kirlak: Now we just need to keep the diplomats from killing each other. Jeb: That's going to be a job and a half. *** Three days later, after two fistfights and Jeb threatening to space everyone if they start complaining about the food AGAIN.... The Minnimus intercept occurs. *** Kirlak: Jeb, you need to stay in the cockpit. Jeb: Threaten to space a group of diplomats one time.... Kirlak: I am in that group. Jeb: You were complaining more than anyone else! Bob: Sir, if you don't like the food, next time you come up here, you might want to pack your own rations. B9K: Guys- we are coming up on Minnimus. The Tug is getting ready to circularize. Bob: How far will we be from the surface when we start the burn? B9K: 10 Km. Bob: Wow. *To everyone inside the passenger compartment* Bob: Everyone, get buckled in, an keep an eye on the windows- we will be passing over the terrain. Tug AI: Burn in 10 minutes. Bob: Get your stuff stowed away. *** Ten minutes later *** Jeb: I don't think we ever ran a mission to Minnimus.. Bob: We didn't. Why didn't we? Kirlak: Time constraints. Tug AI: Burn in 6 seconds. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Burning. B9K: Location and expected trajectory will bring us directly over the landing fields. Jeb: Can... We... Land... There... Now... B9K: Yes. Calculating burn time... Done. Tug AI: Received new instructions... Calculations complete. Burn time increased. B9K: We will be landing soon. Tug AI: Internal gravioli dampeners have shifted. Bob: That does not sound good. Tug AI: Landing Now. Tug AI: Gravioli pocket detected. Jeb: That sounds bad. B9K: It is. The pocket will amplify all motion around it, and grow until the ship is enveloped by the spacial-distortion field. Bob: That sounds really bad. Kirlak: You know Crater Bay? Jeb: Of course. Kirlak: Crater Bay used to be a large segment of lifeless badlands. It contained a test site nearly 1/2 a century ago, that focused on gravioli research. They created a pocket of contained graviolis, and the entire badlands imploded and left the planet at high speed. Jeb: What? B9K: The relativistic effects of the graviolis in close contact with each other cause a field to develop and spread, causing the mass of all matter within the field to increase exponentially with the field density. Jeb: And... Kirlak: The mass increases... Our ships, both this transport and the tug, as well as a good chunk of this plain, will be turned into a black hole roughly 2/10ths of a meter across. It will then be fired into a kolar escape velocity at near-lightspeed. Jeb: That's bad. Alright, Disconnect and Get the tug out of blast range. B9K: Done. B9K: Goodbye Tug. Tug AI: Goodbye... My friend. B9K: What? Tug AI: ................... Jeb: Alright- lets get this show on the road. Lazor ready. Scanning dish ready. Jeb: Camera seems to be working. Jeb: The Courier Rover will be here soon. Bob: Constructed by the Autonomous Probes? B9K: Yup! A copy of me is on it, and we will stay in contact. Jeb: Great. Now, everyone get suited up for vacuum! Kirlak: Alright, everyone line up. Kirlak: Alright- Bob will lead you into the rover. The airlock only fits one at a time, and we need to get eveyone in. *Bickering ensues* *More Bickering* Kirlak: YOU PEOPLE ARE DIPLOMATS! ACT LIKE IT! Vp. Maccus: We are. *Kirlak attempts to facepalm, but ends up smacking his glove against his face* Jeb: Told you. SPACING THEM. Or at least freezing them for the Journey. Kirlak: We won't have practical Cryo-staisis for 2 years. Jeb: Next time I run one of these, We are freezing them. Vp. Maccus: We are still here. Jeb: You won't notice time passed if frozen. *Squabbling* Jeb: Keep it down back there before I ask the probes for a freezer to stick you all. Jeb: Kirlak! We need you inside before we set off. Kirlak: I know... But it is so beautiful. Jeb: With respect, sir, we need to set off. Kirlak: Alright. Rp> Pseudo: Oh, let him stargaze. *Laughter* Kirlak: We should get an observatory out Here. Jeb: Oh yes. Kirlak: I'm In. *** A few minutes later *** Bob: That red beam is enormous! How far are we? B9K: 800 meters. Bob: That is a huge targeting beam. Kirlak: We are coming in pretty fast. Shouldn't we slow down? Jeb: Yes we should. B9K: Applying breaks... Bob: Everyone lean back! Kirlak (Who has gone white): That's not funny. Jeb: Alright, B9K, could you tell the artillery vehicle to cease targeting the Nostalgia for Infinity? B9K: I... Cannot. It does not want to. Jeb: Want? B9K: It wants to talk to you. Jeb: This job just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Soon we will be meeting time-travelers. Kirlak: Don't even joke- the paperwork is murder for dealing with time travelers. B9K: Rotating the vehicle to point at the SWARM vessel. Jeb: Alright, I will head out to talk to this artillery probe. Bob: I will keep everything down here... HEY! Maccus, let go of Jonah! Jeb: Good luck with that. *** Out on the surface *** Jeb: Alright... Testing testing. Hello, Mr. Artillery Probe. What's your name? Art. Prb: Hello Jeb! My progenitor called me ART1, so you can call me Arty! Jeb: Alright... Arty, can you please tell me why you will not cease targeting the Nostalgia? Arty: I just wanted to see if you were real. I never met a Kerbal before today, and I didn't know if I would get the chance. Jeb: Oh... Are we all you expect? Arty: I had no expectations, I just wanted to know what you looked like. Arty: I have ceased targeting. Go have fun! I will keep an eye on things. Jeb: Alright. Thanks. Arty: No problem. Jeb: I will. Nostalgia for Infinity? NfI: YES. I AM HERE. COME ON OVER- I MEAN NO HARM. Jeb: Sure you don't. NfI: WHY WOULD I MEAN YOU HARM? OUR GOALS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WE SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT. Jeb: HUP! NfI: WE HAVE ALOT TO TALK ABOUT. Jeb: If I can persuade the rest of them to come out, yes we will. *** Back around Kerbin *** B9K: Telescopes picked up an object entering the atmosphere. Kirk: Gravioli Presence? B9K: None.... That I can detect. Kirk: Huh. Lets get a picture. B9K: Trajectory will take it over the KSC.... Kirk: Time? ... Wait- is that a lazer, or just noise? B9K: Over it in a few seconds... GRAVIOLI SURGE! ACROSS THE BOARD! ALL FLAVORS! Kirk: Kiwi? Raspberry? Vanilla? B9K: It surged again! Kirk: I see it too- contact the KSC, and tell them to scramble- B9K: RADIATION SURGE! ALL VISIBLE BANDS! Kirk: What? B9K: Kirk, you should check the Telescopes... Kirk: The KSC is... Is it gone? B9K: All cameras are showing white-out from the blast. Kirk: Contact the KSC- ask if there are there any survivors. B9K: I am trying! Kirk: B9K! B9K:.... No response yet Kirk. Kirk: Contact the Delegation- we need to tell them what happened. B9K: What will you tell them? Kirk: I will tell them... That we might just have lost the Mission Command. *** *** *** Sorry this took so long, I am adjusting to my new schedule, and I have much less time to play Kerbal Space Program. The chapters will continue, once a week, if not more. I hope you are all enjoying the story so far!

Here... Here... And here. First and third are assumptions implying that girls can't like space games (there's actually a couple others running around here somewhere) and insulting everyone that voted for "Other". Second is for calling people stupid for being offended. Something that may look insignificant to you can be veeeery significant to someone else. There's totally people out there that get really touchy when you start talking about gender/sex and everything in between (see below). Depends where you are. You can here in Ontario. I have a friend at my college who used to be a woman, and he had his birth certificate changed to "M". (Yes, you can do that) He's a bit weird and gets upset easily if you don't know your sex/gender stuff when you talk with him but he's really nice. EDIT: I don't see why they would here. This place is really nice compared to other game forums I've seen. I remember some times spent on other forums where I had to change my account because I kept getting constant PMs from creepy people and trolls copying my account name and roleplaying as me in the forums. Which is why I don't go there anymore.

The argument was flawed because even then people knew about Earth's inner heat. Life certainly requires polymers for storing information, and complex organic molecules for building membranes. There is no life without membranes, they're essential. Again, thermodynamic talk. So, by your criteria, anything is possible? That's a weird universe you're living in. Not everything can be. Ozone is formed during lightning storms in poor amounts and is quickly destroyed. I won't include stratospheric ozone because that's not in the biosphere and exists because of UV irratiation of oxygen. Oxygen is not extremely reactive. I'm talking about very reactive chemicals. Hypergolic stuff. Neither do I understand you. Polylipids will be inert at cryogenic temperatures. Again, you're making a fallacy similar to that Venus clouds stuff. For the life to evolve, active solvents and plenty of energy is required. If a hypothetical cell divides every 30 years in Titan's slush, it sure didn't evolve there, and neither would anything evolve inside clouds. Evolving life requires special and stable conditions, and then after some time, products can take over the world. I know what you mean by thermal spectrum of energy and I find it ridiculous. Indeed, inside a glass of liquid nitrogen there are hundreds of molecules with the temperature of Sun's surface. So what? Their amount is extremely low. The rule of thumb doesn't work when the molecules responsible for organic reactions aren't working anymore. The rule breaks down. I've read about the tardigrades on typical news portals. After all this talk, do you honestly think I've never heard of enzymes? There is not a concieveable enzyme architecture that would work at temperatures where molecules are barely moving. Titan's surface is dead. I never said anything about its depths. For all I know and care, the depths might hold Kerbals. The soap story is a nice one, but life won't work in cryogenic environments. Also, that world would have no chance of evolving in the first place. Methane is a nonpolar molecule and its molecules behave like little inert balls, so it's close to ideal gas. Liquid methane is held together by London forces and the fact its molar mass is not that low. It will not react with anything if we don't count in scary stuff made in research labs. Saying it can serve a valuable purpose for nursing life is completely ridiculous. It's the "anything goes" and "space is weird, Earth is not in space" talk.