Build a better Kerbin

[RizzoTheRat]

15 hours ago, GeneralVeers said:

Earth has Mount Everest. Which is tiny compared to the planet it sits on.

"Very, very high" is entirely relative here. We don't know how high a mountain on Earth could get; it could happen, maybe it simply hasn't happened yet.......

If you scaled the earth down the size of a billiard ball, both the highest and lowest points (Mount Everest and Marianas trench) would be within the tolerance specified for billiard balls.  The earth is basically smooth.  Mars however would be out of spec you'd need to file 7km (most of Mt Everest) off the top of Olympus Mons to be able to have a red ball.  So you could potentially have bigger mountains than we have on earth, but even so they're probably never going to be big enough to make a huge difference.

I think there's something like 100m/s difference in dV requirement launching from ESA's site in Ghiana compared to NASA's in Florida as it's nearer the equator, so planetary spin rate would probably make one of the biggest differences.

[fredinno]

6 hours ago, RizzoTheRat said:

If you scaled the earth down the size of a billiard ball, both the highest and lowest points (Mount Everest and Marianas trench) would be within the tolerance specified for billiard balls.  The earth is basically smooth.  Mars however would be out of spec you'd need to file 7km (most of Mt Everest) off the top of Olympus Mons to be able to have a red ball.  So you could potentially have bigger mountains than we have on earth, but even so they're probably never going to be big enough to make a huge difference.

I think there's something like 100m/s difference in dV requirement launching from ESA's site in Ghiana compared to NASA's in Florida as it's nearer the equator, so planetary spin rate would probably make one of the biggest differences.

Still, a Olympus Mons on Earth would be tall enough to go past the 12 km troposphere and the thickest part of the atmosphere.

8 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Kerbin, a 600 km planet with 9.81 m/s² gravity... If this physics is not enough weird... OK, OK...

Probably vice versa: all feel unhappy.
Because they are already just at the ceiling of the oxygen consumption and any lesser concentration means a depression, while any greater concentration means an intoxication.
Better there would be 17% of oxygen. Then any pot with ficus will give them a real euphoria because it means 1% of oxygen more!

Yes, and giant spiders with kilometers of web providing a ready-to-use space elevator.

(Similar to Brian Aldiss's "Hothouse / The Long Afternoon of Earth")

A planet with a mountain a hundred miles high is called "an asteroid". It's this mountain itself.
On any other planet a mountain height (as well as a pit depth) is very limited by gravity
Height_max ~= 3 * YieldPointOfRock / DensityOfRock * GravityAcceleration, So, no mountains higher or pits deeper than ~30 km.

 

Back to the theme.
A tidally-locked Mars-sized planet revolving round a (super-jupiter / brown dwarf) exactly at the Roche limit.
Yes, it is being destroyed, but so what? All we need — to live there several thousand years, then we find another such planet.

On its sub-Jupiter hemisphere there is zero gravity and stones are flying up to the sky.
So, to launch something into space you need just to put this thing on a railcar, bring to the sub-jupiter side and release from the ropes.
Of course the railcar would be attached to the railway to stay on the planet itself.

Rich with water ice (at least — was, at least — on the outer side), that's obvious.

On the outer side there is a crater or cleft (yes, this planet is a poor, poor thing): 10-30 km deep.
Humans and NPC live inside this cleft / crater. Its bottom level keeps a normal air pressure, they can breathe without spacesuits.
Also it's warm there: because this planet is being destoyed by the tidal force, so to get enough heat is not a problem.
(Idea of a habitated cleft is stolen from W.H.Hodgson's "The Night Land")

There is no significant air above the edge of the cleft/crater., so no atmo drag there.
I.e. living beings are living in an air blob inside a well, on its bottom.
It's a small and homey habitat 10-20 kilometers in diameter, with lakes and gardens (or at least with algae tanks).
This is a flat location easily being mapped for navigation or game purposes — a sandbox.

All industry is placed inside rocks around this location and all pollution exhaust is thrown away right into space, keeping this oasis green and happy.
There is a an elevator on the side of the well — to get out of there, and a circumplanetary railway Which is also used as a launchpad (see above).
 

The sub-Jupiter hemisphere is something like this, but more optimistic

Such a movement to get to space would be pretty dangerous...

[RizzoTheRat]

24 minutes ago, fredinno said:

Still, a Olympus Mons on Earth would be tall enough to go past the 12 km troposphere and the thickest part of the atmosphere.

True, never played RSS so I'm not sure how much difference that would make, the fact that SpaceShip launched at about 13km suggests it's pretty significant I suppose.