KSP makes people mistake you for a rocket scientist

[Wanderfound]

We have to use the term "It's not brain surgery." Cause rockets are simple.

Brain surgery's less tricky than you'd think, too. Largely a matter of steady hands and nerves.

Surgeons are the jocks of medicine. Diagnosis and research is where the brainpower is.

[KSK]

Yeah, sucks that money is the motivating factor because they definitely got the VAB/SPH right (that's why I haven't bothered trying Orbiter).

Money can't buy you love - but it's real handy for paying the rent.

[shifty803]

This thread is amusing, because I was talking about this with my buddies at work the other day. Our job is not cutting edge anymore, has not been for several decades. The only rocket scientists these days are guys doing plasma dynamics research, or reactor research, etc. The rest of us are just rocket engineers.

[Vortex421]

Even a building full of heavyweight simulation machines used by real scientific institutions won't even try to model everything - you just have to accept any approximation on its own terms and decide whether that's useful or not.

Everyone gives weather forecasters grief when they mess up a forecast, but a lot of forecasters use computer modeling of the atmosphere. You have to make certain assumptions about how the atmosphere works at a small level, because the amount of computing power increases exponentially as you get more granular in detail.

(Former meteorology student here. )

[Yakuzi]

Science: the art of being good enough at academic politics to keep the research grants flowing.

A very astute statement unfortunately Much experience?

[Wanderfound]

A very astute statement unfortunately Much experience?

Medically retired. I had plenty of funding; the work at the core of my doctoral thesis alone pulled in half a million in grant money. Not that I was any good at politics (that was my Professor's specialty...), but I hit a relatively hot topic [1] at the right time and got in before there'd been any significant prior work on the subject.

[1] 4-methylmethcathinone (AKA mephedrone); mechanism of action, toxicology and potential for addiction.

[roosterr]

Interesting that this post came up.

About three days ago I met a semi-retired rocket scientist that worked for Raytheon, and helped Boeing design the Minuteman Missile back in the day. I got to talking to him and started speaking his language (I have recently begun to dissect FAR mod). He was enjoying the conversation and I began to think that he thought I was in his industry. So I quickly admitted I am self taught through KSP, then had to explain KSP. I thought he would just poo-poo our little "game", but instead he was fascinated and wrote it down and said he was looking forward to checking it our. He was sincere in that. We continued the conversation for at least another hour. He loved his old job, and whatever he is up to in the middle east (he wouldnt give details) that was related.

SO, ya, if you are serious about KSP (get the FAR mod and LEARN why your rocket tumbles), your ARE educating yourself.

Edited August 12, 2014 by roosterr

[Kinglet]

Interesting that this post came up.

About three days ago I met a semi-retired rocket scientist that worked for Raytheon, and helped Boeing design the Minuteman Missile back in the day. I got to talking to him and started speaking his language (I have recently begun to dissect FAR mod). He was enjoying the conversation and I began to think that he thought I was in his industry. So I quickly admitted I am self taught through KSP, then had to explain KSP. I thought he would just poo-poo our little "game", but instead he was fascinated and wrote it down and said he was looking forward to checking it our. He was sincere in that. We continued the conversation for at least another hour. He loved his old job, and whatever he is up to in the middle east (he wouldnt give details) that was related.

SO, ya, if you are serious about KSP (get the FAR mod and LEARN why your rocket tumbles), your ARE educating yourself.

Sadly, far is too complex and often breaks down on itself, causing very very strange aerodynamics. I would go with NEAR first, as it is simpler to learn.

[Yakuzi]

<snip>

Medically retired. I had plenty of funding; the work at the core of my doctoral thesis alone pulled in half a million in grant money. Not that I was any good at politics (that was my Professor's specialty...), but I hit a relatively hot topic [1] at the right time and got in before there'd been any significant prior work on the subject.

I had similar experiences during my PhD candidature. The political game played in the academic world is dirty (like all politics I guess) and I've seen many good scientists leave academics because of the corruption... I'm still there though, trying to make a change, small as it may be

Edited August 12, 2014 by Specialist290
Reference to off-topic prohibited discussion snipped.

[Wanderfound]

I had similar experiences during my PhD candidature. The political game played in the academic world is dirty (like all politics I guess) and I've seen many good scientists leave academics because of the corruption... I'm still there though, trying to make a change, small as it may be

Respect, brother. Kudos for keeping up the fight.

[Specialist290]

Just letting everyone know we've had to remove some posts pertaining to an off-topic discussion of a sensitive (and prohibited) nature from this thread. If you've noticed the thread seems a little lighter on posts than it was before, that's why. Let's try to keep things on-topic, shall we?

[BagelRabbit]

Just letting everyone know we've had to remove some posts pertaining to an off-topic discussion of a sensitive (and prohibited) nature from this thread. If you've noticed the thread seems a little lighter on posts than it was before, that's why. Let's try to keep things on-topic, shall we?

Thank you. Discussing [REDACTED] always makes my blood pressure go up.

I just wanted to state that really, no one who is currently building rockets is a "rocket scientist," nor do they need to be. As much as I would love to see things like gas-core fission engines in rocketry today, there aren't really any major efforts to test out such advanced technologies, on account of NASA's low budget and government operation. Call me a curmudgeon, but the lack of major advances in spacecraft technology (and especially propulsion) is making me grumpy.

That being said, KSP isn't the best spacecraft simulator in existence, but it's certainly one of the most comprehensive, and it's pretty good considering it's designed for players who may not even know what an orbit is, let alone more advanced concepts such as specific impulse, TWR, etc. While it skimps in some ways (especially the construction of planes), they often weren't part of the original game design, and will eventually be improved upon. In short, KSP may not be a perfect spaceflight simulator, but it's fun and comprehensive, and realistic enough for beginning players to grasp concepts easily. I think it's pretty good.

Edited August 13, 2014 by UpsilonAerospace

[TythosEternal]

Just letting everyone know we've had to remove some posts pertaining to an off-topic discussion of a sensitive (and prohibited) nature from this thread. If you've noticed the thread seems a little lighter on posts than it was before, that's why. Let's try to keep things on-topic, shall we?

Aaaaaaaaahhh...

That feels better. Thank you so much.

[Jhonny007]

I had a similar experience. I study computer science and we had to take an English class (I'm german) and for our grade we needed to hold a talk about anything we wanted.

Of course I held my talk about orbital mechanics. Normally the talk should last 10 minutes, but it took on for full 45 minutes, because people kept asking questions and I answered them all. They thought I was a genius... they still think so. I got a 1.0 (it's an A).

KSP is one of the greatest games, that children these days can play, because they learn science by having fun. They see the need for humanity to expand into space and what great things can be accomplished, if the right priorities are beeing set.

[Wanderfound]

I had a similar experience. I study computer science and we had to take an English class (I'm german) and for our grade we needed to hold a talk about anything we wanted.

Of course I held my talk about orbital mechanics. Normally the talk should last 10 minutes, but it took on for full 45 minutes, because people kept asking questions and I answered them all. They thought I was a genius... they still think so. I got a 1.0 (it's an A).

KSP is one of the greatest games, that children these days can play, because they learn science by having fun. They see the need for humanity to expand into space and what great things can be accomplished, if the right priorities are beeing set.

So what's the German for "apoapsis"? Or for "you will not go to space today"?

[cantab]

Call me a curmudgeon, but the lack of major advances in spacecraft technology (and especially propulsion) is making me grumpy.

Seems like there's been a decent amount with ion propulsion and similar. The Dawn mission probably couldn't have been done with a chemical thruster.

[roosterr]

Sadly, far is too complex and often breaks down on itself, causing very very strange aerodynamics. I would go with NEAR first, as it is simpler to learn.

It looks like FAR but stripped down. Same developer and all right? I will take your suggestion. Thanks.

[Wanderfound]

It looks like FAR but stripped down. Same developer and all right? I will take your suggestion. Thanks.

Just for a contrasting opinion: I went straight from stock to FAR shortly after getting into spaceplanes, and didn't have any trouble with the adjustment. Give 'em both a go and see which one you prefer.

One of the major differences between them is the inclusion of aerodynamic failures in FAR. Get too silly with your piloting and you'll tear your wings off.

[Jhonny007]

So what's the German for "apoapsis"? Or for "you will not go to space today"?

I have no idea about orbital mechanics in German I learned all the KSP thingis in English and it is very hard for me to explain stuff like orbital mechanics in my native language...

Actually I'm wondering if other people who aren't native English speakers do have the same problem!?

[Schwermetaller]

So what's the German for "apoapsis"? Or for "you will not go to space today"?

The first one's rather easy apoapsis roughly translates to... wait for the surprise... apoapsis! Oh boy, that was a hard one. The other one is "Du wirst heute nicht in den (Welt-)Raum gehen."

I have no idea about orbital mechanics in German I learned all the KSP thingis in English and it is very hard for me to explain stuff like orbital mechanics in my native language...

Actually I'm wondering if other people who aren't native English speakers do have the same problem!?

I actually have this problem in both ways, I'm a native German speaker but am around English vocabulary in my workplace very much. I'm a computer scientist... Well, engineer would be the better term, but anyways, I develop simulation systems. So sometimes I know the exact expression in English for something but I can't think of a German counterpart that would actually say the same without saying one to three sentences. But for orbital stuff I think mostly it's the same words, Apoapsis, Periapsis, Impuls(e) and stuff like that... I think that stems from the fact that most of these words are derived from Latin or some old Greek or something like that. And when in doubt and speaking with someone who doesn't know crap about the topic just pronounce the English words like you would in your native language and impress them with that...

[roosterr]

Just for a contrasting opinion: I went straight from stock to FAR shortly after getting into spaceplanes, and didn't have any trouble with the adjustment. Give 'em both a go and see which one you prefer.

One of the major differences between them is the inclusion of aerodynamic failures in FAR. Get too silly with your piloting and you'll tear your wings off.

Yep, been using FAR already for about 2 months, and have learned some great lessons. I like the aerodynamic failures too. SO, when I have a moment, I will settle on one. Thanks.