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Pushing The Envelope

Posted by michael on from the now-the-big-ships-fly-to-a-hundred-suns-pushing-the-speed-of-light... dept.

FWMiller sent us this gem: "Was cruising around NASA's pages and found this list of studies that have been funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC). Interested in what might be coming down the pipe in the way of new propulsion and vehicle concepts? This page lists links to a few of 'em." I thought the one titled 'A Realistic Interstellar Explorer' was cool.

2 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. More than meets the eye by DavidBrown · · Score: 5

    Here's one proposal:

    "Self-Transforming Robotic Planetary Explorers"

    Autobots or Decepticons?

    --
    144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
  2. Wonderfull! But what if... by Tin+Weasil · · Score: 5
    Microsoft software is used to run these "future" spacecraft? I can see it now:


    1. 2001: A Space OS

      "Houston... we have a problem..."

      "UNSS Gagarin, this is Houston. What is the nature of the problem?"

      "Well... I know we are supposed to be on a mission to Proxima Centauri, but..."

      "But what?"

      "Well, our HalNT 9000 computer bluescreened just between the orbits of Neptune and Pluto."

      "So... just reboot the damn thing and get back on the mission!"

      "It's not that simple Houston. Our friend Astronaut Sam decided to fix it by loading Linux on the computer."

      "WHAT?"

      "Yeah. Everything is working fine now, but we're going to need someone down their to get us a device driver for the ship's dueterium fuel tanks... and the drive motors... and if you could get us drivers for the life support systems we would really appreciate it. The sooner the better on those life support systems."

      "Oh... My... God..."

      "Exactly. Dave forgot to check the Hardware Compatibility List before loading it up... I guess the ship's hardware is all proprietary. Needless to say, we have trapped Dave in the airlock. Want us to let him breathe vacuum?"

      "Only if someone else has the root password."

      "Oooo! Good point. Ummm, by the way, is the new 2.4 kernel out? We could sure use some help with these USB peripherals also."

      "Okay Major Tom... you and your boys sit tight. We'll get our team down here working on a solution..."