Is there any reason that an interstellar vehicle would or should be "rocket" shaped?
Yes: structural considerations. A columnar shape with thrust applied at one end (assuming it ever needs to maneuver) gives the most benign stress distribution and requires the least structural mass.
I went once...we were spending Turkey Day with family in Vegas, and since we don't have Fry's at home I decided to hit the one there.
It was out at the far end of the Strip, past the airport, and they were using the desert as overflow parking. There was a line to get INTO the store...noped out of there in a heartbeat.
Thanks. Fun fact: The Merlin is named for a bird, not a sorceror. Rolls-Royce named a long series of aero engines after birds, beginning with the Eagle in 1915. They switched to rivers for their gas turbine engines, like the long-running Dart series -- but that's also the name of a bird!
For that matter, Arthur's sorceror was named for the bird too: Druids named their children after living things.
You have to (a) make it very big; (b) make it very light so you can accelerate it to your destination with an achievable amount of propulsion; and (c) make that great big, slender structure strong enough to take the acceleration. It can be done -- with great gobs of money.
My opinion of the debut episode: Millions for SFX, with fanfic-quality dialogue.
And as for the SJW stuff, there are white Klingons and black Klingons who don't get along? How innovative. If Frank Gorshin were still alive, he'd probably have had one of those parts.
Slashdot Mirror
Do planetologists use the term "geology" when they're talking about another planet?
Is there any reason that an interstellar vehicle would or should be "rocket" shaped?
Yes: structural considerations. A columnar shape with thrust applied at one end (assuming it ever needs to maneuver) gives the most benign stress distribution and requires the least structural mass.
Oblig XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1235/
Luggage that's stupid enough to catch fire.
Both ears and the tail for that one.
An ex is a has-been, and a spurt is a drip under pressure. Ex-spurt.
Wonder how much bitcoin IT workers mined surreptitiously on the company servers before management knew about it...
I went once...we were spending Turkey Day with family in Vegas, and since we don't have Fry's at home I decided to hit the one there.
It was out at the far end of the Strip, past the airport, and they were using the desert as overflow parking. There was a line to get INTO the store...noped out of there in a heartbeat.
Sorry, sorcerer.
Yes, Packard produced the Merlin for the Mustang fighter, under license from Rolls-Royce.
Thanks. Fun fact: The Merlin is named for a bird, not a sorceror. Rolls-Royce named a long series of aero engines after birds, beginning with the Eagle in 1915. They switched to rivers for their gas turbine engines, like the long-running Dart series -- but that's also the name of a bird!
For that matter, Arthur's sorceror was named for the bird too: Druids named their children after living things.
That's a 1650-cubic inch V-12.
It's an XKCD reference.
You could put it on your lawn shed...
I fear you're feeding the trolls...
This. We are very small bullseyes on a very big target.
The planet where NASA has never received an appropriation to build and fly centrifugal-grav space stations, professor.
You have to (a) make it very big; (b) make it very light so you can accelerate it to your destination with an achievable amount of propulsion; and (c) make that great big, slender structure strong enough to take the acceleration. It can be done -- with great gobs of money.
NASA knows precisely how to make artificial gravity with a merry-go-round, and it will be delighted when your check arrives.
Ummm, that name predates packet radio by fifty or sixty years. It was founded on Morse.
After seeing the premiere...yeah.
What is surprising is that there are still Trump supporters out there.
I thought Larry the Cable Guy cleared that up.
Works great for drug dealers.
My opinion of the debut episode: Millions for SFX, with fanfic-quality dialogue.
And as for the SJW stuff, there are white Klingons and black Klingons who don't get along? How innovative. If Frank Gorshin were still alive, he'd probably have had one of those parts.
Don't you love it when software engineers think they're engineers?