"It's ooooooold" is relevant to fashion, but not so much to engineering. The shuttle was a blind alley that set us back thirty years and untold billions. It's time to get the space program back on track, and that means capsules.
Those who participate invest valuable time toward winning the prize, but if they fail to meet the deadline (or to produce the leading results) their efforts could go completely unrewarded. Depending on the terms of the contest, however, the sponsor might still be able to make use of the runners-up's innovations — which, of course, would be a whole lot cheaper than hiring developers.'
I don't see the problem here. This is known by the contestants going in. Of course the expected return on your time is better if you get a job - that's not the point of entering a contest like this.
As SpaceX and Musk should know, a modular system is a lot more flexible, and we know a lot more about how to design and build power reactors than nuclear thermal rockets. More to the point, you'd need a gas-core reactor to match the specific impulse of current VASIMR prototypes, and gas-core reactors are ENTIRELY theoretical.
A nuclear thermal rocket would be quite a bit more efficient in terms of mass than VASIMR. It's the difference between building a reactor that is a rocket engine and building a reactor plus a rocket engine.
Yeah, it's theoretical. But so is everything else about a Mars trip at this point.
That's what's making me laugh about all of this. We know very well what these trades are about. Life has plenty of mysteries, and this isn't one of them.
You're being overly cynical. Nearly all advances in reconstructive surgery and prosthetics have been driven by militaries over the years. These programs are explicitly for reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The super-soldier thing just isn't practical. For one thing, you could buy a couple tanks for the price you'd pay to wire someone up like that. For another, what would you do with your super-soldiers when they didn't reenlist or became unfit for duty? Then there are basic power/size/weight considerations. Far more practical would be an exoskeleton like HULC.
From what I can see the HOV lanes are used more by soccer moms carting their kids around than carpoolers. I'd like to see them restricted to cars with more than one licensed driver.
That's what I was thinking. I remember making agonizing decisions over what game or program needed to come off my 30MB hard drive before I could load the next one (from a stack of 20 floppies).
These days I put whatever I want on the disk without worrying about it. I'll replace the computer before I run out of space.
Risks are bad for business. As long as consumers are willing to pay $60 (or more - sorry Aussies) for the same game except with marginally better graphics, there will be no risking.
Does it matter? The way things are going, before they could possibly get consumers to accept a new format everyone will be downloading movies and games. Hell, I'm not even sure Blu-Ray will surpass DVD before plastic disks become a niche market.
Don't even get me started on LyingAir (RyanAir) who wouldn't let me take my Nikon 200-400mm Lens (worth $6K) in the cabin with me and oh, they wouldn't insure it as hold baggage.
Did I say I'm a pro photographer?
Then why are you flying RyanAir? They are famous for that kind of shit. If you're flying business you need to fly on a real airline. RyanAir is for pleasure trips where you don't care if they lose your swim trunks.
Nah, it's not that much. Not even close, since your spaceship weighs only a fraction of GLOW on reentry. Somewhere between a fifth and a tenth of GLOW. And dumping the wings is a considerable weight-saver, so it's not clear that those atmospheric effects are really buying you anything.
You also have to carry all that nitrogen from the moment of launch all the way through reentry. Scrapping the wings and making a powered landing might have all the advantages of this scheme without having the complication of the nitrogen "pores".
The problem with the shuttle program was really all the things that had to be done between flights. It was originally supposed to have a two week turnaround, something that turned out to be a pipe dream because of all the things that needed to be inspected and refurbished. If the Germans can make a ship that needs less inspection and maintenance, they can fly it more often. That will bring down the $/kg-to-orbit cost, which I think ought to be the goal of any serious space program at this point.
It's pretty normal for rocket engines to be regeneratively cooled with explosive fuel. This kind of approach has its flaws, but you haven't identified one of them. For a space ship during reentry every point on the airframe is critical.
We could if the goal of NASA was to accomplish something. It's not. The goal of NASA is to steer contracts to campaign donors and to create jobs. That's why we're going to get a shuttle-derived program no matter what happens. Most likely it will end up like VentureStar or NASP - lots of money spent with nothing to show for it. But all that money is going somewhere.
Your tax dollars. Providing jobs for senators since 1788.
I see it as less to do with DRM than with education for young musicians. The takeaway should be this: You're not going to make any money selling recorded material. It's advertising. So don't get involved with people trying to sell your advertising to the public - instead, give the recorded stuff away on the internet and get your payday from ticket and t-shirt sales.
If I were running a band there's no way I'd sign a record contract until after the band was popular and I had some leverage.
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"It's ooooooold" is relevant to fashion, but not so much to engineering. The shuttle was a blind alley that set us back thirty years and untold billions. It's time to get the space program back on track, and that means capsules.
Ten grand? Is that a typo?
If I find an exploit I'm gonna sell it to the Russian mob. And not for no ten grand.
Good thing it's not ethanol.
I don't see the problem here. This is known by the contestants going in. Of course the expected return on your time is better if you get a job - that's not the point of entering a contest like this.
When you quit or get fired you have to return the keys to your office, don't you? Why should the electronic stuff be any different?
Your comment doesn't make any sense to me. Doesn't matter where the power comes from, you still need reaction mass.
A nuclear thermal rocket would be quite a bit more efficient in terms of mass than VASIMR. It's the difference between building a reactor that is a rocket engine and building a reactor plus a rocket engine.
Yeah, it's theoretical. But so is everything else about a Mars trip at this point.
That's what's making me laugh about all of this. We know very well what these trades are about. Life has plenty of mysteries, and this isn't one of them.
You're being overly cynical. Nearly all advances in reconstructive surgery and prosthetics have been driven by militaries over the years. These programs are explicitly for reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The super-soldier thing just isn't practical. For one thing, you could buy a couple tanks for the price you'd pay to wire someone up like that. For another, what would you do with your super-soldiers when they didn't reenlist or became unfit for duty? Then there are basic power/size/weight considerations. Far more practical would be an exoskeleton like HULC.
From what I can see the HOV lanes are used more by soccer moms carting their kids around than carpoolers. I'd like to see them restricted to cars with more than one licensed driver.
That's what I was thinking. I remember making agonizing decisions over what game or program needed to come off my 30MB hard drive before I could load the next one (from a stack of 20 floppies).
These days I put whatever I want on the disk without worrying about it. I'll replace the computer before I run out of space.
Risks are bad for business. As long as consumers are willing to pay $60 (or more - sorry Aussies) for the same game except with marginally better graphics, there will be no risking.
Yeah, Silent Hunter 5. The DRM wasn't that bad, actually. The problem was the game as, you know, a game was worse than the one two versions previous.
Does it matter? The way things are going, before they could possibly get consumers to accept a new format everyone will be downloading movies and games. Hell, I'm not even sure Blu-Ray will surpass DVD before plastic disks become a niche market.
Well, maybe so, but from what I remember in college there's nothing less lazy than a pothead with a few seeds and no money.
You're a few years out of date.
Then why are you flying RyanAir? They are famous for that kind of shit. If you're flying business you need to fly on a real airline. RyanAir is for pleasure trips where you don't care if they lose your swim trunks.
Nah, it's not that much. Not even close, since your spaceship weighs only a fraction of GLOW on reentry. Somewhere between a fifth and a tenth of GLOW. And dumping the wings is a considerable weight-saver, so it's not clear that those atmospheric effects are really buying you anything.
The other difference is the owner still has all his internal organs.
You also have to carry all that nitrogen from the moment of launch all the way through reentry. Scrapping the wings and making a powered landing might have all the advantages of this scheme without having the complication of the nitrogen "pores".
The problem with the shuttle program was really all the things that had to be done between flights. It was originally supposed to have a two week turnaround, something that turned out to be a pipe dream because of all the things that needed to be inspected and refurbished. If the Germans can make a ship that needs less inspection and maintenance, they can fly it more often. That will bring down the $/kg-to-orbit cost, which I think ought to be the goal of any serious space program at this point.
It's pretty normal for rocket engines to be regeneratively cooled with explosive fuel. This kind of approach has its flaws, but you haven't identified one of them. For a space ship during reentry every point on the airframe is critical.
We could if the goal of NASA was to accomplish something. It's not. The goal of NASA is to steer contracts to campaign donors and to create jobs. That's why we're going to get a shuttle-derived program no matter what happens. Most likely it will end up like VentureStar or NASP - lots of money spent with nothing to show for it. But all that money is going somewhere.
Your tax dollars. Providing jobs for senators since 1788.
Meh. It costs your loan shark money to track you down and whack you when you run. But he does it, because it keeps the other people in line.
I see it as less to do with DRM than with education for young musicians. The takeaway should be this: You're not going to make any money selling recorded material. It's advertising. So don't get involved with people trying to sell your advertising to the public - instead, give the recorded stuff away on the internet and get your payday from ticket and t-shirt sales.
If I were running a band there's no way I'd sign a record contract until after the band was popular and I had some leverage.