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What other shape do you suggest for a vehicle meant to escape Earth's gravity and reach space? I know it's not your main point, but every time I hear the "oh l
by dudul 4y ago
What other shape do you suggest for a vehicle meant to escape Earth's gravity and reach space?
I know it's not your main point, but every time I hear the "oh look at these nerdy space men playing with their phallic toys!" comment I get curious about the alternative.
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago> about the alternative A vulva, of course. https://whatisfeminism.today/spaceship/ https://whatisfeminism.today/spaceship/ https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/vulva-shaped-spaceship-campaign-petition_uk_6218d2bce4b0ef74d72ec361 https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/vulva-shaped-spaceshi... https://www.dezeen.com/2022/03/03/vulva-spaceship-design-aims-to-counter-prevalence-of-phalluses https://www.dezeen.com/2022/03/03/vulva-spaceship-design-aim...
- yellowapple 4y agoThat actually could be viable. First stage could fully envelop the second stage and eject it at the top of its arc before gliding back down for recovery and reuse. A weird design, sure, but there have been weirder ones.
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y agoYeah, though I'm pretty sure that this "design fiction" (1) has more of a cultural point than an aerodynamic one. but IMHO "lets make it it look _another sex organ_" doesn't really either break out of the existing cultural framing, or design primarily around the extreme engineering needs, which have to come before the cultural ones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_fiction
- logifail 4y ago> I get curious about the alternative Perhaps it's less about the shape of the rockets, and more about the unnecessary (space) travel?
- coldpie 4y agoHave you seen the Blue Origin rocket? There's rocket-shaped, and then there's... that.
- rom-antics 4y agoLook at wikipedia's top picture of the space shuttle. Far more respectable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle
- tylerjaywood 4y agoWhat are those things it's attached to, and what purpose do they serve relative to the shuttle itself?
- dudul 4y agoThe space shuttle was great, but it was retired for a reason. Additionally, when taking off it did essentially look like a rocket. The shuttle is small compared to the tank/boosters combination. And these are the ones making sure it can take off.
- lamontcg 4y agoHooking it to the side of the main tank is now seen as a design flaw. The X-37 and the Starship being on top of a stack isn't an engineering accident.
- rom-antics 4y agoFine then, look at Artemis 1. It looks roughly like the Discovery rockets might have looked without the shuttle attached. You can stack your payload without making it overtly glans-shaped. We have the technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_1
- lamontcg 4y agoget rid of the overly pointy LES and it pretty much looks like a dildo with SRBs to me.
- mlyle 4y agoYou know, cylindrical and with more thickness at the bottom / fins is basically part of the game. It's intrinsic. But Blue Origin has an aspect ratio that really makes the comparison more obvious... and then the top looks like a glans. Making it that penis-like is not mandatory.
- klyrs 4y ago> What other shape do you suggest for a vehicle meant to escape Earth's gravity and reach space? Have you not watched 1950s sci-fi? Clearly a flying saucer would be optimal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_VZ-9_Avrocar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_VZ-9_Avrocar Nevermind the service ceiling (actual).