iwwr

17 ms·

91.
by iwwr 11y ago
Germany may offer a model. France has had a working model for the last few decades. It's called nuclear. France gets less than 10% of their power from fossil fuel and could easily move the rest of the way to either gas (half as bad a
92.
by iwwr 11y ago
The tethering happens after the upper lift stage is exhausted. It's then spun from a tether for the duration of the trip, then disconnected before the deceleration burn to orbit Mars. There's no mass exchange while the tether is c
93.
by iwwr 11y ago
Well, there's no "consume" in terms of matter, stuff isn't thrown overboard. Besides, the food and water (or what they become) is still valuable radiation shielding.
94.
by iwwr 11y ago
See my reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10649760
95.
by iwwr 11y ago
That assumes the ship's radius is a limiting factor. It isn't if you spin the ship against a counterweight with a tether (the spent third stage which is going with you on the same trajectory more or less).
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by iwwr 11y ago
Mind you, I'm not against research in either drugs or mechanical solutions (better exercise machines), but they could serve as backup in case the main system - centripetal acceleration - is malfunctioning. One question NASA has yet to
97.
by iwwr 11y ago
All this could be avoided by fully implementing artificial gravity on deep-space journeys. This should not be particularly difficult and would involve just taking the last rocket stage along for the ride, tied to a tether. Rotate to produce
98.
by iwwr 11y ago
Not so fast, it just means enterprise support prices have gone up for those organisations resisting change and still requiring security. For example, the entire country of South Korea.
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by iwwr 11y ago
Radiation is less of an issue than what it's made out to be. Indeed, only solar flares present dangers, but they travel slowly and there will be at least a day's notice for the crew to seek shelter. The entire spacecraft can'
100.
by iwwr 11y ago
In microgravity fluids get redistributed throughout the body. The upper body and head get comparatively more (as opposed to normal gravity), which causes immune problems (swollen sinuses) and increased pressure in the eye and blood vessels
101.
by iwwr 11y ago
Kennedy's deadline: "by the end of the decade" was crucial. It became "the president's deadline" and everyone rallied to fulfil it. A human Mars mission now is comparatively less difficult than the challenge th
102.
by iwwr 11y ago
How does "build" and ppa compare to Fedora's "copr", if you know?
103.
by iwwr 11y ago
Writing material wasn't as easy to come by back then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest Quite a bit of ancient writings survived in that form.
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by iwwr 11y ago
>Of course you'll freeze in a matter of minutes. Or suffocate in a matter of seconds. Also, there's like nothing to eat. The surface does have organic matter, together with rock mixed in with the ice, so there is potential for
105.
by iwwr 11y ago
This crucially depends on a 70ton (LEO) launcher and it's no guarantee SLS will get off the ground. It's also uncertain if private actors manage to put together reliable heavy launchers, even by 2020-2025. This is also only a land
106.
by iwwr 11y ago
That's a great talk, thanks!
107.
by iwwr 11y ago
That just gives them a really long runway until the consequences of said decisions become apparent.
108.
by iwwr 11y ago
Still, g-hardening may not be a showstopper. Artillery shells routinely have electronics in them nowadays. It doesn't have to be reusable, but needing only 2km/s from outside the atmosphere basically. Edit: have you looked at thes
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by iwwr 11y ago
Light-gas guns may be a good contender while railguns are sorted out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-gas_gun
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by iwwr 11y ago
Those who use those machines have standing to ask for the source code, as per the GPL.
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by iwwr 11y ago
There's more to geoengineering than just aerosols. Ultimately, it'll be about giant mirrors and barriers in space to modulate the Sun's radiation in various places. It may sound fantastic, since these are huge surfaces involv
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by iwwr 11y ago
Absolutely, Hubble can see in the optical and near-UV, while James Webb will be limited to the infrared. "Limited" is one way of putting it, it'll be immensely valuable in finding astrophysical phenomena and also distant Sola
113.
by iwwr 11y ago
More precisely, Computercraft, a Minecraft mod. Kids would be coding in Lua, although in a very crude kind of text editor. Still loads of fun, especially with turtles.
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by iwwr 11y ago
Source?
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by iwwr 11y ago
Unfortunately, livecoding.tv relies on Flash: https://i.imgur.com/cD0vwZy.png
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by iwwr 11y ago
Low-Earth Orbit -> Low Lunar Orbit: 1.31km/s Low Lunar Orbit -> Lunar surface: 2.74km/s Lunar surface -> Low Lunar Orbit: 2.74km/s Total: 6.8km/s That's more delta-V than a straight flight to Mars, which is
117.
by iwwr 11y ago
What if they hold you in a room for several hours under bright lights and without water?
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by iwwr 11y ago
There may be a niche for enlightened managers or startup funders to promote such a thinking. If successful it will lead to a clear competitive advantage.
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by iwwr 11y ago
You can be an asshole even without breaking the law.
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by iwwr 11y ago
It was already known that liquid water can exist on about half of Mars, though in a very narrow temperature range (around 0C). The green and blue bits have the adequate pressures for liquid water to exist: https://upload.wikimedi

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