Modacity space program

[DEElekgolo]

All right you little fucks. Modacity needs to migrate and explore the unknown areas. Maybe blow up a few halos or kill some zerg on the way. But first, we need a way to get from this crap planet, out into the deep vacuum. We have a basic shell already setup here for you. Sure we can use some typical rocket ship ballistics, but fuck that. Be creative. We will need a way of getting this ship off the ground and into space by September 31st. After this date, we will move on to other space priorities.

Your mission is to add on to this space ship to create some form of thruster system to get this shit off the ground and ready for space travel.

http://imgur.com/ZYVOa.png

Nice ship eh? Well get designing some damn thrust systems.


Here is an example from a previous expert designer. Don't steal the idea.
http://i.imgur.com/uZtMr.jpg

[Warsaw]

Ship is too squat to allow for adequate fuel storage without resorting to external systems. Because it's so squat, I also suspect it will want to tumble. Best to start from the ground up.

[EX12693]

Need a teleporter here!

[n00b1n8R]

Fuel storage is wasted mass. We're running this baby off stellar radiation. http://sae.tweek.us/static/images/emoticons/emot-science.gif

[sleepy1212]

you could always divide by 0

[Rentafence]

Wow, I can't copy paste this to paint without the background turning black. Good job asshat.

[Rook]

Wow, I can't copy paste this to paint without the background turning black. Good job asshat.

It's called transparency, and you're using fucking paint.

[Rentafence]

It's called transparency, and you're using fucking paint.

Well shit, if he wanted to make this easy he shouldn't have put transparency on it.

[Aerowyn]

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c183/Lady-Aerowyn/moonpostcard.png

[Futzy]

Didn't we already do this

[CrAsHOvErRide]

this shit works and will get faster off the ground than you think

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/4412/vj2qzi5b.jpg

[Ganon]

http://animatedtv.about.com/library/graphics/sp612_A_Ladder_to_Heaven.jpg

[annihilation]

Fuel it with trolling.
Connect it to Modacity using WiFi.

[EX12693]

Electro-hydrodynamics.
Anyone got some Hall effect thrusters?

[Warsaw]

You sure as hell won't get off the ground with Hall effect ion engines, or any type of ion engine for that matter. Using a magnetic bottle is also a waste of energy, better to get into orbit using disposable chemical rockets and then switching over to ion engines or plasma rockets once you're in vacuum.

[EX12693]

Well.. Yeah... That's what I meant..

Or, if anyone has a spare pinch fusion reactor lying around...

[Warsaw]

That would be a magnetic bottle.

Also, you don't typically want to lift off with any nuclear-based rocket because you end up irradiating the surrounding area. Do not want.

[Rentafence]

Sorry about this thread

[FRain]

frag grenades

[king_nothing_]

We all gather 'round and PFR it at the count of three.

[Corndogman]

Ship is too squat to allow for adequate fuel storage without resorting to external systems.

Use a ZPM.

[Warsaw]

no u

Real stuff only...

:maddowns:

[=sw=warlord]

no u

Real stuff only...

:maddowns:
Rail gun or Solar thermal rocket (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_rocket) to launch into orbit and then use a solar sail to propel the ship.

[Warsaw]

Now that's what I like to see. The problem with rail gun launch is that in order to have human-tolerable Gs, you need an extremely long track (or a large diameter circular track) to reach a speed capable of breaking orbit, which by itself has many issues such as wear and tear, strength of the tracks, keeping the whole thing in one piece over such large distances, and the amount of juice required to get into space.

Solar sails are awesome, but away from a star you need something to give you a push.

Anybody seriously interested in rocketry should check this website (http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/index.html) out.

[=sw=warlord]

Could always re-purpose the LHC to disconnect from the loop after a certain number of times to launch at a 45 degree angle, that would allow the acceleration to be controlled within a survival rate.
As for the solar sails, not much propulsion would be needed to change course considering there should be little to no friction due to lack of matter.
The other option is Fusion reactors or even better, anti-mater drives.
Nuclear explosions only generate about 10-20% energy the rest is wasted material where as a anti-matter drive would perform with 100% efficiency.
Also, plenty of places to use as sling shot routes... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW7BvabYnn8&NR=1&feature=fvwp)

[Warsaw]

You don't want to do anti-matter. Trust me. And no, it isn't 100% because most of that gets turned into photons and gamma rays, both of which are useless for our purposes.

Also, LHC flings atomic- and subatomic- scale particles at near light speed. It would be shit for trying to send a spacecraft; hell, you can't even fit one in the tubes.

[Varmint260]

Why trust you? Have you used anti-matter before?

Anyhow... I went to a dissertation by Lawrence Krauss (author of the Physics of Star Trek) and he said assuming we could harness anti-matter so it's 100% efficient, it would still take approximately seven times the ship's weight (EDIT: sorry, mass) in antimatter to accelerate it from relative stop to half the speed of light. In my opinion, we need a warp drive.

[Warsaw]

Everything I've ever read says when anti-matter annihilates with matter it generates a lot of gamma rays, a lot of photons, and some kinetic energy. Now unless you want to use thermocouples to translate gamma rays into electricity and therefore generate extra heat which will need dispensing with, it's far simpler to use a magnetic bottle and fusion power plants (assuming we can get fusion down right). Want a short and sweet version? Go to "antimatter" on Wikipedia; they've even cited the source.

Also, author of the physics of Star Trek? Please tell me you're just trolling...

E: Getting rid of waste heat in space is serious business, and it's not easy. Because there's no air in space to convect the heat away, you have to either radiate it or spit out a coolant filled with it. Radiating it takes a huge amount of surface area, and it goes up with the amount of heat you need radiated per second. Having to constantly eject coolant into space takes up mass in the ship (therefore requiring more thrust and fuel to accelarate at the same rate) and it also severely limits the ship's range if you have less coolant time than fuel time...and you are ALWAYS using coolant, but not always burning fuel.

Yeah, I'll stick with my plasma bottle or nuclear saltwater rocket.

[Varmint260]

Also, author of the physics of Star Trek? Please tell me you're just trolling...

I'm not trolling. He really did write the Physics of Star Trek. He's also a legitimate physicist. Also, this is the Modacity Space Program. Maybe I'm not being serious enough, but just consider for the moment that you're taking it a tad too seriously. I was being completely light-hearted by asking "Have you used anti-matter before?"

[Warsaw]

What's wrong with turning what was a stupid thread into something that's actually worth discussing? I call that progress.