This actually looks very promising. I'm not a fan of fission but the Kilopwer reactor looks like its going to be safe and reliable for the Moon, Mars and beyond.

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilopower

Edited November 20, 20205 yr by martin-w

Fuel is the biggest problem we face now. Space X's Starship plans on having to have to orbit for six tanker launches to refuel (and that's probably a best-case scenario). Even then, future Mars travelers would be landing on fumes under that scheme. Scary. Meanwhile I noticed Boeing has blown its deadline (their space capsule was determined to be a deathtrap) and they're going to fix it all for free. The legacy aerospace contractors are losing the space race to the private sector.

16 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

Fuel is the biggest problem we face now. Space X's Starship plans on having to have to orbit for six tanker launches to refuel (and that's probably a best-case scenario). Even then, future Mars travelers would be landing on fumes under that scheme. 

 

Yep, thats correct. Refueling 6 times in orbit. And upon arriving at Mars, the belly flop manoeuvre through the thin atmosphere at much higher terminal velocity than through the Earth's atmoshere. Final phase is a flip around at the last minute and what little fuel remains used to decelerate and control the landing.

 

 

17 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

Meanwhile I noticed Boeing has blown its deadline (their space capsule was determined to be a deathtrap) and they're going to fix it all for free

One would have thought that they'd learned from the MCAS debacle..... 

All well and good until the aliens encounter one of our space reactors, the thing nukes them, then we have the earth surrounded by intergalactic battle cruisers filled with angry grays.

Or, perhaps the gray's will simply offer to re-fuel them at a slightly inflated Galactic rate that's only 2.4 Galactic Credits per deci-liter...

...which is roughly $385,000,000 for a fill up. The problem though is that they don't accept American Express (or any other Earth credit cards). 

6 hours ago, martin-w said:

Final phase is a flip around at the last minute and what little fuel remains used to decelerate and control the landing.

Which we're all waiting see if SN8 can actually do. The 15 km test flight isn't happening anytime soon. The November 11 static test was a spectacular show! Unfortunately, it was because the the martyte ablative coating of the launch pad did what martyte (an ablative coating) does. A section came apart (you can see glowing fragments in the video) and severed an avionics cable, causing a "bad shutdown." A safety feature on a pipe from the header tank blew, saving the rocket from a possible RUD. The fix is covering the cables with steel pipe (more weight) and adding water pipes to the pad to cool it (which seems like a no-brainer). I'm not sure why they have resisted the idea of a flame diverter, unless they're set on relatively cheap concrete pads that can be made anywhere.

I like the idea of Starship hooking to a nuclear-powered tug for the trip to Mars. But I think Musk's dream is to have total control of his Mars program, and that's probably out of his reach. But that has to be the future of any practical space travel. There's a reason the U.S. Navy uses nuclear reactors!

I am trying to imagine what it would feel like to be on that thing as it does its belly flop and plummets to earth, only to flip and decelerate to landing speed at the last second. (They might consider adding a "Versed tank" in the nose.) Between that and watching the video "In Space Everyone Can Hear You Poop" on how you do your business on the ISS, I don't want to be an astronaut anymore.

6 hours ago, HighBypass said:

One would have thought that they'd learned from the MCAS debacle

Here's a hopeful thought. Lockheed Martin is building the lunar lander. I'm trying to remember something else they have that isn't going as well as hoped...

8 hours ago, stans said:

All well and good until the aliens encounter one of our space reactors, the thing nukes them, then we have the earth surrounded by intergalactic battle cruisers filled with angry grays.

"grays" -- is this a new term entering the lexicon?

Rhett, no. The term "grays" referring to gray aliens has been around for quite some time I believe. Grey is used more commonly over here in the UK though... 

3 hours ago, Mace said:

"grays" -- is this a new term entering the lexicon?

Grays, these guys:

 

You don't want to be making them angry.  The last thing you want to hear them say is "it's probing time."

 

Ah.  You mean the guys in my dream.

11 hours ago, Mace said:

Ah.  You mean the guys in my dream.

Yeah, those guys.

20 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

 

I like the idea of Starship hooking to a nuclear-powered tug for the trip to Mars. But I think Musk's dream is to have total control of his Mars program, and that's probably out of his reach. But that has to be the future of any practical space travel. There's a reason the U.S. Navy uses nuclear reactors!

 

 

Have you seen this...

 

 

20 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

 

I am trying to imagine what it would feel like to be on that thing as it does its belly flop and plummets to earth, only to flip and decelerate to landing speed at the last second. (They might consider adding a "Versed tank" in the nose.) Between that and watching the video "In Space Everyone Can Hear You Poop" on how you do your business on the ISS, I don't want to be an astronaut anymore.

 

I don't think the flip will be too aggressive. Last minute doesn't mean a super aggressive flip at high G. It will be acceptable for the passengers.