Space... (A general rant about SciFi stuff)

[Admiral Netsooj]

I think a point was made by Fanu that the reason spaceships act like Boats and cars, is that we, as a non spacefaring race for the most part, do not really know how spaceships actually would work, so we "Go with what you know" as i often say.

[MTronHeroKodiak]

I think a point was made by Fanu that the reason spaceships act like Boats and cars, is that we, as a non spacefaring race for the most part, do not really know how spaceships actually would work, so we "Go with what you know" as i often say.

Well, we as the human race have some knowledge of orbital mechanics and using liquid fuel rockets in space. As noted by the shuttle program, many satellites and probes.

Again, Star Trek has the perfect example of we have used the "go with what you know" as you say Admiral.
I would like to think that there will be better spacecraft in my lifetime. It's wishful thinking, but I can wish can't I?

[_zenn]

I think it's time we colinised the moon, build a huge base and miningoperations and from there head on further out... less resistance taking off, thus more efficient... than the next stop must be terraforming Mars.

[MTronHeroKodiak]

I think it's time we colinised the moon, build a huge base and miningoperations and from there head on further out... less resistance taking off, thus more efficient... than the next stop must be terraforming Mars.

The moon has very little for mining except for helium-3, silicate and low traces of other metals (if I remember correctly). If we could use Helium-3 as a fuel source, then by all means.
But I agree with you that we need to get off this planet and colonize something else. Mars apparently, from what I have read in the past, you can get oxygen by simply injecting water into the soil. How that works I haven't a clue.

I think our current president had something inline to get a manned mission to mars in the next 20 years or around there.

[Sir Michael Le Fanu]

He better do so, I will be disappointed if nothing goes through.

Actually, how can we be sure that there are no other materials on the moon? A mine is usually beneath the surface. And so therefore we on earth have no idea what is under the surface. There could be diamond and gold, and other useful metals and minerals. For all we know, under the moons surface could be undiscovered chemical elements...

[Sir Michael Le Fanu]

The above post was double posted (I quoted myself) and edited, and I cannot delete my posts, so please ignore this.

[MTronHeroKodiak]

He better do so, I will be disappointed if nothing goes through.
Actually, how can we be sure that there are no other materials on the moon? A mine is usually beneath the surface. And so therefore we on earth have no idea what is under the surface. For all we know, there could be diamond and gold, and other useful metals and minerals. For all we know, under the moons surface could be undiscovered chemical elements...

I apologize my current list of minerals was a bit off...but mainly sand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon while I am not a fan of wikipedia...here is list. I would think getting the iron would be akin to the difficulty of the vikings and anglo-saxons of melting down lots of acres of peat moss!!

[Ninja_Bait]

I'm personally a huge fan of the "let's fix Earth before we screw up other planets" camp, but then again, I want to go into aerospace engineering and I love sci-fi. I think colonization is a bit unnecessary and unlikely to give us a lot in the way of resources - it will probably cost more than it will output.

[Sir Michael Le Fanu]

it will probably cost more than it will output.

As do most things in this world. Having said that though, fuel efficiency pretty much pays for itself...

So do spaceships and fighters use a fuel of some sort, or is there like a solar panel mounted on the back?
And is there a star in range to get power from all the time?

[MTronHeroKodiak]

it will probably cost more than it will output.

As do most things in this world. Having said that though, fuel efficiency pretty much pays for itself...

So do spaceships and fighters use a fuel of some sort, or is there like a solar panel mounted on the back?
And is there a star in range to get power from all the time?

Well, this depends on what world (realm, universe, etc) you look at.
In star wars, all fighters but the imperial TIE versions use a consumable fuel that last for about 4 hours of combat time. If I remember right it is a "heavy" fuel so to speak such as a fusion slush. And I use the word "slush" to define a liquid that is mixed with something else or sort..

the TIE's have a small ion reactor that burns, so to speak a fuel and is supplemented by the large wings that have solar collectors in it.

The world I prefer to be in (Dream Pod's ( Heavy Gear), Large ships passing 350m usually have a fusion reactor and hydrogen slush for the thrusters. And smaller craft having anything from primitive rockets and fuel, water, Helium-3 or hydrogen slush.

Star Trek has those small nice reactors in everything and a warp core. But even impulse drives use Duterium consumable fuel.

I think Babolyon 5 uses reactors, Wing Commander had some sort of fuel source, Battlestar I don't know. Fighters I am sure had fuel, big ships...not a clue.

For as Ninja saying, yes it would cost more untill we traveled more and improved flights and technology. Or find something worth the cost of the trip that we really need.

And of course, for my LEGO space I use the standard "AAA" or "AA" class fuel source or "9v" class reactor..heh

I must apologize I didn't even include real world ships...but we all know that they use Liq Hydrogen, Kerosene, and LOX (liquid oxygen). And of course the satellites using fission reactors and solar.