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Space Zig Forumsolonization bread
Jeremiah Fisher
Tyler Campbell
Hence why i said 'up to' mach 20. I assumed the worst-case thing is a satellite in a 90 degree polar orbit colliding with a equilateral orbit.
Why not just go spacex's route and figure out how to make conventional fuel and oxygen onsite and use a common, multipurpose vehicle like bfr? Hydrogen, oxygen and carbon are the two of the most common elements in our solar system. Methane is a very simple hydrocarbon, and is easy to synthesize. Its also readily available on the surface in a couple locations(titan, a couple other ice moons like enceladus have some but mostly titan). I believe that making spaceships as somewhat self-contained, re-usable vehicles that just need to be refueled with oxygen and a simple hydrocarbon is a far better approach than developing some giant piece of infrastructure ala space elevator, launch loop, or a mass driver. It's like the cost difference between building an airport in new york and london versus building a tunnel between the two. While i respect the very low momentum needed to orbit the moon, mass drivers might be somewhat useful there and other small moons, given they have access to a nuclear reactor. Solar panels or rtg's alone couldn't power one.
If your spaceship only needs to be refueled, once you have fuel production set up on orbit(perhaps by capturing a methane and water ice rich comet in earth-sun L2) it suddenly becomes vastly easier to move tons of material from earth to anywhere in the solar system with a direct transfer. No sci-fi tech required, just engineering (and political)problems to be solved. To me, spacex is about as likely as nasa to put the first man on mars.
disclaimer: i'm not an elon musk fanboy, i'm a spacex fanboy. Spacex has done more to advance rocketry in the last 5 years than nasa has since the shuttle launched in '81. SLS will be the last rocket designed by NASA, they will become a research and regulatory agency after the program shuts down, buying flights for research aboard commercially designed rockets.
Adrian Morris
That's why I think personal combat, as in one man vs another man, is likely to be fought in EVA suits. The weapons are likely to be missiles about the size of modern MANPADs, but as there's no air friction, far more range. Their range would only be limited by any control signal it might use, the range at which it can resolve a target, or the range prescribed by a self-destruct feature.
You are VERY visible in space… but the problem is no one has a man portable perfect spherical scanner that can detect all portions of the sky at all times.
So the point of space personal combat will be tactical surprise. To know the portion of the sky the enemy is in, while he doesn't know exactly where you are, and is forced to search at random. Then you can point your sensors in his direction, get a targeting solution, and fire your missile while he's still looking for you. He will then try to use lasers to burn the guidance on the missile, or to decoy it away while maneuvering. Whoever has more delta v wins.
Could even mine uranium from oceans, refine it into bricks, and fire it into orbit with cannons.
Justin Hughes
It would be terraformed planets. Permeant space stations would be expensive to build and maintain, as such would just be a futuristic version of rich liberal suburbs. Terrfiormed planets on the other hand would be settled in a similar way to the Great plains. Smart people with no opportunity on Earth would receive free land in homesteads. Some of there children would continue to be space farmers others would move to (((cities))) and become factory/tech/service workers.
Think Iraq but on a long skinny loop. It would be lot’s of airstrikes followed by a quick land assault, than a very long anti-occupation insurgency.
Aaron Kelly
You’re assuming Russia would dismantle there dead hand nuclear system. They won’t.
Luke Long
Tyler Harris
Can space colonies be used as weapons?
Julian Butler
Outdated. McKendree cylinder is what we are at now in technology. We can build entire continents in these theoretically.
Daniel Wood
That's overkill so it should be for the desperate last mission like Earth is completely infested with hive minded aliens to make it uninhabitable for the aliens.
Hudson Young