Star Ranger4 Wrote:If we just accepted it and moved on, we'd all still be crammed into the slums of Europe Fnord.
Spare me the bullshit. SSTO is never going to happen, not in any meaningful sense. The mass fractions required to make it work are absurd, way beyond current or projected materials science. Even with equally pipe-dream toys like magic nanotech the fractions are still iffy. You can wave your Columbus slogans around all day but no amount of wishful thinking will change the numbers.
Bluemage Wrote:Seconding the 'another source' comment. We keep hearing about new engines being developed- just last year, I heard about an inventor creating a working ion engine out of off-the-shelf parts- so why aren't we researching/using them?
PROTIP: These engine designs are useless for launching payloads from the surface. They're being researched and used, but not as launch vehicles.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
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