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/sci/ - Science & Math

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2810258 No.2810258 [Reply] [Original]

reposting

step away from the science vs. religion troll threads, and let me play out a scenario for you, /sci/

>sea dragon rocket designed and a few are built
>mars base designed, in pieces, to land as individual parts and assemble on the surface, included in these "mobile buildings" is a small automated plant that generates hydrogen and oxygen from the local soil and atmosphere

>pack this self assembling mars base into a sea dragon launch, which can lift 550 tons in one go.

>you would probably only need two sea dragon launches to get a full-blown self sustainable science station on mars.

>launch humans by way of a large, rotating ship, assembled in orbit from the extra space left in those sea dragon launches. You'd have enough capacity for weight to make it a flying fucking hotel, complete with steel plate radiation shielding (weight limit is not an issue) and maybe a nuclear powered elctromagnetic local field. the humans themselves are launched on a falcon 9 or something, NOT the sea dragon.

>team arrives on mars and can stay there indefinitely, probably have an orbital laser communication array to communicate with earth lickety split and with high data throughput.

>they leave by way of the fuel generated on-base whenever they want

>the entire project costs about the same as the ISS, maybe.

we really could get a nice permanent foothold on mars in ten years for not much cash up-front, most of the stuff we need already exists, it just needs to be engineered into a portable package. And motherfucking SEA DRAGON makes it possible

>> No.2810294
File: 1.30 MB, 1600x1600, zubrin_nuclear_salt_water_rocket.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2810294

Once we get them molecular assemblers, the Open Space Movement is going to be extruding them by the trainload.

>> No.2810405

>>2810294
that's like 50 years out
sea dragon makes shit practical in the very short term

>> No.2810432

>>2810405

There's no freedom to do such things outside of political and funding constraints unless you have MA's though.

>> No.2810436

I really don't get why this was canceled, it seems like it was a great project.

Why does the World hate progress?

>> No.2810658

>>2810436
it was canceled back in the 60s, alongside a ton of other wacky and kind of shitty projects. Sea dragon was the only good one, but it was under that same umbrella and got scrapped. NASA could easily engineer a modern sea dragon and have a first launch in a few years.

I don't think nasa as a whole actually remembers sea dragon, or has not considered it

>> No.2812120

has there been any kind of push for nasa to reconsider sea dragon?

>> No.2812148

How the fuck are we not using Sea Dragons? It's quite possibly the most kickass thing I have ever read about on wikipedia.

>> No.2812155

>>2812148
zomg, using aircraft carrier nuclear reactors for electrolysis

>> No.2812161

>>2812155
the aircraft carrier thing would just be a stopgap, it's not necessary if you can make a barge/command center with the NPP on it to both prep the rocket for launch and server as the control tower during launch.

>> No.2812166

>>2812161
.....you mean like an aircraft carrier?

>> No.2812170

>>2812161
How much would that cost? <_< Seems like it would be a lot. Something has to generate the fuel and onsite generation with nuclear reactors is probably about as efficient as you can get. I would guess.

>> No.2812176

>>2812161
Retrofit a retired aircraft carrier?

>> No.2812178

>>2812170
the cost of a custom nasa command ship with a nuclear power plant as the power source?

'bout the cost of a normal aircraft carrier, maybe cheaper if you could retrofit an old one or borrow an existing design.

>> No.2812183

>>2812176
>>2812178
hivemind?

>> No.2812184

>>2812176
We need to petition the fuck out of NASA and the gobment to do this.

>> No.2812185
File: 185 KB, 640x585, 1279597678703.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2812185

too much samefaginitup

also sea dragon is a big ass bucket of fail, seems like something the russians would do lets rename it to N2

Ima big fan of more frequent small launches. Lets use a reusable turbo jet first stage, ramjet second stage, disposable hydrazine third stage to get payloads barley to leo. Then have orbital lasers power ion tugs pull them out of leo. Seems like a cost effective approach to me.

>> No.2812193

You could probably get DARPA money since you could launch enough shit to set up significant rodding capability in orbit.

>> No.2812198

>>2812185
>seems like something the russians would do
efficient, cheap, and reliable?
.....
with that kind of objective in mind, and nasa's actually very stringent safety considerations, this would be one cheap way to space

>>2812185
you mean extremely costly to research, develop, design, launch, and extremely costly to retrieve and set up for another launch?
sure

>> No.2812219

When I read the history of the space program, it makes me depressed to find out NASA ruined it.

And I loved NASA when I was coming up.

>> No.2812233

>>2812198
I don't think you understand, NASA runs on smarts. If you design something too simple Lockheed bowing and atk wont get the billions they need to survive. Any good shippyard could build seadragon so there will be competition and low profit therfor no company is going to pay to elect congresmen that will push for it.

god sci learn how the world works

>> No.2812404

>>2812233
unless the public becomes enough aware of it through a media blitz, and aware of the corporate hypocrisy you just described

if there's one thing a congressman loves more than money, it's being in power

>> No.2813770

>>2812404
yeah, good luck with that

>> No.2813779

>>2812404
>unless the public becomes enough aware of it through a media blitz, and aware of the corporate hypocrisy you just described
I know people that don't give a shit about the iraq was and the shit that's going on in Japan and Libya right now, I wouldn't count on it.

>> No.2813785

>>2810258

Stop reposting this.

Sea dragon is shit.

>> No.2813833
File: 200 KB, 872x476, seafags.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2813833

>> No.2813880

The fuck is this thread?
Sea dragon, you mean a super magic rocket designed by a mad scientist in the 60 and was never built because it's not buildable?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Dragon_%28rocket%29
Yeah, cool story bro... See ya on Mars.

>> No.2813902

>>2813880
Necroposting this thread but I'll bite for this faggot.

It was a legitimate project but the parent division/branch got shut down therefore halting development.

I'm sure you know more than a US Naval rocket scientist though (literally a rocket scientist).

>> No.2813910

>>2813902
Forgot link for Sea Dragon developer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Truax

>> No.2813936

>>2813902

It got shut down because they realised it was shit.

It's so inefficient it makes my balls hurt.

>> No.2813942

>>2813910

Everything he did ended in failure.

>> No.2813962

>>2813942
He had one major failure? The Skycycle X-2?

It appears everything else he worked on was fine.

>> No.2814097

4chan's back