/sci/ - Science & Math

>>4061992
A rock wouldn't be able to move out of the way even if you announced your presence to it.

>>4061985
>>4061985
Sound doesn't transfer very well from air to water which makes sending and receiving sound through a bubble quite difficult.

The other issue is the noise generate by said gas and bubble.

>>4061948
Uranium 238 isn't fissile!

Not to mention nuclear weapons are usually pretty inefficient as far as 'burning' the nuclear fuel goes(especially small ones).

>>4061938
Also, isn't there a gun that shoots nukes in fallout?

>>4061948
Pah, uranium, what you want to use is Plutonium, it has a critical mass much less than that of uranium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_mass

Pic related, it's the explosion from a Davy Crockett

>>4061933
OOH BRAINBOW!

>>4061939
Except writing and reading DNA is currently a slow process.

Craig venter also encoded some easter eggs into the genome of the synthetic lifeform Synthia (which he hasn't made yet as DNA synthesis takes a long time).

>>4061918
Ah, the ol' Mutually Assured Destruction technique. It's best accomplished with neural monitoring electrodes, a stolen Russian nuke, and a motorcycle sidecar not implants though.

Well, since this is just a game, you might consider modding it to allow you to do this.

But, if you want to be able to do so in real life, as the M-29 Davy Crockett Weapon System demonstrated, nuclear bombs can be made quite small.
(pic related)
In a backpack would be a lot simpler than building a nuclear bomb into yourself. As nuclear bombs need to be a certain size and shape in order to work. Generally a sphere which implodes a sphere of plutonium or a cylinder which shoots one subcritical mass into another.

>>4061458
Well first we need to get some sort of automated space manufacturing capability going(AKA Plateau 2 in some circles). The best place for us to start doing this is Earth's moon.

Once we have automated lunar factories we can do a lot of things, we can start producing fuel, solar cells, solar sails, fuel, space colonies, and many other things necessary for us to establish a permanent space prescence.

Check out Advanced Automation for Space Missions on how we might go about building one of these automated factories:
www.islandone.org/MMSG/aasm/

>>4061882
Well the idea is to use it for special forces insertions and extractions(INSERT JOKE HERE), where you want to get in and get out fast and stealthily.

One could solve the navigation problem by using a green or blue laser to communicate with satellites(already demonstrated technology, but pretty crazy) to get position information and maps.
pic related

http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/08/supercativating-submarines-and-possible.html

Though stealthy might be a problem with the noisy supercavitation system.

>>4061868
>>It's a rocket powered supercavitating manned submarine that travels 115mph in a membrane of air.
and can't see where it's going because sonar doesn't work through a membrane of air.

Steering is also an interesting problem.

>>4061811
However, the picture you posted is a cable maintenance ROV made by Pharos Offshore Group which is independent of the Nereus HROV operated by Wood's Hole.

http://www.pharosoffshoregroup.com/Dalefleet_Equipment.htm
pic unrelated

>>4061795
That's not Nereus, that's a bottom crawling trench digger. Nereus can't autonomously recharge. Nereus can, however, be configured to be an AUV or an ROV.

>>4061782
Yeah, well try controlling something like pic related intuitively.

>>4061773

Not so sure if home- aero/hydroponics are something that would catch on for every household, without automation at least. I'm not sure people will want to tend to a hydroponic garden large enough for them to grow everything they eat.

Nevertheless, current hydroponic operations have been automated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyHxG4EVCSo&feature=player_embedded

>>4061691
We already have. Check out entries for the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition.
http://igem.org/Main_Page

One problem with using biology in stuff like electronics is that you have to keep it alive ALL THE TIME. So even when your bioTV is not turned on you'll have to keep the nutrient drip running.

Speaking of which, last time I checked, I don't have a standard bio-nutrient plug in my house to plug in a bioTV.

Now the other problem is that biological systems are inherently noisy and slow, which makes engineering biological systems difficult.

>>4058329
Sounds like somebody wants a job in the military industrial complex!

Also have you considered going into explosives/explosion/combustion research(which is more often than not in mechanical engineering)? You get plenty of opportunities to break things, on purpose!

Folks, let's talk about flood basalts. What's a flood basalt? Well quite simply it's a huge fucking flood of lava.

Think 200,000 km^2 or larger flooded with molten lava.

Think the lava level from a mario game.

Flood basalts are fucking awesome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_basalt

>>4058057
Fuck ponies, this thread is now about motherfucking Ilmenite. It's a naturally occurring semiconductor that you can mine for iron, oxygen, and titanium.

>>4058020
>>and you're betting the entire mission on something that may just need to be knocked on with a fucking wrench.
And you're betting the entire mission on fragile pieces of meat that need to have continuous life support, food, waste removal, and psychological support. And if anything goes wrong, the mission fails and people DIE.

And more often than not, there is not very much wrenching that can be done to fix such things.

Though if you must do in orbit servicing, you could just send up a telerobot(pic related). That is a robot that is controlled by a human on Earth. From LEO it's possible to get a response rate similar to that of a videogame.

Also Fobos-Grunt was very much done on a shoe string budget compared to manned spaceflight.
Fobos-Grunt: $170M
Space-Shuttle Launch: $450M
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/pao/faq/faqanswers.htm

The issue with Fobos-Grunt is that the Russians don't do very good quality control.

We should have humans in orbit permanently, but not to complete the deployment of equipment in space. With proper quality control equipment deployment is not an issue.

>>4057827
Aerogel's already pretty affordable, for industrial applications at least. Especially cryogenic stuff.

Aspen sells some pretty decent ones
http://www.aerogel.com/

Or make your own
http://www.aerogel.org

http://www.aerogel.org/?p=626
is quite easy to make, have some friends who've made big bricks of it.

>>4056807
Pic related, it's a metal microlattice, the new lightest material in the world.

Also, it happens to be made with a 3d printing type process.

>>4054689
Take two eye dropper bottles, cut the bottoms off, fill one with silica gel desiccant, put one inside the other so that the dropper nozzles face outward and tape or glue up. You've made a simple air dryer

The dropper parts of the bottle are just the right size to fit on aquarium air line.

>>4054664
Well then, pass your air through a desiccant before piping it into your habitat.

>>4054661
No oceans, means no temperature moderation by oceans, so you get temperature swings like in a desert.

You've lost a lot of biosphere, so things are going to get fucked up biologically. If the fissure stays open, The earth will likely dry out out.

We might be able to compensate for things a bit by growing trees and other in the dry ocean. But other than that, we've lost a lot of oxygen generating capacity. So the atmosphere's composition is likely to change, expect less oxygen and more carbon dioxide.

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/plankatmo.htm

>>4054631
>>Also, line the floor with cat litter. It acts as a dessicant, keeping down internal humidity and absorbing waste fluids.
Well, you could put an air drier in your air line, thus the dry air coming into your habitat will pull humidity out of your habitat.

On the downside, it'll be extremely effective at removing humidity from your habitat. So much so, you could end up with a dessicated hamster.