Search found 1232 matches

by Sky Captain
2021-06-10 05:08pm
Forum: User Fiction
Topic: The 13th Tribe: Standing Against Evil (Out-Of-Universe Stories)
Replies: 33
Views: 20854

Re: The 13th Tribe: Standing Against Evil (Out-Of-Universe Stories)

Now that was some real carnage. Funny thing is any of Alliance capital ships could have wiped out that drone fleet single handedly.
by Sky Captain
2021-04-23 09:52am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?
Replies: 20
Views: 11539

Re: Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

Real question is what does it costs per kg? Spaceflight is a very small niche consumer of fuel and most of the new big reusable rockets in development will use methane anyway. Airplanes consume most of the kerosene produced. If production can be scaled up and costs brought down to be comparable with...
by Sky Captain
2021-04-02 06:05am
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Shipping boss apologises for 'tremendous trouble' as new attempts made to free cargo ship blocking Suez Canal
Replies: 37
Views: 11834

Re: Shipping boss apologises for 'tremendous trouble' as new attempts made to free cargo ship blocking Suez Canal

If you look at Google sattelite images some parts of the canal already have two lanes so I think it is possible making it all two lane already is work in progress. If some bad actor intentionally hijacks and grounds a ship in this manner and then sinks it then it could take a year or more to cut it ...
by Sky Captain
2021-04-02 05:20am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: A Signal from Proxima Centauri?
Replies: 23
Views: 13219

Re: A Signal from Proxima Centauri?

Hmm, interesting question would be if there were civilization like ours at Proxima Centauri would we be able to detect their radio noise as something above background and if we could detect it would that be enough to conclude it is artificial instead just some weird natural phenomena.
by Sky Captain
2021-04-02 04:56am
Forum: User Fiction
Topic: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War
Replies: 1040
Views: 590619

Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Yeah, an update! As far as fighting Flood goes this fight went really easy.
by Sky Captain
2020-11-11 03:15pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: The Prefecture of Kinboshi (RAR!)
Replies: 5
Views: 10653

Re: The Prefecture of Kinboshi (RAR!)

World freaks out because this smells like an alien experiment. Some godlike alien entity just demonstrated it can do whatever it wants with us and there is nothing we could do to stop it.
by Sky Captain
2020-11-04 03:49pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Pursue Slavers or Rescue Slaves (RAR!)
Replies: 26
Views: 22318

Re: Pursue Slavers or Rescue Slaves (RAR!)

Order my men to man and prepare the lifeboats. When we get close enough, put them down into the water. If that is sufficient to rescue the slaves, go after the enemy ship, so I can board and capture her. Otherwise, the civilians take priority. Yeah that was my first thought too when I read the scen...
by Sky Captain
2020-11-04 03:15pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: The 'world's first jet suit paramedic' unveiled in the Lake District by the GNAAS
Replies: 22
Views: 17411

Re: The 'world's first jet suit paramedic' unveiled in the Lake District by the GNAAS

That's pretty cool, like straight from James Bond movie. Looked up few videos of it and it seems big problem is engine failure, all the flights are very low or over water just for this reason. If engine goes out there is no way to recover. Helicopters at least can autorotate if engines fail and even...
by Sky Captain
2020-10-25 03:12pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Possible life on Venus.
Replies: 48
Views: 34961

Re: Possible life on Venus.

Some other thoughts about Von Neuman tech. It could plausibly happen that this tech or basis for it are developed because it would be incredibly useful in manufacturing, mining and space development. Maybe first steps would be largely autonomous asteorid mining equipment that can run without human s...
by Sky Captain
2020-10-23 05:53pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Possible life on Venus.
Replies: 48
Views: 34961

Re: Possible life on Venus.

The problem with Von Neuman probes is that the theory is based on overly simplistic assumptions that do not work in the real world. Namely the theory does not account for the distribution and accessibility of heavy elements needed for high technology, let alone self-replicating technology. We now k...
by Sky Captain
2020-10-22 04:10am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Possible life on Venus.
Replies: 48
Views: 34961

Re: Possible life on Venus.

I think you have missed a point here. The problem isn't detecting the signal. The problem is distinguishing an artificial signal from a natural phenomenon. That was my main question. What is the point at which artificial signal would become unexplainable by any known natural phenomena. If advanced ...
by Sky Captain
2020-10-21 05:48pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Possible life on Venus.
Replies: 48
Views: 34961

Re: Possible life on Venus.

issue with Fermi Paradox is if some technological civilization developed just few million years earlier and spread out into our Galaxy we would have detected anomalies like Dyson swarms or some unexplainable high energy phenomena. What assumptions are you making when you say they would have made Dy...
by Sky Captain
2020-10-20 02:04pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Possible life on Venus.
Replies: 48
Views: 34961

Re: Possible life on Venus.

For those of us who ascribe to the great filter hypothesis, this becomes concerning (as does the Martian methane detections). :( I've noticed that people who talk about the Fermi Paradox make a lot of assumptions about how easy intelligence would be to detect. What information I've been able to fin...
by Sky Captain
2020-10-11 04:32am
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Optimal size for a soldier?
Replies: 38
Views: 31080

Re: Optimal size for a soldier?

I suspect in a pre industrial setting soldiers of different sizes would be more useful than after industrial revolution when war become more mechanized and involved much greater logistical trail to support army in a field. Equipment optimized for say 120cm soldiers would be poorly suited or even un...
by Sky Captain
2020-09-28 01:26pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Optimal size for a soldier?
Replies: 38
Views: 31080

Re: Optimal size for a soldier?

Actually I think in a pre industrial setting there would be more benefits from giant super soldiers than in industrial setting where mass production of standardized equipment won wars. In a medieval setting there were no factory production lines, weapons and armor were hand made by craftsmen so hav...
by Sky Captain
2020-09-25 04:15pm
Forum: User Fiction
Topic: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War
Replies: 1040
Views: 590619

Re: The 13th Tribe Book II: A Symphony of War

Nice to see this story coming back. I do wonder if there is some sort of jamming going on preventing use of drones to explore the underground structures before humans go inside. Going into facility controlled by rogue AI and potentially full of Flood forms could easily lead to loss of multiple Spart...
by Sky Captain
2020-09-25 03:02pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Optimal size for a soldier?
Replies: 38
Views: 31080

Re: Optimal size for a soldier?

I suspect in a pre industrial setting soldiers of different sizes would be more useful than after industrial revolution when war become more mechanized and involved much greater logistical trail to support army in a field. Equipment optimized for say 120cm soldiers would be poorly suited or even unu...
by Sky Captain
2020-09-23 04:36pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: AIP only submarines
Replies: 13
Views: 11802

Re: AIP only submarines

There is Swedish Gotland class submarine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotland-class_submarine that has onboard LOX tanks and Stirling engine for underwater endurance of several weeks. That system generate only 75Kw of power so the submarine won't brake any speed records in AIP mode , but it is go...
by Sky Captain
2020-09-13 03:22pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: What if Venus was Actually Earth Like?
Replies: 23
Views: 21073

Re: What if Venus was Actually Earth Like?

Landing would be relatively, easy If Venus was habitable it would have fairly similar atmosphere to Earth so aerobraking and parachutes would work just fine to slow down spacecraft. Hard part would be takeoff. You would have to deliver fairly large rocket to the surface and prepare it for launch by ...
by Sky Captain
2020-09-03 04:17pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Ship immersed in the crown of a star ???
Replies: 20
Views: 15178

Re: Ship immersed in the crown of a star ???

in reality on wikipedia it says temperature of the corona 5 million degrees kelvin, not of each particle but of the corona: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sole Temperature of corona is irrelevant, it is almost vacuum, while individual particle energy are high there aren't very much particles present...
by Sky Captain
2020-09-02 03:24pm
Forum: Science Fiction
Topic: Ship immersed in the crown of a star ???
Replies: 20
Views: 15178

Re: Ship immersed in the crown of a star ???

It just occurred to me for most soft sci fi warships flying into an outer atmosphere of a Sun like star shouldn't be a major problem at all since shields are supposed to be able to absorb weapon fire that in itself may be in a stellar range. If anything star should be more gentle because energy is e...
by Sky Captain
2020-08-02 03:19pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: NASA launches astronauts on Space X rocket.
Replies: 12
Views: 16831

Re: NASA launches astronauts on Space X rocket.

And we have succesful splashdown. Looks like despite all the concerns and previous setbacks demo mission went according to plan. Let's hope future crew flights goes as smooth as this one and Boeing also sorts out bugs in their capsule.
by Sky Captain
2020-05-17 04:39pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Decarbonising transport
Replies: 141
Views: 115307

Re: Decarbonising transport

Do you define a 'working solution' as one that eliminates 50%, 85% or 100% of co2 in which detailed sector in which country by which deadline? If by mid 21st century globally emissions get reduced by around 50% I would call it a big vin. Does existing and near future social realities include social...
by Sky Captain
2020-05-15 02:17am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Decarbonising transport
Replies: 141
Views: 115307

Re: Decarbonising transport

What kind of solution do you propose that would work given existing and near future technological, social and economic realities? I brought up Germany because it is a major industrialised nation with mostly fossil fuel based energy sector currently trasitioning to be mostly fossil fuel free in the m...
by Sky Captain
2020-05-13 04:57pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Decarbonising transport
Replies: 141
Views: 115307

Re: Decarbonising transport

There is also an opportunity cost. How much emissions can be reduced by given investment in different sectors. Electricity generation is among the easiest, replacing a coal power plant that is approaching end of its lifetime with renewable energy power plants plus some storage and natural gas powere...