Search found 222 matches

by RRoan
2012-11-20 12:52am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Rogue Planet found (Planet with no Star)
Replies: 16
Views: 4346

Re: Rogue Planet found (Planet with no Star)

Is there any chance that it's simply a failed star that just didn't manage to gather enough mass to ignite? Objects in this mass range can form in the same manner as a star, yes. Where you draw the line between star and non-star is somewhat murky, though; brown dwarfs, objects in the 13-80 jupiter ...
by RRoan
2012-10-21 12:18am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: The closest exoplanet has been discovered.
Replies: 50
Views: 6624

Re: The closest exoplanet has been discovered.

I was away from town for a couple of days, and look at how much stuff there is to respond to! It's not often that I get to geek out about interstellar rocketry. What? Ion drives can have an ISP on the order of 10 000 seconds, which beats VASIMIR by 100% and NERVA by 1000%. And it's still too low for...
by RRoan
2012-10-18 01:56pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: The closest exoplanet has been discovered.
Replies: 50
Views: 6624

Re: The closest exoplanet has been discovered.

Ion drives just don't have the ISP to do an interstellar mission. You're pretty much restricted to some variety of nuclear or antimatter drive if you're going with a self-contained rocket, since nothing else has the requisite energy density. You could alternatively go with a laser-propelled optical ...
by RRoan
2012-08-23 04:01pm
Forum: Artwork, Music and Photos
Topic: Bolt-Action rifle
Replies: 4
Views: 4681

Bolt-Action rifle

Image

Image

Yeah, it's pretty much a mash-up of different rifles. If you can name every inspiration you get a cookie. :P
by RRoan
2012-05-08 03:41am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: The Acceptability of Using Disabilities to Insult
Replies: 131
Views: 12797

Re: The Acceptability of Using Disabilities to Insult

Speaking as someone with a disability which is currently in vogue as an insult (along with various derivatives of the word in question), I get pretty cross at people who use disabilities to insult people because, guess what, it fucking sucks when people use something that you are already struggling ...
by RRoan
2012-05-07 04:05am
Forum: Artwork, Music and Photos
Topic: Soldier of the FUTURE
Replies: 4
Views: 4348

Soldier of the FUTURE

Or: full body cybernetic replacement with nanotubes, diamondoid, and other exotic substances for fun and profit. http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d23/RRoan/General/WIP/combatskin.png Yes, that's a lady. Hair is a pain in the ass to draw so I haven't done that yet (and you won't be able to tell in t...
by RRoan
2012-02-28 11:19pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: [milwank] - Railgun-on-treads : some calcs
Replies: 15
Views: 1617

Re: [milwank] - Railgun-on-treads : some calcs

I am your new best friend. That's good for modern penetrator materials (the calculator uses an empirically-derived equation), but it's going to return results less than what you would get from future penetrators with improved materials (or even current cutting-edge ammo, the tests the equation is b...
by RRoan
2012-02-28 11:34am
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: [milwank] - Railgun-on-treads : some calcs
Replies: 15
Views: 1617

Re: [milwank] - Railgun-on-treads : some calcs

Wikipedia is wrong in this case. "Projectile weight" for saboted ammo generally includes the mass of the sabot. And yes, the sabot is made of composite materials. That doesn't mean it has no weight, especially when the sabot has a lot more volume than the penetrator itself. Approximate est...
by RRoan
2012-02-27 09:01pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: [milwank] - Railgun-on-treads : some calcs
Replies: 15
Views: 1617

Re: [milwank] - Railgun-on-treads : some calcs

That 10 kilogram mass on the M829A3 projectile does include the sabot. I don't know how heavy the sabot is, but given that it's much less dense than an aluminum sabot it's probably only 2-2.5 kilos.
by RRoan
2012-01-29 11:56pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: The Deaf Protest Stem Cells to Treat Post Birth Deafness
Replies: 117
Views: 13349

Re: The Deaf Protest Stem Cells to Treat Post Birth Deafness

Speaking as somebody who was born with a serious hearing loss, and who's children almost certainly will too, all I have to say to this is wow, fuck anybody who signs that petition. Refusing this sort of stuff is tantamount to child abuse. *Eight out of my grandmother's nine descendents were born wit...
by RRoan
2011-12-02 02:22pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Consequentialism - is it ultimately flawed ethical idea
Replies: 127
Views: 16471

Re: Consequentialism - is it ultimately flawed ethical idea

I never understood how the Repugnant Conclusion is actually, you know, repugnant. Their lives are still worth living, they aren't suffering, and they're still happy. That's better than many people have it in real life, so what, exactly, is the issue?
by RRoan
2011-07-15 11:47pm
Forum: Gaming, Electronics and Computers
Topic: Shep is going to love this little rocket game
Replies: 284
Views: 33372

Re: Shep is going to love this little rocket game

I just made a rocket that achieves a speed of 7,006 m/s at final stage burnout at an altitude of 1140 km.

And no, I have no part mods installed. :P
by RRoan
2011-05-21 01:40am
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Orion Drives
Replies: 37
Views: 5211

Re: Orion Drives

To be honest, the large Orion concepts have such high performance that it doesn't make a huge difference if you were to launch them from, say, Antarctica.
by RRoan
2011-05-19 10:06pm
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Orion Drives
Replies: 37
Views: 5211

Re: Orion Drives

It's worth noting that the pulse units used in Orion drives are, although definitely of serious destructive potential, not weapons. They are very specialized directed-blast devices optimized for spaceship propulsion, and are generally of very low yield compared to most modern nuclear weapons. The 40...
by RRoan
2011-03-21 06:38am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Nuclear Reactors and Natural Disasters
Replies: 29
Views: 6953

Re: Nuclear Reactors and Natural Disasters

I was thinking about using them to run the pumps in case of emergency using the heat from the spent fuel pools or the reactor's decay heat, or somesuch. I know already that there are much better ways to produce power. :mrgreen: That really won't work, not to any useful extent for the cost. The larg...
by RRoan
2010-10-11 09:24pm
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: How GM Lied About The Electric Car
Replies: 13
Views: 2251

Re: How GM Lied About The Electric Car

Lonestar wrote:Link?
Right, sorry about that.

http://jalopnik.com/5661051/how-gm-lied ... ectric-car
by RRoan
2010-10-11 08:58pm
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: How GM Lied About The Electric Car
Replies: 13
Views: 2251

How GM Lied About The Electric Car

How GM "Lied" About The Electric Car How GM "Lied" About The Electric CarThe Chevy Volt has been hailed as General Motors' electric savior. Now, as GM officially rolls out the Volt this week for public consumption, we're told the much-touted fuel economy was misstated and GM &qu...
by RRoan
2010-07-21 06:12pm
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Astronomers detect 'monster star'
Replies: 18
Views: 2609

Re: Astronomers detect 'monster star'

Cool :D I suspect larger are out there. BTW your quoting is fucked up man. How? Seems fine to me. Anyway, this is not the largest star around. Not by a longshot, in fact That depends on how you define "large". Sure, VY Canis Majoris and the other lawlhuge stars have larger diameters, but ...
by RRoan
2010-04-23 02:53am
Forum: Science, Logic, And Morality
Topic: Calculating Armor Penetration
Replies: 9
Views: 1662

Re: Calculating Armor Penetration

To be honest, RHAe penetration values aren't a ton of use these days as anything beyond a general idea, considering the wide variety of different ways that various tank armor components and armoring schemes work.
by RRoan
2010-03-28 04:41am
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Reprehensible Movies
Replies: 310
Views: 41343

Re: Reprehensible Movies

The book it was based on was an awesome children's book that I have very fond memories of, so I'm going to have to disagree with you on the story itself being reprehensible. That being said, I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know how it was presented.
by RRoan
2010-03-03 10:07pm
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?
Replies: 98
Views: 5705

Re: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?

I`m wondering would Orion actually be best choice for in space transport. It`s performance is best suited for climbing out of deep gravity well like boosting large heavy payloads from Earth where it also causes most problems. But once in space high thrust is not that important, what matters the mos...
by RRoan
2010-03-03 09:38pm
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?
Replies: 98
Views: 5705

Re: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?

Hey, you only need to use it in-atmo until you get your spaceborne manufacturing complex set up. :P Sure, you'll likely have thousands and thousands of extra cases of cancer over the course of the next few decades, but I'm of the opinion that's a pretty small price to pay compared to the ridiculous...
by RRoan
2010-03-03 02:23am
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?
Replies: 98
Views: 5705

Re: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?

Oh, if only Orion had ever been built... Not in my atmosphere you're not! [sits back down] Sorry. Reflex. Hey, you only need to use it in-atmo until you get your spaceborne manufacturing complex set up. :P Sure, you'll likely have thousands and thousands of extra cases of cancer over the course of ...
by RRoan
2010-03-02 09:51pm
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?
Replies: 98
Views: 5705

Re: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?

And if the technology is never developed, then there never will be a time when we are able to do so on a large scale. Of course, I'd say it's pretty unlikely that it will be cheap enough for a middle class man to pay for it in the foreseeable future. But then again, the whole role of government is t...
by RRoan
2010-03-01 10:06pm
Forum: News and Politics
Topic: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?
Replies: 98
Views: 5705

Re: Obama's $6 billion increase for NASA?

Um, Eion, are you ignoring that every bit of whatever you take is going to require more fuel? That's a lot of food, water, and oxygen you're going to be hauling to Mars, regardless of what you make on whatever site you're proposing to make. That's going to require more fuel than will be needed for ...