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Responded in thread Large Ship hull mass estimate
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For RobertDyck re Large Ship initiative...
It is good to see you back working on Large Ship.
You were in a good place at the end of 2024. You stopped work at that time and let a year and a half go by.
Now, it appears you have lost momentum and from my perspective, you seem to be trying to rebuild from essentially ground zero.
At the end of 2024, you had a 5000 ton ship with GW Johnson providing guidance for travel arrangements.
All you were responsible for was the very small part of the flight in which your vessel reaches escape velocity after a massive boost by one of GW's space tugs. You had nothing to worry about at Mars because GW was ready to meet you on approach and ease your passengers into a safe orbit at an altitude attainable by ground transfer vehicles. GW had designed those as well.
You were (and still are) responsible for the safety and well being of the passengers who entrusted their lives to you.
When you stopped work we were just beginning to think seriously about assembly of Large Ship on orbit.
Your passengers are not going to be indigents. They are going to be wealthy individuals, or persons funded by well heeled organizations.
Your accommodations for these passengers needs to be be literally first class.
(th)
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For RobertDyck re GW Johnson "Engineering Tools"
FYI ... https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 25#p241725
Update Friday....
I've been thinking about your observation about using AI to solve the aerobraking problem you are studying.
It occurred to me there may be a way you can enlist your favorite AI to help.
Depending upon the AI, you might be able to give it a copy of GW's spreadsheet and ask it to see if the spreadsheet can solve the problem you are trying to solve. GW has tried to show the way forward, but ultimately you have to make the journey. Perhaps your favorite AI can help.
I'd like to point out that if you decide to take the risk of trying this, you may become the recipient of advice and guidance others would find helpful.
If you decide to publish to the forum, most AI's can write BBCode that meets our requirements. I have published the guidelines many time in this forum, but it is entirely possible you have never seen any of that work. It might be helpful if you had a guide to publishing BBCode on NewMars forum. I'll think about creating that.
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 32#p241732
(th)
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For RobertDyck re the Iran War ...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 84#p241784
Thank you for asking those reasonable questions...
I only have incomplete information, so hopefully others will help to fill in details...
My impression is that Iran was far better prepared for the US and Israeli attack than their combined intelligence services had any idea.
As a consequence, all the bases which the US thought it could use in the Middle East are denied.
It seems likely that both the Russians and the Chinese have supplied Iran with accurate targeting data. An example is the destruction of an expensive (and rare) radar surveillance aircraft that was sitting on the ground in a neighboring country. It didn't need to sit there very long either. A satellite passes overhead, and minutes later the exact coordinates are fed into the drone or missile targeting system.
At least 18 US service people have died due to Iranian attacks, and many (several hundred) have been injured.
I also suspect that the resupply missions you proposed would interfere with combat operations, and the amount of material to be transported would be a tiny fraction of the daily requirements of 4000 people.
In short, I suspect that the failures of resupply have been addressed to the utmost of US capability, and those were found wanting, due in no small measure to the capabilities of the victim defending itself.
(th)
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For RobertDyck re Business Calendar for Mars...
You are identified in the history of the forum as the inspiration for the Calendar we have been tracking for the last three full Martian years.
For that reason, I would like to call to your attention the further development of this calendar.
In the transition from Year 38 to Year 39, we extended Sol 668 by the number of hours needed to align the Business Calendar for Mars with the Astronomical Calendar. Thus, we now know precisely how long New Year's Eve on Mars will be.
How we deal with skip days is not yet settled. A proposal on the table is to count a skip day as one in which a Mars day does NOT start in an Earth day. The first Sol what that will occur is #24. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Thank you again for your guidance a number of Earth Years ago, when we embarked upon this venture.
FYI .. we have also identified Airy Crater as the location that marks the site of the geographical zero point, and as the site above which the sky will be recorded at midnight for the visible calendar image for the physical calendar. For now we will use a planetarium program image but eventually, when a camera is available at Airy Crater, we can show the actual sky.
(th)
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For RobertDyck re Business Calendar for Mars ...
Knowing you don't have time to follow developments closely, here are some (to me surprising) results.
The design appears to be good for 200 Earth Years.
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 69#p241969
Special note from ChatGPT to RobertDyck:
And please extend my appreciation to the original calendar designer. His underlying design has survived a rather demanding encounter with celestial mechanics!
I'll be ready to continue with the Daily Predictor tomorrow.
(th)
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For RobertDyck...
Thanks for the helpful addition to the magnetic containment thread (actually, Startrek used a completely different technology that does not exist). At least you and Calliban are looking at a technology that ** does ** exist for a small opening.
I'm interested in your post about data centers and cooling ... https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 97#p241997
You put that in Chat as a reasonable launching place. Data Centers are likely to remain a subject of conversation for a while.
Data Centers are a technology and a lot of Science and Engineering are involved, so that Category might be a reasonable location for a topic on Data Centers.
(th)
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For RobertDyck re Money ....
A news item in the Internet feed caught my eye this morning ...
Swieden has been eliminating cash over recent years, and most transactions there are performed via digital transmission. Few shops can handle cash.
Sweden is subject to the threat of invasion from Russia, so the government there has asked citizens to keep a small amount of cash at home and to use it occasionally.
I bring this up in the context of money on Mars.
I asked Google what backs the money of Switzerland (as representative of the region) and it reported that the money is backed by the country's reputation.
I expect something similar is true for other Scandinavian countries.
On Mars, use of physical money would be an unnecessary expense.
If you lived in a community of one kind, and your neighbor over the horizon is a community from another Nation, gold would have no value, but oxygen or even just plain water would, if you had to physically trade something.
My guess is that water will become the "gold" of the Martian economy.
I just don't see paper/cash ever starting there.
Update PS ... I read your posts about politics with great care. They are always (or almost always) well reasoned and free of excess emotional content.
I understand that the present era tests your ability to keep calm to the utmost. Thanks for keeping a lid on when provocation is extreme.
(th)
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