Well of Souls Forums

If the experimental control delivers similar results to the experimental results my reaction isn't success. I start looking for a failure in my measuring stick. This is wrong. Or, at the least, inaccurate. Kinda shocked no one picked up on this, considering how astute this group is. The device is d...

I presume by "stainless steel vacuum chamber" they mean a thermal vacuum chamber, which are purpose built for recreating space conditions. NASA has plenty ofem, from largest on down the line. I completely skipped the atmospheric pressure bit when I skimmed it because I saw the chamber I assumed they...

What. The. Hell. They put it in a vacuum chamber and chose not to turn it on? I find myself agreeing on your idea. Are they intentionally fumbling tests to draw in funding now?

I would think the experiment took place in conditions closer to vacuum pressure, beyond the lower boundary where that method stops producing thrust.

A little slow here, but back to the NASA QVPT test: Thrust was observed on both test articles, even though one of the test articles was designed with the expectation that it would not produce thrust. Specifically, one test article contained internal physical modifications that were designed to produ...

saint of m wrote:


One Loroi sees that, sends a mental image to the next and the next and soon the whole species goes up in one massive Brain Blue Screen of Death

Pssst, Umiak are naked under their exoskeleton.

The Gotland is an excellent proof of concept for AIP subs but is approaching obsolescence and, reportedly, the more modern 212 has a test depth of 700 meters. Taken at face value, that is impressive enough to make me favor it for power projection operations. Latest thing I read was the Gotland's ar...

The Gotland is an excellent proof of concept for AIP subs but is approaching obsolescence and, reportedly, the more modern 212 has a test depth of 700 meters. Taken at face value, that is impressive enough to make me favor it for power projection operations.

World War 1? I go for a swim to save time. 2? North Carolina class. The smaller caliber 16/45 inch guns actually have better penetration probabilities at radar engagement ranges than the higher cal guns they put on the Iowa's because of the plunging shell trajectory. Better sea keeping than the Dako...

I think the implied promise in the recent "IXS Enterprise" NASA media campagin that a Star Trek -style starship is just a few years off is silly, embarrassing, improper, and likely to backfire in the long run in terms of rallying support around the space program. I think false promises and exaggera...

Dwarf, those are all solutions for technical challenges for a problem that doesn't yet exist. The way they're going about deriving that funding sends off alarm bells for me. If you want my buy in you must demonstrate a practical set of steps forward, focusing on the first small step in line. Its not...

From where I sit, it is all hype. They're putting together show pieces like that IXS Enterprise model before doing the ground work on the engine itself. I can think of no more literal example of putting the cart before the horse. They're just ginning up FTL drives to funnel money into pet projects a...

red dwarf: some nitpicking here. aircraft carriers did not make BB's obsolete, the strong belief that all future warfare would be nuclear did, for projection of that weapon carriers were much superior. ??? Where is, repeat, where is Task Force 34? The world wonders. Skipping Pearl Harbor, the Princ...

You will note that I said that they didn't develop the "technology needed to win," not the "technology that was better than their opponent." If there were a technology that would have overcome all their other shortcomings, they did not develop it, and what technology they did develop (if any) clear...

Losing a war does not mean a society lacks the tech. It may lack the strategy to employ its forces correctly, the lack of supply to produce and field its forces sufficiently, or lack the will to wage Total War against the enemy society it faces. Vietnam and North Korea did not out tech the US and Al...

WW1 tank, maybe? Helped break the stalemate at least, but I can't say its development is solely responsible for the outcome. And all the tech existed already, it was just a matter of putting the pieces together in a useful manner.

When humans need to develop new technologies to win wars, by jingo do they do so. See, thats one thing that has always made me scratch my head a bit. Human history is replete with examples of us not doing that. Certainly if the tech levels, that is, the science and mathematical principles, are comm...

Also, this foam you mention... What is it comprised of? How is it applied without interfering with the ships workings? Is it pre placed? Sprayed at the first sign of incoming fire? How is there enough time for coverage between the warhead going off at a close enough range to be dangerous to start w...

The Vic's are half the length of the Erebus and Terror, and nearly a quarter of their beam. Lets not even look at their tonnage, oi. 600 tons versus 8000. Really wasn't considering river use. Mark 57 VLS ranges from 5-8 meters in height, depending on which module is used. That would fit on the Erebus.

Actually the Erebus and Terror proved to be quite competent gunnery platforms. You dont need battlecruiser sized ships to be a stable gunnery platform in near shore operations. If you are trying to build a fast blue water battleship then yes it needs to be huge. And costly. Sen you and I are about o...