The Open Space Movement: Like Sourceforge.net for Aerospace Engineers - General

[QUOTE=Jeep-Eep;23106350]Those things would be visible for light-years.[/QUOTE] [del]Light-year is a unit of distance, bro.[/del] Seems to be how you intended it, nevermind.

Our civilization's activities outshine the Sun on certain wavelenghts, and you are worried about a tiny rocket giving away our position? Spaceflight won't give away our position any more than the Internet does. This planet is a gigantic lighthouse visible in a volume of a bit less than a hundred light years away, and it's highly unlikely that anyone is listening within that volume. We would've heard their transmissions, or, if they are advanced enough to have interstellar spaceflight, we would've seen the gamma ray flare of the antimatter drives or the fuckhot trails of the fusion drives. Clearly we are safe.

[QUOTE=Jeep-Eep;23106791]Oops. I may have mistook it for some other kind of engine. 3-5%C... that's probably safe. But you wouldn't want it hitting you none-the-less. Make quite a mess, to say the least. I don't know how far you could see that from, but I know it's a good distance. The saturn 5 was detectable from pluto with our level of tech. 3-5%C... that's pretty fast. Anything capable of reaching that in short time periods is pretty showy. (Sorry, line of thought.)[/QUOTE] ok here's what I'm thinking you're trying to say: - You think these propulsion devices are quite a light show and would be bright enough to alert "aliens" of our presence. (not really, from a distance of a lightyear or so the sun's light would outshine anything we do, and our radio activities outshine the sun's anyways so we are already giving away our position!) - Assuming you mean C as in "c", the physical constant meaning the speed of light, you're saying going 3-5% of c would mean crashing into something would make quite a mess. Which is very true :v:

[QUOTE=CrazySpray;23097535]Except for the trillions of dollars worth of resources, but we know they're too stubborn to start developing the technology to get those resources.[/QUOTE] Do you mean the Trillions of dollars worth of Iron, Nickel, and Copper? AKA some of the most common metals on Earth today?

[QUOTE=Kyle902;23118521]Do you mean the Trillions of dollars worth of Iron, Nickel, and Copper? AKA some of the most common metals on Earth today?[/QUOTE] And Platinium.

[QUOTE=Eudoxia;23118696]And Platinium.[/QUOTE] Which we need so much of because

[QUOTE=Eudoxia;23118696]And Platinium.[/QUOTE] don't forget the all the helium-3 you can mine from various places

[URL=http://www.earthmagazine.com/earth/article/381-7da-8-1f]-An Interview-[/URL] 700 members now! :buddy: Do this for humanity Facepunch!

[QUOTE=ProboardslolV2;23057387]It's nothing but communists trying to ruin the economy for private space exploration.[/QUOTE] It's been so nice here since you got banned you know.

[QUOTE=Mindtwistah;23057357]This is not going to get anywhere unless they get some major donations. A space program costs billions.[/QUOTE] Not the theory and design if people are willing to donate their time, therefore Open Source it.

[QUOTE=Kyle902;23118707]Which we need so much of because[/QUOTE] Because it is incredibly valuable for electronics, we've mined something like 540 tons through out history, and i'm pretty sure it's theorised to be a likely candidate for room temperature superconductivity, which makes it incredibly valuable.

Oh my god, I was just thinking how this would be a great idea. I've been trying to figure out essentially how to make a space airship for a couple months now. If I get a good idea, I'm sending it their way.