chandmer

They're on the ITS post.

They shouldn't be!

Titan is super cool, and also freezing. I think it falls into the "need infinite fusion" bin, but after that, sure!

No access to generic raw materials and huge lifting gas overhead, even huger delta-V requirements to do anything.

I don't get Venus cloud tops. I've never seen anyone explain how to transport, fuel and launch a Saturn V rocket from a zeppelin.

Yep. The spaceship has to come back at the very least.

The attractive thing about landing on dirt is that the raw materials mean that a closed life support system isn't needed. There are relatively accessible supplies. Space stations anywhere, be that LEO, lunar orbit, Mars orbit, deep space, or floating in Venus' atmosphere, lack that option.

All kinds of problems! The ITS gets around a lot of them - the trick is to have a lifting body. But there's still a lot of problems.

Sorry to come across as grumpy. It wasn't really the venue or topic to argue about exotic propulsion. There are many excellent resources online explaining why EM cavities are reactionless. You can write down the Poynting vector and then use Green's theorem, it's a neat result. With dire consequences for wish-powered spacecraft. -C

That's too kind! Say hi on fb some day.

Always appreciate careful criticism! It turns out the ratio of centrifugal-gravitational force to aerodynamic force is about 10:1, so punching through the atmosphere is a solvable problem. I love Max's videos! -C