But if you have a functioning reactor, why bother with the solar stuff?

I trust our defense procurement system to make the proposed smaller carriers come out with a much higher cost than the current super carriers. There wont be a single good reason for that, but there will be lots of bad ones.

Things that are strangely neglected here are:

Needs more front shocks. 3 are not enough.

That’s just the first stage, and you are ignoring the weight of the oxidizer. If you add total fuel for both stages you get 488ton.

Not much footing, that’s pretty automatic, but yes, very simple tasks.

The dragon V2 isn’t getting anywhere without another million pounds worth of falcon rocket underneath it. So lets use the falcon rocket as an example, because spaceX is very cool.

I thought it was 7 tasks.

While these systems are voice activated, you can’t actually talk to them. It’s more akin to spell casting. You have to precisely utter some incantations, after which you will get some pretty lights, maybe smoke and fire, and after a wait your spell will produce something that may or may not be what you were going for.…

I’m so tired of people calling this car amazing from an engineering standpoint. It isn’t. It requires two qualified technicians to open the hood, or damage will result. It has door lock handles that constantly get broken. That isn’t good engineering. Good engineering involves a certain amount of testing to make sure…

You mean awesome choice in wheels and tires, surely. I mean, once you went that rediculous, you might as well go all the way. Can you think of a wheel/tire combination that will make that monstrosity better looking?

These weren’t cars that I’ve owned, but they were strange querks non the less.

The thing I hate about the “I can’t afford it” line is that its often untrue.
Which will require a bit of an explanation. Getting finances in order during early adult life is (at least to me) mostly about getting a handle on impulse spending. Keeping a budget and planning is important, mostly because it keeps on from…

I did indeed mean gallons instead of pounds, good catch. I’m afraid the rest is science fiction.

Whatever sensor it was, it certainly hates sunrise.

Really? You can lift 180lbs load to orbit with 250lbs of fuel? That would be really impressive. Almost as impressive as the ability to refuel mid lift that this operation would require. Not to mention that fancy 3d printer that can print functional products without using any sort of mass.

Lets wait until someone manages to build a space elevator or train before we go off counting the savings. In the meantime powered flight is the only game in town, and it’s energy requirements are considerably higher.

While on the same trail, I saw a carpet cleaning van. It was a full size van, with ample ground clearance, and for all I know, could have been 4 wheel drive. Also, there are a few houses along this trail. Some people actually live there.

At some point, we’re going to have to pick between space travel being common and combating climate change.

Yep. Much different terrain than slickrock, but similar surprise.