And now the wish list for the next version
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:55 am
As has been announced, the successor volumes are (1) International Space Station and (2) Mars.
Here's what I'd like to see in the Space Station version, in an order which we shall refer to as "random":
- The ability to develop, instead of the Space Shuttle (STS), a smaller, cheaper, less complex version similar to what Dream Chaser's supposed to be, purely a passenger carrying space plane. (I'd like to see a one, two and three-man version added to Volume 1, sort of the Russian version extended to its logical conclusion as an alternative to the ballistic capsule approach of both the Soviets and NASA - then Volume 2 can let you enlarge that to about 10 persons and Volume 3 can allow you to blow that up to an even larger craft).
- As an alternative to developing a Dream Chaser-style lifting body, develop a larger Orion-style ballistic capsule or Russian equivalent.
- More designs of space stations than the Tinkertoy one we've currently got up there. If we want a wheel configuration by shooting up canisters on the top of a Saturn V or N1, so that we can make it spin and generate artificial gravity, we should be allowed to.
- Return to the Moon built-in as an option, including pure-space (i.e., not landing) cargo and passenger shuttles ferrying colonists and products between Earth's and the Moon's orbits, and building of first a Lunar outpost, and eventually a complete Lunar city.
I imagine the game will start somewhat similarly to history, with the Soviets using the Almaz and Salyut stations as their base, while the American side uses its Skylab as a starting point. My next logical step as Administrator is to take the tin cans of Skylab or Salyut and redesign them so I could bolt the beast together in orbit using my Saturn V or N1 (or smaller if budget/technology dictated it) and research building true ships of space - those cargo and passenger vessels I mentioned above. Do I build a small space station in Lunar orbit?
Personally, I consider the historical approach after Skylab to have been an expensive sidetrack - a mistake. Instead of the Shuttles, even though I loved the things, I think we should have gone for smaller purely-passenger orbiters and stuck to unmanned rockets to do the heavy lifting. We could have had a station similar to the ISS much sooner and at a fraction of the cost - both monetarily and in terms of lives lost.
What's my "win" point - when the station is up and running? When it reaches a certain size?
Here's what I'd like to see in the Space Station version, in an order which we shall refer to as "random":
- The ability to develop, instead of the Space Shuttle (STS), a smaller, cheaper, less complex version similar to what Dream Chaser's supposed to be, purely a passenger carrying space plane. (I'd like to see a one, two and three-man version added to Volume 1, sort of the Russian version extended to its logical conclusion as an alternative to the ballistic capsule approach of both the Soviets and NASA - then Volume 2 can let you enlarge that to about 10 persons and Volume 3 can allow you to blow that up to an even larger craft).
- As an alternative to developing a Dream Chaser-style lifting body, develop a larger Orion-style ballistic capsule or Russian equivalent.
- More designs of space stations than the Tinkertoy one we've currently got up there. If we want a wheel configuration by shooting up canisters on the top of a Saturn V or N1, so that we can make it spin and generate artificial gravity, we should be allowed to.
- Return to the Moon built-in as an option, including pure-space (i.e., not landing) cargo and passenger shuttles ferrying colonists and products between Earth's and the Moon's orbits, and building of first a Lunar outpost, and eventually a complete Lunar city.
I imagine the game will start somewhat similarly to history, with the Soviets using the Almaz and Salyut stations as their base, while the American side uses its Skylab as a starting point. My next logical step as Administrator is to take the tin cans of Skylab or Salyut and redesign them so I could bolt the beast together in orbit using my Saturn V or N1 (or smaller if budget/technology dictated it) and research building true ships of space - those cargo and passenger vessels I mentioned above. Do I build a small space station in Lunar orbit?
Personally, I consider the historical approach after Skylab to have been an expensive sidetrack - a mistake. Instead of the Shuttles, even though I loved the things, I think we should have gone for smaller purely-passenger orbiters and stuck to unmanned rockets to do the heavy lifting. We could have had a station similar to the ISS much sooner and at a fraction of the cost - both monetarily and in terms of lives lost.
What's my "win" point - when the station is up and running? When it reaches a certain size?
