nic_haflinger
nic_haflinger t1_j9rfsin wrote
Reply to comment by Doomenate in DARPA is Reigniting the Nuclear Engine by Afrin_Drip
They’re both being proposed for transporting people from Earth to Mars. Same use case.
nic_haflinger t1_j9modzj wrote
Reply to comment by rocketsocks in DARPA is Reigniting the Nuclear Engine by Afrin_Drip
From a perspective of humans in space getting somewhere fast solves many problems. Size does not solve all problems. Starship would be better utilized to build a fast human Mars transport vehicle in LEO than being used directly as the crew transport.
nic_haflinger t1_j9ly7j0 wrote
Reply to DARPA is Reigniting the Nuclear Engine by Afrin_Drip
Lots of internet space bros claiming the benefit of higher Isp lost by increased mass due to reactor weight. Let’s finally build one and fly it to settle this once and for all. My two cents is that the anti-NTR space internet camp is also in the “Starship solves all problems” camp.
nic_haflinger t1_jdbcnth wrote
Reply to comment by kittyrocket in Virgin Orbit raising $200 million from investor Matthew Brown, closing deal as soon as Thursday by cnbc_official
Virgin Orbit’s manufacturing tech is pretty sophisticated. They could certainly build a bigger rocket and ground launch it. Their propulsion tech is pretty solid as well. Newton3 75k lbf thrust puts it in a different class than anything RocketLab or Relativity have flown.