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Trying to "create" an equation. And failing miserably. I've been working on a science fiction story for a ridiculously long amount of time, and I'm trying to nail down the properties of a particular piece of fictional technology. I'd like to do this as accurately as I can, to the point where an...

I was thinking about artificial gravity on a spacecraft, particularly a spinning section, and how to deal with pressurizing it. When the entire craft is spun (or a craft with 2 tethered sections that tumbles), no big deal. It's sealed anyway. Same thing when you've got a centrifuge that's...

I understand how to achieve a circular orbit with a spacecraft, thanks to Orbiter. What I don't understand is how natural objects do it. I saw a post in the forum asking the same question, but it was off-topic and the answer was basically "tidal interactions over a long time". (I'm paraphrasing...

From internet comic Johnny Wander: http://www.johnnywander.com/comics/207

I just finished reading The Forever War, which is a freaking brilliant book. All the talk about time dilation got me thinking though. In the book, their primary means of covering long distances was the collapsar jumps, but they still had to accelerate between jumps nearly to light speed, which...

I'm no engineer, but I'm pretty sure we've got some here on the forum. I'm hoping some of them can pick apart this idea I had for plugging the "leak" in the Gulf of Mexico. If it's a dumb idea, I want to know, and I'd like to know why it's dumb. If it's a good idea, or needs refinement, then let...

I notice that Orbiter has "Orbit stabilisation parameters". Does this mean that under high time acceleration, Orbits don't degrade naturally? I want to put a vessel into a certain orbit and see how that orbit degrades over a very long period of time, as realistically as possible. Is Orbiter's...

I know that normally we launch things prograde for several reasons, but I'm wondering if any US mission ever launched retrograde. Does anybody know?

I'm wondering if anyone else noticed that, in Orbiter 2010, the heat shield glowing effect on the DeltaGlider IV doesn't fade in like it used to. I was doing a reentry and watching it from the outside. Instead of fading, it just popped in fully opaque. I know it's kind of a small problem/issue...

A thought popped into my head and I thought I'd ask some of you more knowledgeable folks about it. Let's say you build an artificial ring around a planet or a moon, like a truss or a tensile structure, something like that. As you build this ring, you of course put the sections up by launching...

Just found out about this anime "Rocket Girls" due to Naoko Yamazaki's involvement. Anyone seen it? I watched a clip of it on YouTube. Seems mildly interesting and appears to feature modern rocket technology. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rocket+girls

I've noticed over the years that many sci-fi spacecraft that are meant to appear "near-future" in design or construction have a major similarity. They often have a central truss/beam that the other components are "mounted" to. For example, the Discovery from 2001/2010, the Event Horizon, the...

I'm using 3DS Max to create my model and I've created some materials. Some of them use textures, some are plain materials. I'm using the max2msh plugin to export. I've noticed that the materials appear to be much more glossy or shiny in Orbiter than they appear in 3DS Max, so I'm wondering how...

I've finally managed to make a successful re-entry and glide-only (!) landing with both the DeltaGlider IV and the XR2. Blew up the XR2 on the first attempt, then dumped a bunch of fuel before the second attempt and controlled the AOA a bit better. In both cases I was very close to the runway...

Let's say I wanted to make a fairly realistic spacecraft for Orbiter, and I wanted to know how big my various tanks needed to be. For example, hydrazine for the RCS, some kind of fuel for the main engines (LOX?), and something for my crew to breathe so they don't die. How would I figure that...

So I found this article. Apparently this guy (who claims to be a Ph.D.) believes that the USAF has antigravity technology, and uses it in the F-117 and the B-2. Just shows you that having fancy letters after your name doesn't mean jack. I've noticed there's a bunch of intelligent people here on...

I'm having this problem where my transparent canopy material is masking certain things behind it. As you can see in the image, it's masking the Delta-Glider, but not the runway marker (or other surface buildings). It's also masking the pilot's transparent visor. This model was created in 3DS...

I'm working on a small (really small) flying saucer type craft. It's got roughly the same shape as the old Avrocar, but it's maybe half the size, with a bubble cockpit in the center. Very 1950's looking, and about the size of a Volkswagen. Two engines in the rear and three hover engines. I'm...

I've been using Orbiter (version 2006 P1) for about a week now and decided to try out the Fuel MFD. I first plugged it into an installation that I had added a bunch of other things to, such as IMFD, Shuttle Fleet, and AeroBrake MFD. When I tried to operate the Fuel MFD, the Orbiter program...