tomcat wrote:
John Doe wrote:
H2-PV NOW wrote:
Look at that big external tank that the shuttle and two solid rocket
boosters are strapped on. Now WHERE INSIDE do you fit that?

In the 1960s, the British developped technology to allow large amounts
of usable volume inside relatively small external volumes. They built a
phone booth with that technology as a prototype to showcase that
technology. It was often seen on the BBC.

If NASA were willing/able to licence this technology from the BBC, it
would be able to fit a lot more stuff inside the cargo bay. (but I think
that MASS would still be a limiting factor.)


There is, I suspect, a good deal of 'classified' technology available.
The black programs people, however, do not want to release it. So, we
must do with what we have and we have some mighty good technology
available.

Rocketdyne's SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) can give you 450,000
pounds of thrust with a 10,000 pound engine. The mechanics of using
LH2 and LOX has been developed and 'proven' workable.

Without fuel it has zero thrust for 10,000 pounds paperweight. How much
fuel do you need, and how big is that much? How much does the fuel tank
weigh, and how much fuel does it cost to raise the tank, than how much
bigger must the tank be to add the fuel just to lift the fuel that
lifts the tank?


Neither vacuum nor helium are classified. Both are very light, with
vacuum weighing nothing at all! But, for some unexplained reason
engineers don't use them much.

The reasons are explained. They are "classified" as code-name "basic
physics", and only people with fundamental math skills are allowed in
the classes where these things are taught. There are "Black
installations" code-named "universities" where only specially tested
applicants are admitted to learn these secrets of the universe. The
rest of the people get hints and glimpses but facts are so jumbled that
they can never figure it out on their own.

Using Helium for rocket fuels is so classified that it is not even
taught at top secret installations like area 51 or Harvard or MIT. The
secrets have been sent into the future so that only future people have
access to this knowledge


The rest of the stuff is so hush-hush that Black SUVs will come take
you to Gitmo for waterboarding lessons if you discuss them in public.
Don't mention "air-stiffened" helium-powered rockets too often, or
"they" will give you the full alien abductee anal-probe treatment.