say i was gona make a spaceship what basic elements would i need to consider and work on?

Design, Materials, Propulsion, Flight Controls...

first you've got to have a lot of money.

I'd say a warp engine and some vulcans could help you out a bit:)

But seriously titanium is used for plating, I believe, as well as layers of metal over one another to keep meteors from punching into the inside of the capsul. You need well made ceramics on the bottom and front of the craft for re-entry (assuming you want to come back;)). For propulsion I'd recomend an ion lift-off engine. Using one of these would be very cheap (compared to what is mainstream in NASA today), but it would take maybe a day to reach escape velocity and reach space. Once there I'd unfurl a huge solar sail, preferably the size of...hmm...Texas. Yes, Texas. If you could build one that large you'd be able to traverse the stars in no time. For design I'd recommend something like a small living capsul with all of the necessities of life, including a fast internet connection (for boredom and human contact, etc), maybe even a movie theatre and an extensive library that can be updated. If you've ever seen one of those GI Joe thingies with parachutes I'd recommend desigining your solar sail ship like that, only with the sail being significantly larger than the ship itself.

Why are you asking this? Planning a trip to Alpha Centauri? I'd really like to come along, as long as we can come back. :cool:

The flight controls could be configured to a standard playstation handset. That way if you got bored you could play a game as well.

Not parrapa the rappa it's shite!!:D

Well, when I was little, I used the little area behind the couch, often with a blankey over the top, and sometimes with a box of munchies and the V remote control. That's how to make a spaceship.

Well, when I made my spaceship, the propulsion system gave me the most trouble. i found that torturing aliens into giving you info on the process is key. Of course you can also convince them, while their still tied to a chair, to make it for you. Their race found that building me a craft was actually a cheaper ransom than they were accustomed to and didn't hesitate to oblige. So when you hear that people saw a flying saucer speed toward the horizon, its just me. With this baby, no cops will ever catch ya.

Actually, despite the fact that aliens created their own technology they have absolutely no skill in using it, that's why their ships move around like someones banging their head against the control panel-they are, because they can't figure out what the f*ck to do and they're really pist off about it. So I devised a little trap to capture aliens and their ships:

-Watch the sky, observe and look for UFO's

-When you see a UFO, make sure you have a large yard or field of some sort and light a triangular shape on fire. This is the universal signal for 'Repair/Gas Station.'

-When they land, dress up in one of those cheap alien heads and approach them. Direct them to a small house and tell them to wait half an hour to an hour while they repair their ship and make it easier to fly.

-Now that you have access to the ship you can steal it and cruise the heavens, assuming you can figure out how (the aliens who made it can't!)

-Hope the aliens back on the ground don't tell their buddies about what happened. If they find you they'll really kick the shit out of you, I mean, literally, I know, I did it and saw one of the planets orbiting Tau Ceti. If they find it the best idea is to point behind their backs and shout "look! A naked amazon! (amazon is a word for 'sexual goddess' in alienspeke)' The aliens always fall for this one. Then take off, and hope to hell that they don't catch you, because you will wish that you're being raped by a goat when they're kicking the crap out of you.

i was kinda serious guys

As long as it can reach exit speed it matters not what material you use. If you want to survive a lack of atmosphere you will need a good sealant. The propulsion system would have to be a simple engine such as the fuel based NASA vessels. I and some others contemplated a launch system seperate from the vessel. Such a spring would either provide too many forces of G that it would kill the pilotm, or it would provide insuficient boost. With existing technology I would suggest emulating a NASA vessel. This means large quantities of $.

I like that tungsten-silicon-carbide for a skin. Titanium or carbon fibre frame. BUild it in space so no escaping-gravity problems, and give it a hiant version of the engines on that Deep Space One probe. I'd prefer it to be large enough to carry it's own farms, to process waste through a ground-cycle.

...I was serious, too.:D

Lightsail is the cheap way to get around in the system. I would imagine that getting through the heliopause would present a problem for it though.

More than design, materials, propulsion, etc, we must build devices such as:

- Antigravity / antimatter. as main propulsion.
- Teleport. to 'beam you up' :D
- Replicator/copier. to make anything from 'archive' models.
- Farm. fullfilled with plants and animals 'archive'.
- Force-field shield. to protect you and the ship.
- Weapons. very powerful ones.
- Hybernating facility. to avoid aging on long journey.
- Simulation room. with realistic-holographic environment.
- etc...

:rolleyes: Ummm...

Better alternative:
Build a gigantic artificial sun and gigantic antigravity to move the whole earth to desired destination. :cool: :D

Check out "Pivate space initiative." I figured it would be stupid to repost the stuff

Originally posted by physicsforums.com
say i was gona make a spaceship what basic elements would i need to consider and work on?

Design, Materials, Propulsion, Flight Controls...

TODAY: Not much technology exists to do a decent job than the space shuttle (otherwise NASA would have already done it).

20 to 30 years out: We can only go to Mars and back with a space shuttle like ship but with a different propulsion (plasma drive, ion drive etc)

100 years out: Now we can get exited...
Propulsion: Matter-antimatter
Body: Titanium carbide with self healing carbon nanotube polymer fluid insert.
Flight control: Third generation AI
Construction: At Earth orbit platform
Gravity: Artificial gravity using a bunch of gravity discs (one foot diameter)
Computer: Quantum computer for zillion flop calculations
Crews: Nano technology enhanced crews (no genetic tinkering - outlawed 50 years ago)
Food: Replicator using molecular assembler
Speed: Still sublight but use slip-stream/sub-space using the 5th dimension or something like that (the road has not been invented yet)
Transporter: Same technology to move matter from point A to point B in a few milliseonds within and around earth.

Anything I missed?

Communication - messages modulated with subspace frequency.

NASA's advanced propulsion: http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/advanced_propulsion_020522-1.html

http://www.space.com/images/cme-earth_02.jpg

Actually, the technology exists today, on the shelf, to make a much better spaceship than the space shuttle. The really horifying thing is that the technology existed to make a better space ship than the space shuttle, at the time they made it!

Let's see,

1. The solid fuel boosters. They were originally supposed to be liquid fueled, hydrogen, but Nasa couldn't get the funds to upgrade their hydrogen production and storage facilities at the cape.

They could have been one piece, no Challenger disaster, but in order to be able to manufacture them in Orin Hatch's district, to buy his vote, they had to be made in segments. I think it was Aerobee which would have manufactured them on site, one piece, cheaper.

2. Aluminum airframe. Originally specified as Titanium, but again it was too expensive. The aluminum was cheaper, in the short run, (Not after you take fuel consumption per pound of cargo launched, I believe.) but it was heavier, reducing cargo capacity, and very temperature sensitive, necessitating those fancy thermal tiles which have to be refurbished after every flight. In fact, don't they have to hook the Shuttle up to an air conditioner the instant it lands, and blow cold air through the frame, so that the heat soaking in through those tiles doesn't aneal the frame, causing it to sag like a wax model in the sun?

3. Big honking wings. Not part of the original design, they had to be tacked on to add more aerodynamic maneuverability, per the military's demands. Only the military decided afterwards that they'd rather stick with disposable launchers, so that maneuverability goes to waste. Does cut down on payload, though.

4. Avionics which make your average pocket calculator look powerful.

The REALLY HORRIFYING thing about the shuttle is that it's actually more expensive than the Saturn V, with less capacity. Yeah, that fancy reusable spacecraft was supposed to be cheaper, but it would have been more cost effective to just keep the Saturn V assembly line running.

Now, today we have much lighter, stronger, more heat resistant materials. A bit better engines. And MUCH better designs. We could build a better launcher than the Shuttle without working up a sweat. Or just build that hydrogen fueled first stage, which lands on a runway, that it was supposed to have. And have it flying in a few years. But Nasa decided they'd rather spend the bucks on a gosh wow super-advanced hypersonic air-breathing monstrostity which won't be flying for decades, if ever.

************

Anyway, the very first thing you need to work on, to design a space ship, is to specify the mission. Ground to orbit? Or just in space? How long is the mission going to last? What sort of radiation enviroment? Thermal enviroment? A booster to LEO is a LOT different from a long range exploratory mission to one of the gas giants. Short missions you can get by with stored air and little shielding, long missions require closed life support and enough radiation sheilding to survive both solar flares and the cosmic ray background. Let alone surviving the radiation belt around Jupiter! And if you're going to the outer planets, your main concern is staying warm, the inner planets it's not frying.

Mind, if you were to use an Orion type propulsion system, you'd be able to do it all. Take off from the ground, and tour the entire solar system on one trip, taking along a complete scientific staff with equiped labs, landers, and enough shop equipment to fix anything which broke along the way. But THAT'S illegal... :rolleyes:

Don't try you obviously have not got what it needs,its like children saying what IF!
:D

& Good Luck

:) :)

Actually, the technology exists today, on the shelf, to make a much better spaceship than the space shuttle. The really horifying thing is that the technology existed to make a better space ship than the space shuttle, at the time they made it!

Funny, you said that....

I was part of the main design team to build the next generation Advanced Lunch Vehicle (ALV) and the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) plant in Mississippi. Congress did not cough up the money....

Avionics which make your average pocket calculator look powerful.

What can I say? Government Scientists insist on building every part from scratch...it happens in NASA and all the Government Laboratories (such as Sandia)....job securities comes to mind....

Anyone consider that NASA chose the shuttle and all of it's funding to pocket a little and develop the other crafts quiet-like? Maybe they want to develop the next-generation to be launched from orbit as previously mentioned. Makes more sense to have a big-bang out there than down here.