Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg
Heh. In the spaceship business, "strong" equates to never leaving the launch pad. Rockets are wimpy, generally designed with a 1.4 factor of safety. I kid you not.
That's why water ships are better than space ships; they don't have to operate quite so near their ulimate margins. Can you imagine what people would say if you launched a 5-million-pound water ship to deliver a 30,000-pound payload?  |
Suddenly, space is scary.
We operate at a factor of safety of 3. We love our Plimsoll lines, before that we had a factor of safety of, WHAT?, SAFETY? That man there, walk that plank.
Let's see, using rounded figures. 30,000 lb, is only 15 ton. ( sea short ton is 2,000 lbs, makes math easier.) (See shorty dive into the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship) and stop short. After four pages of buoyant volume, centre of gravity, moments of equilibrium, ballast and trim, reserve of buoyancy.
Um, how long is this proposed 5,000,000 lb vessel? multiplied by 2, to give us tonne metres for moment of equilibrium.
And that is just the empty hull. Then we have to over engine the hell out of it.
Me need caffeine now.