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Per Aspera (Space Agency Plan Quest)

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[X] Plan: Broad Coalition for Futurism

The nuclear infrastructure isn't disappearing immediately and we don't need it or have science or facilities dice to spend on it immediately, so no need to invest in it yet and drop our PS so much.
 
I joke about orbital telescopes, but I don't really see the need for either Dark Skies or Broadcast Regulations right now.

For Dark Skies it's simple enough to go build a telescope in the middle of the desert instead of slowing down reconstruction by messing with people lighting their cities.

Likewise for Broadcast Regs, radio telescopes can be built somewhere remote.
 
CyberEnby said:
I joke about orbital telescopes, but I don't really see the need for either Dark Skies or Broadcast Regulations right now.

For Dark Skies it's simple enough to go build a telescope in the middle of the desert instead of slowing down reconstruction by messing with people lighting their cities.

Likewise for Broadcast Regs, radio telescopes can be built somewhere remote.
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Both of the regulations are things that aren't really a concern now either way, but we'll wish we had gotten on the ground floor about them in the coming decades.
 
CyberEnby said:
But... why? Like, I would rather just build space telescopes - we need something to replace all those NRO launches. :p
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In the short (first few decades) term it lets us build observatories much easier. In the long term, it builds a culture of respect for the night sky as common heritage. We can build a society where people can stargaze by climbing a hill, or one where they need to drive for hours and hours and hours. I know which one I want.
 
grimely said:
In the short (first few decades) term it lets us build observatories much easier. In the long term, it builds a culture of respect for the night sky as common heritage. We can build a society where people can stargaze by climbing a hill, or one where they need to drive for hours and hours and hours. I know which one I want.
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Makes me realize that I've never really seen the full night sky with my own eyes. Just never really been near somewhere without any light pollution.
I've always wanted to go out in the middle of the ocean just so I can see the Milky Way. Though in my case it's probably easier to just go to some of the national parks in the western US.
 
[X] The Right Nuclear Stuff
[X] Plan: Broad Coalition for Futurism with Nukes
note that the vote-counter isn't handling Right Nuclear Stuff very well due to not having the word "plan" in its name I can only assume, but still. Nuclear power important.
 
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You know what, yeah.

[X] Plan: Broad Coalition for Futurism with Nukes

I like this too. Preserving the night sky is very dope. I can imagine wartime light discipline meant to protect against bombing raids changing into voluntary light control measures to preserve the night sky. It's kind of poetic.
 
CyberEnby said:
But... why? Like, I would rather just build space telescopes - we need something to replace all those NRO launches. :p
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It's possibly a bit militaristic for what people are angling towards, but we could try to convince the UWF in a few years that a few recon birds would help out their fight against the partisans. If we really want a manned space program, that's probably the quickest way to get it - 1950s television cameras are sharp enough for weather observation and exploration can be done by probes, but it's hard to beat an astronaut in a darkroom for getting high-quality photos with poor electronics.

I'm not happy with us giving up our nuke (we were given a NUCLEAR BOMB HOW CAN WE NOT DO SOMETHING WITH IT), but it seems that's the consensus, so I'm gonna go with the flow (AAAGGH, we're not even going to try to make a giant space cannon with it?!?!).

[X] The Right Nuclear Stuff
[X] Plan: Broad Coalition for Futurism with Nukes
 
Why the big interest in getting the nuclear infrastructure this year? It won't be the last year it's available and we can just ride high on PS through the year and take the hit back down to neutral in 1952 rather than going into the PS danger zone now. I don't think we'll have much slack in our dice to do much with it immediately.
 
Dessard said:
Why the big interest in getting the nuclear infrastructure this year? It won't be the last year it's available and we can just ride high on PS through the year and take the hit back down to neutral in 1952 rather than going into the PS danger zone now. I don't think we'll have much slack in our dice to do much with it immediately.
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Having it on hand would be good for building institutional knowledge IMO, even if we don't do much with it. And there's a change it might be more expensive if we wait as other groups get involved and decide they want to be the go-to nuclear people.
 
Also, right now, the supply of nuclear fuel is so great that people are literally giving it to us un-asked for. If we want to start tinkering with a Pu239-fuelled nuclear reactor (for things like a possible ion-propelled deep-space probe), then it may be worth laying the groundwork now when materials are abundant.
 
[X] The Right Nuclear Stuff
[X] Plan: Broad Coalition for Futurism with Nukes

Nuclear is too useful to pass up, and it feels easiest to bite the bullet now. We're tempted to support angling for the bombs, but it feels liek a really big ask.
 
Shadows said:
1) The South, swathes of Canada, old colonial possessions in the Caribbean...
2) Some of those, but mostly protofascists, monarchists and nationalist movements.
Depends significantly on what you do, actually. The IEC is one of the few organizations that have/will have the cultural remit to change peoples' minds.
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Huh, what is it about the Caribbean islands that sees them have so many anti-socialist guerillas? I'd figure they'd be hotbeds of revolution given how many farmers with poor lots in life there are there.

Thanks for the pointers on the nuclear. If we want a wholesome fission-powered world, we need to take REAL good care of the technology then. We need that nuclear infrastructure. Heh, wonder if the first nuclear fission generator will be build for the nominal purpose of testing off-planet power?

[X] Plan: Broad Coalition for Futurism with Nukes
I like the future-proofing by asking for dark sites and bandwidth.

What could we have done with the bomb, really? If we ever need to experiment on radioactivity in space, we can probably get some smaller radioisotope sample from some lab somewhere. Or even just grab some pitchblende from a tailing pile outside Joachimsthal[1] if we don't need something super strong.

And hey if we ever get to the point where we have enough stuff in deep space that engines which must never be turned on within 10 megameters of anything inhabited are worthwhile and enough need for delta-V to look for crazy stuff, we might try looking into Nuclear Salt Water Rockets if open-cycle reactors are somehow not enough. Orion Drive on steroids, that thing, and a smoother ride.

[1]Jáchymov. Given Austria united Germany, the Sudentenland probably stayed German- unless the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire saw some nasty ethnic warfare.
 
General_Urist said:
Huh, what is it about the Caribbean islands that sees them have so many anti-socialist guerillas? I'd figure they'd be hotbeds of revolution given how many farmers with poor lots in life there are there.

Thanks for the pointers on the nuclear. If we want a wholesome fission-powered world, we need to take REAL good care of the technology then. We need that nuclear infrastructure. Heh, wonder if the first nuclear fission generator will be build for the nominal purpose of testing off-planet power?

[X] Plan: Broad Coalition for Futurism with Nukes
I like the future-proofing by asking for dark sites and bandwidth.

What could we have done with the bomb, really? If we ever need to experiment on radioactivity in space, we can probably get some smaller radioisotope sample from some lab somewhere. Or even just grab some pitchblende from a tailing pile outside Joachimsthal[1] if we don't need something super strong.

And hey if we ever get to the point where we have enough stuff in deep space that engines which must never be turned on within 10 megameters of anything inhabited are worthwhile and enough need for delta-V to look for crazy stuff, we might try looking into Nuclear Salt Water Rockets if open-cycle reactors are somehow not enough. Orion Drive on steroids, that thing, and a smoother ride.

[1]Jáchymov. Given Austria united Germany, the Sudentenland probably stayed German- unless the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire saw some nasty ethnic warfare.
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The meme option would be for us to attempt some horrid combination of Project HARP and Operation Plumbbob's bore plug. Create a very long borehole into the side of a mountain, place the nuke at the bottom (probably from a side tunnel), and put a "scientifically interesting payload" (read: a lump of ceramic and tungsten with "Property of the Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative, please return if found" written on the side) halfway down the pipe. Get some cameras and tracking radars focused on the exit and watch as we create the fastest manmade object.

The actual, serious option would be to disassemble it, scavenge the electronics to find parts for science experiments (things like the neutron gun and capacitors could be used for ground testing of flight hardware or on random science satellites), and hand the pit over to a team that's working on creating a small nuclear reactor. Pu-239 can be used as reactor fuel and we'd already have a critical mass of it for effectively "no" cost.

There's also just blowing it up in orbit as a science experiment, probably looking at the "structure of the radiation belts (that we don't know about yet)" or similar.
 
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