i haven't read it yet, but already it sounds like something out of a sitcom. xÞ

ah, going for an Apollo11 feel.

it looks pretty good. if you do not mind i would like to present a few things i would have done different:

1. instead of humans, why not mention a rival country? you can even have the FASS as a multinational organization that are partnered in the interest of advancing knowledge.

2. if you are going to have the mission go to mars then perhaps this needs to be an alternate universe where the Apollo1 disaster never happened. because it would be quite asinine for a repeat of such a disaster.

3. i would change the mission name to either a greek or latin sounding name. to nerd it up a little i would suggest calling the mission series "Porthos" (nerd points if you know where that is from) ^_^

4. a trip to mars might also require more crew members. the voyage would be arduous and very expensive, you would want to get the most bang for your buck. it would also be advisable to have astronauts with vital natural science skills. such as geologist, biologist, engineer, electrical expert, etc.

Thanks, I hope this story goes well. Thanks to the nuclear engine (which is a fission fragment rocket, look it up) it only takes 3 days to get to mars and 3 days to get back, because it accelerates at 32 feet per second per second (or 9.8 m/s^2) throughout 1/2 the journey, then turns around and decelerates at the same rate as it approaches Mars, which I calculated will mean the whole journey will take about 3 days (depending on the alignment of earth and mars) and there will be 1 G of artificial gravity throughout the journey due to the constant acceleration and deceleration.

1. Hmm, I think I will do that. It would actually make more sense. How bout this: the FSAA is America's space program, and this is being done in conjunction with the EFSA (European Furry Space Agency) and their rival to Mars is China? Plus, it would fit Sami better into the story, since his character's from his fictional country of Granada in the Southern Iberian Peninsula.

2. Hmm, now that you mention it you're right. That is a problem. I don't see a way I can rewrite that, so maybe I can just lampshade it in the second story. Because if the APollo 1 fire didn't happen then Apollo 13 would've short circuited since they didn't make improvements to the capsule's insulation if Apollo 1 never happened (after the ice melted in the frozen Command Module) My OCD refuses to let me make such changes, I think I will lampshade that one

3. Hmm, true. A greek or latin name would sound cooler, but it needs to be animal. And I looked that up, figured it had to be Trekkie-related and...I like it! ^^ OK, I'll change it to Porthos

4. The problem with a bigger crew is firstly that makes too many characters to work with, and since they're all in a confined space they'll all be major characters, and it's very hard to write more than 3 main characters in a story. The second boils down to the rocket itself. I want to make this fairly realistic so I ran some numbers on the booster rocket.

The Porthos (as it will now be called) will weigh around 20 tonnes more than the Apollo CSM, mostly due to the nuclear rocket engine (and it's heavy radiation shielding). I have already worked out the design of the Vixen VI's first stage, which will use 5 Ukrainian RD-171 rocket engines that give a total thrust of 37.75 MN (meganewtons) of thrust, compared to the 33.85 MN of thrust generated by the 5 F-1 engines of the Saturn V's first stage. Due to the extra 20 metric tons of payload, two Solid Booster Rockets (from the Furry Shuttle) are used for an additional 24.2 MN of thrust, giving a total liftoff thrust of 61.95 MN (that's 183% more powerful than the Saturn V)

THis is just some very rough numbers (I haven't calculated if this is will cause too much acceleration at launch and G loads will get too high yet) and this is already figured for 3 people. If I were to add more crew the payload mass will increase exponentially because of the additional food water, oxygen, space suits and supplies in general needed for the mission. Plus, I'll have to make the whole spacecraft bigger to fit each new crew member and that increases the mass dramatically, and the nuclear rocket engine will need to be slightly more powerful to accelerate the rocket at the same rate (because more mass needs more force to accelerate) which means it'll be bigger....and all this means that I need exponentially more thrust for each extra crew member and that means an even more enormous launch vehicle....so you can see why I can't expand the crew size

Since this is only the first mission, perhaps they only need to be specialised in a few fields. How bout I can have you as the payload specialist as you and me (on the surface) will be assembling and setting up an automated meteorology/seismeic station to detect martian earthquakes, but our primary mission is to verify the whole shebang works and take photographs, video and samples of the Martian surface.

3.hehe, i thought you would like the Porthos name better. besides, keeping it named muzzle would be like NASA naming a mission series "mouth" or whatnot. xÐ and i see you have taken the approach in naming the rocket engine.

4. the ship that travels to mars does not have to be launched all at once. it could be assembled in space. i was trying to find a video of a ship from the movie "mission to mars" but i couldn't find a suitable one, so watch this instead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9SDpXMbVsw

this is a video that you could use to support your story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOSBzFSZUx4

3. Heehee, yes I have, thanks for your suggestion ^^

4. Well, I placed a lot of thought into this, actually. Originally I intended for the craft to be assembled in space when I had the idea of using a nuclear thermal rocket (the ones that pass a fluid through a nuclear reactor) The idea was that the spacecraft would consist of a central PSCM (Propulsion/Service/Command Module) with 4 space-shuttle sized external tanks connected to them so it resembles an einstein cross in profile, each launched exactly like a Space Shuttle minus the orbiter into earth orbit then the whole thing assembled.

However, it just seemed highly impractical and I didn't like the entire of hauling massive quantities of Liquid Hydrogen into orbit. and then meticulously assembling it all in space. For me, the whole Idea of multiple launches for a mission complicates things, because with more launches then it increases the chances for launch failure. It seems a lot simpler to launch everything at once with a huge rocket (that isn't the Soviet N1 and their stupid 30 rocket motors on the first stage) rather than many smaller ones. Plus, assembling stuff's a lot easier on the ground than up in space, isn't it? On Earth you can use huge cranes and you don't require long EVAs to supervise the assembly (Even if they're assembled with the help of machines, you still need a human out there to finely guide everything and ensure all the connections are ok and do things the robotic arm or whatever isn't fine enough to do). Then you have orbital rendezvous to deal with and all other kinds of things. Assembling something in space seemed to complicate matters, so I wanted to get of that entirely and find a way to launch everything at once, which meant a Nuclear Thermal rocket and millions of gallons of propellant just wouldn't do

As that video you linked (which was awesome, btw) showed, there's all sorts of dangers from lurking about in space for long voyages such as cosmic rays and muscle wastage from extended weightlessness, not to mention all the supplies the Astronauts would require for 6 months minimum. A mission to mars had to be done in a shorter time. Getting the idea from Tintin (an awesome European Comic Series) I decided why not have the rocket continuously apply power? Since there's no resistance it will constantly accelerate, and while we're at it make it accelerate at 32 feet per second per second. Not only does this cut down the journey time dramatically (3-4 days max compared to several months), it also solves the problem of supplies since only 2 week's worth of supplies will be needed instead of 6 month's and prevents muscle wastage due to the induced gravity. 3 birds killed with one stone.

The nuclear thermal rocket was meant to do this, but like I said I felt launching it in parts would complicate things. That's when I found out about the fission-fragment rocket design, which uses nuclear fission directly (at a much, much slower pace than a nuclear bomb, because only a very tiny amount of the fuel undergoes fission at any one time) and does not need huge amounts of propellant. Plus it will be more powerful and efficient because the propellant fission fragments will be in the millions of degrees instead of the thousands of the Nuclear Thermal's propellant, and efficiency greatly depends on propellant temperature. Being in the millions of degrees means it will be instantly ionised so it can be handled electromagnetically.

So, with the fission fragment rocket, I have a much smaller spacecraft that can be sent up into space all at once, since assembly in space I find complicates matters. All I need is a Saturn V rocket with boosters attached (which is the basic design of the Vixen VI) and I can get it all into orbit at once and avoid assembling in space.

The last reason why I feel it will be better to launch all at once is because I plan to use the third stage to perform trans-martian injection, much like the Apollo spacecraft with trans-lunar injection because I can't use the nuclear rocket within Earth's vicinity for obvious reasons. If i were to assemble the whole spacecraft in space then I'd be carrying the dead weight of a huge rocket stage during those precise manoeuvres, which really isn't practical. So to launch it all at once eliminates this problem.

You can tell I've done a fair bit of research into this, huh?

looking at the video, i remember seeing it at the Johnson Space Center in Houston back in 1999 or so. it was the same trip where my uncle got us access to the simulator. :Þ

it would be interesting to see the design of your proposed engine design. i have heard of similar things but never a constant acceleration the likes of an ion engine that has much more force. i have read up on a nuclear fusion engine that would scoop up hydrogen and fuse the atoms into helium. but that is way beyond our current technologies. a class II impossibility. (which reminds me, i need to post that i finished a book).

also, docking does not require an EVA. the Apollo program proved that. it also depends on how many pieces you are putting together. you could have the crew arrive to the main transplanet vehicle via spacedock. it might also be a good idea of having supply stations in orbit around mars. not as a primary resupply point but an emergency reserve. kind of like that "mission to mars" video i showed you.

also, you could not maintain a 32ft/sec² the entire trip. when you started from earth you would have to decrease your speed or else you would overshoot. the simulated gravity would on average be weaker than that of earth.

if i had the luxury i would look deeper into the aspects of everything and try to provide you with a more reasonable approach, but for now i will settle for what you are explaining. :Þ

Thanks, I'm already drawing up rough sketches on how the concept would work. The idea is that the plutonium fuel is in the form of a thin sheet or galvanised on a backing material (such as titanium or carbon) for reinforcement and has been tightly coiled, but still with plenty of gap between each coil, so it kinda looks like this in profile.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.....spiral.svg.png

The whole thing is normally retracted like a cat's claw within a "control sleeve" which is effectively a control rod that the fuel moves in and out of, stopping it from fissioning. When needed for power, the plutonium spiral is forced out slightly from the control sleeve. Due to it's sheet shape, majority of neutrons that are occurring escape from the nuclear material, heading on to the next coil and maybe initiating a fission reaction if it hits an atom. In general fission will be minimum. To initiate the necessary fission needed a billet of Californium-252 is placed in the middle of the spiral, which is a very strong neutron emitter and basically saturates the exposed coil in neutrons to undergo fission. Because the fuel is in the form of flat sheets, majority of neutrons go right through the material and can potentially be caught in the next coil. This prevents a runaway chain reaction and a nuclear explosion happening.

The reason why the fuel is in a sheet is because we want to maximise the chance the of atoms on the surface or near the surface of the material undergoing fission so it can quickly "boil off" at millions of degrees, instead of how in a normal reactor only a few atoms at a time deep within the fuel rod fission, so the millions of degrees dissipates throughout the rod for an average temperature of several thousand. As the fission fragments boil off the surface at millions of degrees they instantly ionise and thus can be handled electromagnetically. Powerful superconducting magnets then quickly channel the fission fragments down the rocket engine and out the back as a very efficient propellant, pushing the spacecraft along.

Well, perhaps docking doesn't require an EVA, but I just find the idea of assembling the spacecraft in space tedious, and the launch of several rockets instead of just one big one more troublesome. Besides, I want to trouce the Saturn V's title of "most powerful rocket" and just make the whole launch all the more epic. I'm a literature student so let me take some artistic license here ^^

Hmm, maybe an emergency resupply vessel in orbit around Mars would be a good idea, I'll think about that one

And yes, I know I can't constantly accelerate the rocket otherwise I will completely overshoot the planet. My solution is that somewhere midway through the journey the rocket performs a 180 degree turning operation, and then decelerate at a rate of 32 feet/sec^2 so that we enter Martian orbit at the right velocity. Gravity in the spacecraft will still be the same during the deceleration phase due to the direction of the forces and such. Since there is now a negative acceleration but the spacecraft is now oriented backwards, the net force on the furronauts will still be "downwards" so for only a short period during the turning operation is the artificial gravity interrupted.

And how the hell did you make that superscript?

[sup]

Dayum! Where is a list of ALL the bloody tags and codes that they use?

http://wiki.furaffinity.net/Use_Tags_and_Codes

Oh, riiiight. I knew that

Now,a little history of Granada's space program, it was called the GIA (Granadino Instituto de Aeronáutica) or Granadan Insitute of Aeronautics founded in 1981, 5 years after independence and started off as a small institute mainly devoted to Astronomical research and observation but grew slowly despite low amount of funding since the government was more concerned about defending its borders with their larger neighbor Spain, because of Granada's mainly mountainous and hilly terrain and the recent 1991 War with Spain, Granada needed to look elsewhere to launch satellites, so since 1992(after a peace treaty was signed with Spain) they worked closely with the Russian Intercosmos program, their first satellite was launched in the summer of 1993 with the help of the Russians called "Zarqali I" named after a famous Spanish Muslim Astronomer Abu Ishaq al-Zarqali born in the 11th Century,all other satellites after it were named after Spanish Muslim astronomers, another satellite was launched in 1994 called "Bajjah I"(named after Ibn Bajjah born in the 11th century) and in 1996 a third satellite "Aflah I" was sent up(named after Jabir ibn Aflah, born in the 12th century), another one was launched in 1997 called "Tufail I"(named after Ibn Tufail born in the 12th century). In 1998 Morocco and Granada became very close allies and in turn Granada helped fund Morocco's satellite launch in that year called "Bitruji I"(named after Moroccan astronomer born in the 12th century). After 1999, the Granadan cut GIA's budget in half from GD200 million($50 million) to GD150($37.5 million) and so further launches have been cancel, and Granada's space program took the backseat as Granada used the extra money to update the Granadan Defense Forces(GDF).

countinued...
Well after GIA's 25% budget cut, not much went on with program and after Granada's devasting war with Spain in 2011 and just barely preserving their independence a permanent peace treaty was signed with Spain in November 2011 and shortly after GIA worked with Spain's space program INTA(Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial) or National Institute of Aerospace Technology in English, so now that there's no longer a big war threat with Spain and Granada finally getting over their differences(even though Granada remains cautious, so their army is still on guard just in case even as relations improve) they were more free to start big projects other than satellites: send a Granadan fur into space, but which agency could they work with for a such a project? Spain already sent up someone into space in 1998 so now there's peace Granada needs to catch and or beat the Spanish in space.....

Instead of working together with INTA, what about working together with the larger and make-more-sense EFSA (European Furry Space Agency)? I'm changing the rivals from humans (which raises all kinds of complications) to the Chinese and the FSAA's the US Space Agency. The EFSA and FSAA are working together on this mission and you're the EFSA representative, how bout that?

I'm making a few more modifications to the story, read my reply to Blitz to see the rest

Yeah, the main reason why GIA worked with INTA was for political reasons but now that things calmed down since 2011, GIA can work with EFSA no problem and they would officially joined EFSA in 2013. And it was neat that the EFSA picked little old me to be the EFSA representative ^^, well my fursona has dual-citizenship he was technically born in the US in California but his family moved to Granada city in 1992, shortly after the Spanish government has gotten rid of the Franco-Fascists at least temporarily decided to recognize 'Spanish Islam' as a legitimate part of Spanish culture and history and recognized the Republic of Granada so it seemed relatively safe to immigrate, so for my fursona his flag patch will have either have half of the US flag, half the Granadan flag or a US and Granadan flag next to each other, but since he grew up in Granada he's primarily a Granadan citizen which would make him eligible to be representative since he speaks both English and Spanish as well as Arabic.

Alright, so you're a dual citizen and EFSA's representative for the program. Sounds good ^^

Yeah pretty much, so btw when is the launch to Mars?

By chapter 3 or 4, I'm not too sure how long do I wanna describe their training

Ah okay, its your story.

Yes, exactly right. ANd we're having hot sex in zero gravity, no objections!

Wait 'we' as in you and Blitz or 'we' as in you and me, cause if that's the case well it won't work out cause I'm straight, here's a little advice for you, its two words called "Self Control" :p

...fine, me and Blitz will bring our porn mags to satisfy ourselves, besides we gotta be careful the spooge doesn't damage some of the scientific equipment in the Command Module we got, like the Gamma Ray observatory

I wonder I you would be able to paw off in space without having that stuff floating around, cause you know I'm not celibate I got my needs too :p. Well we got two options, don't paw off or anything for seven days which is possible to do, or figure out a way to do it without everything around, hmm maybe paw with a sock or something that might work. What you have in mind?(I'll regret asking this :p)

We won't have to worry about the stuff floating around, we got acceleration-induced gravity, remember?

But while we're in the trans-earth coasting stage, we might as well try, then float about catching the globs of yum-yum floating about ^^

okay eww, that's just uh...well I don't want that sort of stuff floating around, the only things I want floating is M&M's and globs of Dr.Pepper :p

Hmm, we could do the M&Ms thing ^^

oh yay

How bout Ho Yay?

uh...okkkaaayyyy