@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

Aaron_DeVries

@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social

He/him, DIY Aerospace engineer, game dev, 3D modeling, 3Dprinting, writer, Terran ๐ŸŒŽ
I make things.

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Aaron_DeVries, to gamedev
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

Cosmic Ocean

From first concept sketch to current state.

#indiedev #gamedev #space #scifi

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arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

The surprise is not that Boeing lost commercial crew but that it finished at all

"The structural inefficiency was a huge deal."

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/the-surprise-is-not-that-boeing-lost-commercial-crew-but-that-it-finished-at-all/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica I'm torn between liking Starliner a lot but also hating Boeing as a company. Kind of like how I like Crew dragon and the idea of Starship, but SpaceX has been so soured for me I can't enjoy anything they do fully.

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

The printable parts of the rockets rotor recovery system are done. Will need to get the springs, screws, and probably a real bearing. It only needs to survive a flight, maybe 2.

I'm looking forward to making the full size rocket. The rotor recovery system will be much easier to make and likely based off a large RC helicopters rotor mount (which will also allow the rockets descent to be actively controlled).

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

the RTA-3 rocket is almost ready for printing. It will be the final RTA rocket, and test the rotor recovery system fully in flight.

It won't be the last Raven rocket, but the next rocket will be a new class, with new propulsion, and a new engineering goal. More on that later but i'm excited to reveal the new rocket class when the time is ready.

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Aaron_DeVries, to gamedev
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

Flank Speed is now live on steam!

Multiplayer will be coming in a later update, as well as bug fixes that will undoubtedly be found, and reasonable game play suggestions I receive from players. It's just a simple arcade game but I worry about problems i've missed. Only time will tell now.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2867450/Flank_Speed/

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

https://hackaday.com/2024/04/25/the-myth-of-propellantless-space-propulsion-refuses-to-die/

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@nyrath the closest I feel we could get is a photon drive. But a Black body photon drive has terrible thrust, and an antimatter photon drive uses propellant. Only options I can see for a true propellantless drive is swimming in spacetime or creating gravitational gradients. But creating gravitational gradients that would result in falling forward is firmly in the "and then a miracle happens" portion of the equation.

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

The sphere is to spaceships what crabs are to evolution.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

One of the weirdest modern things to me is this obsession with generations. Maybe I haven't read the right stuff, but you pick up a 19th or 18th century book and they talk about the past, or conflict in families between old and young, but never this weird cohort-antagonism thing?

Could be it's random culture shit, but maybe it's because people have fewer kids, so they don't span generations? Or maybe tech acceleration means cohorts have more differences that are real?

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith I thinks it's marketing and media. The financial powers that be like us being in neat little boxes they can market too. And the media likes people being in nice little boxes so they have someone to blame. Put them both together and we end up with a culture that forces the imaginary importance of generational cohorts on us non stop until people start to belive the importance is real.

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

Whenever I see "there is a planet in the habitable zone, but it's a gas giant" I always think gas giants can have rocky moons so it's still a viable candidate for habitability.

Finding a gas giant isn't a downer. I would even go so far as to say a large gas giant in the habitable zone potentially increases the possibilities of a habitable world. Even accounting for radiation belts. The number of moons they can have ups the dice rolls.

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@isaackuo Exactly, ice shell moons are probably very common as well. The most common life in the galaxy could very well be subsurface life living in oceans of ice moons undergoing tidal heating. For more Terran centric life it also still stands. A large rocky moon could orbit far away from its gas giant outside of its radiation belt and do just fine with its own magnetic feild. Exo moons give us multiple chances per orbit position instead of a single rocky planet.

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

Shoutout to the ark starship from Evacuate Earth.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Boy, my 12 year old great-nephew just made me feel totally inadequate.

Apparently he listens to podcasts while simultaneously reading technical books on totally different topics. His father (my nephew) has given him tests and his comprehension of both cast and text are excellent.

As a drawback, he does suffer from severe ADHD. His mental world is like he is surrounded by falling scraps of book pages, and he has to read each one before they hit the ground.

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@nyrath As someone who also has ADHD and is possibly (most certainly) on the spectrum, this is relatable. That requirement to have to absorb as much information on a given topic before you can move on is troublesome. A single search out of curiosity will end with 15 new tabs and 2 hours suddenly gone.

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@nyrath this is how I discovered your website in the first place. I was digging through material on torch drives and one of the many tabs was Atomic Rockets.

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

Any time a SETI candidate signal turns out to be terrestrial contamination.

fraser, to random
@fraser@m.universetoday.com avatar

Ice worlds like Europa and Enceladus are intriguing targets for the search for life because they have oceans of water. But that water is locked under a thick shell of ice that could be kilometers deep. Researchers are testing new technologies to drill through the ice, such as the Search for Life Using Submersible Head (SLUSH) probe. This probe is heated to melt through the ice but has a rotating drill to speed up the descent. It was recently tested on Devon Island.

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2024/pdf/2299.pdf

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@fraser it occurs to me if we could improve neutrino based communication and have the sources and detectors small enough. That could offer a way to communicate with a probe through the ice. Bitrates would be terrible but it's that or a 10km cable.

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

I found myself needing to design shoes for an anthropomorphic character with digitigrade legs. Honestly a lot of fun and the design is coming along.

This is for another project based on cartoon style games from my childhood. With Flank Speed finishing up I need a replacment small project I can work on some days to prevent burnout from just working on Cosmic Ocean non-stop every day. Alternating between 2 projects really improves productivity for me and keeps things fresh in my brain.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Don't mind me. I'm trying to support the artist on the left.

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@nyrath I alternate between the two. I'll be hyper focused on the growth pattern of moss in a high oxygen low pressure environment for a story. Then make a spaceship that operates on a non specified field drive with zero explanation for a game.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Online calculator for plotting scifi interstellar trips. An aid for Mongoose 2300 AD

https://starscanner.six51.com/

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@nyrath this is super useful. I've been using space engine and math to plot stuff like this for stories, games, and just for fun. Because interstellar navigation and rout plotting at relativistic speeds is fun for the whole family.

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

The Young Adventurer's Pocket Book of Space Travel (1954)

https://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-young-adventurers-pocket-book-of.html?m=1

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@nyrath @RogerBW

I like the Excelsior from the silent 1918 sci-fi film "A trip to Mars". It took them 6 months to reach Mars in what is basically an airplane boat with a horizontal deck.

image/jpeg

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

Thinking about lithium saltwater rockets again. The issue seems to be the initial neutron source. I'm not a nuclear physicist and no amount of compulsive reading will make me one. So I always hit a point where I would be better suited asking a professional these questions. But I don't want to bother people with random questions (aside for transport canada, they aren't safe from me).

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

If the Titan Mare Explorer was selected, funded, and launched in 2016, it would have landed on Titan last year.

I feel like we where robbed.

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@isaackuo the political and financial landscape in the western world is becoming less and less viable for national space programs. NASA isn't able to do anything new long term anymore. Even Artemis isn't safe and honestly I'm not even that confident it won't be canceled.

It's looking like our best hope for actual progress in space is private ventures and China.

mcnees, to random
@mcnees@mastodon.social avatar

โ€œโ€ฆafter the machine failed to launch a facial recognition application that nobody expected to be part of the process of using a vending machine.โ€ is quite a thing to read here in the year of our Lord, 2024. Feels like one for the @pluralistic files.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/vending-machine-error-reveals-secret-face-image-database-of-college-students/

Aaron_DeVries,
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

@mcnees this is a other reason why I wear masks sunglasses and hats in public. The only privacy you get from the tech industry is the privacy you make for yourself.

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

I like the idea of iodine ion thrusters. The trouble with iodine reacting with everything is a bit of a headache. But when built according iodine ion thrusters are neat.

Aaron_DeVries, to random
@Aaron_DeVries@mastodon.social avatar

I'm thinking about the feasibility of building a small scale unscrewed stuhlinger umbrella ship. But replacing the reactor with a solar concentrator to heat silicon oil to run a generator. And replace the cesium grid ion drive with something more modern. Then send it to Venus from Earth orbit.

It wouldn't be the best or most efficient Venus spacecraft, but it would win major aesthetic points for being really cool.

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