>> Using the high altitude glider + balloons to gain
>> altitude they could then have constructed some simple rockets fueled with,
>> say alcohol, and use the remaining atmosphere coupled with the oxygen
>> supplies from some of their vacc suits - this would be a one man trip only.
>
>Getting high in the atmosphere does not mean that it will be any easier to get
>into orbit. There's still a slight problem of achieving 8 km/s.
Yes, but its still easier to achieve 8km/s than 11km/s! (assuming a 1g planet)
>I'd be amazed if a simple alcohol rocket could get 1 km/s exhuast velocity,
>and even so it would take 200 tons of fuel to get a single person into orbit.
>Multiply by 20 to get to the moon.
Hey, I never said it would be easy - the ref does have to be kind!
>> This one guy then has the time it takes him to reach the moons surface from
>> maximum vacc suit communication range to tell the TL15 ship to pick him
>> up - otherwise he's dead. (A kinder alternative would be to allow him
>> to achieve orbit round the moon - but that might overtax his vacc suit's
>> computer, prehaps a decaying orbit? :-)
>
>I'd like to see someone plot a decaying orbit around the moon! No atmosphere
>to slow the guy down means little chance of orbital decay.
Who said THIS moon had no atmosphere?
>Overtaxing the vacc-suit computer would be less of a problem (*especially*
>at TL15 - hand supercomputers are TL11 stuff), compared to the problem of
>needing yet more fuel...
The technology to build handheld computers may be there but why would you
fit one into a vacc suit? All it has to do is control lifesupport, a
supercomputer would be an unneeded waste of money.
For the completely insane player there is the alternative as used in
Larry Niven's Footfall. The atom bomb powered spacecraft! Build a large
iron shell several meters thick (I don't know how thick but it has to
shield you from an atom bomb!) and mount a 'living quarters' on it using
heavy springs. Then to take off throw out a couple of atom bombs and off you
go! Steam jets can be used for steering and more atom bombs for thrust.
A guidance computer could probably be done without since the cabin must be
relatively well cushioned - enough that the jolt of landing from inaccurate
thrusting is less that that of an atom bomb! The biggest problem is
manufacturing the bombs themselves. The hardest part of which is to produce
plutonium. This can be achieved if they have a uranium ore deposit and know
how to extract the uranium. They then build a reactor which will then
produce plutonium. (use graphite as a moderator and remove all the hi-tech
safety systems that todays reactors have - Fermi build a pile of high
purity graphite bricks and uranium rods that manage to go critical).
Iron can easily be produced given time. Please note this suggestion is
not to be taken completely seriously - but it might just work if the
players are VERY lucky and the referee is VERY generous. The alternative
is to put the natives on a crash course of civilisation, after all it
only took us about 2000 years without help.
Roger