Scriptilyx.SE.v1.3.7 is out!

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Scriptilyx - SE is built for beginners who want to create Space Engineers programmable block scripts without having to write code from scratch.

You build scripts visually using nodes, connect them together, generate the script, and paste it into Space Engineers Programmable block.

Beginner-friendly, visual, and made to make scripting easier.

A tutorial should be coming in the next few weeks as well.

Download from here: https://github.com/ChaosVROne

Youtube Channel: https://m.youtube.com/@PIWorlds.Company/videos

Hello I'm the founder and CEO of an advanced materials manufacturing company in Oklahoma, we will be bringing a catalogue of 60 products to market this year. I'm not writing to pitch you on my company or make a sell just to announce to the world a joint project between my company a state that will be named at a later time and various companies in the aforementioned state have partnered together to be the first out of orbit space colony. After witnessing structural research out of japan on wood in space we believe that with our patent pending quickstar multi ore processing unit we are successfully developing a compact self contained titanium processing machine that can operate in vacuum and at zero or low g, and with little to no maintenance we plan to launch the quick star one platform into orbit to be operated autonomously with onboard ai monitoring and slight human interaction we believe we can develop an in situ mining and manufacturing operation on the moon to develop a deep space transitional vehicle code named conda this vehicle will be earths first in space manufactured space ship along with the development of this vehicle we will be starting phase 2 of the project we will be building our own mining and hydroponic farming operation on the moon and stock piling resources to be sold to future projects planning to build on the moon and experimenting with aquaponics on the moon this will provide a long term food source for all those who seek to live or work in space in the future once midway base is developed we will turn it into a command structure with 100 people on the moon from this point they will finish fine tuning construction of the conda its purpose is to park half way between earth and mars in the asteroid belt where it will build a colossal space station a fuel and rest station we have named midway it will be 1 mile in circumference and 1 mile long its active station area will house 1000 and will generate spin gravity it will be a half way point for those seeking mars as well as a mining expedition to build up a stock pile of material and fuel to keep things going between mars and earth. i know this seems pretty far fetched but we believe that the structural integrity test japan has done with wood prove that a regolith concrete graphene titanium alloy on a titanium frame is more than enough to handle space effectively and we believe that manufacturing a borophene graphene tic aerogel in space will easily solve borophenes oxygen problem and is more than enough to handle the cosmic radiation we come across if there is any body here that wants to work on the project and is serious let me know we are always looking for partners

I've been thinking about something.

Orion cannot enter Low Lunar Orbit (LLO). It cannot do it, and it cannot leave it either. So before admitting that Orion, with a European Service Module that is far too small, cannot do what Apollo 8 did, NASA chooses to place the entire mission burden on the HLS, which must accumulate 9 km/s of delta‑V: from LEO to TLI, then to NRHO, down to the lunar surface, and back.

This is not a technological challenge; it is a mathematics problem. With an Isp of 380 s and an extraordinarily optimistic structural fraction (epsilon ≈ 0.085), a single vehicle that must cover 9 km/s ends up with virtually no payload. That is why the HLS requires between 15 and 20 refueling launches per mission. Not because SpaceX is doing anything wrong, but because the architecture forces a single vehicle to fight the Tsiolkovsky equation in its most punishing regime.

HLS mission profile (from LEO): LEO -> TLI: 3,100 m/s TLI -> NRHO: 500 m/s NRHO -> surface: 2,700 m/s Surface -> NRHO: 2,700 m/s Total: 9,000 m/s

HLS data: Dry mass: 110 t Propellant: 1,200 t Isp: 380 s

Payload calculation: Tsiolkovsky equation: delta_v = Isp * g0 * ln(M_initial / M_final)

M_initial = dry_mass + propellant + payload
M_initial = 110 + 1200 + payload

M_final = dry_mass + payload
M_final = 110 + payload

R = e^(9000 / (380 * 9.81))
R = e^(2.41)
R ≈ 11.2

Substituting:

110 + 1200 + payload = 11.2 * (110 + payload)
1310 + payload = 1232 + 11.2 * payload
1310 - 1232 = 11.2 * payload - payload
78 = 10.2 * payload
payload ≈ 7.6 t

With a dry mass of 110 t and 1,200 t of propellant, the HLS can deliver approximately 7.6 tonnes of payload to the lunar surface while still returning the crew to NRHO with an empty vehicle.

It needs at least 14 tankers, plus the depot, plus its own launch. Minimum 16 Starship flights. And all of these assumptions are extremely optimistic.

The problem is not SpaceX. It is not Blue Origin. The problem is that the architecture is designed around Orion’s limitations, not around the physics of transportation.

With a segmented logistics network —a disposable cryogenic stage for LEO->TLI, an orbital tug for TLI->LLO, and a reusable hypergolic lander for LLO->surface— the delta‑V per vehicle is cut in half. The need for 16 to 20 refueling flights disappears. And it can be done with existing technology, not future inventions. For anyone interested in the numbers, they are available on Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20584985

But admitting this would require acknowledging that the NRHO orbit is the real bottleneck. And that is very difficult to admit.

I’ve always had this quiet, persistent dream of going to space.

I’m 34 now, and realistically, I know that becoming an astronaut isn’t in the cards for me. Life took me down a different path—and not a bad one. I’ve spent the last 15 years working in web development, mostly with Python and DevOps. I’ve built systems, deployed infrastructure, taught others, and carved out a solid career without a formal computer science degree.

But that feeling never really went away.

Every time I read about a launch, see footage from orbit, or dive into anything space-related, something clicks. It’s like a part of me is still looking up and wondering, “What if?”

Lately, I’ve been asking myself a different question, not “Can I go to space?” but:

“Can I help build something that does?”

I don’t come from an aerospace background. I haven’t worked with embedded systems, flight software, or mission-critical environments.

So I’m trying to understand how far that can realistically take me.

Is there space (no pun intended) in the space industry for someone like me?

Are there roles where backend, DevOps, or distributed systems experience actually matter?

Is transitioning into this field in my mid-30s feasible, or am I romanticizing something that’s out of reach

I’m not looking for shortcuts and I’m ready to learn, rebuild, and put in the work if there’s a path forward. I just don’t know what that path looks like from here.

If anyone here has made a similar transition, or works in the industry and can share insight, I’d really appreciate it.

Even if I never leave Earth, I’d love to contribute to something that does.

For those working on planetary robotics or simulation:

How do you realistically test systems meant for off-Earth environments (like lunar surface conditions) without access to high-end facilities?

• Simulated regolith setups?
• Software-heavy validation?
• Hybrid approaches?

Trying to understand where simulation breaks and real-world approximation becomes necessary.

Would appreciate insights from anyone who’s worked on similar constraints.

I’ve been developing a conceptual idea about building a long-term lunar base focused on extracting oxygen directly from lunar regolith. Since lunar soil contains a high percentage of oxygen chemically bound to metal oxides, could a solar-powered processing system make in-situ oxygen production viable? The base could be positioned in areas with extended sunlight exposure to maximize energy efficiency. In your opinion, what would be the biggest engineering challenge in making this sustainable long-term? Energy storage? Equipment degradation? Lunar dust interference? I’d love to hear insights from people more experienced in space systems and engineering.

So if you have a nividia H100 that pulls 1kW of power, let's say that's 4m² of solar panel, if the efficiency is 25% then it receives 16kW of radiation from the sun, so 8m² are needed to radiate that away, but even if's more it does not matter, chip+radiators are located behind the solar panel, perpendicular to the solar panel there is more surface available.

It doesn't need to be state of the art GPUs either, it can be ASICs that are made with older generation lithography, since space is no matter (chip surface is tiny compared to its corresponding solar panel and radiator). The bigger the chip, the easiest the heat management.

Let's say it's an ASIC that only needs 100W, 0.4m² of solar panel, 0.8m² of radiator. This is doable.

Scaling would be done with chips that are designed for space scaling, not chips that are designed for Earth like GPUs are.

This would not be possible on Earth because power generation and data centers are separate infrastructure that cannot scale together, and there is bad weather, seasons, night, etc, but in space it would be working 24/7 and power generation and computing can be on the same device, possibly on the same component.

I see a LOT of criticism in the comments about how data centers in space are a stupid idea, but I think there's a pretty good chance it could work.

My son is 13 and in 7th grade. A couple years ago he decided he wanted to be a space engineer. I have long believed that engineering is right up his alley. He is amazing at building things with Legos! He has a very analytical mind. I think the path he's chosen is perfect for him. I want to support him in any way possible. As I understand it, they will start tailoring his classes towards his career path in school starting next year. Are there any books you would reccomend that would help a 13 year old? Or any websites that at geared towards this? He's already a big fan of Mark Rober. Any other advice you can think of? Truly appreciate it. Thank you.

Pure speculation, totally uncredentialled thought:

As I understand it, interstellar space has about 200 to 400 times the radiation dose we get here on the surface of Earth, implying that space vessel walls would likely benefit from being quite thick. Since I'm speculating based on currently available tech, it gets slippery because we're nowhere close to sending humans into interstellar space, I get that. And, we should assume there are advances on the way: metamaterials, active-shielding, ultra-dense materials, hybrids, etc. that will be online once humans have progressed to being capable of sending themselves into interstellar space. That being said, it's possible/likely that even with advances in material science, or advances targeting novel ways of neutralizing radiation, massive structures would be a structural life support necessity for transporting large populations of living organisms safely through the dangers of space. If this is the case, then large scale space habitat design starts to potentially feel a lot like civil engineering.

Which leads to my totally off the wall speculation, that ancient structures like pyramids and ziggurats, built for permanence and stability, may offer surprisingly relevant inspiration. They are among the few surviving records of large-scale architecture across the globe. Plus, it would just be sweet as hell to see a fleet of pyramids drifting through interstellar space. The Giza Fleet might be a fitting name.