Titan as a possible refueling point

[Garyincinci]

Could Titan's heavy methane concentration be used as fuel for methane based ships. I just think it's kinda cool that we have a "gas station" just down the universal road.

[CoHo]

Well, methane isn't very combustible without oxygen. Otherwise Titan would be a planet sized m-80. So in order to create a methane propelled ship would you have to harvest the methane off of Titan and then mix it with oxygen? If that is the case then it may be too wasteful to support travel.

Is this correct?

I think finding water will be a bigger bonus for space travel.

[Hyperion]

Don't forget - the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn (as well as Uranus and Neptune to a lesser extent) are abundant in terms of liquid hydrogen and/or liquid helium which are viable fuel for space exploration.

[Edmond Zedo]

I don't think we'll be running chemical engines much by that time.

[Edmond Zedo]

Don't forget - the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn (as well as Uranus and Neptune to a lesser extent) are abundant in terms of liquid hydrogen and/or liquid helium which are viable fuel for space exploration.
Don't forget - You'd have to take off if you "landed" on Jupiter. That's not easy.

[EdwinJefferson]

I think it's ridiculous to start debating about using up fuel on other objects in the solar system when we are proving that doing so on our own planet, fucks it up.

[Edmond Zedo]

I don't think you need to interject your not only non-NT, but plain ignorant and moronic garbage. I would explain why you're so wrong, but I'm sure you're the only one who doesn't know.

Edit: Well, it appears you were banned almost as I was typing this. I guess I got tired of you the same time the Red Brigade did.

[Geoff]

The need to mix with oxygen is perhaps not relevant when we have the ability to get to Saturn routinely, its a source of energy, nuff said.

-Geoff

[ApeTheDog]

Don't be ridiculous. All we need is a flux-capacitator and we can make the ships fly on anything. Why we don't have a flux-capacitator yet, I'll never understand.

[andy]

Don't be ridiculous. All we need is a flux-capacitator and we can make the ships fly on anything. Why we don't have a flux-capacitator yet, I'll never understand.

there were major set backs with the flux capacitator type space ships. once the ships hit 88mph they had the tendancy to travel back in time. regardless of fuel source, actually getting in to space proved rather difficult.

[Edmond Zedo]

Cmon guys, it's capacitor.

[rich036]

Dr. Brown pronounced it 'capacitator'. But then I'm sure he did say 'jigawatt' too.

[Dman]

Let's not forget the minor detail that it costs billions of dollars merely to get to Titan, as well as several years.

But I think the point of mining resources from other moons & planets will be critical several millenia in the future, provided we never find an efficient way of harnessing the most abundant source of energy in our solar system (the sun).

[Edmond Zedo]

Dr. Brown pronounced it 'capacitator'. But then I'm sure he did say 'jigawatt' too.
jigawatt is an alternate pronunciation with lots of style.

And he said "ca-pa-ci-tor." I'll bet you ten thousand dollars.

[songbird36]

capacitor is correct (pronounced "kapaster").

[Geoff]

kapaster? Are you sure? I would have thought more like kapasiter with the i being like the i from 'info'.

I also have a tendency to cut off the r so that it is more like kapasituh more than the pronounced r of say offer.

But then Brit vs US often affects which part of the word gets the stress and it usually differs trans atlantic on such words.

A good comparison to explain in a written way is in "Happy New Year" where New gets more of the stress in the US and Year gets more in the UK.

-Geoff

[ApeTheDog]

I was using the ancient hebrew spelling of capacitor.

[rich036]

jigawatt is an alternate pronunciation with lots of style.

And he said "ca-pa-ci-tor." I'll bet you ten thousand dollars.

Since I last watched the film when I was 14, I won't bet anything. But my brother has it on DVD so I might be tempted to watch it.. if I can get myself ten thousand dollars. I already know how to spend it..

[Dman]

Doc was saying gigawatt, only using an alternate pronunciation like Ed said (remember in the mid-80's "giga" was not a frequently used term; kilobytes were the big thing, gigabytes - impossible!)

And yeah, it was flux capacitor. Kuh-pass-it-er. American or English.

[ApeTheDog]

Who is to say Doc Brown doesn't pronounce capacitator as capacitor? We never see it written down, and there is a precedent for him mispronouncing things, with the gigawatts. It's quite possible, I'd say.

[Edmond Zedo]

Who is to say Doc Brown doesn't pronounce capacitator as capacitor? We never see it written down, and there is a precedent for him mispronouncing things, with the gigawatts. It's quite possible, I'd say.
Do you have the book or something?

[ApeTheDog]

There is no book. There are comics, but since those are all made after the movies and are based only on what can be derived from watching those movies, we can ignore them. When I said we never see it written down, I meanth within the context of the movies, as in Doc Brown writing it down on a blackboard or with an airplane into the sky. That would be evidence of how it should be spelled. Anything else doesn't qualify as evidence, not even the fact that the word capacitor exists, and capacitator doesn't. After all, time machines don't exist in real life either. Why should their capacitators be any different?

[Edmond Zedo]

In that case, I propose the theory that Doc Brown is actually a woman in man-drag, since there is NOTHING TO SUGGEST IT, AND IT'S CONTRARY TO THE OBVIOUS. Christ.

[mgb]

This was the only forum with a blue dot...

I can't believe you guys are having a debate on the correct spelling and pronunciation of capicitor. Only in the INTP world....

And it's also funny how the quickly the idea of titan as a fuelling station was dismissed to persue the capacitor/capacitator debate.

[CoHo]

That would be evidence of how it should be spelled. Anything else doesn't qualify as evidence, not even the fact that the word capacitor exists, and capacitator doesn't. After all, time machines don't exist in real life either. Why should their capacitators be any different?

Errr... what about the movie script?

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/6975/backscript.html



Marty: I don't get it, what happened?

Doc: That was the day I invented time travel. I remember it vividly, I was standing on the edge of my toilet hanging a clock, the porcelin was wet, I slipped, hit my head on the edge of the sink, and when I came to I had a relvalation, a vision, a picture in my head. A picture of this. This is what makes time travel possible. The flux capacitor.

Marty: The flux capacitor?

[ApeTheDog]

Nah. The doc was a really forgetful, disorganised person. He would never be able to remember to put his drag on every morning. It's a respectable proposition but I think it's most unlikely.

[Edmond Zedo]

And it's also funny how the quickly the idea of titan as a fuelling station was dismissed to persue the capacitor/capacitator debate.
Well it wasn't much of an idea.

[ApeTheDog]

Errr... what about the movie script?

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/6975/backscript.html

From the (movie) script of the Simpsons: Treehouse of horror:



Marge: Well thankyou very much mr...
The Chef: To pronnounce it correctly, I'd have to... pull out your tongue


Yet in the script, rather than use his true name, they call him 'The Chef'. This shows you the extent to which you can trust movie scripts. All they care about is making everything look consistent on screen. The truth is irrelevant to writers. So is the spelling of the word capacitator in the movie script to this debate.

[Hyperion]

Don't forget - You'd have to take off if you "landed" on Jupiter. That's not easy.

Nah. No need to land on em. What is needed are (extremely long) hoses and pumps attached to large orbiting space stations. :D

[Dman]

As long as we're employing ridiculous mining methods, theoretically Jupiter's core is made of diamond. We could mine that, and finally put Debeers (which is *ahem* NOT a monopoly, according to anarchists) out of business!