Activity for The Imperial‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	Penguins in the Not-Arctic, how would this affect the poor seals In a not so different fantasy world, whose physics and thus are similar to our own how would including penguins affect the look and function of a typical arctic ecosystem. For the purposes of this question, the Not-Arctic is functionally identical to our arctic, consisting of no major landmsses save... (more)	—	almost 5 years ago
Question	—	Other Mouthparts For Aliens? What other kind of mouthparts might an alien (intelligent or non-intelligent) have besides the typical jaw with teeth or mandibles? To avoid being too broad a subject, let's assume the aliens need to get plant or animal or plantamal matter and digest it to get nutrients and energy. Uncommon suggesti... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	How can I keep an area next to a mountain range from being a desert? My world has a continent in the northern hemisphere that lies primarily in the Ferrel cell where the westerly winds are. The continent is fairly large, just a tad bit smaller then than North America. On the East coast there is a mountain range running from the top to the bottom of the continent, it's... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Reality Check- Small Scale Continent Geography Is the following map fairly realistic? It is of a small continent, connected to a larger one, at a Europe like position on the globe. This is the continent in topographical map form, it also includes major rivers. There is a scale in the lower right (because of the format that isn't actually a cen... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Repurposing A Cargo Ship In A Post-Apocalyptic World How would one go about repurposing a small cargo ship, no more than 50,000 tons, to run on an alternative fuel source/propulsion other than oil? And what alternative source would work best for propelling a ship that size while meeting the following requirements? The ship must be convertible to alte... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Which Cuisines Would Adapt Best To Space? If you take all of earth's food and cuisines, which ones would be the mostly logically adapted to be made and eaten in a microgravity-freefall environment within the following constraints. Let's assume you'll be cooking in microgravity or freefall, that you access to a microwave/stove and a skillet/... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Anchoring a Deimos base Some astronauts have just arrived in Mars orbit! They're fixing to set up a small refueling station/outpost on Deimos. One problem, how might they keep their small habitat and associated structures from simply floating away at the slightest jolt in Deimos's low (only 0.003 m/s2) gravity? (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Semi-Brachistochrone, Is It Possible? Would it be possible for there to be an almost torchship (essentially a very, very weak one) which could fly almost brachistochrone trajectories? So instead of a full on brachistochrone, where you burn straight for the target planet then flip half way and decelerate, an almost-brachistochrone where y... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Practical (and Impractical) Clothing Styles For Microgravity What might clothing designed to be worn, long-term, in microgravity look like? For the purpose of this question there are two categories. Practical, or everyday wear, and impractical or simply fancy wear. But these categories can overlap. The second is just for those designs you might not want to wea... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Ideal Martian Colony Spot What would be the ideal spots to build/start a colony on Mars? I am looking for. . . Good location; a particular well placed crater, lots of caves nearby, etc. . . Good mix of resources; Ice, iron, what have you. . . (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Vacuum Rated Sharpie Or Dry Erase Marker/Board? Would it be possible to make a sharpie or a dry-erase marker that would work in a vacuum? Would they already work? To that end could you make a dry erase board or some such? (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Would Be Possible To Build A Small, Lightweight Boiler For Airships I am wondering if it would be possible to make very lightweight and small steam engines for airships. Said airships engines are actually electric, but the boiler generates the electricity (via a generator that it turns). Now most of the airship is lightweight aluminum and wood, so could you build a b... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Giant Velvet Worm Would it be possible to have a giant velvet worm? Not huge but big, like the size of a small dog, 20 kilograms? (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Lunar cycles for a two moon planet (one of which is smaller and orbits the first moon) My planet, is roughly as big as Earth, but has two moons. The first moon, Luna, is essentially the same as Earth's moon, but the second, much, much smaller moon, Selene, actually orbits Luna. Selene is about the size of Ceres (it's a captured asteroid) and orbits at about (10,000-60,000) km from Lun... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Would Gecko Materials Work In A Vacuum Geckos use the van der Waal force to stick to things, an effect that humans can replicate and make various materials that utilize such (like extra sticky gloves). My question is, would these work in a vacuum or near vacuum, as in space. The reason being I wish to use these instead of magnetic boots f... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Greening The Sahara Would it be possible to "green" the Saharan desert, given near future technology If so what things might have to be done, what kind of plants or bio engineered plants and animals would be introduced? Would dropping chunks of comets from orbit work to provide rain? (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Would it be safe to assume that solid core nuclear rocket technology advances? Solid Core Nuclear Thermal rocketry has existed for a while and I was thinking about using it as the primary propulsion in my setting. Now most Solid Core rockets still have fairly long transit times (Something like 3-4 months just to get to Mars, longer to get elsewhere). Would it be safe to assume ... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Would Vesta Be A Suitable Spot For Colonization So I was thinking of using the asteroid Vesta as one of the many asteroid colonies in my future solar system. Is it a viable candidate or is there any "problems" with it. The colony would be made of tunnels bored into the asteroid, I am not concerned over issues like valuable metals, location, or hea... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Boiling sea between volcanoes In my world, there is a chain of offshore volcanoes which are the result of a smaller plate hitting a larger one. There are two to three active volcanoes. My question is: two of these volcanoes are close enough they are only separated by a narrow strait of sea, so would the volcanic activity from t... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago