this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2026
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xkcd #3291: Launchpad

Title text:

It does come at the cost of some launchpad expansions and increased fuel requirements, but that all comes out of the facility's budget.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3291/

explainxkcd for #3291

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[–] MajesticTechie@feddit.uk 54 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I thought of Futurama too, but instead how the Ships engines move the Universe around IT

[–] ergonomic_importer@piefed.ca 40 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It came to me in a dream, and then I forgot it in another dream.

[–] Smug_Marmot@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Nothing’s a complete load! Not if you can imagine it; that’s what being a scientist is all about!

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

no, it's only a third of the load. i left the other two thirds with a friendly laotian couple.

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

I was thinking of the robots all firing their exhaust upward to push earth away from the sun.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I thought that was a silly joke but that's actually more or less how an alcubierre drive would work.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Is it though?

Giant chemical engines to push a planet away is like bending space around a spacecraft?

The giant chemical engines were not being compared to the alcubierre drive. The commenter was discussing how the engine of the ship in futurama, which "moves the universe around it" would fairly neatly describe the function of an alcubierre drive in layman's terms. This is why you were downvoted.

[–] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I don’t know why you got downvoted for what seems like a reasonable question. I think it might be the lateral nature of the solution that is comparable.