Got 20 spare years?

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by BigV

Hmmm would five earth masses equal five times earth gravity?

The planet is 2G. Five times the mass, but it's also bigger, so the surface is further from the center of mass.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Nuke powered. I remember when they talked about trying to make a shuttle or some other space craft and they dropped it after concerns about showering the atmosphere with radiation if it broke up on re-entry or take-off.

A fission engine in space would operate very differently from one in a submarine. You still need some sort of reaction mass to throw out the back. Cassini has a nuclear power source, but it just uses the radioactive decay to power electronics. I'm pretty sure it uses standard chemical engines for steering.