Stage Two freighter could carry itself, with an empty mass of 500 tons, to Uranus in 70 days for just 114 tons of fuel, and then bring back a load of 614 tons using about 254 tons of fuel.
Adding fuel to my fears was the inescapable truth that my 13-year-old son, who says I can write about him if I use his stage name, Jamal, shares many of the traits bullies commonly have.
Its first stage is a souped-up version of one of the shuttle's solid-fuel rockets; its top stage is a similarly muscled-up model of the Saturn's massive J2 engines.