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What did you do in KSP1 today?


Xeldrak

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Well, continuing my 3x rescale fun, I confirmed that yes... the mountains were way too high. I set the terrain to 1.5x height... thinking that because the other rescale was set to 3, that they'd essentially be 1.5/3 = half as steep.... well... nope, it seems their height was multiplied by 1.5*3:

D5q5BV0.png

So... I changed that multiplier to 0.5 instead of 1.5... much better and more realistic looking for the new more realistic looking planet kerbin (the curvature isn't so noticeable from low altitude/the mountain tops)

Next, as there is no reason my surface rovers/base modules will behave any differently in the scaled up system, I scaled up mk3 dropships and used the alt-f12 menu to put them in Duna/Mun orbit with dummy 45 ton payloads... because I wasn't going to build a craft and launch them to Mun which is now much farther out and needs 1630 m/s dV to reach it:

Spoiler

4mjSDpz.png

So... I cut out the frills like a mk3 cockpit, but I gave it plenty of TWR, probably too much, and a docking port Sr. so it can attach a reusable booster to get it to Mun

jKwPc1p.png

I have to remember that the loading ramp is the front:

jTPWccB.png

anyway, it passed the dV and payload test:

CXwcU9z.png

The Duna-Drop ship didn't fare so well, I gave it a lot of dV hoping that I could do propulsive landings and operate it without needing to re-pack chutes (and thus, no kerbals needed), but with all that fuel, landing it softly was a challenge even with the emergency chutes - my best result had it land soft enough to not disassmble right away, but it bounced on the gear a bit and knocked off a wing:

ybLBmSd.png

Hf2sfAI.pngI could still get it back to orbit on rocket thrust alone if I could just knock off the other wing. At least it would get the payload down intact.

I put the duna drop ship on the back burner, and had another crack at a kerbin SSTO with a better payload capacity:

rP2xNez.png

Its got the same number of engines as my last design, but its packing a lot more fuel, and masses over 100 tons more.

I tried two different ascent profiles, but got similar results:

1vRGffC.png

NXXv4o8.png

So for those completely full tanks (and thus can count as payload since their storage capacity wasn't needed for ascent), the empty masses are 4,2, and 1.79. 7096 liquid fuel is left, and 6781 oxidizer is left... which amounts to 69.385 tons of fuel/oxidizer in orbit... combined with the dry mass of the tanks that can count as payload, that's 77 tons to a 120x120 orbit, and a payload fraction of over 11%

Meanwhile, I've concluded that a SSTO rocket (no airbreathing) carrying any sort of a payload is basically impossible under these conditions, assuming: 1.5 pad TWR and a 25:1 engine TWR, means that the enging will be at least 6% of the total mass of the rocket. Fuel tanks have a dry mass of 11.11% of their wet mass. For an atempt at an SSTO rocket is going to have a dry mass of at least 15% its wet mass, I'll assume an average Isp of 300...  it could get a dV of 5500 m/s. Getting to orbit of stock kerbin has one lose ~1000 m/s to gravity and aero drag. This 3x bigger kerbin requires much faster speeds in the atmosphere, spending more time in the atmosphere, and 4,000 m/s horizontal speed once about the atmosphere.

Anyway... I can reuse base modules/rovers from my previous saves, I've got a working Mun dropship, and a moderate lift SSTO... time to start colonization of kerbin's SOI

 

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1 hour ago, cratercracker said:

5. BREAKING NEWS: ANOTHER FRICKING ASTEROID GOT AN ORBIT AROUND KERBIN!

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?/??/1!1!!111!!

Ok73hIB.png

 

 

An asteroid that comes close enough, at low enough velocity, will show as "orbiting Kerbin" during its encounter.  If the apoapsis is outside Kerbin's sphere of influence, though, it'll still escape -- as is the case with virtually every asteroid that does this (the exception would be if one manages a capture due to a gravity assist from Mun or, much less likely, Minimus, or aerobrakes into a decaying orbit -- I'm not even sure the latter is possible, since the game generally ignores aerobrakes if no one is watching).  If you zoom out far enough, you can usually see their orbit around the sun, including their Kerbin encounter and escape.

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Today, I modified an old sandbox design (well, "old" means from December 2016 or January 2017) and launched a rocket-only SSTO for the Payload Fraction Challenge.  I modified a ship originally built to launch two command pod-and-service stage ships for rendezvous/docking practice, that had demonstrated the ability to launch a useful amount of mass to LKO and circularize on just the booster, and succeeded in orbiting a payload fraction of 12.67% on a rocket-only SSTO.  This version is a fuel tanker; it carried 1800 units of LF/O as the actual payload, plus fuel cells, RCS fuel, docking port, and a probe core (making the tank capable of uncrewed docking, assuming the ship to be fueled handles the delta-V side of the equation), all surmounted by a Mk. 1 Command Pod plus parachute and Kerbal (depending on shallow entry to come home without a heat shield).  Finished circularizing a 14.69 t payload with a whisper left in the booster's tanks.  Absolutely perfect piloting during launch might beat that -- my gravity turn was probably late and/or not aggressive enough -- but there isn't much to gain that way; it looks like 15 t is about the limit that can go up on a Twin Boar SSTO.

Edited by Zeiss Ikon
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Today we build a ship to go where no Kerbal has gone before...

A scout pilot found this location near the base:

UnQ1uDe.png

We are going to send a ship with a sub to investigate....

dVDZJhp.png

WARZLJ4.png

FOJwuJU.png

4mjWALE.png

^_^

Edited by Triop
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17 minutes ago, Triop said:

I wanted to see the pics of that happening...I say no more

it went too fast, one moment it was perfectly normal, then the fuel tanks were converging and meshing and then they just lost all balance and KABOOM!! I also killed Jeb Bill Bob and Val, AND it was my first launch in that save...I say no more

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Just now, StupidAndy said:

it went too fast, one moment it was perfectly normal, then the fuel tanks were converging and meshing and then they just lost all balance and KABOOM!! I also killed Jeb Bill Bob and Val, AND it was my first launch in that save...I say no more

That's why I stay away from the F-5 and prefer to revert to launch, I'm to attached to my Kerbals. ^_^

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Been messing around with SSTO planes. Finally starting to get what is needed to make them go up with enough fuel to at least de-orbit and if lucky... Enough fuel fuel left over to make a safe landing (can make a 90 km by 90 km orbit:

76E5AEA18A6D27883F05FD2705C9FA7B1A1DFF1C

 

Or use probe cores to keep them safe if able to keep them off.

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2 minutes ago, StupidAndy said:

yes but I have a tendency to have everybody hate me...I should be!

We could be friends, let us kill all the jedi and bring peace to the universe.

Edited by Triop
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12 minutes ago, StupidAndy said:

meh, what did Chewbacca ever do to me

(and apparently Chewbacca is not only a word but a proper noun!)

It seems our friendship is over...

giphy.gif

^_^

 

Edited by Triop
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