Rakaydos

I'm having a problem "landing" my skycrane without breaking one or both of the mating docking ports. I use mechjeb transltron to stabilize me while I line up the dock, but I cant slowly lower power to dock- turning off "maintain height" drops the throttle to zero instantly.

Since Xenon works like RCS fuel (tanks dont have to be connected to the engine) I would be comfortable with moving Ion engines to Control. Also power storage and generation, to keep the reaction wheels spinning.

On your way up, have you tried burning 45 degrees downward and laterally? The idea being to both lower your absolute velocity, and give yourself slightly more atmosphere to slow down in.

Not EVERY chance they are more advanced. If advanced civilizations need elements heavier than Iron to exist, and cannot form too close to the sterilizing radiation of the core, their suns would be about the same age (in stellar terms) as our own- new enough to form with the debries of the first supernovas, close enough to the core (where stars age faster) to get that material relatively quickly but far enough away for life to not be snuffed out by a nearby supernova.

Saturn would have closer to 1G, I believe...

I'm tempted to try my 1-stock-ion superglider, but 1) the wings wont fit under the bridge, and 2) that would take like 2 hours

Solid fuel engines are much more vulnerable to overheat staging if it's done while the solid stage is still burning. This usually means wasting some deltav by killing engines before they're empty.

So it sounds like a high orbit at the lowest fastest timewarp is best then? (assuming your kethane lifter is optimized for payload ascent) Or is it better to be on the bleeding edge of minmus's SoI? Also, how much harder would it be to have a station tailing (or leading) minmus in orbit, just outside it's SoI?

Interesting. I may be interested in the craft file, as it sounds easier than the skycrane reassembily I'm currently expirimenting with.

Alright, so I believe I have the bugs worked out of my reusable lifter (5 ton payload). Now I just need to figure out how to reassembe it for the next launch.

Scott Manley needed to use 3 pods, SRBs, and a engine+tank to land on minmus. Is using multiple pods legal? Because I beieve I've at least gotten an orbit using the same parts...

I'm working on my 2 stage fully reusable lifter. I've got pretty solid lower stage that can land itself at KSC after giving the second stage plenty of time to circularize- but I still need to work out the bugs with the second stage and the reassembily crane.

I'm torn as to what altitude to put my minmus orbital refueling station (topped off by minmus Kethane) at. If I put it at the very edge of Minmus's SoI, it takes VERY little delta V to go interplanetary. However, I'm assuming a drop to a low kerbin slingshot (front for inner system, behind for outer system) which requires canceling Minmus's orbital velocity. With a high eastward orbit, breaking free of minmus SoI as far from kerbin as possible gives more speed as you go past Kerbin, improving the Kerbin Oberth effect. However, it takes more fuel to lift the fuel that high ver minmus, and the initial break from Minmus orbit has the weakest oberth possible in that SoI. A lower minmus orbit increases orbital velocity, improving the launchinng ship's oberth effect from minmus. It also makes it easier to reach, both for incoming ships and for kethane shuttles. Too low, however, and heavy intersteller ships will lose fuel both getting into orbit and breaking out of it. Thoughts? Is the high orbit best? What about a Lagrange orbit? (matching minmus's semimajor orbit and sitting just outside it' SoI)

Hmm... Utility, in particular, needs an expandable subcategory list- You need a place to put Kethane parts, KAS parts, and Infernal Robotics parts.

With .24 coming up with contracts (and presumably money and reputation) I would like to see a combination of the Build a Rocket challange and the Affordable Space Challange. Launch cycle looks something like this: 1) Assemble a 2 stage orbital booster that uses laterally attached docking ports instead of sepratrons, and put a payload on top. 2) First stage goes on a high suborbit over KSC, stages before it's completely empty. 3) Second stage sets up an orbit 4) Before second stage reaches apoapse for circularization, switch back to first stage and land it back by the launchpad 5) Circularize 2nd stage and deploy payload. 6) deorbit 2nd stage and land at KSC 7) Refuel and repeat. (either by a ground level docking port or a "launch pad" stage to land on top of, or possibly KAS fuel lines) and count the "money cost" of the fuel tanks and any boosters you were unable to recover.

Personally, I would love to see batteries, generators, and Solar panels moved to Science. The science tab is almost as empty as the control tab, and would make the science tab useful in Sandbox mode.

I think it would be easier to simply have a ratio- say, the cost of the reusable booster section, divided by the cost of all the fuel tanks and docking port disposable boosters that you have to spawn to refuel and ready not just the launcher, but all the support equipment. Not sure how to work the payload in.

Insired by a random comment, I just built an ion-powered glider. It's currently over 12 KM from the runway at 12m/s, and climbing at 45 milimeters per second.

Notice a lack of RCS on the design.

Hmm. Seing Whackjob's docking port-strut system, I'm considering trying a Build-a-Rocket design that VTOLs to the launchpad and reassembles between flights. Staging will have to be action groups instead of spacebar, but that can be worked with.

Trying to design a good cargo spaceplane- I've got a reliable science spaceplane, but it barely has the range to flyby Minmus, and I'm to the point I need Minmus/Mun landings to get any furthur. (I got high solar with a Mun slingshot and a return burn, so no easy science there.)

From the carear tech tree: "We knew about electricity before we invented rockets. The real breakthrough was putting electricity ON the rocket." Just cause i was resonable to do so, doesnt mean Kerbals actually DID it.

Here's a challange: play carear mode without using the VAB. (and no cheating by building a normal rocket on the runway). Once you unlock turbofans, you can explore the world, trying to get enough science for turbojets and Spaceplanes.

Everyone alive on board a GENERATION ship has lived their entire life on a ship. The ship is safe enough that not just one, but over a dozen generations have lived their entire lives without any repairs they cant do themselves. Go put Disney's WallE in the DVD player, and ignore the cute robots for a sec. THAT is a generation ship. "We're going to plant a Pizza tree!"

Isnt this pretty much the plot of District 9? Now, it's a Generation ship, so they pretty much have everything they need to survive indefinately. They might prefer a planet, but a spaceship is pretty much all they have ever known in their own lifetime. If they need some kind of consumable resource, it's probably to make up for leaks in a 99.999% efficent closed system, or they would never have made it this far. With a renewed focus on space, we could help them terraform mars or build floating venus cities, in exchange for a leg up on tehnoligy that would send up to the stars ourselves.