me68

I've been to Duna before, but this is the first time i'll be going with a fully modded game. Not including parts packs and some other minor mods, i'll have FAR, RemoteTech2, Deadly Re-entry, Kerbal Alarm Clock, Real Chutes, and most importantly, Tac Life Support. According to Kerbal Alarm Clock, i have 9 days to my launch window to Duna. I've accounted for what i'll need to bring for all the other mods, but the part i'm stuck on is how much life support to send up. Of course i could just stick some ridiculous amount of life support on there, but i want to be more precise and also keep the bulk and weight down. How long the mission will take will determine how much i bring, but i'm unsure how long it will take. Of course with the launch window, i'll be making a very efficient trip there, but what about back? I can leave Duna anytime i want, but i'll want to feather that line between how quick i return, and how efficient it is to return. I have a basic three part ship. They dock together in high Kerbin orbit, and then leave during the launch window. The Orbiter stage has an Interstellar reactor and generator, as well as most of the life support and the scrubbers and splitters for the water and oxygen. Attached to the Orbiter stage will be the Transfer stage, which is just fuel and nuclear engines. This stage will be jettisoned after putting the craft on an aerobraking trajectory with Duna. The Landing stage has everything needed to land and do science, as well as something like 20 days of life support, more than enough to collect science from the surface and return to the orbiter stage. I'll then leave for Kerbin when it is optimal. The most obvious thing to do if you don't have to worry about life support is to leave Kerbin during the ideal launch window, and then leave Duna for Kerbin during the ideal launch window. Am i also right in assuming that would take the longest amount of time (as far as sensible trajectories go)? Whereas the quickest and least efficient way to return would be to leave during the launch window, and then, in order to come back to Kerbin, burn so your Pe is close to Kerbol and rendezvous on the other side with Kerbin? I'm not going to have the Delta V necessary to make inefficient burns back to Kerbin, so how many days of life support am i looking at needing? Does anyone know the number of days if i leave during both transfer windows, and does anyone know how quick you could possibly make a trip to Duna and back? With those two figures, i should be able to determine a happy medium between life support and Delta V. How long does it usually take you, and what is your usual trajectory?

I wasn't able to find it specifically mentioned here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/44952-Already-Suggested-List or on the do not suggest list. Is it in a related category, not specifically saying "Museum?" I really would like to see what others said previously about it.

Back when i heard that career mode was going to be coming out, this was the first thing i thought of. I thought it'd be cool if it was like an upgradable feature. The tether could be reeled in or out for maneuvering in space on a ladder, and would provide power for light and air, but with low technology, you wouldn't have RCS pack capabilities. Then with more science, you would be able to upgrade so your suit has the RCS pack in limited supply, and you could move off the ladders but still attached. Then with more science, you'd be able to detach the cord and have suit oxygen and power, with extended fuel for RCS, but could reattach the cord for extended EVA, as well as being able to leave a Kerbal outside while you go launch another mission without the Kerbal floating away. That was my vision, but i'd be perfectly happy with just a tether so i didn't have to worry about Kerbals floating away.

I've been playing KSP for quite a long time now, and have been visiting these boards for about as long as i've been playing, but i just had an idea that forced me to join the forum so i could get it out there. I was watching a Scott Manley video that i usually watch within minutes of its posting, but my internet has been down so i'm a bit behind. In his Intersellar Quest 46, at 17:15 ( ), he says there is a very important spacecraft coming back, and he will "send Jebediah Kerman up there to grab it and ideally bring it home" and for some reason, i finished that sentence with "so it can be placed in a museum." I was disappointed to hear him say "if not he will return home with just the scientific information."I thought there was no way that a spacecraft of such importance and history wouldn't be put in a museum. I remember seeing all kinds of historical craft in air and space museums when i was a kid, and space capsules like those from the Apollo missions were especially striking. I loved being able to see the advancements in technology and purpose. I could see things from the Mercury missions, then Gemini missions, and then the Apollo missions, and then go and see things from the Shuttle age, and fantastic planes like the SR-71 Blackbird. So here is what i'm thinking. At KSC, there could be another building for a museum. It could have like 10 places for rockets or capsules, and then another area for like 8 space planes, and another section for satellites and rovers or something. Each one could have a plaque like the flags do, with a description you put, and it could list information about that craft that you choose. It could pull that information from the log of the flight (max velocity, distance traveled, max G's, time flown) if you choose to (of course you would then have to have a function to save a flight log) as well as things like cost (when cost comes into play), number of parts, and weight. Also, it could have the missions flag behind it or in front of it or something, or maybe just choose a flag. I think another good feature could be the ability to assign screenshots you took from the mission to that display, and access them with descriptions. I think the best way to do this would be to be able to go to the VAB, or the SPH, disassemble the rocket to just the capsule, or leave the whole rocket, or whatever you would want on display, save it, and then go into the museum and load your save and assign it into one of the slots. With career mode coming into life, this would be a great way to catalog your space program through time. You would have things like your first Munar Lander, or your first communications satellite, or your first Duna rover, or your first extra-planetary glider, as well as things you think as historical, like a space craft that underwent a rapid unplanned disassembly, and you still managed to get the crew home safe. A final feature i think would be necessary would be the ability to walk around and interact with things, as well as there being other Kerbals walking around looking at the displays. So what do you think? Is my idea possible? Is it a good idea, or an idea other people would like to see? I'm not saying it's something that would come out right away, but maybe in the future? What do you think?