Jovus

Not counting times I've actually run out of fuel... In my last stock game run (modded; stock as opposed to RSS) I did a tourist contract to take two tourists on a flyby of both the Mun and Minmas. Went up with (if I remember rightly) 859m/s Used a Munar gravity assist to kick me out to Minmas, with a small correction burn Didn't have enough fuel to get home straightaway, so I burned for another Munar flyby (something like 50m/s short) With the Munar gravity assist I ended up with a PE of 44km and 2cm/s left in the tank. I was really stoked, because that was the first mission that I've sent up with the intention and need to use gravity assists because I didn't have enough fuel.

In my book, you never need to apologize for not updating a mod. You've done a huge service to the community (especially the RO/RSS community) just by releasing this thing in the first place.

There's also kOS and KRPC (Kerbal Remote Procedure Call) for writing your own autopilots, if it comes to that.

Eve, guys. The body you're looking for is Eve, not the Mun. Only Eve is nearby and has the necessary gravity well. @NeverEnoughFuel!! don't leave us in suspense here; try an Eve gravity assist and tell us how it works!

I know you said you were impatient, but if you want to try some tricksy flying you could use an Eve gravity assist and then hit Kerbin afterward. Don't know how much you'd save, because you'd have to burn for Eve, but done right you can put Kerbin at your aphelion instead of perihelion. Of course, this takes time...`

It seems you've specifically bound this to the alt key. Is there a way you could instead bind it to KSP's definied mod keys? Not all of us use alt, and for some of us, alt is reserved by our window managers in such a way that alt doesn't work with KSP.

Except dumber than that, because at least your youngest child is strongly enough related to you to be worth the effort.

Thanks, guys; that was really helpful.

Over 40 engines. Better hope nobody decides to develop a resonance...

Speaking of thrust now, are you saying that the thrust sliders in the VAB actually do something for liquid engines now? I remember testing my install in 1.0.5 and finding out that they didn't.

I maybe misunderstood you. It sounds like you're saying something like increasing utilization decreases the part's tolerance for stress, which would be really cool. I'd love an Atlas that would crumple if I tried to put a Mercury capsule on it. But maybe you're just saying that utilization is another way to play with the balance of TWR and delta-V.

cast 'mon un nilaz necro thread' (serious kudos if you get the reference) Is this still a done thing? If not, is there a plan for another (e.g. in 1.2)? I'm seriously interested, as someone who both loves RP-0 and has little to no time to play KSP myself.

Try updating Mono and running it again. I suspect your Mono install is out of date.

I'm guessing here. First, there are the cryogenic constraints. Refrigerating CH4 and LOX for the Earth-Mars and Mars-Earth transfer is easier than refrigerating H2 and causes less embrittlement because CH4 is less likely to slip into metallic matrices. Second, and much less important, simple tankage architecture may be easier with CH4, because the tanks will be smaller. Most importantly, I should think, is that it's a lot easier to make CH4 out of readily-available Martian materials. You just need to bring a bit of hydrogen, though nowhere near as much as you'd need if you were going to burn it directly. Contrariwise, refueling with H2 at Mars is hard, perhaps impossible.

Black holes are a lot more common than the usual estimates, and the theories about dynamical friction are wrong. They hang out in the haloes of galaxies, being dark matter.

What's the deal with utilization? Specifically, why wouldn't I just push it to 100%? I recognize that it's useful for replicating rockets, because it allows you to play with mass and delta-V without deviating from the specc'ed dimensions, but what if I'm not concerned with replicas? Is there some downside, either coded or style-wise, to just pushing that slider all the way to the right?

Sooooo... are we back to go for launch for the 26th?

I hope some point soon they find out what keeps causing these fires. Or, if it's arson, catch the stand-up guy and make him pay.

A KSP-er should know better than anyone that the Mun has a dark side; it just rotates.

And if you shift-click, you'll grab the whole ship, regardless of whether you clicked the root part.

Probably fairly well-known, but in the editor, if you have a part selected and you hold down the Mod* key, that part will only attach node-to-node. Useful for all kinds of things - placing antennae just right, getting things in cargo bays, you name it. *Usually Alt

Are you doing a simple ballistic reentry? If so, try flying the pod by using roll to manipulate the offset centre of mass. If done right, you should be able to slow yourself down That said, I don't know if you're experiencing a bug. I was under the impression that the reason the Apollo capsule did a skip reentry wasn't because it would actually burn up in the atmosphere, but because a simple ballistic trajectory would involve enough G's to kill the crew.

@Rybo I don't know how close you've been following SpaceX, but the sounds they're making indicate they have no clue what caused the malfunction. Maybe that's changed, but apparently whatever-it-was didn't show up in any of their telemetry or diagnostics. Glad to hear that the rockets are still OK and the particle count didn't increase because of the smoke. Those clean rooms can be a real bear to re-clean if something gets through. If you know, what's the civilian damage from the fire so far? Are there neighborhoods or what-not near by? Unfortunately I've never been in the Vandenberg area. Oh, and I take it no news is good news regarding the hydrazine tanks?

Given what we know (which is practically nothing) I suspect the problem didn't have much to do with the rocket itself, but rather probably originated in the launch facilities. Which is to say that's a wild guess based on the fact that they have no data. Too bad we'll probably never know.

@Rybo this is really cool that you've made this thread to keep us updated. Thanks. You're making me wish I were near Vandenberg to help out. I had idly wondered if the fire had something to do with the hydrogen leak that scrubbed the launch initially, but it's clear from this that no, it doesn't. Speaking of, you said that (as far as you know) the rocket itself is green across the board? Know that at least some of us are paying attention to this and rooting for ULA. Just 'cause we like SpaceX doesn't mean we don't like you too. There are never enough rockets in the sky.