purpleivan

Here's another example of Vectors and Aerospikes in action, making an escape from Eve. It even shows how a mishap (tumbling uncontrollably late on in the ascent) doesn't have to spell doom for the crew. It even made it to orbit with the ropey aerodynamics it has.

There's got to be a supervillain lair under that.

Day of Realisations... or hmmm, why doesn't that thing work. In the evening the crew of the Coastal Cruiser left Gusman Kerman on the short where his Juice Goose had given them a fresh tank of fuel. The sun was heading for the horizon, so not too much more boating left in the day. Bill was unsure about his decision to sit out on the deck for this part of the cruise. Not going to be much light left, so better plan on moaring up soon. That's not going to help our fuel efficiency. Definitely time to head for shore. Sitting under the stars enjoying a late night snack or two. With the sunrise comes another day along the coast. A stop for a save break and a chance for Bill and Bob to go ashore and take a look at an interesting looking lake up close. Bob suggests that it's probably an extinct volcano... well he hopes it extinct. Back to the ship and back to sea. It looks like running the jets at full throttle is wasting precious fuel, as the boat can do 50m/s at half throttle, but only 70m/s with the taps wide open. So no more gunning the engines for the hell of it now Val. Another quick save break at the end of a sand bar in a lagoon. This one. Time to move off again. With less than 100 units of fuel in the tanks, it's time to moar up and start the painful process of mining for fuel. Bill has a few too many mimosas and almost falls into the cargo back containing the ISRU gear. And this is where the realisations start to kick in. The ISRU fuel system is basically just decoration... it's taking an obscene amount of time to mine enough ore to turn into fuel and fill the tanks. So the plan now is to rely on tanker aircraft only. Fortunately the Woomerang and the Dessert Launch facilities are going to help out, by providing aircraft from those locations, which will make the job of supplying the Coastal Cruiser a bit easier. On the plus side, sticking to 50m/s is making the fuel go quite a bit further, so there's one positive to come out the day.

Visually it's Scatterer, SVE and EVE.

This beastie made it to a 120km orbit, with about 2000dv to spare. The part making it to orbit was the ship dangling from the docking port in the centre (requirements for a challenge) that weighed 20 tons. Clearly it's all a bit on the big side and is only a theoretical vehicle, given that it wasn't actually flown to the purple planet (Hyperedit) but I'm confident that I could have got it there, based on past experience. But it's fun to club physics into submission

More boat based shenanigans. Early morning cruising. Fuel delivery. When you've gotta go, you've gotta go.

Passing through Crater Alley... or another day of playing with boats, rovers, and planes. For anyone curious here's a shot with the HUD to show some info on the boat. As it turns out I was a bit conservative with my figures about its speed, as even with 80% of fuel on board, the Costal Cruiser still does a respectable 66m/s flat out. Jeb wanted to make an early start and make as much headway as possible on this leg. After a while a stop was made for a save break, at yet another sandy cove. The area of Crater Alley, so named due to the theory that the pock marking of lakes and bays was due to a storm of asteroids impacting the surface. Others say that when Kerbin was young and made of mud, The kraken took his dog for a walk through here. Another stop, this time for Jeb and Bill to do a little exploring with the rover. Nice view from up here. Time to move on, so better head back. Pretty big island, in a pretty big bay. Bob's keen to take a crack at those snow coverred mountains in the distance, but Val explains that they are way too far from the coast to consider. Almost dry of fuel, Val guns it for the shore, reaching a top speed of 72.2m/s. And now we play the waiting game. The Juice Goose that they met with the day before, takes to the skies to deliver more fuel, making use of a nearby hill for as a ramp. Hi guys... heard you were running a little low. Another day, another rover to grab. Guys... where's the bathroom. Ahhhhhh... that's better, but how the hell am I going to get back in the cockput.

As some info, the Coastal Cruiser has a top speed when full of about 45m/s and a bit over 70 when near empty. I don't know the range on full tanks, but I'll be checking that sometime soon. I thought about the consumption of the fuel by the Juice Goose, and trips to the other side of Kerbin would eat up most of what's on board. So the plan is to make something bigger when the time comes... the Juice Moose perhaps, that can deliver a decent slug of fuel anywhere on the planet.

Some pics from the 3rd and 4th leg of my coastal trip. So more boats and rover... plus a tanker aircraft that's helping out with some extra fuel.

With the KSC lending a helping hand with the fuel, spirits were high for their continuing journey North. Once out of the bay that they'd moared in overnight, the Coastal Cruiser headed out into the open sea, with Val at the helm. Bob's already excited about an attempt to take the rover up those mountains in the distance. A patch of rugged coastline, best avoid those rocks Val. While stopped for a save break, Val and Bob head to the top of some nearby hills. Then head back down again. ALL ABOARD! Looking pretty shallow here. Back into deeper water. Fuel's getting really tight now as Jeb, who's back at the controls, guns the engines towards the awaiting tanker. "Fill her up on premium". Gonna grab that rover right in the face. Full tanks again and another perfect sunset.

Hmmm... something is not quite right with our crew of coastal cruiser. The ISRU gear is taking forever to process fuel, the reason being that the pair of Drill-O-Matic Juniors aren't really up to the job. Jeb's having second thoughts about the whole venture, but the KSC is going to lend a hand. Enter... The Juice Goose. These handy refuelling tankers will be sent out to points along the crew's route, to reduce their reliance on home brewed fuel. A quick slug from one of these, and they're on their way again, isntead of waiting several days for a bunch of recycled central heating parts to give them some of the good stuff. The first of these headed out to the far shore of the sea that the crew are currently in. It'll be a while until they meet up with it, but at least the pilot took a deck of cards. Now the waiting begins. The 2nd tanker took off a few hours later, headed for about 130km North of the Coastal Cruiser's position. Better make a right there. Ok Jeb, I got ya fuel right here.

Excellent, keeps getting better the further you get into it. Kerbal idle anims, good for screenshots and now music videos.

Bit of a late start as Val wanted to get herself seated on deck witha good supply of snacks. Heading North. The crew stopped off to process more or into precious fuel, while Bill and Val took the rover into the hills nearby. Val would be happier at the wheel, but as Bill got there first, he called dibs. Heading away. After a climb past a nearby lake, the pair stopped for a moment to take in the scenery. Ship in sight. With the tanks fuel it was time to leave and head North once more. On their way again. Munlight boating. Finally with darkness almost upon them, it was time to make camp for the night.

A nice early start after filling the tanks with fuel. Time for Bob to go ashore in the rover and a quick fuel top up. Heading away in the rover. Gonna go a little further guys... don't leave without me. Just a bit further. Coming back now honest. Jeb welcomes Bob back with the international signal for "come on, we've gotta go". Loading up the rover. Back at sea once more heading South. The mountains of the Cape of No Hope dominate the region. A quick stop to make a save. Jeb notes that there's nothing South of here until you hit the South Pole. x Heading for the Cape, hope the weather will be fine. The ominous cliffs of the Cape. Having rounded the Cape, the crew heads North into an area of shallow water. Val spots this lagoon and says it should make a good place to stop for the night. Good thing this boat has a small draft, the entry to the lagoon is seriously shallow. But the setting for an overnight stay is well worth it. Fuel extraction and sunset. The end to another great day for the crew. For those who like more motion in their pictures, check out the video.

Started a trip along the coastlines of Kerbin today. The core four on a jet powered boat carrying a rover for land excursions, on an incredibly long voyage... what could possibly go wrong.