Slam_Jones

Made some improvements to my USRs (Unmanned Science Rover), including attaching new science experiments and updating my Autorove script with some new options, including speed control. Took another fresh group of recruits on a orbital training flight. On the way back, I took an IVA video of the de-orbiting process. It was actually a lot more nerve-wracking than I expected! I might have to fly IVA more often The video starts just after the capsule was staged away from the final stage, and just before it hits the upper limits of the atmosphere.

Edit: Laie's advice (the post below mine) may apply better to your situation. Woah now THAT'S a unique-looking vessel! Kudos!

Today, (yesterday, rather) I did a number of things. Built some new prototypes, collected some science, and landed a few vessels. First up, crew training. These four recruits were sent into Low Earth Orbit and then returned safely to the surface, gaining one level in the process. After that, I looked into creating a better relay satellite. The Relay Sat III includes several science experiments (not present in the picture) as well as a resource scanner. The current set-up, as seen here, provides about 9.5km/s of dv from LEO using Argon-powered final stage and an LH2+Ox powered transfer stage. I then checked on one of my rovers, which was en route to Mars. Shown here with skycrane (top) and transfer stage and inflatable heat shield (bottom). The rover has its own solar panels, so the ones attached to the transfer stage won't be needed after this point. It turns out that the parachutes I packed for Mars were not up to the task... they never deployed, forcing me to make a very hasty suicide burn. Luckily, it was pulled off smoothly, and the rover made it to the surface with no (additional) issues. USR-II 'Ares' then began to explore its new home, via a kOS script I set up for my Moon Rover. Surprisingly, I needed to tune down the speed on Mars. The reason for this being that while the Moon was more or less flat, Mars has some rather frequent, steep slopes. I've also bumped up the brake power to help it maintain a safe speed while exploring. The upside is, Mars is much more scenic than the Moon! Then, last but certainly not least, I put the Mars Central Station in orbit of Mars. Jeb, BIll, Bob, and Val get to enjoy the views for about a year and a half, at which point they will board the return vessel and head back to Earth for debriefing. After they have vacated, I plan to send up a new crew with additional science experiments to man the station. Edit: I just remembered that there is more than enough fuel for the return vessel, and as such, the crew might make an impromptu stop at Phobos or Deimos before returning home. Edit: A few extra pictures I couldn't quite work into the narrative, for those with the interest:

Just wanna say, these threads/blog entries are awesome. @MatterBeam Keep up the good work! We definitely appreciate it

Yeah that's what I was afraid of lol. I've splatted a few rovers on Duna before, but haven't tried Mars yet... Luckily, the thrusters attached to the skycrane are pretty beefy, so I will likely do a suicide burn one way or another. As long as aerobraking and chutes reduce my incoming speed by 1km/s or so, I should be fine. Also, I probably should have loaded a few satellites onto the station before I sent it away from Earth... I should be able to next time, though

That doesn't necessarily mean microtransactions. It would well just be DLC for titles that it makes sense for. I don't see how they can insert microtransactions into KSP... charging for official mods or DLC makes more sense to me. (Wasn't there already a thread for this?)

No pictures again, but I've timewarped ahead to the Earth->Mars transfer window, and sent two vessels on an intercept trajectory: the (Future) Mars Central Station will enter orbit and USR-III (Unmanned Science Rover) will (in theory...) land on Mars in a few hundred days, game time. It will be my first attempt landing on anything in RSS other than Earth and the Moon. I'll likely send a CommSat constellation and a ScanSat at the next transfer window, so I have consistent coverage of the red planets surface. I will likely also upgrade my current SkyCrane for better efficiency once I get some science back from Mars. After spending about a year at Mars, three of the Kerbals will climb into the return pod and (hopefully) return to Earth safe and sound. Bob is considering staying to study the ubiquitous scientific discoveries there... but we might send another scientist to join him anyway. I've also been continuing to refine my autorover script. Soon, it will have a few different modes: target tracking, waypoint tracking (for contracts), guided (hold last course), and un-guided (automates acceleration only), as well as the ability to swap between them using a gui (graphical user interface). Looking forward to roving around Mars! Assuming that the heat shield holds, the chutes slow it down even slightly, and the remaining fuel is sufficient... Edit: Oh, I also put a probe into LEO, which I plan to send to Saturn at the next transfer window. Considering sending a probe to each possible planet... which is easier said than done! The Earth escape and Intercept burns will take a combined 7.7km/s of dv to reach Saturn orbit!

As much as I use and enjoy the listed mods, I believe that vanilla KSP should be as easy to run as possible, as many people play on older computers that are unable to keep up with many mods.

No pictures currently, but I made a new iteration of my USR (Unmanned Science Rover) with a kOS computer on board, as well as a larger battery, some new science experiments, and a slightly raised ride height. Once the rover was ready, I started working on a kOS script to drive it for me. The first test caused the rover to swerve about like a drunken sailor, but after quite a bit of tinkering, I seem to have sobered it up. It will now either aim for and track the selected target, or, in the absence of a target, will hold it's current course. The second half of the script controls the rovers speed, attempting to keep it cruising between 10 - 15m/s and taking appropriate action to ensure it stays in that range. Surprisingly, it's stable at full sleep on Physics Time Warp x4, and so far has roved 100km+ from its landing site with no issue. If all goes well, then I'll use this same system for the eventual Mars Rover! Edit: I also had to evacuate my Moon Base, because I forgot that nights on the Moon are actually pretty long (about half a month IIRC), and they didn't quite have enough electricity to make it all the way ... :|

Two RSS Stations I've been working on: Space Station: Earth, in its current configuration after four launches. The (Future) Space Station: Mars with attached Transfer Tug. Currently has enough dv to reach a stable Mars orbit, but since the transfer window is nearly a year away, we will likely add additional modules before sending it off.

Edit: Looks like albums are broken at the moment :\ You can check out the thread below for details, but yeah, doesn't look like we can embed imgur albums currently

Not much to show for, but I've been tweaking my RSS launchers to try to get greater efficiency out of 'em. Also trying to come up with a naming scheme that tells me what it does without having to load the subassembly. But more than that, I've been trying to make a whole new line of launchers that are cheaper than the previous generation. So far, it's been successful, in that my 100ton launcher now costs nearly 1,000,000 kerbucks less per launch. This will allow much more frequent launches, and a greater rate of science income. As for contracts, I expanded Space Station: Earth in LEO: Also put a relay sat into geostationary orbit for a contract, and used the opportunity to test out an Argon-powered Ion engine: Made a launch during some very interesting weather patterns: After that, I put a small unmanned rover on the Moon. Not particularly fast, it tops out at about 10m/s on flat ground: And lastly landed a small outpost on the Moon, with Life Support for at least a year: Added a few more mods to get myself closer to an RO-like install, including FAR and Real Scale Boosters.

Well I can't say you're wrong... I guess my refined answer is, then: non-Earth-based or -derived life. Extra-terrestrial, if you will. Life that did not originate on Earth, or spawned from any organism from Earth. Or carried about any human-made spacecraft, inadvertently or otherwise.

I firmly believe that life exists outside of our solar system, somewhere in the universe. I also feel like it's probably just single-cell organisms for the most part. I sincerely doubt that there are "little green men" of any variety out there, though.

Began getting the infastructure in place for my eventual manned Mars mission. With the transfer window still over 300 days away, we've got plenty of time to test systems and get everything in place. Yesterday mostly consisted of bringing some sanity to my launchers by listing how many kg they can lift to orbit, as well as adjusting the stages to maintain proper TWR throughout. So far, my largest lifter can take 110,000kg to LEO. The Dummy Payload I've been using to test launchers. I think he likes his job. Heavy Lift V-H: Capable of carrying 110,000kg to Low Earth Orbit. Mass of over 6,000tons on the launchpad. MTT, aka Mars Transfer Tug arriving in LEO The future Mars Station is in sight Docked with a little less dV than I'd hoped for. I'll be looking to have 5.8km/s of dv before I take the station out to Mars.

No kidding, thanks for the tip! Time to adjust a few things Got distracted playing Overwatch and didn't accomplish too much last night. I put a little work into my Martian Lander, but it still isn't quite packing enough dV. Problem area currently is the upper stage of the launcher (trying to find the right engine for it is proving difficult). I can find ones that almost has a high enough ISP, but the thrust is too low. Or those with high enough thrust have terrible ISP. So far, the Martian Lander has a grand total of 20.3km/s vacuum... which is still 3-5km/s short, depending on how well I can perform an aerocapture at Mars. The newest launch I've been putting together for it weighs over 4,000tons and needs some serious adjustments to keep the costs reasonable. Would have kept working on it and squeezing more dv out of it drop by drop, but it was 3:00am and I had work in a few hours Edit: Just remembered that I can put a few modules together in LEO using a few separate launches... this may have just gotten a lot easier

Just curious: does the vector-powered car have a spool-up time? If not, then is it possible to let the jet-powered car spool up on its own, then once it reaches maximum standing thrust, start the vector-powered car and let them both go at the same time? I.e. let the jets spool up to full before activating the vectors. Or would that still twist the starting line/gate thing? Another thought: is it possible to offset the more powerful car to bring the thrust torque lower? Sure, one would likely be closer to the edge of the runway than the other, but if they both stay on a straight-line course, would it be beneficial? Edit: another though: place a fuel tank at the back of the gate, and offset it laterally before launching to counter the thrust torque. You could even potentially allow fuel flow from it, so that the vehicles can spool up without using their own on-board fuel. My only other suggestions would be mod-related, but it looks like a few folks want to avoid that.

Queen Val's Revenge

All stock planets, most planets from Outer Planets Mod and a few other planet packs. My proudest so far, however, is my recent Lunar landing and return in RSS. If I can pull off my planned Mars-and-back mission, then that'll easily be the most difficult one I've done yet! (Regarding mod installation, I highly recommend CKAN! It makes downloading and installating mods as easy as clicking a checkbox and a button.)

Sent Jeb back to the Moon. This time, to land on it. Packed 36 days worth of Life Support again, and planned my manuevers a bit better so Jeb could survive this one. This time, my manuevers were a little tighter, and Jeb returned to Earth safe and sound with 26 days of life support remaining. The initial launcher, weighing in at over 2,200tons, taking off with a sluggish TWR of 1.10. Jeb's LV-N-powered ship, producing almost 7.2km/s from LEO. Totally forgot an obligatory pic of Jeb standing next to the flag in front of the ship. 2.2km/s of dv left, which shot up to 2.7km/s or so once I staged away the three radial tanks and landing legs. A reasonably quick return route. After bringing Jeb back, I installed a few visual mods and sent up a probe to check them out. Lastly, I put it into a geostationary orbit and took a short video, which I may make into a gif. (Although I may need a re-do since I just realized my mouse cursor is visible in the video... ) Next, I'm going to attempt to land Jeb on Mars and get him back home again. Only need another 5km/s of dv past what the rocket I used in this post had... I figure that putting my science points into more efficient nuclear engines might just help me get it done!

Yeahhh... Not proud of it, but I kinda messed up one of my burns and ended up with a very large orbit around Earth after leaving the Moon... it took far too many days to get to the apoapsis so I could perform the re-entry burn. Since I almost never play with it, I had kinda forgotten that I had TAC-LS installed, so I just time-warped and didn't pay attention to how long it would take. I was mostly trying to minimize dv usage instead of keeping track of Life Support, I suppose. Plus, NASA calculates everything beforehand... I kinda just throw stuff into orbit and see if it works Jeb's strange-looking ship which he took to orbit the Moon, shown here circularizing (slowly) around Earth. At low Earth orbit, it had about 6.5km/s of dv left.

Continued with my RSS Career (Funds: 250%, all other settings standard... though I wish I had put Science rewards higher) I sent Jeb to orbit the moon. Rocket had something like 15km/s of dv on the launchpad. I actually wasted a bit too much fuel trying to match the Moons orbital plane and had to quickload back to low orbit once. The final stage was a few large LF tanks and a stock NERV, producing somewhere in the vicinity of 7.5km/s of dv, which I assumed was enough for orbital plane changes, interception and circularization burns, and finally return burn. The second attempt after the quickload, I made it into a very very large, but stable, orbit around the Moon. After conducting a few experiments and stretching his legs outside the pod, Jeb set a course to return to Earth. Having installed TAC-LS, I provided Jeb with approx 36 days worth of Life Support. He "died" of oxygen deprivation about 1 day from Earth... The medics pulled him from the pod (which splashed down off the west coast of Africa) and patched him back up at the Space Center. By the time the next rocket was ready to launch, Jeb was back to normal. (My headcanon is that he passed out and entered hibernation when the oxygen ran out.) I also worked on some new Medium Launchers, and put a relay sat, equipped with an ion engine and something like 12km/s of dv, into Earth orbit. Also realized that a parts mod I had installed apparently had some incorrect values for fuel tank weights... apparently when they reached a certain level, they would end up having negative mass, which would cause the rocket to flip and be dragged slowly upwards by the negative mass being pushed away by gravity. When I checked the forums, I realized there was already a new version of the mod that fixed the problem... This means I'm not getting 7km/s out of my upper stage anymore, but it also means it won't randomly start tumbling at 80km either...

I usually assume that they are able to hibernate and/or undergo photosynthesis, ergo not likely to rot in any sense. That said, I've left Kerbals on nearly every stock body...

Finally got RSS working (realized I had always forgotten to install the textures... ) and performed a few missions. After barely getting Jeb to Earth orbit and back, I downloaded a few rocketry mods and set about building a few variations of a heavy launcher. So far I've done a Lunar flyby (on probably the largest rocket I've ever built) as well as put together a 3-module station in low earth orbit. Feels like a whole new game when you need about 9.4km/s of dv just to get to a low orbit!! I love it though, since my launch vehicles look a bit more realistic than typical Kerbal contraptions. My lunar flyby had something like 11.5km/s of dv, in which Jeb only got home because of a very lucky free return trajectory. Next up: lunar station, lunar landing, and eventually on to Mars! May slowly add more mods till I have an RO-like install.

A very excellent new(ish) mod that allows one to change up the textures of many stock parts to essentially 'paint' your vessel, as well as adding a few optional textures for wheels (rims). Highly recommended! Edit: The Turismo is now uploaded! Tuned to minimize chance of roll-over, with great drifting potential. Not recommended for off-road use. https://kerbalx.com/Slam_Jones/R-5-Turismo-R