Hotel26

Thanks, Jimmy. I came back here to commend Cloyd Ian, Private Division Support, for giving me this answer (set Beta to None to get the latest), but I'm marking your post as the Answer, too. Thanks! Beta is new to me and I think 1.11.2 got stuck as a default the last time I deliberately downloaded that specific version. It's good to know about.

Steam had provided the 1.12.1, 1.12.2 and 1.12.3 versions. I haven't been watching for a while as I'm main-lining on 1.11.2. It's set to auto-update but the buildID.txt (in ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/commonKerbal\ Space\ Program) is: My Steam Library lists me with KSP 1.11.2. Properties: Updates: shows: "Always keep this game updated". App ID: 220200 Build ID: 6326759 Installed content updated: Mar 25, 2023 at 2:04 PM (Before I started fiddling today, last update had been shown as Mar 06. Today, I did an Uninstall followed by Reinstall.) The problem might be that I never leave Steam up for long; maybe I just need to leave it up for a week and see what happens? (I thought there used to be a way to trigger download of a particular version.) Any suggestions would be appreciated!

SPACE NEWS GAZETTE A slow week here in KSC, so we let a rookie Remote Re-entry Specialist run a recovery -- while the rest of us ran a pool... We figured, "well, older equipment, so...if anything goes missing, nobody will notice..." Uhm, the KSC Rules of Pool are: nobody offers advice or even prompting... You understand: there can be rather large funds afloat on the KSC floor just after pay day; there's a lot at stake. So the general sniggering broke out (yes, against the KSC Rules of Pool!, since it can distract the turkey rookie) over the Sandy Desert when it became crystal clear to the pros this was going to be a massive overshoot. I did have my money on the rookie, though![*] [Click + arrows => Slideshow] Happy to say that Remote Re-Entry Specialist, Dilman Kerman, did not get flustered, did not panic, did not even break a sweat; kept his nerve and ... successful touch-down of Zephyr re-entry booster at Gilligan's Island! (Bit of a wake-up call for GIL ATC there when we used the landline to phone in the approach (45 seconds beforehand): "Ah, Gilligan's Island, we have a vertical descent over the numbers, Runway Thirty-Six, for you, if you can accept the traffic, Gilligan...?". Our ASR Recovery Rules give immediate and full recovery credit for any base landing. The losers in the pool made D.Kerman pay for a round of their drinks afterward to celebrate his mission outcome; but he was nevertheless grinning from ear to ear. Give him time! He'll wise up... [*] Dilman is the nephew of my bookie...

I second this. (I also added NavBallTextureChanger with a complementary navball color scheme to make the pink and yellow markers easier to read.) Navball Docking Alignment Indicator revolutionized my docking strategy and is ultra-simple. As much as I liked DPAI for the years I used it, I would never go back. If I understand this right, Control From Here; SAS Target and then standard use of RCS is how I accomplish same.

SPACE NEWS GAZETTE Kerbal Space Command has been sending these ORB Mk2 mining rigs to the Mun to set up a base network. (There will be at least 12 overall.) Pictured: Left to Right: ORB Mk2, Finch Lux and the Zodiac lifter (begat by Zephyr which was begat by Atkara...). So I knew this was coming: I entered the VAB with purpose earlier this evening. About 15m to construct ORB Quattro: 4x ORB Mk2 on top of a Finch Lux on top of a Zodiac lifter. This is my first serious use of Zodiac (many thanks to @swjr-swis, as usual). [click + arrows = slide show] and straight outside to the launchpad in my production (Orbit) world, for a nocturnal launch/mission. Not a single hitch! Payload delivered to space and ready to plot the transition to the Mun. Zodiac return to KSC and pulled to a stop just at the turn-off to proceed to the VAB doors for recovery. Re-entry fireworks occurred earlier than scheduled, over the west coast of the KSC command peninsula, and so Mission Control plotted a perilous night-time descent via the Khyber Pass (alt. 4.5 km) in the Western Wall mountains, followed by direct to BAKOR and then inbound for R9. The Zodiac's twin Panthers offer an 'assist' to return but Mission Control had to nurse fuel consumption during the final 10m. Ecstatic burst of applause from all staff as the main bogeys made soft touch-down straddling the center-line just past "the numbers"... A very good evening for Kerbal Space Command (and to all, from KSC).

I woke up this morning feeling so in love with KSP! (I had to take a shower and then go downstairs to play KSP.) KSP is what gets me out of bed in the morning. And/or coffee...

Re CSH2: very, very impressive fuel efficiency numbers! And striking, as usual.

Mun exploration. This scooter is so much fun. 2.5 km/s dV and 5.6 m/s/s accel. For short(ish) distances, Vert lift-off, followed quickly by SAS Target (course alignment) and then 45-degree muzzle elevation for the long throw... So, I've talked about it before, but I've finally made up my mind and decided on 6 bases (milspec 'hi-yield') around the Mun's equator. And 3 each around the 60th parallels, north and south. (The poles are too dark (and mountainous (and frankly, very scary)) to bother staying more than a few minutes. (As soon as a shadow moves, the r/t crackles with someone or other yelling:, "flee for your lives!")) "You there! On my mark... DEEEee-ORRBITT! ...NEXTTT!!!!!" I built this (center) today. (I love KSP: a whole day lost, most happily, in refinement.) (It's shadowy because it hasn't been Declassified yet!!) It's a rescue lander to refuel the rookies who land out with insufficient fuel to return to base. But it can also be a temporary base as it accommodates 5 and has comms relay capability.

A very informative thread. Thank you, guys!

I am (instinctively) still on 1.11.2. (I think there was nothing in 1.12 I wanted, nor that would justify the trouble of upgrading my Orbit world.) "Change is good!", but change can also be bad.

When I finish my current KSP play-through. Started January 2018 (v1.3) and now (v1.11.2) projecting to get the basics of system colonization done by mid-2028. Or when everyone else gives the all-clear signal: whichever comes later... "Space is not only hard, but time-consuming"

In here(?):

SPACE NEWS GAZETTE [prev] Anion landing on Minmus... [click + arrows = slide show] Touchdown 54m after KSC departure.

SPACE NEWS GAZETTE [next] I have been using Anion recently to perform some survey work on Kerbin and, after a long day, thought I'd take a short HET refresher checkride in Anion: [click + arrows = slide show] accelerating directly toward Minmus (46 Mm distant); reaching midpoint 12m after KSC departure with 23 Mm to go, now traveling at 76.5 km/s, then turning immediately retrograde to begin the deceleration phase; achieved capture 22m after KSC departure and then commenced the HET descent reaching a peak speed of 4.2 km/s; entering Low Minmus Orbit 29m after KSC departure. Experienced a little over 14g (propelled by 2 out of Anion's 3 engines) for almost the whole trip. If I recall correctly, it is actually safe to use all three engines on full throttle in deep space, but only if the power is ramped up and down smoothly with the throttles. Sudden application/removal is almost certain to shred the space plane. Credit to the whole team is due: Anion is Caerfinon's Latitude fitted with a 23rd-century anti-matter drive, the blueprints of which were leaked to me by Dr Swis. My only contribution is 6kg of sweat lost to labored breathing while piloting the machine.

Found an aircraft of unidentified marque attached to a munar space station and determined to pilot it down to Tolstoy base on the Mun's equator. Figured out it was a Delta, from October 2020 but no Pilot's Handbook available... Foolishly attempted a night landing anyway. Crew (2) survived but engine stacks were destroyed while cart-wheeling in lo-grav after hooking a wheel. Engineers are going to beef up the roll-axis RCS for me...

Well done, @N_Danger, and congratulations!

The experiment of the last several days has been to set up a "Moho Ring Route": Four craft orbiting in the ecliptic (0 inclination) with nominal AP: 6.226 Gm and PE: 6.02Gm, and with PE (ideally) at Moho's DN. Orbital period is 136d 4h 38m 58.667s which constitutes a 4:3 orbital resonance with Moho, yielding the potential for Moho capture for each craft every 3 turns, which is 410d. These would be fuel tankers and an incoming tanker would be replaced by an outgoing tanker with full fuel. Experiments with captures showed a typical local inclination of 107-115 degrees with a periaptic target velocity around 1580 m/s, which is not too bad (as an upper limit) for capture/ejection. Since Moho turns so slowly (123 Kerbin days), mining is likely to have to occur near the poles and be launched into a polar orbit to replenish the "fifth" tanker. Noting that Eeloo's average speed is 3.7 km/s and the Ring Route speed is about 13.5 -- 10km/s difference -- I'm going to start planning a Duna Ring Route with 7 fuel stations: ring speed 7.5 km/s. (Folks, I do comprehend that Mad Science is not a pretty thing to watch unfold. Somebody has to do this stuff. Mutter.) Before that, some experimentation with a Tylo gravity well crane called Tycho. It can take a 15t payload down to the surface and back up, assuming refueling available on the surface and in LTO (from e.g. Vall). It launches from KSC with an ORB miner in tow. Refuels in LKO and then proceeds to Tylo. Refuels again and then deposits the ORB on the surface. Then takes a Jumbuck fuel truck (transported separately) down purely to take pressure off of subsequent landing accuracy. By detuning the 3x Skipper thrust to TWR just slightly greater than 1, Jebediah was able to successfully redock with the ORB, but 3 trips with the Jumbuck will also refill the Tycho. Picking up a maneuverable payload like the Jumbuck, which can position itself under the Tycho stern dock is very easy. In general, Tycho only requires any payload to have a single top dock of any size. The problem is that @#$! KSP1 robotics causes the 3x hydraulic pistons to often just disappear after a scene reload. I haven't solved this so far, which is too bad, because the craft was promising to be very fun and versatile to use.

So if you were starting again from the ground (which it sounds like you will have to), then: If you launch at noon (sun directly above) at (or very close to the equator, e.g. KSC) into a distinctly inclined orbit (e.g. polar) then your resultant LAN will be day-of-year/426*360 I tried this on day 254 (in my Orbit world) and got 254/426*360 ~= a LAN of 213. I then retried in my Lab world on day 80 and got 80/426*360 being very close to LAN 67. Having that reference, if you were in my Orbit world on day 254 and wanted to launch into your target orbit with LAN 308, you would need to wait (308-213)/360*6 hours, which is equal to 1h 35m later. Kerbin turns a full revolution in 6 hours so the time for KSC to move from LAN 213 to LAN 308 (95 degrees) is just over 1.5 hours. Noon at KSC appears to be around 5:42 in the day, but that's irrelevant to the objective above. You can point your camera up and judge when the rocket nose is pointing at the sun above, or you can watch the shadows on the ground disappear under their casters. Try it: you'll like it! @Streetwindthe gist of this, by the way, is that the absolute reference for LAN is the inertial frame of reference which, in KSP, is the solar ecliptic. Which is why matching local launch time on LAN involves time of year. One delightful benefit, of course, is this means that you can match your ejection orbit to an external target Node. For example, launching at Moho's AN with the intention to rendez-vous at Moho's DN (which is coincidentally close to its PE).

I've just attempted something like this and the above is correct (plane change at a pole). But very expensive. I believe there is a way to achieve this by launching at a time of day based on the time of year. (You could then fine-tune the LAN cheaply at a pole as described.) I will test this out for your LAN:308 target and report back within 24 hours. I am using the following references: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/196048-when-is-the-annual-moho-transfer-again/&do=findComment&comment=3830929 https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/The_annual_and_reliable_Moho_Transfer_Opportunity Stay tuned.

Under (insane) development: It doesn't have any attachment nodes yet... Nor any concept of Kerbal crew. When it's operational, it will consume Ore and ElectricCharge and produce XenonGas. UPDATE: finished product published as Xenon Converter...

Triop! Welcome back!! I use OBS to record and OpenShot to edit.

Welcome to Kayak Club, SkyFall2489! If you would like to try another destination and you pick one that has had less than 5 recorded Visitors and you succeed, you will be recorded on the Leader Board.

SPACE NEWS GAZETTE Celebrating the opening of the new Kayak River SkyFall airport: [click + arrows => slide show] (Rejected Landing -- Ruled: "Pilot Exuberance"; I hate when that happens on a photo shoot and the photographer goes "overtime".) A loaned Passerine from @Caerfinon. (Shout out to @SkyFall2489 : "we await your presence...")

@SkyFall2489 well, I have a suggestion. Why not try the eponymous Kayak River? There is enough(?) information in the link to attempt to navigate there -- plus the snapshots. Please post a photo when you get there and you will be inducted into the Kayak Club!

Yes, and welcome!! Will give your question a little thought and respond here soon.