ILikeIke

I'd like to suggest that we can de-orbit the capsule today, do whatever we want with the astronaut, and if we don't have the capability to recover today, people with the interest in recovery can go back for the capsule when it's convenient for them and they understand better how to do it. Also I might be be able to Guido- I'm not certain (I've got irl plans today and I'm not sure when they'll be done), but if I'm available, it'll probably be by text only. Would that be an issue?

To be totally honest, this is my first time programming anything like this in kOS (previously I've only done launch scripts, and that was in pre-1.0), so I honestly can't justify my decisions in terms of what I thought was best practices. For starters, I have no clue how to use vectors to rotate the ship, though I plan on trying to learn. What's the difference between a vector and a rotation? i didn't know that I needed a loop for an if statement. I tried using the "preserve." command, but got an error about using it outside a loop, which I didn't understand at all. i thought I was using cooked steering as much as I was able to, because I was under the impression that I couldn't use cooked steering to aim for retrograde. How would pure cooked steering look for this?

SAS on. RCS on. print "Attitude Control System Enabled.". lock steering to (-1) * Ship:Velocity:Surface. when steering = (-1) * Ship:Velocity:Surface then { set SASmode to "stabilityassist". unlock steering. print "Manual control enabled. Hold within 20° of retrograde.". } if SteeringManager:ANGLEERROR > 20 { print "Spacecraft orientation is not within 20° of retrograde. ACS is re-orienting the spacecraft.". lock steering to (-1) * Ship:Velocity:Surface. when steering = (-1) * Ship:Velocity:Surface then { set SASmode to "stabilityassist". unlock steering. print "Manual control enabled. Hold within 20° of retrograde.". } print "Spacecraft re-orientation successful.". } ----- I'm trying to write a script that will hold a spacecraft within 20° of retrograde, and this isn't returning any errors, but it's also not rotating the spacecraft. Does anybody have an idea about what I could be doing that's wrong?

Flight, GNC (Capsule) reports no go at this time. GNC notes that its kOS program is not mission-critical on this flight, and Scorpius I can be flown in fly-by-wire mode if the control program isn't tested and edited into working order by flight day,

What's the simplest way to write a PID loop? I've seen great examples of how to make a PID loop longhand, but I can't figure out what it means by when it says "pidloop feature" (first paragraph, http://ksp-kos.github.io/KOS_DOC/tutorials/pidloops.html). Can anybody show me where to find an example of this?

I like Ike!

@CliftonM I really enjoyed watching the twitch videos of the first launch. Have you considered live-tweeting the missions as well?

@ZooNamedGames - if we can't find an astronaut, why don't we stick a probe core onto the capsule and treat it like a test run for a first manned flight?

ILikeIke, GNC (Capsule), is in an unplanned hold for Software-Hardware Integration Testing and the bug fixing that comes with it. I anticipate being able to report GO in the next few days.

@randomstonerfromaus this looks really cool! I'm confused by the first post though- is this only for Linux, or will it work on OS X as well?

@ZooNamedGames I'm really interested in this project you're spearheading- it seems fascinating. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to get the longer videos of your first launch (the ones on Twitch that aren't on YouTube) to play on the web browser on my tablet. Do you know if that's an issue on my end or not? Additionally, are you using kOS at this point? If not, is that something you'd consider for the future?

@Riderfighter thanks for the offer! I don't know the first thing about github so I'm going to try to do it myself as an introduction to it, but if I have any questions, I know where to go for help. If I'm able to from my device (I'm not on a computer), I'll post whatever my finished product is in this thread.

I'm not sure if this question has been asked before or not, but is there any documentation for kOS in a downloadable or printable format? The user guide on Github is impressive and great for refrence when I'm online, but it'd be nice to be able to look at the documentation without being connected to the internet.

TWR for liftoff is always >1.0 (I don't know what its supposed to be for survivable ascents from the few celestial bodies that have atmospheres). Good luck with your project!

This is a really great idea! Unfortunately, I don't use Cryogenic Engines. Are you planning on making a version of this mod without any dependencies?

I would do whatever's easiest for you to model. The image looks plenty big to me. Out of curiosity, how will the delta-V of Rodan be impacted by the update?

Mine is definitely the SSTO Tsiolkovsky, which I successfully piloted to LKO and back to win the K-Prize.

If you're into shooters, you might want to check out [link]http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/85209-1-0-BDArmory-v0-8-3-%28critical-fixes-improved-AI%29-Dev-Thread-May-30[/link]. BD Armory has missiles and bombs, so if you think that might hold your interest, I'd encourage you to try that. FYI, it (and other mods) are not compatible with the demo.

tygoo7- The new Rodan looks absolutely amazing! MeCripp- thanks for the tip! I don't know the first thing about .cfg files so I didn't know I could change it. I made the suggestion not just to make things easier/more realistic (because I was trying to use Rodan as a crew ferry), but also to better understand how tygoo7 intends for Rodan to be used.

If you're updating Rodan, I'd like to respectfully suggest that you make the command capsule controllable with 0 Kerbals inside. There's actually been cases where crew ferries have needed to fly to space or return to the ground unmanned (Soyuz 32, 33, 34 come to mind), so I think it would make sense if Rodan (which appears to be derived from Dragon V2, which I would consider to be a crew ferry) is also capable of flying unkerballed. What do you think?

Congrats on the release! Clearly you've put a lot of time into this pack.

I was flying a resupply mission yesterday with Rodan, and I noticed something odd. MechJeb would not dock Rodan to anything else because it couldn't control Rodan from a docking port. Has anybody else had this issue?

Here's my entry for the K Prize: http://imgur.com/a/8PoFu#0. My ascent profile isn't that great- I think I'm lucky that I didn't lose any parts to "re-entry heating" on ascent. Does anybody know what the technical term for "re-entry heating" is when you're intentionally leaving the atmosphere? My landing accidentally occurred on the night side of Kerbin because I tried and failed to use MechJeb to target the KSC landing strip . MechJeb failed in this instance because there wasn't enough Oxidizer for the maneuver, not because of a software error. It didn't even get me into the atmosphere- I finished the de-orbit burn with Monopropellant and the RCS system. But during the descent, I managed to totally avoid significant re-entry heating by pitching to 40° above the horizon until around 40 km. I should probably add that this was the second flight of my first SSTO design in 1.0.2 (and my second serious SSTO design attempt ever). I should be able to fly SSTO Tsiolkovsky without needing RCS for the de-orbit burn- I was impatient and did a couple maneuver nodes earlier than I should have, which probably wasted fuel. Also, the screenshot system on my computer automatically throttles up the engines, which made me even less efficient. Next up: see if I can get Tsiolkovsky on a one-way trip to Ike! Because I like Ike!

Congratulations!

Thanks for an awesome new spacecraft! Rodan is probably going to be my new Kerbin to LKO ferry. I'm excited to see where you go with this!