GarrisonChisholm

I get so vested in my crew's lives that I feel a need to post a story dissecting their demises when the ...suffer a demise. >.<

I built a quite workable Mk2 space-plane built vertically, so it looked like the English Electric Lightening (pictured somewhere in the "what did you do today?" thread for anyone who really feels the vigor of youth to dig through and find it). I flew it unmanned several times, then used it manned several times. Then one re-entry the angle was just a little bit too wrong and- poof. Personally, I think the transition parts for the Mk2 body do *not* actually live up to the heat tolerance that's on the tin. I now bedazzle my non-capsule re-entry vehicles with radiators. Maybe it helps? Not sure, but no-one has died yet...

Random aside- I was at Arlington Park Racecourse on Saturday and there was a horse running named... Just Jim. Yes a wagered it. No it didn't come in. Keep up the great work!! sorry I've been a silent reader so long now...

Wha wha what???...... O.O (...that's a +1 )

When one spends the time to read this line of thought in its entirety, I think great merit will be found. This- *especially* being "forced" to extend contracts to companies to preserve their manufacturing infrastructure - adds a brilliant level of strategy that adds enormous replayability, because how your new game flows depends entirely upon how those weird random missions drop. I would like to add, it would be a viable strategy for the player to say, "You know, I am going to need that companies 'X' part in the future, so I won't let them go out of business. I am not going to test farming in low solar orbit however. I will accept the contract with no intention of executing it, and at least pay them the failed penalty money to keep them employed."

I won't ever be doing this myself (PC futzing timidity mainly and time/space issues too), but it gave me a warm glow just knowing someone was playing with the view from orbit that you demonstrate. Kudos my good sir!

I think in the beginning a "structured" path to your first moon (either one) landing might be useful, to tell beginning players "this is the next step according to your leaders," but that you could post-pone as long as you wanted while honing your skills.

I docked once to prove to myself I could do it, and ever since then I decided it was less of a headache to build impossibly large and complex machines that will never need to dock. No, I haven't landed on Duna yet with a life support mod, why do you ask?...

I was flipping through my non-work tabs at work when I realized the Duna Landing was already here, and I totally zoned out completely absorbed by it for a good 12 minutes. Thank you! (my employer perhaps not so much - but honestly, July 3rd is slow as heck) Congrats!!!

Above, the Quartermaster 4-bal Capsule, extended range 'High' resource pod off-set in image. Being an accident report discussing the loss of Bob Kerman, Scientist, and 3 TOURIST (Transient Objective University Researching Interdisciplinary ScientisT) kerbalnauts on High Quarterlander 2, what would have been the 4th kerballed landing on Minmus. Background, Equipment. The Quartermaster 4-Person Capsule had been flown 5 times previously, three times balled, and had proven quite capable of safely conducting its crew's passage on missions lasting up to 79 days, though never flown past ~ 30. It was constructed early in the space-program so-as to possess a multi-kerbal capsule capability that was stable and safe for hands-free re-entry. The vessel can return from Minmus with a direct-entry periapsis of 20km, though typically the Kerbin return orbit is circularized to spare the crew unnecessary stresses. The Agency had suffered no notable failures, and was actively working through a small handful of minor issues to perfect the design. The Flight. Launch was nominal if low, though orbit was achieved at ~79k/km with no undue concern. On service-fairing deployment however it was observed that a fairing panel became hung up on one of the service module's 4 landing 'piers', and while it soon broke free it took away 2 of the 4 deployable solar panels. On panel deployment, it was found that the 2 adjacent panels adequately powered the vessel as well as covering complimentary azimuths, so no mission threat was observed. The crew then endured a ~ 5 day stay in orbit while they waited for their injection window to Minmus. As the 3 crewed flights previously, orbit was maintained with no warnings or concerns. On day 3 of the mission however during a routine arming and power check it was found that one of the 4 Ant reentry engines was unresponsive, and after troubleshooting Mission Control declared it dead for future mission use. Should the re-entry engines be needed, the opposite engine to the fail would be simply deactivated, and so no mission threat was observed. When the transfer injection window opened a particularly precise burn was achieved, with an acceptable 179k Minmus periapsis found with 14 days of transit. The crew settled into normal transit routine. Approximately 2 hours later the capsule reported that power was dangerously low and life support had been disabled. Mission Control looked into the matter and found that the solar panels had positive sun angle and the batteries were charging, and so advised the crew to disable their alarms and expect the batteries to be fully charged in less than an hour. Orbital geometry saw no reason for this power loss- it was well beyond Kerbin's shadow, and Mun was on the opposite side of the planet. Approximately 3 days later the crew reported lightheadedness. Upon investigation it was found that there was a CO2 level of 98%. All scrubbers were running and functional, and were observed to be actively lowering the CO2 levels. No action was taken by Crew or Control to re-activate the systems, they appeared to be functioning when observed. Little could be done, and the crew asphyxiated before the atmosphere could be returned to safe levels. The mission was scrubbed, and the capsule safely returned to Kerbin for recovery of the remains. Analysis. The craft had weathered many orbital shadow periods during her wait with no battery warnings, and the primary solar panel arrays were correctly aligned for use, in addition to the fact that the undamaged secondary capsule panels were deployed normally. The burn for Minmus was conducted on the night side of Kerbin, so the batteries before engine ignition were in Discharge. On engine ignition, the alternators began charging the batteries. During the 150 second burn the batteries should have been topped off at 2200 units. Control supposes that the alternator flow triggered a fault in the computer subsystems, such that the battery regulator was stuck looking for charge from the alternator, thus not charging once the engine burn concluded and the craft was in solar lux. The batteries then drained, and the energy crisis began. Control's conclusion that with the restoration of solar charging all would be corrected resulted in poor instructions being given to the crew and the dire situation developing in the capsule overlooked until remedy was not possible- though it is questionable there was any remedy at all. The scrubbers were working when examined, and seen to be lowering CO2. Procedure Updates & Resolutions. 1) The Capsule should have a Manual Purge feature, to flush the atmosphere in the cabin and allow complete replacement by on-board O2. EVEN by EVA the atmosphere cannot be vented, thanks to the high degree of fail-safe engineering in the auto-airlock doors. Had the craft had this feature, the crew would have survived. 2) Additional solar panels should be installed and the fairing separation issues corrected, or the soon-to-be developed RTG units should be installed in every crewed vessel to prevent this loss again. 3) A Kerbin orbital test of all ship systems should be conducted, attempting to reproduce failure modes observed, before the craft is again used beyond LKO. 4) While a timely EVA by Bob would have given him 2 extra hours for the capsule atmosphere to restore, it should be noted however that he declined to do so out of fairness to his 3 crew-mates who could not. The KSA hopes this analysis will bring some closure to the 4 families and many Agency employees affected, and as well serve to caution other space agencies of potential opportunities for failure.

doh. You know, I have failed so many ways today... I knew that, but yours was the last thing I read. Brain, bad.

Good evening- is there a "manual" for this mod? I have installed it, and love it, but there is so much more than I can wrap my head around. I see numerous resources with no obvious use, and "shielding" which sounds vital but I don't understand how to implement. The front page of this thread "thumbnails" a lot, but I have failed to come across the specifics on functionality. I am following @CatastrophicFailure's Duna attempt just to learn where she fails, for it is my intent to do the same in a few months. (thanks for making mistakes for me Cat!) If this is plainly stated somewhere and I have just missed it for inattentiveness, I'm sorry. I'll just hope for someone to point my nose in the right direction...

Thank you for steering me straight!

Hey all, just a quick question. I notice that for the Materials Bay & Materials Bay Jr, and as well those small 'materials' packages (sorry, not at my home PC and no notes, but I think Aeronomy, Engineering, Meteorology, and a 4th) that you need to return them for complete science. I don't remember this from 1.12 (my last long play), and figured it was part of 1.22. I can justify it in my mind, for proper analysis of the materials being exposed you need to see them in a lab, so I was cool with it. However, I just orbited that Optical Observation Satellite, that has the shutters that open and the camera lens scans back and forth (sorry I don't have the exact name again), and was shocked to find that it wants it Returned to the surface for analysis before you can get Any science. At this I think, "what gives, its only Pixels of data." And; "Its a telescope, why would it be a Single Use (needs to be reset by a scientist) item?" So, is this functioning the way it is supposed to, or is there a settings tab I missed somewhere that is preventing any transmitted science from this part? Or, is it Kerbalism that is causing it, which is providing the pop-up messages which tell me that no data can be transmitted? If anyone knows off the top of their heads, I'd be pleased to see their reply. If my complete mod-list would be needed, then I will have to re-post my querry on the weekend. - Cheers!

Good morning- I installed this over the weekend, and I have CLOUDS! I would upload a photo if I had it, but suffice to say Kerbin looks beautiful, I *never* thought I would be able to play with clouds. Thank you so much for this, everyone involved in its creation. I did have one question though; when I click on the EVE tool-bar button at the Space Center, the first display seems to show part of a config but says only things like "error" or "undefined". However, everything seems to be working ok. Is this how it is supposed to look? I didn't click on anything in the config, just closed the window.