michal.don

Hi there, To shorten the waiting for the next mission, I re-flew the fuel pod mission, this time with a modified shuttle to fit in the "stock" category. I replaced the SpaceY boosters with clusters of Kickbacks, and unistalled the KJR (the autostrut function was working fine, so I guess KJR is no longer needed), and was able to take the pod to 83,000 km orbit with fuel to spare. All is documented in an imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/zJvAb All went fine, and no special maneuvers like gravity assists were needed, the shuttle is performing great even with stock boosters (I'm still going back to SpaceY, mainly for the looks). I might try landing the pod sometimes soon, this could prove to be an interesting challenge, I'm not sure how the shuttle will reenter weighing 40 tonnes more than usually, but hopefully much better than with a large space potato attached to it Michal.don

Hi, how quickly do the engines shut down? most of the engines, especially the early ones have a limited burn time, and become unreliable and prone to failing after that time. Is it possible that this is the case? Also, there is a sub-forum for gameplay question like this, and a whole thread for discussing RO, I think you should be able to find better help there. Michal.don

To be honest, I found the mission to be quite easy, compared to the Duna and Jool ones, which I guess is to be expected. A Munar mission is a good idea, it is somewhere between the LKO and interplanetary ones on the difficulty scale. But I enjoyed it like all the others, it was nice to fly my shuttle after a long break And I forgot to mention, I'm using several mods, especially KJR and SpaceY (for the boosters) which place me in the "modded" category, so I should get the "modded" badge. Also, congratulations on how popular the challenge is getting again Michal.don

Hi there, my crew of Kolumbia, all of them shuttle veterans are reporting for duty! The mission was to deploy a crewed laboratory on the surface of the Mun, so the shuttle had to be modified a bit, especially a landing system for airless bodies had to be developed. Nevertheless, Kolumbia proved to be a versatile machine in all the missions it has flown so far, so no too extensive adjustments had to be made. All the important moments documented in an album: http://imgur.com/a/hO6BE The mission went well, apart from having to learn how to fly with 1.2.2 SAS, which is quite different from 1.1.3 for my shuttle. I hope everything is documented properly, It is so great to have this challenge back, man I missed it Thanks, Michal.don

Glad you resurrected this one as well, again, this was a fun challenge. Imgur album documenting the mission: http://imgur.com/a/H0Y85 (imgur is trying really hard to make me hate it, some pictures might be in wrong order) I believe I completed all the objectives, and since I landed on the KSC runway, my score should be 100 pts. Some pictures: Two stage launch vehicle + 4 SRBs Even Valentina looks a bit nervous The rover performs really well, even in rough terrain reentry Thanks for the challenge, I really had fun, expect me soon in another one of yours Michal.don

Ok, let me rephrase the original question a bit - I think I "understand" (more like I have an idea) that the calculations are pretty difficult and that the system itself is not a stable one because all the bodies affect each other. But I'm curious how this fact affects behaviour of planets and their moons, for example in our solar system. I heard that the orbit of the Moon is getting lower and lower, and in distant future, it might get so close to Earth it will be torn apart. Which force lowers the orbit? Is it gravity of the Sun? Certain moons are believed to be captured astroids. How does a celestial body get captured into orbit of another one (without Tylo gravity assist )? Is there a "simple" explanation for these things? Generally, these, that work in another way than Sphere-of-influence and on-rails orbits we know so well from KSP? Thanks, Michal.don

Thanks, both these pages are quite informative, but I'm afraid the math is too advanced for me to properly understand Michal.don

Hi, could anyone explain/link me to an explanation, preferrably a simplified one, what determines whether an orbit is stable or unstable in real solar systems/N-body systems generally? I heard a lot about bodies in unstable orbits, but I can't get my head around how that works. Thanks, Michal.don

"I believe there's something to be said about exploring beautiful places. It's good for the spirit."

To make your scoring issue a bit more coplicated, I humbly present my Gemini Lunar mission recreated in RSS/RO The setup for the mission was as follows: Because the Gemini spacecraft were already well tested and considered reliable, the board of directors decided to scrap the Apollo program and stick with the known Gemini capsule. Although there were voices that suggested a separate spacecraft for landing on the Moon, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous was an untested concept and generally considered too dangerous, so it was decided that the ship will be assebmled in LEO. Because the most influential member of the board (known as "The Mad Scientist") has limited the number of launches to two, the Titan boosters were not enough for the job. Luckily, a modified Saturn V booster developed for the cancelled Apollo program had a great lifting capacity, the mission was hard, but possible. The first launch brought a transfer stage and the descent stage for the Moon landing to LEO, the second launch on a modified Titan booster launched the crew in a Gemini pod and an ascent stage and docked to the first craft. A few pictures that I like the most, the rest can be found in the linked imgur album: The crew on the Moon, the giant spacecraft behind them The second stage of the Gemini I craft We have a liftoff! The rest: http://imgur.com/a/OJiQl Score: +20 (the main mission objective completed) +5 (Earth Orbit Rendezvous) +11 (Landing prestige, both pilots on the Moon) +3 (Happy together, both pilots in the pod for the whole time) +3 (We're done with that, the service module containing the fuel cells, consumables and RSC jettisoned before reentry) +3 (Just in case, LES present) +2 (Is that a Titan II?, two engine first stage, one engine second stage) +3 (Wow, A Titan III, two SRBs on the first stage) +6 (Won't Apollo miss that Saturn V? A 5-engine first stage, 5-engine second stage, although I'm not sure it counts because of the SRBs) +2 (That's no bull, two-engine transfer stage) +3 (Dropping some weight, descent stage left on the Moon) +10 (Welcome home, both pilots safely landed on Earth) +3 (We can take it, splashed down without damage) That adds to 74 points (68 in case the SRBs disqualify the lauch vehicle as Saturn V) The mission was played with the Realism Overhaul suite of mods in the full sized Real Solar system. Thanks for yet another great challenge, I had a great time. Michal.don

Hi, it depends on the type of radiators you are using. If you are using the fixed ones, they only cool the part they are attached to and the parts adjacent to it. If you are using the foldable ones, they should cool the whole vessel, and you either don't have enough of them, or you encountered a bug of some sort. Michal.don

I meant those cases when you build a mothership, that is kind of assymetrical, so you can't burn the engines and keep going straight. I believe that in those cases, rather than slapping tonnes of reaction wheels, a change in design is the way to go

-The big SRBs. My beginner crafts had obscene amounts of those, often on both first and second stage. Now I just use biggen LF/O engines for my lifting purposes (thanks, SpaceY) -Lots of reaction wheels. If you need lots of those, you should reevaluate your design. That are the first that come to mind.

Well, instead of a few weeks, it took me two days Stats of the mission: Cost in LKO: 242 969 funds Mass in LKO: 180.155 tonnes Mass without PPMs propellant: 91,550 tonnes Dry mass: 78,745 tonnes Propellant fraction: 0.563 Further specifications (for my own RP reasons) The DEM and the sample return probes must be single stage vehicles, they are to be left in LDO to be reused by the next missions. The vessel must have communications powerful enough to stay in touch with Kerbin through the whole mission There must be more crew capacity than strictly needed, I don't want my astronauts to suffer in one seat for three years Mods used KJR, KER, Better Burn Time Procedural tanks and fairings SpaceY (for the lifters) The MK2 to MK3 pod - I can't recall the mod The 2,5 m NERVA engine (same ISP, mass and TWR as 4 NERVAs, advantages of gimbal and looking awesome) Mods installed and not used Probably too much. I tried to use as few modded parts as possible, with the exception of these stated above. All the important stuff is documented in an imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/MVJFW I hope I've done and documented everything properly, if there are any issues or unclear parts, I'll try to explain. Thanks for the challenge, I've had a great time designing and flying this mission (though i could do a lot better, all the propulsin modules had lots of fuel left after parking in LKO). And is there possibly a badge for this mission? I love nice badges for my signature Thanks, Michal.don

Wow, this looks great! I'll probably have a go at it in a few weeks, now I'm properly devoured by my Realism Overhaul carreer. It's great to see an original and this difficult challenge here. Michal.don

Thanks @DStaal, that should cover my needs. Michal.don

Hi, Could you please suggest a mod that adds command pods/crew pods with more crew capacity that fit nicely on 3,75m rockets, or even larger ones? I love to use SpaceY parts that are 5m and 7,5m, so it desn't look very good if the huge rocket has a hitchhiker and a Mk2 pod on the top of it. Thanks, Michal.don

I'm sorry, but I don't think I follow. Are you talking about starting RO with different texture settings, or am I missing your point completely?

Not really. SSD, a decent computer, it takes a few minutes.

Ah, ok, I will probably give them a shot. Thanks, Michal.don

Beautiful! May I ask, do you use any specific add-on that adds these Saturn-ish textures? Or are they in the classic RO suite, and I just can't find them? Thanks, Michal.don

Yes, they are more efficient, and I used them plenty on smaller rockets. But they are nowhere near powerfull, and unless I use 30-ish of them on my first stage, I'm not going to space today

Wow, these are some nice looking rockets! I'm quite new to the whole RO thing, and I'm playing a RP-0 carreer. My current main aim is not efficiency, but size (because you can't land a Kerbal on the Moon and take him home with 20 tonnes in LEO). This is my take on Apollo hardware: It weighs and performs roughly like the real thing and honestly, I'm quite happy with myself I may share some more when I get to later parts of my carreer. Michal.don

Preparing for my first Moon landing in RO/RP-0. Flew the CSM to a Lunar orbit. Testing of the LEM is next. Michal.don

Yeah, Although I could supply the EC by solar panels, I am, for role playing reasons, trying the Apollo approach. Thanks a lot, Michal.don