Shadow dream

@ agrasyuk: What is it that you have put under the wings of your Tubas Jumbo? Looks like a mount you could hang another engine onto without altering the design too much. A bit more TWR helps with the speed issue you mentioned. Alternatively that rear ramp has a variant that can mount MK2 parts. If you use the MK2 to K (i think) converter you can put 4x 2.5m engines onto the rear. Well, it puts the CoM quite far back, but it sure fixes you problem with thrust. That's what I do and my craft flies quite well (as long as I don't stall it). Screenshots are a few posts back. @Aero Gav: yep, those OPT parts are really nice! qudos to the author!

That sounds interesting: A *controlled* way of making your ship break appart! Has anyone told Werner van Kerman about that yet? Oh an while I'm at it, a small update on my SSTA design: Since I already have OPT installed I tried to create a ship using the Dark Drive. Size of a Mammoth, thrust of a Mainsail, ISP and thrust behaviour of a Whipslash. Basicly I built the same ship I have posted earlier, but without Rover Bay, instead it uses 2x Dark Drive as only engines. Honestly, I felt like a dirty cheater. Those beasts got me onto Eve soil without launch window, gravity assist or aero breaking. After some ISRU same on the return. Just hit the gas and the incredible ISP made it possible, even tough she's LFO. Is Eve really *that* kind of a b**ch, forcing me into such an engine? #Sad.

So seems like LF only SSTOs will by design fail to be a SSTA due to TWR missing. I like them for their fantastic dV which does 90% of the job. So time for some extended LFO designs. I also noticed how inefficient my ISRU bay is. I designed it to be fast and look like super duty, ending up with a few wasted / dead tons. I will absolutely keep that in mind with my next design. The only time I used the small ISRU was when building a SSTO out of MK2 plane parts. However I got liquided with the small drill, which doesn't supply me with the amount of Ore I'd like. I used to put 4x min. on my craft (which was hard enough to seamlessly fit onto the ship) and still found the large drill to be worth the weight. Now I just couldn't run one inside the MK2 bay, the drill would refuse to dig due to the horizontal angle on surface. Mk3 bays on the other hand are perfect, but in return quite scream for the 2.5m Converter. Also the idea of exchanging the rover for a small lander sounds appealing. Actualy I like rovers for their ease of driving arround. Usualy I make small ones, just perfect for the Mk2 bay, just like this one: https://imgur.com/F1Pj4ol (I used a plane for most of the way up there). A craft the size of a big Malemut should no doubt be able to reach Tylo with some science on board. Thank you so far for your hints and ideas, I will try to get something working :-)

I have a question: Recently I have built a lot of larger SSTOs, the kind that take ISRU with them, Scan modules for ground analysis (ISRU) and a Rover for driving arround. My favourite one was made with OPT spaceplane parts and I am happy with it. It's just capable of reaching Minmus to refuel and since it's pure LF the dV is fantastic on NERVs. Here some pics: Now I haven't left the Kerbin System like 4-ever. Just building, testing, fixing, testing more, etc. While I get my crafts off from Kerbin onto Minmus, thinking I got myself a nice SSTA (Single Stage to Anywhere), I noticed a huge flaw in the term "Anywhere": Eve and Tylo. *dun dun dun*. This week I have tried a little playing on those two (Alt-F12). I placed a small SSTO into Eve Orbit, deorbited and noticed the crazy atmosphere. I'm using environmental mods, lots of clouds, and I thought it was pretty awesome descending, but heat and then brick-mosphere spoiled it. Using infinite fuel allowed me to run my perfectly fine Kerbin Air Engines and try to move, but I barely reached 100m/s. There was no way I was going to leave Eve. So I tried a bigger caliber, my OPT SSTO, but I ran into pretty much the same issues, not enough thrust and therefore not enogh dV. I couldn't even get her into climbing, even slight pitches caused me to lose speed. Now just thinking about a ship with Oxidizer Engines makes me pass out; The weight, the fuel,... --- Then I went on onto Tylo, also using my OPT SSTO. But unfortunately I couldn't even go below 1000m/s orbit speed when the ground decided to kiss me, all because of lacking TWR. I have searched YouTube for help, but the best attempt I could find was a single Mamoth powered balistic missile. So yes, it's possible to SSTO Eve, but I want to do exploration missions with that craft too and ISRU my way through the Kerbol system, not get stranded in a 92km by 92 km Eve Orbit. My craft shall be golden, just like that crazy beast Scott Manley built in his Interstellar Missions. Now, what kind of hints and tipps can you give me to try stuff? I'm pretty sure I will need Aerospikes, or at least Rapiers to save on engine-weight and mounting points. How important are wings? On Eve ground they might be useful, but I actualy think it's way more important to gain height fast and leave brick-mosphere asap. The dV requirement is somewhere above 8K, right?

I participated in the V4 Missions and got stuck on the Asteroid catching. A shame since I started this challange specificly to do the mun-duna badges :-p I have to get back on my shuttle and fix the dV issues to catch me a rock once. As for ideas I have more of a request: I liked how you implemented the return of the 40t cargo as a bonus mission. I think it's a good idea to have some missions build on each other that way to push motivation for some extra bonus points on a later mission. i.e that space station we had to build in STS 8 would be nice to place *somewhere else*. Break it appart (after testing in LKO), reload it into cargo bay and rebuild it somewhere else. If possible even dock it to that pesky asteroid you had to catch and land - at the target planet of course. That would be a nice bonus challenge!

Usualy when I want to transfer stuff I use an SSTO with a suitable cargo bay. My favourite on is the large in the OPT mod. I can fit my Malemut rover in there nicely and also have it docked: For your situation I guess a small skycrane is what you want. It's dirt cheap and works very well - plus you can have it burn it's remaining fuel after landing and let it crash on the ground = no debris! Here, this one is overkill but that's about how you can make one: When I go Duna with one, I usualy slap a parachute on top and a heatshield on the bottom with another decoupler. Remember: Get yo' stagin' right!

Congratulations to Thread of the Month! My Mission #09 is going well so far. I have a Craft in Orbit waiting for an Asteroid Class B to arrive. Actualy I'm playing Poker right now because I will try my "old" shuttle again. (Many complications with new designs... U__U ) At least I'm pretty lucky with that Asteroid since it comes in at about 500km and should be small enough to not wreck my shuttle at reentry. I have tested flight with much heavyer Ore tanks and it seems ok so far. Let's see if I can do a Runway Landing with the least aerodynamic payload too... Here are some teasers from planing: What I have done is to build a small probe which I can dock onto the Asteroid. To keep it real (following Mission #03) I also have a MMU onboard to place that docking claw. Beyond that I thought the only thing I might need is more dV, so I tossed in some ejectable fuel tanks. Still got 1200dV left in parking orbit - fingers crossed!

The Station is built! (aka. gimm'e ma badge) Here is the album, same as linked before, but this time with all the screen shots: https://imgur.com/a/O0Jr4 Not much story to it, just an usual Kerbal trip to space =) Anyhow, I enjoy my shuttle, so if some of you want to grab the Astronaut Badge, here is the craft file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/423933/Buran Kai MK1_1.craft (1.2.2). You need Raster Prop Monitor though since I have installed 2 Cameras. (No, they don't influence anything, it's just cool to have ) - Alternative: Here is a full stock version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/423933/Buran Kai MK1_1 nocam.craft She served me well and in it's current form is capable of dealing with all Missions from 1-8. You have to be careful on ascent though: She likes to yaw a little to the north. Also, depending on payload, you may have to shut down the top main engine of the trio-cluster on the shuttle (Hotkey 3) and switch it on later during ascent. This is needed for light payloads since the CoM is not centered enough between fuel tank n' shuttle and the offset of the CoT will result in more torque than the RWs can handle. It's not difficult, but forgetting it will result in nice fireworks! - a huge pro is on how easy she gets back to the ground. Once you have a good trajectory you can keep her prograde all the way and once sub-mach she is kind to fly. Also she does an "auto-jump up" which means somewhere along 30km height she will even out by herself, aiding to keep her cool (can be seen at the end of album). Once on runway use the chutes to stop and you are good to go! -- Hotkeys are: 1 - Main Engines; 2 - OMS; 3 Top Main Engine; 5 - Docking Bay; 6 - Cargo Bay; 7 - Solar Panels (inside docking bay) Now for Mission 9: So, I have to build a shuttle, launch it in 1 go, and it has to have enough dV to 1) orbit; 2) encounter an asteroid; 3) deorbit asteroid; 4) land on KSC with asteroid (on it's back + Kerbal riding it)?

Nice execution! Especialy the Launch stage, that's an interessting design! Just a small update on my side: I'm half way through the Station Builder. If there is one thing this mission has thought me, it's that I need to enhance my descent trajectory. I keep overshooting, desperately stalling the craft and bumping the Runway just enough to use my chute for stopping. If NASA was my boss, I'd be cleaning shoes by now Here's the Album so far, I'll add the remaining shots once I've got 'em: https://imgur.com/a/O0Jr4 The Habitation Module is nothing fancy, just enough room for 7 Kerbals, enough bandwith for 56kbit internet connection and enough batteries to charge a mobile phone once. Well, thanks to Raster Prop I could add some cams outside to monitor the other modules once they are here. The Science Module is basicly the Research Pod with high power antena and a Service Bay containing a small probe fitted with basic science. I tried to keep it minimalistic, just enough solar to power the engine (at best), 4 basic experiments to gather some science and a little RCS to re-dock easily (actualy I also used some to dock the module, lucky me I had that probe to control the Module)! I so have to try to build one that fits a Kerbal scientist and additional modules! Maybe upgrade the 2.5m bay to a Mk3 bay?

And here I am again, back with Mission 4! If you are wondering how I can "print" these successes so fast, I guess it's thanks to me having a working design from the start on that needed little tweaking to work fine in so far every mission Now the Station mission will probably be the last one I can do with the current shuttle I have, so once I have done that one it's time for some "real" upgrades - especialy since the Asteroid mission is suposed to use the shuttle as capture and landing device. Unless .... *dramatic music* BTT, here is the album: https://imgur.com/a/7k8Pr Nothing fancy since there's not much going on. The only shocker was - yet again - the lack of dV towards the end and me desperately stalling the craft in order to not overshoot too much. Anyway, crew is back home sound and safe! Although the original NASA mission didn't plan to dock the crafts together, the positioning of my ports was so kind as to let me do it anyway, so thanks for that one, past-me!

Mission 3: Success! Now even though I did a lot of careful planing (= open shuttle, insert telescope, close shuttle), I managed to run into a severe dV issue on the go which lead me to do the mission twice. The first one was about as perfect as the second one (see album) with the exception that I didn't had the dV to even out my inclination. No zero-inclination = no easy landing at KSC. I had just enough fuel to touch the atmosphere, bleed off my orbit and crash in the middle of nowhere. The Telescope was in orbit, the crew survived but that badge wants daddy to land on the runway. So I revocered my brave men (and women) and stuffed them into the next shuttle. Actually I didn't modify it before, I used the exact same craft again with the exact same payload. The difference was soley to use the main engines up into stable orbit only and from there on use my LV-Terrier, which ment my Ascent Fuel Tank took me way further and almost up to the 550km. Ok, I also got the inclination on launch much better than before, so there's that. Deployed the Telescope, stuck it together nicely and back home we go! Now I got low on fuel again, but at least I could get my inclination down to zero, so I didn't care that much, still had tons of RCS and an atmosphere to slow me down. I got pretty nervous on decent, seeing how the orbital trajectory raised and fell with aerodynamics kicking in. Remember, no fuel to safe me if I messed up! Unfortunately my craft stalled somewhere arround Mount Kerman (or what that mountain's name next to KSC is) then went flat-spin. I though I had to F9 that one, but managed to catch her again and get her down perfectly on the runway! Phew!! Here's the album: https://imgur.com/a/2GZif I have tried to get better shots during daylight, since the last happened mostly at night which was pretty aweful. I hereby claim the "STS Commander ** Badge" - the official one Now for Mission 4: All I have to do is launch two shuttles with some crew, rondezvous them to transfer the kerbals, and land again? It sounds so easy...

My badge doesn't c...? awww man! I just planed Mission 3, I'll upload the result later, once I've completed it. (Can you believe it, I'm doing all of this just because I want the Duna Badge, that one will call for some heavy calculations!)

So now here is the final take on Mission 2b: First of, I loaded my savegame in space with the broken tank. Kicked it out, F12ed a fixed version into the 130km orbit (where the original was deployed in Mission 1b) and loaded that one in. Since I still used the same craft I actualy lost dV for that maneuver - but doesn't matter, I had plenty left after landing =) So here is the album: https://imgur.com/a/IlVFE - it's the complete one, so scroll to the last few images if you missed my first post Blooper: Decent was easy, but I came in a little too high. So slam the rudder, bleed of speed, turn to the island runway and burn the engine to not nosedive the lady! Come in for a perfect landing once again aaaannnnndddd.... Fuel failed me again! I'll help myself to the next badge, thx!

Holy Crap that second mission is not easy at all. "How hard can it be?" I said. " 's just a bunch of sats and return something I threw into orbit with one hand tied on my back!" I said. Boy was I wrong! Current Status: 3 Sats are well in geostationary orbit, all at 2863.3 Mm. Also I did rendezvous with the payload and already ran into a severe problem: Those Solar Panels are not retractable! It is not possible to get them inside the bay again - OP please share a payload that fixes this issue. Use the Solar Panels that are sealed in that white box. (I had the same issue when I built my shuttle) So, what I did was to try to dock it "sideways", say the small 1.25m port on the back of my craft. Didn't work, the payload is just a little too long. OK then, let's use the OTHER 1.25m port on the front! Yeah, that's better: Came down, just to KSC after several F9s, headed for landing but due to instabilieties I was forced to run the main engine. She was fine and just perfect on landing - until the fuel ran out and she nosedived into the ground :-( ... F9 ... Next try I removed the solar panels with Whack-a-Kerbal (the mass is negligable) and docked the payload internally. As you can see I had to try to get closer to the runway in order to save fuel. It worked out somehow, also the craft was much more stable but the cargo wasn't too happy when I have arrived. I guess this doesn't count as accomplished :-p No worries, I have a quicksafe in orbit, just at decent. I'll try to get that baby down sound and safe - and earn that god damn badge! Here is the so far successful part of the mission: https://imgur.com/a/IlVFE I'll update it once I'm done.

Ok, now it's time for my first badge! Here is my STS 1a+1b Mission stock: As craft I have used a slightly modified version of an earlier ship I have released at 1.0.5: My Buran Kai. Here is the gallery: https://imgur.com/a/i3IjY (How challenging it can be to do screen shots during ascent! Almost forgot to do some!) So next one is 2a+2b: I'm a little confused here. Did I get this right?: Build 3 probes with min.1 relay antena each, reaction wheels and some propulsion Fly the shuttle into a 350+km orbit - is it circular or PE > 350km ? Deploy the probes one by one (i.e 2h appart in their orbit) and fly them into geostationary orbit (=2863,3 Mm) Rondezvous with the 40t payload I have now sitting in orbit, dock with it Land at KSC or equivalent

Oh, I have a question! I want to try those challenges aswell and created a new game-folder (to keep part mods out of my *fun* install). So far I have installed following mods via CKAN: Action Groups Extended BetterBurn Time Docking Port Alignment Indicator Editor Extensions Redux Engine Lighting Gangar Grid Kerbal Alarm Clock Kerbal Engineer Redux Module Manager Portrait Stats Precise Maneuver RasterPropMonitor inkl. Core RCS Build Aid The Janitor's Closet (though I probably won't need it) Toolbar TriggerAu Flags This does still count as "Stock", right? Now, does KerbalJointReinforcement also count as mod? I don't expect huge issues, but it might save me somewhere, where stock would kill my craft, so I'm not sure if it's ok to use. Also, just to be safe, do I have to stick with the same shuttle for all missions or may I create another one / edit it. You said "use your cargo space" to other pilots, so should I assume this is all the editing I'm allowed on my craft down the road?

You mean roll her 90° so you can pitch your way into orbit? Why don't you just rotate the craft in the VAB? Pick up the craft by the cockpit (or whatever your first part was) and WASD her into position ;-) I like to turn her so you pich upwards (S) to go into orbit. The construction helps you because the CoM moves towards the shuttle and the CoT remains until the boosters burn out -> The craft helps you to pitch in the right direction. Nice shuttle btw!

My suggestion was to download my version, take a look at the CoM and CoT, especialy the difference between "full" and "depleted" CoM. Looking at your video I think you have angled your engines too far. Let them straight. The Fuel Tank is on ultra diet during ascent making the shuttle the CoM and the Boosters completely offset, which is why it got out of control.

May I link to my latest Shuttle Build, which works decently? (payload ~40t) It may help you to find out how to build a stable and useful aircraft. Shuttles are very tricky, especialy due to their heavily shifting CoM!

Read my post above yours ;-) You're welcome

Thanks for your comments! I have done a few flights to test the behaviour without the reaction wheels. My Conclusion: The more you load in, the more I recommend to use the third Main Engine from the start on. I have done an empty flight without any other change than to remove the RWs. Went straight to Mun (circular at 10km) and back. Then I did one with a Jumbo loaded, same config. I had to turn on the Assist Engines to prevent her from pitching over - the SRBs get too powerful with the shifted CoM. She almost fell over, luckily the SRBs depleded before that. But any more mass might make that dangerous - so be sure to launch that third engine early on! Oh and by the way, I noticed that you can safe fuel when switching to Orbital-mode when the SRBs burn out, instead of at 20km as I posted above. Just keep an eye on your AP and don't pitch too much at start (rather 95° than 90°).

I've been playing KSP for a long time now, and I have enjoyed many of the mods that you guys have shared here. Now I think it's time to share back! This is the first craft I am uploading. It's based on the shuttle-design, but fitted to my needs. She gets into orbit quite easily and behaves well at reentry. I enjoy the flight much, so I decided to share her with you. Actualy this design here is not 100% what I have been using. I noticed she is lightly mod-dependent, so I decided to make her STOCK before uploading. This ment to replace a KIS container with a fueltank, change the wheels from procedural to stock ones and ... that's it. She's a bit heavier now, but should still perform decently. Action Groups: Abort - Deploy Chute 1 - Toggle 3 Main Engines 2 - Toggle 2 Assist Engines 3 - Toggle small Cargo Bay + Solar Panels (The panels won't open with the bay closed, just wait for the bay to open then toggele twice to open the panels too) 4 - Toggle large Cargo Bay Get her into Orbit: 1.) Pitch upwards ("S") to about 95°-90° right from the start, or you risk toughing the clamps. Make SAS hold the ship there. 2.) When the SRBs burn out, ditch them, set SAS to Prograde and switch from Surface-mode to Orbit-mode 3.) Stage off the Mainsails when they burn out and keep going Prograde until you reach desired AP. Then stop the Engines. 4.) At AP lift your PE up to 40km and ditch the last tank - except you don't mind debris or need additional dV, then you can keep the extra fuel. Keep burning until you reach desired orbit. (Note: Staging the big tank fires up the 2 Assist Engines! You don't really *need* them, so feel free to press "2" to toggle them off and save fuel.) So far I mainly launch stuff up to a Rockomax Jumbo-64 into Orbit, which means about 40t of payload. (With support of that Jumbo-64 it's enough dV to visit Mun!) If you can fit in more, feel free. She should be capable of taking the punishment! If you have managed to overload her, just make sure that all three Main Engines fire on launch (instead of only 2 now). A few seconds just before the SRBs burn out are the most critical because when fully loaded she risks to run out of torque to counter the SRBs. The third engine (or maybe even the Assist Engines) should be enough to counter that. Talking about that Jumbo-64: I have added two Subassemblies into this pack. One is said Jumbo, outfitted with Docking ports of 2.5m and 1.25m, a Probe to prevent "debris-ing off", batteries for easier docking and landing legs. To those who remember Scott Manley's 100% reuseable Space program, build your own spider and start mining Mun! The other Subassemblie is the same thing but with a Rockomax 32 tank (both can be seen in the album). This leaves some space in the shuttle i.e to bring a satelite with you, or SCIENCE! Download: Download Buran Kai (Stock) Here are some screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/0sKP0 Edit: Due to popular demand, I have tested a version without additional Reaction Wheels on the Launch Tanks. You can simply remove them ingame and save the craft. Here's a copy-paste from a future post: I have done a few flights to test the behaviour without the reaction wheels. My Conclusion: The more you load in, the more I recommend to use the third Main Engine from the start on. I have done an empty flight without any other change than to remove the RWs. Went straight to Mun (circular at 10km) and back. Then I did one with a Jumbo loaded, same config. I had to turn on the Assist Engines to prevent her from pitching over - the SRBs get too powerful with the shifted CoM. She almost fell over, luckily the SRBs depleded before that. But any more mass might make that dangerous - so be sure to launch that third engine early on! Just keep an eye on your AP and don't pitch too much at start (rather 95° than 90°). Cheers!

That tank is a little bit too large for my needs. That MK2 Cargo Bay is not that large after all ;-) I have tried Octagonal Struts first, but they are quite long too. So instead I got one of those ring-tanks. It worked better since I could clip a little with it. This is what I got: Link 1 - Link 2 But it still was not good enough! The Rover kept falling out off the ground - well the wheels did. It still was too tight! Next step was getting something even thinner: A battery! With some more clipping I could get this: Link 3 It works flawlessly now! Thanks!

I have encountered a weired bug when trying to build a convenient Rover-Loading System for my SSTO. Before I have simply built my rover with a CC-R2 Connectorport on top. A Kerbal had to get out of my SSTO and hook a winch to it. Then I could lift the Rover upwards into an upsidedown cargo bay. In order to get that working without a Kerbal I first tried to hook up Docking Port Jr.s and have the Rover dock autonomous, but they would block the winch from extending. So I smacked on a CC-R2 Connectorport onto the winch (the same way it would be plugged in by a Kerbal) and slapped that Docking Port Jr. onto that. Now the Winch did extend and successfully dock with my rover. But unfortunately when I try to pull it up into the bay the physics break and the winch won't lock. The Rover starts shaking uncontrollably and only stops when I extend the cable to lower the rover. As Mods I only have Editor Extensions, KAS and KIS installed.