CDSlice

I don't think science labs in KSP can function unless the craft is controllable, so by including the GCU your craft will be controllable without the scientist in the capsule, leaving them free to do research in the lab.

Nah that's fine, it makes every release feel like an amazing new DLC. Plus I don't want to have to restart my save again so soon...

Hm, that seems a bit low for a parachutes, but it just might work.

Unless I'm missing something, Jeb may have handed Bill the funds too quickly. The Atlas booster doesn't allow surface attachments, so where are you going to stick the parachutes? Cool rockets BTW, the idea of Jeb blasting off at 10G's on a SRB is hilarious.

Previously in this forum, Jeb and his buds were launched into space on a very interesting rocket. Now it is time to see what was in the big fairing... (I will be keeping the pics in spoilers for space) This contraption is designed to take three kerbals to Duna in JNSQ, land two of them on Duna and return them to orbit, and then get them back home. It would do this by using two NERV engines running off of liquid fuel stored in the main core and four droptanks. To keep this mission semi-realistic the mothership has not only an extended Leo capsule but it also includes a three kerbal living space and a one kerbal space lab to process experiments both at Duna and on the journey home. Unfortunately, this mission had a few near catastrophes hit it. But that will come later in the story. First we have to get to Duna. It was here our first catastrophe struck. So apparently, if you have the whole Nertea suite of mods, the NERV is modified to require you to run a nuclear reactor while the engine is active. However, I did not anticipate this and therefore did not pack on thermal control parts on the vessel. After forgetting to turn off the reactor when making my departure and capture burns, my NERV engines were fried and dead in the water. Luckily, a little save file editing Jeb's amazing engineering skills fixed the NERVs to allow them to work again. After this, Val and Bob prepared to land on the surface of Duna. After a toastier descent than expected, Val and Bob were safely on the surface. This lander is a two stage design where the first Spark + 2 Ant stage provided the thrust for landing and take off while the second monoprop stage would finish getting the capsule into orbit. Or at least that was the plan... (I thought this screenshot was too beautiful to hide a spoiler) Bob performs the most sacred of Kerbal duties by planting and saluting the flag. After some more EVA and science ops, it was time to head back to orbit. Unfortunately, this is where the second (and much worse) catastrophe hit. See, Duna in JNSQ has a lot taller but thinner atmosphere than it does in stock. It also has much more gravity. These two factors combined mean that my lander had to burn considerable fuel just descending safely, which meant there just wasn't enough dV left to get into orbit. After MANY quicksaves and quickloads, I found the one solution that worked: Use the fuel in the lander to get to an AP of around 120km, take Bob out at around 100km, use his EVA pack to raise his orbit to around 140km, switch back to the lander, get Val out and immediately use her pack to achieve orbit at 120km, and then switch back to Bob who was reaching his AP and finish getting him into orbit. After that Jeb was able to use the mothership to pick them up within a day. After doing so, it was determined that there was enough spare dV to swing by Ike before heading home. While at Ike Bob had some photos taken for KSP's new advertising campaigns: Finally, it was time to head home. Being low on fuel due to the Ike detour, our brave Kerbals decided to go for an interplanetary atmospheric reentry. Finally, it was time to let the beancounters add up how much science we gained:

So Jeb thought the last rocket was "too boring." (EDIT: My last rocket that is. Not your amazing Titans Zorg!) In response, the KSP came up with this: It uses a 3.75m Sarnus SOFI tank with a Regor engine as the central core of the first stage with 4 top of the line Titan upgraded SRBs as the main thrust for takeoff. Flies like a big Titan. The upper stage uses a Sarnus cyro tank mated with one of Nertea's cryogenic engines. What's inside the fairing is even stranger, but that is a story for another day...

So after the abomination of a rocket that took Kerbalkind to the Mun, I figured a more modern design might be better for my space program's trips to Minmus. Hm, this looks vaguely familiar... With 4 Titan engines + 2 Kickback SRBs for the lower stages and 2 vacuum optimized Titan engines for the upper, this rocket is easily able to get a good lander to Minmus or the the Mun. The rest of the mission is in a spoiler for space: Next stop, Duna. Maybe I'll actually get to use the Sarnus V...

No one: Absolutely no one: Jeb Kerman: Direct Ascent Fat Atlas to the Mun! So uh yeah if you kitbash enough Titan, Atlas, and other early tech tree BDB rockets together you get this thing that can take two Kerbals and a boat load of science experiments to the Mun and back in JNSQ. I used Titan engines for the first stage and a half: Here is the transfer stage which will take the rocket from orbit to the Mun and start the descent: The descent was continued with a SRB and finished with four Atlas vernier engines. Fuel margins were rather low, so I'll need to add another tank if I want to use this rocket again. Here is everyone on the surface: Time to head home And the final stage of the lander activates to push us back to Kerbin: @CobaltWolf, would it be possible to have a 1.5m version of the MOL cargo bay? I tweakscaled the 1.85m version to 1.5 and it was awesome for this mission but I would prefer not to have to tweakscale parts.

With JNSQ finally coming out for 1.8.1, I've decided to restart my save. My first crew launch was a baby Mercury It only had the bottom tank and no upper stage so it was an entirely in atmosphere flight, but the experience and science gathered will be invaluable.

TBH at least in Stock I've never found slingshots and stuff to be too useful other than using Laythe/Tylo to get in orbit of Jool. Instead a "more boosters" approach always seems to be simpler and more fun. I would recommend getting Mechjeb and using it to plan your transfers without any complicated slingshots. That and a dV map make it pretty simple to plan a mission from Kerbin to another body and back. If you build a lander with enough dV to land and take off from your destination, a transfer vehicle that has enough dV to get your lander to the destination and back, and a launcher that can take your transfer vehicle and lander to LKO, Mechjeb should be able to plan and even execute the rest of your mission if you want. It won't be the most efficient mission ever, but unless you are trying something ridiculous like a 100 Kerbal SSTO to Eeloo, Gilly, and back to Kerbin you won't need anything more complex. Also, grab better time warp so you can speed up timewarp to ludicrous speed and not have to wait forever for transfer windows or to get from one body to another.

HYPE!!! Time to start a new save! This time I'll start with BDB and with less science, with the extra experiments BDB and DMagic give I felt like I was going through the early tech tree way too fast.

As a physics undergrad I can safely say that there are dozens of us!

@Crixomix this doc has almost everything you need https://github.com/Galileo88/JNSQ/blob/master/GameData/JNSQ/CelestialBodies.pdf It is missing atmospheric density and number of biomes.

Well, I don't have that problem because I love the Delta II even more. There is just something about that shade of blue and the general shape of the rocket I find incredibly beautiful. I just wish there was an easier way to attach the 9 SRBs since KSP makes that a pain.

The Titan is fast becoming my favorite rocket in BDB It just looks so pretty and is perfect for sending probes to further away planets like Dres. More screenshots in spoiler for space