Kerbals_of_Steel

I don't know the math precisely, but yes, it measures overall mass lost (fuel, staging, accidental disassembly, ect) and runs the math from there. That's why solar rovers are the go to for surface routes. KoS

https://github.com/UmbraSpaceIndustries/MKS/wiki This one has many, though not all, of recently released changes. Still constantly in flux, because Roverdude is awesome and keeps kicking out hot fresh content. KoS

Check the Git wiki, they have done a good job of updating it with the new changes. KoS

Made my first prop powered plane, the Kookaburra STOL for science gathering: It flies pretty well, and the STOL capabilities are great, but the blown control surfaces are subject to lots of flutter, and the turboshaft engines are absurdly inefficient. Still, I really wanted to finish deploying science sites around the planet as well as gathering up the stray science from the new USI parts. The solution was to re-engine the base airframe as the Jet Kookaburra: In its final turbofan powered form, it has a 3 crew capacity, all the sciences, and enough cargo space for at least 3 full deployed science sites (4 if you start stashing parts under the seats and in the overhead bins of the crew cabin). It also has hardpoints under the wings for drop tanks or even micro cargo rovers for placing science sites in otherwise inaccessible locations. Thanks to the efforts of Jeb, Milford and Leafal, I now have deployed science sites in about half of all available biomes including both poles. During the next lag in orbital contracts I will load "Ol' Kook" up with drop tanks and cover the rest of them.

My arachnophobia hates you right now... KoS

Spent some time checking out the new science parts from Umbra Space Industries, and sandboxing a Duna lander: Too heavy to land with just parachutes, so instead of traditional landing gear, it's got airbags tucked under the heatshield. Unfortunately, airbags tend to bounce: This, young Kerbals, is why we design self-righting landers: Time to deploy the antenna array, solar panels and the micro-rover: Really proud of this little rover. Under a meter square but has USI ground penetrating radar, a spectroscopy experiment, science camera, and the small Breaking Ground scanner arm: Duna transfer window opens in about a month for my career save, can't wait to launch this thing for "real".

Most of them are USI parts, with a few from Universal Storage and stock bits. The base is an USI Scout landing module with the workshop, greenhouse, small Commlab and space igloo hab module attached. Just above that are probably the parts you aren't familiar with, a Universal Storage payload piece with a probe core, stock fuel cell and 3 USI recyclers. That is also where I put the power units, either nuclear or the water splitter/ power cell arrangement. The tanks are all configurable USI pieces, one big one of mat kits, one of fuel, and smaller ones with machinery, spec parts and smaller fuel tanks that are converted to chemicals and water as needed. KoS

Go check out the changelog on todays 11.2 release. Turn those frowns up side downs. KoS

I assume you mean the Mun, since Minmus's night is so much shorter. That particular one is the Minmus version, but the Mun version is similar. A small MKS nuke is certainly the easiest way to generate power over the Munar nights, but I've also made similar craft with various RTG's, and using some other mod components even have managed a non-nuclear version entirely. For that one I have some hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells and a splitter from another mod, so the excess solar is used to split and store water, then once the dark comes everything except critical life support is shut down and the crew lives on stored supplies and power. Once the sun goes back up, fire up the greenhouse and everything else, start converting mulch to NOMS and start splitting water again. Not a fully sustainable model, but fine for a couple months. KoS

This is my temporary base camp/starter colony: Forgive the runway shots, I've mostly moved past the need for this size craft and all the existing Pytheas dropships have either been scrapped out or have had so many extra parts tacked on it's hard to see the original craft. As built, it's fully self contained with a workshop, small science lab, space igloo and greenhouse, enough to support a crew of 3 for about 3 months. The storage tanks have enough mat kits and machinery to get everything deployed, and there is also a tank of specialized parts to allow creation of the rest of the machinery in situ. You don't directly save any mass that way, but it allows the big mat kit tank to be shipped full, rather than wasting energy on a partial tank, and it also gives some flexibility for future use. It works really well on Minmus and also on the Mun, though the margins are much smaller there. It can land fully stocked on the Mun, but I prefer to send some portion of the supplies with the crew on a separate lander they can use to return to Kerbin. KoS

At least parts of that, the legs and frame ring, are in the full constellation release under the Utility category (No idea which individual mod, sorry), but I've been playing with USI stuff for about a year and never seen the spherical pieces. They look cool, though. Good luck on your search!

There is a Scout landing module that is in the "Ground" catagory with the stock legs and landing gear. Is that what you are looking for? KoS

Time to invent the Orion drive...

A bee for you: The new ISRU Experiment (yellow box) is impossible to select after placing, both in the editor and after launch. The new science is AWESOME, but the flavor text for them is um... bland. I'd be willing to write some experiment reports if you are interested, just need some guidance on how serious/whimsical and in/out of universe you would like them.

Moar SCIENCE!!! I'm going to have to start another career with the big tech tree just to try this all out, LOL!

Roc, the huge bird of Arabic mythology Tiamat, Babylonian ocean/sailing goddess Meili, Norse god of travelers Rhiannon, Welsh goddess of the ocean/traveling

Not sure if there is anyone else who will ever use this, but I wrote a Module Manager patch to make the Orion crew parts compatible with USI life support: Tested it out in my career save and it has worked fine without needing any BEFORE/AFTER/FINAL syntax. Habitation times were set by figuring out the relative volumes of each compared to the stock Hitchhiker (and applying a little spherical cow math for the CH-8), and adjusting to match Hab time per cubic Kerbal meter. The recycler in the CH-8 is adjusted to be matched to the various USI greenhouses, 2 mediums or 1 large one will supply a fully occupied Space House indefinitely. Hopefully the patch is commented enough for someone to fine tune it for their own preferences. KoS

Not much playing, but I made my first custom Module Manager patch to add compatibility between USI Life Support and Suicidal Insanity's Stockish Orion mod. The IVA's in that Orion mod are just too sweet to waste.

Had a favorite first today, after a rescue mission for a Kerbal and craft in a high energy inclined and eccentric orbit between the Mun and Minmus. I managed to make a double slingshot off the Mun and cut periapsis from ~16m KM down to 9m KM, for a total investment of ~80m/s. First double gravity assist I've ever gotten, and also the first improvised one.

Launched my first orbital only spaceship, the Njord: Njord is intended for long term near-Kerbin operations, capable of hauling 8 Kerbals (9 if one is stashed in the airlock) anywhere in the Kerbin SOI with full life support and plenty of habitation space. It also carries a full set of repair tools and supplies, a built in science lab, communications facilities, a full suite of science instruments and a plethora of docking ports. The modular nature of the center spine allows science, storage and auxiliary fuel tanks to be quickly swapped out in orbit, maximizing the ships versatility. Like any sea or spacefarer, though, it takes plenty of support to send them out and bring them home safely to port. For the Njord, this includes the Skadi supply rocket/tanker: The Draken orbital taxi: And the Freya class lander (also note the NERV engineering testbed being hauled to the Mun for a contract experiment, and the device on the bow docking port): That may look like a grappling and engineering pod for deep space repair work, and indeed it does have a claw, parts storage, accessibility ladders and a potent RCS system for orbital tug duties. What it actually is, however, is a contract satellite for Maxo Construction Toys. See, it has an antenna, can generate power, and is clearly clad in Maxo's distinct livery: So far Njord has made three journeys to the Mun; one maiden voyage for crew experience and science, one tourist run, and one more that returned a lost Kerbal and her pod to Kerbin. Njord and its valiant crew have also made the journey to Minmus, completing a full orbital survey of the mini-moon and deploying the Frey miniature lander for surface science and some repair contracts: Bill even snuck in some R&R when it was his turn on the surface:

66.5 tonnes is ready to launch weight with the probe, booster, fairing, and interplanetary yeet stage. The probe itself is ~2 tonnes and the heatshield brings it up to ~ 3 tonnes. It could be launched on a 1.25m stack, but since you need Making History for the correct heatshield, I just used MH parts for the whole booster. I didn't put up a pic of the booster since it's a basic pointy end up, flamey end down rocket. I did put the detailed description in the text, though "The booster consists of a 1.8m Pollux SRB pushing a Cheetah second stage for orbit and interplanetary yeeting. From LKO, the second stage has ~2000 m/s delta V, enough to keep the transfer window open for a few weeks beyond the optimal period. The probe itself has ~400m/s of fuel for fine tuning the approach, power production and a certain amount of retrograde propulsion. Note that the probe itself has the thrusters on the top, so after third stage separation the control point on the guidance core must be swapped from Default to Reversed."

My space crane:

For anyone interested, I put up a slightly simplified version on KerbalX: https://kerbalx.com/Mobryan71/Eve-Probe Basically just took off some of the extra science that required non-critical mods. Still requires both DLC's and Universal Storage 2.

Firstly, would like to thank everyone for the suggestions, because each one I tried (that didn't require a fundamental redesign) worked. @18Watt & @Vanamonde 's stacked heat shields? Worked. @Brikoleur 's oversized heatshield? Ugly, but works. @VoidSquid & @magnemoe retro plan? Same. The grand prize goes to @Snark, though, for finding the root of the problem, which was in fact the root. (Also, order of operations, very important...) Techno-babble in spoiler: The end result is a probe that is visually identical to the first edition, but much more resilient. Combined with a somewhat altered flight profile ( Last minute retroburn to kill velocity and lighten the load by ~0.5 tons of fuel, more aggressive aerobraking, strict attention to attitude ), I've managed to get it to the surface with no more than routine amounts of heating. Or, maybe I'm just getting dulled to the terror of slamming into Eve's atmosphere at speeds somewhere between ludicrous and plaid, IDK... Anyhow, I'm now confident enough to yeet this thing into space in career mode, and thanks to all for the advice, if I haven't used it yet, I suspect I will be soon. KoS

The part in question is a Soyuz cargo fairing from Universal Storage and was chosen specifically because of a fairly good heat rating. Your talk about transferred heat has given me an inkling as to the root cause, and I will check it out next time I play. Thank you, everyone for the advice so far!!!