Ozzallos

I usually go big-- Either with a vertical launch jet engine rocket to orbit or an interplanetary ship with a massive ion thrust array-- No less than 30 nodes powering it. The vertical launch jet is usually picky about fuel ratios no matter how much I give it. It's a hit or miss project. The Ion ship is easy to build, but getting it into orbit as one piece is a bit tricky.

My five year old has learned that the space bar usually produces amusement in the form of catastrophic events.

Since the section is labelled "Challenges and Mission Ideas" I thought this would be the most appropriate place to post this. We have asteroid encounters in place, but let's up the ante. Asteroid 1I/2017 U1 Oumuamua is shaping up to be the first interstellar asteroid encountered by humanity. The most important attribute beyond its interstellar origins is the fact that it is fast, possessing a eccentricity of 1.2 and is currently on its way out of our solar system at 26km/s. Nothing we've built so far has ever reached that speed and an intercept this late in the game would need to get started within the next few years IRL. Project Lyra was commissioned to study that proposal, but something tells me we can do better. One wonders if a somebody or group of somebodies or perhaps even Squad themselves can develop an Oumuamua encounter vaguely based on the Lyra premise. I would like to contribute but sadly do not have the modding skills or time to even consider it, so broaching the idea here will have to do. Of course, there are challenges to consider, mainly in that KSP isn't a 1:1 solar simulator. Tech realism isn't so much of an issue, but it is a consideration. In either case the basic path and composition of the asteroid are known quantities, so pluses and minuses. If this belongs somewhere else, definitely feel free to move it. Regardless, it would be fun to see this real life event gain some traction in KSP.

She rocks the ascent and tops out at 1250m/s @ 40' before stalling for air and switching over. With satillite payload she can still clear 1150 to ceiling with enough left to circularize and maneuver Deorbiting was where i was having the issues and it looks like my descent profile was flawed per this thread. She's hard to handle without power above 10km but is a dream under that. im considering a couple dawn engines to suppliment orbital manuvers so i can keep gas for the atmo.

I cant make space inside 20 seconds, but i can do it in about a minute, minute and a half using 22 vertical takeoff rapiers.

Your reward for teh helpfulness. SSTO Vortex Mod B

Thanks peeps. My re-entry profile has basically been like a capsule-- Ride it to the ground. Instead, it sounds like I should be using the atmosphere to brake my craft naturally. Mistakes were made. Might help with the heat and controllability at the same time by keeping speed up. (using the Mk1 cockpit)

I have the landing gear wobble blues as well. Not all the time, but more often than not. It's to the point where I don't rely on the runway and inherently design my aircraft to be short takeoff designs (ie; bigger landing gear in front than back). They still want to powerslide, but at least I can power out of it and get airborne this way. I did not know you could increase the landing gear drag, so something good came out of this thread for me, at least.

So I seem to consistently encounter two major problems when operating my spaceplanes, both manifesting themselves in reentry. 1. Burnination. The cockpit can't seem to take the heat; though realistically I'm probably not using the correct decent profile? I've also been experimenting with mounting radiators, but not entirely certain they make a difference or even if they applicable to this application. 2. It's really hard to keep the tail from swinging out from behind me basically flat spinning my way down to around 2000m where the air is finally thick enough to allow me to pull out of this. It's tough to maintain stability through rentry and one wrong move during the decent turns my wonderful plane into a paper weight. Most of my weight is predictably aft (once the fuel is used), so I understand this to some degree, but it seems rather obnoxious. Any tips somebody can toss out?

So if you stick Jeb inside a capsule, is he dead or just waiting to max the throttles?

Mister Wiggles says this is bound to be a short flight.

Connect EVRYTHING with a Cubic Octagonal Struts. ...Need moar boosters? Grab a Kerbodyne ADTP-2-3 and weld eight of the COStruts to the underside of it (do not force the node), turning them upside down once they're riding the surface so that the free nod of the strut is now inside the adaptor itself. Position them as close to the circumference. Alternately, you can use a TR-38-D decoupler for the base structure, but either way you'll be able to comfortably hang eight of whatever the heck you want off of them without a gap between structures. For example, mounting eight S1 SRB-KD25k "Kickback" Solid Fuel Boosters with room in the center for a couple more. Make sure to use maor struts to keep Mister Wiggles out of your new mega SRB. ...You can also mount the COStruts to the outside radius of these structures, then turn them on their sides. This is particularly useful for annoying little one node engines such as the IX-6315 "Dawn" Electric Propulsion System, as it allows you mount a multitude of the little buggers assuming the exhaust is exposed. Yes, this all involves a bit of clipping, but I'm not opposed to a reasonable amount when it should have been possible to mount in that manner to begin with.

Some people don't like the cargo bays because, let's face it, they're not exactly user friendly when it comes to attaching things. Using docking clamps to secure your cargo is sometimes meh, let alone actually getting it out of said bay. I use radial decouplers in my space planes. Upon attaching one to the bottom floor of the bay, you'll probably have to flip it to the correct orientation (and even then there will be slight clipping outside your spacecraft). Attaching things is still difficult, but a Micronode as your satellite core will allow you to build onto it with relatively little hassle and some modicum of stability to boot. Get your space plane out of the atmo, open the doors and thump! Screw that graceful departure. Kick your cargo out with absolute certainty!* *Certainty not absolute. Stability may exhibit instability. Your milage may vary. Batteries not included. Do not expose to sunlight.

Lrn2asparagus. A lot.

Prelude to a Short Flight.