Firov

Agreed. The power generated by the turbine is largely diverted to the drive shaft, which in turn spins the prop. The actual exhaust delivers a negligible amount of thrust compared to the prop. However, I'm not talking about the source of thrust here, that's clearly the propeller, but rather the actual engine operation. I don't believe turbine engines have pilot adjustable fuel mixtures, no more so than high-bypass turbofan engines do. Or if they do, it's certainly not scaleable from 0 to 100%. Still, I'd be interested in hearing Nathan's opinion on this, as I'm sure he'd be more knowledgeable on the matter. It could be this is just a bug.

The highlighted part is... kind of a biggy. I don't claim that they're jet engines, in the conventional sense, but they have much more in common with jet engines than they do piston engines. They just divert the turbine generated power to a propeller on a drive shaft, rather than exhaust it directly or use it to drive a fan (high-bypass turbofan).

Well, yes. I'm familiar with fuel/air mixture from my time in IL2, not to mention a basic understanding of piston engine theory, but does that actually apply to turboprops which operate more along the lines of a jet engine than a conventional piston engine? It just surprised me that turboprops in this mod had an adjustable mixture. Also, there are other sliders available only in the VAB, though I don't have it up at the moment. I think they are power and something called vr0? Oh. Also. Boost.

This is absolutely correct. The KAX turboprops/radials are completely broken. Not only are most of them physically tiny, they all also seem to generate a flat 5kN of thrust. Also, what's with all the sliders, such as "mixture", on the prop engines? What does that actually do?

If you are able to scrounge up another 30 dollars, you might also consider the Samsung 840 EVO, either 120GB or 250GB models. It's considerably faster than the MX100 and rated extremely highly. I've been looking into SSDs myself since it's about time I upgrade my 120GB Vertex 3, and right now I'm leaning heavily towards the 840 EVO. It appears to be the best bang for the buck, once you factor in performance. Here are some compiled benchmarks. http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Samsung-840-Evo-250GB-vs-Crucial-MX100-256GB/1594vs2317

Three_Pounds, that's something I've thought about, and I'd love to do it. Unfortunately, the way KSP handles the gear action group makes it surprisingly difficult. You see, the gear action group is always considered to be "on/deployed" on launch, even if your landing gear is actually stowed. You've probably noticed how sometimes you have to hit the gear key twice to actually lower your landing gear? That's because of this... "bug". It would be a simple matter to trigger the gear action group, but there's a good chance it wouldn't actually deploy your gear. I'm not sure of a good solution to this problem, aside from iterating through all gear on the ship to determine if the gear is deployed or not, and then see if that matches the current state of the gear action group. I may do that, I'd just prefer to find a... better solution.

While SpaceX is a commercial company, I think it's important to remember that SpaceX was formed for one very specific purpose, that purpose being the manned exploration and colonization of Mars. Think about it, there's a reason SpaceX isn't publicly owned like Tesla. Musk wants direct control over the company to ensure that it achieves his goal of landing humans to Mars within his lifetime. A board of directors would be more concerned about the bottom line than they would be in furthering the goal of space exploration and colonization. So yes, SpaceX isn't a charity, but to say it lacks the potential to help humanity ignores the very reasons for its creation.

New update everyone! Mostly it's just a recompile to support KSPAPIExtension 1.7.0, though it also fixes a bug I found with Real Fuels compatibility (will now detect tank changes), and... it's no longer dependent on KM_lib.dll! Since everyone and their dog was reporting issues relating to KM_Lib.dll I decided to go ahead and implement what little functionality SmartPart relies on directly into SmartParts. As such, if you only use Smart Parts you shouldn't need the Klockheed_Martian base package anymore. Also, until every mod updates KSPAPIExtension, expect issues. Lots of issues. The new version does NOT play nice with older variants. Grab the latest release from GitHub, and as always, let me know if you experience problems! v2.0.2 CHANGELOG Updated KSPAPIExtension to 1.7.0 Auto stager now fully supports Real Fuels and will auto update on tank resource change No longer dependant on km_lib.dll SmartParts Release Page

Quite right, for the Shuttle and Ariane 5, though there's hardly any need to even mention it since both launch platforms are so well known. The Delta IV, however, is a different matter. You're thinking of the current Delta IV Medium+, which relies upon a variable number of strap-on GEM solid rocket boosters (between 2 and 4). However, remember. There are different variants of the Delta IV, and some of them have not relied upon those solid boosters. The original Delta IV Medium didn't, and the Delta IV Heavy also doesn't use GEM boosters. The GEM boosters were just added to give slightly more payload capacity. The Delta IV is quite capable of flying without them.

Kerolox is rather polluting, since it generates carbon dioxide, but something using Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen are, in theory, completely clean. Generating only water vapor. In practice they run a bit rich and so the exhaust contains some H2, but that's largely harmless. Unfortunately, the low density and cryogenic properties can make H2 a bit of a pain to use for a first stage. Though a number of launch systems used it as a first stage propellant despite that. The Shuttle, obviously, but also the Delta IV and Ariane 5.

Ugh. Good catch. Put simply, there isn't one. I removed the "Off" and "On" variants since it's now controllable in the VAB/SPH. I think Tobi must have forgotten to remove the config file in his. Though in retrospect it might be better to deprecate it instead. That way there won't be any problems loading ships that use the removed versions. If there are issues, I'll do that for the next release. The version I directly compiled on GitHub doesn't have this issue. https://github.com/dtobi/km_SmartParts/releases/tag/v0.6.2

Great work, Raptor! It was your mod that allowed me to finally start using RealFuels. Quick request though. With the RCS update you plan on releasing, can you also please include the ability to configure RCS ports as Nitrogen or Helium cold gas thrusters? I'd like to use them for upper stage attitude control systems, like on the Falcon 9R.

Those releases weren't compiled by me. The only release I directly compile is the GitHub version. I believe, however, that Tobi was having some issues with empty folders and missing files, which is why he released 2.0.1. Otherwise 2.0.1 "should" be functionally identical to version 0.6.2 at https://github.com/dtobi/km_SmartParts/releases . That said, I have no clue why overwriting would be the only thing that would fix it. I do know this, if SmartParts works normally aside from staging events, that would be because it can't find the km_lib.dll file, which should be in the "Klockheed_Martian" folder in the base GameData directory. I'll look into this some more and maybe figure out exactly what's going on here.

Strange. Well, either way I'm glad it's working now. Anyone else experiencing that issue?

Hey Sutima. Any update? I tried removing KM and re-installing it from Tobi's dropbox account, but was unable to replicate the error you ran into. Staging and action group events still fired perfectly. That said, if there's a problem here, I'll do what I can to fix it. I just need to know how to replicate it.

The Satish Dhawan Space Centre is experiencing some... issues. For whatever reason, the ground tiles that it's supposed to sit on are actually hovering above the launch complex. This, combined with the fact that the ground tiles are collidable, results in India having a tough time getting it's space program off the ground. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Heh. How do you think my family came in possession of a Kirby? My parents really couldn't say "No" to their own son (my older brother), who was a Kirby salesman for awhile. I do find their sales tactics pretty ridiculous. Though, you really can't fault the vacuum. It really is built better than any other vacuum cleaner on the market, and I have no doubt that this is something I'll be able to hand down to the next generation. On the subject of sales, something funny my older brother (the Kirby salesman) told me of his time as a salesman. The houses he dreaded most were the homes with older generation Kirbys, simply because they were always still functioning perfectly, which resulted in the family wondering the utility of upgrading to a newer model. Kirby's are expensive as hell, but they're one heck of a vacuum cleaner.

Now that's darned peculiar. So your gamedata directory looks like this? GameData --> Klockheed_Martian_SmartParts ----------------> Klockheed_Martian Neither folder should be inside the other. The should both be in the base directory of GameData. If so, then can you please try deleting the Smart Parts directory and downloading the latest release from GitHub? https://github.com/dtobi/km_SmartParts/releases/tag/v0.6.2 Let me know if that works.

Okay, looking at the log message, I think I know what's happening. Eh. It's inconvenient, I know, but you will also need to install the base KM support package, called "Klockheed_Martian", which includes the km_lib.dll file. You can find it here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r93q90vpbeavoye/AACAlIFel0ufwiU4h1_WtfFGa/KSP That mod will go in your GameData directory, alongside the SmartParts directory. Hmm. I was afraid this might happen. It's a bit confusing, and not terribly convenient. I may offload the relevant functionality of that library to something local to Smart Parts, since it's literally only used for triggering actions and activating/deactivating part LEDs within Smart Parts. Anyway, in the meantime, try installing "Klockheed_Martian" and see if you still get the error.

On the subject of blade-less fans, the air ionizer is exactly what you're looking for. It has no moving parts, yet still generates an air current. Unfortunately, it doesn't move a huge amount of air, and it has the rather serious downside of generating ozone. Dyson vacuums are toys. In fact, all vacuum cleaners are toys, save one... the Kirby. I "inherited" my parents' G5 which was purchased in ~1998 when I was just a kid and it still works like new. The most I've "needed" to replace was the roller brush. Granted, it costs an arm and two legs, but the thing is built like a tank, which is probably an apt analogy since it's self propelled and entirely metal. That said, I would probably not buy one myself, as paying upwards of a thousand dollars for a vacuum is tantamount to insanity. On the plus side, with the way this thing is built, I know that I won't have to.

What? The RBMK was a water cooled reactor, and as such was prone to high pressure explosions or, worse, hydrogen gas explosions. That's exactly the kind of incident that steel containment domes are designed to help mitigate. So no, don't confuse the two. Sodium cooled reactors can not experience a violent explosion like that. The only water used in a sodium cooled reactor is for the steam generation, but that does not interface directly with the core, nor is the steam generation loop required to be operational for the safe operation of that reactor, unlike coolant loops. One of the design requirements is that radioactive materials can't escape the facility or cause structural damage [Source]. Since it wouldn't be under pressure you wouldn't need to worry about an explosion ejecting core fragments, so you only need worry about gravity. Again, you seem to think just because it doesn't have a giant steel pressure dome that it's directly exposed to the biosphere. That is simply not the case. These structures are completely sealed from the outside environment, and the structures that are built around these reactors are not light-weight. I can't find any info on the BN-800, but the BN-1200 is designed to survive considerable impacts, including aircraft collisions. Source Low pressure reactors don't require giant steel containment domes because operate on somewhat different principles.

A "containment dome"? Absolutely not. Steel containment domes as you know them are primarily useful in preventing or containing steam and hydrogen explosions, neither of which is a threat in a sodium cooled reactor. That's one of the advantages. Same goes with molten salt reactors. There's no possibility of high pressure explosions as the coolant is at or just above ambient air pressure, and no chance of significant hydrogen build-up since the coolant isn't water. Now that said, I think you're confused if you believe these reactors are simply exposed to the biosphere. They are housed in sealed, reinforced concrete structures with redundant ventilation and fire suppression systems. The BN series reactors also have considerable filtration systems in place to help in the event of a sodium fire. For example, while the sodium fires are troubling at the BN-600 reactor, none of those fires resulted in an event that was classified above a Level 1 event on the INES scale. So yes, they do have containment, but they don't have, nor do they require, conventional "containment domes".

It's my understanding that it doesn't have a containment vessel because, quite simply, it doesn't need one. As a sodium cooled reactor its coolant loop isn't operating under pressure, which obviously eliminates the possibility for a steam/pressure explosion. Though, there's still the possibility for low pressure leaks, and with something as reactive as sodium, that's not a good thing. The BN-600 reactor run by Russia has experienced 14 sodium fires at the plant, and 21 total sodium leaks, one of which leaked 1000 liters of sodium into the plant. In it's defense though, the BN-600 was designed to suffer sodium fires with minimal impact to the reactor. It's got a number of redundant sodium coolant loops, which operate independently of one another. As a result, during those fires the plant was operational again within 24 hours, if it was shut down at all. Still, even with that being the case, hopefully they've managed to reduce the chances of sodium leaks in the BN-800. 21 coolant leaks leading to 14 fires seems... excessive for a nuclear power-plant. If you have to worry about your nuclear power plant bursting into flames all the time, you may wish to redesign it. By comparison, the most serious safety incident the CANDU has suffered from is extremely low level tritium emissions, and there are a lot more operational CANDU plants. EDIT - Also, according to the World Nuclear Association the BN-800 is considered Gen III+, though Rosatom (the company that manufactures the BN series FBR's) plans to submit the design of the BN-1200 to the Generation IV International Forum for approval as a generation IV design.

It's not easy finding good info on this reactor, but it's a fairly standard Sodium cooled fast breeder reactor, yes? Based on what I'm seeing, I'm not sure it really qualifies as a "Generation IV" reactor. Perhaps Generation III+, but as I understand it Generation IV reactors are still a decade or two off. This appears to be an enlarged BN-600 with some additional safety features. That said, it's still good to see new breeder reactors being built. If we had more investment in that technology we could massively cut down on the amount of long-term nuclear waste. Sadly the US is seemingly determined to avoid breeder reactors at any and all costs out of "proliferation" concerns. How exactly secured nuclear plants in the middle of the US will to lead to "nuclear proliferation" is beyond me, but that's the stated reasoning. Personally, I'm still a fan of the CANDU reactors. Powerful, safe, versatile, and capable of acting as a breeder.

Basically, each of these packs will have their own folder in the GameData directory. So if you want SmartParts and SSE your GameData directory would look like this. GameData --> Klockheed_Martian_SSE ----------------> Klockheed_Martian_SmartParts ----------------> Klockheed_Martian I just ran into this myself. Weird problem. I'm not sure what's causing it, but I'll see if it's something caused by SmartParts.