Colmath

As a matter of fact I DO station. I have a modular layout with predesigned modules for each task. I dock these up with XL docking ports for additional stability: Core with habitation and reactor (A couple of RTGs). Refueling modules with orange tank, RCS and an array of docking ports (I have a version with XL and normal as well) Habitation module Lab module - in planning process Generally I try to make my stations without large solar panels as they tend to complicate things and can be a problem if I mess up a docking maneuvers. I use these stations for multiple purpose: they serve as refueling stations and home bases for my only-in-space vehicles that do various jobs in orbit and between orbits (like landers, orbital transfer vehicles, etc). They also hold crews for later missions so I don't have to launch them all for every mission, I just rotate them out from the station itself. The first station I made this way was Waypoint Station (the name refers to its status as a midpoint in KO @ 250 km), and Armstrong Station in Munar orbit. They both use the same array of parts ("if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"), and so will the next planned stations, one above Minmus and Duna.

Thanks for all the answers guys, I think I learned some things here, useful things. For example I've never thought to do the inclination change in Kerbin's SOI, I never even tried it was so obvious for me to do it in interplanetary space. I don't think I'll go back to Moho in a while, this mission was only put together because when I returned my mission for Dres I saw on Protractor that I was really close to a Moho launch window, so I sent my Joolian system explorer out to test the waters. As I've said it has about 10000 deltaV, and I managed to get to Jool, and procedurally visit all its moons one after the other with it with plenty of fuel remaining, so I was confident. Turns out, I still need to learn a lot about interplanetary travel. BTW why is it that this guide says 800 m/s for plane change? however I did it I could not create a node under 1300.... Maybe this launch window I chose was the worst possible one there is?

Hi! I just sent my first probe to Moho as kind of an exploratory move for future (kerbaled?) missions. It started out with about 10000 m/s deltaV, and with my limited experience in interplanetary travel I managed to establish an encounter with the planet with a periapse of 40 km, so I can use the most of the Oberth-effect. But when I created the node for a braking maneuver at PE I was shocked: it required 5500 m/s deltaV!!!! Is this normal being in the inner kerbol system, and I came in at the fastest part of my orbit around Kerbol, so orbital mechanics say I should be pretty fast, which I was: not much inside Moho's SOI I was flying at around 6100 m/s. But still 5500 m/s seems harsh. Am I doing something wrong, or such braking maneuvers are to be expected when visiting Moho?

I haven't used them much yet, although I've been playing with the idea for quite some time. I tried to use it for MapSat satellites but didn't put enough solar panels on it for it to be effective. Nowadays I'm thinking about using it for interplanetary probes, but the design is in a very very very early stage.

I don't really plan with part count in mind, and I tend to overengineer things that go into orbit, not to mention that I like to do multi-objective large missions instead of launching everything separately, so I'm allways a bit heavy on the part count. I try to stay under 500 though, just because after that the game starts really really really lagging for me, and that's not fun. My biggest one was 621, and it lagged like hell, so I'll try and keep it under 500 in the future.

I'm not really an expert in these things, but wouldn't going to 64 bit improve the performance when dealing with large ships containing many many parts?

My Jeb, along with Bill and Bob is in orbit around Eve currently, being in command of Project Caldari, my fist manned mission there with a total crew of 7.

So far the only other planets I've reached are Duna and Eve. Of course I've landed on Mun and Minmus, and while I was at Duna I've landed on Ike. My Eve mission is currently underway, so I haven't landed on Gilly or as a matter of fact Eve, but it is in the works. Next target is the Joolian system, with Laythe being a prime target.

My furthest is my Duna mission (Project Atreides, soon to be published in the mission report section) with a big mothership and multiple landers and satellites. I have never been further out, but my first probe into the Joolian system is already under development. Closest has to be anything in Kerbin orbit (or Minmus - at times it is closer to Kerbol than Kerbin). Were I to answer in a few days however it would be Eve (hopefully) as I'm about to launch my second interplanetary mission using a mothership and a hell of a lot of different equipment. If it arrives to Eve in one piece that'll be the closest for a while.

While I'll definately try career mode when 0.22 comes out I think I'll not give up on my current save (if the new version is not save-breaking), in which I have a station already orbiting Kerbing and Mun. Luckily I've built them so that I can further expand them, so I have space to add some science parts even in sandbox. That will definately be a priority for me.

The luckiest one I remember is my first Mun Landing. I did it apollo-style, which meant I had to do a docking maneuver after ascending from the surface. I was still very unexperienced however, so I used up much more fuel on the descent than needed (I still tend to do this, I still have lot to learn), which meant I was dangerously low on fuel for the ascent. I managed to get a fair distance up when my tanks hit zero, but I still wasn't in orbit. Luckily I managed to circularize my orbit somewhat with RCS-thrust (thanks to my habit of overengineering and putting waaaay too much RCS fuel on my ships), and from there I could perform a docking with the command module, saving the mission and both brave kerbals. Still, it was lucky that I had that much RCS fuel on the lander....

Before 0.21.1 I haven't had any clear space programs. I had mission objectives that I completed (like the Mungoose series missiles that landed me Apollo-style on Mun and Minmus, and my first orbitally assembled interpalnetary mothership called KSS Pioneer that got me to Duna and back). After I had to switch to new save in 0.21 I started something much more coherent, inspired in many ways by Scott Manley's Reusable Space Program, imagining a reality where space travel was kind of everyday stuff, not just one-off missions like the Apollo-style missions). So I started developing my first space station, Waypoint Station which I put into Kerbin orbit at 250 km that could service a wide array of ships, had a lot of fuel for refueling, and could hold 17 kerbals ready for transfer to anywhere needed. The best part is that the station is built from some standard modules that can be used in any configuration for further stations built, thus saving a lot of time designing. After the station was ready I started designing a wide array of service ships to be used that can stay in space indefinately refueled time after time, performing some specific tasks: OPTV (Orbital Personnel Transfer Vehicle): currently the Mk3 version, it houses 7 kerbals, and can easily get to either the Mun or Minmus, but if needed can perform transfer missions in Kerbin orbit. Currently only 1 is in orbit, but there are plans to launch more of the same design to have more transfer capabilities. Orbital Shuttle: technically not a shuttle but a spaceship in its Mk2 iteration that can launch from KSC with 7 crew members, dock in Kerbin orbit for crew transfer, and if needed can return 7 kerbals to Kerbin safely. The current version detaches the engines at landing, so not really too reusable, but future versions are still in development. Orbital refueler: an orbital refueler craft that can launch from Kerbin and service either a space station or any spaceship in orbit. Furthermore it can stay in orbit and be refueled for fuel transfer duty. Currently the Mk1 design is the only one that has flown, but better designs are in the works. After Kerbin orbit was mostly serviced the main focus became the Mun. This was developed with the same spirit as the Kerbin development. At first some robotic rovers were landed, of these currently the Mk2 design is roaming the Mun, while the Mk3 design is still in development. After this the first probes I started to make a permanent colonization. The first part of this was Armstrong Station built from the same components as Waypoint Station, but in a bit different configuration. This could only house 8 Kerbals (in its current state), but can be expanded if needed. After the permanent presence in orbit came the colonization the surface: the first manned missions with manned landers (for this I developed a lander that can stay docked to Armstrong Station, refueled and used for as many landings as needed. Current version is Mk3, but development of Mk4 is already underway). After the landing came the final development: Munar Base Alpha, which still only consists of 1 building, but will be developed more and more in the future. For now though the main goals are heading 2 ways: Minmus and Interplanetary Space! Eventual goal is to colonize Minmus as well (with the necessary equipment already mostly developed this should only be a matter of decision and determination), but kerbaldom seems to be more interested in interplanetary space. As Duna has already been explored (not on this save, but whatever) the first goal is to get to Eve, and for this development and building has already begun on KSS Pioneer II, the newest interplanetary reusable spaceship, that will propel the kerbals into a troly spacefaring civilization!

Hi! I'd like to present my first space station orbiting Kerbin at 250 km: Waypoint Station. Its main purpose is refueling and crew transfer: to this end it has capacity for 17 kerbals, and has 3 full orange tanks. It is fully nuclear powered, so it doesn't need any big solar panels that could mess up the docking process for incoming ships to any of its 10 normal and 5 large docking ports. It still has 2 open large docking ports for further expansion (a science station after .22 is among the plans as well as a 5-orange-tank fuel depo). Development of servicing ships (orbital tugs, refueling ships) is still in underway, but the station itself is fully operational at the moment.

Thanks for the answers folks! I've considered using asparagus for the interplanetary booster, and I will use it in case of further missions (like to the Joolian system). However, this ship is intended to be a reusable mothership that only needs refueling and adding payload (landers, cargo, probes, etc) and can do multiple round trips to at least the closest planets. I know I could use something much smaller for first flights to planets, but I like to do complex missions for exploration (a bit of realism), where I complete several objectives at once. My first Duna flight had several firsts for me all in one mission that I flew with the predecessor of the currently planned ship carrying 2 heavy landers and 2 satellites (I'll post a mission report on that one when I have the time): - First interplanetary travel (with all its mistakes and bad piloting) - First landing on Duna and first landing on Ike - First satellites installed into Duna and Ike orbit Later on I will try boosters for interplanetary stages - if I use docking ports the ship can even be refitted and thus reusable. For now I'll stick to the current design. I've played around with engine configurations, and I got the following data for this design: 6 engines: 197,3 t ; 0,19 TWR ; 360 kN thrust ; 10276 m/s deltaV ; 1,825 m/s2 max acc. 7 engines: 199,56 t ; 0,21 TWR ; 420 kN thrust ; 10035 m/s deltaV ; 2,105 m/s2 max acc. 8 engines: 201,9 t ; 0,24 TWR ; 480 kN thrust ; 9807 m/s deltaV ; 2,376 m/s2 max acc. 9 engines: 204,2 t ; 0,27 TWR ; 540 kN thrust ; 9590 m/s deltaV ; 2,645 m/s2 max acc. So it would seem that I need some compromise: any way I'll try doing my interplanetary burns in smaller portions (thanks for the advice on that). 6 or 9 engines seem to be unreasonable, so I'll drop that. 7-8: I think I'll stick to 8, considering that I'll want to add some payload to this design as well (landers and probes and cargo), so it will become even more slower, so I need some more thrust even if it means more weight. And thanks to the design of the ship I can have some tanks attached to the ship with fuel that I can drop, so if need be I can add some deltaV to these numbers.

Hi, I am building an interplanetary mothership (to be exact: refining my old one from 0.19, completely rebuilding it) to serve my expeditions and colonisation at least to Duna and Eve, but possibly even farther. It is built in orbit out of 2 parts, the engine section and the command section, and assembled it should look something like this: I was wondering what the optimal number of engines would be for this beast. I've read that due to the big weight and low TWR of the LV-N engines sometimes less is more and better. Is there a formula or calculation method to calculate how many engines are needed for a certain tonnage of spacecraft? BTW the stats with 8 engines for this craft are as follows: 201,9 t ; 480 kN thrust ; 9807 m/s DeltaV, 2,376 m/s2 max acc ; 0,85 max TWR (according to MechJeb). I haven't calculated how these would change with only 6 or maybe 9 engines (I'll try to do that tomorrow), but I hope you guys can help. Thanks in advance Damaris Industries