Captain Sierra

Pretty much exactly that, yeah. Terrible handling of heat during warp means you have to wait many IRL minutes for a vessel to cool down or else initiating warp may result in unexpected kabooms since it averages part temperature, and does so with no respect to relative heat temperature tolerances or thermal mass. Also it's worth noting there's only one FFRE in old-FFT and it's not afterburning, in case you were hoping for that. Honestly, I loved old-FFT and originally planned to stay on it when Nertea steadfastly declared that antimatter was not in scope for nu-FFT, but well ... we see what happened there. There is no resisting the power of beam-core antimatter torches.

The last release of old-FFT was version 0.3.1 back for KSP version 1.5 and can be found digging through historical github releases. As a general note for anyone reading this, KSP version 1.8 is a breaking update both forward and backward for any mod with plugin components. As a general rule, try to keep your mods to the version of the game you're running. The person I quoted appears to be an advanced user when it comes to legacy version operation. AFAIK the fix will retroactively fix crafts using the combined D-He3 tanks in-editor (though not sure if the tank contents will adjust accordingly for in-flight). The biggest victims would be those that manually match the 2:3 ratio, and 1:4 is easier to remember anyway. I'll vote go for it.

I didn't. I took a guess based on the information you had a stable 1.8.1 modded install that you had a decently sized mod load (due to old version) and that if you had the experience to have that kind of a mod load, you've probably played a good bit. Nope that's pretty much what happens. We get jumbo 5 meter tanks for good reason.

In a word, yes. Because of hydrogen's low density, you will need a lot of tank volume in order to store sufficient propellant. However, if you pay careful attention to your vehicle's mass, you will see that it is very low for how large it is. The challenge is the size rather than the mass. As for whether or not to go with monolithic single vehicles or perform orbital rendezvous & assembly, that's ultimately up to you to decide based on whatever your mission needs are. At a certain point, monolithic launches become hideously impractical unless you have access to orbital construction mods. And for version I'm still on 1.9 due to my install being precariously balanced atop Kopernicus among other things as well so it should be back-compatible just fine up to 1.8.X. (I am also making the assumption that if you have a stable mod install at that version your in-game hours vastly outweighs your forum newb status.)

I loaded up a test stand to check the engine and I see a nominal propellant flow rate of 101.5 units/second so that's about right. Something important to keep in mind here is that one unit of LH2 corresponds to one liter of volume (plus a fudge factor on the tanks). One unit of stock liquid fuel actually corresponds to about 5.5 liters I believe, and density-wise is close-ish to RP-1 kerosene. The stock value of a "unit" of a resource of completely arbitrary, while Community Resource Pack (where liquid hydrogen is defined) generally tries to define its values against some real-world baseline. The game calculates fuel consumption based on the fuel mass (one unit has X mass as set in the resource definition), but then lists propellant flow in once-again arbitrary "units" so I wouldn't take it too much to heart. I checked the stock LV-N (with its dual-fuel kerbal atomics patch) and it burns 95 units of LH2 per second, but only 2 units of liquid fuel per second when in that mode.

This sounds on the surface like B9PartSwitch isn't working correctly. Do you have an up-to-date version for your install?

@ProfessorPalpatine Regarding full-length frisbees to orbit ... it can be done. I imagine the intended model is extraplanetary launchpads, but brute force isn't impossible. Its more unwieldy than it is heavy. @kspnerd122 For using the fusion tokamaks for ascent, four of the large static square radiator panels is enough to cool them. The static panels won't break under aerodynamic forces so you can mount them like fins (their aerodynamic usefulness is unclear). I had a spaceplane prototype that mounted them on the dorsal side of the wing with good success.

Table of Contents Chapter 1 Humble Beginnings Preparing for Ground (you are here) Preparing for Ground Investor briefing, 1/13/2021 Greetings investors! Before we begin, I am proud to present our new and improved brand! The marketing team is quite pleased with it. Now with the trimmings out of the way, allow me to get into today’s briefing. In the past week U.S.E.C. has successfully conducted two launches from our complex at Shepard Cape, including a vehicle from our new Very Heavy Launch Platform constructed at pad 17A. Able to support upwards of 800 tons, the pad easily handled the launch of our planned expansion modules for the Mu Gateway, which you may remember. Massing just under 445 tons on the pad, with 367 tons of kerosene fuel & liquid oxygen aboard, this launch vehicle is the largest launch vehicle assembled for U.S.E.C. to date. Carried on the launch is empty tank storage and fuel refining equipment to complete the refueling capabilities of the gateway. These two units will be fitted to the underside of the Industrial Extension Truss. Fitting the Mu Gateway with its refueling capability is an important step to the second major milestone of Phase 1: surface resource operations. In further support of this goal has demanded the development of reusable surface to orbit transport around the moon. Mun gravity is 1.63 m/s/s with approximately 850 m/s horizontal velocity required to maintain stable low orbit. A minimum capacity of 6 crew members was requested in the design requirements handed over to our Spacecraft Design Committee. Allow me to hand it over to SDC for the next few minutes. Spacecraft Engineering Reusability on spacecraft adds extra considerations, as well as rendezvous and docking with a station that’s considerably above low orbit. We opted to use a side saddle tank configuration in later models in order to shorten the vehicle and reduce tip over. Increased stability allowed several other reductions to save mass, all of which saves fuel. Fuel savings are good for a single trip mission but become exponentially more valuable for repeated trips. The product of all these considerations is the Armstrong Munar Surface Vehicle. This vehicle is able to service surface installations with +/- 20 degrees latitude, making the landing and return to orbit without refueling. For higher latitudes, it is not possible to fly round-trip without a refuel on the internal fuel load of 2,314 m/s delta-V. The thrust/mass ratio is rather low, only producing half a g of acceleration, but is sufficient for the low gravity environment. Less engine power allows finer control over the descent and reduces engine mass on the final vehicle. In addition to transport, the team has been designing surface assets and a base modularity scheme. The first draft of this scheme has been incorporated into the modules for this first base, which we are tentatively calling Luna. Below is a schematic for the drone core unit. It includes thermal control, solar power generation, electro-chemical fuel cells, fuel reserves, and communications hardware. It is fully autonomous and self-propelled via the onboard fuel stores. If the core is not central to a base, it can be refueled, launched, and relocated with ease. The other engineers are quite pleased with it. Other modules are still in integration testing, ensuring their thermal management & electrical systems will operate within margin. That’s all we have here at SDC. On behalf of all our investors, big thanks to the SDC team for taking the time. I’m sure you will all be happy to know that the fruits of their labor have already been deployed. The Armstrong lander vehicle was launched from pad 23 just a day after the gateway expansion modules. The vehicle, along with the first long-term crew for the Mu Gateway, has safely docked. The crew is slated for a two-month rotation and will watch much of the construction efforts of Luna Base from up on high. The only remaining milestones for the gateway station is transport of raw materials & fuel supplies. Gateway will likely not maintain its own transports, but several will be operating around Mun at any given time at the completion of Phase 1. We would like to thank our partners at Kerbodyne Aerospace. Kerbodyne Aerospace produces many of our launch vehicles on-demand to cater to various mission payloads. U.S.E.C. is planning to develop an in-house line of standardized launch vehicles in the near future, but we are currently dedicating all of our resources towards developing a reliable surface construction system.

Table of Contents Chapter 1 Humble Beginnings (you are here) Preparing for Ground Humble Beginnings Investor facility tour, 1/7/2021 Greetings investors! We here at U.S.E.C. are thrilled to introduce you to our operations. Chartered in 2019 under the United Kerbin Space Alliance, we specialize in extraplanetary construction & long-term operations in the most extreme, distant, hostile environments known to kerbal. Here at the start of 2021, we are proud to announce the completion of a major milestone in our Phase 1 program: the Mu Gateway space station. In addition to Mu Gateway reaching operational readiness, SAR satellites have been busily returning natural resource data from both of Kerbin’s planetary children. The Mu Gateway includes upgrade plans as part of the Luna program to support onsite resource operations. Up to 12 crew members can live in relative comfort aboard the station, enabling easy rotation with ground operations. The station includes room for raw material stowage and connections for fuel & processing modules on the underside of the Industrial Expansion Displacement- … yes? Oh… I see. Right away Ma’am. *ahem* Corporate has asked me to inform you, investors, that the module has been renamed to Industrial Extension Truss, and that the individual responsible for the initials “I.E.D.” has been sacked. The truss features two couplings on its underside. We currently pan to seat fuel storage and resource processing equipment in these positions in support of orbit-to-surface transit. Primary attitude correction, thermal rejection, and electrical generation are all provided by the Service Utility Module, with the science lab receiving its own onboard auxiliary power. Habitation is provided by a rigid-wall module adjacent the command module and by inflatable living space attached to the main hub. The station currently orbits at 240 kilometers above the rocky surface and is prepared to receive crew at once. Our Satellites In addition to our crown jewel orbiting our nearest celestial neighbor, we have three operational satellites in two proven patterns deployed to our moons. Our autonomous operations provide communication relay & natural resource scanning via synthetic aperture radar. The Archangel (center, left) mapping satellites have already returned valuable terrain data on both Mun and Minmus and identified a number of promising deposits of natural resources using powerful synthetic aperture radar. Paired narrow-band transmitters provide low-power, high-bandwidth communications to download scan data from anywhere in Kerbin orbit, and an included boost stage provides roughly 1,670 meters per second of delta-V, in addition to the vehicle's onboard fuel supplies of 1,220 meters. With upgrades to the communications hardware planned and additional sensors in development, the Archangel spacecraft will continue to be a U.S.E.C. staple for the rest of the decade. The smaller, lighter weight ComStar vehicle has a storied history. Over 500kg lighter than an Archangel bus, the smaller ComStar vehicle is purpose-built for relay operations around Kerbin's moons. A smaller thruster and smaller onboard tanks provide 770 meters per second of delta-V, in addition to the upper stage it launches on. No boost stage is packaged with the vehicle, which resulted in range limitations of initial launches. Both ComStar 1 and 2 failed to insert into acceptable munar orbits and had to be terminated. ComStar 3, in conjunction with relay antennas aboard the Mu Gateway, services the far side of Mun. Thank you everyone for visiting our facilities. U.S.E.C. would like to remind all investors, current and prospective, that any information not included in marketing or promotional materials, official press releases, and legal filings is considered confidential. Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, please direct them to our fundraising director.

Between Planetary Base Systems (not Nertea's work) and Space Station Parts Expansion redux (Nertea's work) including some nice landing leg options, base-building should be covered. BTW @Nertea I noticed there's two modulemanager DLLs in the NFAero release on github (haven't checked the other mirrors). EDIT: Also caught this on load: duplicate pass identifier [WRN 12:30:14.022] more than one pass specifier detected, ignoring all but the first: NearFuturePropulsion/Patches/Waterfall/NearFuturePropulsionWaterfallHallEffect/@PART[ionArgon-0625]:NEEDS[Waterfall]:FOR[NearFuturePropulsion]:FOR[NearFuturePropulsion] It's harmless, but MM does throw a warning about it. Minimum priority fix, just making it known.

My CMTV (cismunar transfer vehicle) is pretty straight forward to replicate. Cabin + adapter from SSPXr, command pod from NFSpacecraft (stock pod also substitutes), tanks & engines from CryoEngines, structural paneling & misc. retextures from Restock. Here's another view if you want to try to rebuild it: Note: the top flat adapter is covered in 24 PX-STAT solar panels for power generation and there's four small radial batteries (the 100s) tucked up behind the structural panels. I found I need to have more battery storage to complete a lunar orbit without going zero-power and the landing legs are a bit wimpy under >50% fuel load. Larger ones are in order. A Mk2 design is probably on my to-do list. In terms of dV, this thing makes it down and back (albeit a little close on fuel) in 2.5x scale.

Check out these high quality digs ... And yes, they're already merge requested in for next release. Turns out the font for "PKMC" is not available for free, so I had to recreate it entirely with geometry (which would be easier if I had the software & skills to do vector art). That was of course made possible by having an original. The full words I found a very similar font for free. It's not perfectly 1:1 but I think it looks slick. I made a few different versions: black on transparent, white on black, gray on blue gradient. Aside from being merged to the mod extras, I can make these available standalone (no attribution to me required, credit to Nert for the original logos) if people want a pack.

There's no true fission torch in the mod. The closest thing to that would be the nuclear salt water rocket. The three true torches are the Fresnel mirror-cell fusion engine (the entry-level torch), the Cascade axial-flow z-pinch fusion engine, and the Frisbee beam-core antimatter annihilation engine. Those three are hilariously strong because balance is a relative concept when dealing torch drives.

There is definitely a logo and we can see it in the technical images in the FFT release album. I second making it into a flag when Nertea comes back from well-deserved vacation time. And speaking of vacationing time for him, I want to use that to hijack this thread briefly for my own tangentially related purposes. I wanna talk about these engines. Not the fusion tokamaks, the nuclear jet engines. I want people's opinions on the jet engines from NFAero, particularly when in use with Mk4 system (since they were originally a part of that). I personally have my own gripes with the balance and the mod FAQ even admits there's probably room for improvement on that front. So to that end, I want to pick the brains of other rocket engineers here on the topic.

I have been immortalized in the release album!