Mmmmyum

Either do it while throttled up, or do manned missions to the Mun and Minmus till you can get a solar panel (Landing at both in one flight got me around 800)

What's the best way to plan a Moho encounter? I just did a direct hohmann transfer to it and barely had enough delta-v to get into a orbit (Rocket started with 11k delta-v on the launchpad). Is there a better way of transferring so that you enter at a lower velocity, rather than trying to slow down from 3.3km/s?

I was reading through this http://www.aiaa.org/uploadedFiles/About-AIAA/Press-Room/Key_Speeches-Reports-and-Presentations/2013_Key_Speeches/Inspiration-Mars-FISO-Presentation2013-04-03.pdf, and it left me thinking - is it possible to have a free return flyby to Duna? That would make it very easy to have a low tech level mission with high science output:) Edit: Ah, noticed it was moved. I didn't put it there originally as it wasn't really a serious question, more a point of discussion on if it's actually possible in the Kerbol system or not

At the bottom of a slight dent in the launchpad after a failed launch. One that he never survived

Uhm didn't see one going on the first page so thought I should make one. What are your current favourite groups/bands/whatever, albums and songs? Personally I'm liking Children of Bodom, Norther, In Flames, SOiL, and Eyes Set to Kill right now, with Death Unlimited (Norther) being my current favourite album and Nothing (again, Norther) being my favourite song

Ah, that's a bit clearer than one's I've seen. Thanks for that, although I'd rather have way more than enough fuel left over as a safety margin. I'm going to take your "rank" as a Calvin and Hobbes reference?

Yes, the pilots of the main craft are going to transfer to the lander, leaving the craft as an orbiter. They will then return to orbit, and return to kerbin, leaving the lander in orbit (after refueling the main craft with what's left of the lander's tanks)

So deciding that trying to get to Laythe with only 150 hours into this game was a bit too hard for now, I decided to go to Duna instead. I've got a nuclear rocket at a 1500km orbit, and it has 3.2km/s in the tank according to Mechjeb. Should this be enough to get there and circularize (won't aerobrake, had very, very bad experiences with the thin atmostphere), or should I send up another 5km/s of delta-v to dock with the rear of the rocket? I sent the wrong rocket up by mistake, it has the older and heavier lander, with a bit less delta-v than my more current rocket.

But I like big rockets! Also I like to over engineer... I've found that most of my Kerbin system missions have over 3/4 of a tank left after circularizing,and the lander returns to Kerbin also with 3/4 of a tank left. I like having a giant safety margin in case things go pear-shaped

Well my entire mission was a failure from the word go.. Took 9 launches to get the oversized lander into HKO, another 2 to get a refueling vessel up... But she didn't have enough delta-v to get into an orbit around Laythe, not without using the lander. Even with HyperEdit, I was unable to get into a good intercept until I'd cheated in another 10k/s of Delta-V

I just landed in water, got pissed off and decided to light the SRBs for the hell of it... It was overkill. It had more than enough delta-v to go to orbit and back twice, now that I look at how much is needed. And I dislike using quicksaves, it's either a revert to launch, or - like now - there's a reason to send another craft to rescue a kerbal, Bill in this case

Well I learnt a bit about how my design could be changed at least...

Yes! Well somewhat. It uses semi-asparagus staging. It feeds fuel into the main tank. So more like powered drop tanks I guess . Anyway my usual interplanetary stage had just enough fuel to get there (80m/s left of Delta-V). And ashamed to admit it, I used HyperEdit to refuel it, as I didn't want to send up another one with nuclear engines rather than a skipper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobraking

Asparagus staging is a big no no lol, I don't like it because it's unrealistic, and I use FAR, which means that Jool would rip it apart while aerobraking

There's a RCS tank under the capsule, I took this screen before I added the thrusters, generators and struts. I just don't want to leave Bill on the surface of Laythe:sticktongue:

They're ones from KW Rocketry, they have the exact same stats as the stock tanks of the same size, just look a bit more professional. Which I like.There are a few double size ones as well. Just a bigger small tank (can't remember the measurement :/)

Uh it's 11pm and I really, really don't want to do another launch other than seeing how well it docks in LKO. Does anyone think this won't work as a Laythe lander? It's going to try to land unpowered (11 of the radial parachutes, and 3 drogues), and then take off with the SRB's which then drop off, leaving the LV909 to power it into a rendezvous with the interplanetary stage. I tend to overengineer things a bit, this has around 4k delta-v. After docking, the ascent stage is going to eject, leaving just the capsule inverted upon the interplanetary stage. Which will then go for an aerocapture into Kerbin's atmosphere.

Duna, managed to land a small probe there with one of my early crafts (before I even got the return part of Muna missions right)

Ah, it was the Sabre intake. thanks!

I had an idea the other day to try and make a hypersonic plane, I use FAR so it's mostly a horizontal rocket with a few winglets giving control. I don't have a picture, but it's basically the most powerful jet from the B9 pack, coupled with a intake at the front with a pod and small fuel tank between the two with and a few wingtips, as previously mentioned, to provide control. It tends to flip out on takeoff though, even though it's basically a rocket. Am I missing something or?

I didn't really think of spacing them out, just need to be careful with the aerodynamics, as my rocket already flips quite easily at the gravity turn (using FAR) "You are having a bad problem and will not be going to space today."

The tyres don't just clip though, at least they didn't on my latest rover landing, they collided and got really glitchy with the landing legs.

So I just got a mission to Eve with a rover, but I found the method I was using to land it nearly destroyed the rover, and left it without enough power to run non-stop (total damage 3 RTGs, the Mechjeb module, and a battery). The method of landing the rover involves ejecting it out of the 3.75m fairing, then docking it under the lander, so the lander can safely undock with the rover when it's on the ground, but the legs clip through the wheels which messes with the physics and tends to make stuff blow up when it's undocked. I use FAR so I have to everything aerodynamically. Here's a few pictures of the lander combo: Edit: I can use a SkyCrane approach where I drop it while hovering and then land next to it, but I'd prefer to detach after landing, as it's a bit simpler.

I created an account a week ago, as I'd been reading through the forums quite a bit. I bought KSP around a month ago, and it has quickly surpassed Binding of Isaac as my most played game (at around 150 hours now). So yeah. Just decided to do an introductory post, and here's a picture of my current heavy lifter with a rover in the fairing and a upper stage being used as a lander: I can be found on steam with the same username as used here, Dylan