Liowen

What I have often asked for in either mod form, or in game itself, is something like the LRV that was used on the lunar mission from NASA. Mainly it was used to go from point A to point B and back again for collecting samples and visual surveys. Here is the basic idea of how it worked from the Apollo 15 press kit: Maybe with something like KAS you could put small sensors on the rover to take get more information, but it would be limited to the smaller experiments (IE no mat bays or goo cans). Once deployed it could not be put back on the ship, much like the LRV. The cost would be minimal for the basic unit but if you wanted to add on more sensors it would add more to the cost, and maybe make them useless unless there is a Kerbal there to take the reading to keep from science spamming rovers. Also here is the video of the Apollo 15 team deploying their Rover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ShauSWcTC4

I would say one nice thing about being in orbit is if you mess up the burn you can go back to the last save, but if you launch from the pad and something goes wrong you have to do the launch all over again. Also you can do multiple launches for other missions and leave them in orbit (unless of course life support is being used) and eject them as the windows become available, this is great for probe missions in career mode to have them ready to go at a moments notice.

Today Jeb landed on Laythe, after many attempts to find the right aerobraking height (without aerobraking at Jool first). But like all field trips it ended too soon, and Jeb found himself back orbit. This was a bit tough though as I ran out of oxidizer and had to finish the rest of the burn with just RCS. Now I just have to redock to the tug and head back to Kerbin, I hope I will have enough fuel to complete this mission.

The one I used in my last series, I always loved this show. And one I am considering using soon, it is from another show I enjoy. I do need to change it from a .gif to .png though...

Today Bilner finally got his first glimpses of home for his nearly 5 year mission out to Eve. After a slingshot around the south pole the Eve mission starts its last braking maneuver around Kerbin After the pull of gravity from Eve, Bilner feels like a super hero when ever he jumps......or this craft was sponsored by Toyota!

Well for some odd reason I cannot use the level one runway, it crashes my game, so I made a self launching Surveyor series of crafts. This is the MKIII version of the design that will allow scientist and engineers to fly the craft with the ease of pilots. It can reach about 30km with my terrible piloting skills, but in the right hands I bet it could go further. It is still confined to the 30 part limit even though the launch pad has been upgraded. I just need Bill to reach level 1 so he can repack the chutes after the EVA survey contracts are complete, otherwise it will be a long walk back to the craft.

I have long wanted to try and build one of these.... Every now and then there are 3 or 4 that fly over the house, and man they noise the engines let off is just mean sounding.

Bah food, much like sleep, is highly overrated. It is only needed when you either start seeing things that are not there or when you think you will pass out, usually the last one is hard to determine though.

After nearly 127 day in orbit around Eve Bilner bids it farewell, in a shower of nuclear dust! He will aerobrake around Kerbin at 22KM close to the same time as Jeb will be nearing Laythe in the Smig, where Jeb will be aerobraking there and attempt the first plane landing for me. I am sure this will end badly for some reason LOL.

Today I decided to test my Laythe SSTO and tug combo, and they docked so easily it made me worry. Jeb takes a moment to secure the Smig to the tug, or pusher really, and hopes it doesn't just spin out of control.... And off he goes! It did start off fairly uneventful but of course that didn't last. During the burn I decided to take a look from the cockpit like I normally do, this is a VERY bad idea I found out. I never knew that it would change the "control from here" of a craft, and having it locked on to the maneuver node it began to spin to correct itself. A quick jump back to the main screen and hitting control from here on the probe got it sorted, but I am sure it wasted a lot of fuel LOL. Well hopefully tomorrow I can get to Jool and see how this works on Laythe.

435 but I think I may have deleted a lot as well, I still do have my first Mun Landing. Well only if you count the craft surviving but on its side as a landing LOL.

This was the first one I used back in .21, but it still works even today. I do not have a picture of the tug anywhere, but that can be made to whatever you think is good (I have done both probe tugs and three man mission as well). It is far from pretty but it is functional. The generators can be swapped out for solar panels, this was done in sandbox so I had access to all the parts to build it this way. You could make it without those, the shielded docking port, and the little I beam pieces though and it still would work. With a few extra chutes you can take science jr's and goo with you as well.

Yeah I dunno why I thought it worked on Duna....derpity derp on me LOL . Thanks.....back to the drawing board I guess.

Ok I know Eve is a no go for turbo jets, but what about Duna? I swear I have seen it done, but for the life of me I cannot remember now, or it could be the fact that I am just tired making me question it.

To quote Homer Simpson, "DOH!". I bet you hit the R key when toggling on the SAS, I have done that a few times myself and if is frustrating.

Yeah that is what I was thinking too. This is just a place holder design right now, but to use that design the docking port needs to be moved back (not a big deal). The first design though uses two out board engines draining from center out, I thought that would keep it semi stable. Hmm things to think about while I sleep thanks .

Well reaction wheels will move the craft through ASDF (QE) with or without mono prop, so that might explain that. By chance do you have your caps lock turned on? If so it will use mono prop but the effect you are looking for will not be present and everything will be slower, fine control makes RCS go even slower than normal. It is just a thought just by the looks of what is here, maybe the picture will reveal more though.

While not completely free you could use ACTION! from Mirillis for 30 days for free. Considering it is only $30 for the full license it is not overly expensive, and does a lot of things that FRAPS cannot; like split mic audio from game audio for easier audio fixing. I use it myself with very good success, it does have some issues now and again but nothing that cannot be resolved. I tried the free ones myself but just found them to be very clunky, fraps is ok but not overly great when you look around. Also ACTION! can do streaming, although I have not done this myself due to ISP being very terrible.

LOL 2 seconds, mostly the load time of the picture, I seen the issue and laughed....with you of course.

I spent sometime today trying to build a transfer stage for the Smig, but I have hit a snag. My original idea was to have it dock to a transfer "engine pod" and have those engines fire in the same direction as the normal engines, but this would throw the center of thrust below the COM which could be bad (I think?). Then I tried one right on the docking port but had to tilt the transfer engine a bit to line up the COT, but now I think if I move the docking port back to under the SSTO's COM it "SHOULD" make everything just fine (again I think so anyways). Here are two shots of what I am considering for tugs, these are only prototypes right now until I know how much fuel and such I will need. Tug one: Tug two: This is for a Laythe attempt so any idea are welcomed, the SSTO gets into orbit very easy so it is mainly the tug I am having trouble with. Maybe it I just dock to a big fuel cell I can transfer on the Rockomax engines alone??

On going one for me in my career mode, I launch anything from the tier one SPH and the game locks up. I can make a craft in my sandbox saves and launch them just fine, but if it is in career mode I get nothing. I guess it is a good thing I do not make too many planes

Ok I'll bit, how does this work? Do you get limited amount of parts you can use before eliminating nodes as you progress or something else?

Another idea, if you have more than one battery on the craft, turn off one battery as a backup. I normally try to have a redundancy of systems in case something fails; 2 batteries with one off, a single solar panel that does not need to be deployed for electrical. Even with mono prop tanks I may only need one radial mounted tank but I add in the second one, it is disabled so I know I have a little extra for when I over do something.

Well inside the VAB it could be based on what level you have the building at; level one none, level two basic info of Kerbin only, level three full access to all info inside the VAB. For launch pad and vehicle information during flight it could be a combination of the R&D building, astronaut complex, and the Kerbals level. R&D building is obvious to unlock the ability to have access to information, however probe cores limited to what ever stage they are placed on for the most basic and more as you get higher in the tech tree. The astronaut complex and Kerbal level are need for the Kerbal to read and understand the information and their career would give them access to different things faster than others; basically pilots would get ap and pe reading earlier than TWR or delta v readings, where as scientist would get TWR early and engineers would know how much delta v a craft could have early on. If you wanted to make it even more difficult, say when using hard mode, you lock the careers so they can only ever see a portion of the information, and if you want to have it all you would have to bring one of each. Just some ideas to make it a bit balanced IMHO.

Yeah that is an issue with doing it as a sub-assembly, it seems to forget there are more than one node. Depending on the crane design would it be possible to save that as a sub-assembly and just flip the engines if needed? This is how I have been getting around this issue, but maybe someone has found an easier way.