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STARBOUND Introduction Oh boy, here we go again. I'm Misguided Kerbal, and here I am starting another mission report (hopefully we'll finish this one.) Anyway, I've been meaning to do a full JNSQ playthrough for quite a while now so I'm quite excited for this. This is going to be in JNSQ - sandbox mode, but with my own personal restrictions, as I really hate the grind of Career and Science mode and just want to do my own thing. All of this is my own interpretation, of course - though you will see strong inspiration from things such as BDB and Raptor9's craft catalog and the likes. So, what exactly are we doing here? Good question, imaginary voice in my head. The end goal - land a kerbal on every single body in the JNSQ system. We'll see how it goes. Restrictions Modlist Completed Missions Chapters Prelude Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Introduction I have owned KSP since v0.18 but never really sent crew past Minmus. I am not a fan of "tin can exploration" where the crew stays in a command capsule for months on end. So when Kerbalism came out it ticked off many boxes for game features the stock did not have, including life support, part failures, and crew stress. Coupled with Nertea's suite of Mods, it is a lot easier to make aesthetically pleasing crewed crafts. The JNSQ system's scale also feels a bit better for me, as the rockets are better proportioned and the increased challenge for reaching planets. I originally cut my teeth on Kerbalism and JNSQ on an earlier playthrough with BDB exploring some of the inner system (Duna, Ike, Dres, Gilly), but I wanted to try a fresh restart and attempt to design unique launch vehicles using restock/restock plus This mission report will solely focus on the crewed exploration aspect with detailing on the design approach for the mission architectures. The first few posts will be a bit retrospective as I have already completed the missions for the inner system. Career Goals and Mission Parameters This mission report begins after the Mun and Minmus have been mostly explored, and the tech tree has been unlocked enough to commit to a Duna/Ike mission Primary goal is to land a team of Kerbals on every body in the solar system and return to Kerbin. Science collection is factored into mission architecture for the inner system to maximize return and tech tree unlock, but will likely scale back for the outer system as the tech tree becomes complete Missions will be structured to explore all moons within the respective sphere of influence during the trip. Minimum crew of 3 for ground operations on planets/moons Jool and Lindor missions will be crewed by 6, and Nara will be a crew of 12 Cinematics are filmed from my career save without the use of quick save, so there will be bad landings and screwed up burns that require intervention to save the crew/mission. Game Settings and Self-Imposed Rules "Revert Flight" is disabled. Quicksave limited use for kraken attacks and "final descent simulation" for atmospheric bodies. Difficulty is a blend of Medium, Kerbalism obviously, and a modified Probes Before Crew install that scales back science returns. Pre-requisite of probe missions to all bodies to unlock K.R.A.S.H simulation tool for designing landers. Eve, Duna, Laythe, and Nara will require a pre-requisite probe to land on the surface and collect atmospheric Science. Mod List Full List in the spoiler but I am highlighting a few for major features that drive the mission designs: Kerbalism: Radiation, Life Support, Part Reliability, etc. Cryo Engines/Tanks: Cryogenic fuel and engines. Boil-off needs to be factored into designs Mandatory RCS: no more overpowered reaction wheels, RCS now a bit more important for maneuvering Prologue: Minmus Editing of the videos improves as the series will progress, but here the first video of a Minmus mission. The video gives a brief glimpse of how kerbalism changes the gameplay. Future videos will have more of a cinematic feel with less of the HUD in many of the clips.

I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that the art department and creatives working on KSP2 have made a lot of cool new places to explore on the celestial bodies. I will just use Kerbin to represent what a ~10x increase in the number of anomalies would look like (from currently 20 to 200). The white question marks are existing anomalies in KSP1. The red question marks would be hypothetical new anomalies. We could fly or drive from one interesting place to another and we would have months worth of content to explore. The same could be done for the Mun - increase the number of interesting spots to visit from 8 to 80 (there are surely enough craters) and other celestial bodies. All that's needed to make the planets dense for exploration is creativity and a lot of work.

Jeb Crashed his personal SSTO into the KSC's Planned Interstellar Vehicle, Jeb managed to eject but now the KSC is taking this opportunity to build a more capable ship as opposed to sending kerbals in a cramped ship to another star. The KSC has some requirements for it. Banned Mechanics Kraken Drives KAL Overclocking Permitted Parts Mods KSPI-E Far Future Technologies Near Future Technologies Blueshift - Kerbal FTL (FTL Section ONLY) Kerbal Planetary Base Systems Extraplanetary Launchpads Tweakscale USI Life Support DeepFreeze B9 HX(Reconfig is ALLOWED) KARE Exploration Ship Requirements Must Carry a Reusable Lander capable of landing on all planets within the target system and returning to orbit Must be able to refuel itself(this capability can be installed on the lander) The Ship and the Lander cannot be the same craft, We can't have our fancy ISV get covered in scorch marks from reentry. Capable of returning to LKO at the end of the mission Main ship must carry Mobile Processing Lab Power Supply Habitat module Life Support Systems Cryopods(If Using Deepfreeze) Colonization Ship Requirements Must carry Either A self-sufficient colony The Equipment to Build a self-sufficient colony Must Carry a Reusable lander capable of repeated takeoffs and landings from the targeted planet Equipment to keep this Lander Fueled(Can Be Installed on the lander) Must be able to serve as an interplanetary freighter after the colony modules have been dropped off(You can use EL on your colony to build freight modules) Main ship must carry enough kerbals to colonize the system Ship must be capable of providing life support for the duration of the trip Must have a power supply General Requirements(Both Types) Must be able to go interstellar(GU Or Light Levels, Using Extrasolar, beyond home, or GEP, does not count) Capable of visiting all planets in the target system(No, you cant exclusively focus on a habitable planet, ISVs are expensive after all) You may carry multiple landers designed for different roles if your main lander is not capable of fufilling it(such as landing on a high G body which is basically airless) Play Fair, Dont Cheat, if your ISV is in one category, we will not compare it or say it is better than those in the other categories. STL Rules No Faster-Than-Light Drives, simple enough right? Otherwise do whatever you want so long as it doesnt break other rules FTL Rules Must Use Faster-Than-Light drives, Blueshift is allowed for this category Do whatever the love you want so long as it doesnt break other rules STL Submissions [Your Name Here] - [Your Ship Type Here] FTL Submissions [Your name here] - [Your Ship Type Here]

I want KSP2 to allow me to relive the feeling I had when I first saw: - the Prometheus landing - Ad-Astra moon rover ride (before the pirates) - LV-426 derelict discovery (everything feels so dark, cold, stormy, the star so far away..) - Falcon Heavy twin booster landing - any IVA rocket take-off during which I just hope it doesn't blow up / IVA landing during which I look at the sensors and hear the proximity alarms and hope i don't crash: like this What space exploration feeling are you chasing (from real-life, movies, games, cinematics etc.)?

I've been playing out a potential abstract version of the game in my mind, taking into account some possible tech progression and exploration inventive elements that have been hinted. Let's assume there's no boring abstract system of farmable science points. Every tech "unlocks" automatically for you depending on three things: - if you did the science experiments for the tech - if you found / harvested the resources necessary - if your level of knowledge and discoveries is sufficiently advanced (every part could have hidden milestone triggers that unlock it) Let's also assume that we obtain useful information about the universe only through practical science (ground and space telescope, sending probes, doing experiments etc.). This information then allows us to design more complex successful missions. Let's also assume that the progression also favors unmanned before manned missions, as it should. And that kerbals need life support because manned missions are damn hard. And that there are good incentives to build space stations (science, mining asteroid resources, and orbital construction etc.) and colonies (science, discovery of planetary points of interest, transportation infrastructure, resource mining etc.). Let's assume that we need to build and upgrade the communications network. Let's assume we have to explore and exploit the Kerbolar system first, then investigate other stars, exoplanets, build the necessary knowledge and material infrastructure that allows us to design interstellar ships and send them hurling into space. Then we get there and start over. Let's also assume we take into account the long and slow process of prototyping, testing and iterative design. And the accidents. And the story / lore / mysteries / Easter eggs. Well, my worry is this: it's a damn huge amount of work even without any grinding! It makes me afraid for my adult and family life! Who is going to be able to do everything in this game, in a gratifying slow and methodical way, with all the difficulty settings and optional systems turned on? This game is going to take us years to go through. How is there going to be time to explore multiplayer features if we start with single player only? I really think multiplayer has to be baked in or directly linked with the single player adventure. I see no other way to put everything in this game and still allow players to try it all.

As a player since 2015, and a car enthusiast, I have always thought that rovers were useful for the robotic exploration of a celestial body, especially after the "breaking ground" dlc. Unfortunately, I have always had problems with drift with rovers especially when breaking, even on Kerbin, I can understand these problems on moons like Gilly which has very low gravity, but watching video of the Moon Rover traveling on a celestial body which has 1/6 of the Earth's gravity sprinting around and not drifting like on ksp. I was wondering, do you think that in ksp2 the system with which the wheels will interact with various terrain and gravity will be revisited? here some footage of the moon rover: (PS. sorry for my bad english)

Chapter One - The Setup (back in the saddle, let's see if I can stay on) Ever since 0.23.5 and phresh mems enticed me to check out KSP back in 2014, I've dreamed of doing what a lot if not nearly all of everyone who plays KSP has done, fulfilling a standard rite of passage: a mission to Duna. (I mean, the Mun or Minmus usually is the first rite of passage, but I did that in the demo before punching in my credit card details, and maybe just like in real life, it may be nice to go back to the Mun to stay, but it is such a limited horizon). I mean, it has to be a mission-MISSION. Like as in set the mission goals, design the architecture, engineer the crafts, yeet them into deep black and run with it. You know, like everyone else has done here, whether as part of a challenge, replicating one of the NASA DRMs, Zubrin's minimalist Direct or go full BSG, The Martian, one or the other. And having to watch the lot of you do all that, forum posts, Reddit posts, YouTube videos, seeing your blueprints and screenshots and gifs, leaves me with an itch that needs scratching. Duna is the usual milestone, again Mars analogue, but also because of what Duna is standing for in that rite of passage: going beyond Minmus orbit. Going beyond Kerbin. After over six years of playing the game. That isn't a bad thing at all--many players are content to just stick around in the Kerbin system, and can make an adventure, a life of it. But I'm a horizon kind of person. I'm the kid that stands on the beach, and wonders what lies beyond the place where the sea meets the sky. I've learned how to sail, but I've never really left the harbor. Never really put out into open ocean. Yeah, I've been around the block a couple of times. I never really did for over six years now, because every time I get something on the drawing board, something usually comes up. Usually a major update bump--goodbye mods compatibilty. Or I get sidetracked by a challenge (namely Apollo and Space Shuttle) which does not fit what I had in mind. Memory limitations in my older laptops. And especially real life. When I purchased KSP, I was early into law school. By the time I was doing the Shuttle Challenge, I was supposed to be studying for the bar exams, in a country where that is less a licensure exam, and more a hazing ritual. Either way, real life, game ennui, and the big resets of version updates is the air resistance to the booster launch of my KSP campaigns. It could also happen here and now, for all I know. But last year back in 1.9.x when the pandemic struck, I finally decided to run with it and stick with it. Finally get a Duna itch-scratcher running. Finally leave safe waters for the open ocean. (To save me the workload, I just sent everything back to square one--parts, progress, narratives, approaching KSP with a fresh mind and a clean slate, more or less.) Which I did, until real life caught up again mid-year, and I left things in suspension again. But the itch is still there. It's still there nagging at me and I wanna scratch it bad. So picking things up again, I wanted to run it, run past Minmus in a way where I felt like I had something to do, but it was still achievable without giving me a headache to create my own version of an interplanetary exploration program: First, I run it in Career mode, albeit a slightly easier one: I set the Funds rewards to 125% just so I could get to upgrading the facilities sooner (and could afford the bigger rockets earlier on), plus Stage Recovery so I wasn't burning as much Funds just getting to orbit. That way, the Science and Funds were sort of a limiter, but also a score. Mod it till I break. Second, it is quite modded, and I'll admit that there are three mods I felt made the game WAY easier going forward, and which, if not OP, at least one or two could still be tweaked so as not to grease the path forward: The LGG-resurrected Retrofuture, which I got solely (so far) for the ultra-low profile LFO engines, something like aerospike pancakes. They are unbalanced because they occur early in the tech tree compared to stock engines in the same class, they have mucho excellente atmo and vac ISP and power compared to stock engines in the same class, and I think they are relatively cheap for what they do. I don't know if LGG made a balance pass since the 1.9 compatibles. Getting the Dmagic and Interkosmos science mods, without any tech tree-adjusting mods. So same tech tree, but even more science squeezable per planet, biome, and situation. Add to that science gains from SCANSat and repeat missions using the Tarsier telescope mod, and at some point I do not have to worry about the tech tree ever again after the Mun, even without having to depend on pumping Science out of Mobile Labs. I also feel so dirty doing so. Finally, the Bon Voyage mod. This is the one mod that takes rovers to the OP level, more OP than any other automation or abstraction mod, maybe even more than MJ, because it makes biome science farming not only practical, but game-breakingly easy. No need to make a rocket Mun or Minmus biome hopper, when all that's needed is to land a rover packed with a scientist and science parts, find your biomes, and let the autopilot take them there. Practical also because it allows me to do other things while waiting for the rover to get there, streamlining the task of running a whole space program. Someone please bribe Squad to make it stock. Third, it wasn't just getting to Duna, but setting up a near-Kerbin space architecture that supports the entire mission, from running the business to afford the trip, to training the Kerbals so we're not landing idiots in tin cans, so on and so forth. Duna is just simply a part of the program, its crowning jewel (for now), but not its raison d'etre. Duna is a demonstration that the system can do it, within its constraints and logic. Maximum joy from minimum work. The complete opposite of a legal career. Fourth, I have a number of philosophies, desires, and goals for this. Less Duna direct, more Galactica. "If I got it, flaunt it (go high delta-V, high capacity, big boosters if necessary, orbital and surface construction using KIS, USI Konstruction and Global Construction)." My triumvarate of Minimize Vessel Count per scene/Minimize Parts Count per vessel/Minimize Workload on the field (which means I have the usual automation suites--MJ, TCA, GT, VVC/HLA, RMM, and thank God for live-configurable action groups). Take advantage of mods to minimize parts count and work, and maximize functions. Five, as much as possible, make it look sexy. And the kraken shall lie with the bugs, and they shall beat their 1.11s into 1.9s, and a 7th-gen i7 shall lead them. Also, I can't believe there is an i9 already, I am as green with envy as that guy. One of the consequences of this is that, for the first time ever, I haven't caught up with the KSP dev number arms race, where I hit the magic reset button after a version change. Although 1.10 and 1.11 added a lot of neat stuff I would like to have, and there are a number of new mods that have me salivating, in the end, I have all the core competencies in 1.9.x plus compatible mods, and I felt like I could skip the upgrades this time (especially with a few things still wonky). So all that follows here is current to 1.9.x, stock and compatible mods c. mid-2020 alike. And so with the preamble out of the way, let's dispense with the preliminaries on the road to the deep, deep black of space. x----------------------------------------------x EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: considering my later decision to go Elcano on Duna long-winded sigh, below is a screenshot of my GameData folder for accountability purposes.

Goal: Build a vehicle that is able to explore underwater sites. Try to dive as deep as possible. A badge will be awarded for participation on request (I won't send you one if you don't request it). Rules: No mods, no cheats. No using glitches (K-Drives, ZK-Drives, etc.) The sub must be launched from the KSC runway and into the water off the coast of the KSC. From there, you MUST travel by water to your dive site. Vehicle Classes (Choose 1): Submarine- must carry a crew of at least 1 kerbal (+5 pts) ROV- must be unmanned (+10 pts) MiniSub- must be under 10 tons (+15 pts) DSEV- must be able to exceed 500 m below sea level. (+20 pts) Depth Scores: 100 m: +25 pts 200 m: +30 pts 300 m: +35 pts 400 m: +40 pts 500 m: +45 pts ... and the list continues (by +5 points per 100 m) Submissions: Photos/Video submissions only please. Leaderboard: @ralanboyle mini ROV "Sub 1" reached a depth of 1092m Below sea level- 110 pts @Klapaucius mini-sub "Jacques" reached a depth of 1048m Below sea level -105 pts @dnbattley 5 ton mini-sub "Stratzen-Pellor" reached a depth of 971m Below sea level (claims ability to have infinite depth and range, but photo shows 971m Below sea level)- 95 pts Outliers (Used Glitches for Max Depth, or Below Ocean Floor): @Pds314 unnamed sub, would have been 300050 pts.

THEOROD KERMAN'S MISSION LOG: Y58D311 - 3H15M This mission may look like a simple tourist run, but the reasons below will explain why this is anything but. Jerdrin Kerman, a board member for Probodobodyne Inc., paid for us to take him to Laythe orbit. Even without getting on and off the surface, flying there and back home is no easy feat. We need to pick up three other kerbalnauts (two scientists and a pilot) who are going to Pol in a ring station. One of five of the same model, which will orbit all of Jool's moons. One in Laythe orbit Two on their way (one to Pol, one to Tylo) Two not yet launched (launch date depending on budget at transfer windows) This is only the beginning of a new series of missions. So far, kerbalkind has set foot on all but one of Jool's moons. If you haven't guessed already, it's Tylo. Mission Control had warned us that it's the size of Kerbin without the atmosphere, so sending a plane to the surface is out of the question. Getting on and off the surface is also a challenge, but that's for later. Right now, Mission Control is focused on an orbital reconnaissance mission around Tylo - as well as rendezvousing with another vessel in that orbit. That is what this mission is for. Below is the current crew roster for the Anubis I, a docking-capable Poseidon SSTO. CURRENT ANUBIS I CREW ROSTER NAME LEVEL (AS OF Y58D311) SPECIALTY THEOROD KERMAN 4 PILOT TED KERMAN 4 SCIENTIST MAURIE KERMAN 4 ENGINEER JERDRIN KERMAN 0 TOURIST Taking off early in the morning from the KSC. Us in Minmus orbit 11 days later. We had to stop to refuel. Our monopropellant tanks are filled to a little less than half capacity, but Maurie's still complaining that we need to lose the weight. Though I myself was skeptical about the levels as well, Wernher Von Kerman told us that we needed to dock with two stations at Jool, and we won't need to make more with the ISRU. We're now in high orbit of Kerbin, awaiting our interplanetary maneuver node. We expect to arrive at Duna's SOI for an Ike refueling in 1 year and 83 days from now. When that's over, we'll fly to Jool and refuel on Pol. By then, Pinky Finger Station - the ring station going to Pol - would already be in Pol orbit with the crew waiting for us. Our plane's head count will then increase to seven before we descend on the surface to refuel. After that, we're kind of stuck on what to do afterwards. Should we: Pol refuel --> Tylo orbit --> Laythe orbit --> Pol refuel --> HOME Pol refuel --> Laythe orbit --> Tylo orbit --> Pol refuel --> HOME Basically, should we orbit Laythe first or Tylo? This is a 26-year-old rover named Apocalypse on the surface of Tylo. Named so because Tylo is like a lifeless Kerbin; an apocalypse, if you may. We're also sending a manned (but empty) rover to Tylo's surface, but that's another story. Ultimately, our end game is a spaceplane that can refuel itself and dispatch a reusable lander down to Tylo's surface. However, that's for much, much later. For now, let's see what we're dealing with from a safe orbit. Just like with the decades-long Neptune missions to Laythe, and the Pluto saga to Eeloo before that, it will take years of research, trial and error, and persistence. Long ago, nobody had any confidence we could get an airplane to Laythe and back safely. Nowadays, spaceplanes have become the standard go-to craft for planets with larger solar orbital radii than Kerbin's. Heck, Lasel, Bill, and Val - the first crew to return from Eeloo (after Bill and Val got stuck) - are going to Duna in a Dirtblood right now. I know we can do this; it's just a matter of time. Any and all help is welcome, and wish us luck.

I tried searching for this on the internet and on this forum, but so far didn't find any discussions on the topic. So here's my story. Skip to the end of the post to see the weird polar caps. So, I recently installed the new KSP 1.9.1. I usually play with Kopernicus planet packs or with Sigma dimensions as stock game does not seem as challenging as it used to be. I usually play with 5 times the scale and 7 times the distance, but Kopernicus is not updated to 1.9.1 so far, so I decidet to play stock with visual/interface mods and no custom parts. I quickly found myself sending rovers to travel long distances on non-atmospheric bodies, even managed to circumnavigate Minmus and Ike, failing to do so with Dres as terrain is just too rough and the rover kept crashing. So then I decided to go to Laythe... (I can share the craft file, if this IMOAB-1 craft looks interesting to you. Goes 50m/s on Laythe, 60m/s on Kerbin, not very good at driving on the ground) I landed in the equatorial region and soon was on my way towards the north pole, making some stops on the way. It took me several hours of real time, but eventually I've reached latitude 80, and so there were the polar caps. Before this journey I didn't even remember if Laythe has them, Scatterer makes it impossible to determine from the map view. But yes, there was solid ground on my way. But it was quite not what I had expected. As you can see here, that looks... Pixelated. And on closer inpection it was even weirder. It was very flat, it ended in the ocean abruptly, there was no slope to drive on. I was able to push the boat onto is, I was glad I used the sharp nosecones, not the stubby ones. My polar expedition was on its way from that point, but I knew I just had to send in a rover from Kerbin to take more screenshots and just show everyone how weird this shore is. In the next picture you can see how this wall just goes down. It seems to go vertically all the way to the bottom of the ocean. And just look at how sharp those corners are. It's... Pixelated. So now I just really want to know if anyone knows the story behind this. Was it unfinished by the developers? Wat it left this way intentionally? Is it one of the easter eggs? Beacuse it's pretty big for an easter egg, the whole shore is like this. And I have never heard anyone talking about it, never have I seen anyone visit this shore in a YouTube video. Maybe I didn't look for it to well. To me this place just feels unfinished and weird. Laythe is by far my favourite place in the KSP, and you've seen screenshots, you know why I love it. So if anyone has noticed this before, I would like to hear your response and your speculation/information on why this exists the way it is.

Welcome everyone ! In this thread I'll review my (second) take on the famous STS Challenge. My first participation was more than a year ago, and I'm starting a new one, which shall include many things I've learned about building rockets since then. I'm focusing on modules integration, packaging solutions and good-looking contraptions more than trying to be as realistic as possible. There is no mods in this sandbox but Chatterer. This might be pic heavy because I want to describe every part of the first flight to show how the craft handle. Album list on imgur : STS 1 : Deploying 40t. payload STS 2 : 6 Geostationnary relays STS 2b : Recovering the 40t. payload STS 3 : Téléscopâté on solar orbit ! STS 4 : High altitude crew rescue STS 5 : Minmus Space-Station : Propulsion Module STS 6 : Hab Module STS 7 : Science Module STS 8 : Second Science Module, Station Complete ! STS Minmus 1 : First steps STS Moho-Duna because why not STS Duna Bis : 2 Shuttles + Outpost The spacecraft is named Sh(uttle)Or(biter)Pa(ck), it is a combination of many improvements I had to make to my previous shuttles. ShOrPa (Standard) main features are : _1.5 Mk3 bay & Mk3 ramp, front bay is facing ground to use drills or dump stuff on surface. _SSTO capacity. _Low TWR with only 4 Nukes (140+t. empty), +5000dV. _Fuel tanks and engines are modulable if missions requires higher thrust (Tylo?). Orbiter main features : _Total mass is 1065t. (without cargo). _2x6 Kickback SRB clusters (1000dV). _6+1 Vectors (2500dV) + 4 Rapiers to assist lift-off. Here is a post which shows a few details of the design : STS 1 / 1b : Launch Launchpad : Ignition & lift-off ! SRB Sep : Burning to raise Ap : External tank separation : Final orbit 150x150 : Payload separation (40t. dummy tanks) : Re-entry burn, quite hot ! Coming down on KSC, just at the horizon : Heavy flare to kill orbital velocity (max G during mission was only 4.8): Turn around to line up on runway : Final flare : Parachutes : Landing :

Welcome! This is the tale of a Mun base, an Eve mission, and the politics that link them. There are twists, deals, and weird kerbal things to come, (Old Intro paragraph): For now, I have just a little teaser/intro for you, so let's get started! * * * Chapter One: That's a No Go KSC. (This will be how I set the location for each bit of story. Maybe not all the time.) Gene Kerman stood by the window, watching as the Mission Control building dangled in mid air. Any other day, he'd down there supervising the renovations, but today he was expecting an important call. Building relocations proceeded without him. The call would be any minute now.... *brbring bbrbrring* He picked up the phone: Kerbal on phone: "May I please speak to mission planner Gene Kerman?" Gene (answering): "Hello Dad. What was the ruling? Are the United Nations of Kerbin willing to let the mission proceed?" Gene's Dad: "Unfortunately, I have bad news. Not enough of the other members were convinced sending someone to Eve was at all a good idea. I did my best. A ruling was made that no one shall leave Kerbin for a landing on Eve. The dangers at the surface were ruled too great." Gene let out an audible sigh. Sending someone to Eve on a long term exploration mission had long been a dream of his. Yet going against a direct ruling of the UN could have some messy legal consequences... Gene's Dad: "Son, I'm going to say that once again, so listen carefully: No one shall leave Kerbin for a landing on Eve." ... "So how's that Mun Base coming along?" * * * Chapter archive thingie! (Archives are the best chives.) Chapter One: That's a No Go Part 1(You're looking at it.) Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Chapter Two: Cloudy, with a chance of boiling to death! and Operation Craters. Part1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Chapter Three: Storm - The rise of the Mun The story so far: If you just wish to get onto the story, I'm putting less essential mission moments in spoiler tags. Please note you may miss out some details if you skip those though.

ok so i sent 3 kerbals on a one way deep space mission to explore i have the near future tec mod instaled so for power they have a fusion reactor and a fule recycler but it has ither the reactor provides just a tiny bit to little power or heat. so I have an emergency solar array installed on it so i am wondering what have any of you done thats similar?

Today I realized that i didn't explore other planets at all I only explored mun and the other moon. SO I was like let's go exploring in KSP in that time realized i need some sort of a good and efficient spacecraft.So in this topic we will just talk about what's the best spacecraft to build for landing on other planets and coming back safely.My Targets are to land on Duna,Eve Or Jool. I haven't yet build a good craft to go somewhere

W.I.P. ver. 1.3.1. First part of a exploration Vessel from the NASA. Nautilus Exploration Starsystem for travel. Command Modul : Reactor : Tank Modul : Atomic Engine : Complete Vessel

So, I've started this thing that's similar to Scott Manley's Galileo Conquest series, where you try to expand to the very edges of an unfamiliar modded system, made even less familiar by mods such as Research Bodies. The modlist is slightly different, and instead of Galileo's Planet Pack as the modded system, we have Kerbal Star Systems by @StarCrusher96 as the main focus of the challenge, a system which, if you include the stock bodies, contains a total of 125 carefully designed bodies! The challenge? Construct a base as self-sufficient as possible on each land-able body with specific mods and gameplay settings (I shall provide the specifics soon). As for me, I will record each day with anything worth noting in the spoiler below, including mission launches, mission endings, mission failures, etc.

Hello fellow KSPers. Inspired by @CatastrophicFailure's Alien Skies story, I'm running a career in Galileo's Planet Pack at 3.2x scale, deliberately not looking up anything about the planets. As a request: please don't spoil anything about Galileo's Planet Pack. I'm coming into this blind, using a combination of CactEye telescopes and probes to figure out what the system is like. Other key mods: FAR, Real Fuels-Stockalike, TAC Life Support, Kerbal Construction Time, Karbonite (with some custom Real Fuels configurations from some prior 6.4x stock system work), kOS, RemoteTech 2 (currently no communcations delay; that may change if I feel brave), and plenty of other mods. Funds rewards are set to 120%, science rewards to 40%. Note that the early posts are going to lack specific date information and even the year information will be outright guesses, but I'll try to keep better track in the future. Now, onto the good stuff The Astronomers of Gael The First Year: The Climb to Orbit Ciro shines upon us, as the Gael Space Center is finally established. It has been three centuries since the Transplantation, a mysterious event that brought our ancestors here from a world named Kerbin, a world much like our own. Fortunately, it also brought food, a library, many tools, and for some reason, the Kerbin Paper Airplane Museum. We now seek to go to the stars. Our ancestors suspected the Ciro system is in the same galaxy as the Kerbol system, and the answers of how we got here, whether there are still Kerbals on Kerbin, and why the food included RTG-powered freezers full of Minmus-themed mint ice cream await us in space. If the Transplantation was the work of a higher power, clearly, it has a sense of humor. Sounding Rockets to Space Before more complicated missions could be carried out, the Gael Space Agency was tasked with something quite simple: "how high is the atmosphere?" Our early missions peg this world's Karman line at about 98 km, as well as carrying out valuable experiments, such as exposing samples of several proposed propellants to vacuum (no surprise that the liquid oxygen boiled out). No van Allen belts were detected by this early effort, though they probably exist courtesy of Gael's magnetic field and the fact that we haven't all died of cancer. Program Kerbin: Suborbital Manned Flights The Kerballed project begins with relatively simple 1-Kerbal capsules mounted on 6-ton solid rocket boosters. Initial conclusions can be largely summed up as "yep, we can still go to space and zero-gravity, much like our ancestors did with their space program". However, the photographs delivered by Jebediah Kerman have been widely distributed, and the Gael Space Program has a line of tourists paying for suborbital hops... and the actual space program.

This aspect has been extricated from the necrophobic STS discussion and the like. Makes no sense to go on shooting a dead horse, but obviously some people get alot of pleasure out of it. So let them continue to live in the past, antiquated policies and luditic ambitions. This is a thread for the forward looking. In a past life we had the flexible although somewhat limited STS system which took part in repair of satellites, assembly of ISS and finally its no more, for better and worse. The ISS has a robotic arm and has involved itself in assembly . . . . . but it sterically hindered and its function and inertia limits its use in other occupations. So the question is whether NASA has a viable plan for a space factory or assembly station. I think that before you can build a station of that type you need to decide where its going to be. But we here in KSP are not limited by what any space agency thinks, since the powers-that-be (rattling the moderators cage ) endowed each of us with a brain, its best we put it to our own use and create. And as creators and artist we will tolerate the failings of each other but accept the critiques as a means of communicative growth. But the argument does have to be constrained by what is currently feasible. So for example we could could say build a launch pad in say Boca-Chica for that 50 kT rocket (toasting everything within a kilometer), but we currently cannot launch a fusion powered rocket, so that we cannot argue, place factory in polar orbit because i have a 'god'-mode drive. Lets premise the discussion with a global 'god' commandment that we all can agree on. That progress in space exploration is the target, manned when its appropriate or of benefit, and unmanned at other times. So that neither are we going to restrict one for the other or vice versa. Part 1. Physical Basis I want to use a kind of use a quantum perspective on Earth, we have to argue from a spatial point of view that Earth is a particle with an infinite number of dimensions which define its state, the same argument can be made about the moon. And we need to perform operations on both. If we are to compare it to an atom, the mass being the nucleus and we are electrons or photons that are being effected by its various parameters, depending on the operation. Within the dimensions are qualities (e.g. mu, axial tilt, atmosphere, . . . . .) all defined by dimensions. The reason I want to describe the earth this way is because its not a simple planet rotating on a axis perpendicular to its orbit about the sun so that depending the operation we can select a vector in that space and operate on it to see what happens (so for instance you can use a rotational reference frame, cartesian, change of basis, hamiltonian, etc). The structure is important but details are not until you want to use one then you fabricate the dimensions you want and create vectors). So for instance to assemble a certain set of functions are going to describe how you get information (mass, energy, operations .. . . people) from the Earth to the assembly point and the second how you get mass from the assembly point to an escape. In doing this we can define the energy required to create a particle and then to expel a particle along a desired vector (and all that the expulsion requires). Because of its extended dimensionality and because of this we are sometimes using complex spatial vectors in multiple reference frames. But the desire ulitimately to cross all these frames out and have an orbit to Mars, the Asteroid belt, Jupiter within the common inertial plane of the solar system (we don't have to worry about the galaxy). The math is very complex and I am not going to bore the abstract discussion with that, but just to say there is no perfect plane to go everywhere at everytime. I think everyone already knows this, but its not simply planar problem it is a 4 dimensional problem with other parallels(momentum, acceleration, dM/dt, etc). The broad definition allows us to compute on all operations define local outcomes create a change vector and move to a different system fluidly. Again details are not needed just the framework of testing various models. So the summary here is this. The Earth is a base of information, energy is required to project that into space. In our handwaving dimensional system there are three points. 1. a complex dimensional point denoted QSP-basis, its on the earth, 2. Mission basis, its a facility in space, this is the place were individual missions begin after all components are assembled 3. destination-basis a variable by which you want to go. There are two aspects of this model that are subject to change. 3 does not change, for example the variable Mars is always were mars will be. Once you designate Mars as the destination you, the global operator, cannot change where Mars is. We can dicker over a landing site on Mars, but that is something of submission specific details and for the sake our argument it outside of this thread and in another thread 'Exosystemic Space Stations'. So the concept here is that we have some control over (1) we can manipulate in real time (where we launch from, how much mass, and when within launch window) and likewise we can move (2) anywhere we want but it must be in our planetary system. And so the complexity of the potentials is immediately apparent. Part 2. Logical basis To frame the problem I will create the Query Space Agency .. .QSA, which is of course on Earth, where it is on Earth doesn't matter, but its not at a pole it could be in Russia, Ecuador or Argentina. QSA then has mission objectives. Mars is the default, Moon is a strong second, Asteroid belt is a third, NE-Asteroids are a collective, Venus is an option and Mercury tails the list. Each of these on the list have an ideal dV, which can only be defined in context. To get a feel how part one is essential. For instance lets argue the amount of dV required to get any where in the Solar system is X and that is the minimum required. From that point of view the potential is always realized from the lowest LEO possible and in some case LEO may not be achieved (point 2 is expeditiously removed on your trip to pluto). That is to say, while you are still have notable positive radial velocity remant from your lauch you burn most of the dV required to reach your destination. Ultimately this can be done from the lowest LEO and extracts the most energy from the fuel that the craft gains. Note that we switch to a rotational coordinate system to define radial velocity diagram for the rocket and this allowed us to maximize the Hamiltonian (Hl, lets call it the energy swap thingy KE---> PE KE-PE = SPE). The point we define as the basis is what . . . . . .it evolved during the burn becoming the basis at the end of the burn which the Hl could be predicted for the trip to the LEO, then change of basis and out of the solar system. We could then theoretically just point any rocket at any target in space, fire to lowest dV and we would have the lowest. Actually no, this violates the premise of the argument . . .we do not have a god-mode drive, or a god-mode drag ablation system, god-mode thrust, god-mode visceral fortitude for manned missions. Consequently the time spent in total vertical motion accelerating and fighting drag would consume more dV than making a tangential turn and burning along the tangent outward. This is trivial right? Not exactly, the two statement justify the commencement of missions distal to (1) at some location (2) where drag is not an issue (if you have a craft that is very bulky) and where the burn initiates always along the tangent. The counter argument is why we don't launch all mission from this 'sweetspot' in space, and the answer is most current missionswill have lower specific energy requirement than the sweet spot and can manage within the bulk maximum of primary. Thus (2) by definition is a secondary mission initiation site. In the same way returning an astronaut from the ISS can be seen as part of a different mission than his launch to ISS. So by the logic we can suggest there is a point in space (2) whereby for some manmade objects that are assembled from multiple launches of 1 (cost/risk) is a lower cost/risk than the most efficient launch from earth. The absurd argument is this, we have a function called an 'massive Aerogel' (mass as in huge manifold) in which we are going to use the Aerogel to land something on Mars. But the manifold needs to be formed, so we have a facility in orbit that, say forms the Aerogel and places it on the martian ship, the martian ship takes off and it bounces around on the surface of Mars (what it does on Mars we dont care, like SpaceX launching the fully formed vessel is our mission complete). Anti-god-mode restrictions tell us that we cannot form the Aerogel at Mars and you cant launch the Aerogel rom terra. Part 3. Decision basis. So then we list out all the possible (2) points that can be used for all potential missions inside of our (1->2) basis (contains all missions that are too high for direct, bulky to go direct, or massive to be launched from earth) The minimum dV requiement of each of these is defined along with fuel requirement of crew rotations, station assembly requirements .. . . . .and we get a spatial manifold around Earth at any given time that has one or more minimum. This means we could at some medium future point have several points. Part 4. Evolving (U) exceptional basis (4). The exceptional basis gives us new parameters (4) that we can use for change functions. Lets take an absurd argument. Today every amount of fuel but not power must come from Earth (excepting solar wind, photon push, cannae drives and oberth effects), at somepoint say J2040 we now have power that comes from an asteroid with a comet inside that has undergone system capture (although we care where it is in our system, we don't need to know exactly where it is to create a infinite dimensional state vector for it that can be operated upon, the details can be applied at convenience). This then includes the capture. So for instance the body crosses into the planetary system and then there are operations to capture it and exploit it. Then there are operations to associate its state with other states by association vectors. In associating the exceptional state with all the other (2) states we then begin to reoptimize (2) and indirectly (1) to take advantage of (4), so that (4) and (2) can change (3s never changes since its a target not a waypoint, in this since they are always changing but we never change them). So this is the framework for future technology in space, we work in space for a time and a benefit of this is that the total required-power metric decreases and operations evolve in response to this. The counter argument to this it that exception basis evolves and is not current. This is important to the creative argument, what it means is that any fabrication that assumes that the exception basis is current and not dU4/dt is just like god-mode thrust; its a violation of the constraints. This is not Star Trek you cannot create a transgalactic warp-drive by using Wesley Crusher's best friend experimenting in an engineering lab overnight to suddenly escape the borg. dU4/dt also means that there is a cost involved in the change of state that needs to be applied to other associated systems and that the faster dU4/dt evolves the higher the cost in resources to other aspects. That means that developing an exceptional basis creates a necessary trade off of resources. Here is an example, suppose you are using Space X to supply the transfer and load requirements to an interplanetary shuttle that drops stuff at mars then heads back and reloads. Although you can for instance extract argon from comets its not very efficient and most of the fuel goes to Earth, suddenly now there is a comet in orbit in which a huge amount of hydrogen and oxygen can be produced, so now what you are doing is hauling empty hydrogen tanks back from Mars, but still you need argon gas to route. You can convert to magnesium but theres a cost. In addition to initiate the new system there has to be tanks shipped from Earth, and your argon supply drops off, so the hydrolox tanks build up in Mars orbit. Secondarily manned resources on your station are shifted to the comet and equipment coming from earth is also shifted to the comet. So for a time, as a space tug, your operations slow down as with all operations on your basis (2x). In addition that asteroid or comet is a (3) that is converted to (4) and that conversion has a resource cost before it even reaches the system. This means that missions (2->3x) need to be cancelled and diverted to 2->33->4. The thread is long enough so I will just add a few statements. Although I am still working on the details of how best to use ION drives from Earth orbit, I foresee a best set of circumstances from LEO/MEO. By this I don't mean crazy low LEO, it has to be far enough up where the Sun covers most of the angular displacement * time of a craft in orbit over time. Particular with Solar +prograde exit vectors the burn optimum is beyond termination the Earth this means to expose the craft while burning the craft has to be significantly high or have lightweight and efficient batteries. The mass efficiency comes from the differential between chemical Ve (4700) and ION drive Ve (>30000) that, in essence you do not want to use chemical reaction energy propellants to push an ION drive with bulky solar panels. The point however I want to make that it is possible to use ION thrusters during most of the orbit without loosing dV as long as certain parameters are preserved (IOW not a continous spiral) and also it might be faster to do this than a spiral. So that even a weakly powered ION drive has some modifyers that can get it out of Earth orbit faster (for example using highest ISP thrust for some operations and lowest ISP thrust for others, such as at the rmin in an orbit or when making the final kick. The direction of thrust can be varied to keep the rmin optimal and even reversed at highest possible ISP (or even a photon drive). OTOH the orbitally-static stations are attractive in the sense that we can always have them in a state that is optimal for most outgoing vectors. The problem that I don't like about these is they generally are 4000dV vectors at Ve of 5000 or lower. I cannot see ION drives doing this thing since their best benefit is in the kick from the LEO/MEO Earth to its destination, and in actuality tolerates super-Hohmann transfers that markedly shorten time. But there are time constraints on some missions so crawling out of L/MEO to L2 may be the best means of doing this, and certainly saves alot of dV on ION-IP shuttles. The problem is that for an ION drive once you are at L2, you are no longer required, and if PL need to use L2 to use your thrust is really not of a benefit in the PL to L2 transfer. It could be of some benefit, perhaps a smaller number of kicks where solar (minimal) and ion contribute to the kick over say 2 days. The simple problem is that ION drives would be really really useful if they had more thrust and of course that requires a power supply that we don't have. If we keep in mind that energy maximization is all about dV @ V this means that if orbital minimum is a 6531 m its V = 7812 m/s and 5523 m/s at 13063 km. For each amount of fuel burnt at gives a change of energy of 7812/dV at 7812 and 5523/dV at 5523. This goes to 12000E/dv at and somewhat less than 11500E/dv for the starting 5523. Again so there is basically a loss of 1500E/dv by doubling the radius. Thats a heavy tax to pay in addition to circularization costs. But it increase the burn span by almost 80 degrees. Of course as the orbit expands you issues with timing of optimal burns that cannot be circumvented so it might be wise to thrust up the Drives by changing the grid voltage and increasing amps. The final comment involves the shuttle and its potential application to the problem that has been de-optioned. Most of the gateways are programs and are fixed in nature, therefore if program flaws occur there is essentially little change options. With a shuttle based assembly the assembly states can change, since the initial state X is only in a place where shuttle can reach, if the X assembly point then spawns other Xs the shuttle is no longer required, however inefficient it might be its functionality could be leveraged into other states, and those states would make the shuttle obsolete, which is desired.

hint to what i am using for planets nice pack @Gameslinx welcome to THE space program idea i have commited too a sandbox, youtube silent series of my latest endevours (UNCUT) (nope OBS hates the new PC so imigur all the way!) instaid of pictures which i dont understand how on the current forums the goals: to explore laythe for other life forms to allow for long term exploration goals like a long time in LKO stress test my new PC (yes this is a goal) test new means of space stuff backstory, a long time ago the early perhistoric kerbals, looked up they seen purple green and red they wondered what they were after which kobal communications were set up the smartest relocated to the peninsula that we now call the KSC these group of clever kerbals had an idea which the smartest of which robert koddard created a rocket using the pendulum effect. it failed then later he tried putting the engine nozzle at the bottom it worked but got unstable while transonic being coined by gene kerman, this was a great leap forward but the kerbals hadnt realised wings would help at first they tried wings at the top it failed and toppled over at 200 k/s (keters per second) this was in 100 KD in 110 KD after 10 years of intense kresearch and krevelopment they found out that wings at the top will stabalise the craft comeing into the atmosphere but when going out it wont work so they put wings on the same rocket at the bottom it reached mach 1.2 and exploded the kerbals were confused so a smart kerbal his nickname lord kerbin decided to launch a rocket himself with a thermomiter aboard and the heat was very hot 1000 degrees kelcius then it exploded so he wrote these words: "if we put a material which will ablate away through means of disapearing through heat we will have a sucsessful rocket" they attempted the change and suprise suprise it failed the SRB failed (yes i see you smiling @Plecy75) they took 5 years in working out cause of failure. they gave up and launched again it worked this time which is the same moment bob got scared and shouted "WHAT IF IT GOES BOOM!" this invisaged jeb to quickly sketch a "boom stopper" coined by bob of course, a piece of fabric designed to CREATE DRAG gene was furious saying IT NEEDS TO BE AERODYNAMIC HONESTLY JEB WHY jeb tested it out without any ground clearence of course he was in trouble from the KSC owner however it worked so the punisment wasnt needed then jeb asked why not put me in a tin can everyone thought that jeb was crazy this is the continuation of that story...

The Spacecraft insp. by ALIEN is back the name of this great Vessel is Nostromo and it works in KSP

Galileo's Colonials Gael has long been the home of Gaelans, but for too long they've forgotten to explore, they've forgotten that they're still explorers. Stagnation has enveloped Gael, stagnation that they can no longer afford. The nations of Gael united to create The New Colonial Alliance, with the aim of colonizing their solar system, innovating their society, and advancing Gaelan civilizations.

This thread is a showcase of the ways that I go about exploring everywhere possible in Kerbal Space Program. I'll be sending regular missions first, followed by long-term research missions and then full-scale colonies, to every planet and all of their moons. Now, what do I mean by "extended Kerbol system"? Well, of course I mean extended by the addition of numerous celestial bodies. In different saves (to combat lag) I will be exploring: Xen's Planet Collection, a wonderfully designed planet pack which adds moons to Eve, Duna, and Eeloo, as well as two new planets with moons of their own Outer Planets, a planet pack that adds analogues for Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto-Charon, along with several moons around each gas giant Various other planet packs that I come across and like the idea of. The save is a career game, but all rewards are maximized and all penalties are minimized, because I basically wanted a sandbox save with contracts. I've recently restarted the save for version 1.1.3 of the game, due to mod updates and the fact that my design style has somewhat changed. I had spent a fair amount of time exploring Duna and its moons (that mission is now outdated but it is still a good example of what I'll be doing in this thread), which I have images of as an example of what I'll be doing in future. A lot of images. 85 images to be precise. That album will be shown at the bottom of this post. I'd recommend flicking through it because Duna has had some modifications thanks to Xenonclave, as well as having a new space potato moon. A list of all missions relating to this thread can be found here. A showcase of all vehicles used in this thread (from game version 1.1.3 onwards) can be found here. This thread will probably also contain some discussion about my design process and the way everything modular fits together. There's three things that are significant about me as a designer: I usually prioritise aesthetics over efficiency. If something doesn't look good, I'll rarely let it take off. I love to make things modular. My launchers are saved as sub-assemblies, my upper stages are saved as sub-assemblies, my interplanetary transfer stages are saved as sub-assemblies, you get the idea. I am the sort of person whose approach to building a spaceplane is not a highly precise design process involving such 'fun' maths as figuring out how much fuel and oxidizer are needed to 4 significant figures. It instead consists of me being like "well this looks approximately like a plane, hopefully it'll work". Results vary from "literally the best engineered, most efficient, and easiest to handle spaceplane that has ever been constructed" to "it looks good but flies like a moderately aerodynamic brick". Anyway though, that's about it for an introduction to this thread. Now for an example of what this thread will contain, a Duna mission from an earlier save:

Seriously, as per title. The contract system loves to get stuck on demanding activities you don't care about in places you've already explored. Could we consider some of the following... Not having rendezvous/dock/crew transfer as an "explore" type contract at all. It's nothing to do with exploration. Ending all further "explore" contacts for a body once it has had a flag planted on it. If players have got this far, they'll either go back for other reasons, or don't want to go back. Having at least two explore contacts available at all times, and not allowing them to be the same body, or parent body if a moon. Increase randomisation of exploration contracts. Duna this week, Eve the next, Eeloo, Jool, Dres... any time, any order. Let players decide whether to take them or wait for next week.* Allow blacklisting of bodies for contract purposes. Literally a ticklist of "never offer me these". Allow players to nominate the target of exploration and provide bonuses based on that. * I don't often feel that RNG is a good answer in games, but in this case, we really need more RNG. I have put boots on Mars, Deimos, and Phobos, yet I haven't even been invited to flyby Venus or Jupiter (yeah, I'm playing RSS but that shouldn't matter to the contract system). It leads to a very silly progression and is likely to have players just ignoring the exploration contracts forever.

Hey fellow kerbonauts!! So I started a new career... and I thought; how many science is there to be gathered troughout the kerbol system? so all the expirements in all the biomes on all the bodies. not including: - station science - repeating science experiments - asteroid science - etc I started a new science career and edited the savegame so I could unlock the whole techtree. mods I use are only for convenience: Mechjeb RPM Vesselviewer Final Frontier Trajectories Astronomers Visual Pack Im planning to keep you guys up to date in the coming period on the findings of the Kerbol Exploration Program!! Parts: First Steps at Kerbin Roving the KSC Vessel introduction Kerbin Explorations part 1 Kerbin Explorations part 2 Kerbin Explorations part 3 Onwards to Mun! From Mun to Minmus with love KHASE KSR Mission Departure Party and Mohole (not) in one! Progress: Edit: Any suggestions for craft, explorations or other topics are welcome! Kreetings! Ferdoni