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Do anyone know, how to determine the point of the vessel , on the basis of which the present biome is determined, when using Surface Scanning Module, or mining? I did some tests, so I'm almost sure it is not CoM of the vessel, neither it is present control probe

I have finally managed to set up a mining/refinery on minmus, with capability to dock to Clamp-o-tron Sr. and all is going well there (took me forever to actually land it because of part counts and a dogwater cpu though lol). And am looking to set up a "gas station" of sorts in low to mid kerbin orbit where most of my craft tend to be parked. This poses a question. How would I go about making a tanker capable of taking large amounts of fuel from minmus, to LKO? Recovery and funds are not an issue as this is a sandbox run. Thus far my best idea is to just haul a bunch of empty tanks into space, with seperate stages/sections with full tanks for actually moving the vessel. But at what point does the TWR/DV just become unacceptable for something like this? Or is there a better way? Additionally, any input regarding the "Gas station" would also be appreciated!

I started making this online tool that can help players design mining bases. It adds up the total resources consumed, produced and stored, as well as a few other metrics about heat generation, and other things of consideration when building a mining base. This is beta, and still in progress, but the general idea can be seen here: ISRU Heat & Power Calculator Light-mode theme messes with the background, here is a workaround in the meanwhile: Use the green menu, go to Delta-v or CommNet planner, Click the Sun Icon right next to the menu. That switches to dark-theme. Use the green menu to go back to pocket calculators (this ISRU calculator) Fixed - Phew...glad I called it beta I need to confirm a lot of details about the calculations on how the engineer bonus level, ore concentration, and multiple resource processes affect the final outcome for how much heat was generated. Does anyone have some definitive details on this? I will need to verify this tool's results against in-game tests, but the forum posts have gotten me this far at least Anyway, have fun and see if it works well enough for you. Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

I have used the M700 Survey Scanner over Minmus, gotten the resource overlay to show, and gotten a mining vessel into minmus' orbit. Now that its there, I cant see anything in the resource overlay. When I have Minmus selected as focus and open the planet cutaway tab I see the ore percentage in the tab, but it wont show the concentration map overlayed on the moon. I have the cutoff set to 0%, but no matter what it is set at nothing shows. The scanner is no longer in orbit, could that be the problem? Or do I need the surface scanner on my mining vessel? I have full signal strength, full power, and am sitting in a polar orbit under 55km. Any ideas on why I cant see anything? Thanks!

I was looking around for how generic ore could be turned into generic liquid fuel an oxidizer, and I think I found a candidate. Perhaps the ore that you mine is actually methane clathrate (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate) trapped in the dirt, but I’m not sure how the methane is extracted. Or (and I like this better), the ore is a carbonate mineral from which CO2 and hydrogen are liberated through heat, and then converted into methane by the Sabatier reaction, and the resulting water is electrolyzed to make liquid oxygen. The issue is, how is this process reflected in the input to output ratio of ore to LF/O? Is it accurate or wildly off?

I am trying to build a refueling station around Minmus and I both times I landed at my spot, my drills said there was no ground contact. I thought they were placed pretty well so I started tinkering with them on the launchpad and got the same errors no matter where I placed them. I built this contraption quick just to make sure it wasn't an issue with my launchpad or my ship: https://streamable.com/utuj5y None of them work. I've restarted the game and all that, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I've tried somewhere around 50 different placements and only one drillomatic jr alternated on and off every half second. I can't figure out how to fix it.

I am trying to dock my mining vehicle to a landing ship on Mun. However, after a successful docking, it starts to "jump". Here is the video: https://youtu.be/dKNikw3ewYU Can anyone help me please?

After ten in game years, I finally hauled a class E asteroid into Kerbin. I had to refuel using other crafts form nearby planets. I had to use my Dres base, my Duna base, and my Minmus base. I don't know if you can mine asteroids? I noticed that it said (ore: -----%). So how would I mine it? I mean I cant land on it. So how do I deploy a drill? I have a dozen probes around a the asteroid already.

Says harvest asteroid, but there is no gain in ores, even with time warp. any ideas? Thanks.

Less simple ISRU So, you’ve been there. Just using the stock engines don’t cut it anymore for you. You have a bunch of hydrogen powered engines, be them from Cryo Engines, SSTU, BDB or some other mod I don’t know or remember. Or you’re using LH2 powered nuclear thermal rockets. Or you love Nertea’s lithium powered engines from NFP. Or the few methalox engines available (I think only from a patch of NFLV). And maybe you also like off planet building, with either Global Construction or EPL. So you set up a mining site well beyond Kerbin. Ok, maybe “well beyond” means the Mun. But it’s not the VAB. And you convert ore to LFO and monoprop. And also to liquid hydrogen. And also to lithium. And also use it for building stuff with Ground Construction. And into other stuff. It’s ore for everything. KSPI-E and Kerbalism have their resource chains, but they are complicated mods. Is there something in the middle? Something that’s not as daunting as KSPI-E but also doesn’t mean ore is almost magical? Yes, this. Also Rational Resources. But this too. What does it does and what it doesn’t? First, it doesn’t preclude any stock dynamic. Ore to LFO and monoprop is still there. I’m also not overwriting or deleting stuff from other mods (that wouldn’t be cool at all), so Nertea’s ore to hydrolox/lithium/methalox patches remain. If you want to continue refueling ships at Minmus or the Mun, you can still do it, as usual. What it does? It adds simple new resource chains using existing CRP resources for liquid hydrogen (plus oxidizer), lithium, sabatier processes for methane production and atmospheric harvesting of xenon (and argon, but if you’re using NFP, Nertea already had you covered with that). Here’s the simple run down Now for the resource explanations (you can skip this): Oxidizer Yes, theoretically, the in-game oxidizer isn’t based in liquid oxygen. But the mod community has long equated both for simplicity (and that LF burns with oxygen in the stock jets, I guess), so I’m going with that. The idea of this mod is to keep things somewhat simple, after all. Hydrates Based on what I see from CRP and Roverdude’s mods, “hydrates” represent several types of inorganic salts like chloraluminite or hydrates formed by cobalt chlorides (the people who included them in CRP can correct me here if I’m wrong) which have roughly 50% of water, or a corresponding mix of hydrogen and oxygen. So as a rule, I’m going with “if you can do it with water, you can do it with twice the mass of hydrates”. What can you do with water? Well, high temperature water electrolysis (so you still need radiators) as well as the Sabatier process to produce methane and oxygen. Why are both available instead of just water? Well, because while hydrates are common, water is not. I did add a bit of water to some specific biomes of the Mun and Minmus to make sure you can run the Sabatier process there and refuel any methalox engine within the Kerbin system (so you can always refuel there), even if realistically, there shouldn’t be any there. Also, since you need twice as much hydrates than water to do stuff (as well as extra electric power, since you need to first get the water out of the hydrates before making fuel), it’s not efficient to ship hydrates around with rockets – you’re flying around twice the mass you’d fly if you’ve turned it into fuel or if you’re using water. But, then again, water isn’t that common. Spodumene Spodumene is a mineral already included in CRP with the chemical formula LiAlSi2O6. So we have a bit of lithium to extract from there – but only a bit, there is a reason why salt brines are used on Earth to extract lithium after all. If flying hydrates around isn’t efficient, hauling spodumene is absolutely not efficient at all. You’re far better off refining it in situ because the vast majority of it will be lost. You could actually get quite a bit of oxidizer from it, but I feel that can be confusing (why are you looking for oxidizer if you intend to fly magnetodynamic thrusters?) and for gameplay reasons, I made the spodumene -> lithium conversion rather fast. If I added oxidizer, it would produce it really, really fast. But if I were to balance it with ore->LFO, lithium would take ages to extract. Carbon dioxide (and the Sabatier process) CO2 is here only to help produce methane, and is the only production chain which requires two raw resources. I didn’t yet see many mods with methalox rocketry – only an extra for NFLV, but I may be missing some mods. I also have a mind of checking how to use B9 part switch to make methalox versions of some stock engines. Nertea’s Cryo Tanks mod has support for methalox tanks as well as an ore -> methalox patch. I’m not touching those patches, so it’s still active if you’re looking for a simpler way to produce methalox. But if you’re looking for a more realistic way, you can use this mod. You’ll also notice that water and CO2 are both inputs and outputs of the Sabatier process. After digging a bit, I’ve used this https://marspedia.org/File:Propellant_production.png as a template – only that a lot faster because 420kg of methane per day wouldn’t cut it for gameplay purposes. A small byproduct of both water and CO2 still results, so I found it simpler and more interesting to add them as outputs rather than subtract them as inputs. As with hydrogen production, the Sabatier process can be done with either water or hydrates, and it takes twice as much of hydrates than water. Also keep in mind the resulting proportions don’t exactly match those used for engines. As for CO2, for simplicity reasons I’m not distinguishing between solid, liquid and gaseous CO2. Instead I’m using CRP’s carbondioxide definition which, based on it’s very low density, I guess it was meant to represent gaseous CO2. Adding the different states would require several conversions and three different storage tanks, all for a raw resource for a very niche fuel type, and that goes against keeping this mod kind of simple and easy to use and understand. As a result, you’ll see CO2 uses large amounts of in-game units. The drills report a large electric consumption to extract it because I’ve pumped up the efficiency rating of CO2 extraction to extract a large amount of units in a reasonable time, but don’t worry – the electric consumption is actually normal. As for its presence: CO2 melting point is 216.6 °K (-56.6 °C / -69.8° F) so it has no business being solid closer to the Sun than Kerbin. Or in Kerbin. I added a patch to add it to the stock system while removing it from Eve, Gilly and Moho. I did add it to Kerbin shores so the mining rigs can be tested at the Launchpad. And yes, in selected biomes at the Mun and Minmus, even if it shouldn’t be there, to keep with the philosophy of not preventing any stock mechanics. Essentially, you should at least be able to refuel methalox ships with the Kerbin system. Yeah, it shouldn’t be possible. If you want that part of realism, don’t do it, I guess. As for mod planet packs, some add it in its gaseous form, but it may be lacking in its solid forms. Your mileage may vary. (New in 0.4) Uranium enrichment for nuclear reactors CRP added uraninite ages ago, but creating nuclear fuel for nuclear reactors is, AFAIK, only covered in MKS. It’s also a bit OP since not only nuclear reactors are themselves OP, but because we’re talking about running a nuclear facility capable of making weapons grade uranium in another planet. So the stock 2.5 meters converter can now enrich uranium, but it requires a whopping 3000 EC. This mod also patches the NFE and KPBS centrifuges so they can also do it, but at a more reasonable electrical consumption. A word of warning: uraninite is dense. By weight alone, the stock holding tanks could hold hundreds of tons, I've limited the amount imagining the tank's structural resistance, but you can still mine and store a lot in very little volume. How does this all come together (and mod integration) (you probably want to read this) So, how do you get this stuff off the ground (or the atmosphere if you happen to have you nearby) and into something that goes boom – hopefully upwards and sideways? Storage As far as storage is concerned, the ore tanks will now hold water, hydrates, spodumene and CO2 as well as ore. For simplicity reasons, we can abstract parts of the CO2 extraction process and assume it’s frozen solid as part of the atmospheric extraction process. Atmospheric harvesting Gaseous resources from the atmosphere can be harvested with the stock precooler and the mk1 fuselage air intakes. The mining rig air speed matters in the efficiency by which the gasses are captured… and chances are your rig isn’t zooming around at match 2 – that’s a limitation which can’t be removed, to my knowledge, with module manager patches. So the percentage of the particular gas in the atmosphere matters a lot. You’ll see you’re barely sucking CO2 at the Launchpad. Now go and try the same at Duna ;-) Also, it takes more power to harvest CO2 than other gasses because it’s being stored in solid form. Or at least in holding tanks which seem to be designed to hold solids, so it’s being frozen and that takes more power. The surface scanner will also scan for atmospheric CO2 and, if NF Propulsion isn’t present, for xenon as well. The reason it doesn’t scan for xenon if you have NFP is that NFP already includes an atmospheric sensor that scans for both xenon and argon. Surface mining The drills now come with the option to harvest water, hydrates, spodumene and carbon dioxide. Not much more that needs to be said about it. Resource conversion All done in the stock converters. And the Kerbal Planetary System converter. And the Mining Expansion converters. In short, the stock system is to use drills to harvest ore, store it in holding tanks and use the ISRU converters to, well, convert it. All these processes require quite a bit of electricity and generate heat. This mod uses the same parts and system and just adds a few more toggles and more places to look for more raw materials. Mod integration Scansat Scansat already covers water, spodumene and hydrates by default. CO2 has been integrated into the planetary overlays and maps, so you can use Scansat to plan your mining, refining and colonization efforts. Kerbal Planetary Base Systems The converter, regular drill (not the dirt drill) and the ore holding tanks are all patched to extract, store and process the new resource chains Feline Utility Rover The converter has been integrated too Stockalike Mining Extension It’s fully integrated. As with KPBS, you can use the drills, converters and holding tanks to mine, store and process hydrates, water, co2 and spodumene. Stockalike Station Parts Redux Water is already available for the SSPR storage parts by default. The existing hydrates template in SSPR is set to be activated if either MKS or TAC LS aren’t already triggering it. Spodumene and CO2 options are added. Remember, though, some resources are better processed in situ, since conversion rates aren’t necessarily 1:1 Near Future Construction Water, Spodumene, Hydrates and CO2 templates have been added to the trusses capable of holding ore MKS Very little actually. If Umbra Space Industries is present, the logistic module will be added to the ore holding tanks, which should allow them to participate in the USI logistics system. If both USI and NFP are present, the module is also added to NFP lithium tanks (though I’d remove it if @Nertea objects, as it’s his mod, same with the SSPR integration). MKS already handles hydrates and water by default, so hydrolox production shouldn’t be a problem: raw resources can be remotely mined and transported with the logistics system to a larger inhabited base for processing. Remote mining and processing of spodumene and CO2/methalox is, as of initial release, slow. Full integration would require adding spodumene and CO2 to the automated drills as well as adding the conversion recipes to the automated processing units as well as, perhaps, adding them to the MKS tanks. Nothing of this is, as of yet, implanted, so crewless production of methane and lithium will be slow Planet Packs No integration (yet). Spodumene, water and hydrates have a global definition in CRP, so unless the mod author has removed them, they will be there. Gaseous CO2 may or may not be available, that depends on the planet pack author. Solid CO2 will be there in smaller amounts (at least as of initial release) since I’ve added a global definition – which also means it will be around in hot planets where it shouldn’t be, so I’m open to suggestions about removing it. I am considering adding a surface CO2 config for RSS, but I don’t know if the RO/RSS crowd would be interested. Added a resource configuration for Real Solar System, which increases surface water in bodies with abundant known surface ice and a bit of surface carbon dioxide where it’s known to be. Off-planet manufacturing mods Not integrated either. While part of the reason I made these patches is because of “one resource to rule them all”, which is what happens with Global Construction without MKS, I’d be messing with those mods resource chains rather than adding new chains for existing mod fuels. So I’m not doing it. And yes, that means nothing stops you from extracting ore to use with GC to both build ships and use it as fuel, and also that EPL still requires metal ore for building and ore for the smelter. Making an additional resource chain for GC material kits would interfere with the more complex MKS resource chain, and I’m not messing with other people’s mods. As for EPL, while both hydrates and spodumene contain aluminum, which could reasonably be abstracted into “stuff spaceships can be made of”, adding metal ore as a byproduct of their isru chains would mean messing with EPL’s gameplay. And on top, EPL’s metal ore and its smelting process is based in an iron ore (hematite IIRC), not aluminum. So while I considered it as a way to add more flexibility to the base locations, I’m not touching it. Dependencies Module Manager, of course, since this is a collection of patches Community Resource Pack, for the resources B9 Part Switch, for the tanks I haven’t included them in the download, as Less Simple ISRU, being a collection of patches, can work with KSP 1.8 or 1.9, but B9 Part Switch require different downloads for either versions. So if you don’t have them already, download them. Pictures Because of course Solar panels courtesy of Suicidal Insanity’s MK2 Expansion, drills from Mining Expansion (also by Suidical Insanity) and Nertea’s NFP methalox engines. Also, I didn’t pack enough panels and the lander doesn’t really have enough dV to get back to space, so don’t copy that design. That’s the Sabatier process running at Duna, processing hydrates. And yes, the 1.25m convert-O-Tron is, well, the 1.25m convert-O-Tron: The crew isn’t happy. Now Minmus, showing Kerbal Planetary Base System integration, and radiators by Nertea’s Heat Control. Also the Sabatier process, this time with water Scansat integration (and hyperedit to cheat the probe into orbit). Yes, dry ice (solid CO2) shouldn’t be there, but I’m don’t want to cut Minmus refueling bases. More Scansat, mining and processing with Mining Expansion’s largest parts. Lithium processing for NFP largest engines. Val is happy. The surface scanner and high temperature electrolysis to produce liquid hydrogen and oxidizer. Tanks by cryotanks. Of course, I’m open to suggestions (except for CO2 Nuclear Thermal engines, Rational Resources already has those) as well as any correction to balance and the resource’s proportions (I do think I got them right, but I may be mistaken in something) Changelog 0.40: Added Uranium Enrichment, fixed Cryotanks 1.6.1 causing a conflict with this mod. Updated version file 0.30: Various fixes by @AccidentalDisassembly. Ore tanks now hold a stock-like amount of resources (as in, five times less). Updated version file for 1.10 0.20: Added Near Future Construction integration, RSS integration and updated readme file 0.10: initial release Download links Spacedock https://spacedock.info/mod/2378/Less%20Simple%20ISRU Curse https://www.curseforge.com/kerbal/ksp-mods/less-simple-isru License: GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3GPLv3 Enjoy

Alright, so here's the quick rundown: This is the first in a series of mostly-identical "bootstrap" stations I'm going to scatter throughout the system. Each one is powered by a NearFuture fission reactor, and uses storage trusses from NearFutureConstruction to hold ore, xenon, and pure LF for my NERV-powered interplanetary ships. Two ISRUs are used to convert ore hauled up from Minmus by the two miners docked in the background, which refuel both on Minmus and from their own dedicated LF/OX tank. In the long run, there will only be one miner, with the second being transferred to my under-construction Ike station. The miners themselves can hold 18,000 units of ore, and run off a smaller fission reactor. The six Poodle engines and accompanying mini-ISRU provide more than enough Delta-V (~3,000 m/s when under full load) for landing, takeoff, and rendezvous, all of which is handled by MechJeb due to my twitchy fingers not playing nice with razor-thin maneuvering margins. The actual mining process is quite speedy, since I took the time to use a scanning satellite and a rover to identify the greatest possible ore concentration.

Ok So I am new to KSP (only about 100 hours or so) and I’ve spent the last few building a orbital refueling base around minmus and gong back and fourth from the surface of minmus to my orbital refueler/ore processor. It has all of its fuel tank full and are ready to begin exploration of the Kerbol system. BUT HOLD UP!. I was just about to burn my first ship from an LKO to minmus and refuel there but then a thought came to my head andI paused my game and I was thinking the very thing that you are about to read: Would it be better/more efficient to just straight up burn from and LKO to Duna (my version of an LKO being 100,000km) or from what I think burn to minmus, refuel, and then escape Kerbin’s SOI from there because Kerbin's SOI is pretty weak all the way out at minmus, therefore taking less Delta-v to escape Kerbin’s SOI all the way out there and plus have extra fuel because you just completely refueled your tanks at the orbital minmus refueling station? please somebody get back to me with a correct awnser and thank you for reading this I AM CONFUSED

I am going to place a refueling station in Kerbin's orbit. The goal of which is to have a platform to host a debris tug/deorbit platform, refuel interplanetary missions and as a central hub of the Kerbin SOI. I have 2 questions, first I am inclined to setup a mining outpost on Minmus, is there a good arguement against Minmus and in favor of Mun? My thought process is the easier takeoff and landing of mining barges to the surface of Minmus is more beneficial than the slightly easier act of getting to Mun. My second question is the orbit of this station. At first I thought maybe a circular orbit at 250km. But am now more inclined to run it in an elliptical orbit of 150km-350km. I'm not efficient enough in my launches to reliably get to a 150km station in one shot. Is a circular orbit more preferable than the elliptical? Should I aim more towards a 250km or 350km circular or is elliptical ok? Other notes: career play on normal/moderate setting with Comms Net enabled. I haven't just yet unlocked the mining equipment but will shortly. Thanks in advance!

It's all experimental right now but here's the idea. Have a science vessel SSTO which can be used for Interplanetary transport of people and equipment. The equipment should be almost anything between two large docking ports. In this case I have designed a mining module which I launched on a rocket into a parking orbit. Now my SV-SSTO (Science Vessel) is going to try it out. First separate the command module. Dock onto the Mining module Then re-acquire the drive/science section It's a tight squeeze. I think I will call this particular experiment a success. Fits like a glove. (although it should fit like a mining module) I hope you like it. D.

I've tried searching for the answer on forums without any success. For the 'Drill-O-Matic Junior' Mining Excavator the Practical Details section on the wiki says as follows: To have the drill run "in the background" (so you don't need to watch it produce ore), you need to leave it alone for more than 6 hours. If you switch focus back to the craft with the drill before 6 hours have passed, the drill will retroactively stop. Does anyone know of a way to change or remove that value by editing some config file somewhere? I'm running 1.2.2 if that makes any difference. I just don't understand why there's a delay in the first place! Not sure if this should've been posted in the Gameplay Questions or over here...

So, I'm building up a mining colony at Minmus, but I'm trying to make it as efficient as possible. I am using Kerbal Attachment System mod, just for reference. Would it be more efficient for me to process minerals on minmus and then ship it to orbit, or to ship minerals to orbit and process it there?

Hello, I'm not quite sure if this is any bug (I'm using some mods) or if there's some unknown multiplier within the core heat calculations. Perhaps someone here can help me to unterstand. In my setting I landed on Minmus with a level 2 engineer. The ship has 2 Drill-O-Matic Junior's attached to a fuel tank and attached to this tank a large radiator panel. Nothing else (of any heat importance) is conected with this fuel tank. There's no termal control system on the whole ship. Now each each Drill-O-Matic Junior has 50 KW max cooling and the large radiator panel has 200 KW of core heat xfer. So there should be more then enough cooling. But when I start mining, the drills core temp climbs up to 561 K. Thanks to KAS & KIS I was able to try some different settings. If I attach another small radiator panel (50 KW core heat xfer), the drills stay at 500 K. So the cooling requirement seems to be somewhere between 200 KW and 250 KW - the drills should only generate 100 KW. I also checked the additional thermal data over the debugging console (ALT + F12) but I'm no expert in those numbers and they don't gave my any hint, what happens with the heat when the drills starts to overheat (I mean going over 500 K). This behavior starts with 1.3.1, in prevoius versions the cooling for this ship was fine (but in those days I drilled on mun ) . Best regards

(A.K.A. BILL AND JEB'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE) TL;DR: TODAY I LEARNED THAT "CHECK YO' STAGIN'" APPLIES TO DOCKING PORTS. I am new to Kerbal Space Program and going through career mode. After the crew of my second Mun landing returned to Kerbin with 1,859.6 science on board, I decided to get ... ambitious greedy. I started by unlocking Very Heavy Rocketry, its associated fueling needs, the long-awaited NERV, and Composites. Initially I just wanted to use the NERV as any upper stage, since it was so efficient. But there was a contract for mining ore, and I already wanted to land, so why not try to make a refueling lander? It turned out to be a lot heavier than expected, so I went with 3x engine symmetry (2 would have been enough power but 3 made better symmetry and I was used to high munar TWR from my first two landings), and packed a bunch of the baby airplane fuel cylinders next to the engines since they have the best fuel-to-weight ratio of all the liquid tanks—which also gave me a place to mount landing gear that could actually reach the ground, and a better place to mount drills than some very sneaky girders. Then, since I had the power, I upgraded the converter since the small one's ore-to-fuel ratio is garbage. I didn't have the Gigantor solar panels unlocked yet, but looking at the energy requirements I decided to use the last of my science to do so. I wanted to do a bunch of contracts. I had several around the Mun, for which I needed a rover and a satellite, and I wanted to mount them both on the nose. Hmm. I decided to put clamp-o-trons on the rover and nose, then put the satellite in the middle. I added RCS to the rover so I could, in theory, detach in spaceflight, launch the satellite, and then reattach to the lander. I've never docked anything before, but how hard can it be? (Backup plan: carry the satellite down, drop the rover, launch satellite after takeoff.) [edit: TinyPic is dead; long live Flickr. Original link for insanity posterity: http://i68.tinypic.com/2pqqj3a.jpg ] Speaking of docking, on this mission I plan to try it for the first time again—ship to ship this time. My middle stage should make Mun orbit, and if the lander refinery works as well as hoped, I can potentially come back up, dock, donate a little fuel (I put modest L+O tankage on the nuke with this hope—contents donated to the middle stage, of course—plus I could refine more ore after docking), then transfer crews, land again, collect science and fuel again, and did I mention both crews still need a Mun landing under their belt? Now all I had to do was figure out how the heck to lift all this junk. Fortunately I had just unlocked the Mammoth. Even so, I still needed to attach some Kickbacks to give me what I consider decent launchpad thrust. For the middle stage, a Skipper might be adequate to the task, but I thought, "Hey, the Rhino gets better ISP anyway, right? And it will keep my burns short. Let's try this sucker out." Plus it let me keep my rocket fatter; this thing is much taller than any rocket I've made before. Looking at what I'd done in the VAB—what I'd done to the VAB?—I named it the Abomination. The fairing covered 45% of the rocket. It's over 100 tons heavier than my previously biggest rocket, which was almost 100 tons heavier than my previously biggest rocket. And it's not too far shy of double the cost, though a lot of this is tied up in stuff meant to be recovered. [ http://i66.tinypic.com/2m7vkg1.jpg ] I had just accepted a contract to test the aerospace decoupler at 51-55km while going 1110-1890m/s, which put some constraints on my flight profile, but it actually worked pretty well with a reasonable gravity turn. It took me a couple of tries to get it right, but I don't feel too guilty about reverting for that sort of thing. They aren't terrible fins—or at least they looked the part. The Rhino performed beautifully, too. It started up well in the upper atmosphere, so I'm sure it was at least as efficient as any other upper stage could have been, and the extra power let me carry more fuel that the main lifter would have otherwise been using (at less effiency). The downside is that if the Mammoth was allowed to use that fuel I was confident of recovery; this way, I didn't even try for this mission, though I may if I find myself with a similar lower stage in the future. On the last Mun landing, I caught a Minmus intercept completely by accident while planning the trip home, but didn't have the fuel to do it. Not this time, my crew thinks. Not this time. As it turns out, the main difficulty of reattaching the rover—other than that I'm terrible at docking—was that it really wasn't designed with docking in mind. First, the lines of sight were very bad, and second, I didn't realize I'd offset the docking port so that a little bit of it was blocked by a girder. The magnetism seems to be holding it in place for now, so hopefully that will hold up until I land. If it falls off upon landing that will just save me the trouble. [ http://i66.tinypic.com/2hrhm6t.jpg ] The satellite was then on its merry way after reaching the correct altitude to turn on its engine to fulfill a contract. I was careful of where the main ship was, after having read many horror stories about inattentive launch collisions! It has tons of delta-V, which is good because it needs to fulfill two orbital requirements; it may have enough to spare to do something useful. Even if it doesn't, three contracts on one small satellite that at worst will be a half-decent Mun relay antenna isn't bad. The orbiter (the Rhino) is another story. By my calculations at the time, it did have enough to get into my preferred capture orbit but it's tighter than I thought back in the VAB when I was doing gross estimation instead of precise engineering. I hoped I would be able to get into my subsequent planned lower orbit. (To make a rendezvous with the mining ship easier—the refueling might be more than a novelty now.) Alternatively I could have just bailed out and tried for Kerbin immediately after the capture, but I wanted to stick to the mission plan. Apparently, magnetism gets weaker during time warp. I wanted to orient my vessel in a certain direction to ensure the orbiter didn't get in the way of the lander's maneuver. I knew that the maneuver node could sometimes move around a bit on you, but I was totally unprepared for one that meandered across a 45° swath of the navball! I can't help but imagine the loosely attached rover had something to do with it, but even so, that was ridiculous. Every time I thought I was close, it dashed back in the direction I came from, sort of like the way SAS autocorrects. Speaking of misbehaving maneuver nodes, apparently the satellite was small enough, and the antenna big enough, that the engine was significantly offset from the center of mass. At least, that was the hypothesis I formed as the thing bucked like a bronco for the nearly two minute burn despite the fact that I was only packing a Spark. Or perhaps too much of the weight was in the back? I will keep this in mind for more important future missions. The rover, in the meantime, had gotten loose again. Fortunately I cought it before it had gone more than a couple meters. I was becoming concerned. I wondered how it would behave under deceleration. At least, I reasoned, it would be only compressive forces, not pulling the clamps apart, but it's off center—that's the whole problem. But although the clamps are off center, the center of mass (as I eyeballed it) looked like it should be right over the center of the rocket, so maybe it would be fine. I had plenty of monopropellant, even without being able to transfer any from the ship. As long as it waits until landing—or perhaps even the final approach—to wobble off the ship, I'm golden. But, a pessimistic voice whispered, if it's not docked then you can't undock it. what if it sticks through the landing and doesn't want to go? Will the monopropellant be enough to push it loose? Almost certainly yes, I thought. I was glad I thought of the possibility, but I was sure it was not a true concern. After another repetition of the rover escape and a couple more times it seemed to be threatening to, I think I've figured out the behavior. Whenever "normal activity" is suspended, either from time warp or from leaving the area (to adjust my satellite's orbit) the half-on, half-off docking port starts to freak out. Possibly the game is trying to make it fit correctly, but running into a conflict with the girder that's in the way. It wasn't a problem when it was built that way but it looks like detaching it was a one-way trip, at least for this particular rover. There seem to be one of two "resting states": one where the clamps are together but offset as in the picture above, and one where the clamps are perfectly aligned but being held apart by the girder. If I leave the area when it's in the first position the rover wants to go to the second position, but if I leave the area when it's in the second position then it wants to lose the connection and drift away. Anyway, I lined up the target on the ground, giving it a little lead for rotation and overshooting a bit on purpose because I usually end up short of the planned line. In this case I had to stick to the plan more than usual once I got close to the finish line because if I turned the ship too fast the rover would definitely lose its connection, and I didn't want to do that too far from the actual landing zone. [ http://i65.tinypic.com/vz9652.jpg ] After what is by far the most fuel-wasteful deorbit I have ever done (possibly partially because of the unusually steep orbit I'm coming down from), I was slowly decelerating into the landing zone, and I noticed I was drifting a little bit. As said before, any sudden course corrections would cause the rover to get squirrely, which is a complication I didn't need, so I quickly switched to it at a couple dozen meters up, mashed the RCS, and just let it fall to the ground, where it bounced very nicely without exploding even a little. I eased myself down in the most cowardly possible way, RCS blasting, secure in the knowledge that as long as I made it to the ground intact I would be taking off with full tanks. [ http://i65.tinypic.com/289kfi9.jpg ] I'd like to say Jebediah had a fine old time roaming around the countryside on the rover, but it turns out Bill neglected to install any seats. Not that that little detail would stop Jeb, but unfortunately his crewmates managed it. OKTO sighed a little sigh and dutifully went off alone in search of temperature readings, and maybe love. [ http://i64.tinypic.com/zufbwh.jpg ] Well, like many would-be lovers, OKTO forgot which way was forward and went 20 kilometers in the wrong direction. But the detour didn't cost much more time than it took for the mining and refining to finish completely. Then I just burned for orbit, trying to get one that was easy to match to the orbiter (I went polar because of the landing zone, so rotation was a factor.) Getting into AN obit wasn't so bad; getting into a MATCHING orbit was a little more of a chore. But that, I think, is a mission report for another day. TO BE CONTINUED...

~ Triton Mk-IV ~ 224 Parts, Stock, Version 1.3.1 Ever wanted to check out the seas of Laythe with a speed boat? How about some off road dune action? Perhaps an enjoyable flight past picturesque mountain peaks? Using the Triton Mk-IV, you can do all 3 with 1 launch. Establish an adventure colony on Laythe today! THE ROCKET Triton Mk-IV rocket: Designed to deliver a small 4 kerbal exploration team and 3 vehicles to Laythe (one way). Straight forward stage progression and generous delta-V values make getting to Laythe an enjoyable experience. After you drop the first stage, slowly push forward a full 90º until you are parallel with the surface. This should put your apoapsis at around 80~90k. Keep your remaining stages right on the horizon and if you do it right, your nukes will only need to use about 100dV or so to put the periapsis at 80~90k and all the prior stages will de-orbit properly. This will leave you with an orbital craft sporting just over 8,200dV, plenty for the journey to Laythe. Once there, simply de-orbit over the ocean and let the parachutes do the work. THE VEHICLES Trident: A jet boat and vehicle carrier. It's purpose is to transport the Beast from island to island, unloading and reloading it from beaches. It can achieve speeds over 42 meters per second and has reversible jets that act as brakes. It has good steering and enough fuel to reach land from nearly any landing location in the ocean. Always open and close the loading ramp slowly using the percentage slider. If you are stuck on a beach, you can reverse full thrust and use the ramp to dislodge. (packed on the Triton Mk-IV) PRESS "1" to toggle thrust direction. Beast: A mining and fuel refinement truck. The truck can be used to explore deep inland and produces fuel for the other two vehicles. It has a narrow wheel base to allow for unloading and loading on to the Trident. Always slow down below 10 meters per second for turns or steep hills. If you start to tip over, counter steering can often save you. In flatter areas, you can safely go 20~35 meters per second without tipping over. (packed on the Trident) PRESS "2" to toggle solar panels when on land. Firebolt: A very small and highly maneuverable jet weighing less than 900kg! It is capable of flying medium distances and is perfect for surveying the surrounding area. Even with a kerbal in the seat it has zero torque, allowing maximum benefit from the SAS. It is very easy to land, but care must be taken to prevent crashes. Using the brakes it can take off and land using a very small area. Keep SAS on at all times. It is the fastest of the 3, allowing for horizontal flight speeds of over 160 meters per second. (packed on the Beast) DOWNLOAD THE CRAFT FILE HERE! IMAGES OF A SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH! Design Notes: *Craft is turned 90º left on launch pad to accommodate unorthodox payload shape, just press up/forward instead of right when turning into orbit. **Once deployed, the Firebolt cannot be combined with the Trident and Beast again for sea transport. However, the Firebolt has enough range to follow the Trident most places and can be flown separately.

So I just landed a rover with a surface scanner on Minimus, and it says 13.01% ore. Is that a lot? How much should I be looking for when trying to start a mining base? Fire

After few days experimenting with mining spaceplanes, i've found this is not really suits my needs. 200t+ spaceplane with VTOL engines blocks that able to carry convert-o-tron 250 and few Nerv engines is too bulky and have not really good delta-v (so, requires refuelling at orbit with other ships often) with very slow acceleration rate and quite hard to operate. So, i've decided to switch to copter-style ships. Build simple one with 16x nerv engines (in 8x blocks with two engines), 28t Mk3 liquid tank, 14.57 Mk3-2.5m adapter with LF+OX, 4.57t Mk3 monopropellant tank, some Mk1 LF tanks, two large drills (one at top - for asteroids mining and one at bottom - for planets harvesting) 2700 ore capacity (had few contracts for mining and hauling ore around), RCS, grab unit, Sr docking port and full set of scientific stuff with 3 kerbals crew capacity (one engineer and two scientists in mobile lab). Also features many lamps to mine at dark places (well, wasn't really good idea as it kills my videocard at places like Duna when turned on, i guess because it tries to calculate atmosphere's light paths). The ship is quite self-sufficient, 5000+ delta-v with quite good push (so, less boring time while accelerating), able to land and take off Duna and smaller bodies, has ability to refuel other small ships on orbits. Because large ore tanks - it is able to get large bonus delta-v (about 20%, so it will have 6000+ dv!) as you can start from small bodies full of ore and convert it is to the fuel after taking off and finishing first maneuvers. Cost is about 1 million (with first two stages to get on orbit, could save a bit if have used vtol-landing stage but was a bit lazy to build such large pusher). Contains only stock stuff, except mechjeb (can be removed, of course). Launched the ship to 200km orbit, headed to Minmus to complete "get ore from Minmus to Kerbin's orbit" contract, flew to the Ike and brought 2700 ore to the Duna's surface (had 1.7mil contract on this), made atmosphere fly with copter-style flying to get closer to old Duna base, picked experienced crew there and went back to Ike (to finish "make EVA on Ike's orbit). At launch pad To 200km orbit Final separation at orbit Heading to the Minmus Landing at Ike Mining at Ike Hauling ore to Duna Landing at Duna Picking up crew at Duna Ugh, forgot to install ladders... Well, EVA jetpacks were enough... ...But a bit tricky Taking off from Duna

Hello rocketeer ! A few days ago I landed an asteroid and set up 4 rover connected between them and to the asteroid : 1 for electricity, 1 for cooling, one for storing ore & convert it and the last one for my 5 star engineer & the drills. But seems like I can't mine it.. The drills only ask for surface harvester but nothing for asteroid case.. Here's some screenshots for a better understanding of my situation : https://imgur.com/a/5n4ig

Hello everyone ! There is 2 days ago I found this post : And I really enjoyed the concept of optimizing miner's efficiency made by @TokMor but I've been a little disappointed seeing that this has been abandoned.. So I decided to re-build it by updating and adding some more features. Today I present you, the spreadsheet "Mining efficiently" ! Can be open up by Excel, OpenOffice, LibreOffice or anything that can read worksheets. It's free of copyright so you can do whatever you want with. To use it properly, Yellow fields are inputs and Blue fields outputs . I let you enjoy my work and, anyone who have any suggestions is welcome to share his ideas and/or post an update that will be uploaded here ! Sources : https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/118463-maximizing-mining-operational-efficiency-with-math-and-spreadsheets/ And the KSP wiki.

W.I.P vers. 0.7 Reborn from the Nostromo Vessel of the year 1979. https://spacedock.info/mod/1599/Nostromo

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