Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey-CHAPTER 21 pg 18--He's a docking wizard! (there had to be a twist?)

[AviosAdku]

Some more great entries, in particular the KSMC range safety team, very, very Kerbal. Let me add my congratulations to you @Zhetaan for the idea, it makes perfect sense (from their perspective) and yet at the same time is hilarious.

Oh, and I got the Leonard reference and I don't watch Star Trek (seen reviews of episodes and some TNG era eps)
On a side note, I can probably fit a voice to that Kerbal (been playing Civ IV a lot lately so I've heard my fair share of Mr Nimoy's voice).

Eagerly awaiting how this pans out.

Oh, and another thing I noticed, I love how people are reconstructing and testing the RSD's (Range Safety Devices) to check their effectiveness.

Edited January 24, 2017 by AkuAerospace
Forgot to mention the RSD Reconstructions

[Dman979]

@something, @Mad Rocket Scientist- What about the explosive force of plot? Will that help take things down?

 

The equation is

(W^N + 3T)/ S

Where W= Whack-a-Kerbal, N=Number of MMB clicks, T= Number of TAC-SD modules, and S= Suspense

[StupidAndy]

is MMB for Maniactic Mouse barclicks?

I had to edit the word, or else it wouldn't be the proper acronym!

Edited January 25, 2017 by StupidAndy

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

I should mention to all you re-creators that only the top OSCAR-B tanks on those range safety devices are actually filled  

Ah, that should help with stability.  I'll give that a try.

 

[Mister Dilsby]

3 hours ago, StupidAndy said:

is MMB for Maniactic Mouse barclicks?

For Middle Mouse Button, which is the one you press to fire Whack-A-Kerbal. Not that I would ever take such a cheap shortcut to cause an explosion when I can spend 40 minutes trying to steer a wonky drone instead  

[max_creative]

@Kuzzter you made a horrible mistake! The rockets aren't big enough! You should at least launch 3.75 meter rockets!  

[Araym]

Range Safety Team's motto:

"When a rocket launch go wrong, fire at it another rocket!!!"

 

AMAZING IDEA, @Kuzzter

Edited January 25, 2017 by Araym

[superstrijder15]

14 hours ago, something said:

the range will be limited even further...

That isn't a big problem for a range safety device I'd say: Why shoot a range safety at something 100km away? That is a safe range anyway

[StupidAndy]

well I say, two isn't enough, I say FIFTY!!!!

[Dman979]

9 minutes ago, StupidAndy said:

well I say, two isn't enough, I say FIFTY!!!!

It should be. The Ghost has fired one cruise missile, and seems to have one or two left.

[Dman979]

11 hours ago, Araym said:

Range Safety Team's motto:

"When a rocket launch go wrong, fire at it another rocket!!!"

 

AMAZING IDEA, @Kuzzter

I think that while the vehicle is Kuzzter's design, most of the credit for this idea should go to @Zhetaan.

[something]

Ok, so this is a direct hit of @Kuzzter's RSDs against a Cruise Missile.

Spoiler

 

While the RSD is almost completely destroyed (some Oscar tanks are on the runway and in the background), the Cruise Missile disassembled, but most of it still is where it used to be. As it seems the Kerbulan OSM do have a rocket engine which does not rely on air intakes. That means, the Kerbulan devices could actually survive a direct hit and still fly somehow towards their target...

 

[Dman979]

3 minutes ago, something said:

While the RSD is almost completely destroyed (some Oscar tanks are on the runway and in the background), the Cruise Missile disassembled, but most of it still is where it used to be. As it seems the Kerbulan OSM do have a rocket engine which does not rely on air intakes. That means, the Kerbulan devices could actually survive a direct hit and still fly somehow towards their target...

Actually, they have both.

Additionally, you don't even have half of the potential relative velocity you could get.

Finally, Kuzzter has used TAC-SD before.

 

On the other hand, I'm still loving the experimentation here. Keep it up!

[Zhetaan]

I feel the need to point out that the object of range safety is safety, not destruction.  The range safety rockets don't need to be able to destroy the VAB or the errant rocket; they only need to ensure that the errant rocket doesn't fall on anything important.  Actually, non-destructiveness can be considered a feature, especially for an early, underFunded space program that would be perfectly willing to retrieve whatever is left of the wreckage in order to refurbish those parts for reuse in new rockets.  How many different rocket parts have 'Found lying by the side of the road' as a manufacturer?  Maybe this is how Mort got to be so stingy.

Anyway, if the range safety rockets only take off fins or otherwise render the target unable to fly straight, that should be usually enough to get it to crash somewhere out of the danger zone.

... Or it will just make the thing spiral down to hit the Astronaut Complex instead of the VAB.  There's a reason KSC went to explosive charges, after all.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Zhetaan

[Soda Popinski]

Zhetaan makes an excellent point.  You just need a glancing blow to redirect the rocket.  Think of it like redirecting an asteroid bound to hit the Earth.  Gravity tugs don't stop it, just change the "flight path."  It's the difference between a block and a parry in boxing / martial arts.  Though, like martial arts, parrying requires better timing.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Soda Popinski

[1101]

9 hours ago, Soda Popinski said:

You just need a glancing blow to redirect the rocket.  Think of it like redirecting an asteroid bound to hit the Earth. 

Or Better yet, like a Spitfire with a V-1:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb#Interceptors

Fly alongside, get wingtip just under it's wing, watch it destabilise.  Though this was as much a guidance system exploit as it was an aerodynamic one, so whether this would work in KSP is another matter.

[KAL 9000]

You just need to blow up the probe core part and the cruise missile will crash!

[Deddly]

I'm more concerned about how that range safety device can get up the mountain :).

[Mister Dilsby]

1 hour ago, Deddly said:

I'm more concerned about how that range safety device can get up the mountain :).

Yeah, about that... we may be attempting intercept from a lower elevation than originally scripted.  

6 hours ago, 1101 said:

Or Better yet, like a Spitfire with a V-1:

Funny you should mention that, in my original script that was exactly how Glide Squadron was going to try to defend KSC. But then I thought it would be more exciting to put them and Enterprise IN SPACE, so that's what I did  

[DarkOwl57]

You know, I find it funny how we can go from "Oh yeah this storyline is so cool" to "And so this missile, used in WW2, looks like _____," "Here's some tests of _____" And so on so on

[0111narwhalz]

10 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

You know, I find it funny how we can go from "Oh yeah this storyline is so cool" to "And so this missile, used in WW2, looks like _____," "Here's some tests of _____" And so on so on

You think that's a derail? A few weeks ago on the Forgotten Space Program thread, someone sparked a stoichiometry debate.

Now let us cease, lest we become part of the problem.

[DarkOwl57]

1 minute ago, 0111narwhalz said:

You think that's a derail? A few weeks ago on the Forgotten Space Program thread, someone sparked a stoichiometry debate.

Now let us cease, lest we become part of the problem.

Oh no; not at all! I'm just thinking it's funny how quickly we can talk about stuff that's sorta related to the story but still sorta random at the same time

[Dman979]

21 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Yeah, about that... we may be attempting intercept from a lower elevation than originally scripted.  

 

It just adds to the suspense! Obviously, they can't fire through the mountain, so they have to wait until the missile has passed over it. And they won't be able to get a lock and firing solution for a few seconds after that. The tension is building!

[something]

Also consider this: A rocket built in KSP powered by a RAPIER reaches speeds that exceed 1300m/s in the atmosphere. Intercepting that rocked with the RSD that tops at 300-400m/s gives you a huge problem. If I am not mistaken, KSP calculates physics in 20ms steps, that is 50 physics fps. Within 20ms at a relative speed of 900m/s the rockets approach at 18m per physics frame. As the displayed rockets are certainly shorter than 18m, but have a length of about 5m approximately,  we do have a 5/18 =28% chance of a hit, otherwise the rockets will just clip through each other as the game never detects a collision. (A certain S. Manley once tried to crash two space craft in orbit head-on. It required quite some tweaks to not clip through the other vessel), @kuzzter will have to slow down the Kerbulan rocket quite a bit to get a mesh collision. ..Good Luck.

[Soda Popinski]

I suppose one could either use Kerbal Time Control (I'd live to see that slow motion video), or just do it a bunch of times.

 

Edit: Alternatively, if it's anything like a typical anti-aircraft missile, it can detonate spreading fragments in the flights path of the target.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Soda Popinski