KSP Weekly: Longest Stay on the Moon

[SQUAD]

Welcome to KSP Weekly everyone. Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the final mission of NASA’s Apollo program, we are talking of course, about Apollo 17. With a crew made up of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 is the most recent manned Moon landing. It was the last time humans travelled beyond low Earth orbit, and was the final manned launch of a Saturn V rocket. The mission broke several records: the longest moon landing, longest total extravehicular activities (moonwalks), largest lunar sample, and longest time in lunar orbit.

Apollo 17 launched at 05:33:00 UTC (12:33 a.m. EST) on December 7, 1972 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39 and was the only Saturn V night launch ever made. Composed of an Apollo Lunar Module and an Apollo Command/Service Module - which by the way was last use of Apollo hardware for its original purpose (after Apollo 17, extra Apollo spacecraft were used in the Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz programs) - the J type mission included three days on the lunar surface, extended scientific capability, and the third Lunar Roving Vehicle. The moon landing took place on December 11, 1972, 19:54:57 UTC at the Taurus–Littrow Valley, which was chosen with the primary objectives of Apollo 17 in mind.

The mission performed several experiments. For instance, it carried the Traverse Gravimeter Experiment to learn about the Moon’s internal structure. Additionally, the Service Module (SM) contained the Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) bay, which housed three experiments for use in lunar orbit, including an infrared scanning radiometer to generate a temperature map of the lunar surface. A mapping camera, panoramic camera, and a laser altimeter were also included in the SIM bay. Moreover, Apollo 17 was the only lunar surface expedition to include the Surface Electrical Properties (SEP) experiment to examine the electrical properties of the lunar soil.

On December 19, 1972, 19:24:59 UTC, the crew landed safely on Earth in the South Pacific Ocean and were then retrieved by a recovery helicopter and safely aboard the recovery ship 52 minutes after landing. It seemed that after Apollo 17 humankind had forgotten about our only natural satellite, but with Google’s Lunar X Prize, China’s Chang’e missions and NASA’s Deep Space Gateway project, we’ll see a human presence back in the Moon in the upcoming year. Meanwhile we can all start practicing with Mun landings on KSP.

[Development news start here]

Let’s start talking about the development of the Making History Expansion. This week we’ve done work on improving the display of Mission Flow and Objectives across the various places it occurs in the Mission System. Coupled with that the team continues to work on the Tracking Station feature, which we mentioned last week - that will allow both players and creators to see an overview map of the missions they are playing.

Similarly, some of the developers are working on implementing the Standard Load for Missions, which includes the mission list, the widget and the error handling. The task basically involves adjusting the Play Mission and Load Mission dialog to have extra information fields, the load meta structure of save files to include information for the Mission Widget button, and the code on the Play Mission Loader, so that it can handle errors and issues.

The team is also busy working on the final UI assets and making refinements to parts of the UI/UX experience in the Mission Builder. Besides, the localization of the expansion continues and so does the inclusion of the new languages into the stock game. We remind you that both the expansion and the core game will be available in German, Italian, French and Brazilian Portuguese, plus all the languages that were included in Update 1.3.

The art team has also had their hands filled this week. Various parts are being wrapped up and have entered the testing stage, however they’ve also dived into the current part inventory and found ways to revamp some of them. For instance, the team is working on adding Engine Plates to multiple Engine set ups, which, although still at the WIP stage, promises to give the set ups a fresh and mean look.

We do have something to show, though. Remember our FL-R25 RCS Fuel Tank? We, this is one of the parts that has been given a fresh new look. Check it out!

The textures for the FL-R25 RCS Fuel Tank will be switchable as with other parts we’ve shown. Likewise, the fairings have also been given a visual revamp, and will, too, have switchable texture configurations, but an image is worth a thousand words, so take a peek.

In other news, KSP on Consoles is ever closer to its release and this means that the focus is shifting towards polishing details and attempting to find any remaining issues. In the meantime, we are pleased to announce that the official name of these versions is Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition! And if you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that we are not only including a reworked UI, 3 different Controller Set Ups exclusive to consoles, and a wide array of improvements, but also all the content included in 1.2.2 Loud and Clear. We’ll be posting more detailed information about these ports in the upcoming weeks, so stick around for that.

 

That’s it for this week. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!

[tater]

Nice, thanks for the update (and pics)!

[Scotius]

Those pictures look very nice indeed And they are going to be switchable, hmm? I wouldn't mind reading more about this function

[SamBelanger]

GG!! is very nice

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

Those fairings almost look good enough to make me start using fairings. 

 Also, I'm diggin' the console name.

[Deddly]

Contentless posts like "first" (or 2nd) have been removed, according to our posting guidelines (2.2m)

[Just Jim]

32 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the final mission of NASA’s Apollo program, we are talking of course, about Apollo 17.

1972... wow... I was 10 years old, and I still remember it all like it was yesterday...

... and y'all wonder why I'm such a space nut???   

 

[HebaruSan]

22 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

The art team has also had their hands filled this week. Various parts are being wrapped up and have entered the testing stage, however they’ve also dived into the current part inventory and found ways to revamp some of them. For instance, the team is working on adding Engine Plates to multiple Engine set ups, which, although still at the WIP stage, promises to give the set ups a fresh and mean look.

We do have something to show, though. Remember our FL-R25 RCS Fuel Tank? We, this is one of the parts that has been given a fresh new look. Check it out!

The textures for the FL-R25 RCS Fuel Tank will be switchable as with other parts we’ve shown. Likewise, the fairings have also been given a visual revamp, and will, too, have switchable texture configurations, but an image is worth a thousand words, so take a peek.

Someone ring the part revamp bell! It's happening!

[CoreI]

34 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

adding Engine Plates to multiple Engine set ups

What exactly is an "engine plate"? Will this make the engines look more realistic?

Those fairings look really good, as do the RCS tanks. This update/DLC just gets better and better!

[TyrannoFan]

Wow, so fairings actually look not-awful anymore. I'm actually impressed, they look lovely.

I hope that + the RCS tank indicates some more revamps being done in the future. A lot of the parts desperately need it. Honestly the prospect of updated parts is the thing I'm most excited for at the moment lol

Edited December 8, 2017 by TyrannoFan

[Just Jim]

4 minutes ago, TyrannoFan said:

Wow, so fairings actually look not-awful anymore. I'm actually impressed, they look lovely.

Agreed... those colors are lookin' kinda sexy now... 

[klgraham1013]

47 minutes ago, SQUAD said:

Kerbal Space Program Working Edition!

I approve of the console name!

[Bottle Rocketeer 500]

Personally, I believe that the stock FL-R25 fuel tank looked better than this revamp (namely the yellow stripe).  Also, awesome fairing textures!

Edited December 8, 2017 by Bottle Rocketeer 500

[sh1pman]

Odd that they decided to start revamping stock parts with FL-R25, which is by far not the worst looking stock part. Still, nice to see that old parts are finally getting a graphics pass.

[klgraham1013]

3 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

Odd that they decided to start revamping stock parts with FL-R25, which is by far not the worst looking stock part. Still, nice to see that old parts are finally getting a graphics pass.

Never forgot...

Spoiler

 

[Tyko]

11 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

Odd that they decided to start revamping stock parts with FL-R25, which is by far not the worst looking stock part. Still, nice to see that old parts are finally getting a graphics pass.

Agreed, I'm glad they're looking at old parts, but my list would start with the 2.5m tanks and the 2.5m decoupler    Maybe they're saving that news for the end.

[klgraham1013]

53 minutes ago, Tyko said:

Agreed, I'm glad they're looking at old parts, but my list would start with the 2.5m tanks and the 2.5m decoupler    Maybe they're saving that news for the end.

Squad secretly loves oil drums.

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

1 hour ago, Tyko said:

Agreed, I'm glad they're looking at old parts, but my list would start with the 2.5m tanks and the 2.5m decoupler    Maybe they're saving that news for the end.

The Rocomax tanks are ugly, no doubt, but you can make some really good looking rockets with them if you work at it; which I think is part of the fun of designing. However, nothing on Heaven or Kerbin can save the 2.5m decoupler. That thing is beyond salvage. Pretty much makes the stack separator the default option.

[StrandedonEarth]

This texture switching opens up a lot of possibilities. Could it be that we will be able to toggle through textures in the rt-click menu?

They could still force us to use the old part textures in career, and give us the new ones to choose from in the tech tree.

[Raptor9]

3 hours ago, sh1pman said:

Odd that they decided to start revamping stock parts with FL-R25

The fact this is the first "original" stock part they've revealed to be re-vamped doesn't mean that this was the first part they've decided to re-vamp.  It's simply the first one they've revealed as such.

3 hours ago, Tyko said:

but my list would start with the 2.5m tanks and the 2.5m decoupler

2 hours ago, Cpt Kerbalkrunch said:

However, nothing on Heaven or Kerbin can save the 2.5m decoupler. That thing is beyond salvage.

If there is one thing I think that everyone can agree on, it's that the Rockomax Brand Decoupler is the...how should I say this, "least liked part".  I'm not one to post a lot of negative critiques, but...yeah...

[qzgy]

I am liking the art passes. But for the love of god, can we have a fairing texture that was plain white, or without any stripes? Also, judging on the images, the texture automatically remodels itself to have lines and stuff on the bend. This may become annoying later on of more complex shape.

[Daishi]

Hype! Stock parts getting some polish!!

[Cheif Operations Director]

16 minutes ago, qzgy said:

I am liking the art passes. But for the love of god, can we have a fairing texture that was plain white, or without any stripes? Also, judging on the images, the texture automatically remodels itself to have lines and stuff on the bend. This may become annoying later on of more complex shape.

I most certainlly agree Also I think a  plain white fairing with a flag on it would be cool the flag could be selected to go anywhere.

After console players going to be finally make their own flags with this update and not just chose from the defaults 

[RoverDude]

5 hours ago, CoreI said:

What exactly is an "engine plate"? Will this make the engines look more realistic?

Short version - plates with multiple selectable stack node setups to make easy engine clusters with stack attach engines, including a shared engine fairing (so if you want to cluster four J-2's or nine Sparks,  the cluster would have a single jettisonable shroud that encompasses the entire cluster).

[Cheif Operations Director]

Read my new topic:

Improvement of Kerbals and Assosiated Programs

6 hours ago, Deddly said:

Contentless posts like "first" (or 2nd) have been removed, according to our posting guidelines (2.2m)

He he he