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What did you do in KSP1 today?


Xeldrak

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Last night, Val and Elyris continued their journey to Minmus.

We left our heroes in a long elliptical phasing orbit.  After two periapsis passes (consuming some fifty days) they were able to make a small burn to a Minmus encounter, at which another small burn (tens of m/s) arranged capture.  The initial orbit was highly elliptical with a multi-day period, so at first Minmus periapsis they initiated another burn to lower apoapsis, winding up in a nearly circular orbit just below 15 km, with the mission timer standing at around +90 days.  Val decoupled the lander, and was dismayed to find the tanks weren't full; apparently cross coupling had been left on and the transfer stage main engine had been drawing a small percentage of its fuel from the lander's tanks.  Fortunately, Minmus requires very little dV, both to land and to regain orbit.

Having determined there was plenty of fuel remaining, Val executed her deorbit burn and entered a steep descent toward a flat-bottomed depression in the moon's surface.  A little jockeying with RCS on the way down (carefully, as RCS burns ascent fuel in this lander) ensured the landing was on flat ground, and with a minimum of over-braking, Val set the lander down on Minmus.  The usual surface activities ensued -- plant the flag, take a regolith sample, write up a crew report -- and then it was time to get back into the lander to return to Minmus orbit.

After a little difficulty finding the crew hatch to reboard the command pod (Val blamed the light, but Elyris said on back channel that it was probably just jitters; she'd had a similar reaction when she was first -- alone! -- on Mun), Val was ready to launch from Minmus.  A little confusion with staging controls was cleared up, and the decoupler kicked the ascent module several meters up even before Val started the engines.  Having learned her lesson from Elyris's Mun mission report, Val tipped over and boosted east almost immediately.  Turns out, on Minmus that isn't the way; terrain is huge without gravity to flatten it; she had to react quickly and boost upward (far too much) to avoid collision with a hillside.  Once clear of the slope, she found she was already on an escape trajectory and had to burn back before establishing her orbit, but again, the tiny size and mass of Minmus simplified things, and she was able to set up a phasing orbit leading to successful rendezvous and docking with Elyris in the transfer stage.

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Today I decided to re do a cool idea from years ago.

osTYDR7.jpg

But this time, jet engines - the kerbin turbine broom!

9n27OwC.png

Wanted to give it bristles like the original

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Bit antennae just aren't as tough these days .

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Can almost turn on a dime - definitely turns on the slightly larger Australian 50 cent piece. 

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It's not the fastest, nor the most long range, but made the kerbinside obstacle course ok.

8mDOCgB.pngHw2ZoPa.png

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There is one design flaw. 

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Logs from test pilots frequently include complaints about how it is not "designed to land"

HSWOY4X.png

You just can't please some kerbals. 

Edited by Tw1
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(1.1.3) Yesterday was a relatively slow day, with only a couple of real things to note. Day began with the flight of an Auk VII heavy passenger plane to the Kerbinport space station, carrying aboard five tourists, five 1-star pilots and six 1-star scientists. The plane rendezvoused with the station and docked successfully. Station engineer Juluna Kerman noted the plane's successful arrival from the command module of Faux News 7 currently docked at the station:

fHhcyYu.png
The view from Faux News 7; the nose of the Auk VII is obscuring the sun, and you can see the station's plane berths out the window.

Two passengers, one scientist and four of the pilots were loaded aboard Strange Cargo, where pilot Buremy Kerman was gearing up for a Mün-bound flight. A replacement engineer for the crew of the Piper Alpha refinery was also aboard, whose name escapes me right now. The remaining scientists and three passengers were loaded aboard The Great Artiste, which pilot Genezer Kerman was waiting for a Minmus-bound flight. Owing to the fact that capsule commander Jenwin Kerman was inadvertently left behind at KSC, rookie pilot Rayny Kerman took acting command of Next Objective and the remaining scientist was loaded aboard. Next Objective will be dispatched to conduct a rescue mission around Kerbin before heading on to Mün to pick up the crew of Piper Alpha and bring them back to Kerbin (or on to Minmus; haven't decided which yet). All three craft will fully refueled from the station's available stores and will likely depart the station sometime later today.

Only other thing I really did was fiddle around with the Barnacle 7 submersible probe. Had more success:

ZyvR2F6.png

Barnacle 7 at nearly 700 meters depth.

I am going to have to remember Martian Emigrant's observation about cargo bays and submersibles; that strikes me as something to incorporate into future designs. Anyway, shortly after this shot was taken, I plowed the probe into the seabed (through no fault of my own, mind you). Would like to do more with submersibles simply because they're interesting; anybody know of any tutorials out there with their design, or are people largely just still learning through trial and error?

That was pretty much my day yesterday. Since I said I would do it in my last post, I'll conclude this one with a screenie of Tater Catcher 7 and the Class C rock she caught:

yqkya9V.png

Tater Catcher 7 with ninety tonnes of errant space crap ore-filled goodness attached.

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While it was on Monday I haven't much done anything due to school so...

My aircraft carrier, which took HOURS (not really) to get to sea, sank a couple miles (idk) from the KSC shores...:(

Apparently the Kraken got hold of one of the parts and disconnected it, but somehow it was still connected to my ship. So it didn't drain fuel evenly , making me tip over and sink...

Pics coming later.

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1 hour ago, capi3101 said:

(1.1.3) Yesterday was a relatively slow day, with only a couple of real things to note. Day began with the flight of an Auk VII heavy passenger plane to the Kerbinport space station, carrying aboard five tourists, five 1-star pilots and six 1-star scientists. The plane rendezvoused with the station and docked successfully. Station engineer Juluna Kerman noted the plane's successful arrival from the command module of Faux News 7 currently docked at the station:

fHhcyYu.png
The view from Faux News 7; the nose of the Auk VII is obscuring the sun, and you can see the station's plane berths out the window.

Two passengers, one scientist and four of the pilots were loaded aboard Strange Cargo, where pilot Buremy Kerman was gearing up for a Mün-bound flight. A replacement engineer for the crew of the Piper Alpha refinery was also aboard, whose name escapes me right now. The remaining scientists and three passengers were loaded aboard The Great Artiste, which pilot Genezer Kerman was waiting for a Minmus-bound flight. Owing to the fact that capsule commander Jenwin Kerman was inadvertently left behind at KSC, rookie pilot Rayny Kerman took acting command of Next Objective and the remaining scientist was loaded aboard. Next Objective will be dispatched to conduct a rescue mission around Kerbin before heading on to Mün to pick up the crew of Piper Alpha and bring them back to Kerbin (or on to Minmus; haven't decided which yet). All three craft will fully refueled from the station's available stores and will likely depart the station sometime later today.

Only other thing I really did was fiddle around with the Barnacle 7 submersible probe. Had more success:

ZyvR2F6.png

Barnacle 7 at nearly 700 meters depth.

I am going to have to remember Martian Emigrant's observation about cargo bays and submersibles; that strikes me as something to incorporate into future designs. Anyway, shortly after this shot was taken, I plowed the probe into the seabed (through no fault of my own, mind you). Would like to do more with submersibles simply because they're interesting; anybody know of any tutorials out there with their design, or are people largely just still learning through trial and error?

That was pretty much my day yesterday. Since I said I would do it in my last post, I'll conclude this one with a screenie of Tater Catcher 7 and the Class C rock she caught:

yqkya9V.png

Tater Catcher 7 with ninety tonnes of errant space crap ore-filled goodness attached.

Is the Barnacle 7 the submarine that you built based on my design?

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10 minutes ago, Spacetraindriver said:

While it was on Monday I haven't much done anything due to school so...

My aircraft carrier, which took HOURS (not really) to get to sea, sank a couple miles (idk) from the KSC shores...:(

Apparently the Kraken got hold of one of the parts and disconnected it, but somehow it was still connected to my ship. So it didn't drain fuel evenly , making me tip over and sink...

Pics coming later.

BREAKING NEWS: Prized Aircraft Carrier Sinks!

"Earlier today, SpaceTrain Inc. announced that the HMS Driver, a fierce aircraft carrier, had sunk. The sinking was apparently caused by a problem with fuel draining. Officials are looking into the situation. More on this as it develops."

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Just now, Whisky Tango Foxtrot said:

Is the Barnacle 7 the submarine that you built based on my design?

Yep. Pretty much an exact copy, except for the extra ore tank in the back. Also has a shock cone up front, which I'm not wholly convinced was a good design change...

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4 minutes ago, capi3101 said:

Yep. Pretty much an exact copy, except for the extra ore tank in the back. Also has a shock cone up front, which I'm not wholly convinced was a good design change...

Cool. Glad to see that it's being put to use. Another change that I noticed is that you added a reaction wheel to yours; on mine I just depended on the winglets and elevons for control.

What did you need the second ore tank for? I was able to get mine heavy enough to dive by just half-filling the one tank. Then again, I don't think I ever ran mine long enough to empty its fuel tank (I pretty much immediately moved on to a crewed design after I'd verified that the original version worked) so that might throw its handling off.

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Survived a trip to the abominable radioactive wasteland that is Thalia!

WcSVtL4.jpg

For a while. Even with heating dropped to 40% to (over)compensate for 3.2x, this rover barely, barely had enough cooling capacity to survive. Most of the time the solar panels were glowing red and teetering on the brink of explosion while the radiators were working at 90%. Maybe a redesign with some heavy I-beams or even a redundant fuel tank would have helped here, allowing the smaller parts to dump their heat into the larger ones, but as luck would have it, this was just enough to survive.

Took and ore scanner and found... no ore. Though there is a huge concentration of uraninite, which perhaps we might have expected :P  There's a question as to how Thalia has managed not to be a critical mass and fission itself out of existence, but we'll gloss over that and focus instead on the very respectable science return.

Bon Voyage turned out to be a blessing - again - on this mission, since investigating 4 biomes required about 200km of driving through dull, flat, wasteland. Which took about 5 minutes per hop and saved my sanity! :)  Eventually however, the aggressive Thalian surface managed to take its toll, exploding one of the wheels. Since the goo charges were exhausted, this seemed like a good time to end the mission. Many datums have been returned for processing, although it seems likely that any new chemical combinations will be immediately placed on the List of Forbidden Flavours lest any hapless kerbal attempt to replicate Thalian conditions in their own burrow.

For now, mission control decides to end interaction with Thalia and focus instead upon safer targets that won't result in any crews developing an unhealthy green glow upon landing. 

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50 minutes ago, Whisky Tango Foxtrot said:

Cool. Glad to see that it's being put to use. Another change that I noticed is that you added a reaction wheel to yours; on mine I just depended on the winglets and elevons for control.

What did you need the second ore tank for? I was able to get mine heavy enough to dive by just half-filling the one tank. Then again, I don't think I ever ran mine long enough to empty its fuel tank (I pretty much immediately moved on to a crewed design after I'd verified that the original version worked) so that might throw its handling off.

I've seen a few designs for submarines that made heavy use of SAS wheels - my own experiences with boats in general would suggest they're very important. Probably should've added more than just one.

As to the second ore tank, the idea was to be able to use TAC to control how much weight was up front, making the bow more or less buoyant as the situation warranted. Can't say how successful that was; my design didn't want to dive at first, at least not until I got the engine cranked up and then it had a tendency to nose straight into the seabed.

You might also note that I didn't use a Service Bay in my design; after Martian Emigrant's earlier post, though, I'm liable to incorporate one into a redesign. Having RTGs set flush with the exterior may have thrown off the dynamics a bit more than I anticipated.

What kind of deflection did you have on those winglets? I use FAR, so I can tweak the deflection as necessary. 

Edited by capi3101
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Wha'cha doin' ya gidz? Becoz da Hoard needed moar boyz in space, KSC has been commissioned to dilivah a (almost) 500 passenger rockit everywhere in da system (except for Eve, everybody knows da Orks hate the color purple). And this is what the enginiirs came up with:

 

 

Wha'cha think boyz, will da orks loot the worlds with this spaceship?

Edited by George van Doorn
typos
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22 minutes ago, eddiew said:

For now, mission control decides to end interaction with Thalia and focus instead upon safer targets that won't result in any crews developing an unhealthy green glow upon landing. 

As opposed to a normal green glow? :):) 

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After wrestling with a bug that caused KSP to freeze every time I attempted to launch a vessel from my Jool Research Station hangar, I finally managed to get the Seeker back out and on patrol.

First stop: Pol itself, which the Research Station is currently orbiting.  I landed with just over 10,000m/s of dv, so I explored the nearby area a bit before returning to the Station.

Zc5I2r3.jpg

At the station, I re-filled the Lithium tanks and headed off to Bop next.  Admittedly, it was not very interesting there.

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Since I was unsure of the TWR, I skipped Tylo and headed to Vall next.

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I used quite a bit more fuel than I expected, but I still managed to return to the Station with a bit under 1,000 m/s of dv remaning.  I think this is actually the first time I've landed on any of the Joolian moons (except for Laythe) since I started playing, and I've put 1,200+ hours in at this point!

After that, I went back to KSC to find that (due to a graphical glitch) it appeared to be flooded:  (visual mod error I believe)

zyxL7Xw.jpg

And, lastly, made about 6 different versions of this little guy: (and yes, there's a Kerbal in there :P )

NVSVT0X.jpg

Edited by Slam_Jones
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Yet another station expansion contract.  Now, this is just between you and me, so don't tell the contractor but we used this opportunity to build a ship that will fulfill the contract but also be used in the future for other purposes.  We were to simply add 4 berths to Minmus Stayshun and to include a cupola.  What we didn't tell the contractor was that we built an actual ship that will be used as a shuttle between Kerbin and the neighbouring planets - it should be able to reach Duna or Eve and make the return trip too.  We lost about 20k funds on this deal, but gained an interplanetary shuttle bus that will definitely be used in the future.  In fact, the transfer window to Duna opens in about 100 days and this ship will be part of the armada that makes the journey.  She's not pretty, but functional - could also be used as a relay station what with the big ole antennae.

Screen%20Shot%202017-02-07%20at%204.15.1

Screen%20Shot%202017-02-07%20at%204.17.2

Screen%20Shot%202017-02-07%20at%204.19.4

Screen%20Shot%202017-02-07%20at%204.23.4

Screen%20Shot%202017-02-07%20at%204.42.0

 

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7 minutes ago, DarkOwl57 said:

well that's 1, what about 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6?

No pictures, but I think this is technically version 4 here.

Version 1: same thing with no wings (compact original version)
Version 2: LFO version (just enough TWR to lift off on Kerbin and maybe SSTO to LKO if I can get around the drag issues)
Version 3: MPDT (Lithium-powered MagnetoPlasmaDynamic Thrusters from Near Future Propulsion)
Version 5: Wider-stance MPDT version - might end up being my official 1-Kerbal dropship due to compact size yet impressive fuel reserves.
Version 6: LF Nuclear-powered.  Honestly not the best, since TWR is relatively low and doesn't have as much fuel as the MPDTs.

But they all look basically the same as that, though often without the wings (for non-atmo bodies) and with different fuel tanks and boosters. :)'

Biggest issue in testing has been landing without breaking anything...

Edited by Slam_Jones
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1 hour ago, eddiew said:

 

Hi @eddiew,

 

I am just in the test runs for a manned Thalia exploration. I had to pack this on my Lander. They are still 95% hot. In a few hours I know if it worked. At the temperature I have nothing changed.

Slowly I think there is no easy planet in the game! Tellumo is hard, Lilli kicks you of again, Tahlia wants to make a hot dog out of you. I feel like a noob and...... this is just great.

5dPgAeG.jpg

 

Greetings

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2 hours ago, Spacetraindriver said:

While it was on Monday I haven't much done anything due to school so...

My aircraft carrier, which took HOURS (not really) to get to sea, sank a couple miles (idk) from the KSC shores...:(

Apparently the Kraken got hold of one of the parts and disconnected it, but somehow it was still connected to my ship. So it didn't drain fuel evenly , making me tip over and sink...

Pics coming later.

Well, "like" is really the wrong word here, but I wanna seeeee :sealed:

1 hour ago, eddiew said:

For a while. Even with heating dropped to 40% to (over)compensate for 3.2x, this rover barely, barely had enough cooling capacity to survive. Most of the time the solar panels were glowing red and teetering on the brink of explosion while the radiators were working at 90%. Maybe a redesign with some heavy I-beams or even a redundant fuel tank would have helped here, allowing the smaller parts to dump their heat into the larger ones, but as luck would have it, this was just enough to survive.

Not to be facetious here, but... could you not simply land on the night side?

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1 hour ago, Slam_Jones said:

After that, I went back to KSC to find that (due to a graphical glitch) it appeared to be flooded:  (visual mod error I believe)

zyxL7Xw.jpg

This happens to me all the time. I blame the Mun, tides are brutal on Kerbin.

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