What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Paculo]

Started working on a candarm for my shuttle replica that does not yet have doors for the orbiter, an external tank, or boosters. It is not as accurate as my previous one, which had external command seats and a cabin that could be walked in during eva (but it is still under 400 parts!). I have been too busy recently to play much.

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2017 by Paculo

[Spoo Hunter]

Celebrated 50 years, a month early,  since Australia launched its first satellite from home soil.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Spoo Hunter
Corrected temporal error.

[Bornholio]

A long lapse of play thanks to being very busy.

Did a re-useable  dual stage  comnet to mars ship after reading a little spacex stuff

Heavy SRB first stage. Landing legs and aero to bring it down on a boat.

First Stage testing, battery died before legs deployed, Petal Adapter is supposed to be a large air brake once slowed down, still barely got it recovered intact.

Lots of drop tanks, all disposable, jettisoned in sets of 4.

Second stage d-orbits and lands upside down.

Transit bus is a Methane nuke (SNTP-Full Flow Expander version) since 5 ignitions is perfect for the transit as the sat needs to enter a good orbit at mars. It does about 7k dV on Tanks shown.

Parking Orbit at mars, xenon drive on sat has 15k dV for a long life orbiting mars

 

[Drakenex]

My recreation of this, using Tantares @Beale, Contares, ArcAerospace @zlsa, Cormorant Aeronology @Pak, HansonMa's CST-100, Tundra exploration Dragon Cargo @tygoo7.

 

[harrisjosh2711]

Gave the BFR a small make over-

Edited October 29, 2017 by harrisjosh2711

[garwel]

I'm in the middle of a Mark Watney-like situation. Not that it's been planned, but you know how it happens and all.

So, for background: I'm playing a Career game with very challenging settings and lots of mods that make things even harder (KCT, Kerbal Health, USI-LS, etc.). Struggling to earn money from anything slightly less boring than launching a 145th satellite. So my Big Plan was:

1. mine Minmus (even its name is appropriate) for Exotic Minerals
2. ship them to Kerbin
3. PROFIT!!

Pretty straightforward, isn't it? But, with KCT, it's taken me game years (really, I'm in year 22 now) to do all the scanning and truthing, to earn enough money with the boring contracts to upgrade the R&D and to invent drills, to launch all the automated stuff, and to prepare the shuttle mission.

This is the Dream Base consisting of two automated modules: Dream Refinery (in the foreground) and Dream Miner (in the background)

The shuttle, bearing the beautiful name of M044 Dream XM Shuttle 1, is manned with Milgy Kerman, an Engineer. The mission plan is:

1. launch to LKO
2. travel to Minmus
3. land near the Dream Base at the Highlands at equator
4. drive to Dream Refinery, link up and refuel
5. drive to Dream Miner, link up and grab the minerals
6. launch and fly toward Kerbin
7. reach LKO (direct descent is undesirable, because we need to aim for KSC)
8. land near KSC

What can possibly go wrong?

Well, turns out, anything.

Problem #1: The shuttle's living space is only graded for about 19 days in space. Milgy won't be able to survive much longer in the cramped conditions of a Salamander pod and she'll also run out of snacks and candy bars, which means certain death. So we have to complete the mission quickly.

Problem #2: The shuttle looks like an offspring of an unholy alliance of a tower and a shopping cart. It is tall (to be used as a rocket stage) and it has to roll (to drive to the two Dream Base facilities). With the center of mass so high, it can easily tip.

Anyway, the first 3 points on our list went well. After about 8 days of travel and then waiting for the Landing Zone to turn to the day side, Dream Shuttle 1 landed safely within just 300 m of the Dream Base.

It then drove very carefully and slowly toward the Dream Refinery. Nothing bad happened! Whoa!

Now, it was time for Milgy to do some manual labor. She had to EVA, link the Shuttle and the Refinery, and wait for the refueling to complete. It might take some time, kerbal engineers said, because the Refinery had a relatively small fuel tank, which had to be emptied before it could produce more fuel. Then Milgy would unlink the vessels... Oh, and she also had instructions to install two extra inflatable fuel tanks on the Refinery.

But the moment Milgy, carrying the deflated fuel tanks and other stuff, squeezed through the hatch and began climbing down, the whole tower started moving. Apparently, the heavy tanks destabilized it and within seconds the tower tipped and fell on the ground.

(forgot to take the screenshot, sorry)

Milgy was ok, but there was every reason for a little panic. This scenario was seen as the most dangerous: prior simulations demonstrated that the Shuttle's RCS didn't have the push enough to raise the tower if it tipped. Of course, after the simulations, the RCS ports were moved elsewhere to give them a better leverage, but I never tested the new configuration. Anyway, Milgy couldn't even get back into the vessel while she was carrying these heavy fuel tanks. So she installed them on the Dream Refinery and returned to the command pod.

Then she (or I, whatever) tried to raise the tower. She enabled RCS, disabled wheel brakes (so that the wheels would add momentum) and pushed, pushed, pushed. Nothing happened, at first. But then the vessel began moving, very slowly and its top raising from the ground. At last, it was fixed in the vertical position. Milgy very carefully left the vessel again--and it didn't fall down! Hurray!

She connected the Shuttle and the Refinery and took a picture in front of the Wheeled Tower.

But it wasn't over. The Shuttle now had to refuel: it needed 19 t of LFO, but it currently had less than 7 t (including the fuel in the Refinery). The rest would have to be produced by the Refinery and it would take... wait, let me check the calculations... oh no... it will take 30 days!

Problem #3: It turns out the mining rate of the Refinery is very low. Milgy will die of hunger or the extremely uncomfortable conditions in the pod in like 12 days, long before the needed fuel will be produced.

So, what do we do? We don't have time to prepare and launch a rescue mission. Increasing fuel output appears impossible. Even if Milgy removes the drill from the Dream Miner and attach it to the refinery, that drill is configured to extract Exotic Minerals, not Ore.

So we'll have to deal with the fuel we have. How much delta V do we need for the return trip? In theory, 600 or 700 m/s could be enough. But this vessel isn't particularly sturdy and we've never landed it yet, so just dropping it on Kerbin from 44,000 km doesn't sound wise. For a reentry at a safer 2,800 - 3,000 m/s (rather than 3,300 m/s), we'll need to burn additional 300-500 m/s. So we'll need a budget of 1,000 m/s for the Minmus-Kerbin trip. Still, we probably won't be able to aim for KSC, but it's better than nothing.

If we ditch the radial tanks and take 10 tons of Exotic Minerals, the fuel remaining fuel will give a delta V of 930 m/s. Not good enough.

Fortunately, our astronaut is a certified engineer who knows how to use a screwdriver. She can strip the shuttle of extra weight: the connector port, the empty supplies container and one redundant parachute. It will give us about 20 m/s. The heaviest thing, of course, is the wheels, but we can't remove them on the ground. However, we can do it while in Minmus orbit. It should give us another 30 m/s. If we use monopropellant, it will add some 70 m/s. Therefore, we can squeeze 1,050 m/s out of this vessel and still return the full tanks of Exotic Minerals. If at some point (preferably before it's too late) we discover that we need more delta V, we can always throw some XM into the void of space. But it's like using gold for ballast, not very practical.

I'll tell you how it worked out.

Continuation

Edited October 30, 2017 by garwel

[Zeiss Ikon]

16 hours ago, Delay said:

I'd like to disable quicksave and reverting, but honestly, I'm afraid of failing without it. I've crashed into the Mun so many times because I underestimated my speed and I would have lost multiple probes just because of Eve. Then I often forget solar panels, antennas, batteries and so on, lose connection because of signal clipping,...

That's what's often referred to as "hardcore mode".  It's for when the game gets too easy.  When you're ready (I won't be, any time soon) don't forget to turn off crew respawning, ensure reentry heating is at least 100%, and install a life support mod so your Kerbals can run out of oxygen on the way back from Minmus and similar things.  Then, if the game is still too easy, you can tweak the monetary and science rewards downward, or (with a mod) make your planets larger and further apart (which will require much more delta-V to get to orbit or transfer from one to another).

KSP is a very open-ended game; with various mods, it can be made just about as difficult as real space, i.e. even NASA won't always, always get it right the first try.

[Kosmonaut]

3 hours ago, garwel said:

I'll tell you how it worked out.

You can always get out and push... infinite delta-v

[ShadowZone]

I made a thing for Halloween.

 

 

[garwel]

2 hours ago, Kosmonaut said:

You can always get out and push... infinite delta-v

Nope! I'm playing with EVAFuel, so pushing uses up monoprop.

[Azimech]

Based on my Dodge Charger R/T 1969 v4.0 ...

 

... is now available as a separate craft: the Charger Daytona.

 

Charger has undergone a diet with lots of body panels replaced with lighter ones. The interiour is mostly gone. Also added two Juno's (6 total) and four wheels (12 total), widened the track en lowered ride height, increased grip etc. Wheels have a camber of 2 deg.

Top speed: 122m/s.
Max acceleration: 1.9G.
Max braking: 2.3G.
Max G in corners: 7.8.

 

Empty weight decreased from 7.995t to 7.042t.
TWR increased from 1.007 to 1.713 (5% fuel).

Obviously since this is based on an old design and quite heavy, it won't compete with my newer designs. It's fun to drive though.

 

 

Download link

Edited October 29, 2017 by Azimech

[Slam_Jones]

Began getting the infastructure in place for my eventual manned Mars mission.  With the transfer window still over 300 days away, we've got plenty of time to test systems and get everything in place.

Yesterday mostly consisted of bringing some sanity to my launchers by listing how many kg they can lift to orbit, as well as adjusting the stages to maintain proper TWR throughout.  So far, my largest lifter can take 110,000kg to LEO.

The Dummy Payload I've been using to test launchers.  I think he likes his job.

Heavy Lift V-H: Capable of carrying 110,000kg to Low Earth Orbit.  Mass of over 6,000tons on the launchpad.

MTT, aka Mars Transfer Tug arriving in LEO

The future Mars Station is in sight

Docked with a little less dV than I'd hoped for.  I'll be looking to have 5.8km/s of dv before I take the station out to Mars.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Slam_Jones

[JadeOfMaar]

A little sandbox adventure in the middle of a burst of heavy modding again. With just a pilot, an engineer, and a very capable fusion drive, this Venture Star-alike concept sailed to Grannus. What looked like a 4 year trip turned into 10 years due to having no experience with sub-light interstellar travel and no real flight plan.

[RaiderMan]

17 hours ago, Drakenex said:

My recreation of this, using Tantares @Beale, Contares, ArcAerospace @zlsa, Cormorant Aeronology @Pak, HansonMa's CST-100, Tundra exploration Dragon Cargo @tygoo7.

 

what pack is dream chaser from?

[harrisjosh2711]

Moved the new textures over to the BFR cargo

[Julien Kerman]

Time to shoot for Pluto !!

Lift off!

Booster sep! The core stage has enough deltaV to get into orbit.

Upper stage starts the transfer burn to Jupiter, this will throw the probe all the way out to Pluto.

The "kicker-stage" finishes the burn. The probe is actually a copy of my Saturn orbiters.

Here we go!

Now lets wait 20 years until 2008. 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Julien Kerman

[XB-70A]

Today was an occasion for the engineers team to go back to Eve, three contract having been signed. One of them asked for a ComSat to be placed on a geostationary orbit, the second asked for a lander and the third for science transmission from the surface.

Sole problem? Mortimer once again asked for more efforts and better efficiency! This finance guy will end up selling us all...

Anyway, one solution was still possible: to place the Sat and the lander on the same flight! The mission receiving the name of Evera.

 

Pretty cheap and with good performances, the light-medium Alliance 2-1b was chosen to be the carrier:

Powerful kicking with a TWR of 1.9 at launch.

 

The Kerman Kross that everybody knows.

 

Following a common and easy launch, it was then time to start the transfer after only 14 minutes in orbit. Having 1.2 km/s of impulse still available the second stage took care of everything...

 

Before being ejected perfectly.

Then 213 long and boring day followed...

 

Until our arrival in Eve sphere of influence. Immediately Evera's relay was separated to realize some maneuvers. A perfect geostationary orbit being reached after only two passes.

First contract successful.

But the most stressing had to be completed:

Spoiler

The lander is approaching the planet's South Pole.

 

 

After a smooth circularization maneuver, it appeared that the craft still was able to perform more.

 

Something we realized immediately in order to lower our orbit to 250 km. Enough to ensure a non-explosive barbecue to the lander.

It also was an awesome occasion to observe the typical Eve thunderstorms.

Then, the final decelerating burn having been performed...

 

It was the time to say goodbye to our propulsive module.

 

Once again, the atmosphere of Eve was ruthless to our poor little metal piece...

 

But it survived the trip!

 

Enjoying a long descent of about 7 minutes. Even by warping at x4 it still seemed too long...

 

Landing confirmed! Mission successful!

 

 

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

Was going to do a pre-flight simulation of mission STS-3 for my shuttle, but for whatever reason, my script has decided to stop jettisoning the boosters.

I even put told it to print  "Has supposedly staged" immediately after the stage function, and indeed it did print that when it should have staged, but the boosters stayed stuck to the tank. If I hit space-bar they detach alright, but I don't get why they're not decoupling when the script tells them to. Literally nothing was changed about the staging of the vessel, or that area of the script. And the only thing I had changed in the script was the inclination the thing was supposed to launch to (26 degrees instead of 0).

KSP/kOS mysteries...

Also, while it was technically a couple days ago, I wrote a couple 12 line scripts that can be applied to stock reaction wheel prop planes to make them change their prop torque depending on the main plane's throttle setting. I want to work on them a bit more user-friendly, but then I think I'll release them. I think I could also easily modify the prop script to work for tip-jet rotors/props.

Edited October 30, 2017 by EpicSpaceTroll139
Department of Redundancy Department

[Bornholio]

Spent the day working on Getting RO running on 1.3.1

Updated the RO Golden 1.3/1.3.1 spreadsheet  Guessing that RO/RP-0 will go straight to 1.3.1 now.

Play some not RO first, launched Sub-Orbital tourists a bunch of times with this 8+Jeb Tourister, landing gear crushed, so they got replaced by structural. Everything recovered including the boosters.

Radar Mapping Kerbin

Same Radar Mapper on the way to Mun and Minmus

 

[KerbalTween]

20 hours ago, Drakenex said:

My recreation of this, using Tantares @Beale, Contares, ArcAerospace @zlsa, Cormorant Aeronology @Pak, HansonMa's CST-100, Tundra exploration Dragon Cargo @tygoo7.

 

How Did You get the shuttle to not have grey On the cargo bay Tell me your secret 

[Pthigrivi]

Woop! After like 3 months of Kerbal my 6-crew Duna mission with life support is on the way. Here's the fuel tanker arriving from the minmus mining op (w/ bonus airbrake abuse):

And docked with Mark Strand Station. TS Elliot, the Duna mothership, is finishing up orbital construction:

Crew arrives by shuttle and TS Elliot disembarks:

Transfer in progress, from R to L, the Utility Module with drive section and Ikeminer, the Habitat Module with crew accommodations and landing engines, and the Exploration Module with secret fun toys and stuff:

Off we go to Duna! 

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Pthigrivi

[Jett_Quasar]

The full set has finally been posted to my Star Wars Hangar on Kerbal-X

Jedi Starfighter

Sith Interceptor

Command Speeder

Sith Acadamy

 - Jett

Edited October 30, 2017 by Jett_Quasar

[garwel]

Yesterday I wrote about the precarious situation Milgy Kerman and I got into on Minmus. Here is how the plan worked.

After taking all the fuel and oxidizer from Dream Refinery, Milgy drove a hundred meters toward Dream Miner to collect the Exotic Minerals—the primary target of the mission. She connected the two vessels and pumped 10 tons of minerals. What's even better, it turned out that the Miner also held about half a ton of LFO, leftovers from its own landing stage. This would come in handy for the return mission, so I took it as well.

The next task was to strip the vessel of all unnecessary mass. Milgy dumped her extra EVA fuel canister on the ground and dismantled an empty supplies container. Unfortunately, she couldn't detach a pump connector (KIS said it was a root part, weird). I decided to leave the top chute in place: it didn't weigh much, but it could provide some additional safety during the landing.

The shuttle then drove a safe distance from the Miner and separated its side tanks. We don't want them to obstruct way for future shuttles.

Now, we are ready to go.

The shuttle took off and achieved an 11x10 km orbit. I didn't want to go higher than that because we needed every m/s for pre-reentry braking. Milgy went on EVA and detached the wheels.

The flight from Minmus orbit to Kerbin's vicinity was uneventful, which is good. We still had a few hundred m/s to reduce the vessel's reentry speed. Still, the landing module entered the atmosphere at about 2,700 m/s. Its heavy weight (remember about the 10 tons of valuable Exotic Minerals?) prevented it from slowing down quickly and the ablator was running out.

The shuttle only went subsonic at 20 km above sea level. By then it had depleted more than 80% of its ablating shielding. Had it came in just a bit faster, a disaster would be almost inevitable. Good thing we had some fuel for slowing down before the reentry!

Chutes deployed, but it turned out that the vessel was indeed too heavy. It ran into ground at 8.5 m/s crushing its base. Fortunately, the Exotic Minerals containers and the crew pod survived the rough landing. I was very wise to leave the top chute in place!

The mission, after being on the brink of failure, finally brought to Kerbin 4,000 units of Exotic Minerals giving us $435K.

Edited October 30, 2017 by garwel

[Mukita12]

making a challenge thread 

 

[Colonel Cbplayer]

Today I made rocketpowered rollerskates 

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Colonel Cbplayer