What did you do in KSP1 today?

[RizzoTheRat]

I rather like that, but I think I prefer the middle picture with the side mounted claw.  Alternatively KAS/KIS gives you nice fuel pipes linking between surface mounted ports.

I'm planning on building some mining/refuelling bases but was thinking along the lines of a static mining/refining base and a mobile tanker to refuel landers.  I like the idea of an all in one mobile solution but it's going to be a pig to launch. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

lock... radial out... on surface mode

:sob:

That's so obvious. How could I possibly not have thought of it? I've been chasing the retrograde marker like, I presume, the rest of us. Thank you!!!!

+1, Why the F*** have I never thought of that

[Corona688]

7 hours ago, RizzoTheRat said:

Would it help to do the VTOL thing and angle the engines outwards slightly?

No such thing as passive stability without atmosphere, not without any drag to buoy you down.  I don't think angled engines does quite what you think either, the thrust vector just adds up to down, though you might get some effective increase in gimbal range.

7 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

@Corona688: "you cannot aim PERFECTLY upwards on a probe's navball,"  Well, done!! first of all.  I use Surface:Radial Out on the SAS setting...

What, seriously?  Why doesn't it move --- .. well okay, but shouldn't it -- okay, maybe not, but -- if the -- with the -- ...!  Arrrgh.

That's brilliant!  That should be stable as long as you're moving around at well under surface velocity.  If it works the way I think it does.  Which would mean it wouldn't work at the poles, but they're a silly place anyway.

Time to research those big probe cores I guess.

Edited January 17, 2018 by Corona688

[Fearless Son]

8 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

I use Surface:Radial Out on the SAS setting...

As I understand this, it only works provided the target you are trying to land on is itself level.  

Of course, if the target were not level to begin with the whole thing would tip over as soon as you docked, so that might be an academic consideration.  

[Guest]

Not much time to do anything much today, but I did plan. Made the midcourse adjustment burns towards Jool and now everybody is on course for being captured in a nice equatorial orbit. The next order of business will be to park everybody safely around the Jolian moons. I did some course planning and delta-V budgeting and everything is looking good so far. I'm figuring I'll be able to do a few missions even without fuel from the ISRU -- a trip to Laythe, probably also a Vall landing and the rover drop to Tylo, even if Jeb's trip to the Tylo surface will have to wait for more fuel.

The PSTLS will go around Tylo, of course. Laytheabout will do an aerobrake and park itself around Laythe. Jool Station itself will go around Vall. The most critical component of the mission, the ISRU with the surveyor probe, prospector lander, and one of the tankers, will go for Bop.

My relays will go around Pol and Laythe. I'm hoping to minimise communications blackouts for the Pol and Tylo operations this way -- each will have a high-power relay on orbits both outwards and inwards -- and also I will have a relay of some type around each of the Jolian moons, as the surveyor probe (Pol), Jool Station (Vall) and PSTL (Tylo) each have a 2G relay antenna. The Jolian CommNet won't be flawless but it ought to be good enough to get the job done.

The next phase will get a bit hectic as I will go from travel configuration to destination configuration, and each component will be heading its own way. That's a lot of trajectories to plan and execute and I'll have to do all of it in parallel since I don't want to risk having anything ejected from the system.

[billbobjebkirk]

Today I designed a Duna Sample Return vehicle, here's hoping it can get there and back safely!

 

Album with more pics: https://imgur.com/a/wRY22

[Corona688]

I like it!  But there must be more to it.  Where's the tanks?  Where's the retrorockets?

[Atkara]

6 hours ago, RizzoTheRat said:

I rather like that, but I think I prefer the middle picture with the side mounted claw.  Alternatively KAS/KIS gives you nice fuel pipes linking between surface mounted ports.

I'm planning on building some mining/refuelling bases but was thinking along the lines of a static mining/refining base and a mobile tanker to refuel landers.  I like the idea of an all in one mobile solution but it's going to be a pig to launch. 

To be honest, I was going for the side-mounted claw too. But the bottom mounted variant gives better contact with the lander I'm planning to use for Tylo. It will also work better with the small-to-medium ssto I have in mind for Laythe.

The side-to-top mounted alternative, is for fueling up a heavier ssto. But it's too early to think about sending these two over there.

All-in-one solutions tend to be big. My orbital refineries are like that: 24k ore capacity, living space for 32 Kerbals, MPL, ISRU, some fuel storage (because slanted adapters look nice) ... yeah. At least they can fit it inside a fairing... barely 

[billbobjebkirk]

38 minutes ago, Corona688 said:

I like it!  But there must be more to it.  Where's the tanks?  Where's the retrorockets?

This is just the Duna Ascent Vehicle, In the album you can see the tanks for the launcher to lift off horizontally, then switch to vertical on the second stage, which I did because I don't have Infernal Robotics. As for retrorockets, it just uses parachutes to land on the heatshield. It should be fine...

Edited January 17, 2018 by billbobjebkirk

[Corona688]

3 hours ago, billbobjebkirk said:

This is just the Duna Ascent Vehicle

Oh.  Um.  Why does your ascent vehicle have a drillomatic and rover?

[billbobjebkirk]

Just now, Corona688 said:

Oh.  Um.  Why does your ascent vehicle have a drillomatic and rover?

The drill is to create fuel for the ascent rocket, and the Fetch rover heads over to a previously landed sample rover and takes the samples to the lander. I'm using a modified version of NASA's Mars Sample Return infrastructure that was to go with the cancelled MAX-C Rover

[Corona688]

So that is not just a return craft but an entire lander?  Crossing my fingers for you, but depending on parachutes on Duna is generally a recipe for heartbreak.

Edited January 18, 2018 by Corona688

[Wcmille]

So this happened today...

[Martian Emigrant]

Hey there Kerboldees.

 

Today I was doing the caveman challenge.

Not as hard I thought it would be. The biggest thing with going to space isn't the number of parts so much as the 18.0t weight limit.

Did a lot of test this and test that. A lot of atmospheric flights for science.

 

Right now Jeb and Bob are travelling the KSC's lawn and parking lots to get some badly needed science.

 

Jeb noticed that the caveman version of mission control has some telescopes.

 

He went to check it out.

 

He came back saying they need an upgrade. Can't see a thing in there.

 

ME

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2018 by Martian Emigrant

[AngrybobH]

I flew some more of my Eve mission. Val and Bob seem to be enjoying the flight with an experimental electric jet engine thats ultimately powered by 4 alkali fuel cells.

[Hotel26]

Part of my launch check-list [TVZR] is to set Radial Out to get SAS to keep the pointy end directly "up" until I say otherwise.  It gives a vertical ascent.

13 hours ago, Corona688 said:

That's brilliant!  That should be stable as long as you're moving around at well under surface velocity.  If it works the way I think it does.  Which would mean it wouldn't work at the poles, but they're a silly place anyway.

Radial Out from the Surface point below you is just simply "vertical" in the frame of reference of the planet/body.  The fact that the surface is moving doesn't matter since the atmosphere is moving too and since your goal is to cancel horizontal thrust.

It should work at or near the poles, too, because it should provide its own kind of correction in attitude.  Well, I can imagine there will still be a kind of drift to deal with, but it won't be the pilot-induced oscillation kind and it's not caused by your own horizontal thrust.

The only effect I can think of is that if you are ascending/descending very fast, then "orbital" speed of the atmosphere [at the altitude you are passing through] is changing -- but I think it should drag you along with it.  Geometrically, I can't see this does have any effect and certainly not significant.  Especially in the "hover to dock" scenario.

12 hours ago, Fearless Son said:

As I understand this, it only works provided the target you are trying to land on is itself level.

All it does is quell horizontal acceleration (relative to the ground).  When you are over the target, you kill horizontal velocity by overriding SAS (with it still engaged), and then return control to it as you control descent rate in the hover.   That should allow an uncomplicated maneuver to approach any point on the ground, whether it is level or not.    THEN you tip over. 

Edited January 18, 2018 by Hotel26

[CatastrophicFailure]

2 hours ago, Martian Emigrant said:

He came back saying they need an upgrade. Can't see a thing in there.

 

Did he take the lens cap off?

[MaxwellsDemon]

More busy-ness...  managed to slip a probe into Moho orbit.  It's not pretty, but at that kind of delta V expenditure I'm not going to grade myself too harshly for a first attempt.  First probe to Eeloo launched, and second to Duna; Eve's got there a long time back and Dres's are on the way, so it's down to the Jool probes... just waiting for the window.  Orbited the Salyut-analogue and ferried a crew up to it; with the current supplies it looks like they're go for an up-to-120-day mission, though I don't think I'll keep them up there that long; we'll save the long-duration attempt for a later mission after the resupply ships are ready.  [USI Life Support]

[Corona688]

1 hour ago, Hotel26 said:

Radial Out from the Surface point below you is just simply "vertical" in the frame of reference of the planet/body.

You're 100% right.  I had to prove it to myself, testing radial out in surface vs orbit mode from the launch pad.  In surface mode, "radial out" never stopped pointing away from the planet no matter how fast I went.  Orbit mode behaved the way I expected, veering off wildly when my craft began going ballistic.

Edited January 18, 2018 by Corona688

[RizzoTheRat]

To test a new lander/rover design for Ike, I first took it to the Mun, and got a full set of science data from 2 biomes, it then refuelled from my Duna orbital fuel dump, hit 2 biomes on Ike and then one on Duna, in the process completing Plant Flag on Mun, Science from Ike, and Ore from Ike to Duna contracts.  The resulting science output has now completed my tech tree. 

I'm now wondering what to do with extra science.  So far this game I've only visited the Mun, Minmus, Duna and Ike (plus a ScanSat mapping Eve), so loads of science still to get.  Do most people set the Patent Licencing strategy to turn science in to cash?  I'm also swimming in cash due to my plan on this game to try and do multiple contracts with each launch, and my focus on reusable vehicles, but I'm sure some long distance missions will eat in to that.

 

Edited January 18, 2018 by RizzoTheRat
spieling mistaks

[Enceos]

Planning a new voyage to uncharted worlds.

[Martian Emigrant]

6 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Did he take the lens cap off?

Darn.

 

Now we have to go back and check it out.

 

ME

[Zeiss Ikon]

Well, not today, but a couple days ago, I managed to strand three of my career's four experienced pilots in LKO.

Had a contract to build a station for LKO -- must have power generation (solar panels, check), antenna (one Communotron, plus a high-gain, just for giggles -- check), accomodations for eight (two Hitchhikers, plus a Cupola for control, check), docking clamp (newly unlocked Clamp-o-tron Jr., check), and must have two pilots and two tourist aboard (Val and,recently rescued from LKO, Lufrid).  Went off like clockwork, circularized at about 85 km.  Solar array easily keeps the batteries charged for eclipse periods.  It's small, and not pretty, but the contract closed.

Okay, now I've got four kerbals stuck on a station with no engines -- I'll be expanding this one, by the way -- and two of them are tourists (their "Orbit Kerbin" clauses are completed, but I still have to recover them safely).

I had recently built a rescue vehicle for the Lufrid rescue; a tiny mod (stick a Mk. 1 Command Pod on the small end of the original Mk. 1-2, so as to have three empty seats, rearrange RCS and take off the overkill deorbit tank/motors), and up Jeb goes, to bring back Val and the two tourists and leave Lufrid in command of the station.

And can't get a close enough encounter to even think about docking.  May have shot myself in the foot putting the station in such a low orbit (note to self -- boost station at least above 150 km once able to dock).  I can see part of my mistake -- kept trying to put my rescue craft in a lower orbit to catch up to the station, vs. going higher and letting the station catch up over a course of several orbits.

Finally gave up on trying to (get close enough to) dock, thinking I had just enough RCS fuel left to get Jeb down.  Turns out I was wrong; RCS ran dry with a periapsis of about 70,500 m.

So, now I've got one experienced pilot left: Adeny.  He's done everything Jeb and Val have, in terms of learning experience -- been to the Munar surface and planted a flag, and all the stuff that leads up to it.  His mission, however, is a little critical -- he has to, first, dock with Jeb's stranded pod and push him onto a reentry orbit (Jeb could probably manage with his suit jets, except I've had very bad results trying to get out and push in the past -- without a probe core, the vessel is more likely to just tumble than to actually change velocity enough to notice).  Then he has to dock with the new Kerbin Station Alpha, boost it into a higher orbit, and bring back Val and the tourists.

I'll add a service stage to the rescue vessel, both to give more dV on orbit and to improve maneuverability (trying to turn the entire booster core with just the pods' reaction wheels takes too long and uses too much EC), but in some ways, this is a "one try" mission.  If I manage to strand Adeny the same way I did Jeb, I'll have to hire a green pilot (no pun intended) to try to rescue everyone...

Longer term, I'm going to have to do something about space debris.  I now pretty routinely get close enough to dropped stages in LKO to see the little box.  Must have a dozen or more just with periapse below 100 km, plus another half dozen in higher orbits.  Haven't had any unintentional "near miss" encounters (say, within 10 km), but it's getting annoying to select a target or set a maneuver node in LKO.

[XB-70A]

Soon this morning I tried to conceive a hypersonic private aircraft to carry the officials of the KSC wherever they wanted to go (despite the fact that everything is flat around here). Alas, it was without counting on this raven known as Mortimer! Once again he cut the budget and the team has to re-design the craft. Miserably, what was supposed to be a new step forward in business transportation turned to become a standard supersonic biz-jet known as...

the OT-0C Makaira.

With a cruise speed of no more than Mach 1.06 at the sea level it IS "supersonic", yep!.. OK, it is simply an average speedy flying tin can, but who do you want to blame? The engineers? No! Throw the tomatoes at Mortimer!

 

But at least, the OT-0C turned out to be pretty economic, with a dV of 66 km/s, at around 75% of the fuel, when cruising gently at 10 km. With full tanks it can go to about 75 km/s, but don't ask it to be supersonic anymore at high altitude.

 

Final turn over the lands of Kantarctica . This eternal sunset is always a pleasure to look at.

 

Despite its important mass, Makaira was not so "hard" to control and respond to the commands input pretty well. Still, flying with the keyboard keys is a real pain... something Valentina does not care about.

 

Standard inspection of the n.1 reverser.

 

Followed by an umpteenth sunset admiration. I definitely have a passion problem for the KSP sun effects...

 

Then it already was the time to leave, of course in the typical hard climb to test the craft. It still was able to accelerate until 4.5 km at a climb rate of 300 m/s, which is not so terrible for such a flying dolphin.

 

 

Enjoying the view of the Kantartican mountain chain at the standard cruise alt of 10 km, some minutes before the final sunset.

 

Finally, one hour latter we were ready for a long final approach on RWY 09.

 

 

Oops, 227 m/s, at 3km, and just about 20 km from the runway... Valentina, seemed to have forgot the rules, or maybe she desperately was in the need of some food.

 

 

Not so soft touch down, as the VSI is showing *cough cough*...

 

Welcome back home!

 

[capi3101]

45 minutes ago, XB-70A said:

<snippity_snip_snip_snip /> Still, flying with the keyboard keys is a real pain... something Valentina does not care about.

If you're not adverse to mods, I might suggest Atmosphere Autopilot or a fly-by-wire mod of your choosing. Turns flying from tedium to a real joy. Did in my case anyway...

[Tyko]

13 hours ago, Wcmille said:

So this happened today...

Haha!! welcome to the club. I actually bought a second copy of the game from the KSP site (when it went on sale) just so I wouldn't have to face the dreaded clock on Steam...