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What did you do in KSP1 today?


Xeldrak

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6 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Modlist and the save file might help, maybe someone with a powerhouse computer can get them for you @Kebab Kerman

*Sigh* It's probably just the mods. They're nearing 100...

 

Anyway, I forgot to save any of it... So now I'm nearing the 5 stages of grief. I am on stage 1.

Edited by Kebab Kerman
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2 hours ago, Leafbaron said:

what mod makes the stars realistically dim like that? is that part of your visual enhancement mods?

I was under the impression that stars are visible in orbit and the reason we don't see them in photos & videos, is the exposure setting on the cameras...

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3 minutes ago, Atkara said:

I was under the impression that stars are visible in orbit and the reason we don't see them in photos & videos, is the exposure setting on the cameras...

I'm pretty sure DoE dims that skybox when you're close to anything really bright (i.e. a planet)

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4 minutes ago, Atkara said:

I was under the impression that stars are visible in orbit and the reason we don't see them in photos & videos, is the exposure setting on the cameras...

You are absolutely right, but when i'm playing KSP it feels sometimes like I'm watching through a camera especially looking at screenshots like above. To me even though the naked eye can see stars in space, more realistic not to see them. 

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1 minute ago, drhay53 said:

I'm pretty sure DoE dims that skybox when you're close to anything really bright (i.e. a planet)

I know, I use it myself -occasionally I turn the skybox entirely off, if I get tired of it. My comment was about the realism part.

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6 minutes ago, Atkara said:

I was under the impression that stars are visible in orbit and the reason we don't see them in photos & videos, is the exposure setting on the cameras...

Not quite, you can’t see the stars in space for the same reason on Earth: cuz the sun is really, really, really bright.  :D 

But you can see them if you’re in orbit on the night side, or a really deep shadow like on the moon (But sunlight reflected off the surface still tends to wash them out).

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9 minutes ago, Leafbaron said:

You are absolutely right, but when i'm playing KSP it feels sometimes like I'm watching through a camera especially looking at screenshots like above. To me even though the naked eye can see stars in space, more realistic not to see them. 

Because it looks closer to what we're used to see. Wouldn't even think to "argue" with that :)

7 minutes ago, drhay53 said:

ah, my bad, I misunderstood what you were saying entirely.

No worries, has happened to me, more often than I will admit :P

7 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Not quite, you can’t see the stars in space for the same reason on Earth: because the sun is really, really, really bright.  :D 

But you can see them if you’re in orbit on the night side, or a really deep shadow like on the moon (But sunlight reflected off the surface still tends to wash them out).

Thanks for clarifying :)

Edited by Atkara
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Today, I put the last of my communication satellite constellation into place around Minmus - I got each satellite within (if I recall correctly) about 10m of the same periapsis and apoapsis, so they shouldn't drift out of formation any time soon.

This was put into place to ensure constant connectivity for the remote-operated portions of Jade Base on the surface (and Jade Station in orbit, but that's mostly bonus because the station is entirely kerbal-operated). Speaking of, the second module of the base made its way to Minmus after much struggling. It was a particularly heavy module with all the aerodynamics of a brick. It took a lot of work to build something that could lift it; I eventually settled on a stable and reliable but very strange looking design, landed it a couple km away from the base, and used the local haulerbot rover to carry it over where it belongs.

Speaking of that, I have finally discovered haulerbot's weakness. I knew it had to have one. It's stupidly fast, has great battery efficiency, can easily carry just about anything I drop on top of it, and is surprisingly durable. It also looks pretty neat (but I don't feel like uploading pictures tonight. Maybe this weekend). And it never, ever flips over - on Kerbin, or on its own on Minmus. But haulerbot is really lightweight despite its power, so when it's carrying a module in Minmus's low gravity environment, you have to be very, very careful when turning. I had more than a few heart-stopping moments when it went up precariously on two wheels while bringing the module back to Jade Base despite turning carefully at a speed of about 4m/s. Despite that, though, it never actually flipped, so it's still pretty stable. If it had a slightly wider wheel base it might actually be truly unflippable, but it had to be narrow to slide underneath the modules it's designed to carry, so there's nothing that can be done about that.

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Had a bit more of a play with Firespitter's electric props with the thought of taking an electric aircraft to Duna

Given the way I usually transport stuff this would ideally need a docking port front and back, so if I only wanted a single engine means a twin boom with a pusher prop.

PLp6bX3.png?1

Cruising at about 80m/s it only manage about 30km though.  A more conventional design with only a single docking port would save some weight and therefore fly further, but I'm not convinced it's really worth the effort for such short ranges.

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3 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

Cruising at about 80m/s it only manage about 30km though.  A more conventional design with only a single docking port would save some weight and therefore fly further, but I'm not convinced it's really worth the effort for such short ranges.

Have you considered running it off fuel cells?

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I spent a while developing a fully reusable rocket assisted spaceplane for my career save to do tourism and various LKO tasks, it can get whatever you can fit (or clip) into the cargo bay to orbit and it must glide pretty well on the return cause even I can fly it pretty easily. The two boosters have chutes and drop off quickly leaving the rest to climb to orbit, which it can do with a full payload with about 500ish m/s to spare. Called it the 'URAL-LV' cause the acronym is Unmanned Rocket Assisted Aeroplane Launch Vehicle.

Took a bunch of tries to balance it but it works great now (bar some totally unforeseeable electricity depletion leading to running out on final approach to the KSC).

Shown here in returned and launch configuration and at various stages of ascent

Album /a/eFniW will appear when post is submitted
Edited by MAXIMUS
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If you made it larger to include an ISRU system/fuel cells, and added more batteries, I'm pretty sure you may be able to have a completely self sufficient aircraft for duna. I would just make sure also that you have enough lifting surfaces.

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2 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

Have you considered running it off fuel cells?

Nukes!  Nukes! Nukes!  I recently make an electric plane with a nuclear reactor for power that had a nearly infinite runtime.

 

3 minutes ago, qzgy said:

If you made it larger to include an ISRU system/fuel cells, and added more batteries, I'm pretty sure you may be able to have a completely self sufficient aircraft for duna. I would just make sure also that you have enough lifting surfaces.

For the added weight of the ISRU equipment and the addition wings, I think it would be more efficient to simply add that many more batteries and a lot more panels.  If you've to land to refuel anyway, solar would be a lot quicker.

Those electric props take 20 EC/s at full throttle, and to haul ISRU equipment around, he'd probably need to add more props.

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Began fulfilling a Minmus-orbit rescue contract by rendezvousing an older lander I'd left in orbit with the "wreck," and sending a "Horus" (Apollo-analogue capsule) out to meet with it.  (In this campaign, once I've used a lander I don't dispose of it; I leave it parked in orbit for this sort of thing, and after one or two uses I land it at the site of my anticipated future base, in case there's anything that can be cannibalized from it or other use gotten out of it.  No sense wasting it once I've spent the funds and effort to put it up there...)  Continued putting together a line of standard launch vehicles, rated by lift to LKO capability,  and launched a survey satellite toward Minmus with the higher-resolution ScanSat scanner.

The second resident crew at the "Nedjkhert" (Salyut-type) station is approaching the midpoint of their anticipated 120-day stay, and report no problems; in fact, Haigen Kerman has floated the idea of an extended mission, though this will necessitate the dispatch of a resupply craft.   It's under discussion.

Plans for this weekend include planting flags at the Crater Rim and Harvester Massif tracking stations, some midcourse corrections for a number of interplanetary probes, and getting ready for the arrival of two "Anhur" probes at Duna.

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New arrival at Jool.

O5zLdME.png

This one consists of a new tug, the second power/comm strut for Laythe Station and, most importantly, satellites to be placed in polar orbits around Bop, Vall and Tylo (as well as a smaller satellite without scanners or a relay to orbit Jool itself.) My landings on the inner moons had to be delayed as I didn't have a means to identify a landing site, but with these new satellites in place I should be able to proceed. I've already sent one off to Tylo using my old tug while the new tug is aerobraking the Jool satellite into its orbit (which is going to take a long time, but neither the tug or the satellite are essential equipment at this point.

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4 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

Have you considered running it off fuel cells?

I hadn't, but it's an idea.

A tweaked version with more batteries has a range of about 46km cruising at 80ish m/s and using around 14 electricity per second.  The panels on the wing of the previous one were generating about 4 electricity in total, but I left them off this one to be able to compare ranges a bit better.

fjMVOZZ.png?1

I did wonder if that shielded docking port is a bit draggy but sticking a proper nose cone on only got about an extra km or so.

I make it that the big fuel cell with the tiny Oscar B tank would about double the run time/distance, and weigh 465kg, the batteries in this version weigh 430kg, so to get a decent range would mean adding a fair bit of weight, and then still be limited by fuel range rather than landing to recharge.

Don't think I want to go down the ISRU route as that's getting to be a pretty big plane, might be better off trying to go lighter with a command seat instead of a cockpit, but I'm thinking this would be released in orbit with a braking thruster to de-orbit, so atmospheric entry in an external seat would be a little exciting.

I'm also wondering if I need 2 crew as I'll want a scientist to reset the experiments, so either need to trust him to program the autopilot, or send a pilot along too, which starts to make the external command seats look more appealing.

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