What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Bornholio]

Did one of my favorite things, off to Venus.  This time it was with pretty minimal mid to late '50's rocket tech.

KSP 1.3.1/RSS/RO/RP-0  (development branch, otherwise known as RP-1)

Hold for Launch (3xLR79 Booster)

Booster Sep, 1xLR89 2nd stage and 1kN thrusters+RCS (hydrazine) for ullage, controls

Fairing is oversized for general purpose use

3rd Stage 1xLR91 and 1kN thrusters+RCS (hydrazine) for ullage, controls, deorbit

 

AJ10 Early Cruise Stage, tiny Hydrazine quads

3rd Stage deorbit burn, no relights on the LR91 even though it had plenty of fuel

Made it to Venus, just before capture burn. Did two missions at the same time to make sure one made it.

Album 

https://imgur.com/a/Qixgd

Edited February 19, 2018 by Bornholio

[MaxwellsDemon]

After a couple of false starts, successfully docked the 'Hapi 2' module to the 'Hotep' (Mir-type) space station.

The tourists returned from their 18-day stay aboard the older 'Nedjkhert' station... but failed to pay the promised amount as a bonus.  A last crew was sent up for a 90-day mission to finish up some research before the station is de-orbited.

Spent some time designing another rendition of an R-7/Soyuz booster-- moderately happy with the results but still have some work to do on it.

 

[Hotel26]

It's been a good evening so far.

I landed Wangari Maathai again, but this time re-entering prograde, as it was designed, not back-assward.

And!!!!  Is this the first glimpse of Gossamer Lepidoptera to come out of wraps?

Name	Gossamer Lepidoptera	Gossamer Albatross
xenon	10,500	5,250
dV	5,830 m/s (30m 2s) xenon	2,329 m/s (20m 1s) xenon
Mass	7,955 Kg	9,551
Thrust	24 KN	18 KN
TWR (Mun)	1.93	1.2
Accel	3.02 m/s	1.88 m/s
Part count	56	69

Lepidoptera has switched to LF/OX Vernors for horizontal propulsion.  It carries twice the xenon.  Lepidoptera packs 12 Dawn engines compared to Albatross' 9.  It only has 4 (luxury) seats instead of 24 (economy).  Unlike Albatross, it is steerable on the ground and, thus, can be taxied.  Lepidoptera provides a ladder for embarkation.  [No more jet-packers!]

Big acknowledgement to @Brikoleur for his input and enthusiasm.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Hotel26

[Atkara]

This day started with the launch of a new Sentinel/Relay probe, to monitor Eeloo's orbit. It was a chance to put to the test, something I've had in mind for a while: See, Sentinels generally don't have to make big corrections, once in place. So, why not use Ion propulsion to keep them small & pretty and have a reusable tug carry them to their initial orbit?

If all goes well and once I run out of things to do, I may extend this concept to the rest of the established relay network.

Also, I gave the go to my deployed surface/orbital labs, to start churning out the GLORIOUS science. Nothing to do with it really, except convert it to funds, or keep it and turn the R&D lab into another version of "Apocrypha, where all science is hoarded"

Next in queue are two transfer burns. Then and as I posted last night, the real work begins.

I never asked to lead a space program -oh yes you did!

Edited February 19, 2018 by Atkara

[qzgy]

Completed that reddit challenge for a single stage seaplane to orbit. Literally had almost nothing left by the end of the mission. Literally almost no fuel.

Selected images

Landed on Laythe. Totally not a sound stage in Hollywood. totally not at all a sound stage....

One image of the multiple tries it took to aerobrake into laythean orbit at 3.5 km/s

Full album/report - https://imgur.com/a/rCDu9

@Speeding Mullet - you remember that challenge you tried to reboot? Does this count?

[InterplanetJanet]

6 hours ago, Ace in Space said:

I've finally graduated from rocket science kindergarten! 

I guess I'm still in kindergarten then! 

Today* for Show & Tell...

First off, what's wrong with this picture?

If you said, "It's missing the usual 'Load Game' and 'Save Game' entries in the Pause menu", you'd be correct! So of course I had a panic. Backed most everything up, deleted, reinstalled KSP, CKAN, and all the mods.

Except hey, guess what? KSP-AVC's listing of installed mods skipped about twenty that I knew I had installed.

Uh oh.

And notice I said, "...backed most everything up" ? Yep.

I also discovered:

1. CKAN pitches a right royal hissy fit if it can't connect to its server(s)
2. If it pitches a fit, it will erase every choice you've made since the last time it connected
3. I had over 120 mods installed via CKAN
4. the server was down for several hours that evening

I went through the partial mod list I'd saved from KSP-AVC and what I could remember, eight bloody times. I now have an much better idea of what mods I want to keep...

Next (realworld) day, it worked like it hadn't made me scream the night before. Annnnnd, I found out I'd missed a few, because - as usually happens, as I predicted was going to happen, as I posted a thread about a mod for when this happens just a few days ago - it couldn't find a few parts on ships I had flying and the game was going to delete them.  Luckily I am a ruthless abusive old-skool computer owner and I know how to kill programs before they can kill me (long before 9/11/2001, I advocated that Airbus pilots should carry sidearms, as Emergency Flight Computer Disconnectors). Dig through listing, install mod I'd forgotten and it couldn't possibly be the problem, start KSP, wait fifteen minutes... repeat. Three times.

I now also know there's an 'Export Installed Mods' menu entry in CKAN, which I now use daily.

*sigh* But, I got it eventually, and went back to space!

Anyway, I'm getting nerve tingling from a bad laptop position, so I'll just link to the album and show the escape pod that I successfully test-dropped (the second time; thank the Monoliths for KRASH!)

* Today being "Year 1 Day 23" or so

 

[qzgy]

39 minutes ago, InterplanetJanet said:

If you said, "It's missing the usual 'Load Game' and 'Save Game' entries in the Pause menu", you'd be correct! So of course I had a panic. Backed most everything up, deleted, reinstalled KSP, CKAN, and all the mods.

So.... have you fixed it? It could just be a simple settings thing. Likely is (if you have the quicksaves off I believe.....)

Or maybe not. IDK.

[TeslaPenguin1]

I launched the first part of the KSSS (Kerbal Super Space Station) using...

Mechjeb. Yes. I just got Mechjeb. It might seem like cheating to others, but when you think about it, NASA uses Mechjeb (as they sometimes autopilot their missions so nothing goes wrong). 

Part two will be launched soon!

[SaturnianBlue]

Built an extremely small, cheap rocket launcher. The first stage is completely unguided, using only spin stabilization to fly, with the launch angle predetermined by the inclination the rocket is launched at. I kept the stage attached for quite a while until much of the atmosphere is below the rocket, since the second stage was unstable in atmosphere. 

The second stage went through several iterations but I eventually settled on a sort of medium sized stage using several of the twitch engines, giving payloads headed for distant targets like the Moon the delta-V and payloads for LEO the thrust for their heavier mass. 

The entire rocket totals around 4000 funds. 

In the screenshot above, I was launching a 1,000 kg survey satellite into a polar orbit. Unfortunately I misjudged the margin of delta-V I had and the payload fell back.

A launch that went better was a 500 kilogram Munar spacecraft, which used onboard RCS to enter orbit around the Mun.

Edited February 19, 2018 by SaturnianBlue

[MaxwellsDemon]

1 hour ago, TeslaPenguin1 said:

Mechjeb. Yes. I just got Mechjeb. It might seem like cheating to others, but when you think about it, NASA uses Mechjeb (as they sometimes autopilot their missions so nothing goes wrong). 

I never, ever understood the opposition to MechJeb.  Space flight is not done manually or by the seat of the pants.

Yuri Gagarin did not touch the controls in Vostok a single time; in fact they were code-locked to prevent him from doing so (although in the event, it appears that multiple people told him the code  ).  

[Guest]

"Is that a tractor on top of the vehicle assembly building?" you may be wondering.

It is, indeed, a tractor.

"What is it doing there?" you may be asking yourself.

That should be obvious: it is admiring the view.

"But how did it get there?" you may be thinking.

It got there because I put it there. That's how.

Today the Brikoleur has been tinkering with VTOL aircraft. The longer-term plan is to equip a Kosmodrome on Duna, much like the one on Laythe. Duna presents particular difficulties: specifically, flying a plane there is fun and easy an very economical on the fuel, until it is time to land, at which point you usually end up in a dune much too fast, and most likely entirely the wrong dune as planes do not turn well. This is the solution. 

Another, lighter aircraft, suitable for long-range science and orbital liaison:

Neither of these craft have been named yet, and both are still under heavy development. The VTOL capability has been shown to work excellently however, although refinements are to be expected especially to hover controls.

Edit: I also made a light trainer because flying these hoverbeasts isn't the same as flying regular planes AT ALL. This one is much easier to manage and has ridiculous endurance.

All craft are available in this hangar: https://kerbalx.com/hangars/31350

Edited February 19, 2018 by Guest

[MaxwellsDemon]

It's nice to see that even tractors get to admire the view every so often.

[VR_Dev]

"What did you do in ksp for the last 48 hours straight while your girlfriend was out of town"

 

Edited February 19, 2018 by VR_Dev

[RizzoTheRat]

Working on my Komms relay bomber concept.  Mk1 cruised happily at Mach 3.5, but needed more range, and the relays kept claiming they couldn't stage their parachutes or deploy landing gear while stowed...despite being in freefall

I'm getting a much cleaner drop from a triple launcher mounted in a Mk3 cargo bay, and it seems to have pretty good range and speed, just need to sort out the wing issues...

 

[InterplanetJanet]

6 hours ago, qzgy said:

So.... have you fixed it? It could just be a simple settings thing. Likely is (if you have the quicksaves off I believe.....)

I did have quicksaves - or actually, quick loads - off from the reinstall, but it was NOT working when I did all that, I just used KISS instead. And I forgot to check after writing that. 

2 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

"What is it doing there?" you may be asking yourself.

That should be obvious: it is admiring the view.

"But how did it get there?" you may be thinking.

You may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
You may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God, what have I done?"
 

Beautiful job, Brikoleur! Are you going to leave the tractor up there just in case someone needs it on the helipad?

[CatastrophicFailure]

19 minutes ago, InterplanetJanet said:

You may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
You may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God, what have I done?"

Aaaaaaand now that’s stuck in my head, thanx. 

[qzgy]

1 hour ago, InterplanetJanet said:

You may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful house?"
You may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?"
And you may ask yourself, "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
And you may say to yourself, "My God, what have I done?"

I had to look this up.

That was a weird video.

[VR_Dev]

4 minutes ago, qzgy said:

I had to look this up.

That was a weird video.

If you've never seen "Stop Making Sense" put it on your list

Edited February 20, 2018 by VR_Dev

[Cadet_BNSF]

4 minutes ago, VR_Dev said:

If you've never seen "Stop Making Sense" put it on your list

I think I am more confused now than before.

Definitely the weirdest thing I have seen today

[Zeiss Ikon]

2 minutes ago, qzgy said:

I had to look this up.

That was a weird video.

You're a young feller, aren't you?    That came out when MTV was still reasonably fresh.

Over the weekend in my stock + Better Burn Time career, Adeny was tapped to take new crew/propulsion modules to Kerbin Station Alpha, after it was discovered that someone forgot to install docking ports on the outer ends of the modules -- rendering it impossible to dock with the station once the modules were attached.  On the way up, he docked with one of the (unstabilized) modules that had been left in orbit on an early (failed) attempt to provide Lufrid with some means to change her orbit, and deorbited it.  The plan is to do the same with each of the discarded modules that he's replacing, as well, though that plan may be subject to change (depending how much monopropellant he can bum from Lufrid to let him catch the first one -- he'll suck that one dry to be able to dock with the second).

This relatively new policy, to avoid leaving junk in orbit so far as possible, was prompted by reports from multiple crews of spotting debris inside 100 km during launch or parking orbits, and reports from Lufrid (backed up with photos) of debris coming within 45 km of her station when she was at "just above [biome]" altitude .  Now, LKO insertions are intentionally underburned to ensure the booster reenters, allowing the next stage to finish circularizing; modules that can be captured/docked are deorbited as available dV/monopropellant on other missions permits, and program administrators (in between arguing over who'll buy the next new coffee machine for their tiny offices) are discussing the possibility of ordering research toward a method of capturing discarded stages that lack docking ports so they, too, can be deorbited.

[InterplanetJanet]

3 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Aaaaaaand now that’s stuck in my head, thanx. 

Well, it stuck in mine instantly when Brikoleur said "... you may be asking yourself..."

1 hour ago, Zeiss Ikon said:

You're a young feller, aren't you?    That came out when MTV was still reasonably fresh.

Tale of a sad deprived (depraved?) childhood; I'd never seen the video before today either, that I recall. I wanted my MTV, but my parents didn't get cable until literally two years ago.

1 hour ago, Zeiss Ikon said:

Over the weekend in my stock + Better Burn Time career, Adeny was tapped to take new crew/propulsion modules to Kerbin Station Alpha, after it was discovered that someone forgot to install docking ports on the outer ends of the modules [...]

Probably that darned Mortimer with his cost-saving measures again! I say send him on a test flight to Eeloo!

More on topic, I'm doing something similar, and when I get a better orbital infrastructure going, I'm going to try recovering all the (more than one piece) bits floating around up there. I spent the fuel to get it up, might as well use it for something amiright?

I did outfit a lot of late-flight stages with probe controls, solar panels, batteries, and antennas for RemoteTech, though; sort of an ad-hoc comm net.

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by InterplanetJanet

[qzgy]

2 hours ago, Zeiss Ikon said:

You're a young feller, aren't you?    That came out when MTV was still reasonably fresh.

As a sign of my youthfulness.... whats MTV? (I'm aware of it.. but never really seen it.)

But seriously, I'm really not that old. At all. The 1990s were ancient times to me.

[Azimech]

I finally finished work on this:

The 2018 Lowel Transistar is an affordable line of stock electric cars featuring low mass, low part count and small dimensions.

Transistar is a combination of transistor and star. All cars feature 4 seats with plenty of room left in the trunk.
Shown in the picture from left to right are the 4, 8, 12, Mosfet 4, Mosfet 8, Mosfet 12, Mosfet R, Mosfet R Turbo and the Space.
The first three are perfect for the city or relatively flat terrain. The first three Mosfet versions are for rugged terrain while the Mosfet R versions are more sporty.
The Space version drives just as happily on Kerbin but is perfect for low-gravity worlds.

The craft on KerbalX is the 12. If you like this post, an upvote on KerbalX will be very much appreciated.
Transistar 4
Transistar 8
Transistar 12
Transistar Mosfet 4
Transistar Mosfet 8
Transistar Mosfet 12
Transistar Mosfet R
Transistar Mosfet R Turbo
Transistar Space

 

Lowell. A Petyrbolt brand. Design bureau: 77 Industries.

[Starman4308]

I swear I'll only subject you to three of the 54 screenshots I took on this subject.

One thing I noticed was how huge Jupiter's SOI was, big enough to see when zoomed out enough to see the Sun as well.

Approaching Jupiter, with Io and possibly Saturn visible in the background.

Jupiter receding, with the inner solar system as points of light in the background.

 

Pad abort test of the Apollo capsule. Had to write a quick MM config to give it unmanned control capability.

 

The direct-ascent unmanned mission went well, unlike the LOR attempts. I didn't need that fourth Minuteman SRM anyways.

I took manual control for part of the descent (well, at least insofar as plugging a pitch into MechJeb's Smart ASS), since I was a little bit over-aggressive configuring the descent profile when landing on high terrain.

Landed with just 32 m/sec of delta-V in the tanks: it was kinda scary in between high-gate and low-gate descent.

 

No fancy script for ascent: just plugging in 90 degrees heading and a steadily decreasing pitch into MechJeb.

Contract complete, and biological sample returned to Earth for analysis.

[CatastrophicFailure]

2 hours ago, qzgy said:

As a sign of my youthfulness.... whats MTV? (I'm aware of it.. but never really seen it.)

But seriously, I'm really not that old. At all. The 1990s were ancient times to me.

That would be Music Television. Legend tells that in the Before Time, in the Long Long Ago, MTV once broadcast... music videos....