What did you do in KSP1 today?

[HalcyonSon]

On 2/8/2018 at 4:58 AM, MaxwellsDemon said:

Julberry Kerman planted a flag at the crashed saucer in Kerbin's icecap.   Apart from the monoliths, I think I've visited every Kerbin "anomaly" for the first time.  (You see one monolith, you've seen them all...)

Tonight's challenge:  doing another thing I've never done before-- retrieve both a Kerbal and their craft in a rescue mission.   (Heretofore, I've avoided those contracts...)

Those missions aren't that difficult... depending on the orbit.  I have a contract right now to rescue Joremone Kerman and his craft from a Kerbol (sun) orbit.  Not terribly difficult... just very, very dull.  Mostly though, they're Low Kerbin Orbit or stable Mun/Minmus orbits.  The occasional Mun surface rescue takes a bit more trial and error.

[HalcyonSon]

On 2/9/2018 at 12:53 PM, Brikoleur said:

he R&D department also knocked together some quick proofs of concept of ultra-light landers running on a combination of fuel cells and ion drive. They were demonstrated to work, but the result had no better endurance and poorer TWR than a similarly-sized lander running on a conventional Oscar/Ant, so it is unlikely these concepts will ever see deployment to the field. 

Well... that's certainly something I would never have thought to try.  My small "deep-space" ion probes are loaded with eight 1x6 solar panels and about 1,000 EC. Those eight panels will run a single ion engine at full throttle indefinitely out to Duna, and that's enough EC to transmit the most demanding science results home or power a decent length burn in the dark.

I currently have probes en-route to Duna, Eve, and one that will eventually reach Dres that was a test mission outside of any transfer window.

[Tekaoh]

TL;DR: Splashed down in the desert (and other land biomes)

Today I hunted down some of the elusive rare biome situations on Kerbin. I built a little hypersonic jet loaded up with science instruments, and off I went at Mach 4. (I had tried slower engines but my impatience pushed me to innovate a little)

My landing strategy allowed me to be pretty precise, and Field Research contracts helped me find some of the spots I hadn't yet found on my own. I also got the landed on water science by sinking a lander can to the bottom of the ocean. (see post several pages ago.)

[Starman4308]

One thing I love about the Gimel-2 booster I used to launch Pioneer II to Venus is that the arrangement of the boosters gives a great view of the plume on both the LR-87 hydrolox and E-1 kerolox engines.

This time, with no engine failures, the Centaur was just enough for the Venus injection burn, with 70 m/sec left over for a correction burn... though that'll probably be more like 65 m/sec once it finishes sloooooowly turning towards the mostly-normal maneuver node.

[KerbalNetwork]

Yesterday I tried to launch a small cube telescope to space with my Arrowel rocket, it was suffocating me and my brain was almost exploding because the Gyro Krakens were attacking me.

I tried again, but yet those mad Krakens were attacking me again.

Then I tried to launch from Zebedee Polar Launch Facility with the Falcon 9,  luckily no Krakens but well the first stage landed on 40m/s and the payload crashed back into Kerbin

[Zosma Procyon]

I built the strangest ground vehicle I've ever designed. This is a mobile base I will be sending to Duna. I decided I wanted a higher vantage point, so I gave it a tower. But that much weight so high required it have a wide stance to prevent rolling. So this was the result.

 

Believe it or not its center of gravity is perfect.

Right where it should be. This will make launching it in 39 in game days time easier. I know how to support the tower against air pressure during launch.

[Ace in Space]

No real news today; just added a few more crafts to my Wagon Train To Duna^TM ... and a straggler craft that had some difficulty getting out of the atmosphere, which is currently en route to Jade Station to refuel before joining the rest of the herd.

 

In the mean time, have a picture I forgot to post yesterday. This is a long-distance communication satellite. Its official name is currently the creative "Comm Sat," with the intent that once in orbit around its destination, it is to be renamed "AppropriateGemstone Comm Sat AppropriateNumber."

But honestly I've just been calling it "Ugly Space Flower."

[Guest]

 

2 hours ago, Zosma Procyon said:

This will make launching it in 39 in game days time easier.

I want to see how you launched it. It looks... challenging.

I may be becoming a little obsessed with the de Havilland Vampire as I felt compelled to do a bit of a redesign to the Karmilla to make it look less ugly and more like its inspiration. I kinda like the result -- still clearly not a copy or model, but clearly more faithful to its inspiration. Also much, much better-looking. And still as nice to fly as before!

https://kerbalx.com/Brikoleur/Karmilla

Edited February 24, 2018 by Guest

[Mignear]

Well, one reason I didn't really go into spaceships is that I'm pretty awful at flying. For people like me, mechjeb exists.

Built a 140 ton spaceship, and to launch it into orbit I just hastily put together a launcher for it. Total mass 1100 tons. Maybe the launcher is a little overkill.

I planned to deorbit the boosters since it would have some leftover fuel(The deltaV says so), so I put some cores and RCS on the laucher. Of course, all that effort, ruined, when I realised I forgot to put some solar panels on the boosters.

After some RCS maneuvering to move away from the boosters, I can finally deploy the O2 in its full glory. I think I should build more spaceships.

[papuchalk]

Lol i used to over-engineer my ships too. usually took 10x more monopropellant than i needed, took 10x more battery, 10x more powerful engine (especiallY for landers), 10x more solar panels etc.

Now i find beauty in minimalistic designs. I dont even take monopropellant tanks on landers, what i have in cabin is just enough (10-15 units)

I take as little as possible, and keep the designs clean (hide batteries, probe controlls). For example this lander with little engine can land/get to orbit pretty much anywhere without atmosphere, and even on Duna. It can also do seismic measures missions, has enough delta V for flying around little bit.

https://imgur.com/a/5Fa3J

 

Gravity and aerobreak at Laythe yesterday

https://imgur.com/a/bAwQU

[InterplanetJanet]

6 hours ago, Ace in Space said:

Its official name is currently the creative "Comm Sat," with the intent that once in orbit around its destination, it is to be renamed "AppropriateGemstone Comm Sat AppropriateNumber."

But honestly I've just been calling it "Ugly Space Flower."

"USF #4Mun"  FTW! 

3 hours ago, Mignear said:

I think I should build more spaceships.

I think you should too... but perhaps I am biased. But you totally should.

2 hours ago, papuchalk said:

Lol i used to over-engineer my ships too. usually took 10x more monopropellant than i needed, took 10x more battery, 10x more powerful engine (especiallY for landers), 10x more solar panels etc.

Now i find beauty in minimalistic designs.

Some day I may evolve to this point of maturity... but I fear I am still at the 'glitter eyeshadow and flavored lipgloss' stage of rocket building. 

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, InterplanetJanet said:

Some day I may evolve to this point of maturity... but I fear I am still at the 'glitter eyeshadow and flavored lipgloss' stage of rocket building. 

I think it goes in cycles. The minimalism stage is really important in that it helps build your skills -- you learn how to make your designs efficient.

Then you can get right back to eyeshadow and lipgloss, difference being is that with your new skills, you're able to pile on SO MUCH MORE than before.

[MagicFireCaster]

Made a Small helicopter for cargo

 

 

 

[LordFerret]

17 hours ago, munlander1 said:

500 meters away from the lander after a 3.5km trip to observe a small crater cluster in the far side crater.

Mun-walking tools. I use AA batteries with a clothes-pin base.

[Delay]

Modified my 2.5m lifter to use 2 Vectors instead of 1 Mainsail.

Turns out: The Vectors are overkill. They can lift all 140t of the level 2 VAB with a TWR of 1.49! And they have a higher Isp!

[McFarnsworth]

Today, I ...

 

Anyway, today I played with submarines a bit more, remembered that open cargo bays float better than closed ones, but discovered I'd need to build an entirely new sub to make use of it, so I didn't.

Also today I tried building a Duna plane, but soon found out flying on Duna isn't all that fun, so I didn't.

Then I spent some time pondering what I was going to do for an Eeloo launch window that was coming up. I tried to build a small, efficient ship/lander that would fit in my cargo SSTO, but that didn't seem very Kerbal to me, so I didn't.

What I did do, was something much more Kerbal:

 

If you're going to spend years floating in space towards a frozen ball, might as well do it in comfort.

 

[LordFerret]

Two crews returned from Duna successfully, a total of ten Kerbonauts. A third crew of two was short on fuel for the Kerbin insertion burn though, so they instead did a slingshot around Kerbin and are now heading in towards Eve. Not good. I've send my AstroCatch ship after them... the intercept is a year from now.

My final SCANsats of the Jool system are complete. Bop was last to be scanned. When it was all over, I pulled the orbit in very tight... apparently too tight, as the probe obliterated itself against a mountainside. A fitting end.

 

Not liking what I'm reading with the news about the TOS and Privacy statements. All good things must come to an end... I can see this might very well be one of them.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, McFarnsworth said:

flying on Duna isn't all that fun

It is if your plane has VTOL capability. 

Or so I've heard.

I'm about to find out myself, as Kosmodrome Aelita, Zephyr, and Cyclone have arrived in orbit of Duna, and have RV'ed prior to starting deployment of the Kosmodrome. The first module to go down is the ISRU unit, naturally. 

Delivering all the Kosmodrome Komponents to a suitable spot on Duna will be a big project.

Zephyr had a bit of an exciting trip. Some technician had forgotten to install the probe core which was clearly in the specification, and consequently the crew, which consists entirely of scientists and engineers, had to figure out how to get to Duna, perform an aerocapture, and RV with the Cyclone. They were successful, although would not win any points on style.

Pelican 2 with its improved Kosmodrome modules -- tanker and tractor -- has also arrived at Laythe. Overshot by just a little but had just enough altitude and fuel to make it to the Kosmodrome without incident. 

[magnemoe]

Returned to KSP some days ago and had an interesting experience, start of end game, all relevant science and decent with funds. 
An base around the mun, lets go with the well proven mobil munbase. Purpose is to operate all over mun and in mun orbit using ISRU for infinite sustain. 
it will also get an agile rover for simpler missions like science at locations.

Anyway, I stuffed the base with tourists wanted to land on mun, I did not add scientists for the lab but I did also not add an enginer and worse no life support supplies so I ran out underway to Mun
Luckily I also sent an crew rocket capable of reaching Mun orbit, this increased speed and catch up with the base as it had life support suplies. they had planned to meet in Mun orbit anyway to add an enginer and later swap tourists.  

dV reading is wrong because of the transports weight. 

 

[Kerbalwerks]

[Yukon0009]

[Martian Emigrant]

8 hours ago, LordFerret said:

Mun-walking tools. I use AA batteries with a clothes-pin base.

lol

I use a short 3 inch steel bolt.

 

ME

[ProtoJeb21]

Currently sending a large robotic lander to Dres. It will double as a relay for probes beyond Duna and as a get-as-much-science-as-possible mission. The lander is probably overkill, with about 2.5 km/s of dV.

[eskimo22]

14 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Currently sending a large robotic lander to Dres. It will double as a relay for probes beyond Duna and as a get-as-much-science-as-possible mission. The lander is probably overkill, with about 2.5 km/s of dV.

There is no such thing as overkill, I use a BFR for almost all of my missions, even just to shuttle crew to LKO.

[LordFerret]

2 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

That's an awesome landing site! Wish I could have found such on Duna, would have made my life a lot easier.