What did you do in KSP1 today?

[kurgut]

Just now, Delay said:

Look at that FLAT horizon! 

[Kronus_Aerospace]

Today I decided to make a stock gyroscope! I was hoping to make it more complex. but it turns out that the internal diameter of decoupler hit-boxes is freaking huge, so I could only fit 1 additional decoupler inside of the 3.75 meter decoupler.

 

[HansonKerman]

On 9/17/2018 at 9:34 PM, Geonovast said:

*whimper*

I have no idea what that symmetry is.  It might be 192.

WHAT DID I DO

Dun! ATTACK OF THE TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancers

(wow the long name takes away how dramatic it is)!

 

[Kronus_Aerospace]

@HansonKerman @Geonovast Ah! The symmetry glitch. It would take too long to explain so I'll just say that it is a glitch that allows you to effectively multiply symmetry numbers, I've intentionally used it MANY times.

Edited September 22, 2018 by Kronus_Aerospace

[Jacke]

1 hour ago, Kronus_Aerospace said:

@HansonKerman @Geonovast Ah! The symmetry glitch. It would take too long to explain so I'll just say that it is a glitch that allows you to effectively multiply symmetry numbers, I've intentionally used it MANY times.

Symmetry-of-symmetry ?!?  'Ware Kraken !!!

I remember using 4x 1.25m engines on the 2.5m tanks with the Quad-adaptor.  Doing it on the 2nd stage as I built down was tricky.  As I recall, it went like this:

1.  1x symmetry
2.  2.5m tank for 2nd stage
3.  Quad-adaptor on bottom of 2nd stage tank
4.  4x symmetry
5.  4x 1.25m engine on bottom of Quad-adaptor
6.  4x Decoupler on bottom of 1.25m engine
7.  1x symmetry  <--  switching to 1x vital here
8.  Quad-adaptor inverted then on bottom of 4x Decoupler
9.  2.5m tank for 1st stage and other stuff
10.  Strut the two stages together a lot because only 1 of those 4 pairs of joints (upper and lower) on either side of the Decouplers binds at all

If I didn't switch to 1x symmetry at step 7, sometimes I'd get those clipped weirdly textured part (with lined moire pattern over usual texture) that indicated I symmetry-of-symmetry.  At least here it and similar place it was always a problem sign.

[Cataclism]

3 hours ago, Kronus_Aerospace said:

Today I decided to make a stock gyroscope! I was hoping to make it more complex. but it turns out that the internal diameter of decoupler hit-boxes is freaking huge, so I could only fit 1 additional decoupler inside of the 3.75 meter decoupler.

 

Man, that´s REALLY cool! 

[NHunter]

I've finally assembled KSS Voyager from a few pages ago in my career game, and now I'm docking the lander to her.

Ready to departure for Sarnus.

Spoiler

Goodbye, Kerbin.

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by NHunter

[anoldtincan]

After several iterations and frustrations, I got the KA-8-T (yep, I skipped from 4 to 8) Kulan in the air, with a slimmed down survey rover.

It just barely crawled off the runway, but has enough endurance once it gets going for some mid-range surface surveys. So, off I flew with Lealong and Bill (no scientists available) to go check out a surface site in the Highlands.

Lo and behold, it's getting dark and turns out the survey site might have been closer to the mountains than we thought...

Bill: "Hey Lealong, I think we should have left earlier..."

Lealong: "Probably. Even so, Not sure I can land in the dark in this terrain. It's not something we considered for this aircraft in the design phase."

Bill: "So, what, we turn around?"

Lealong: "..."

Lealong: "You're parachute qualified, right?"

 

The rover has a chute on it, as a contingency. So the plan is to transfer Bill to the external command seat and air drop the rover - that part, at least, was considered.

Bill headed to the cargo back, just as Lealong overflies the survey site, banks hard, and lowers the ramp. Bill was sucked out the back, whips around and immediately loses consciousness. He came to, falling in the dark, and had the good sense to pull the ripcord on his EVA chute.

Meanwhile, the rover is released without a driver, but the chute deploys and the Kulan heads for home, since landing is still out of the question.

Bill decides to take the night off, sets up camp, and sleeps half the next day away. Next is the relatively short hike to the rover landing site.

Once there, he remembers in the trauma of an unplanned night time freefall into the mountains that the brakes weren't engaged. As Bill got close it, it became disloged, and began rolling down the hill, finally settling in the basin to the left. Another hike ensues.

When Bill finally got to the rover, all systems checked out, so off to the survey sites. Still in the mountains, Bill nearly rolls the rover a few times, but takes it slow and no major damage is done. Survey complete, and the Bill has never been happier to see a recovery crew.

After that excursion, the Valentina crew are about to make a series of firsts. Returning from the edge of Kerbin's SOI, they now cross Minmus' orbit, science lab humming.

A few days later they cruise past the Mun, science lab full of results from the first flyby on the way out. Next, they wait almost 40 days for the next maneuver, which will bring them into Minmus' SOI, for a go at orbit and landing.

19 days pass, and finally the tiny minty moon is within reach. Verlan performs a capture burn:

And as soon as the orbit is reduced to 30 km and the Oryx lander is prepped, Verlan bid the two scientists adieu and dropped for the surface.

A gentle touchdown was reported and Verlan began gathering science, stepped out, and planted a flag. This is the first kerballed landing in this save, and frankly, I'm surprised it's taken this long.

The Val-Oryx combo has enough fuel for at least one more landing, maybe two, before needing to head back to LKO for resupply and crew rotation. I earned enough science to begin the design phase for the next crewed science ship, with a planned target of Duna.

Edited September 23, 2018 by anoldtincan

[Angelo Kerman]

I finished unwrapping the saucer parts that form the templates for the rest of the Kerbal Flying Saucers mothership, and figured out how to make the gravitic engine plume work. Here you can see it in action:

The texture is for reference and in no way reflects the actual saucer textures. It's 30m in diameter and 5m thick at its tallest in case someone is curious.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Angel-125

[Triop]

9 hours ago, Kronus_Aerospace said:

Today I decided to make a stock gyroscope! I was hoping to make it more complex. but it turns out that the internal diameter of decoupler hit-boxes is freaking huge, so I could only fit 1 additional decoupler inside of the 3.75 meter decoupler.

 

Genius. I like the optical illusion effect: Does the inner ring spin left or right  . . .

Edited September 23, 2018 by Triop

[panzer1b]

Made a surveilance station and set it to jool.

Nothing too crazy on parts, but i really like all the details i put into this thing (and its bone stock too).  Especially like the tube the kerbins use to get from the living quarters to the control room and observation deck...

[Aeroboi]

@panzer1b Very decorative and stylish

[Hotel26]

Skunk:

[Classified]

UPDATE: KIA has reported that a newer design, similar to this, has achieved extended, sustained flight at 30km at a speed of 2,150m (Mach 6.85) for a draw of 0.42 LF.

Edited September 24, 2018 by Hotel26

[Castille7]

We (K&S Technologies Group) made another video of a Historical Aircraft, also Legendary!

 

Edited September 23, 2018 by Castille7

[RoboRay]

February 23rd, 1965: Two men in space.

Unfortunately, the food and drinking water supplies that were stowed in the capsule before launch are mysteriously missing, so the mission will be cut to just three orbits to test the spacecraft systems.

• LOX to breathable O2 conversion - Nominal
• Fuel cell electrical output - Nominal
• Rotation thrusters - Nominal
• Translation thrusters - Nominal
• Adapter Equipment section jettison - Nominal
• Deorbit solid-fuel motors - One of two pairs fired 
• RCS section jettison - Nominal
• Mass offset for lifting reentry - Nominal

Post-mission review found that the crew life support supplies were packaged correctly in the capsule, but were nowhere to be found when the craft reached orbit.  An engineering investigation has been initiated.*

_{* There appears to be something wrong with the RealFuels portion of the FASA Gemini Realism Overhaul config.  The pod contents do not save and reset back to defaults when the craft is reloaded or launched.  Hmm...}

Edited September 23, 2018 by RoboRay

[kurgut]

1 hour ago, RoboRay said:

February 23rd, 1965: Two men in space.

Nice, pretty texture colours, and it changes to see the Gemini rescue version

The issue with life support in pods not being applied once the craft is built comes from WBI apparently, we're several to have experienced it. For now the solution is to don't touch to the life support tank in the capsule, and add extra  procedural services modules (with life support then in it) depending of your mission needs. And  this issue is present for all crewed command parts

@RoboRay

Edited September 23, 2018 by kurgut

[RoboRay]

16 minutes ago, kurgut said:

Nice, pretty texture colours, and it changes to see the Gemini rescue version

I actually removed the red cross symbol and "Kerbal Rescue" text from the pod texture. 

Edited September 23, 2018 by RoboRay

[kurgut]

(RO/RP-1) From yesterday to today, I was busy with my Moon station:

First I launched it to LEO with a kind of upgraded saturn V (HG-3 instead of J-2)

Everything was nominal until....

.... until I had a naughty failure on 1 of my 3 hg-3 upper stage engines, but hopefully the 2 remaining ones were able to do the job nicely, and my trajectory remained nominal hopefully:

Station waiting in LEO for the Europa refueler spacecraft, that will bring sweet hydrolox for the third stage (1 hg-3, 1 ignition remaining), to be able to do the TLI burn:

Spoiler

Here the Europa spacecraft bringing the sweetest hydrolox:

The engine restarted well, and he TLI burn was succesful!

Then, after fine tunning the moon Pe and inclination, and ditched the upper stage, the station orbital engines performed the orbital insertion burn:

Now, in a 100x100km orbit in 12° inclination (yes, no principia in this install, such an orbit wouldn't be possible in real life! Or with 100 m/s every week for station keeping )

Next step is to bring there the ATV-Copernicus spacecraft: it's carrying a bunch, a really great amount of science stuff to the station that when the astronauts will come, they'll have plenty of science work to focus on. No lazy time here, science first!!

Science coming:

For future moon exploration including a permanent surface base, and to lower the mission (Gargantuously expensive!) costs, I designed a crew taxi reusable lander (single stage then), that will handle crew tranfer from station to surface base, and conversely:

The design was not finished yes

And this stuff will be refueled at the station, itself refueled each time a new crew comes to visit it, carrying all the extra fuel needed for the lander:

Now, just have to bring the first crew to the station, and start thinking to a surface base design!

 

 

Edited September 23, 2018 by kurgut

[djr5899]

Last night, I learned that if KSP was a physical, touchable object, I prolly would have smashed it into 1000 tiny little pieces in a fit of rage.

Simple landing on Minmus, which I have done 100's of times at this point, and yet, I have never seen a relatively simple craft react the way my ship did.  I had landing on a flat surface under 1.5 m/s and down to centimeter distance from the surface, and yet, every time I touched the surface my craft bounced.  No, not just a tiny bit.  By one recollection of mine, one attempt bounced back up as high as 80m off the surface.  Must have taken me about 15 attempts to get the craft landed and the one that successful was surely just dumb luck, as I did nothing different than the other 14 attempts.

Here is the craft in question (I don't think the landing gear are down yet in this shot):

 

In other less stressful events, I decided on a whim that it was time to try sending craft to another system I have yet to visit (having recently crossed off Duna and Moho from my list).  I randomly picked Jool, since it has lots of possible bodies to visit, and, by plain dumb luck, it was sitting right in a prime transfer window spot.  I built myself a nice little drone craft with a splattering of science equipment.  Threw 3 proton engines on there for efficiency (never used them much before) and I was off.  Again, by nothing buy dumb luck, I managed to get an encounter with Jool about 380 days out.  I didn't see any assists from the Mun or Minmus in getting (what is to me) a good intercept date.  And, I figured, what's better than 1 probe than 3 probes.  So, I lauched 2 more probes of the same kind afterward.  Reason I thought first intercept was so good was the next two have encounter dates almost a full year after Probe 1.  My two concerns with these probes, being that I have never been to Jool, is with such weak engines, figuring out when I need to start burning retrograde to get captured in Jool orbit.  I have over 8000 dV.  Hope it is enough.  2nd concern is, if I will still have full control of the craft when they get there.  I only have one Communotron 88 on them.  By my calculations, it should still be able to communicate, but might not have enough to perform all maneuvers.  I guess we shall see.....or I may launch some additional relays to try and help out.

Aside from the glitchy Minmus landings, really starting to enjoy the game now that I have figured out a bit more how to start reaching systems outside of Kerbin SOI.

[RoboRay]

3 hours ago, kurgut said:

The issue with life support in pods not being applied once the craft is built comes from WBI apparently, we're several to have experienced it. 

Ah...  I did not encounter that with the stock Mk1 capsule RO config.

3 hours ago, kurgut said:

For now the solution is to don't touch to the life support tank in the capsule, and add extra  procedural services modules (with life support then in it) depending of your mission needs. And  this issue is present for all crewed command parts

This is what I just did as a work-around... made a Service Module IV tank with the same capacity as the command pod storage and clipped it inside the pod.

I'm only using WBI for the extra experiments it gives in the command pods... I may just remove it.

[kurgut]

55 minutes ago, RoboRay said:

Ah...  I did not encounter that with the stock Mk1 capsule RO config.

If I remember, this pod doesn't have WBI integration

55 minutes ago, RoboRay said:

I'm only using WBI for the extra experiments it gives in the command pods... I may just remove it.

Same

[RoboRay]

9 minutes ago, kurgut said:

If I remember, this pod doesn't have WBI integration

It does.  WBI gives it two slots for experiments.

[Cavscout74]

Yesterday, after testing a new twin-Panther fighter based on an old design of mine, I decided I would take it up to the northern ice caps to find another anomaly.  However, I didn't want to fly the entire way from either KSC or the desert strip, so I decided to launch it from Woomerang.  Unfortunately, if I try to taxi down the ramp, I hit my engines on the ramp as I come off, and if I try to take off directly off the pad, the tail drops just enough to strike the engines also.  So this morning I came up with an appropriate (for Kerbals) solution:

Vertical flingatrons (~60kN seperatrons from a mod) in front and back.  Even Jeb is looking a little nervous today

Wow, worked on the first try.  Usually this is a cue to not have a second try

Climbing at mach 1 without burners

With burners, I actually broke 20 km, which was completely unexpected

On the way down for landing and <REDACTED> at the <REDACTED>

[Triop]

Today I designed a new passenger plane.

[AngrybobH]

55 minutes ago, Triop said:

Today I designed a new passenger plane

Me too!

Actually it's a station service SSTO with capacity for 20 kerbals and a maximum tested payload of 45t to LKO.

It comes off the runway at a fairly reasonable 77m/s with 20t in the cargo bay. It even flies ok for the bus that it is. The only time it gets real upset is pitching in low atmo while empty. It also needs the entire runway to slowdown. Maybe I should add some 'chutes. I did 9 launches with it to build an orbital refinery that makes refined exotics from munar material. Refined exotics pay well when you bring them home.

I built that because I needed something else to do instead of trying to save my nearly failed Duna colony. I made a major miscalculation with a 2.8 million kerbuck(including supplies) supply drone and scattered it and most of its' cargo (DIY kits for self sustainability) across a 70km stretch of Duna midlands. I didn't save before the attempted landing and right after the probe core came to a stop 'autosaving' flashed across the screen. Some of the kits survived but I haven't made the journey out there to take inventory. There are 30+ kerbals on Duna right now and 10 more in orbit. The 10 in orbit have enough supplies to last until the next transfer window(last one closed about 80 days ago) plus the flight time, but barely. The ones on the ground were really counting on that supply ship and there is no way to ration with kerbals. I'm not sure what I'll do but next transfer window will likely see 32 new colonists on their way to Duna.