What did you do in KSP1 today?

[eddiew]

Having investigated the lacto-volcano at Duna's north pole, the team turns around and heads for the sun.

Which doesn't necessarily seem to make things any brighter. Until suddenly it does.

Perhaps the change in albedo can be accounted for by a liberal dusting of Dunan cinnamon near the spire.

More than 20 days after setting out from the DEV, the expedition finally returns to their starting point. Packing the rocks and ice cream samples into storage, they head skywards.

The stay is brief, in Val's case, and within a few days she's back in the pilot seat, this time bringing Bob and Orion Kerman down to the surface.

And with that the Dunan expedition is complete. After nearly 3000km, Bullfrog will be allowed to die roam free amongst the red hills of the planet that is now his home. And of course, he'll be here to set out the welcome mat for future missions, and may even be helpful in the rapid recovery of personnel from less competent space programs.

With about a year until the return window opens, Bob and Erin get to work in the Duna Station's lab, carefully sifting the reams of data before sending home the concentrated science-y juices.

 

[Cavscout74]

Yesterday, I made a test run with my CP-05 Conqueror SST from KSC to the desert strip & back.  As I suspected, it needs refueling at the desert strip. I'm going to try adding more fuel without messing anything up.   It's also still "wobbly" in pitch & roll on autopilot at just about all speeds & altitudes, so more work is needed there too.  On the other hand, it only took about 10 minutes (game time) to fly what usually take 30+ with my subsonic airliners. 

Climbing over the western mountain range

1000 m/s cruise at 16,000

Departing the desert strip after refueling

I also did some asteroid moving.  My 2300t class E in a 135 degree ~25 Mm orbit is now an 1800t class E in a 0 degree 12 Mm orbit.  I'm amazed how much of the asteroid had to be refined into fuel for that.  The factory ship is processing another load in preparation for the next orbit change (down to 5 Mm).  At least the inclination changes are done. 

My other class E, only about 1300t when fresh, has also had some visitors to gather science & place some additional docking ports, solar panels & radiators via KAS. 

As it turns out, the docking ports - at least the one i tried - didn't work.  It kept sliding on the asteroid when I tried to dock a ship to it.  I have a better idea for next time.

Finally, my Duna expedition finally returned to orbit & headed home.  Here they are moving to rendezvous with Duna station with Ike in the background:

 

 

 

[Lapis]

I flew simplicity one to duna. the goal of this mission is to get to duna on the simplest rocket possible( in terms of parts not technology).

Here is the full rocket with only 23 parts!

Spoiler

It consists of a nuclear lander landed on ike:

Spoiler

and a battery powered short life probe orbiting duna:

Spoiler

 

[cantab]

@lapis You could probably have saved a part by using a Twin Boar instead of the Mainsail? Still, neat mission, always nice to try and keep the part count down.

Got my new RSS lifter, "Pawn", working, my first with the Making History parts. It's unmodified stock parts, she's 1200 tonnes on the pad and will put 36 tonnes to LEO. I decided to take the KISS principle, so the partial reusability I did in my old lifters is out, this is just fully expendable. First stage is 16 Vectors and boosters are 7 each, with fuel crossfeed, second stage is 7 Wolfhounds and third is 9 Nervs.

Now to figure out what I can do with 36 tonnes in LEO. Should be enough to get me somewhere interesting.

 

 

[Lapis]

@cantab I forgot about the twin boar, thats probably because I never really use it, definitely going to be in version two.

[NorthernDevo]

"Eight more - just eight more points and we can have Fuel ducts! Caaaaaarefully!"

Aaaand.....

Rats.

Edit:

"Helloooo, Fuel ducts!"

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by NorthernDevo

[TrooperCooper]

 

KSS Kolossus arriving at Gilly and releasing the lander...

 

 

Zombie attack at the landing site...

 

 

After completing Eve and Gilly, the Kolossus continued inwards in the Kerbol system... arrival at Moho...

 

 

Jeb, Bill and Bob claimed that planet landing...

 

 

Then the Kolossus headed outwards, skipping Kerbin and its moons for now and arriving at Duna...

 

 

Beauty shot of the lander release.

 

 

The girls team with Valentina, Stelmy and Tamara put their flag into the rusty sand of the red planet...

 

 

As they took off, they decided to skip re-docking with the Kolossus mothership and head straight for Ike...

 

 

Its almost like Mun... just a little further away...

 

 

Lander arriving back at the Kolossus in low Duna orbit and the Grand Tour Team is preparing to set sail for a planet that has only been rumored to exist so far...

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by TrooperCooper

[Triop]

Todays visitors: 2 x F-4 Phantom 608/841

[eddiew]

34 minutes ago, TrooperCooper said:

Zombie attack at the landing site...

What even... Bug? Or some kind of Minecraft zombie mod? x)

[panzer1b]

Well im officially back into KSP since my RAM stick arrived and my new rig (without a roasted GPU inside) works flawlessly (no more page file useage that made the game go from extremely laggy to consistent 30+FPS even with 500 part ships).

That and i finally finished a ship ive been working on for quite some time now.

Gotta say pol's fog gives makes this thing look way more menacing then it actually is...

So, anyone know what this is a replica of (should be pretty dead obvious).

[Triop]

22 minutes ago, eddiew said:

What even... Bug? Or some kind of Minecraft zombie mod? x)

It's the light... I had a Zombie in my bar once.

Another example:

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Triop

[MaverickSawyer]

25 minutes ago, panzer1b said:

Well im officially back into KSP since my RAM stick arrived and my new rig (without a roasted GPU inside) works flawlessly (no more page file useage that made the game go from extremely laggy to consistent 30+FPS even with 500 part ships).

That and i finally finished a ship ive been working on for quite some time now.

Gotta say pol's fog gives makes this thing look way more menacing then it actually is...

So, anyone know what this is a replica of (should be pretty dead obvious).

Jaffa... KREE!

[Triop]

R e t a l i a t i o n

[Triop]

Just finished my final test drive, tomorrow: Dakar 2019

[TheKorbinjer]

Imagine putting a space station in orbit around Dres.

 

Now imagine that station weighing 100 tons.

 

Now think about 8 kn of thrust pushing it along.

 

(78 mm/s^2 acceleration, 0.7% of 1 G)

(I had to sit behind my computer, 4x time warp for 8+ hours getting this into orbit.)

[Cavscout74]

I also spent some time tinkering with a Duna scout plane.  Initial Kerbin test flights were done with small rocket engines to supplement the small NERV, then I realized it would be much easier to just use a small jet & ore tanks for the Kerbin tests.

Initial version - once it had some speed built up, the rocket engines could be shut off to save oxidizer

Coming back to land

Kinda floated past the runway..... TWICE   First the KSC runway, then I climbed back up with rocket assist & tried landing on the island strip, overshot & made a water landing:

Kerbin trainer version with jet engine, unused fuel tank, intakes & ore tank for ballast.  The jet is tuned to put out 30kn static at sea level, which is probably a little less than the small NERV will do on Duna.  I need more wing area though - take off is still just over 50 m/s on Kerbin

Airbrakes were just what I needed for landing.  At some point, I'm going to have to figure out how to get this to Duna also....

 

Edited January 7, 2019 by Cavscout74

[ARS]

New drone core assembly has been constructed

[Triop]

11 minutes ago, ARS said:

New drone core assembly has been constructed

Awesome design, what mod did you use for the compartment ?

[ARS]

2 hours ago, Triop said:

Awesome design, what mod did you use for the compartment ?

Either SXT or Airplane Plus (Not sure which one). It's too small to fit a command chair inside though (Kerbal's head would be clipped outside when the canopy closes), so I simply use it for science instrument or some non-aerodynamic stuff

[Torn4dO]

8 hours ago, panzer1b said:

Well im officially back into KSP since my RAM stick arrived and my new rig (without a roasted GPU inside) works flawlessly (no more page file useage that made the game go from extremely laggy to consistent 30+FPS even with 500 part ships).That and i finally finished a ship ive been working on for quite some time now.

Gotta say pol's fog gives makes this thing look way more menacing then it actually is...

So, anyone know what this is a replica of (should be pretty dead obvious).

Omg! That Goa'uld Ha'tak looks fantastic!!

I've been wanting to build some stargate vessels like this one altough I'll most likely start with the Daedalus or maybe Atlantis.

Awesome build! 

Edited January 7, 2019 by Torn4dO

[Lisias]

Don't ask. I'm still trying to figure it out!

Spoiler

KAX/L is near gold! #hurray  

 

 

 

[capi3101]

(1.5.1; T-12 days to 1.6.x) With the arrival of the ferry ship Next Objective at space station Minmusport on Friday, my weekend saw a fair amount of activity, including five excursions to Minmus's surface. The first of excursions involved engineers Pamal and Chadul going down to the surface to assist engineer Sulan Kerman, who had gone down several days earlier aboard an SCSS 7 garbage collection lander to retrieve what turned out to be a Hitchhiker Module from Minmus's surface. The three engineers hauled the module about fifty meters across the surface to the SCSS, where Sulan made the final set of attachments via KAS screwdriver. Pamal and Chadul planted flags before returning to Minmusport, while Sulan departed for orbit. When it was determined that it would also take three kerbals to detach the Hitchhiker from the SCSS, the next excursion crew consisting of scientist Wenmy Kerman and engineer Ceri Kerman made a quick detour to assist prior to going to the surface. None of the craft involved could dock to one another, so the order of the day was jet-packing.

Ceri jet-packing over from the Spamcan to the SCSS, with Wenmy already in place.

Once Ceri and Wenmy were in position, Sulan merely had to get out of the SCSS long enough to cut the module loose.

Sulan could've said something before she cut everything loose and dumped Ceri and Wenmy off. But she didn't...

Job done, Wenmy and Ceri got back aboard their Spamcan 7 2-passenger monoprop lander, proceeded to the surface, planted flags and returned to Minmusport. Meanwhile, Sulan returned to the Non Mentha orbital shipyards and jet-packed back to her nominal post.

Maybe next time I'll add a docking port. And then again, maybe I won't.

Its job complete, the SCSS then burned for Kerbin, while Sulan began the printing of a Bill Clinton 7b grabber probe to finish getting the Hitchhiker module the rest of the way to Kerbin.

SCSS 7 burning for Kerbin, with NMY in the background.

In retrospect, I could've just left the module on the SCSS; you know what they say about hindsight. On the other hand, entry heating might've become a concern had I done that. Anyway, scientist Kathald Kerman and Bill conducted the next excursion; their landing went a little awry and the two of them broke off one of the Spamcan's solar panels at landing.

Spamcan returning to Minmusport for the third time near local sunset, sans one solar panel...

Other than that, though, the remaining excursions proceeded without incident - Kathald, Bill, pilots Billy-Bobcal, Gregald and Geofbles Kerman and Minmusport scientist Rodemone Kerman all went down, all planted flags and returned to Minmusport safely. After a refueling mass driver shot between Minmusport and the Deepwater Horizon outpost on the surface, Next Objective departed Minmusport and set course for Non Mentha; with scientists Ribsted, Kathald and Wenmy aboard, a final requirement for the presence of three scientists in a new space station over Minmus was fulfilled, netting me √480k. Next Objective then departed for Kerbin. Ceri, Kathald and Geofbles were left at NMY in the event that a new outpost crew was ever required at Minmus. Between the time Next Objective departed the station and broke orbit, printing of the Bill Clinton probe concluded; it was fueled and launched from NMY, setting a rendezvous with the Hitchhiker module. Next Objective then burned, returning to Kerbin 6.5 days later and docking at space station Kerbinport just this morning. Meanwhile, the Clinton captured its target and burned for Kerbin; it encountered Mun on its path back and so wound up getting to Kerbin ahead of Next Objective. Entry and splashdown of the target were affected successfully. The SCSS also entered successfully, with all parts of the craft retrieved intact.

Last thing that happened yesterday was the beginning of a Pathfinder Ice Cream experiment; to perform the job, scientist Willin Kerman was loaded aboard a modified Wisent 7 utility rover along with the experimental equipment and a SAFER nuclear reactor. Willin found a reasonable, out-of-the-way kind of spot at which to let the experiment run its course.

'Reserved for Mortimer Kerman', eh? I got a nuclear reactor on this thing (courtesy of your brother Randolph and one dolla bill) sez otherwise...

That experiment is expected to conclude in about 33 bols (198 hours).

Next on the agenda is the return of Ribsted to the surface. There are currently no return-to-surface craft available at Kerbinport and I do have a tourist contract for a Mun flyby, so I'll probably be conducting an Auk XIII single-passenger spaceplane flight up to Kerbinport today to send up tourist Chadsey Kerman and to send down Ribsted. With my luck, the replacement of Ribsted's rescue contract is liable to be a six-Kerbal tourist mission (knock on wood, actually). Anyway, Next Objective is scheduled to leave for Mun again as soon as possible to deliver Billy-Bobcal, Wenmy, Pamal and Chadul to the Non Caseus Yards over Mun, where a TBD 7b rover is prepped and ready for them to start up a new outpost on Mun. That one's been a while in coming, and I'm looking forward to getting it started as quickly as possible. Construction of the Muad'dib 7-type Alcubierre warp ship LSV House Harkonnen is also nearly complete. While at Minmus, I saw where Deepwater Horizon had managed to refine more Xenon than House Harkonnen would need for full tanks, so the ship's first voyage may very well be under conventional drive. A 6-12 bol trip out to Minmus would provide ample time to try to get the ship's exotic matter tanks filled enough for an outbound warp flight anyway. House Harkonnen is also scheduled to try a little experiment - to print up something in its on-board drydock and see how well it survives the warp (in this case, a module designed to dock back to the ship for the sole purpose of fulfilling the contract to fly-by Duna and return to Kerbin without entering Duna's orbit). By all rights it should work. Won't know until I do it...

[Cavscout74]

I had several Jool probes arrive in my career today.   First up was my Jooldiver, pictured here in LJO with transfer stage still attached.  And also with radio contact still established with KSC.   Much to my dismay, moments before entering Jool's atmosphere, I lost radio contact and therefore ALL atmospheric science from Jool.  I at least was able to transmit the low Jool orbit science before losing contact.

Jool entry with Laythe on the horizon

On a happier note, my Vall lander & relay combo vessel arrived, established an elliptical polar orbit & separated the lander for a landing in the northwest basin

Safely landed & sending home tons of science data

Finally, the Laythe Pioneer arrived & established an elliptical polar orbit around Laythe. 

 

[Triop]

U ok ?

[NHunter]

Today, I sent a group of tourists to my newly-rebuilt Ceti outpost. Not sure why any tourist would want to visit this place, but, whatever - it's their money to give to my space program. 

...And then, when I tried to dock them together via KAS cable fuelline, I realized I've forgotten that KSP doesn't apply colliders between parts that are of the same vessel, and the lander promptly sank into the landing pad. 

A quick reload later, the issue was resolved.