What did you do in KSP1 today?

[qzgy]

11 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Looks like it spaces.  Just not orbits.

Thats not even close to space. That was something like 20km. Does look close-ish to space.

[Guest]

Still continuing my grand Jool mission preparations. Just can't seem to stop tweaking this one. Still, I have made the first launch so I'm kinda committed at this point.

Here's Jool Station itself in the hangar. 

On the starboard side, from bow to rear: surveyor, prospector, lander that should be able to handle Vall as well as Bop and Pol. Behind that, fairing and interstage/aerodynamic part also carrying fuel. Behind that, a tanker. I went back to rover wheels for this, it was just too difficult to manoeuvre with landing gear + wheels. However I added a bunch of other refinements -- dedicated Vernor engines at the nose so I can pitch up when taking off (should be possible under Bop or Pol gravity), a Spark up top giving downforce when braking, that sort of thing. The tankers of course also serve as boosters that will get me there. 

On the port side, two high-power relays. Behind them, the same stuff as on the starboard side.

Centre, we have the ISRU unit (including drill). Behind that, fairing and interstage node I use to attach to my lifter. Behind that, another fairing, the station core, and the science module which also carries a bunch of utility stuff.

And here's how it looks when the fairings are up. 

Then, the Perfectly Safe Tylo Landing System.

From front to back, we have the Atomic Rover, a little science machine that will roam around and transmit back its findings. It's going down in its own launch and won't be coming back. Behind it, the PSTLS itself. Powered by a single Dart, carrying minimal science experiments, and seating Jeb in a command chair on top -- no closed crew compartment in this minimal device here. Behind that, fairings and interstage/extra fuel; this will be discarded once the rover has been dropped so there's a minimum of mass to shunt around when doing the actual manoeuvres. And behind that, the orbital module -- it's Skipper-powered because it will give the lander an assist of about 500 m/s, giving it a nice comfy margin for error.

And finally, here's Val taking off in Laythabout. She will RV with another craft in orbit -- basically a glorified booster; a Poodle-powered fuel tank with a Claw, a science can, and some space for crew. I intend to use it to bring the gang back from Jool one day.

My major innovation for today was to re-engineer my tankers. Previously I had two boosters and a smaller tanker, but given the high fuel requirements of the Tylo drop I was feeling uncomfortable about that; I would have to do at least two round trips to the ISRU to fuel it. Then I figured that hey, I'm actually carrying two big tanks of fuel that are good for nothing, so I decided to turn them into tankers instead, moving the fuel from the little tanker to the general structure. I ended up with something that's a whole lot simpler, less wasteful, and more aerodynamic -- this ought to be easier to loft than my previous version.

So there. Next thing, it goes up.

Edited January 15, 2018 by Guest

[qzgy]

8 minutes ago, Brikoleur said:

So there. Next thing, it goes up.

Cool. Good Luck.

One question though... How are you going to launch the laytheabout? Shuttle style, stitched to the side or at the top of a stack?

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, qzgy said:

One question though... How are you going to launch the laytheabout? Shuttle style, stitched to the side or at the top of a stack?

I take it you mean Jool Station, Laytheabout flew up under her own power.

It goes under the belly of the Rukh, my heavy lifter. Like so:

[qzgy]

3 minutes ago, Brikoleur said:

I take it you mean Jool Station, Laytheabout flew up under her own power.

It goes under the belly of the Rukh, my heavy lifter. Like so:

No, I was thinking of the laytheabout. But I didn;t actually read the text...

But, that's neat to see the launch system. I would have personally just stuck it on a great big rocket launcher. The SSTO is quite elegant for its purpose though.

[ROXunreal]

Pillaging Minmus for science recently has enabled me to develop heavier launch craft, which has accelerated the building of Kerbin Orbital station. In two separate missions, two power modules and two combined Cyclotron/power modules have been installed.

The first two dedicated power modules

Station with power modules fully operational, this was taken before a correctional re-docking to better align the module orientation, as they weren't symmetrical with the station main axis.

Still no batteries, these will be due on a separate module later on.

 

Launch number two is my heaviest lift to date. Two extremely heavy Cyclotrons combined with more power production capacity.

Guess who finally got some modded eye candy going.

Lord forgive us for leaving a stage the size of a small city in LKO...

Kerbin Orbital's automated tug setting out to dock with the Cyclotron delivery craft. The tug docked one Cyclotron module to the station, while the launch craft docked the other one after they separated.

The station as it is now

 

Next is the life support module, along with the first crewed visit to the station. So far it has been built exclusively by automated craft.

[Atkara]

The two recovery vessels arrived at Eve and went straight to Gilly. The first completed it's recovery, while the second got topped before continuing to Moho

Spoiler

Good morning Ferler Kerman, how are you feeling today?

Approaching the pod...

The payload is obviously too small for this cargo bay, but Kerbonauts can get stranded onboard anything with a seat -MPLs included.

Payload secured.

Refueling of the 2nd recovery vessel.

Also, Val and the rest of the expedition arrived at Dres

Spoiler

Explorer 2 in orbital insertion burn.

Yep, we'll mine asteroids too.

We'll also mine on the surface, for mining contracts.

Ugly, crude, but effective. The tube with the Rhino on the back end, was the launch vehicle's core stage, fitted with everything necessary for space travel. The car wasn't the the most demanding payload around, but hey, why not?

Same thing as above, with a surface outpost as payload. 

They didn't come all the way up here to plant a flag and leave. With the exception of Val and the crew of Explorer 2, they're here to stay, do science and make more money. And once the crew rotation flights are up and running, they will see Kerbin again.

 

[Martian Emigrant]

Hey all Kerbophiles.

 

Today I played with improved my Ion-Probe-Lander to Moho.

From Kerbin LKO to Moho's surface and back all on Ions.

I ain't afraid of long burns

The current version as !Science! And a Com-Relay.

 

The landing was successful if a bit crooked.

The gears are retracted cause I tried to jerk the ship upright.....Didn't work.

The tilt didn't prevent the taking of yummy science. Nor a good take-off leaving the Science Station-Relay behind.

 

This time around I figured how to use the nodes to slow down and keep a reasonable Periapse. Slow learner.

Intact Science from Moho.

 

ME

 

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by Martian Emigrant

[Geonovast]

Rover delivery system!

[something]

1 hour ago, Geonovast said:

Rover delivery system!

Never really manage to build these toy-car sized rovers. To me small means "not assembled in orbit"...

[Guest]

7 hours ago, qzgy said:

But, that's neat to see the launch system. I would have personally just stuck it on a great big rocket launcher. The SSTO is quite elegant for its purpose though.

One of my personal goals for this career is "waste not, want not." I try to make everything I can either recoverable or durable. Other than little interstage scrap thus far I think the only thing I've wasted is a pair or two of cheap LF boosters I had to use before I had the Skipper which gave me sufficient lift capacity. (I did start with some Sci though so I could start building basic planes straight away.)

It's been a fun way to play. This way I developed lander recovery capability very early on without ever having to use heat shields; I've also been building for the capability to do missions rather than individual missions, which means I made a ton of money as soon as I had a minimal station + lander combo around the Mun and Minmus -- I could do many types of surface contracts really easily and for practically free.

[Hotel26]

Hello.  "What did I do [in KSP] today?"

Well, I've spent the last 72 hours, surveying airport sites on Kerbin.  I know.  it sounds tedious.  It actually isn't.  And it has to be done, anyway.  We take so much for granted about the infrastructure that provides the fuel and parts and transport; the logistics and planning to perform the missions that captivate our excitement.

Have you ever been to 5.795N 149.312W on Kerbin?  No, I didn't think so.  It's a beautiful place.  In its own right.  When I first spied it, from a stock, standard 100x100km, easterly orbit, I thought, ha ha, that's a great place for an airport.  Build it; and the aircraft will hold to land...

I finally got there, years later, on a surveying stint.  Whatever else you might say against it, the surveying profession takes you places.  I wouldn't say that you "meet people", though.  No airport: no people.  First thing after landing before we even rolled out, I scribbled in my notebook, "Galt's Gulch".  We flew in the first control tower, though, and got a real camp going...  the place really reminded me of Arizona.  I think my official report will dub it El Tapatio.

As a pilot, you think you know a place to land!  From the air.  But we've all run into the horrid surprises: a cow planted in the last 100m of our run-out.  Or even just the cow-pat we didn't see just there under the bottom rung as we alight, congratulating ourselves on a perfect landing.  It's not so easy.

Right now, my job is to pick a field.  A big one and a flat one.  The type you get the fast heavies in and out of without missing a beat.  The type busy enough you have at least two fire trucks on warm stand-by at all times in case of...  all that infernal paper-work!

On the ground, it never looks so flat.  It's a challenge.  But you develop a knack for it fast enough.  Once your intuition locks on, your savvy takes over.  You need four flags down, marking out dual runways, intersecting at an angle of at least 30 degrees.  One 1,000 meters long at least, and the minor: 800 meters or more.  Four flags.  And the control tower.  All within 10 meters altitude of each other...

When you first pick the field, if you can't feel sure from the get-go you can solve the Rubik's combination to unlock the next Hub Airport in the Kerbal Global Aviation Network, probably you're not going to be in this business long!

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by Hotel26

[Leafbaron]

17 hours ago, Geonovast said:

Looks like it spaces.  Just not orbits.

 

A recent necroed thread made me throw together a small, nuclear Eve plane with a delivery system, since I don't have hyperedit.  I can F12 it to LEO, but still gotta get it down.

Core Life: Almost Forever.

Comes with a small KIS locker.

Must. See. Moar.

[JadeOfMaar]

[Yesterday actually] I finally installed NF propulsion and NF Spacecraft and built vertical ships: the main ship below and a lander (not shown) using Mono engines. Last time I built something beautiful, vertical, and quick, umm.... well, it was just a long time ago.

I miss you, lithium engines. Awesome TWR for ion engines, the ship's mass is little over 100 tons, 13km/s dV, plenty crew capacity, 5 docking ports and plenty service bay space, and with 2x stock RA-100 I think I could transmit science from this far? (See Neidon's distance, and assume I even get this far in a not-sandbox game). 

I made an alien dropship spaceplane too. Too bad though, that its main bay doesn't open downwards, but at long last I built something with an OPT Dark Drive attached. From Gael/Kerbin sea level and with no payload it needs to STOL, with mains and VTOL engines all on for a combined TWR just over 1.0... But any planet with less gravity or atmosphere pressure makes things easy, of course.

[Guest]

We are on our way.

I ended up doing a little more tweaking on Jool Station -- I was getting a bit paranoid about antennas, so I upgraded a few of them. I still have Communotron-16s on two of my probes -- the Tylo rover and the Pol prospector -- but both of these will have a 2G relay in orbit above, and I can make it so that at least one of the 100G ones is within range too. And I ended up redesigning the Perfectly Safe Tylo Landing System's orbital module. I made it aerodynamic so I could dispense with the fairing, and gave it two drop tanks for some extra fuel. 

Here goes the PSTLS.

Detach in LKO.

And off we go, on a nice intercept course for Jool, with a gravity brake off Tylo for capture.

Then Jool Station itself.

Fairings discarded.

On our way.

Valentina in the Laythabout was first on her way, and she too is now headed for a clean intercept of the Jool system.

Next in the program (after a tiny mid-course adjustment burn to get as clean a Jool orbit as possible) is some zero-g ballet. I will release the relays and the surveyor probe from Jool Station proper. The relays will go on orbits that should keep them within range of everybody most of the time; I'm thinking a bit past Tylo for one and between Tylo and Laythe for the other. The surveyor probe will go survey Pol. The rest of Jool Station will rearrange itself into two craft, both riding a tanker: one will carry the ISRU and the prospector towards Pol, and the other will carry the station core, the science module, and a Vall-capable lander. That I want to park in a higher orbit of Pol. The Tylo landing system will park itself in high orbit around Tylo. 

The first objective is to survey Pol, use the prospector probe to find a suitable location -- sufficient ore and flat enough for my big tankers to operate; I know Pol's topography is difficult but it oughtn't be completely impossible -- get the ISRU up and running and a tanker parked to it.

When that is done, I will start refueling missions to get everybody shipshape and ready to start doing proper science missions. In the meantime, if everything goes well, I will do a few landings on Pol, and will consider dropping the Tylo rover, fuel conditions permitting.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by Guest

[MaxwellsDemon]

I'm plugging along in my 1.3.1 career game... though I've gotten farther faster in some previous careers, I like the way this one is shaping up, since I'm 'stopping to smell the roses,' so to speak.  (Are there roses on Kerbin?  Can Kerbals smell them if there are?)  For instance, I'm visiting places on Kerbin I'd never bothered to go before, like the pyramids, Kerbaykonur, and the island airfield, and I've actually got probes on the way to every planet-- I realized I'd never sent a probe to Jool before (!)  I've got a Sentinel mapping asteroids, I've pulled one into orbit (tucked it away within Minmus's gravity well), and I'm surveying Minmus for the perfect fuel mining site.  To my joy, this time around the highland areas seem well-stocked with ore, so I'm strongly considering sticking my base on that high mountain almost on the equator near the Great Flats at about 3N, 66W (which I refer to as the Great Mesa).  I'm also doing some thorough planning and designing for my space station, taking a page from Soviet space history this time, with a Salyut analogue for my initial station and then graduating to a Mir-type modular station.   Additionally, I've launched a series of comsats toward Duna so that when I start my intensive exploration there, I'll have a network all set up already.

And on top of all this, I'm even flying my first planes out of the SPH.  Just one fatal crash so far, but it's a useful occupation for those pilots I pick up on rescue contracts that I don't want to keep in my regular stable in the Astronaut Center.  

Having fun!

[Fearless Son]

On 1/15/2018 at 12:03 AM, Fearless Son said:

But that is for tomorrow.  For tonight, they make camp (to the extent one can camp on the Mun.)

Tomorrow comes today!  

It occurs to me that I did not post a detail shot of the Mun buggy.  This thing has a "roof" of solar panels which proved more than sufficient for all its energy needs and a pair of antenna that are probably more than necessary.  Thanks to its many batteries it can run on reserve power for a long time.  The body itself is made entirely of reaction wheels set to SAS only mode, as experimentation on Kerbin has shown that makes vehicles less prone to fishtailing during sharp turns or aggressive breaking, though the rough terrain and low gravity of the Mun complicated that a bit.  The density of the batteries keep the center of mass relatively low, and the beam there goes right up through the center of mass and is the part that is docked to the lander before it is detached.  It can carry a crew of two and both perform and store experiments.  

We took the "high road" back to the lander, going outside the canyons.  The more open terrain allowed us to sustain greater cruising speed, and we passed through midlands, highlands, and lowlands, gathering science from each (mostly the highlands and lowlands.)  We also completed our resource survey for the region, and have confirmed that the high concentrations of ore detected from orbit are definitely limited to the canyons.  Fortunately there is a relatively open and flat(ish) area at their end which still counts as "canyon" which should make for an ideal base site.

The buggy made good overland time since it had fewer sudden changes in elevation to deal with outside the canyon.  Since the rover can function in a purely probe mode in addition to its crewed mode, it can remain on the surface operating autonomously for future missions.  For example, it might fetch science for the base once the base is operational.  The crew disembarked, took the science data out of storage, and boarded the frankly over-built lander.

Unfortunately this turned out to be the point where I realized that I misread the "Spider" engine in the contract as the "Spark" engine, meaning no payout from this particular engine test.  Still, the Spark engines on the lander proved sufficient to reach Munar orbit as it detached its landing pylons.  

In fact, the lander was so over-built and the engines so efficient that I aborted my initial plan to ditch the body of it and have the command capsule land on its own ablator.  I used the parachute to slow down, then drove the engines to reduce the speed to something that could tolerate a splashdown with all that mass.  

Wow, that is a lot of science!  

[Corona688]

Landed on a docking port on the mun.

THAT WAS SO MUCH HARDER THAN MINMUS.  I nearly ran out of everything on the way down.  The sideways drift was wild, to the point it was hard to tell when I'd actually docked!

The problem is, you cannot aim PERFECTLY upwards on a probe's navball, causing a minute sideways thrust proportional to what you're using to hover.  Since the mun has 3 times the gravity of minmus, that's 3 times as much drift while hovering.  And if you don't constantly fight this drift, it'll snowball into a sideways 3m/s that you'll never stop on target.

Next time I try this, I'm bringing verniers.   MORE POWER!

Edited January 17, 2018 by Corona688

[Guest]

Holy spit, that is some impressive piloting. I've attempted this on the Mun and never managed it without giving up in screaming frustration; it would be nice to have a tanker that doesn't need rover wheels. Nice design on the ISRU as well, feeling kind of stupid I didn't set up mine more like that.

[RizzoTheRat]

That's an impressive landing.  Would it help to do the VTOL thing and angle the engines outwards slightly?  I can't quite make up my mind if this would increase the drift when not vertical, but it has a big advantage in stability as it always pushes you back towards the vertical so might make things a bit easier.

[Hotel26]

8 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

has a big advantage in stability as it always pushes you back towards the vertical so might make things a bit easier.

I don't think so because it all just adds up to a single thrust vector.

@Corona688: "you cannot aim PERFECTLY upwards on a probe's navball,"  Well, done!! first of all.  I use Surface:Radial Out on the SAS setting...

Edited January 17, 2018 by Hotel26

[Atkara]

2 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

I use Surface:Radial Out on the SAS setting

This. Lock radial out on surface mode and the rest is about maintaining hover with the throttle, zeroing in with RCS and keeping your cool. Eversince I've had this particular "epiphany" myself (that is, my brain got unstuck and figured out the obvious), surface recoveries with the claw turned from a nightmare to avoid, to "sure thing, bring it!"

Edited January 17, 2018 by Atkara

[Guest]

lock... radial out... on surface mode

:sob:

That's so obvious. How could I possibly not have thought of it? I've been chasing the retrograde marker like, I presume, the rest of us. Thank you!!!!

[MaxwellsDemon]

hm.  I'm trying to master the Translatron in MechJeb to do this... make a "good enough" landing nearby, and then make short hops toward where I want to put it.  I usually hook up my surface bases with KAS pipes, though, so I'm not usually trying to hit a target as small as a docking port...  that's precision flying!

 

Yesterday, I laid out the survey grid for the target portion of the Great Mesa on Minmus, site of the planned Delta Base.  (The fourth automatic lander was targeted for this site, hence the name...)  Eyeballing it, it doesn't look as dead flat as the Flats, so I want to make sure I select the flattest area on it.

I also spent some time designing the 'Isis' transport craft and the 'Hathor' cargo craft (Progress analogue).  'Isis' uses the 'Appaloosa' Mk 1 add-on module on top of the 'Bigby Crew Module,' both from the M.O.L.E. mod, to comfortably seat 5 Kerbonauts in the same volume/diameter as the 3-seat Mk 1-2.  Since this one's not going farther than LKO, it's just got a store of monoprop and a couple of 'Puffs' for orbital maneuvers to and from stations.  It took longer than anticipated-- the capsule was no problem, but I ran into trouble with the launch vehicle-- there was some hidden drag that was causing unexpected instability during launch, and it took me some time to run it down.  But, run it down I did.   After that, 'Hathor' was a breeze-- same setup, but replace the crew capsule with a non-returning cargo/fuel/supplies module.

Edited January 17, 2018 by MaxwellsDemon

[Atkara]

With the survey/scan/relay satellites deployment around Jool and it's moons underway, I decided to revisit an old idea I had about a mobile surface miner. The plan is to use it on the surface of Tylo & Laythe. I've opted for a claw instead of a docking port and I'll pretend there's a fuel plug where I'm grabbing

It's big. No fairing will fit the wheels and at the same time, these are the ones I want to use. The resulting drag will make the launch challenging to say the least, but it's doable.

Below, are a couple of alternate placements for the claw:

Spoiler