What did you do in KSP1 today?

[capi3101]

(1.1.3, FAR to go) Yesterday began with a design for a booster for the Münar fuel delivery rocket I had started to design before I went to bed the previous night. Without anything better to name it, I went with a Futurama reference and called the craft Old Bessie 7 - makes me wish I'd put some fins on the thing. I had some issues with it when I finally went to launch the craft at the tail end of my day; it kept on having a structural failure while still on the pad which I traced back to the craft's fairing. In frustration, I removed the fairing and tried to launch the thing, fully expecting either the payload to overheat and explode before it made orbit or to run out of gas due to drag losses. Surprisingly, the craft flew just fine without the fairing, and Old Bessie is now on her way to the Munport 7 space station, where the plan is to refuel the Spamcan 7a lander so that a group of tourists can go down to the surface. Old Bessie will then head down to the area of the Wildcat 7 drilling outpost, where the Piper Alpha 7 drilling and refinery rig is still headed once I can raise sufficient funding to launch the damn thing - I'll need both craft for sustained Münar refueling operations to commence, but then I should be able to start raking in the cash from those tourist contracts. Old Bessie's launch cost √421k (with some of that recouped thanks to Stage Recovery), so I've got some work ahead of me.

I sent an Auk III refueling flight to Next Objective; the refuel op was successful and the plane landed successfully at KSC 27. With both of my intermunar ferries refueled, I decided I would try to send both of them back to Mün with a load of 4 passengers, so I checked the current tourist roster - only seven of the available tourists had Mün-bound contracts, so I loaded them all aboard an Auk II passenger ferry spaceplane and had it ferry them into LKO, starting with a rendezvous with Jeb aboard Strange Cargo. Rendezvous and docking were successful but it was abundantly obvious that the Auk wouldn't have enough fuel to also reach Next Objective in the same flight, so I changed my mind and loaded all seven passengers aboard Strange Cargo. Jeb set the course for Mün and kicked the engine on at the right time - Strange Cargo is now Mün-bound once again.

Strange Cargo, heading on a return trip to Mün.

Retreival of the Auk was...interesting. I came in too high and wound up overshooting the Runway, barely missing the probe-rover that marks the inner marker of KSC 09 in the process. Snapped off the ventral airbrakes, but otherwise the plane came to a stop just off the Runway, still close enough to get full marks for most of the parts.

The Plan for today is to get Strange Cargo and Old Bessie to Munport, send down a batch of tourists and then see who's ready to head back to Kerbin. If needed, I'll send Next Objective that way too to pick up other Kerbin-bound folks. If it turns out that I don't need Next Objective for that task, I might see about loading up Minmus-bound travellers and sending them out that way. Still hoping to recoup enough funds to launch Piper Alpha - I have a total of nine active tourist contracts at the moment for 27 tourists total, and it sure would be nice to clear a few of them...

[KingPhantom]

did a laythe rover landing. lost 1 of the 6 wheels but also works on 5... it just has to send data from surface. so i didnt use F9 to fix that and will work with the 5 wheeled rover

 

did also my second asteroid capture in +700h ksp without problems. its nice when everything works well. the asteroid just slightly touched the kerbin soi down south. so i started heading south and pushed my AP to the asteroid path. then i circulized enough to have a encounter and catched it after 2 orbits. was really funny because it was i small typ a asteroid (contract) and i pushed it away with my 4 nukes. so i had to chase down the asteroid for a second encounter :D. after that i secured his position in a orbit around kerbin. really funny

[Red Shirt]

I am currently designing an interplanetary mission. Testing is being completed on short Mun jaunts. The mission incorporates various assemblies from earlier versions of KSP and tweaked for 1.2.1. The rover was originally designed back in 23.5 to conquer the Dres canyon (it failed) and dune buggy on Eeloo (great fun). The command Module is from 1.1.3 intended for Apollo style usage. The lander draws from many earlier ideas used on Duna dating back to pre 0.90. Back then it used nukes.

Spoiler

Here it sets on the launch pad. Technically this qualifies as a SSTO.

Once in orbit it loses the fairing and the booster separates. The massive rover becomes visible. 

Command module separates from the lander, turns around, and docks. Now we are off to the Mun. Notice the tank beneath the rover? That is emptied on descent and jettisoned prior to landing. It also isn't necessary for a Mun trip but this is a shake down mission. 

Once on Mun, the rover is detached, and the obligatory flag planted.

The landing was in one of the large Mares. I know there is an Arch just outside the rim. So the rover goes on a 15 km trip. I got bored eventually. It seemed the perfect opportunity to try out MJ's rover autopilot. It works really well to a point. Using the Navball to find the heading angle, pick a speed, and off you go. Leaving the room would be a bad idea. It will not maneuver around craters. It also will not slow down before plummeting over a crater edge. I do credit Sarbian's stability control for saving the rover from one particularly frightening leap.

The rover is long and wide. It will climb a steep incline while tipped at a fairly steep angle. 

 

So this is what happens when I'm driving (not MJ). Down hill at 25 m/s I decide to make an abrupt directional change. Oh, and the top of the arch can be seen just peeking over the ridge beyond. Almost made it.

After Jeb's really long trip back to the lander, it was off to rendezvous in orbit and head back to Kerbin for a night time landing at KSC.

 

  Now to redesign the booster stage to accommodate a larger transfer stage and I'll be ready to head out to the planets.  

[Sharpy]

So, Duna adventure is heading towards the end.

Somehow in the process of building the shelter and mounting the cockpit on Trucky, the only screwdriver in possession of the crew got misplaced. I suspect a baby Kraken because I know I didn't drop it. Meanwhile, Duna Station, and Duna Ascent Vehicle (DAV) arrived into orbit of Duna.

So, the DAV met up with the station, and one of pilots picked a spare screwdriver and boarded DAV on the way down.

The landing of the DAV was very inaccurate, but 260km is nothing for Trucky after circumnavigating Duna.

Then, the exchange was made. The stationary ISRU module of DAV was made mobile - Trucky became an ISRU platform to serve any future missions with fuel. And the cockpit, which is a part for recovery contract became a part of DAV. (and provided room for the rescuee and the extra pilot to return to orbit...) Also, a battery of Vernor engines was installed to allow setting the DAV upright. Along with the science container and two spare reaction wheels.

Then DAV was refueled. It wasn't necessary - it's going to be left behind in Duna orbit while having enough delta-V to return to Kerbin - but there were some rumors... about Ike maybe?

Anyway, the launch went without a hitch.

 

Transferring the cockpit in freefall wasn't nearly as easy (you need three kerbals to handle it) but it was successful. DAV was equipped with a docking port, which it promptly used.

Now it's a year until return window, and still there's no chance for Duna Station to even make a dent in the science collected until then.

Time to focus on Gilly.

[XB-70A]

For the first time since I'm playing KSP I decided to look for an asteroid. A class-A celestial body was pretty close in the tracking station, by following it received the name WHV-977.

The time to conceive a small probe fast with experiment is the service bay then...

Ariadne 4 retrieve some service!

 

Still so underpowered, alas.

 

I placed the probe on a 400x400 km parking orbit to wait the asteroid to pass by Kerbin then intercept it, but in the meantime...

 

The tracking station shows that WHV-977 will now definitely orbit Kerbin! And on a different orbit...  so we go.

 

Hopefully the 3rd stage and its HM-7-like still got about 2 km/s available. Add the probe 1700 m/s and it should still go well.

 

Another correction to intercept it, rhaaaa!

 

"Finally! After so many orbits and intercept attempts I got you, you are mine ahahaaaa..." But then the trance quickly stop as I discovered by using the science stuff that the asteroids actually bring N-O-T-H-I-N-G back!

As I wrote it was my first flight to an asteroid, so how disappointing was the feeling when cames the reality.

 

So I landed the probe on WHV-977 and condemn them to wander together till' the end.

At least it enabled me to discover something about KSP's celestial bodies.

[ComradeGreen]

Today the construction of the Hyperion I began. a mission revision discovered that it would be more efficient to put a second lander onboard for Ike as it would cut out the wait for 2 launch windows, one for sending a craft to Ike and one for sending a craft to Duna. this lander was dubbed Anubis I. The mission plan was also written up

Part 1: Launch the Command Module into Orbit (Comes with Transfer Stage and Anubis Lander), Part 2: Launch the Hyperion Model Lander (Designed for Duna), Part 3: Launch the Crew Module, transfer crew, Part 5: Begin mining Pandora, a captured asteroid, and bring the fuel to Hyperion I, Part 6: Await Transfer and burn the Twin Boar Engine as Transfer, then change to Nuclear Orbital Engines, Part 7: Assure the capture intercepts Ike, orbit Ike, Part 8: Land Anubis I on Ike, Part 9: Redock the Anubis and Hyperion, Part 10: Enter Duna Orbit, Part 11: Land Hyperion's Lander, Part 12: Redock with Hyperion, Part 13: Await Kerbin Launch Window and Burn.

This mission plan allows for both craft to conduct their operational goals. after the craft returns to Kerbin Orbit it will be retrieved by the same Crew Shuttle used to ferry its crew up in the first place. the current crafts specs include a crew capacity of 5 Kerbals, 1 in the Anubis, 3 in the Hyperion, and 1 in the Command Module. Jebediah has been deemed the designated Hyperion Landers pilot, he will go with Bill and Bob. Valentina will manage the Command Module. Anubis's Pilot is still undecided. Spark II will be used as a landing target, it is landed in Duna's largest crater.

Edited November 17, 2016 by ComradeGreen

[Martian Emigrant]

Good day Kerbal-Boosters.

The last few days were spent in the sandbox. No, not the Middle-East. Building a mid sized SSTO with the now available tech.

http://imgur.com/a/71YMK

Here is said SSTO:

On board there are 6 Junior Kerbals. Recent rescuees from this career.  They are off to do some training and get upgrades. The selection process involved picking them in order from the top and having only one star to their credit. There had to be a pilot among them so I did skip a scientist but he is next.

First stop. Minmus.

At first they were shy. Having no seniority they didn't want to offend by planting a flag first.

So they did it at the same time.

Then off they went. They escaped Kerbin's SOI.

Then came back in it. By taking aim at the Mun.

Once there They got to see Hermon (Now forever called Hermon-the-morron) fall on his head. He blamed it on gravity.

One last Flag-Planting-Party.

Hermon got to break the comm-Antenna. Right after bragging that he now as more stars than Jeb. Correction Hermon. You have one star. And it will remain at one until you get back. He blamed it on a jet-pack malfunction.

One of my usual Space-Plane landing later.

A few more trips to get them all to at least three.

Then we will get something more massive going for further upgrades.

 

ME

Edited November 17, 2016 by Martian Emigrant

[Clipperride]

Continued my drive south in the imaginatively named Mun Rover Lab.  Including the original drive from the landing spot to the Twin Craters, the crew has now covered over 300km, which is a personal best.  The actual distance covered will be around 10% more, but I'm using the rough measuring technique of planting a flag every 40km and ignoring all the twists and turns.  

Despite being large, based on a Cupola attached to a Mobile Processing Lab, it handles remarkably well in 1.2.  I've yet to break a wheel and I've only had to reload once - and to be fair to the rover, I had got up to finish making a cuppa tea when disaster struck!  It's climbed up 30° slopes with ease, had several seconds of "air time" (or should that be "vacuum time"?) and still trundles on at between 10-20 mps whilst the scientists work in the back.

The crew are now well into the highlands, approaching the Polar biome, so a little more route planning is needed.  Sadly, the crew return vehicle, which is already close to the South Pole has sunk into the ground, so when I switch to it, it pops up.  The probe core is set to hibernate and is hidden away.  There's not enough time to click it back to life before the whole thing comes back down and smashes itself to pieces. As it's a science mode game, it will be much simpler to send a replacement when needed.

Whilst driving, I also tested out various graphics settings.  I used a stop watch (app on tablet, not the real thing) to time a minute and compare that to the game timer.  I'll have to take some new screen shots to see the improvement, but here is an old one from the beginning of the treck.

A real "because it's there" mission

Edited November 18, 2016 by Clipperride

[Brownhair2]

With all of the crew back on the Amber, it's time to head home. And waddya know, the Sonnah window is right now! Convenient timing.

Back at the KSC I've been working on a little water vehicle:

Isn't it adorable? It's able to zoom across the water at almost 30 m/s, and has more than 22 minutes worth of fuel. That gives it a range of about 40 kilometers.  Guess where it's going.

And then I just drove it around a lot. It's so much fun!

Minor problem: I have no idea where to put this. The buoy is already on the back of the Wader, and I don't think the underside is a good place to put delicate machinery.

[obi_juan]

5 hours ago, ComradeGreen said:

Today the construction of the Hyperion I ...

If there no Shrike, the mission could finish without trouble...

Sorry Hyperion Cantos is one of my favorite science-fictions novels ...

Could you include a image of the ship?

[AccidentsHappen]

I finished my MER-B "Opportunity" replica!

Top speed: 10.8m/s

Cruise speed: 8m/s

Speed I'll drive it at: <5m/s 

I made the landing system for it as well.

The airbag was dropped about 100m above the surface by the aeroshell. I then bounced (a lot. It also rolled down a hill), and came to a stop right side up (many weights were rearranged in the making of this airbag). I then deflated the airbags...

... and blew the sides off the landing pad (I would have used servos but Infernal Robotics isn't updated yet).

I released Opportunity from the pad and she drove off happily.

She's now off to investigate the Red Planet and find her sister!

It's a shame I didn't land in Eagle crater. Now that would have been cool.

When Infernal Robotics is updated I'll get the robotic arm on the front working, as well as an improved airbag landing system and a moving mast so that Opportunity can look around!

(don't ask me why the remains of the pod are floating, because I really don't know. It does say WIP on SSRSS though.)

This is a small part of my quest to replicate our space missions to date in my career save. Next up, Curiosity, Phoenix and the Orbiters!

[GDJ]

Well done AccidentsHappen!

[Galileo]

1 hour ago, AccidentsHappen said:

 

Thats awesome! I have been looking for a way to replicate the opportunity for a long time now.  Where did you get the air bags?  

I will have to investigate the floating stuff and see if it's something I can fix.  Might the PQS is too high..  I dunno but I'll try to fix it. 

[AccidentsHappen]

1 hour ago, Galileo said:

Thats awesome! I have been looking for a way to replicate the opportunity for a long time now.  Where did you get the air bags?  

I will have to investigate the floating stuff and see if it's something I can fix.  Might the PQS is too high..  I dunno but I'll try to fix it.

2 hours ago, GDJ said:

Well done AccidentsHappen!

Thanks!

@Galileo the airbags are from @linuxgurugamer's SXT revival. They have an impact tolerance of 200m/s so they're great for harder landings. Plus, you can inflate and deflate them as you please.

Don't worry too much about he floating stuff, you're doing an amazing job as is. I think it's a bit like the floating terrain scatter but I'm not too sure.

That reminds me, I'll have to get your terrain-scatterer-make-have-hitbox mod (sorry, I forgot the name!). Hopefully it will make Opportunity's trek a bit more challenging (as if getting to Olympus Mons wasn't hard as is)!

Keep up the good work!

Edited November 18, 2016 by AccidentsHappen

[The Flying Kerbal]

So another day has come and gone, indeed with only six hours in a day quite a few have passed by, on the good planet Kerbin.  As the technical staff working on Project Pathfinder were too tired after finishing their day jobs to do very much at the KSC, we must assume that Pathfinder 1 is still heading towards its encounter with Minmus, while P2 continues its lonely and slightly eccentric orbit of the Mun.  Nevertheless, despite the fatigue of some of its staff, the KSC was buzzing with activity as the first steps of Project Union were initiated.

As you will all know if you tune into Radio Kerbin or read any of the newspapers, "Union" will consist of a series of launches into LKO, each one aiming to rendezvous with a docking target vehicle, where the crews will learn all the required skills to join two spacecraft together.  Yesterday was spent with the preparation and launch of the target vehicle, actually a battered old FL-800 fuel tank which was found rusting away at the local scrap yard.  A quick lick of paint, a few docking ports, super glue the whole thing on top of a booster, and presto... one docking target!

As usual things did not go well at launch (non?) control.  The good citizens of Kerbin, and all the scallywags too for that matter, are rapidly getting used to being subjected to an indiscriminate rocket barrage every time the KSC schedule a launch.  As an interesting footnote, some people have asked why no buildings, apart from the KSC, are visible on the planet?  The answer would be only too obvious if they were to be on Kerbin whenever a rocket flight is attempted... living above ground near the KSC can seriously damage your health!

However, leaving the suffering of the locals to one side, it took a full eight launch attempt before one successfully put the docking vehicle into a stable orbit.  Currently it is positioned approx. 142 km above the planet, but with fuel still in the tank, this can be changed if such a manoeuvre is deemed necessary.  And a first for the Kerbin Space Agency... this launch saw the first use of a fairing covering part of the vehicle as it blasted through the Kerbin atmosphere.  Officially this was to help the aerodynamic profile of the rocket during the early stages of the launch, but most Kerbals believe the real reason was to try to cover the fact that under all the paint and glitter was still a dodgy, clapped out old fuel tank! 

With the target vehicle now in orbit, the authorisation was given to prepare a manned - or rather Kerballed - spacecraft to meet and dock with the thing.  Although Valentina Kerman was next on the rota, as usual Jebediah pushed his way through and jumped into the capsule before anyone could stop him.  After a launch abort at the first attempt (staging malfunction: two sideboosters jettisoned at ignition), the second attempt saw the rocket roar off the pad to successfully establish an orbit behind and below that of the docking vehicle.  Jeb is currently awaiting permission to begin his approach to the target vehicle, and of course we'll keep you informed on his progress as we receive information from the KSC.

 

Will Jeb manage to dock his spacecraft... will Valentine be speaking to him when he returns... will the KSC issue helmets to Kerbals living within range of their rockets..?  Tune in next time when all these important questions will be completely ignored in the next grisly update as Kerbin reaches for the stars!

Edited November 18, 2016 by The Flying Kerbal

[Clipperride]

I've never really got on that well with Career Mode.  I played it a few versions ago, but always preferred Science Mode as it lets me do what I want, whilst still giving some progression. The beginning of career mode, farming cash and science has always bored me.

As I'm stuck inside (recovering from having my gallbladder surgery) I've been watching a lot of YouTube KSP videos, looking for inspiration for my planned Duna mission and base.

I happened to come across a great set of tutorials for career mode for 1.1 stock by Marcus House which gives some great tips for the early stages of the game. So, I now have three saves on the go! One, with my Mun Rover treck to the South Pole (see above), a second with the goal of going to Duna in year 1* (both science) and now a career save too.

* I usually take things slow, going to each Mun and Minmus Biome with individual missions. By the time I am ready to go further, there are no upcoming launch windows.  Being more economical this time round, I've been surprised how quickly you can unlock the science tree in Science Mode.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Clipperride
Always spot errors after posting

[smysha]

Today I've found some fir-trees underwater

[capi3101]

31 minutes ago, smysha said:

Today I've found some fir-trees underwater

Seems like the Kerbal Corps of Engineers is putting the taxpayers' money to good use once again...

 

(1.1.3, FAR to go) Yesterday started with a bit of bookkeeping, figuring out which tourists aboard the Munport 7 space station would be heading down to the surface once the Old Bessie 7 fuel delivery craft arrived with the gas to refuel the landers. I also took the opportunity to standardize the controls on the Auk series of spaceplanes - six different craft and you'd think I would've tried to make life easy on myself by giving them all the same set of controls before now. Made notes on the setup so that future planes would be the same way.

The bookkeeping showed that I was going to need to haul more folks home than what Strange Cargo could carry, so Next Objective was dispatched to Mün, Buremy piloting the trip solo. With six hours of nothing to do besides watch three craft hurtling toward Mün, I elected to do a pair of probe launches using Auk IV spaceplanes. The first launch took care of the little geosynchronous orbit probe snafu I had the other day (I still don't know what happened there), while the second was a contract to put a probe in a polar orbit of Mün. Both probe launches were successful, and there were no major issues recovering the planes either (I discovered how to use rocket mode in Atmosphere Autopilot, which made re-entry a lot less intense. Seriously, if you're a flier and you're not using that mod, you need to be - even if you just use it for the fly-by-wire system).

Later that evening, Strange Cargo, Next Objective, Old Bessie and Bleepity-Bleep 7b all made it into the Mün's SOI. The first three craft were docked successfully to the Munport station, with the only real issue coming when Strange Cargo's burn to rendezvous with the station came right on the heel's (within five seconds) of the completion of Next Objective's capture burn. Once Old Bessie arrived at the station, Spamcan 7 and Spamcan 7a (the two landers docked at the station) were both refueled to the gills, with enough fuel transferred over to Strange Cargo to fill her main tank up as well. I wasn't planning on having both of the landers available - so now I need to figure out which pair of tourists I want to send down to the Münar surface in addition to the four I planned yesterday...

Munport with five craft docked: Old Bessie 7 (upper left), Spamcan 7a (upper middle), Next Objective (upper right), Strange Cargo (lower left), and Spamcan 7 (lower center)

Meanwhile, the Bleepity-Bleep 7b probe was put into a polar orbit - only for me to realize I had it going the wrong direction after circularizing. The probe still had sufficient delta-V for me to raise the apoapsis to just within Mün's SOI, flip the direction of the orbit and re-circularize for the contract. I decided to skip the replacement contract - to put a new orbital station in orbit of Mün...

Ended the night with a mission to retrieve a Kerbal and his craft from Minmus. I did a quick redesign of the Bill Clinton 7 probe for longer range and larger heat shield (one of the ten meter inflatable jobs), and launched the craft to orbit. Today I'll be sending this craft to Minmus and landing Kerbals on Mün. Time permitting, I'll retrieve said Kerbals from Mün and try to make some serious money in the process. Immediate goal: √950k, so I can finally launch the Piper Alpha 7 refinery to the Münar surface...

[ZachIsCheese]

Established a minmus base by accident.

Tried to get a coms network on my Mac but the VAB don't do scroll wheel zoom for some asinine reason. *swear word* OS X.

Also flew to eve with a friend watching to prove I can and to prove I can maths and do orbital mechanics stuff.

 

All during my 200 mins of study.

 

[Sharpy]

16 hours ago, XB-70A said:

"Finally! After so many orbits and intercept attempts I got you, you are mine ahahaaaa..." But then the trance quickly stop as I discovered by using the science stuff that the asteroids actually bring N-O-T-H-I-N-G back!

There's "Asteroid Sample" to be picked - but you need a kerbal to pick it.

[Puggonaut]

Decided to cut the strings from Mr Tracy

 

[adsii1970]

Last night, I was on YouTube working on a project when a recommended video popped up in my feed. Being a huge fan of the F-14, F-15, and F-16 fighter jets, of course, I had to click on the link.

So, this morning I decided to make a new aircraft inspired on the F-15...

And as the last image shows, it is Jebediah approved!

[katateochi]

I did something that I've never done before; flew two spaceplanes side by side from orbit down to KSC. It was majestic.

I'd docked them together for the deorbit burn (which made them very unwieldy), then undocked and moved them side by side.  I used MechJeb's SURF to control their pitch and then kept switching between them to make little adjustments during reentry. 
Jeb was flying one, Valentina in the other, both crammed full of terrified tourists (if this had gone wrong it would have meant the loss of my two best pilots and a lot of paying customers!). 

By making little adjustments to pitch I was able to control their relative speeds and keep them close together.

Approaching the home range, engines on slight throttle. Val had pulled ahead a bit at this point....

Jeb of course was having none of that and while my attention was on Val's craft, Jeb came screaming past and overtook.  
I used MJ's spaceplane guidance to set Val's craft to head for the runway while I landed Jeb.

Having safely landed Jeb I switched back to Val and disengaged the autopilot for final approach and landing. 

 

 

[adsii1970]

@katateochi: Dang, that's impressive! Great shots!

[SmashingKirby148]

Finally delivered the Kerbals to the station.... My first extraplanetary station that's actually completed.