What did you do in KSP1 today?

[SpacePixel]

Going full Soviet and making the Red Planet red again: 

Tiny Lunokhod-inspired rover and Soyuz-shaped ascent vehicle, all fitting inside 1.875 fuselage. The mission was impossibly overcomplicated with 5 dockings in Duna orbit, but surprisingly succeeded in returning over 4000 science points and 3 brave kerbonauts to Kerbin but also consuming the better part of the day. The ascent vehicle, much like the mission, was overengineered - it had 4 or 3 stages (depending on the way you're counting), but only one set of engines and the narrowest of safety margins. Well, I guess that problem with safety margins only makes the mission more Soviet, so it's a win in the end!

[Cavscout74]

So my "turn the 5m lander upright" idea was doomed to failure - the lander is bigger than the recovery rover, so it couldn't lift it even with the mass of the snacks dumped. 

After one test at the dessert space center, the plan was abandoned and the Minmus mining base crew got the go-ahead to demolish the lander in place - which also went poorly.  Its hard to see, but the engine & fuel tank of the lander broke free and entered retrograde Minmus orbit.  In this image, it is above and to the right of the main cargo pod, and below & right of the spinning I-beam.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Cavscout74

[The Flying Kerbal]

2 hours ago, SpacePixel said:

Going full Soviet and making the Red Planet red again: 

Tiny Lunokhod-inspired rover and Soyuz-shaped ascent vehicle, all fitting inside 1.875 fuselage. The mission was impossibly overcomplicated with 5 dockings in Duna orbit, but surprisingly succeeded in returning over 4000 science points and 3 brave kerbonauts to Kerbin but also consuming the better part of the day. The ascent vehicle, much like the mission, was overengineered - it had 4 or 3 stages (depending on the way you're counting), but only one set of engines and the narrowest of safety margins. Well, I guess that problem with safety margins only makes the mission more Soviet, so it's a win in the end!

SERIOUSLY cool!

I'm looking at that Lunokhod and have no idea how you put that together, mods maybe?

[Cavscout74]

19 hours ago, The Flying Kerbal said:

SERIOUSLY cool!

I'm looking at that Lunokhod and have no idea how you put that together, mods maybe?

It looks like the Restock mod which just takes the stock parts and makes them look better.

 

In my own career, I got some testing done on a drone science plane for Laythe, then got it into orbit for the upcoming transfer

Spoiler

Can even handle water landings & takeoffs if needed

Then started work on rebuilding my floating Laythe base

Put a Tylo lander into orbit as well

And finally finished the second attempt at the Minmus ore return contract.  This one was much steadier than that last mess I built

Edited June 9, 2020 by Cavscout74

[N_Danger]

 I sent my second kerbel into space. Val also was the first kerbel to preform an EVA.

An I launched a Polar orbiting satellite to get science for a contract and stuck relay antennas on it to become a relay sat for later missions. I have more fuel on it in case I get a move the satellite contract.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, The Flying Kerbal said:

I'm looking at that Lunokhod and have no idea how you put that together, mods maybe?

My guess is, an aerodynamic nose cone for the base and the flat small adapter for the lid. It is indeed very cool!

[AlamoVampire]

I sent up a tiny repair mission to my station mentioned a page back to address the constant attempts by my station to take the solar array trusses and fold them in. I used a pair of grip plates (1 per truss) and either the TJ-1 or TJ-2 and a receiver port for each to try to lock it down. If this fails I will likely hook it and winch lock it as I disconnect the entire truss and pull the G-11 hinges to then try to fuse the trusses back on. A process I am NOT looking forward to. 
 

After servicing my station I sent a relay to Dres to push my relay network out some. My plan is to put relays in orbit of everything. Planets, moons, the Kerbol system itself. I will have full coverage!  Pictures will follow later.

 

041806092020

[luizsilveira]

Today was a sad day.

It started well. A couple of days ago I've finally landed my Moho base. It tipped over on landing because I tend to not take into account the compression of landing legs, so the engine sticks out. I'm wondering now how (and if) I will ever set it back straight up; then again, it's a station with mainly just some fuel, a capsule and a lab, so I might let it be there. Forever.

Meanwhile, my Moho orbital station is rescued, refueled and back on its way. Some time ago I had forgotten to set a KAC alarm and it just flew by Moho, not having the fuel to ever encounter it again and still capture it. Its orbit came back towards Kerbin so it wasn't too hard to send an emergency refueler, if only a little time consuming. But there are very few things more Kerbal than a rescue mission.

Meanwhile, great progress is being made on Eve towards the completion of the most stupid contract yet: extract 2,700 ore from Eve and deliver it to Gilly. So I've been sending test stuff and some probes and rovers to scout the sites and test the best design ideas. The first rover landed upside down (ooops), but I paid better attention to the second one and it landed like a charm.

I'd post some pictures but I run KSP in a potato you wouldn't believe capable of running an internet browser so I'm properly intimidated by the beautiful images posted here. My game looks straight from the 90s.

Anyway, had a great session today with good progress. Even the contract RNG gods smiled my way and graced me with some interesting Moho contracts. Finally. Then I switched back to an Eve rover that arrived to its destination using Bon Voyage - just to have it exploded by a terrain glitch. Again. 

Oh my, I had forgotten to save before using Bon Voyage, which is something I once was in the habit of doing but it's been a while since I've used a rover this much. So I forgot. Ok, let's check permanent... and nope, it autosaved just after the rover went boom. 

Fine. Decided to go back a couple of days of game time to my last quicksave. A bit would be lost but not all that much. But opening the load game list took a loooong time - somehow KAC saves a lot of games when switching vessels, even when I limit the number of saves it should create. So I decide to delete some saves to speed things up.

Yup. A misclick and I deleted my quicksave. There went the whole morning session. Tried recuva to recover the file, but no trace of it. RIP.

Now I'm trying to think whether I could copy and paste my rover from a previous save file into the permanent one created when I ALT-F4 rage quit. 

[ValiZockt]

After a small two months break from my career, i delivered 93kg of Communication Equipment into a ~5.000.000km x 900.000km Orbit at 43° Inclination today. [RSS/RO/RP-1]

 

Final insertion burn, where the satellite will stay, took place at around T+ 1h45min.

[aspacecephalopod]

Continued working on a Vall colony in a Kopernicus save-planning some OPM missions with KSC based on Laythe.

[Maravone]

I've been back to KSP over the last couple days, playing a new RO/RP-1 career in 1.8.1.
Today I've put the first man in orbit. Nothing much really. Hopefully this time I'll stick to this career and go beyond the Moon Landing.

 

2 hours ago, ValiZockt said:

After a small two months break from my career, i delivered 93kg of Communication Equipment into a ~5.000.000km x 900.000km Orbit at 43° Inclination today. [RSS/RO/RP-1]

 

Final insertion burn, where the satellite will stay, took place at around T+ 1h45min.

Ok, I gotta ask what your TUFX or KS3P config is, because it looks absolutely amazing!

[N_Danger]

I had a contract to get science form the Mun and the Kitchen Sink Mod 2 did the job.

Which gave me enough science to get parts for a new business. Tourist rides. And now a series of launches ferrying tourists to orbit. The Legal Department said we had to since we took the the money and spent it on upgrading the science building.

 

[Cavscout74]

Didn't launch a single thing in my career today - I spent my entire session designing and testing in sandbox.

The first thing was more work on my floating base - I got it inside a 5m fairing, so it will be able to go to orbit. It will take a nuclear tug to actually move it to Laythe, which will be another launch and I don't have time for both before the transfer window, so this is getting shelved until the next one.

 

Then I started tinkering with a 3-kerbal Eve return vehicle.  It should be good dV & TWR, but getting landed on Eve is proving difficult.

First version, with grid fins for stability.  Which don't do any good since they overheat way too easy and have to be kept retracted

Amazingly, the "transfer stage" (I cheated it to Eve orbit for testing, so there was no actual transfer and this stage has nowhere close to the dV for the transfer) kept pace with the return vehicle through most of the reentry before explosions started

End of version 1 - I will give it credit, that little pod pretty tough.

Second version, with a few changes to increase protection and hopefully stability....

For ending of attempt 2, see ending of attempt 1 above - yes everything but the pod exploded again

Attempt 3 - heck with grid fins, I'm just going to stick some structural panels on BG hinges.  That should work.....

Or not....

Attempt 4 - ok, so if the structural panels overheat, lets stick a heatshield on them to protect them.  That has to work.....

Or not

Once again, the capsule survived the explosions and RUD.  Back to the drawing board.  Maybe I should just land a single kerbal in a small lander and leave him there.  If he's at a base that can produce snacks, its not murder.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Cavscout74

[Maverick_aus]

So great to see you all having a creative, great time in KSP.
Boy this is a great game.
Over the last few days...

The original orange suits had been stuck out on kerbolar orbit for aaages, and I wanted to bring them home to see what all the new staff at KSC had been up to whilst they were gone.

Returning MSS Freedom
Burning for home


Hmm, d-v is a little low... let's see...
Throw it all overboard!



The jettisoned materials were a) a small runabout shuttle and b) one-shot exploration probes, unused.

That's better.
Home again!


Via a reusable Titan booster, carrying relief crew, this vessel heads up to switch crews.



Getting ready to dock...


It's so intense docking, I always forget to take good pics, sorry.

Finally, the orange suits are properly home


And now they can start investigating what's changed on Kerbin since they set out... (to be continued)

Edited June 10, 2020 by Maverick_aus

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

I spent 6 hours trying to make a plane I can land in FAR. So satisfying when I did it B)

[AlamoVampire]

It would seem I failed to get any images as I was modifying my solar truss arrays last night, but, I did however capture an image of my relay with its transfer/capture stage on its way to Dres. 

Off to sling more stuff at the skies!

235206092020

edit: that's the Mun and Kerbin fading away there in the background.

235306092020

Edited June 10, 2020 by AlamoVampire

[Maverick_aus]

The orange suits, returning home after many many kerbol-rises and kerbol-sets, celebrated by taking a new 4-seat version of the Tomcat for a spin:


And arrived at the MAS Endurance (my original aircraft carrier in this world).


Safely aboard after successful landing (and taxiing to launch position).


Bill secured the plane down, and the 4 inspected the Program's first maritime aviation exploration vessel.

 

[FahmiRBLX]

Ah yes, a very long time not posting here.

This. Is what you pretty much call them frustration.

(Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is KSP, explosions are good, I know that)

But I've spent like hours of replicating (Most labour on nose section even there's like only two fairings clipping each other) and this is actually an old craft from my 1.7.1 install, where I still have KJR to stiffen things up), even still I've used mods.

(And my take on "Moar boosters" & "More explosions" are more of "learning from a mistake" and I believe that's what those two aforementioned quotes are meant to be)

[Goaty1208]

On 6/8/2020 at 8:22 PM, kspbandit said:

Thanks, hope you sticked the landing and made it back.

Made it back for a hair, as I needed a CRAZY aerobrake.

[JorgeCS]

After making a KR-71 (who didn't?) a few days ago, SSTO version of course, which is here:

https://kerbalx.com/myrddin/KRB71-mk7

Today it was the day of the Stratolauncher... No pictures and no craft uploaded so far... long way to go until I really like it, I think. Anyway, the current status: with FAR, capable of taking a payload of 289.6T (S4-512 fuel tank plus the 2x nose cone Mk16A) to just 11488m, nose up 10 degrees and starting to descend. Also, a more standard payload of 144.2T (Clydesdale SRB plys nose cone Mk7) can be launched from 12000m while still pitching up the nose without risking a stall. Pics tomorrow, maybe... if I can finally make something aesthetically nicer. Not that the real one is pretty tho!  

 

Finally decided to upload some images of the Stratolauncher to Imgur... here are a few and the album:

https://imgur.com/gallery/VnT5rlc

Edited June 10, 2020 by JorgeCS

[Cavscout74]

Spent my time today getting pulled in about 5 7 different directions in my career - got rid of some space debris with an unused asteroid capture vehicle, tested an Eve lander/spaceplane on Kerbin, sent my Eve crew to do a Gilly fly-by for contract, restocked Eve station while they were gone, performed a couple of course correction, had a Jool probe depart and finally tested a new mobile base idea that combines two of my favorite mods.  There was no time to work on the so-far failed Eve ascent vehicle.

First up - "Eva" spaceplane performing flight tests a KSC:

Spoiler

Uses a linear aerospike for propulsion - with 1300 m/s dV, it has enough to fly for a while to pick a good landing zone, but nowhere near enough to depart Eve.  This is strictly a one-way trip

Low altitude flight characteristics were excellent - with no tweaking needed by some miracle

After taking off, coming around to land on the runway, and taking off again, it exhausted its LFO supply and made a successful water landing.  Gotta love these crystal clear tropical waters.

Ex-asteroid capture vehicle being used to dispose of some orbital debris by crashing into Mun.  I figured it was better to turn part of Mun into a radioactive wasteland than Kerbin

Eve crew burning for Gilly, to get in a quick fly-by before they have to head for home.  I ran out of game time about an hour before they reach Gilly's SoI

While they were gone, the supply transport swooped in & restocked the station with snacks & fuel, then moved off to self-destruct

And finally, last but not least - my new Mobile Modular Base concept.  Rather than trying to either cram as much as possible into a small base or fighting to keep a large base intact through an Eve entry, if I split the base up into smaller, self-contained, mobile pieces so I can land them easier, then drive them to a link up point.  The MMB combines the chassis & docking components from the Buffalo mod with the base components of Kerbal Planetary Base Systems

Spoiler

A command & quarters module in front with an ISRU module moving to dock

Docked and ready to go - while a separate power module is available as well, the ISRU has a single Gigantor solar panel to provide power if a power module isn't available.  It also has an automated greenhouse to produce snacks for the crew.  I used my engineer to manually connect the two docking tubes, but by using a common chassis, they can easily dock without Kerbal assistance as well.  I'm actually toying with the idea of removing the docking tubes and just mounting a grabbing unit on the back of each module which will reduce total part count by 1 per module - not much, but any reduction is good, especially for a multi-module base.

Current plans are to send a single ISRU module at the next Eve transfer to see if it survives entry & landing.  Fingers crossed, Eve has NOT been my friend lately

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Cavscout74

[N_Danger]

Even more tourist contracts:

Jeb "Ahh.....the explosions are free of charge. All apart of the service"

And Val gets the closest.

 

[Clamp-o-Tron]

Replicated the constellation program with lots of modded partsparts. The Ares 1 was the hardest part. Without stock 5-segment SRBs, I had a tough time getting the Orion into orbit, so I just used BDB 1.5 meter boosters that needed some weird TweakScale work.

 I don't think Constellation included a lunar gateway (can someone check me on this?), but I built one anyway in a sort of Artemis-Constellation mashup. I launched the Altair lander on a (frankly overpowered) Delta IV Heavy replica, docked it to an Atlas V 552-launched lunar transfer stage, which I also used for the Orion transfer. The Ares V with 5 Vector engines and a cluster of 4 Terriers for an upper stage (w/ Pollux SRBs) launches multiple large segments into a eccentric near-polar lunar orbit with Ap near the edge of Munar SOI and a Pe at about 20 km. The segments are then assembled into the station.

Tomorrow: the Mars Duna transfer with the classic Constellation orbitally-assembled vehicle. Ascent vehicle and surface habitation are already en route. I've been thinking about a kind of alternate-alternate history, with SpaceX completing a kind of mini-starship to be used for lunar cargo and life-support transfer, and LEO crew operations to a commercialized ISS. Maybe I'll make a mission report out of this.

[xendelaar]

[Story time]

I tried to make a stock artillery that could hit the island airfield near the space center... I "kinda" went overboard on this and accidentally made it powerful enough to hit Moho when aimed/alligned properly hehe. In this video, I'm shooting for the Mun, which was pretty challenging as well.

[Some numbers]
The cannon weighs approximately 170 tonnes
The maximum velocity of the projectile is 5100 m/s
Time for projectile to reach its target: approximately 60 minutes

[CREDITS]

*Music* New Digital War by Groove Bakery | https://groovebakery.com Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Explosion: Star wars: A new hope

[SpacePixel]

Made a sleek aeroshell to make my Soyuz Laythe-capable. Looks great, doesn't work.  

Anyone knows how to get around drag being calculated even for the parts in aerodynamic shadow?