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To the Mun and beyond - especially beyond!


Zylark

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Beefing up the infrastructure

Now that Lunies' Base on Mun is soon up and running to a degree, something is needed up in Mun orbit to receive the surplus from all the mining and other production that'll be going on down there.

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Hence the launch of this, the Mun Resource Station. A half-way home for products from Mun. Right now just configured for being one big fuel-tank, but before hauling it all to Mun orbit, I'll attach what I need to refine Karbonite into fuels plus add some storage for various other products. Already dumped about 3000 units of fuel into it from drying out the booster that sent up the MSL Feynman. Got that booster deorbited using RCS to get back some cash. Also one of the two boosters that's been used to kick Base modules up to Mun have been returned and deorbited.

Still, cash is tight right now, below 1.3 million in available funds. The next launch won't be cheap, as it'll contain some heavy expensive gear, so depleting the funds even further.

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Makes me wonder how much the Mün base I built in 0.23.5 would cost.... No doubt S.R. Hadden would have the funds, but would he be willing to toss it into the dusty regolith with no promise of return? Hmm.

400k for a reusable science lab isn't so bad. Though getting it to repay the investment is a different issue.

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KAR-BO-NI-TE

Last leg of the first steps to getting more or less free from Kerbin economics and stuff. Yes, new ships and parts and whatnot will still have to be launched from KSC, but at least now I won't have to think about fuel once in space.

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My new Mun Resource Station nicely parked in a 75km orbit around Mun. Why 75, because it is 3/4 to 100 and is thus a nice round number I can remember, which is not too high for vessels coming up from the Mun or too low for incoming vessels from Kerbin or Minmus.

Two things to note here. First, my Lander mk II found its' way to the Station. It needed to fuel up and will in due time find its' way back to Kerbin orbit and the Research Station to clean out the experiments pods. I need to do some contracts, and some of them require doing some science on Mun and Minmus - hence I need the Lander.

Second is that detached Rockomax decoupler. That gave me all kinds of technical issues later in this mission. More on that in the end spoiler tag.

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Got the Karbonite Miner that was attached on the rear end of my little Mun Resource Station Train down safe to Lunies Base and got it working as intended. Pumping out Karbonite very nicely, and not even making a dent in the electricity budget. My reactor is still only running at 10% of capacity.

Funds are slightly south of 1.2 million - so next up are science and contracts in an effort to clear out a few things that have been lingering and keeping me from getting new juicy contracts. Hence why the Lander mk II got some new attention.

After landing the Karbonite miner, all my ships started blowing up when going into time-warp for some reason - and then the game would crash. Tried all kinds of things, but eventually in restarting the game and reloading a quicksave for the umpteenth time, got into the mission control building and on a vague hunch deleted that decoupler. That solved it all. No more ships going kablooie when time-warping.

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Makes me wonder how much the Mün base I built in 0.23.5 would cost.... No doubt S.R. Hadden would have the funds, but would he be willing to toss it into the dusty regolith with no promise of return? Hmm.

400k for a reusable science lab isn't so bad. Though getting it to repay the investment is a different issue.

Oh, a cookie for you, as I believe you may just have gotten the reference from the first post on this page (#21). And I suppose 400k for a mobile science lab isn't *that* expensive, at least not considering I got back about 120k by means of Debrefound from spent stages and deorbiting that big end-stage booster. Still though, big projects suddenly cost big money. No more free lunches :)
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If you want something done, send Jeb!

This will be long and convoluted, though the de-convolution machine will try and make it simpler. Basic premise...

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Send up the SP Firebug mk II - bigger and better - with Jeb at the helm. So far so good. The CRAPIT report came back saying something about clipping and docking port and whatnot. Either way, the mk II got somewhat simplified, more streamlined and with more cargo capability. Jeb jumped at the chance to take it up and after a brief visit at Minmus, to recover the stranded horizontal lander orbiting there and bring it back in the new and improved Firebug. Oh, and do some contracts and science whilst at it.

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Started out well, got docked with the Research Station. Soon after the Lander mk II arrived, and Jeb jumped over to that.

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Jeb got the Lander mk II over to the Transfer Station, and docked on the rear-end of the SS Asinum. Which for this Minmus mission will serve as the tug.

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Did a quick landing on the Greater Flats of Minmus, gathered some science, planted a flag and all that. Then got up again to intercept and capture the abandoned little Horizontal Lander from a few missions back. That is one tiny but very expensive piece of hardware. I intend to land it back at KSC safe and sound.

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After getting everything back to the Research Station it was time to try and get the little lander inside the Cargo-Bay of the new and improved Firebug. No dice however. Nope. Someone at Infernal Robotics have screwed up. That hinge would not move anything anywhere, at least not in space. Worked perfectly in tests at KSC, but when it counts, nope.

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As can be seen on close inspection, the hinge moves, but not what it is attached to. Also, by this time, Jeb have had enough. "Seen this before!" he said, "Screw it, I'm going home!"

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At least the view on the way back was kinda' awesome :)

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Down safe, and the evidence of malfunction protruding outside the Cargo-Bay covers.

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So, next I suppose is using some other SSTO to recover the Horizontal Lander - it is worth nearly 150k after all. It's not chump-change. Despite the failure to get that neat piece of hardware back to KSC this time around, this mission was not a total loss. From launch to done deal, some 300k made it into the account.

Now got just south of 1.4 million to play with in funds - and a couple more easy to do contracts that should net 200k more.

Edited by Zylark
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Never gonna' give you up, never gonna' let you down...

"My turn!" Bill said "You've had your try Jeb, next flight up is mine I tell you!". Jeb didn't want to argue the finer points of how this is not a democracy and there is no such thing as 'turn'. But seeing as Jeb hadn't had a proper snack for a while - and eating in space is very messy, Bill would indeed get his 'turn'...

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...in the new and improved Single Stage to Orbit ship, the SSTO Bufonem. Featuring a sleek hull and a proper Cargo-Bay. Looks pretty good compared to the previous effort, the SSTO Rana. Mission, capture the little horizontal lander to recover its cost. Funds low, lander expensive.

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Catching up to the lander was easy - the tricky part was docking it. Had to be done extremely slow and carefully.

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Eventually got it docked and secured. Closed the lid on the Cargo-Bay, and returned for KSC. Upon landing, available funds suddenly jumped up a bit, to just below 1.5 million.

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Karbonite Refining Test

Since last done a couple of contracts and launched a Karbonite Truck to ferry said material from my Mun Base to my Resource Station - that also happen to double up as a refinery. First order of business, get the Karbonite Truck to the Mun Base...

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Proved simple enough, and since it isn't supposed to be permanently attached to the base, no need to be all that precise in lining it up either. Did hit one minor snag though. Fully loaded with Karbonite, the Truck had a measly 570dV, which is not enough to get back into orbit, much less maneuver to hook up with the Resource Station. So had to pump some back to get to about 1000dV available. To be able to fill up completely, I'm going to need a little refinery and fuel depot hooked up to the base. Will be nice to facilitate refueling of anything that pops in for a visit. As it was, after landing the Karbonite Truck had around 70% fuel left. Obviously not enough. Somebody had wildly optimistic estimates at the VAB when designing the thing :P

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Got back to the Resource Station with my load of Karbonite. Time to test the refinery part of the operation. Have three of the things attached. One for Monoprop and one each for Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer. Soon discovered that converting Karbonite to Monoprop is both slow and wasteful. The conversion rate is abysmal. Karbonite to Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer was a bit more speedy (helps having one converter for each, thus doubling the output rate) and the conversion rate was pretty ok.

Now, as soon as that big thing in the middle there - the Logistics Hub - get up and running with Karbonite Transfer, I won't have to transport it manually. Which will ease operations quite nicely. Though I will still need that truck to ferry Karbonite to other installations and ships in the pipeline that just may put that resource to good use.

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Funds are up to a more comfortable 1.7 million. But as I am planning to finally get the MSL Feynman operational, those funds will dwindle quite a bit. Also pretty soon the MKS mod will receive a major update, so until then all further (MKS related) expansion of Mun Base and the Research Station is put on halt. Good news is, that update will fix the Logistics Hub and simplify things a bit. Bad news is, a few modules will go the way of the Dodo, so one module on the Research Station will have to be swapped out and two modules on Mun Base.

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Operation Repo

Anyone remember the Deep Space Network Satellite that in a sudden disassembly lost its solar panels? It's been taunting me ever since it malfunctioned. So decided it was about time to bring that kraken-infested puppy down - and in the process recoup a bit of its' cost.

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There is no fairing in the known universe that will make that particular trash-collector look pretty on the Launch-Pad. Sitting as it is with all its' giant protrusions - upside-down even - on top of the 20Ton booster.

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Met up with the derelict. Claw out, all lined up. Now just hit the gas and...

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Gotcha! Secured the cargo by means of quantum-struts. Handy little struts those. Just make sure they're off if you got any pointing downwards when on the Launch-Pad. Just trust me on that one :)

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A landing - sort of. Came in pretty hard at 7 m/s, but that is why we got landing-legs, right? Everything intact and looking good. The payout wasn't that great though. Fuel plus 15-20% of the cost of the booster, reduced the potential earnings from close to 50k to roughly 25k.

But at least that reminder of failure is now down safe and not zipping around Kerbin.

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Time has finally come to make the MSL Feynman a bit more operational. The shopping-list to make it good to go is quite extensive - and won't be done by the end of this installment.

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Got a fuel tank up there. Mind you, it is just a tiny Jumbo tank. Not even close to what will be needed for future missions to far away places. But considering the first 'shake-out' mission will only take the MSL Feynman to Minmus, it should be plenty.

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Now for the costly bits - two Cyclotrons - each hitching a ride up to the Feynman by means of their own 60Ton booster. First got installed nicely, the fuel left over in the booster was used to fill up the Jumbo, with plenty to spare, and then proceeded to deorbit the thing to get some funds back.

Next Cyclotron moving into place. As was the case with the two at the Research Station and the previous at the Feynman, docking those things is a delicate operation. Very slow and careful maneuvering is in order for it to go without any embarrassing mistakes. the Eagle-Eyed will notice an adapter in the front, to make sure the Cyclotrons are moved a bit further out from the center of the ship. Those things are not only big and heavy, turns out - they are fat as well.

The left-over booster got kicked up to a higher orbit of 150km. It is still pretty full of fuel which need to be put to good use before I deorbit it.

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Last the two base-landers got renamed EngineModule#1 & #2, transferred from orbit around Mun and then found their place at the rear of the now very much Mobile Science Lab. Just to test it out, I upped the orbit from 100km to 200km. Looked pretty good. Some oscillation up and down, but not too bad. Seen it much worse :P

Now that all the big pieces are in place, all that is missing are all the small pieces. Kibbels for the animal-tests, some serious power for the Cyclotrons, at least four various experiments pods. But getting all that stuff up there should be cheap. Also need a refuel, but that is not only cheap but virtually free. Oh, and I need to crew the thing. Six Kerbals will be needed.

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Funds are down quite a bit to a smidge over 1.3 million. That will all change as I get the MSL Feynman to Minmus orbit. I got 13 active contracts, 7 of those involve doing stuff in Minmus orbit. 2 others involve Duna and Ike exploration, to which probes are already sent and should fetch a pretty penny once done. 1 contract is for Eve exploration, that transfer window is getting close. Also thinking of sending off probes to Moho and Dres now that the transfer windows are opening up in a matter of days. No contracts for those locations yet, but I can always just let probes to those locations be inactive until something crops up.

Edited by Zylark
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The Replacements

All of a sudden, Modular Kolonization System (MKS) got an anticipated update - putting my other plans on a big halt in order for me to get my Mun Base up and running again. Two modules had to be swapped out, the Harvester and the Terraformer. Also got to swap out the Terraformer on the Research Station, but that is not a priority as funds are tight...

Sent up a train of four modules plus a Lander for them in two big launches - that only cost me an arm and half a leg.

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The last of the modules on its way down, a big tank of replacement parts and patch-kits and stuff. The other three were a Repair Shop, Aeroponics module and a big tank for storage of various resources plus the two drills to get at them.

To ease the landing procedure, the train of modules had a Jumbo-tank of fuel plus some RCS at the end.

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This soon found its way to the Resource Station when landing operations was done - thus upping the capacity of the Station quite significantly. Next up is getting Life-Support and other products of the Mun Base storage to it. As it turns out, the new and improved Logistics system works perfectly fine. No need for doing it manually - just order a transfer, and a day and change later, it is done. At a cost of fuel. Certainly could have done it more fuel-efficient manually, but that eats of _my_ time, not just game time.

Funds however, that I have to get up manually as it were. This little replacement operation cost as said a fair bit. Plus two chickens, a goat and if I did not get my funds up, a few kittens as well since I threw in a couple of additions.

No kittens will get sacrificed on my watch, so had to demean myself to doing some very menial contracts...

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Like testing out some safety gear. Who needs it? Really? Well, maybe Bob as he seems a bit terrified. Bill and Jeb however think it is all just one big joyride.

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Funds down to a bit over 1 million - and that is after doing three contracts. Next up, the window to Moho and Dres is looking *very* tempting to take advantage of. Just 15 to 19 more days for optimal launch. Hmmm, dV requirements for Moho is pretty steep, Dres isn't exactly cheap either. But I am sure I can make it work - on a very strict budget. :)

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Probe behaving badly!

So, Moho and Dres coming up in the transfer window. First did a copy-paste of one of the Duna Probes, with a few minor alterations. More fuel, more ScanSat stuff, more awesomeness.

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Going up by chance?

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Why yes, or no depending on point of view. Actually to Moho, which is in a somewhat lower orbit to the sun than Kerbin. And requires a whole lot of dV to get to. You'd think it be easier, going downhill so to speak, but no.

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Establishing a very high orbit of 30.000km before burn to Moho. That little chemical rocket in the rear there will be ditched soon enough. Got 7k and then some in dV from the Argon-Electric thruster on the probe itself.

So tried same trick with going to Dres, only that is much further out (though ironically requires much less dV), and hence a big whopping Communication-Dish had to be put on it - made no room for a lander for one thing, and for another, well...

Somebody at the VAB forgot to take into account how solar panels tend to follow the sun. As it happened when in orbit, and the big dish was out, all the solar panels got unfolded and then proceeded to break off from hitting the dish...

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This took place whilst trying to go to high orbit. Promtly retracted that big dish to save power - was only at batteries and capacitors at this point with no means of generating more electricity as all the solar panels went bye-bye. Got it into a semi-decent orbit before the power went to zilch. The orbit it made might be a bit eccentric, but ok for a later retrieval mission.

So back to the blueprints regarding the Dres mission. Oh, and funds are down to a scary 850k...

Edited by Zylark
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Outfitting the Mobile Science Lab #2

Not one to let a little failure get in the way of spending yet more funds, getting the MSL Feynman up and running was on the schedule.

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First up a shipment of 3 Kerbals and 5 Experiments Pods.

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Next a Skipper Engine of all things - got this contract to test it out around Minmus - and also some more usefull stuff in the second shipment. A Nuclear Reactor, a container of Uranium, some Kibbal animal food and a tiny little tug to put everything in its' right place.

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A gazillion dockings and undockings later using the Tiny-Tug, all cargo got secured. Good to go, except you know, get 3 more Kerbals on board and fill up the tanks to capacity.

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Since I was in such a jolly spending mood, I just had to blow 100k and change on getting this puppy up...

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A new probe to Dres. Featuring less Solar Panels, more nuclear power, just as much sciency stuff and SCANSat equiptment - and most important, it actually works. It's also a tad more compact than the previous effort, certainly weighs less. Does cost just south of 90k, and that is before the cost of the booster to get it to orbit.

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Funds are down to about 500k. But soon on my way to Minmus with the MSL Feynman where a bunch of contracts will get done.

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Getting to a moon in 3 1/2 easy steps.

Before getting to that, here is a nice picture of the MSL Feynman picking up the last three crew-members and topping off the fuel tanks over at the Transfer Station.

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With a mass of 225 Tons it was a very slow process getting it docked. Now you might say - dude you got MechJeb, why not just autodock the thing? If it was a nimble little one-piece thing then sure. But being a huge modular thing with 6 big pieces and 9 small pieces, it does wobble a bit. Not much mind you, but just enough so that autodocking would use up all the RCS fuel within the first 30 seconds of MechJeb trying to keep the nose steady - by wildly compensating up and down, side to side. so with big ships and docking in tight spaces, doing it manually is the only viable option.

Now then, how to plot a course for a moon.

The first step is making sure you are on the same plane as the moon. Most moons are equatorial to their home planet, Minmus isn't. So had to blow over 200dV getting that done.

Next up, getting a proper maneuver node to intercept the moon.

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First you line up the moon, in this case Minmus, so that it hits the horizon of the planet it is orbiting. That done, you make a maneuver node right there where your orbit crosses the horizon.

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Then you just drag out the Prograde handle of the maneuver-node until you get a course that intersects the orbit of your target moon. You should then get the intercept-markers.

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Finally move the maneuver-marker a bit forwards or backwards until you get a proper encounter with a Pe distance popping up near the moon you want to visit. From there on in it is just a matter of doing small adjustments until you reach your wanted final Pe. Doing this by manipulating the maneuver-node in the map view isn't that precise, so I'd recommend using the Maneuver-Node Editor of either MechJeb or Kerbal Engineer Redux. Those editors give very fine control. And with MechJeb, all that remains is to hit the Execute Next Node button, and you should be on course for a good encounter.

Again, you may ask - dude, you got MechJeb why not just let that plot an intercept using a Hohman Transfer? Well, doing that you never know what side you end up on - prograde or retrograde. Doing it manually is more precise and gives better control of where you end up when all is said and done. Same problem exist with the Transfer to another Planet auto-plotting of MechJeb. It is just not precise enough - and it is locked to transfer windows. That just won't do in many situations.

Edited by Zylark
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Good news Everyone!

Since last, not only have the MSL Feynman gotten to its' destination. A nice little orbit around Minmus. First contract there even fulfilled by testing the Skipper engine. The scientists are now working hard on other experiments to get up the funds.

Which, as it happens, isn't much of a problem any more. The StationScience mod upped the reward for taking on and fulfilling contracts rather significantly in the latest update. Already up to well over 2 million in funds.

So had a bit to spend. Decided this was as good a time as any to remove the decommissioned module from my Research Station, and replace it with something more useful.

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First had to get rid of the old, used the Shuttle to push the now deprecated useless Terraformer module into a de-orbit trajectory. No chutes on the thing or anything, so it will just burn up on re-entry.

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Then a service mission delivered the new module, the Aeroponics one with some storage for good measure. In the same mission also upped the Kibbals supply that was running rather low, delivered a new experiments pod and picked up the two old ones for return to Kerbin and the KSC.

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Finally the Dres Probe got underway. Was a long slow burn - those Argon-Electric thrusters don't have all that much oomph. They do compensate in having plenty of delta-V in a nice small lightweight package however. The entire probe weighs in at around 2.5 Tons, which is pretty decent considering all that is bolted onto it.

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Funds as said is up there to a bit over 2.5 million. As the MSL Feynman get its experiments done and return them to KSC, funds will really take a huge leap upwards. Time to plan some manned mission to some planet or other... And expand the Mun base. And the Research Station.

Edited by Zylark
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No! Nonononononono - exceeded my photobucket free monthly bandwith of 10gigs. So, uhm, eventhough I got an update or two already in the works, I will have to delay posting it until 1st of September. Hmm, probably by then gotten so far in various projects that I'll organize it under a couple or more special topics posts.

Until then, thank you all for breaking my photo-cap by reading my thread - keep it up and I might just have to pay photobucket a bit to up my limit in the future :)

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How big can it get?

(Photobucket still not up and running - a couple of more days and all the old screenshots should be back. Meanwhile, hello imgur :) )

Due to the funds windfall after upgrading the StationScience mod, a massive expansion of the Mun Base got going.

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Three new modules found their way in the first batch. Refinery, Fabrication and storage for refined products.

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But that was not enough, not by far. Another batch was soon on the launchpad, sitting on top of my 40Ton booster.

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After getting to orbit, Adam in the SS Asinum popped by to give this new batch a ride to the Mun. Mind you, not all is going to the surface. The two big tanks are going to the Mun Resource Station. So as to make possible transfer of various goods to and from Mun orbit by using the Logistics Module.

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After getting to Mun orbit, the landing party got ditched, and the two tanks promtly attached to the Resource Station. Some of the cargo in those tanks soon got sent down to the Mun Base using the Logistics Module - Basic Machinery was wanted by two modules down there, and some compost and biomass to kickstart growing Tomatoes and Kabbage.

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The two new modules made it down safely under their own power - the new and improved Base Landing System. Got tired of endless docking and refueling using the Base Lander, so figured, why not attach the means to land the modules on the modules themselves? Not that expensive using a couple of tanks and LV909s and then throw them away when done. Saves a ton of time, that is for sure.

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With a clearance of 0.02mm the Greenhouse and parts-storage module got underway.

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Ditched the Landing-System, and got the Machinery Plant module going.

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Mun Base starting to take shape - but far from finished. It houses eight Kerbals at the moment, and with only two Greenhouses it'll only produce enough food for four of them. So at least four more Greenhouses are needed as I expect the crew will grow a bit more. Also need a few more modules for making stuff I'll need later. Not so much for Mun Base, but for future bases and stations at faraway places. That way I can launch the modules dry, outfit them in orbit and then haul them off to wherever they might go.

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Speaking of going to faraway places. I 'hacked' the Karbonite converters and distiller to allow converting Karbonite into LiquidHydrogen (at same rate as LiquidFuel) and ArgonGas (same rate as XenonGas) in anticipation of using those resources with the Near Future Propulsion mod to get to other planets without hauling all that fuel from Kerbin at outrageous extortionate prices...

Doing some design work to get to Duna and back as cheap as I can. First made one Duna Lander that weighed in at a massive 17 Tons. Not good enough. So after rethinking it, came up with this:

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Got all that is needed, plenty of science-gear, more than enough Life Support, just barely enough dV at a smidge under 2200 in Atmosphere. I set a hard limit of minimum 2100dV. 600 to get down, 1500 to get back up. And only weighing in at 9.5 Tons :)

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Funds are at a comfortable 2.3 million. Still got plenty to spend - which I will...

Edited by Zylark
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Keeping them orbits clean!

(Photobucket have reset my monthly 10gb allowance, so pics in old posts are back up)

Waiting for my Mobile Science Lab to get done doing its' business around Minmus, it got decided that to give it a warm welcome back to Kerbin, some cleaning had to be done.

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Got the SS Asinum back from the Mun after its' tugging mission and parked it at the Transfer Station. Pretty soon the old booster that delivered the 2nd Cyclotron to the MSL Feynman emptied out most of its' bounty of spare fuel at the Transfer Station as well. Left just enough in it to de-orbit it and recoup some precious funds.

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Now, me and Elon Musk need to have a serious chat - I am sure he is an avid KSP player and use it to prototype his SpaceX designs and naturally follows this thread. Landing a booster stage is no big deal - just add parachutes. Landing Legs, control systems and powered landings just complicates matters to no end. Gimme' a call Elon old mate, and I'll give you some pointers. We'll talk salary later...

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Another little thing crowded my LKO - well, eccentric and rather high KO as it happens, but nonetheless. The failed Dres Probe. Sent up the Derelict Deorbiter again - this time more chutes added as the last landing was a tad hairy. Cought up with the Probe, and caught it in the claw. In full disclosure, it did *cough* take me three attempts this time around... It just wouldn't bite the first two times.

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And down safe under a much more comfortable final descent of 4m/s as opposed to last time that went down so fast it almost bounced up again.

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Funds are at about 2.45 million. Got nearly 90k for the spent booster, and some 50k for the probe. No worries though, will soon be spending a fair bit - Mun Base only got 90 days left of food and oxygen, so need to light a fire under getting the place self sufficient.

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Bigger must be better!

Things are going slow. Basically just expanding on my Mun Base and Resource Station.

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The Resource Station got a much wanted additional Karbonite tank and another hub for future expansion. At the far end is also my new little Fuel Truck. Also bolted on some more storage for various equiptment and life support the Mun Base will produce.

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Mun Base got a couple more greenhouses and a factory. Not much to go now before it is complete. One or two more batches, and it'll be done. There is a slight problem however. First, the site of it do not produce much minerals or substrate. The former is important for manufacture of parts and stuff, the latter for getting food and oxygen production up.

Due to the lack of substrate, I'd had to resupply the base with more food and oxygen to keep it going for a while more. Basically bought some time. What I will need to do is make an auxiliary mini-base or two. Finding some site full of substrate and minerals would be great, but through some cursory pondering over the maps, such a thing is not very common. One site looks promising for minerals with an ok supply of substrate. The very rich in substrate sites are not that rich in minerals however.

So I guess, coming up is some Mun rover action, to find suitable sites for plonking down some tanks with drills attached...

In other news, the MSL Feynman is soon done with its very important Minmus science mission. Can't wait to haul that thing back home and collect the treasure of science and funds both :)

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There is minerals in dem'dar hills!

Aight - doing some prospecting to flesh out the resource harvesting for all the machinery at Mun Base. A little off-site drilling operation is needed to supply my Base with Substrate and Minerals.

prqhpTX.png

Off and away with the prospecting crew - Jeb as the experienced pilot and Cambald to man the rover.

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Down on the ground Cambald transferred over to the prospecting rover. Distance to the most promising site is a bit off - on a pretty steep hillside to boot.

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Substrate is not all that hard to find... Minerals on the other hand is very scarce in comparison. My selected site however is quite rich in both.

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Flag planted as a future reference. The picture is a bit deceiving. It looks nice and flat and all, but that is just a trick of the camera angle. In reality the site is on a 25 to 30 degrees slope. Which roughly translates to the rig I intend to land there to mine out those vital resources, need a pretty wide separation for the landing legs so as to not topple over when touching down.

edit:

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Hmm, 10km back to the lander. There is plenty of Life Support left in the rover, so perhaps go visit the nearby anomaly and see what it is. As for where to park the rover when all done, I'm thinking doing so at Mun Base. That way, Jeb can get back to Kerbin post haste whilst Cambald goes sightseeing.

---

Funds are still at about 2.4 million. Made a pretty penny during this mission, as I had contracts both for planting a flag and do science on the Mun.

Edited by Zylark
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Why make do with a SUV when a Learjet will do the job better and faster - at a slight increase in cost...

Quite a bit happening in this installment.

PbBsEEB.png

The probe to Moho finally got underway. Also did the final adjustment for the first Duna Probe, which is now getting close to its' target.

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Then of course got the little auxiliary mining operation en route to its' Mun destination. By means of the Fuel Truck giving it a nice push from Kerbin to the Mun. Main reason being, it got a DockingPort Sr at the top that interface nicely with the same port at the base of the Miner. A feature not present on my two little Shuttles - and the two landers that do have such a port on the top haven't got the fuel capacity to haul the cargo that far.

Oh, and yes, a little bit of mystery cargo there hidden in the Fairing still.

CU5cmm8.png

It's a brand new transport for our friend Cambald. To go visit some anomalies and do sciency stuff. The rover Cambald rides in now is all fine apart from a couple of details such as speed and being very dangerous to ride going any faster than 10m/s. Low gravity means any bump will make the thing go flying, tumbling and crashing with a bang. It is a very nice rover though, I see a future for it at some other location - but for now - Cambald is soon getting a new ride.

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On the way down with the luxury ride. It cost well near 180k. Featuring 6 small nuclear reactors, four Argon-electric thrusters at 3.8kN each, all the science gear you'd ever wish for, Life support and even a bit of RCS for fine control.

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Down safe under robotic control. All that remains now is for Cambald to change vehicle and then go exploring.

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Meanwhile, the new miner also got set down to its intended location on that rather steep hill. To keep it as even keeled as possible, not all landing legs are out and the one engine + fuel tank left on it (detached the other two) is full of fuel to act as ballast. Not quite evenly upright, but close enough. Produces Substrate at a very good rate, and Minerals at a pretty decent rate. Which is good news for Mun Base once those resources get transported over.

---

Funds are down to about 2.2 million. So not even slightly worried. Also, the MSL Feynman is now working on its final experiment before heading back to Kerbin.

Edited by Zylark
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  • 1 month later...

Update:

The entire thing got _very_ unstable, crashing the client, blowing stuff up for no good reason or some serious bug forced a restart of the client every other hour or so. This save abandoned. Though I do have a few shots of the latest little adventure before I decided enough was enough:

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My little Mun Hopper getting close to the anomaly.

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Landing is a breeze with this thing.

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Down safe at the Mun Arch.

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Meanwhile the MSL Feynman had done all the science it could around Minmus - back to Kerbin to deliver the payload.

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The Science Bounty from the Minmus mission of MSL Feynman. Which completed the tech-tree with a sizable chunk of science points left over.

---

And that's it. Never did get to any other planets on this save. Not even with probes eventhough plenty of them got sent off. I got to caught up with building the Mun base and stuff. Not embarking on anything like that again. Gathering resources, sure, but a huge base, nope.

Also RemoteTech was a bit tedious for my taste. I've long since lost count of how many launches I've had to redo because I forgot to deploy an antenna after reaching orbit with an unmanned vessel.

RasterPropMonitor, looks fine and all. Works like a charm - but I never used it.

Of the new keepers are TAC Lifesupport and the Near Future pack of stuff. Also Scansat and Station Science plus DMagic Orbital Science. Universal Storage as well.

Onwards and forwards with new KSP version, new career and hopefully this time getting to other planets.

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