Jacke

Unless your circularization dv (in your terms "RequiredSpeedAtApoapsis - PredictedSpeedAtApoapsis") is small leading to dm (change in the mass of the spacecraft) being small, the BurnTime can't be accurately figured from the linear equation. Use dV = c ln (m0/m1), the Rocket Equation, and change it to determine m1, the spacecraft mass after the burn, with c being the effective exhaust velocity (= Isp g0, specific impulse times standard acceleration due to gravity) and m0 the spacecraft mass before the burn. Or m1 = m0 exp(dv/c) dm = m0 - m1 dm = mrate dt mrate = T / c T is the thrust and dt is the burn time. Solving for dt dt = ( m0 c / T) (1 - exp (- dv / c) Replacing c with Isp and g0 which you have, dt = (m0 Isp g0 / T) (1 - exp ( - dv / (Isp g0))) And that's your burn time, from constants g0 (9.81 m/s/s) and spacecraft initial mass (m0), engine specific impulse (Isp), engine Thrust (T), and the circularization dv. But that's the linear size of the vector dv. You have to do the vector math to get the angle to face down.

Out of likes again! Jeb's not dead!!! He's like Captain Scarlet, only temporarily inconvenienced by death. The reborn Pole2Pole rover looks good. 24 parts, wow. I use my gaming laptop as my workstation. I play on an external KVM and put videos up on the laptop screen.

Oh. My. My first reaction is you need to spin Kerbin backwards and stop Jebediah before he kills himself. As for the vehicle, you've been driving. Is there something fundamentally wrong with the rover that makes it tip over more often? Or is it more driving too fast for the ground? Now, even if it is too fast, the 8-wheeler is likely more stable. But there may be ground that the rover will be a better vehicle for. It's a balance between those. But I think it might tilt towards the larger vehicle. Do you need 2 Kerbals? Also, considering the terrain in so many places, I do think you need a vehicle that can self-recover. I'd suggest going with a winch on each face and the top and figuring out those KAS stakes.

The instantaneous dV is the zeroth approximation. Using the vis-viva equation, get the coast orbit's velocity vector at the circularization altitude. Then vector subtract the circular orbit velocity to get the dV vector (some amount slightly pointed down). You should already have that. The next approximation is to start the dV burn half the burn time before getting to the circularization altitude. Given the dV in the zeroth approx and the effective exhaust velocity (Isp x g/zero), calculate its burn time. Then you have to calculate the time you would normally get to the circularization altitude. To do that to high precision for an elliptical orbit using the formulas for true and mean anomaly is complex but doable. In this case, you want to calculate that time. Given that time and the coast orbit velocity determined before, you can then make the linear approximation of the time and altitude of the burn start. The next step I think would be to dynamically track the burn by tracking the current orbit velocity. Once it becomes circular (no relative vertical velocity component), cut engines.

Thanks! With this, I think there would be Situation Flying Low for all the mini-biomes, because the micro-biomes require contact with the building which should force Situation Surface Landed. That means there would be Flying Low for KSC, Administration, Astronaut Complex, Crawlerway, LaunchPad, Mission Control, R&D, Runway, SPH, Tracking Station, VAB, and the 3 (6 with Making History) remote locales. I'm eventually going to get a helicopter flying to do a survey and I'll confirm all these then. Now I wonder how high they go. Couldn't possibly be Flying High.... The double-command-pod is carefully hidden behind the experiment dialog. That beastie really only works because of KSP's overpowered reaction wheels. They always leave me with a bad feeling.

I'd like to be able to check this out. Do you have any screenshots for a guide?

Cool, dude! It's these "side missions" in such a immersion of reality that make your tales so entertaining. You know, for that demolition, you should have moved the vehicles farther back, set a longer fuse, and moved farther away from the explosive. I know Kerbals are tougher than their crafts, but what would you have done if one of the vehicles had been damaged. And did you clean up the two remaining wheels? Too bad you couldn't haul back in one of the trucks.

Have you gotten science in KSP 1.6.x that says in the R&D archives "Flying Low over KSC...." ? Or does it say "Flying Low over Kerbin's Shores" ? I'm planning to flying a low altitude survey to do a final confirmation, but everything I've done so far, when my craft leaves the ground, just says "Flying Low over Kerbin's Shores". There may have been something different in the past, but every tool I have is saying so far that in 1.6.x, all KSC science is Surface Landed.

I've not used KAS at all so far. So much to do and learn, so little time. I understand what you mean. However, I personally always find that line irritating. It's a case where it's definitely better to show, not tell. But no matter.... I look forward to see what you get up to with more wheels.

Try using Pitch Trim. Using the Mod key, Alt on Windows. Alt-W to trim pitch down, Alt-S to trim pitch up, Alt-X to zero trim. (There's also Yaw and Roll Trim, but they're not as useful.) You can also watch the orange needle on the Pitch gauge on the lower left. Pitch Trim is useful in any flight but especially useful for level flight and setting up glide path approaches. As well, I suggest using the mod Nav Utilities. It's very good at helping with air navigation and glide-path landings. You can also add custom runways.

With the information I gained on my KSC biome recce, I completed my KSP 1.6 Science Checklists and have made them available here. Some of these could be helpful for KSP Cavemen. Corrections and suggestions with documentation are welcome! Note that the only science I've found for KSC are all for Situation Surface Landed. As far as I can tell, on leaving the ground and no longer touching the ground or buildings in KSC, the biome is Shores and the Situation is Flying Low. There's no Situation Surface Splashed, even in the level 3 Administration Complex's pond.

I finished my revision, which recreated new sheets for every stock Kerbol system body in a style similar to what I posted above. I created a post for it here.

Looking to keep track of all those experiments you've got to run all over the Kerbol system? Look no further. Jacke KSP Stock Science Checklists Now updated with Breaking Ground Science Dropbox download Corrections and suggestions are welcome! More sheet examples I've adapted these checklists from the ones @JAFO created for KSP 1.4 and the many previous ones I've seen, especially from the late BTSM community. My checklists are completely greyscale. Darker greys are used for boxes not in use in stock KSP. This allows them to be used when there are mods that change the biomes or which experiments are per-biome, like JoolBiomes and Science Revisited. Changelog 20210224a Updated release: added Breaking Ground Science, rearranged sheet layouts; corrected a few typos 20210219a Updated release: added EVA Science Kit Experiments, Comet Samples, Magnetometer; adjusted layout Old Changelog entries 20190131a Initial release

That could be because in a recent KSP update, Squad moved the output_log.txt file from the KSP directory to a user profile directory. For me on Windows 10, it lives in "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Squad\Kerbal Space Program\output_log.txt". You could also check the guide at the link in my signature.

Well, as someone who was trained real-world in vehicle recovery.... Good that the Kerbals on the ground are getting clear during the pulling phase. In a real recovery of a truck on it side, often a strain balance vehicle is on the other side so the recovered vehicle just doesn't crash down on its suspension. That really isn't needed in KSP in this case. And its underside would be choked in place so it didn't slide. Don't think you can do that with KAS. What you could do is use a 2nd vehicle not as strain relief but to hold on the lower top side so that you get enough torque to right the flipped truck. And now I'm wondering if KAS has stakes or other ways to attach its winch lines to the ground. And that the main recovery truck needs winches all 4 sides (and perhaps top too?) just so it can self-recover. Assuming that can be made to work. As for the landings, I always go with the mod NavUtilities if I can. Add in customer runways matching the ones you've added and you should be golden setting up professional glide-slope landings. Nyuk-nyuk!

@linuxgurugamer, from what I've seen, I think KEI is reporting and returning all KSC Science. However, I keep hearing others mentioning other KSC Science, either biomes or situations. I suspect this is from previous versions of KSP when KSC Science may have been different. I would like to confirm this with you to the extend you can do so from what you know about KEI and KSP Science. My recent recce of the KSP 1.6 KSC area and structure biomes at all facility upgrade levels 1 to 3 match what KEI gives. Some sources like the Wiki appear to not have been properly updated, but my findings agree with KEI. I've not done a low-altitude aerial survey, but I think all the KSC Science is Situation Surface Landed. Even at low altitudes, the Situation is reported as Shores Flying Low when not in contact with the ground or structures. I would have to test experiments to be sure, but I would think the Science returned would also be reported as for Shores Flying Low. So, could KEI be missing some KSC Science with Situation Flying Low?

Thanks! To quickly determine the biomes and science around KSC, I used the mods Tree Toppler and Kerbin Environmental Institute (KEI). In a standard career game at start, with Tree Toppler, I unlocked all the Tech Nodes to get access to all stock experiments. Then I used KEI to get all KSC science. KEI only reported and delivered Surface Landed Situation Science, for Crew Report, EVA Report, Mystery Goo, Materials Study, Temperature Scan, Pressure Scan, Seismic Scan, Gravity Scan, and Atmosphere Analysis. KEI matched EVA Report biomes to what I found while exploring. It could be missing KSC biome Flying Low situations. @linuxgurugamer is the current maintainer for KEI. He may have insight into how KEI works and whether it could be missing Flying Low situations.

Tried that workaround. 1. Created a list of mods installed with "Export installed mods...". 2. Editted the created .ckan and changed "recommends" to "depends". 3. On an unmodded install, using "Install from .ckan...", selected the editted .ckan. And does nothing; assuming it fails silently. EDIT: Figured out that problem. I'd forgotten to set the Compatible KSP versions (1.6, 1.5, 1.4) and add the MechJeb DEV depository. Now, it installs all the mods. And in the process forgets it installed all those mods. Afterwards, detects all installed mods as "AD" (autodetected?) which means it thinks the mods were not installed by CKAN. Refreshed and restarted CKAN client but they still show up as "AD".

While on my KSC Mini and Micro-Biomes recce today, I discovered something of interest to KSP Cavemen. I'd turned my Building Impact Damage Multiplier up to max and by chance discovered that I could smash buildings with my rover. But lo and behold, the micro-biome KSC Tracking Station Dish North, not present anywhere around the Level 1 Tracking Station before the explosion, was now found in the wreckage. Prior to the explosion, Jeb had scrambled all over the single dish present at Level 1. He found many a misaligned surface boundary, but no North Dish micro-biome. But after trashing the dish, it was easy to find. Didn't bother to see if other micro-biomes would show up upon destruction as I didn't really have the time. But thought you all would want to hear about this.

Already out of likes, dude. Bravo on working around the debris-eating pseudo-Kraken! This is disturbing. As far as I know, having debris removed outside of physics range only happens if the debris is flying in the atmosphere. There is a mod to extend physics range. It can cause some issues, but from what you say, it won't help anyway if debris on the ground is being removed. All I can see in the Settings that could cause it are the two settings already discussed. Settings > General > System with "Max Persistent Debris", default 250, and "Tidy up debris cluttering KSC", default on. Could you have been close enough to the Dessert Base or some other Kerbin feature that counts as "KSC" to have had it "tidied up" ?!?

Planned last September, today I did an extended recce of KSC Mini-Biomes (the building areas) and Micro-Biomes (particular buildings) at all facility upgrade levels. Did so for familiarization and information confirmation, assisted by the mods Tree Toppler and Kerbin Environmental Institute. Unless otherwise identified, all pictures and data are from KSP 1.6.1. As such a recce would have taken way too long for Jebediah to walk, whipped up a rover distantly inspired by @Triop's in his latest challenge, Around Kerbin in 80 days. Very distantly inspired. As in what I could put together in under 5 minutes that did the job, albeit with a large number of rollovers and pilot ejections (now I know why rover autopilots have a setting to apply the brakes on pilot ejection ). Triop wisely sunk the command chair inside the rollcage while I settled for the open air and airborne look. I found the TR-2L wheels he used a touch too fast and instead went with the familiar RoverMax Model M1's. The 4 Z-400 batteries were more than sufficient for the short jaunts around KSC and were underslung to keep the CoM down for better handling. Rare cases of battery loss lead to lowering the wheel mountings down for better underside clearance. Topped out just over 33m/s and could brake from that with no risk of flipping. Steering needed a lot slower speed to avoid rolling, but the rover never broke anything in its final form here, including wheel breakage. Unfortunately, it was too heavy for Jeb to flip back onto its wheels. Tooling around KSC also tested out some other settings of mine. Found turning up the Building Impact Damage Multiplier to max lead to an unfortunate...incident. But not a scratch on the rover! Checked out all the KSC facilities at all building levels. Confirmed a report from @dvader, stated here: ...that the R&D Level 1 "Main Building" is a trap! Drive up the "steps" and I'm "Flying" And can just back up to get clear. But try to walk Jeb up those steps and...won't go. Okay, jump onto them. Bad idea. Now Jeb is "Flying", can't move, RCS isn't strong enough to get clear, and since "Flying" can't recover. Fortunately, unlike dvader, I could revert out of the trap. But courageously pushing the frontier, even while laying down, was never easy. Confirmed a few of the oddities of the KSC building Micro-Biomes. The R&D Corner Lab at Level 1: But at level Level 2, it's now part of the now completely safe R&D Main Building. And at Level 3, that particular building is gone and quite a different building is the "Corner Lab". The VAB South Complex does indeed only exist at Level 2. But contrary to reports, the LaunchPad "Platform" doesn't appear to exist at Level 2. I only found it at Level 3, apparently a couple of tanks on the side of the pad. But like all KSC LaunchPad structure Micro-Biomes, they don't provide separate Science returns. They all just identify for Science return as "LaunchPad", same as the pad itself and its surrounding grounds. Similarly, for Mission Control, the Astronaut Complex, and Administration, the buildings may be separate Micro-Biomes from their surrounding grounds Mini-Biomes, but both members of each pair are the same for Science return, with nothing extra for the buildings. Finished up with a quick jaunt to the Monolith. Well, that's a touch larger than before. Here's the much smaller KSC Monolith from KSP 0.23.5. Yes, it was floating above the ground back then. In KSP 0.90, it was the same size as in 0.23.5 but was mostly below the ground. (Also pictured, an old Mun rover under testing by Jebediah. The design was flawed and it never flew.) I imagine if the other Monoliths through the system are now as large as the KSC one, they'll be easier to find. The KSC Monolith hasn't moved and being larger is much easier to find in 1.6.1 than it was in earlier KSP versions. However, I do prefer the more subtlely shaded Squad image from the past as more appropriate that the current emphasis. Back to KSP 1.6.1 and on returning from the Monolith, prior to the end of the recce, Jeb stops at the old Mk1 Pod memorial and reminisces. (The pre-0.16 design could hold 3 Kerbals!)

And if you're using CKAN, add the MechJeb DEV repository: click Settings, then CKAN Settings, then at the top of the Settings window in Metadata Repositories click New, click on MechJeb2-dev line, click Okay, close the Settings window, then use Refresh to add "MechJeb 2 - DEV RELEASE" with its available versions.

I was playing around with CKAN with a small number of mods installed. Saved the set of mods installed (19), cleared out all mods for some settings.cfg adjustment, then reinstalled from the .ckan created. It only reinstalled 8 of the 19 mods. Here's the .ckan originally backed up. And here's the .ckan of the mod state after reinstalling with that .ckan. I confirmed manually the 8 mods mentioned here are listed as reinstalled.

Will this work with KSP 1.3.1--or at least not do anything wrong? (I'll get around to testing it eventually.)

Strange. Yup, it was a YouTube link, this one. Don't know why it went bye-bye for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tLf1JO5bvE In other news, I was just going through a number of KSP settings and saw this one (Settings > General > System) "Tidy up debris cluttering KSC (X)" (defaults ON) It may have been added to clear launch clamps immediately instead of waiting until the next launch on the pad. But for you, it may have ate your drop tank. It's been in the game at least since KSP 1.3. Myself, I'm going to turn this off for now.