Angelo Kerman

Snacks 1.27.5 is now available: - Sandcastle compatibility update

Blueshift 1.7.4 is now available: - Fixed interaction issue between Blueshift and Kerbal Flying Saucers.

What other mods are you using? I have no issues with loading graviolium in the VAB/SPH.

Hm, maybe a combination ground anchor and docking port?

Yup! I have two parts planned: a Power Support Unit and a Resource Support Unit, with different variants available. They're roughly the height of two chassis units- though that might change if it looks nicer to use the body parts as bases while in Station mode instead of in Rover mode. Or there will be variants to support both modes... I also have a Stilt Lift Unit planned that connects to the PSU/RSU that'll raise up the assembly so that you can roll a chassis-based automated rover underneath. Anyway, today, I started the design work on the B2 Airlock Module. It seats a single kerbal, it holds a bit of storage, and with Wild Blue Tools installed, it has a single Omni Converter. This is very much a work in progress, but here's a preview: I also realized that the small walkway would make a nice "back porch" for other modules, so I made a separate part for that (also WIP): Finally, I have the start of a tailgate concept whose variants will work with the airlock/back porch/exploration module/cargo bays/etc and provides a ramp into the back:

That saucer was fun to make- and a challenge. I had to find a bunch of images of the easter egg, and then make a part that looked as close as possible. Nice to see it being used.

My plan is to make the new one a kerbalized version of the real MMSEV.

A couple of extra screenshots showing some differences between the old Buffalo and Buffalo 2: Aside from the obvious texture improvements since Buffalo was done in 2015, here you can see that the length of a module is just about the same, with Buffalo 1 being slightly shorter. And here's a top view showing the difference in width. B2 is slightly wider, but not by much. And even with the docking ports, it'll still fit in a Mk3 cargo bay.

Thank you for the suggestion. Ideally for me, I finish Buffalo 2 by the summer so that I can take an extended break from modding- at least until KSP 2 arrives. At the present time, I have a set list of parts that I'd like to make for Buffalo 2, and once done, I can look at extras. To that end, today's update has a couple of parts that are nearly done: rooftop solar panels. There is one for full-length parts and one for half-length parts. Here's the full-length: The OX-STAT-B2L has the same mass as the stock OX-STAT-XL panel and the same charge rate, but it is slightly longer and narrower than the stock panel- mostly to avoid covering up the rooftop windows. The OX-STAT-B2S has half the mass, cost, and charge rate. And bonus images showing where I'm headed next:

Yup, that negative mass issue is the same one that I'm encountering and working on a fix for. Until then, feed them into your warp engines. For EL, I encountered the null reference with the disposable construction pad (which also needs a fix, sigh). The problem is that 3D printing it is for some reason creating the null reference, but launching one from KSC works just fine.

Clearly Dres is top secret, like Area 51...

Thanks for the kind words. I created Sandcastle after I saw OSE Workshop not getting updated for stock EVA Construction for some time (I think it does now support EVA Construction) and to have the possibility of requiring other parts and special conditions as components to the construction. Sandcastle is also built around Extraplanetary Launchpads- specifically, its plugin- to handle the heavy lifting of creating whole vessels. This isn't a simple thing to do, and @taniwha has done an outstanding job of maintaining and improving the EL code. Heck, Pathfinder has had EL support for years, and I used it last night in my own save: That big shield was built via Sandcastle's Konstruction Manipulator (which needs an update to fix a misaligned spawn transform) and EL's plugin. That's a long-winded way of saying that I don't see replacing Extraplanetary Launchpads in the future. It works very wellIf anything, I'd setup my Visual Studio to compile EL so that if I run into a bug, I can help fix it. In the meantime, I'm still sorting through the issues with Sandcastle printing parts with Pathfinder. It's definitely an integration issue in both mods; both Sandcastle and Pathfinder will need an update- Wild Blue Tools too, and Snacks, if you use Snacks.

Chapter 26 “According to the KSP press release,” Sara continued, “Drax Aerospace detached their Axis Commercial Orbital Segment from Starlab and used it to form the basis of their hotel. We know that one set of tourists went to Axis in Chapter 19 from the press that Drax put out some time ago, but we hadn’t heard anything since. That leads me to believe that Axis was a commercial flop. If that’s the case, then it would make sense for them to detach the module and repurpose it. As for the rest, Drax clearly licensed the Nautilus centrifuge for his hotel- and already had experience launching one on their Jool Heavy. That power module looks new though, and it was light enough to go up on their Moho.” “They put up their hotel in, what- five launches? It took us ten,” Lyta Kerman, the company’s Vice President, sitting to Sara's left, said . “It pays to have heavy lift.” “And now we have Sandcastle,” Frolie pointed out. He was rather proud of his project. “Lyta, how badly will the Drax Space Hotel cut into our profits,” Sara asked. Lyta already had her notes ready. “It’s not good. They’re undercutting us- er, the Homestead Hotel Group- by 20 percent, and since consumers like things that are shiny and new, our bookings have sharply declined. I expect that trend to continue through next quarter until the newness dies down. In the near term, we can match their price by offering discounts and we can step up our marketing campaign to increase awareness. But I also expect our profit margins to fluctuate based on whatever current price war is going on at the time. “On the plus side, we’re getting more requests to visit the magic boulder- five wealthy tourists, in fact- so I suggest we shift some of our bandwidth over to do that. Since we own it, Drax won’t be able to send their tourists to visit it- unless we want to charge a fee.” “Not going to happen,” Scott blurted out, forgetting for a moment that Sara handled the business side of the company. “Scott’s right,” Sara confirmed. “If Drax wants to send tourists to an asteroid, they’ll have to get one of their own. Do we have any other fly-by requests? We need to capture that market before Drax does…” “Actually, yes,” Lyta answered. “Meldorf Kerman, whom we booked to visit Unity Station in Chapter 11, got excited about our mϋnar fly-by, and referred us to his friends. Now we have a group of three who want to go to Minmus. Apparently, they spoke to their friends, and we have another group of three who want to land on Minmus- and they asked us not to tell the first group of three…” “Frolie, can Finch handle a trip to Minmus?” “The life support systems can handle the duration of the flight, and the entertainment centers will keep everyone busy,” Frolie responded, “but the problem is delta-v…” “We have to fix our propellant shortfall,” Scott interrupted and said angrily. “The new trajectory we used just didn’t cut it, and Mϋnar Depot was out of range. Finch needs enough propellant to get to the Mϋn and back to Homestead Outpost. What do we need to do to make that happen?” “It comes down to adding more tankage,” Frolie answered calmly. “We need more space to store propellant. Finch is modular, so we can add another core tank…” “So that’s, what, another five flights to build out another tank cluster,” Scott interrupted and asked. “No,” Frolie responded, “we just need another core tank. We only need enough for the transfer burn back to Homestead Outpost. But I have a better idea, one that’ll both increase our tankage and help us conserve delta-v on the way back.” Frolie outlined his plan. Scott smiled. “I like that idea,” he said. Sara gave the go-ahead to book the tourists. * ODERP 1 lifted off KSC’s Pad A on Jool 28, 2001, with little fanfare. Between the two KOTS providers, Drax Aerospace’s Moho offered the cheapest price for the cost-conscious mission, so crowds were treated to the roar of a single Space Launch System solid rocket booster- the same type used on the Jool Heavy and Shuttle Block 2. The launch went smoothly, with the SRB first stage and CE-2X Ulysses- powered second stage dropping off right on time. The kick stage sported a KJ-10 Viking- used on Shuttle and various Payload Assist Modules- in place of the venerable LV-909 Terrier motor. The switch gave Moho’s third stage a bit more delta-v. All subsequent Moho launch vehicles were slated to use the Viking as well. ODERP 1 attained a 97.6 km by 186.3 km orbit. After its systems integrity check passed, the spacecraft deployed DerpStar 1, which promptly deployed its solar arrays and plotted an intercept course with its target. It tested its hall-effect thruster by performing an alignment burn. Satisfied with the results, Mission Control gave the go-ahead to rendezvous with its target. Two burns later, DerpStar 1 parked next to its quarry. Back in the Mϋnshot days, Mariner- the original one- made her first and only flight. Jeb piloted the K-20 up to 1,000 km altitude before deploying Comm Sat 1, the world’s first telecommunications satellite. Unfortunately, Mariner broke up upon reentry when it suffered excessive g-forces, but luckily, Jeb bailed out and parachuted to safety. Long-since obsoleted by the MIDAS array and defunct for years, Comm Sat 1 was little more than space junk. DerpStar 1 took several images of the old satellite before successfully capturing it just before orbital sunset. After looping back around to the dayside of Kerbin, DerpStar 1 initiated its deorbit burn, and then immediately released Comm Sat 1. While the probe was supposed to re-circularize its orbit a minute after releasing the space junk, a navigational error set the maneuver node at periapsis instead. DerpStar 1 plunged into the atmosphere and burned up upon reentry. Such is the life of a test program… DerpStar 2 deployed soon after, and targeted Comm Sat 2, delivered by Pathfinder. A couple of hours later, DerpStar 2 rendezvoused with… well… not Comm Sat 2. Instead, it latched onto a spent Arrow 4 upper stage that sent a Mϋn-bound Automated Transfer Vehicle on its journey. Its age suggested that it probably supported the Mϋnshot program. Though designed and built by the Ministry of Space, those vehicles were purchased by KSP. So, when the upper stage reached its 4,603.8 km apoapsis, DerpStar 2 deorbited it. A few minutes later, DerpStar 2 circularized its orbit before searching for its next target… The satellite made a large plane-change maneuver (over 1,000 m/sec!) to reach Comm Sat 2 and then rendezvoused with it 4 hours later- for real this time. Nearly out of hexagen, DerpStar 2 made its last engine burn to deorbit both spacecraft. Its supply of hexagen ran out, so it completed deorbiting by running its RCS propellant dry. Mission Control logged its mission as a success; despite rendezvousing with the wrong target at first, DerpStar 2 managed to demonstrate the ability to deorbit two pieces of space trash, each in widely different orbits. DerpStar 3 Couldn’t reach CommSat 3 in its polar orbit, so it went after another relic from the Mϋnshot days: Mϋnshot 1. The probe was the first spacecraft to take scientific readings from mϋnar space and return them to Kerbin orbit. A Block 2 K-20 named Ranger brought Jeb and Bob into orbit on its maiden flight in (To the Mϋn, Chapter 14) where a hastily modified Docking Target gave the spacecraft enough delta-v to reach Mϋnshot 1 and retrieve the science. The probe remained a derelict ever since, but DerpStar 3 easily deorbited it. Next, the satellite rendezvoused with the Kerbal Maneuvering Unit that failed on SLS-1, the first Shuttle flight. It too proved no match for DerpStar 3. Finally, the spacecraft met up with Pulsar 3, one of the second-generation telecommunications satellites that was launched via D1B. Back then, it barely had enough communications range to reach the Mϋn. The DerpStar burned its remaining hexagen to deorbit itself and the Pulsar. The last DerpStar, that someone nicknamed “Galactica,” took on a big challenge- literally. Galactica met up with Mϋnraker’s external tank and powered up its deprbit kit long enough for it to deorbit. In gratitude, the deorbit kit torched two of Galactica’s solar panels. A day later, Galactica went after a piece of trash discarded by SLS-5: the external tank from Space Shuttle Mariner’s fifth flight. Mission Control decided to gamble and see how much lower Galactica could push the enormous tank. It pushed it far enough into the atmosphere for drag to do the rest. As its electric charge dwindled, Galactica let go of the tank and scurried back to orbit, leaving the tank to its fate. Galactica found a third ET whose battery ran out before it could deorbit. Fortunately, its apoapsis was on the dayside; all it had to do was recharge the deorbit kit’s batteries using its induction coils and send it on its way. In retrospect, that’s what DerpStar 4 should’ve done with the Mϋnraker tank. A day later, the satellite found a fourth tank to deorbit. Researchers couldn’t pinpoint which mission it originated from, but they thought it might’ve been flown by Space Shuttle Opportunity. The tank ran out of monopropellant, so Galactica had to push it into the atmosphere. DerpStar 4 latched onto its fifth and final target, an external tank that Space Shuttle Mariner launched into orbit sometime during its early career, on Tizoc 4, 2001. The tank’s deorbit kit was an early design that lacked sufficient monopropellant to deorbit. Low on hexagen propellant, Galactica lowered the tank’s orbit as much as it could before exhausting its propellant. When it switched to its monopropellant reserves, the tanks’ engines lit up and melted Galactica’s grabbing unit. It spun off into space and became space debris. Despite the mishaps, the DerpStars successfully demonstrated the use of hall-effect thruster technology, and KSP was quite pleased with the results. But they had one more trick up their sleeve: the DerpStar Deployment Platform (DDP) itself. First, ODERP 1 rendezvoused with the external tank and completed its deorbiting maneuver. Next, it rescued DerpStar 4- if “rescue” meant capturing and deorbiting it. A day later, ODERP 1 rendezvoused with the remains of the D1B Mϋn Tanker that supported Project Mϋnshot. Back in To the Mϋn Chapter 28 the days when space communications and navigation systems were new, Mission Control lost connection with the Docking Target vehicle that was sent to refuel the tanker. It collided with the D1B and sent fragments everywhere. Since the remains still had usable monopropellant, the spacecraft used it to deorbit the wreckage. Finally, the DDP grabbed a piece of space junk left over from launching the MIDAS satellite constellation. Running on fumes, the satellite deorbited itself along with the debris. The ODERP 1 technology demonstration mission proved the concept of orbital debris removal beyond a shadow of doubt. With four DerpStar satellites, they managed to deorbit 10 pieces of space junk, and the DDP/launch bus itself removed another 4 pieces. KSP management was thrilled with the results and congratulated the entire team. After the celebrations died down, Gene began negotiating with the Ministry of Space and the vonKerman Space Agency in hopes of obtaining permission to deorbit their space junk as well. * While ODERP 1 conducted its technology demonstrations, the Ministry of Space did some testing of its own: a pad abort test of their new Galileo-class Arrow Space Plane. It worked perfectly, so the MoS decided to conduct an orbital flight test on Tizoc 10, 2001. Designed to transport up to 6 kerbals to Starlab and back, Galileo was a delta-winged space plane that launched atop an Arrow 4 launch vehicle. Galileo could seat up to 6 kerbals but it could fly fully automated. Built by the Arrow Space Corporation, the ASP combined new technology with old. It had a service module derived from an older version of the Arrow Transfer Vehicle’s service module which had a clamp-o-tron junior port that was originally designed for the K-20 back in the Mϋnshot era. Four 48-78 Spark motors surrounded the port, and a tunnel in the module enabled kerbals to transfer from a space station or other craft into the ASP. Galileo also had a newer clamp-o-tron compatible port in its fuselage to support the international standard pioneered by the vonKermans on their Drakken spacecraft and used by KSP since the Shuttle Launch System first debuted. About an hour after launch, Galileo docked with Starlab on the MoS side of the station via its aft port. After verifying the atmospheric integrity of the spacecraft, Starlab’s crew took a tour of Galileo- and graciously accepted the stash of snacks that the launch crew packed away. A day later, the ASP departed Starlab and headed back to KSC. The space plane performed beautifully, gliding all the way back to the space center and landing without the aid of its jets. The Ministry of Space congratulated its team of engineers for their successful test flight. At last, the mcKerman Kingdom’s space program had a reusable winged spacecraft of its own. * The successful test of the Arrow Space Plane spelled the end of MoS’ use of the Arrow Crew Vehicle that first flew towards the end of the Shuttle Launch System program. The original design only seated three kerbals, but a later extension added room for a fourth. Though newly obsolete, the design still served a useful purpose. Since Phoenix Aerospace bought the rights and tooling to the K-24 Kerbal Return Vehicle, Orbital Dynamics couldn’t use it for what they had in mind. Instead, they contracted with the Arrow Space Corporation to build them a modified ACV that had a shortened service module with fixed solar panels and no high-gain relay antenna. Officially named the Arrow Crew Return Vehicle, Orbital Dynamics nicknamed it the Warthog due to its appearance. On Tizoc 11, 2001, Resolute made her second flight with the Warthog in her payload bay. Mk33-04 docked with Homestead Outpost on Tizoc 12. Not long after, Mitson and Steve entered the Sandcastle module to check on its progress. As hoped, it produced enough rocket parts for the station’s expansion. Meanwhile Jesong took remote control of the ACRV and deployed it. A short flight later, the Warthog latched onto one of the docking pier’s smaller ports. Then, after a day in orbit, Jofrey took up residence in the station’s Homestead module, leaving Shersey and Jeslong to pilot Resolute back home without their flight engineer. “The company needs to hire more engineers,” Shersey quipped. * ODERP 2 lifted off a few days later, carring another set of DerpStar satellites into orbit. The four DerpStar sats combined deorbited a total of 10 pieces of space junk including Pulsar 1, Pulsar 2, several Arrow 4 upper stages, a leftover Arrow 4 Tanker, and DemoSat 1 (launched into orbit on Skyranger’s first orbital flight). Not long after, the vonKerman Space Agency launched a Fleigenross with a special payload called the Anti-Umlaufbahn (Anti-orbit)- their own version of the DerpStar. Unlike the Kerman States’ version, the Anti-Umlaufbahn was powered by a xenon-fueled ion engine. Moreover, its RCS thrusters used xenon as well. Exactly how did the vonKermans get ahold of such new technology when there was no sharing agreement for it? They won’t say… The vonKermans politely declined KSP’s offer to deorbit their space junk and quickly created their own version of DerpStar. A day after attaining orbit, one of the “anti-orbit” satellites latched onto an old Fleigenross upper stage and deorbited it- but not without considerable effort. As it turned out, the IX-8219 After ion thruster needed a lot more electricity than anticipated, which resulted in frequent flameouts. So, while the satellite had a large reserve of xenon gas, Kontrol elected to deorbit each satellite along with the trash. At least the ion RCS thrusters proved effective… ODERP 3 took care of four more satellites, and the Ministry of Space deorbited nearly all of their outdated ArrowStar communications satellites before the vonKermans redesigned their Anti-Orbit satellite and launched another batch into orbit. This time, they equipped the satellite with a large fuel cell and a tank of liquid fuel and oxidizer to power it. That worked well; Kontrol managed to deorbit several of their spent stages and transfer vehicles. By the time that all three major space agencies cleaned up their trash, the media dubbed it the Space Trash Race. KSP won the race with the most garbage deorbited. But ultimately, their efforts cleaned up Low Kerbin Orbit and greatly reduced the chance for collisions from debris. * Not long after, KSC launched two spacecraft to Starlab. First, Mϋnraker 1 delivered a large supply of snacks and fresh air to the orbiting laboratory and then immediately returned to the space center and making a night landing. Then, the next day, Phoenix Aerospace debuted their new Firebird-C, an unkermanned cargo variant of their Firebird space plane. Firebird-C dropped off a small supply of snacks along with several repair kits and a pair of fresh EVA jetpacks. It too didn’t stay long; it undocked and deorbited as soon as the station crew unloaded it. Unlike the commercial space shuttle, Firebird-C undershot its approach to KSC and ended up in the water about 35km away. Unfortunately, the space cargo plane flipped over when it splashed down, which meant that the venerable K-21 Sea Goat couldn’t recover it. Luckily, KSC had been experimenting with the KH-1 Louie. They modified it to include a new 5-bladed main rotor, pontoons, pontoon-mounted jet engines, and an underslung winch. Phoenix Aerospace’s recovery crew borrowed the chopper and flew out to the Firebird-C, where a diver hopped out and hooked up the cable. The KH-1S Sea Louie had no trouble taking off from the water and flying back to KSC with the space cargo plane in tow. * A Few days later, Resolute launched into orbit carrying another load of rocket parts. When they arrived at Homestead Outpost, the crew was treated to a major upgrade: the station sported a large construction frame! Thanks to the Sandcastle modules, the station’s crew were able to print and assemble the frame- too large to be brought up by a Mk33. No longer called Homestead Outpost, the station was renamed the Orbital Dynamics Shipyard. After transferring a fresh load of rocket parts into the shipyard’s new holding tanks, the station crew got to work deploying the yard’s construction manipulator and locked it into place. Then they undocked the Arrow 5 Upper Stage that Orbital Dynamics purchased as an interim propulsion unit for the Finch. No longer needed, the crew guided the craft into the yard where they used manipulator to turn the vehicle into scrap metal. Next, they pulled the parts container from Resolute’s payload bay and fed it to the shipyard as well. Finally, the station crew used the Payload Maneuvering Vehicle to move Finch’s cryogenic engine module to an available docking port in preparation for the shipyard’s next project. Then, they waited… At the Darude Launch Complex in the vonKerman Republic, Kallisto 2 lifted off from the desert floor carrying six kerbonauts into orbit. Six hours later, the vonKerman space plane docked with the Orbital Dynamics Shipyard, where the two crews exchanged greetings and shared a meal together. After Shersey and his crew said their goodbyes, Resolute departed the shipyard and returned to Welcome Back Island as Jofrey and the combined Orbital Dynamics/vonKerman station crew settled into work. Orbital Dynamics looked forward to learning from the undisputed masters of orbital assembly and repair, while the vonKermans were excited to revitalize their ailing space program...

I'm slowly getting things sorted out. Here you can see that the Pathfinder parts now have stock inventory storage, something they've been lacking for awhile now. Additionally, when Sandcastle is installed, there will be a Sandcastle template for the Casa, and a Sand Works template for the Hacienda. All these parts were 3D printed. There are some caveats though. There appears to be an issue where the expanding mesh animations disable the part's attachment nodes, and this happens even with the stock animation module. Also, as mentioned, the mod was setup for KIS since stock EVA Construction didn't exist until recently (again, the mod was made in 2015). You can get around the problem by radially attaching the parts as seen in the above pic. As long as you keep that in mind, Pathfinder is soon to be usable with Sandcastle and stock EVA Construction.

Space anomalies aren't required to remain in a specific location. Technically, they're just single-part vessels that are spawned into the game. As such, you can move them around if desired- that's something that I expected players to do, in fact. For instance, you might find an alien jumpgate way out in Eeloo's orbit and decide to haul it into Kerbin orbit for convenience. Or you might collect the tetrahedrons and make a theme park out of them. Or you might take that intact flying saucer that's based on the statics in the game and fly around with it. It's all up to what you want to do with them- when in doubt, try out your idea and see what happens.

@nothingSpecial Thanks for the suggestion I'll take a look, thanks Right now I just have the rover cockpit and submarine cockpit planned, but I could look at an inline command module similar to DSEV's Danube Delta.

Snacks 1.27.4 is now available. - Minor Sandcastle compatibility fix.

Not yet, no.

It's been awhile since I last checked, but I think I already added stock inventory storage capability to all the parts. Sandcastle should be able to print them, but I'm noticing that the flat-packed parts and boxed parts are reporting a negative mass: Once I get that sorted, Sandcastle will be able to print the parts. I also did a quick test with stock EVA Construction by surface attaching the Casa to the ship and having Bill go out and node-attach it: It looks like you'll be able to attach the parts and assemble them once I get the mass issue fixed. Pathfinder was built back in 2015, well before Sandcastle and EVA Construction, so there might be additional problems to solve. Barring an insurmountable problem, I should have a fix in the next few days. And to lug around the parts, I highly recommend KHSK:

Pathfinder was originally built around KIS, KAS, and OSE Workshop. There is some support for stock EVA Construction as well, but the mod would need a redesign to fully support it (attachment nodes and such need to be redone). Pathfinder doesn't come with 3D printing; Sandcastle can print Pathfinder parts with some success but there are issues.

Ah ok. Apparently that patch didn't work. Somebody reported that the wheels were still too slippery.

Today's update brings two new parts to the Buffalo 2 mod: the B2 Docking Module (Short), and the B2 Rover Port. The B2 Docking Module (Short) is a half-sized module that has two side mounting points for the B2 Rover Port. The Rover Port is slimmed down to fit the side mounting points but it is compatible with the stock Clamp-O-Tron docking port standard. The B2 Docking Module has a bit of storage available, and if you have Wild Blue Tools installed, then it has omni storage as well as a single omni converter. Here's a preview: (I fixed the clearance between the two vehicles after this image was taken.)

What patch is that?

Last of the "generic" modules is the B2 Workshop Module. This double-length module provides space for a Sandcastle 3D printer (if you have Sandcastle installed), a place to make Rocket Parts (if you have Extraplanetary Launchpads installed), and 4 omni converters (if you have Wild Blue Tools installed). Here's a preview: At this point, things will slow down a bit as I make the unique parts like the docking node, aft airlock, and of course the Buffalo command pod. I'm aiming for a pre-release alpha in about a month or so depending upon how quickly I can make things and how bad work gets.