Brainlord Mesomorph

Weren't early tests of the SLS black and white like Saturn? What year was that cartoon made? edit yes it was: cartoon was made in 1994, the shuttle was still flying, not sure why they made that up.

SmithMicro has recently renamed their 2d animation product (previously "Anime Studio") Moho. really. /our Moho came first.

did that really need the sound?

Usually in this game I feel like the Director of NASA, deciding what flights I can afford and which mission to scrub. Other times I feel like the CEO of an aerospace company trying to design vehicles to accomplish missions. Lately (in this thread) feel like the CEO of an aerospace company whose competition has succeeded where we have failed. I have tidbits of press releases, corporate espionage, some footage of a successful test of a model,and a mass number (w/ a typo). And then we're in the VAB trying to guess what arrangement of parts adds up to that. ("we", me and the other Kerbals) "he mentions the Mk3 cockpit, does that mean they're using the MK3 fuselage?" yeah, I hate that cockpit

I'll clip anything that I believe to be empty (or combinable) space. 99% of a nosecone or a wing, all of a girder segment or structural tube, the very edges of a fueltank. 20 % of a crewcabin, none of an engine etc.

That's room for the rover!

More reading: it seems that IRL we usually launch from The Cape to the North East, and end up in that 45 degree orbit you see on Mission Control screens Apparently IRL there are other things to think about than just planetary rotation: ocean shipping lanes, air traffic, inhabited islands, nearby cities. Our launches from Edwards AFB go due south, (who knew?)

AFAIK most of those contracts only require that you maintain that orbit for 10 SECONDS. I had a rescue contract "In Kerbin Orbit" and within one orbit the Mun comes by and flings the poor guy interplanetary. I actually got a ship to him in solar orbit! (a year later) he still not back yet.

I think its just 2d thinking on squad's part, I rotate all my rockets! - or at least the CM (select the root part and hit Q once) note you might want to rotate it back before editing EDIT: maybe NASA does it that way? The space shuttle use to do 90 degree roll after launch and before the gravity turn- so UP was east

indeed. I'd love to see a pic of what you have so I could think about that mothership

Back in Oct 2014, while I was first working on interplanetary trajectories, and I WROTE A TUTORIAL that was COMPLETELY WRONG. b/c I was looking at still pictures of orbits and not animations, I was thinking that a minimum dV burn was going to be along the straitest part of the ellipse. (about 90 degrees after Pe) which is 90 degrees too late. my first test worked, but after missions to Moho and Eve took TWICE the dV they were suppose to did I realize my mistake, and then I wrote the CORRECT tutorial in my sig.

more than certainly. I have been waiting for the appropriate time to use the following compliment on this forum (I believe it should be our highest commendation): You, sir, are a steely eyed missile-man.

I don't often ask for help, guys. And I think he's having plenty of fun!

aren't we working on this?? half up this thread I proposed a mission plan that any lander w/ this dV and TWR would easily make Kerbin SSTO dock w/ a hypothetical sistership, goto Minmus refuel, Minmus to Gilly, refuel, then carry the fully fueled lander to low Eve orbit and be there to tow it back to Gilly. And from there Kerbin, Eve, anywhere else (that was the idea of the OP) I given up on the idea of ISRU on the lander. You don't know even if you'll land on ore. On Gilly you have time to figure that out.

I don't think its needed. The mission plan doesn't require it. Its going to need help getting to and from low Eve Orbit anyway. The Hercules just needs The Athena! edit: oh, just noticed your title (SSTO Maniac) LOL edit 2: Ok you put ISRU on that, then I can remove it and use that for extra payload when I borrow the design.

can't wait to steal see it

The MK1 inline has a higher max temp. Could it be mounted radially on the bottom (Millenium Falcon style?) you could offset the weight and drag w/ a fuel tank on the other side? Also how about Disposable Replaceable Heat Shields? with that shielded docking port on the nose, you could mount an Inflatable heat shield on a docking port and dock them in orbit, enter Eve atmosphere, and then toss the thing right before parachute deployment. The sistership could carry 3 or 4 spares.

If your topping out TWR and dV at same time and accomplishing the NEARLY unaccomplishable then that's ultimate in my book. / in the OP I was asking "what's possible" //do any of us really ever know exactly what were after? /// slashies for Slashy I still think you'll need a sistership/tug to get that beast to LEO and from LEO back to Gilly. And you put big ISRU on that. Also suggestions for names: Since this would be the most powerful lander in KSP I would call it the Hercules Lander, and the sistership is obviously The Athena (who helped Hercules on is labors, she was also the Goddess of manufacturing, i.e. ISRU)

LOL I NEVER SAID SEA LEVEL! someone did in the thread (I think it was you) but that was the easiest mission parameterto through out the window. I'm still negotiable on "Orbit" as long as we get to suborbital rendezvous I think we've done it.

That's what I was thinking, but you guys seemed so sure of the opposite. The tough part is going to be reliably landing that thing upright. good work!

I just hate the way the Mk3 pod LOOKS. Everything you put it on immediately looks like a Space Shuttle or a 747. I find a lot of design flexibility w/ the Mk 1 Inline. I really wish there was a Mk3 Inline (it would look like the Mk3 crew pod w/ more windows and a door AFAIK: The Mk1 can is supposed to be the LEM. Very light and very fragile. The Mk2 can (i believe) was stolen from this heavy lander design for the Orion Nuclear Pulse ship. The lander in the lower right. That one was to be made of steel and MUCH heavier.

I would disagree. Docking (or undocking) w/ another reusable module in orbit is not the same as dropping a stage and letting it burn up. and I HAVE learned things in this thread, like the answer to the question " can you build an SSTO, ISRU Eve lander w/ stock parts?" and that is clearly no. /but we might get close...

nonsense! I play a stock game. the tug needs to be very manueverable and a decent TWR but It's quite doable. I did it the first time I tried it at about 65 km on Kerbin (boy was that exciting!) But that was a really really good tug.

What I was saying in the OP was assuming this mission: 1. Having ISRU perhaps (actually now i know - required to be) on a sistership/tug 2. Kerbin SSTO -> Dock w/ tug go to Minmus, refuel 3. Minmus to Gilly - refuel 4. tug takes lander to LEO - lander lands - 5 Eve SSTO (actually now i know - to SUBORBIT) dock w/ tug, tug makes orbit 6. back to Gilly - refuel and given the 8k dV that's required for Eve SSTO that also enough for any other LEG of that journey. Or for ANY leg of ANY SIMILAR trips to ANY of the planets. That's what I meant by winning KSP. Those ships could do a JOOL-5 or indeed the KERBOL-17

I'd love to see the nuke on that chart