GoSlash27

Speaking as a guy who has as much experience with ion gliders as anyone else on this forum... it's not worth your time. Stock physics and parts can't get a manned ion glider into orbit without staging, infiniglide, or some combination thereof. And xenon is prohibitively expensive, so even an SSTO is going to be much more expensive per launch than a comparable kerosene jet/ rocket. Best, -Slashy

Yeah, I hear ya. My 1 man k-drive infiniglider can takeoff from KSC, make a round trip to Eve surface and back in a week, and land back on the runway at KSC for free. More realistically, I have a 15 ton SSTO freight lifter that orbits payload at $72 a ton but I never put kerbals on it. I also have a 6 kerbal SSTO shuttle that operates very cheaply. I'll crunch the numbers and update this post with a figure a little later. *EDIT* It goes through 2.2t of fuel, 1.1t of O2, and 10L of monopropellant on an average mission. That works out to $436, or $73 a head. Best, -Slashy

Clarification: Without glitch exploiting. There are several successful Eve SSTOs out there that exploit kraken drives, ladder lift, infiniglide, or some combination thereof. But SSTO without cheating is beyond the capability of stock parts in a stock installation. Best, -Slashy

Here's a good one: 1:19 at squib firing The Antares uses squibs to release the launch clamps and they're on the base, not the side. A squib is like a shotgun shell; tiny puff of black smoke. That wasn't a clamp. Best, -Slashy

Catastrophic burnthrough of the turbopump. Book it. -Slashy

Fingal, Watch it in real time. The ignition happens at 7 seconds in. You'll see what I mean. Best, -Slashy

Negatory. The ship hadn't been released yet. This was right at ignition. Best, -Slashy

That's the moment and point of failure. Right at ignition, there's a bang where there shouldn't be. Then the craft proceeds for a few seconds until a bigger explosion and zero thrust sends it back to the pad. My money's on a turbopump burnthrough. This design runs extremely lean and routes it's exhaust directly into the chamber instead of over the side. It's very efficient, but also risky because things like this can happen. Best, -Slashy

Good to hear. Who's picking up the slack? The Russians? -Slashy

That big-ass flash on the side immediately after ignition. That's the blowout. That's what killed her.

Sorry, but I am. It's a personality quirk, perhaps a survival mechanism: laugh in the face of adversity. -Slashy

I'll start the ball rolling on the uninformed speculation The NK-33 engine suffered a catastrophic failure due to burn- through either in the turbopump or the combustion chamber. If I'm right, Please call me "Miss Cleo". -Slashy

Wow! Real spaceflight really *is* like KSP! -Slashy

Android vs. Windows is like VHS vs Betamax. Windows may be "better", but it's a dead technology. Best, -Slashy

Are you averse to glitch exploiting to rescue them? If not, you can have them home in a week using a kraken drive infiniglider. Otherwise, you're looking at a multi-stage launch vehicle with rovers and all the headaches that go with that. Best, -Slashy

Honestly, this is probably just a misunderstanding. Text doesn't convey emotion and it's really easy to confuse the intent behind the words. When dealing with people who play KSP, I default to "he / she didn't mean anything by it" because this game attracts a certain personality type who strive to be very precise in what they're saying. That precision can come off as condescending, but it's almost never intended to be that way. Best, -Slashy

As I'm sure you can tell, I'm very happy with my Tylo rovers! (edit) In my haste, I didn't check to see if my new challenge had already been done. New challenge: Take a selfie with the old Mk.1 capsule on the island to the east. -Slashy

*Ninja'd!* -Slashy

Are you talking just wing surfaces, or the entire craft? -Slashy

SSTO from Eve all- stock complete with docking port and rendezvous equipment? Sheesh, I thought you were gonna ask for something difficult! http://s52.photobucket.com/user/GoSlash27/slideshow/KSP/krakelicious/Eve%20mission hehe -Slashy

That'd be the latter, and thanks. Your K drive will attempt to decelerate instantaneously from 750 M/sec to 1 M/sec. The g forces involved easily exceed the strength of the parts, and rapid unplanned disassembly results. Best, -Slashy

Not much, sadly. The ground is red, so it's not near a pole. That's something. But terrain on Duna higher than 3KM isn't exactly rare. My money's on "hoax". Best, -Slashy

Wikisend seems to be down at the moment, but I'll share some of my most useful creations and provide craft files once they become available. Mainway Aerospace (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mainway Enterprises) proudly present our most usefully game-breaking products! #4: The 2014 Mainway Butterfly Deliver a crew of up to 6 in comfort and style! This little SSTO can shuttle between LKO and the KSC safely and reliably for nothing more than the cost of gas! Includes solar panels, RCS system, and docking port to make orbital rendezvous a breeze! Price: √30,678 Butterfly1.craft #3: The Mainway Utility Launch System (aka "the Forklift") Establishing Kerbal settlements in Space and beyond requires a lot of lifting, assembly in orbit, and (until now) money. Wouldn't it be nice if you could lift 15 tons of whatever you like into orbit, rendezvous and assemble it in place, then return your entire launcher to KSC for reuse? Wouldn't it be even better if the launch only cost a thousand kredits and the vehicle itself was actually affordable? This job needs a forklift! The little cluster at the bottom is the ULS. All of the rest of it is pure payload, baby! Price: √66,898 ULS2 Forklift.craft #2 The Mainway Krakelicious Mk II Imagine if space exploration was as simple as hopping into your car and cruising around the corner for a loaf of bread. Imagine if you could land on Eve and return to orbit in a single stage. Impossible? We at Mainway Aerospace have done so much for so long with so little, we've managed to accomplish everything with nothing! The Krakelicious Mk.II is the ultimate in glitch exploiting technology. It combines infiniglide with kraken drive (yes, it still works in .25) and allows you SSTO to Kerbin, Duna, Laythe, and yes even Eve! It also reduces interplanetary voyages from months or even years to mere days. All for zero fuel expenditure. Just hop in it and go! Price: √67,582 Krakelicious MkII.craft #1: The Mainway TR5 SS Establishing permanent outposts on other bodies requires logistics. Lots and lots of logistics. You have to scout sites, shuttle payload, personnel, and fuel to the surface, then get it all in one place and assemble it. This means boosters, rovers, haulers, surface assembly vehicles, and tankers. We at Mainway Aerospace have combined all of these functions into a single vehicle. Attaching a pair of these to your payload will allow them to place it on the surface of nearly any planet or moon, then deliver it to the site and assemble it together. In most cases it has enough fuel to climb back into orbit afterwards to refuel and repeat the process. Larger planets require refueling on the surface and Eve is the only landable planet from which it cannot return to orbit. Price: √9,437 each TR5 SS.craft

Cool! I stand corrected, then. I'll have to make use of that... Thanks, -Slashy

A thousand pardons! Wrong thread. Best, -Slashy