GoSlash27

^ What @5thHorseman said. You're never going to make orbit on Fleas, at least not within the starting pad limit. It is possible to do as an SSTO using the Swivel or Reliant (either will work but the Swivel is easier). The tech required to make orbit can be easily unlocked by doing science from the pad and runway without going anywhere, so the first actual "launch" can indeed make orbit. Best, -Slashy

Still no word on what happened yesterday. There was a rumor floating around that the heating element broke and they had to replace it. Could also be that it was a simple fleecing and there's never going to be a launch. mikegarrison, Where did you hear that? I can't find any official comment on it. Best, -Slashy

Spaced Out, There is no efficient "all- purpose" vehicle. An efficient vehicle is engineered for a very specific purpose. For a rocket stage, there are 3 questions that need to be answered: 1) How much payload does it need to accelerate 2) What is the minimum acceptable acceleration rate 3) What is the minimum total change in velocity it must provide Only a stage that is designed to the mission requirement for the least mass and/ or cost can be considered truly "efficient". Best, -Slashy

Sat through 3 hours of coverage, never got an update. Don't know if he launched, scrubbed, lived, or died. Hopefully we'll know something tomorrow. Best, -Slashy

We're out of the launch window, and no update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSpYDBwMqu8 This guy won't stream the launch, but at least he'll let us know what happens. Best, -Slashy

Still no news. Waiting for the live stream to start.

wumpus, It is possible to make orbit in an SSTO powered by the Reliant or Swivel and a big stack of FL-T100 tanks without exceeding the pad limits. Bringing it home is a pain, but it can be done. Best, -Slashy

YNM, Thanks for the correction! A little under 3 hours to go... Best, -Slashy

Agreed Best, -Slashy

I do it like @Snark suggests. I assume 1,700 m/sec per stage and go from there. I may adjust the final DV distribution to minimize partially- filled tanks. Upper stage: 1,700 m/sec, 0.7 t/w minimum Lower stage: 1,700 m/sec, 1.4 t/w minimum. If the lower stage uses SRBs, then I reduce the t/w min to 1.2. Best, -Slashy

Laie, The problem is that the burn actually *overshot* the intercept by a large margin. Cosine errors only account for an undershoot. Best, -Slashy

Sorry Not really anything to say about it that you don't already know. It's a really big ship and it may be breaking your game *shrug*. Best, -Slashy

Well, KSP allows you to place multiple maneuver nodes and twiddle them for the intercept. If you don't want to do the math yourself, you can get the transfer window and angles from AlexMoon. Find the transit time for the drop so you don't arrive late, and begin when the moon is optimally placed opposite the burn angle. This is why long drops are kind of a PITA Best, -Slashy

Okay, I ran the numbers. Takes a while, since I have yet to make a single unified spreadsheet for this and have to do some of it by hand. Here's what the ejections to Jool would cost: #1) Minmus->Kerbin->Jool 1,345 m/sec #2) Ike->Duna->Jool 1,575 m/sec #3)Gilly->Eve->Jool 1,672 m/sec *EDIT* dammit, forgot to include to DV to orbit from the surface. Corrected now. These do not take into account the DV for inclination correction at midcourse. Best, -Slashy

Nah, not particularly. Best, -Slashy

sevenperforce, Exactly. And the DV savings from gate orbits can be amazing when you're able to utilize them. Especially from low orbit of a substantial moon. Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by "biggest margin for capture". gate orbit from Jool to Eeloo is 7.8 Gm; well outside it's SoI. The rest of it I can't answer, since gravity assists are too varied to calculate without a kinematic model. Best, -Slashy

BM, Nah. It's not your math, it's the nav computer's math. I'm just verifying that it told you what it was supposed to so you can eliminate it as the culprit. Best, -Slashy

sevenperforce, The gravity well is a double- edged sword, so don't rely on it as an indicator of which way to go. The most DV efficient transfers aren't necessarily at the bottom of a strong gravity well. They are where the gravity losses and Oberth effect are balanced; the gate orbit. Eve -> Kerbin gate 22 Mm Eve -> Duna gate 4.4 Mm Eve -> Jool gate 615 km Gilly resides at 29.8 Mm, so it's not worth it to dive back from there when going to Kerbin. Kerbin -> Eve gate 11 Mm (roughly Mun's altitude) Kerbin -> Duna gate 7.8 Mm (roughly Mun's altitude) Kerbin -> Jool gate 360 km (LKO) Duna -> Eve gate -47 km Duna -> Kerbin gate 56 km Duna -> Jool gate -14 km A drop is recommended for all destinations from Ike. Jool -> Eve gate 127 Mm (closest moon is Bop) Jool -> Kerbin gate 177 Mm (closest moon is Pol) Jool -> Duna gate 319 Mm (well above all moons) You should never dive down from Joolian moons. Best, -Slashy

You have plenty of DV to get to Ike and back even without ISRU. Jool should also be no problem so long as you stick to the lighter moons. Best, -Slashy

Well, today is the day... They didn't have confirmation of the launch time as of this video, but they were talking 1500-1700 PST which translates to (someone please check my math) 0700-0900z.

BM, I verified that figure on my spreadsheet, and my numbers concur. I got 1,110.9 m/sec DV for that burn. 1,931.3 for the Hohmann transfer minus 820.4 for being at the Pe of a 9 Mm x 100 km orbit. Whatever the problem, it wasn't the nav computer. Best, -Slashy

Not to detract from the crew of Columbia, but this thread makes me feel really old Columbia doesn't seem very long ago to me. Best, -Slashy

Nicias, I calculated the midcourse burn assuming it's literally midcourse. (Vap+Vpe)sin(theta/2) Thinking about it further... I may have overestimated the velocity. I'll have to take another look at it. Best, -Slashy

Nicias, I'm afraid I can't even begin to decode what you just asked. An inclination change is simply 2sin(theta/2)* V at the instant you make it; exactly the same as a purely Newtonian vector change in 2d space. This probably doesn't answer your question, but I hope it at least helps. Best, -Slashy