AbacusWizard

Intriguing! I just installed PlanetShine recently; I'll have to keep an eye out for that next time I visit the sunwards planets.

That is magnificent. Science Dad troll is best troll.

Ah, that makes much more sense. Go get 'em!

You're going all the way there and then not landing? You make Jeb sad

You're driving a rover around the Sun?

That's a very clever rescue operation; seems like the sort of thing I'd expect to see in a sequel to The Martian.

Would you be willing to share the powerpoint presentation? As a physics teacher I'd be interested in stealing your ideas exploring your perspective on the topics.

Leave no kerbal behind! BRING THEM HOME!

Neat idea! I like the concept of a slot into which different modules could be plugged so the same ship can serve several different purposes. In the past I've just used external docking ports (on orbital atomic tugs, mostly) but your use of the cargo ramp allows that idea to be extended to atmospheric flight as well, which is cool.

The persistent file ("persistent.sfs" in your saved game folder) is a text file that contains all the relevant information about that particular saved game--names and experience levels of all kerbalnauts, money, reputation, science points, active contracts, what technology you've researched, the positions and velocities and contents of every ship in your fleet, etc. By editing your persistent file, you can do anything from replacing a broken solar panel to teleporting a colossal spaceship from the launchpad straight to Eeloo orbit. (It's generally considered cheating of the highest degree, though, unless all you're doing is fixing a problem caused by a bug.)

It's always cool to see the next generation learning. I don't have any kids of my own but I do recommend KSP to any of my students who show an interest in orbital physics or space travel.

As I understand it ore maps are procedurally generated when you start a new saved game, so they will be different from save file to save file. The highest concentration I've found so far on Minmus is 10.97%, but it was pretty far from the equator, so I decided to build my refinery outpost on a nice respectable 10.4% spot on an equatorial plateau near the Greater Flats--much easier to land on and launch from, and a nice view as well. It appears that the presence of an engineer (the higher level, the better; extra engineers don't help but at least they keep each other company) speeds up the extraction rate of drills impressively, but doesn't do anything to the conversion rate of the refinery. That doesn't seem to be much of a problem, though; I currently have a mining rig at the 10.4% sweet spot with a Lvl3 engineer, 8 big drills, and 2 big refineries, and the drills still aren't extracting ore faster than the refineries can process it. One other thing to keep in mind: use radiators! The drills and refineries heat up as time passes (as long as they're active), and get more and more efficient until they pass a certain temperature (500 for the drill, 1000 for the refinery); after that, they get less efficient as they heat up. You can prevent this by including plenty of radiators--the drills and refineries will get warmer up until that critical temperature, and then the radiators will wick off excess heat in order to preserve peak efficiency. While you're in the VAB/SPH, take a look at the right-click info boxes for the relevant parts; look for information about how much cooling (in kW) the drills and refineries need versus how much cooling the radiator panels can provide and then work out the math to make sure you have enough. (And don't forget that the radiators need electricity too!)

I especially recommend the works of Arthur C. Clarke (in particular 2001 and the short story "A Meeting with Medusa") for slightly outdated speculation about what we might find beneath the clouds of a gas giant.

If you haven't already, you ought to give the SCANsat mod a try: ...but yeah, I'd really like to see something like this in stock.

You only need three of those parts to get out of the atmosphere. If you want to return safely, you might need the other two.

GOSUB... That's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time. The newspaper idea reminds me of SimCity2000.

First name Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy?

Oh, well if you want it to be reusable... ...then I guess you could bring along a KIS/KAS-authorized engineer to weld the wings back on afterwards.

Obviously the launchpad just needs MOAR STRUTS then.

Try putting all the wings on radial decouplers so you can jettison all the unwanted lift as soon as you touch down.

Small colony on Laythe including a surface outpost with rover and lab, an orbital station with plenty of fuel, and a spaceplane for traveling between the two. (This was several versions ago; the spaceplane wouldn't work at all with 1.0's aerodynamics, but it was fun while it lasted.)

I have heard it said that a chicken is an egg's way of making more eggs. Perhaps a kerbal is a spaceship's way of making more spaceships. (Note that most kerbals do come from lone command pods in orbit.)

You know, I was in full agreement with you until I got to the very last sentence, and then I realized that crashing a rocket in somebody's backyard and taking samples from the barbecue is exactly the sort of thing Kerbal scientists would do. (After all, you can never be sure that lighter fluid wouldn't work as rocket fuel until you try!)

Yyyyyyyeah, the "shuttle launch goes wrong and everyone dies horribly" promo video hit a little too close to home for my taste. I much prefer the ones in which something goes comically wrong rather than tragically wrong... or better yet, the ones where something starts to go disastrously wrong but thanks to ingenuity, a firm grasp of orbital physics, and highly skilled flying, the day is saved. (Several of Nassault's cinematics fit the bill quite well.)

Ahoy and welcome to Abacus Industries Interplanetary Spacelines! Be advised that tourists are NOT authorized to exit the spacecraft at any time. Please keep all hands, feet, and heads inside the command capsule at all times until the vehicle returns to the Space Center. If you wish to take home souvenir pebbles from your destination, do not attempt to gather them yourself; instead, ask a friendly professional scientist to get them for you. Thank you, and enjoy your flight!