FlyingPete

I try to keep the radial docking port or cargo bay close to the COM if possible, but it's simple enough to position fuel tanks forward and aft of this. This approach actually is quite useful as you can manually transfer fuel between tanks during the ascent to improve control. When you're building, it helps to check the 'dry' COM by emptying all the fuel tanks in the hangar. Just remember to put it back in before launch

I deployed a contract base near one of the Mun Arches for further study

It does get expensive to throw away jet engines as a first stage, so until we have proper stage recovery it's much cheaper to stick some rocket boosters on instead. Either that or make it a SSTO. This doesn't have to mean spaceplane, and I've built a couple of vertically-launched jet/rocket hybrids before. The jets lift you out of the thicker part of the atmosphere and start building up horizontal speed, then the rockets take over to accelerate into orbit. They're useful for launching bulky but relatively light payloads to LKO.

I ran into this problem while trying to drive a rover while transmitting data at the same time. I discovered by accident that by right-clicking on the antenna, you can stop the data transmission. If you resume the transmission after charging the batteries, it picks up where it left off.

I built this plane for flying around on Eve. It's a bit wobbly but it flies well enough.

Project Magellan continues. To haul the four payloads to the Duna system, a set of nuclear tugs would be used. These are designed to be multipurpose- docking with and moving just about anything. They were launched atop a 2-stage booster to remain in space. The first docking to be made was with Tug02, which made its rendezvous with the stacked Amundsen and Scott landers. The aft 'tuna can' fuel tank was still full, so the upper stage of the booster will be carried along as a drop tank when leaving for Duna. Next, Tug01 made its rendezvous. It brought with it another science module along with another docking adapter. I tend to bring these adapters along whenever it fits into the launch (such as here) since they're always useful when dealing with ships with two different docking port types. The tug itself has a large docking port at the front, plus a medium-sized one at the rear (currently hiding under the tank.) The first task was to drop off the extras on the front of the crew return/tanker modules. Next, the payload's own booster stage was dispatched on its way back to Kerba firma. The tug was then undocked from the payload, leaving the science and adapter behind. This left the modules temporarily uncontrolled, so care was needed to avoid bumping them into a tumble. The tug then spun round to dock to the rear of the fuel tank. The reason for this maneuver was so that the engines' thrust would be directed through the much stronger large docking port connections, rather than the medium ports on the science stack. The next job will be to assign and gather the crew for the mission. There will need to be at least one scientist to allow the experiments to be reset in the lab modules, and at least one engineer to repack the landers' parachutes. Dedicated pilots aren't technically required since the landers and tugs all have the advanced probe cores. However, I think it's always good to have pilots available. Most of my experienced crews are currently busy at either Minmus or the Mun, so will need retrieving and returning to Kerbin before they can be sent to Duna.

Poor Dres. Even the other planets want to get away from it

All my Eve missions have been one-way. I first sent a couple of probes, followed by a permanent colony. I gave them planes and rovers to go exploring with so it's not like I abandoned the guys there

Bringing fuel down to LKO is going to be much cheaper to do- it doesn't take much dV to escape Minmus, and you can aerobrake at Kerbin to save fuel. Have a couple of tankers running back and forth, returning the empties to the fuel station.

A lot comes down to how you fly it. If you try and launch straight for space you'll struggle- the trick is to keep running on jet engines for as long as possible, building up speed around 25-30km. You should be able to get a suborbital trajectory while still running on jet engines. After the jets shut down, very little rocket or RCS thrust is then needed to circularize. For a 1-man spaceplane, you need less fuel than you might think. I built a basic jet/monopropellant spaceplane that will get to orbit using just a single jet fuel tank, turbojet engine and two of the O-10 monoprop engines.

The 'Aldner Duplication Anomaly' made me think of this These are probably applicable to a lot of missions in KSP

Career mode mostly. Occasionally will use sandbox for testing designs (in-game CAD system) or trying something random.

I think KSP in its current form is similar to Lego in its appeal. It's very individual in how you enjoy it- some people like to build architectural masterpieces, others like to build complex mechanical models (and some may want to build an indestructible monolith they can lob from a great height.) At the same time, the individual component parts are common to everyone, so you should be able to replicate someone else's design and play with that too. I think some of this appeal would be lost if complexity was greatly increased, and it would become more about project management than building and flying spacecraft.

That could be a good option for a simple life-support mechanic. If the crew aren't kept regularly supplied with food, not food, coffee etc they start to lose their experience-based skills. So scientists don't give as good results, engineers are too hungry/tired to fix wheels, and pilots get sloppy and can't keep the ship pointed at the target.

There's a single LV-T45 engine on each lander. It's a bit overpowered really for use at Duna, but the tradeoff in cost and mass works in its favour. Plus I always prefer landers to be somewhat overpowered rather than underpowered.

I had a few contracts come up based around Duna, and it made sense to combine them into a single mission. Two were to carry out science near the poles (one pole for each contract) and another was to establish a surface base on wheels. The plan, therefore, would be to land a mobile base that would circumnavigate the planet and gather all the science on the way. Here we see the Magellan base- named after Magellan Kerman, who historically first sailed around Kerbin a long time ago. Bill tested this rover/base extensively around the R&D facilities. After Wernher Von Kerman came outside and yelled at Bill's enthusiastic driving, he fled the area and went to the beach. Several other modules will be needed to support the mission, which will explore both Duna and Ike. The first is the Duna Space Station, which will act as a central hub for Duna system operations. It will be left in orbit for future missions. For the side-trip to Ike, and also for transporting the crew to and from the Dunan surface, these landers (in an economical twin-pack) will be used. They have been named after Amundsen Kerman and Scott Kerman- the famous explorers of Kerbin's poles. They will also be retained in orbit of Duna when the mission is complete. Between the lander stack and the launch vehicle is a docking port adapter, which will no doubt come in handy at the space station. Lastly, this crew capsule will serve as additional accomodation during the mission, and will also be the crew's return vehicle. Extra fuel and a science pod were also brought to orbit with the ship. The upper stages of the launchers are intended to be reusable, and are equipped with parachutes and landing legs for safe recovery. Here we see one of the stages returning to Kerbin. A little short of KSC, but not too bad. It is designed to land upside-down to protect the engine from lithobraking damage. The next stage will be to launch and dock the four standardised nuclear tractors which will haul the payloads to the Duna system. All these ships have been launched unmanned as the launch window for Duna is still some time away, so the crew will be brought up nearer the time by SSTO aicraft.

One thing that works to get ships straightened out is to start with SAS turned on. If the docking ports are at too great an angle to connect, turn off SAS on one vehicle. When the magnetism starts to pull them into alignment, turn SAS back on to brake the rotation and prevent overshooting. This stops the pair from oscillating.

I'm fairly sure most of the 'milestone contracts (achieve orbit, explore the Mun, explore Duna etc) are scripted so they're the same every time. You'll get the 15,000 for each stage of the contract, plus the 105,000 when you complete it entirely. On images, most people get an imgur account and like to the pictures there. Use the tags, or the insert image option in the message reply to make it show up in the message.

Having a probe core with at least stability assist is useful if your single kerbal has to go EVA for whatever reason. Out of control, spinning ships are annoying to try and get aboard.

I built a few escape pods consisting of a Mk1 capsule, docking port, parachute and a couple of O-10 engines or RCS thrusters. There's enough propellant in the capsule's own store to bring a single kerbal from the space station back to Kerbin for whatever reason. RCS also comes in handy for making fine orbital adjustments- particularly for things like Kerbin-Minmus transfers, where a small velocity change makes a big difference.

When/if nuclear engines have their own distinct fuel source, nuclear thermal jets could be a possibility. The whole point of combustion in a jet engine is to increase the energy of the reaction mass by heating it. All you need is a source of heat. One real-world example I can think of is the P-51 Mustang, which derived a slight ramjet effect from its radiator duct to offset cooling drag. It would be an interesting thermodynamics problem to figure out the efficiency of a fuel+oxidiser jet engine running in an inert atmosphere, and how this compares to a pure rocket. High-bypass turbofans (which essentially use the jet core as a power source) could win I think. I'd still like to see a reversed-cycle jet engine that draws in a propellium-rich atmosphere and runs on oxidiser from an onboard tank. This could be viable for Eve or Jool.

I like Minmus as a place to explore. Low gravity so easy to land stuff despite the lack of atmosphere, plus there must be something useful in those frozen lakes. I reckon Ike would be better than Duna as a permanent colony for similar reasons- Duna's atmosphere isn't really substantial enough to be useful for landing big base modules. Build the base on Ike instead and you can run exploration missions to Duna itself.

So lets talk colonisation projects. Where would you choose to set up a permanently-manned colony off Kerbin? Not just an outpost/base that you rotate crews, but a permanent settlement on another world. My first choice would be Eve- it's relatively easy to get to, there's a substantial atmosphere for aerobraking, parachuting supplies/equipment/colonists to the surface and flying aircraft, plus plenty of sights to see. It makes exploration much easier if you don't intend to bring the crew back to Kerbin. I think Laythe is a good option too (if a little far away) due to the large quantities of water, oxygen and some sort of sandy deposits. Duna (Ike included) has its advantages too. Anyone brave/stupid enough to try for Moho or Eeloo?

If I was a Kerbal, I'd probably get on board just about anything in the vague hope of getting into SPACE. The entire population must be obsessed with the idea.

The french used 'selective yellow' (red, green, but no blue) headlights for years. Maybe it's just he reduced intensity, but landing lights this colour seem to not wash out the surface detail as much as white. Using different coloured navigation lights might be useful for docking at night- red facing left/forward, green facing right/forward, and white facing aft.