Aristarchus

I am having trouble mining an asteroid attached to my new space station. The asteroid is as yet untapped. I have plenty of storage space for ore, plenty of electricity, good contact between the drill and the asteroid, more than sufficient cooling. The drill deploys just fine but when I click "Start Asteroid Harvester" it just flashes a thermal efficiency number then does nothing. The status reads operational, but I cannot extract any ore. This is my first genuine attempt at mining, so I assume I'm missing something simple. I would appreciate any advice on the matter. Thanks, Ari edit: I figured it out. It is kind of a long story though. I have two asteroids attached to the station and I already drilled out the second one using a different ship, but it took forever so I decided to build a refinery ship to make the process go faster on the second asteroid. I forgot to put the ore container on that vessel, and that was when this drilling problem seemed to start. I sent up an ore container and docked it to the station via a docking port, still no luck, so I assumed it was a problem with the fuel crossfeed, after playing with the docking ports for a while I decided to just send up a second refinery vessel with an ore container on board. When that failed I began to assume it was a problem with my ship that I was overlooking. The game must have tagged the whole station as ore deficient when I finished with the previous asteroid so the drills think there is nothing there. As soon as I undocked the other rock from the station, the drills fired up just fine.

Where can I submit a bug report? I noticed the Time to AN was behaving weird, it looks like it is jumping ahead one orbit when the ship crosses periapsis. Time to DN is behaving fine as is Angle to AN. Thanks for maintaining THE essential mod for KSP. I doubt I could do rocket science without you. A

I have been dabbling in kOS and just finished a program designed to launch a vessel to match the inclination of a target in orbit. I wanted to test the impact accounting for the rotational velocity at launch could have, so I created a small experiment. I launched three identical vessels into low Kerbin orbit using the exact same flight path, controlled by my script. The target vessel was launched with a heading of 45 degrees and resulted in a final inclination of 40.1 degrees. The next two were launched exactly as the launch pad passed under the ascending node of the target vessel. The first was launched to naively match that inclination and ascended with a heading of around 50 degrees (90-40). The final inclination was 35.6 degrees. The last vessel incorporated the method in this tutorial (which I very much appreciated). Like the target vessel, it settled on a heading of almost exactly 45 degrees on ascent, though the final inclination was about 38.6 degrees. So while the result wasn't perfect, it did cut the error by more than half. The visual distinction is quite stark. I was disappointed not to match the orbits exactly but I suspect the difference is due to an underpowered rocket that delivered far from instantaneous impulses. The orbital insertion burn took about a minute, mostly using the "Spark" engine. But I suppose that means that if you are launching into a specific inclination to save dV, the difference between properly calculating the heading and not is as important as properly designing the vehicle in the first place. Anyway, this is just my long-winded attempt to say thanks for the tutorial!

Hi all, I am looking to build my own computer for the first time and was hoping to get some suggestions/feedback. I am looking for good all around performance; this will be my primary KSP computer but I mainly plan to use it for work (running simulations OpenFoam, my own code, etc.). I don't plan on overclocking and would rather it be as quiet as possible as sometimes I leave code running while I sleep or do something else. Here is what I have so far. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($87.98 @ Newegg) Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg) Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($60.98 @ Newegg) Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($27.98 @ Newegg) Total: $683.90 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-07 18:07 EDT-0400 I would like to keep my total under $700, but have some leeway if it means a significant performance or reliability increase. Thanks! Joe

It is different for me every save. At one point it seemed I was only getting pilots, other times I will feel I am only drawing scientists (more than 8 in a row if I remember right). Sometimes I will get a run of all male or all female kerbals. The moral of the story is that just because something is random doesn't imply that it will be well-distributed, in fact clumps in random data is perfectly reasonable to expect. Imagine if a coin perfectly alternated heads and tails when flipped a hundred times; that would be just as suspicious as one that always came up heads. Don't worry, you'll eventually get your egghead kerbals.

Ok, that makes a lot of sense (sort of). I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a similar idea. Maybe you could let me know if it could work. The only plane that I have absolute knowledge of is the xz-plane. I can cross that with my orbit to find the vector of my ship's LAN and find the angle between that and the x-axis. I can then subtract ship:obt:LAN from that angle to find the angle of the reference vector with respect to the x-axis. From there I just have to add the reference vector angle to the LAN of my target orbit. I seem to have picked a doozy for my first KOS project, but if the above works I'll feel like a genius. Thanks again, A Are you one of the devs for KOS? If so just let me publicly thank you for helping to create a great mod.

You could use a tool like the extremely useful transfer window planner (alexmoon.github.io/ksp/) . If you plan to hit the Mun when it has the right phase angle with Minmus that should put you in the right neighborhood.

Please don't judge KOS based on my crummy programming ability. I have a little experience but I am far from experienced and have rarely needed to display my code. The challenge I am having is how to create the vectors given the scalar properties of the orbit. Once I have that it is just a matter of taking a few cross-products to find the orbital nodes. I tried a variation of this equation and got a near miss, so I will keep playing with it and see how it works with different orbits. I have been assuming that the x-axis points toward the reference point, but that assumption might be invalid. If the axis was wrong I should just be off by 90 degrees, not ten. Now my head hurts, but I will figure this out. Edit: It seems that not only does the x-axis not point in the reference direction, but it doesn't point to anything in particular and is not fixed. So the analytic approach may prove fruitless due to the limitations of KOS and the KSP coordinate system.

I have to admit, I am not sure what you are saying, but I did meddle with the angles without any luck. I did find an error in my equation as written, but it didn't solve my problem. I have been focusing on getting the LAN matched, since that only requires one variable. Still no luck though.

Thanks for the reply. I just got started with KOS, and am more an aspiring than actual programmer. I am actually just using the vessel orbit as a test case and have found that normal exactly the way you suggested. The problem comes when I try to find the normal to an unoccupied orbit, like what you get when you accept a satellite contract. In that case I only have the five values the game gives. Everything else should be definable from these, but I can't find a match. Thanks, A

Hi All, I am trying to write a KOS script that can automatically match an arbitrary orbit (like for the launch satellite contracts). The parameters given are: apoapsis, periapsis, inclination, longitude of ascending node (LAN), and argument of periapsis. I am stuck trying to find the normal vector given these parameters. I know I need to take the cross-product of two vectors within the plane, the LAN and Arg. of Per. stand out, but I can't seem to find them. I have been using this image from wikipedia as a guide. And came up with the following equations for the vectors. LAN ArgPer x cos( cos(b+c)*sin(a) y 0 cos(a) z sin( sin(b+c)*sin(a) a=inclination b=longitude of ascendng node c=argument of periapsis But when I try to visualize them they are all over the place, as you can see. Does anyone have a better way to find the normal, or could perhaps help me with my equations? My code is below if it is of interest. Thanks, A clearvecdraws(). //Create a vector to center of kerbin set geo to kerbin:position. set geo:mag to (ship:altitude/2). //print geo:mag. //SET anArrow2 TO VECDRAW(V(0,0,0),geo,RGB(0,0,1),"Geo?",5.0,TRUE). //Draw global axes for frame of reference // /startPos/ /vector/ //color// /label/ /size/ set xAxis to VECDRAWARGS( geo, V(200000,0,0), RGB(1.0,0.5,0.5), "X axis", 5, TRUE ). set yAxis to VECDRAWARGS( geo, V(0,200000,0), RGB(0.5,1.0,0.5), "Y axis", 5, TRUE ). set zAxis to VECDRAWARGS( geo, V(0,0,200000), RGB(0.5,0.5,1.0), "Z axis", 5, TRUE ). //readin standard orbrit parameters set a to ship:obt:inclination. set b to ship:obt:LAN. set c to ship:obt:argumentofperiapsis. //I am naturally thinking of the xy plane being equatorial and z axis through the //poles but kos run z axis through poles so I might still be thinking of this step wrong //set b to 360. //x=r*cos(theta)*sin(phi) //y=r*sin(theta)*sin(phi) //z=r*cos(phi) //theta=incl //phi=LAN //this table summarizes my vector equations. //so LAN ArgPer //x cos( cos(b+c)*sin(c) //y 0 cos(c) //z sin( sin(b+c)*sin(c) // x y z set lan to V(cos(,0,sin(). //LAN runs through the equatorial xz-plane set lan:mag to 200000. SET anArrow TO VECDRAW(geo,lan,RGB(1,0,0),"LAN?",5.0,TRUE ). //The argument of periapsis is tilted into the y plane by the inclination, //the angle appears to be measured from the LAN set argper to V(cos(b+c)*sin(a),cos(c),sin(b+c)*sin(a)). set argper:mag to 200000. SET anArrow0 TO VECDRAW(geo,ArgPer, RGB(0,0,1), "ArgPer?",5.0,TRUE). SET norm to VCRS(velocity:orbit, ship:body:position). set norm:mag to 50000. SET anArrow1 TO VECDRAW(V(0,0,0),norm,RGB(0,1,0),"Normal",5.0,TRUE ).

I am a big fan of orbital refueling stations. While it may be less efficient overall for single launch missions, you can quickly recover the extra cost by reusing some vehicles for later missions. For example, I have orbital stations around Kerbin, Minmus and the Mun. I send an SSTO crew shuttle to my LKO station where I have a shuttle consisting of a capsule, hitchhiker container, fuel tank and nuke engine, which takes my crew to Minmus. There a lander is waiting for them to complete a contract or just land for experience. Afterward they can either transfer to the Mun or head back to Kerbin LKO where they wait for a new crew to relieve them. I can do dozens of missions in Kerbin SoI before I even have to think about refueling, all without throwing any new hardware into space and thus saving countless booster stages.

Yeah, I just pushed them into the ground as I built. It drifted off the launchpad as I went so I had to use the translation gizmo to keep it centered.

I just completed an expansion of my LKO interplanetary hub. It was built in 3 modules. Command, fuel and passenger. Weight: 110t Part count: 170 Crew capacy: 36 Liquid fuel capacity: 8100 Monoprop: 2250 Docking available for up to 9 ships and 4 probes

Your idea intrigued me, so I decided to open a new tourism wing of my space program. The crown jewel of this empire will be the Hotel Kerman. Live like your Kerbonaut heros only with more gravity! This 210m tall structure will sleep more than 850 space lovers and provides a spectacular view of the KSC even as you reach for the stars. Guaranteed to be perfectly safe as long as nobody pushes the big red "LAUNCH" button. Oops. At least it happened before the grand opening.

True, my reputation looks like it is tanked, but I finished a contract immediately afterward that gave me 1500 rep, I am actually holding off on recovering a lot of science because I am close to the 1000 rep limit and it will be lost if I don't "spend" some first. Using this exploit I can print arbitrarily high amounts of funds for a fixed hit to reputation. Maybe if reputation was penalized proportionaltely to launch cost after a certain point that would balance it somewhat. Once I finally manage a Tylo return mission, I will probably do what most of you are saying and mothball the Admin building until it is rebalanced. Although I have to admit I like the idea of being able to tweak my rewards to better suit my needs, which is really the purpose of the building as I understand it.

The other day I had Gus Kerman (Operations) get on the phone with our supplier at Probododyne and order their entire stock of GRAVMAX Gravioli Detectors. A little taken back by such an extravagant order by my normally exconomical space program, the sales rep started to tally up the total bill. Just as he was about to give the quote, Gus--who can be a real hardS when he needs to be--interupted him. "By the way, you should know that we have had a shift in management philosophy at the KSC. We are now the big space agency in town and we will pay what we think is fair." With that he dropped 60% of the funds on his desk and wheeled out the detectors. You see Bob thought that the gravioli detectors worked by amplifying the force of the negative graviolis, and by bringing enough of them together on the launch pad they might levitate. One day leading to booster free spaceflight (Jeb was horrified). Bob carefully oversaw detector placement in the VAB. The device was moved to the launchpad and activated but nothing happened. About this time Probododyne called and indicated they were having trouble fulfilling their other orders and wanted their instruments back. They were horrified to learn that Gus would only sell them back at full price, turning a tidy profit for the KSC. Kerbal space enthusiasts everywhere were horrified by this abuse of power. Inquiries were launched and politians swore they would put an end to this disturbing new practice. That is, until news of an asteroid being captured and brought into orbit arout Minmus caused a wave of enthusiasm for the space program that swamped any outrage. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Aside from this explolt, I have found that the aggressive negotiation strategy combined with science to rep is good almost to the point of being overpowered. Instead of 10:1 science to funds conversion ratio I can 500:1 for a modest 150k funds launch. Contracts late game also offer so much rep and science that I can barely launch enough rockets to keep my reputation well under the 1000 ceiling. The only problem is that it completely destroys the desire to build economical launchers in favor or outrageous bohemoths because that gives me the best value. So how have the admin strategies changed the way you play KSP?

I found the solution to my problem on a thread that popped up yesterday. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/100776-Terrain-textures-glitched-out Yay, now I can play again!

I was having the same problem with my GeForce 8400 graphics card with all graphics to their lowest setting except SM3. Saw your post last night, turned it off, and now Kerbin is no longer a giant, headache inducing disco ball. I can't wait to play tonight. Thanks.

Hi All, I am having trouble with the planet textures on Kerbin and the Mun (Minmus is fine and I haven't gone interplanetary yet). Basically they have become giant disco balls, giving me a massive headache when I play, though that hasn't stopped me. I suspect the problem is my $30 graphics card, but I wanted to throw it out to the illustrious KSP community to confirm that. Here are a few screenshots of what I am talking about. http://imgur.com/a/ONsMH I am running a steam install of the game, and here are my computer's specs. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS memory 64KiB BIOS processor Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5300 @ 2.60GHz memory 64KiB L1 cache memory 2MiB L2 cache memory 6GiB System Memory display GT218 [GeForce 8400 GS Rev. 3] storage 82801 SATA Controller [RAID mode] disk 500GB ST3500418AS Thanks in advance for your help, Joe