-ctn-

I turn 25 tomorrow, and my friend who suggested KSP to me is also 25. When I started playing, I didn't even know that we (humans) landed probes on Venus or Titan. My favorite thing about this game is it's created an obsession to learn about space and other worlds. Today, I sit next to a stack of around 10 books that I've read in the past two months and I received some radar swath images from NASA JPL from a gentleman that was kind enough to sift through them and find a particular location I was asking about. Basically, I view the game as a gateway to anything spaceflight related. I haven't actually 'played' KSP in probably three or four weeks, but part of that is due to my laptop not handling it the way I want it to.

A few weeks ago I got in a discussion with my Manager and the Assistant Manager about the Mars One program. Something I noticed is that older generations tend to know more about space than the younger ones. The Manager, who is in her mid- fifties, I believe - knew exactly what I was talking about in terms of Mars, solar radiation, ect. She understood that making a round-trip to Mars is impossible given our current NASA funding and technology. The Assist. Manager, in her late thirties - didn't know anything. I had to explain to her that Mars round-trips aren't possible. Her response was "Well, we went to the Moon and back, can't we go to Mars and back?" I did a little math and told her that it's like driving a car ten minutes down the road and back versus driving down to Florida and back with the same amount of gas. Then she asked, "Well if our planet is really going to die soon, can't we just find a more Earth-like planet and live there?" My manager and I were both just staring at her in disbelief. Finding a "more Earth-like planet" has been a priority since the beginning of Astronomy... And she legitimately didn't realize that there are four terrestrial planets and no, none of them are like Earth.

The solar panels are only used to power the ion engine during the transfer burn, which is at 1AU. The most efficient panels on earth produce 45% efficiency. Using math, the total square meter area of the panels on our spacecraft is around 5.5sq m. The amount of solar energy produced by the Sun at 1AU is 1,413 watts per square meter. 1,413 times 45% panel efficiency equals 635.85 watts per square meter of power. 635.85 times 5.5 square meters equals a grand total of 3.4 kilowatts of electric power generated by these solar panels. The Ion Engine is a bit of a cheat, but not by too much. Combining stats from the NEXT ion engine and the HiPEP engine, here's the breakdown: running the HiPEP engine throttled down to 3.4kW produces a thrust of 61.84 millinewtons. We are exaggerating that by a factor for 10, so running our fictional ion engine at 3.4 kilowatts gives us 618.4 millinewtons with an Isp of 9,260 s. This keeps the craft fuel efficient enough to weigh under a ton and the engine powerful enough to complete the transfer burn in a lengthy but reasonable amount of time. The only onboard computer is the Rover's computer, which is powered by the Rover's RTG. Similar to Curiosity, when in spaceflight the Rover computer was in "flight mode" and controlled the cruise stage. There were no other computers on the spacecraft.

Hey, thanks for asking! In the script, the Cassini spacecraft has been converted into a polar-orbiting Titan satellite. When the rovers are on the surface, they relay information to Cassini, which relays it back to Earth. When our spacecraft is in flight to Titan, it relies on it's AutoNav and Remote Agent software to fly autonomously, without needing constant contact to Earth. While this is kind of far-fetched, I'm *really* hesitant about slapping a giant antenna dish on our streamlined, lightweight cruiser design. If anyone wants to point out faults in this idea or provide some ideas, I'm all ears!

Thanks! Hopefully this week we can order some of the parts for rovers and start getting the live action robotic rovers going!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to update again. We've been working on the science and math involved and finally completed all of the trajectories and equations needed to design how much fuel and time would be needed for our purposes. We've also been in contact with a few CGI artists and model makers for the visual effects. We've also been in contact with NASA about getting high resolution radar images of the location our little movie takes place. We also went location scouting yesterday and found a couple spots that might work well - so I'm posting this quick little composite I made! With Nertea's blessing, we are also using his Near Future models on our spacecraft - the ion engine and the solar panels. These may be 3D printed for our miniature model for filming.

http://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.gov/ "...when Dawn spies the thin crescent of Ceres in its next optical navigation session, scheduled for April 10..." "...on April 14 (and extending into April 15), Dawn will obtain its last navigational fix before it finishes maneuvering..." EDIT: Sorry, I misunderstood what you were getting at. I knew that, I was just complaining that they haven't released the OpNav photographs from today yet, as I was anxious to see any pictures of Ceres in higher resolution.

But doesn't the AutoNav (I'm assuming similar to the DS1 program) use photographs to help orient itself? So aren't the guys at NASA getting photographs anyway for course corrections?

Being on the dark side doesn't exactly mean blocked by the dark side of the planet. Just means that any photos we get are going to be mostly, if not all, black because there's no sunlight reaching the side we would see. I was hoping any OpNav photos would show a crescent, as the resolution would be greater than before. http://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Full-approach.jpg

One of the OpNav events was today, as well as on the 14th. I was hoping they'd have released the navigation photos!

So who else is counting down the days?!

Thank you for taking a look at that! I'll work on it some more and update a new version soon.

A) Future mods for KSP a short film partly inspired by KSP that I'm producing later this year. It follows two rovers on the surface of Titan, and I was trying to find the wattage necessary to run systems so I can calculate what size batteries and RTG they would need, since that also influences the look of the design. Link to our Facebook page is in my sig - the film is called AATLAS. Ps - if you know anybody with an interest of experience with robotics or Arduino, please feel free to get me into contact with them.

Thank you! That information should be sufficient.

Hello everyone! I'm working on a project and I was hoping to find out the amount of energy used by different types of sensors and instruments on rovers/probes, ect. Despite all my frustrated googling, I still cannot find the answers I am looking for. I thought maybe some people on here would know or know where to point me. I was hoping to find out how much electricity is needed (in watt-hours, mAh, whatever unit, really) is needed to run an experiment on different devices, such as: An Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer, like the ones on the MER rovers and Sojourner. Curiosity's ChemCam. A Gas Chromatographer (any model, really) Accelerometers (Do these run all the time?) Ect. Literally the only hard number I could find was basically "it takes 1.5 watts to run ChemCam" which I am very suspicious of. Anybody know where to look? Or how to find out these numbers? Thanks!

The way the mesh collider works in the game, that seems to be a limitation / impossible.

March 30 in the UK and March 31 in the US.

My guess is water ice too. Maybe a part of the mantle peeking through the deepest part of the crater?

Okay, I tried searching for an answer but didn't find anything close to what I'm looking for. To back up and explain a little - I'm learning some basic Astrophysics and dynamics because spaceflight is awesome and learning is fun. I was never any good at math in college or highschool, so if I ask a dumb question or have a dumb answer, don't get too frustrated. Anyways, here's what my problem is. A spacecraft in an elliptical orbit has a change in velocity. The closer to the parent body you are, the faster you go. The farther away, the slower you go. In a circular orbit, your velocity is constant because you are the same altitude (or distance) from the parent body for the entire orbit. How would I calculate this change in velocity in an elliptical orbit? As an example, I'll use KSP. Let's say we have a spacecraft traveling at 6 km/s on a transfer trajectory from Kerbin to Duna. When leaving Kerbin's Sphere of Influence, the craft is going at 6 km/s. By the time it reaches Duna's Sphere of Influence, the velocity will have slowed quite a bit - because of the gravitational pull (I assume) of being in the Sun's Sphere of Influence for the majority of the transfer. Is there a way to calculate: A) What the final speed will be when approaching Duna's SoI Is there a set rate at which the speed decreases (assuming it takes into account distance from the Sun and the Sun's gravitational parameter) C) If I pick a point in an elliptical orbit, and I know - the original velocity, distance from and gravitational parameter of the parent body - is it possible to determine the exact velocity of the craft? (i.e. to plot a graph with time intervals) Thanks in advance for any help!

Put a Venera-style probe on Duna! Also launched a Cassini replica to Sarnus, but it's still in transit...

Hey everyone! Here's a little project I've been working on. I often write music for short films in the area and I recently started working on some KSP inspired music, for fun. I thought I would share here - I may update it with more tracks or whatever if I continue to work on them / people listen to them. If you want to use something in a KSP video, feel free! I just ask that you link me to it so I can see it and see where my music is going. Lastly, thanks to HarvestR for creating the original KSP theme track! Very awesome musical skills, there. Thanks everyone! [soundCloud Playlist for Kerbal Space Program Re-Score

Mod has been released here.

Hello everyone! I'm releasing my mod, PEST, for now. I will update it as I progress with some things. This mod basically gives two different probe cores for satellites or probes and a few new science parts, because you can never have too much science. Parts in this mod: Pods: SP-X1- Spherical probe core with attachments on both ends, making it useful inside stacks. A little more versatile. GENSYS - Probe core based off of the Dawn spacecraft. Hollow inside, allows you to store fuel or engines. Is equipped with full SAS, 20 units of monopropellant, and a 200 unit battery. Utility: Probe Shock Absorber - Based on the Venera probes, it's a heavy part that can help ensure your probe lands right side up. It also kind of helps with aerobraking. Science: Coiled Antenna - Long range, low energy antenna for spacecraft. Pretty simple, has attachment nodes on top and bottom. Gas Chromatographer - A small device that analyzes the chemical makeup of an atmosphere. Planned/In-the-Works Parts/Features: GRaND - Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector. Everything is finished but for some reason it doesn't perform the experiment in-game. Outer Planets Mod compatibility - Soon... License: The folder PEST and all contents contained within are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You may copy and redistribute, modify or change any of the contained files as long as credit is given to "-ctn-" and "Squad," any changes to the original files are indicated, the material is not used for commercial purposes, and you use the same license. Thank you! -If you use these parts in another mod, please link me to it! Hopefully you guys enjoy this mod! Please let me know any comments or concerns you have. Download Download from Curse

Small update, still tweaking this. Some ideas have been dropped. In celebration of NASA's DAWN spacecraft reaching Ceres orbit later this week, I've made a probe core and new science part. The probe core is hollow inside (like my lander fuel tanks) to allow resources inside. It also carries a charge of 200 units and 20 units of monopropellant. The science part is a GRaND (Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector) based on Dawn's unit of the same name. This device analyzes the reflection of cosmic rays from the surface of a body and can determine the elemental composition of the surface based on those cosmic rays. It also detects hydrogen traces, which can be used to estimate the presence of water or water ice.

Hey everyone! As the Dawn spacecraft approaches Ceres orbit later this week, I wanted to recreate the mission in KSP for my own enjoyment. I took some photos and thought I would share them! The modded parts used are: AIES -Mini RCS thruster block -Gravimeter -Thermometer -Antenna Dish NEAR-FUTURE -AFTER Ion Engine -1x5 Solar Panels DMAGIC SCIENCE -Multi-Spectral Imager My own - UNRELEASED -Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) -GENSYS Probe Core (basically the Dawn spacecraft body) Without further ado, here's the photos/story - Right before launch... everything looks good! Annnnd we're off! MET+10 seconds... Starting the gravity turn... The boosters have been dropped. Second stage separation... Everything is going perfectly well! Third stage ignition... Circularizing a 400km orbit. Finally after getting a stability orbit around Kerbin, everything comes off and the Dawn craft wakes up! Turns out the rocket stages had JUST enough delta-V to get this orbit. Then came a lot of frustration as I tried desperately to get a transfer orbit to Dres. Ended up slow-thrusting with the Ion engine to raise my orbit (can't remember the altitude) and then literally used like three different orbit calculators, my own calculations, and fidgeting with the maneuver nodes until I got a reasonable transfer going on. Estimated delta-V usage was around 1,500 m/s. The burn took 23 minutes. Halfway through the orbit, I did a 900 m/s burn for inclination correction, which took 11 minutes. At this point I was using the thrust limiter so that the energy produced by the solar panels would match the consumption of the engine. Then, once captured by Dres' gravity, it took another ~2,000 m/s to circularize the orbit to around 600km. I don't recall exactly how long this burn took, as I did the dishes while it executed it. Some images from the two top-mounted cameras: Successful mission! The most challenging part was the orbital maneuvers and waiting through the long burn times. Mission/Craft Stats: DAWN KSP Craft 1.7 Tons (Total) 1.6m Tall Carries 240kg of Xenon fuel and 80kg of Monopropellant Fuel used for mission: 116kg Total capable delta-V: 9,560 m/s Instruments on board: (x2) Framing Cameras - Used for taking photographs - "top" mounted cameras. GRaND - Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector - used for determining elemental composition of surfaces and detection of water through Hydrogen levels. Gravimeter -Used to detect gravitational pull Thermometer -Used to detect temperature around craft Multi-Spectral Imager - Used to detect different chemicals and visual cues of the surface. High Gain Antenna - Dish used for communication Mission Elapsed Time - ~227 Days Mission Duration - Indefinitely Thanks for looking!