NASAHireMe

Arrowstar's Trajectory Optimization Tool is the best we have. But a word of caution: many players have attempted to do what you are planning to do. It is not easy. Since floating-point errors and such are prevalent and unavoidable, even the best calculations will be wrong 99% of the time. You will have to make course corrections-- there's basically no way to do it in one go. And plus, planets like Moho and Eeloo and Dres don't have a lot of mass, so you'll have to do multiple passes on them to get somewhere else.

Uh yeah there's already a thread and compendium of in-game tips and tricks (including all of the posts mentioned so far in this thread)... Perhaps we could restyle this thread for KSP trivia and fun facts? Climbing the flagpole is a good example. I'll give one: The mass of Kerbol is approx. 9.25x Jupiter's mass. The least-massive star we've discovered is OTS 44, a brown dwarf that has 11.5x Jupiter's mass. Since there are numerous varying definitions of what qualifies as a star, and with the acknowledgment that most parameters in KSP are scaled down or scaled up to make it a feasible game, I'll just leave it at that.

Sorry to re-open an old thread, but the math in here fascinates me. I can follow half of it, but the other half is either over my head, or I've forgotten how to do it. Just curious, tavert and K^2, how much math background do you have? What courses (i.e. Multivariable, Linear Algebra, etc.) taught you all the stuff to derive these equations? Where'd you learn, and in what course did you learn, how to use Mathematica and Matlab and LaTeX?

Yeah, reaching that point too. So far the only saving graces are: 1) Finally upgraded from 0.23 to 0.90 a few weeks ago, so I started a brand-new career. But since I'd already basically mastered the game before, playing 0.90 felt like a breeze. 2) Trying to emulate Scott Manley videos. I love his challenges and the elegance of his designs (and others! Looking at other peoples' crafts in the forums always makes me shake my head in wonder). I recently completed the "Spacewalk home from Gilly". Next up is the "Single Orange Tank efficiency challenge". Then, building a Minmus base. 3) Haven't installed Kethane/Karbonite or FAR/NEAR or RSS or RemoteTech or Kerbal Life support, so there's still mods to be played. But I admit, I'm not terribly excited because they don't really shake up the gameplay (at least not as much as Fine Print did before it got integrated, for example). 4) Using KSP as an example to teach myself to code so I can contribute in some way!

Make sure when you land, that at least one of the wheels is definitely touching the surface. It may help to install regular landing legs for the touch-down, then retract the legs and settle the craft onto the wheels. Don't know if you can satisfy the contract if the wheels are broken, but if so, landing on legs then retracting onto wheels may help.

You don't necessarily need RCS Build Aid. Just unload the fuel by right-clicking the tanks and you'll see where your CoM ends up.

Just like when you're traveling to other planets, you should adjust your inclination at the AN/DN on your way back to Kerbin. Or, if it's too late and you're already going to end up in a highly-inclined orbit: aerocapture, then raise your equatorial AN/DN (having some other craft in an equatorial orbit that you can target may prove useful here), adjust your inclination at the AN/DN, then use aerobraking to return to a circular orbit.

Hey all, Updated my condensed list of all your tips and tricks with the latest changes since I last posted in here.

I agree with your ideas. Problem is there's TOO much freedom is one can satisfy all science requirements with just a few Minmus landings. I also agree that the science should decrease per biome you visit; first Goo study in the East Crater nets you 150 pts, but first Goo study in the next biome only nets you 120 pts, etc. I did that for 0.23. I managed to collect every single drop of science in the whole game, but it wasn't fun, and would be even less so without MJ to do the landings and takeoffs, and with 10+ biomes on every body now. Obviously, you're not forcing people to go for all the Science pts, but even making it a "Score" would encourage people to waste their time tediously collecting all the science. As it is right now, 99% of players look at all the biomes they have to visit and immediately reject the idea of being a 'completionist' and instead build cool things or complete challenges, which is what we want to encourage, IMO.

Wow that is a funny looking plane (not the funniest by a long shot, though). They didn't even try to hide the engine. It's just slapped on there.

I recently saw this at the Udvar-Hazy complex of the National Air and Space Museum (by far my favorite museum in the whole world, by the way. The Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee, intended to be a hovercraft for the soldier on the battlefield: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiller_VZ-1_Pawnee

I really, really like the idea of upgrading parts with science. Nuclear would start at 390 ISP and gradually get upgraded to 800, for example. What about some way to synthesize science? Like taking a Mystery Goo from Eve and mixing it with a Materials Study from Tylo --> some new science experiment. I guess that doesn't necessarily burn the extra science points, but it'd be a way to encourage players to do science outside of the Kerbin system.

It should be obvious to all moderately experienced players that with the addition of biomes to all bodies, the value of Science points has plummeted. Actually, it was always pretty unnecessary; prior to Beta, you could still unlock the entire tech tree with Minmus and a few high-science contracts. Funds are now the primary limiting factor. Fully upgrading the facilities costs $10M+ funds, which makes the game grind-y because the contracts system keeps handing me boring low-value contracts that aren't worth my time anymore. And unfortunately, the biggest-payoff contracts are the "Explore" contracts, but they don't appear if you've already been to a body's SOI, so I'm constantly refusing crappy contracts until I get one of the juicy "Explore" ones. So in the meantime, I'm sitting on 10,000+ pts of Science with all the parts unlocked, and all the appropriate administration strategies to convert science into funds or rep. I actually managed to collect every single point of science in the game in 0.23, before the new biomes were introduced. But that's not really feasible now unless I want to be a hermit for the next month. What should Squad do with the extra Science? Rebalance, new science reqs for parts unlocks, any other creative ideas? Sound off.

Started with 0.23 Landed on all bodies still in 0.23 Jumped straight to 0.90 two weeks ago, playing with a new save. So far, milking Minmus missions so I can get some funds and unlock more of the tech tree (the 4million funds you need to upgrade R&D is huge!)

Alshain's advice is great and will certainly help you get back to Minmus. Some more generalized tips. Maneuver nodes are finicky. I recommend installing MechJeb or PreciseNode so you spend less time with the frustrating manuever node handles. They let you input precise amounts. You can still hand-fly it, or let the computer burn for you (MechJeb). Kerbal Engineer won't help you much here-- it's mostly a construction aid (MechJeb combines the two, so perhaps an upgrade to MechJeb would come in handy). Also, don't feel too bad about it. Minmus has a very small sphere of influence (SOI) because it has very little mass, so getting an encounter can be frustrating. You should have no problems getting encounters with the Mun. Likewise, if you understand the basics on interplanetary transfers, getting encounters with Eve should not be very difficult either. So don't let your struggles with Minmus deter you; getting all the way to Eve is actually almost easier than getting to Minmus (no inclination change, not much more dV for the burn, large SoI to aim for, etc.)

1. Here's a good guide to base building by Temstar 2. Flexible arms like that aren't available in stock, unless you build something crazy as an elaborate work-around (hmmmm a new project for me to try!). You may be interested in Kerbal Attachment System

I'm still not sure what you are looking for. In addition to GRACE, there's also the Gravity Probe A and B experiments, which tested relativity and gravity, and GOCE which mapped Earth's gravitational field

Do you mean a satellite that tracks the gravitational field of Earth below it? We've had several of those

Like what snarfter said above, your best bet to getting low-altitude Jool data is to do it while aerobraking from Kerbin. Unless, you're doing a Jool-5 missions in which you're hitting all 6 bodies in one go, you're probably sending multiple crafts to the Jool system throughout your game play. I ended up sending 10 ships to Jool (two Tylo landers, three Laythe spaceplanes, 1 Bop/Pol/Vall lander, 4 refueling/labs) over the course of gameplay, each one with all the science instruments. Since they all need to be aerocaptured, that's 10 sets of low-altitude data-- more than enough to get max science. Another thing you can do if you really want to milk Jool's low-altitude science is to use Laythe or Tylo as a gravity-assist to sling you into an orbit with an Ap just inside Jool's SOI. With an Ap that high, you're going to have more than enough velocity to safely dip below 120km and emerge again. I've used this to Jool-dive as far down as 105km and still make it out. Since Tylo is so large, near to Jool, and has a periodic orbit that can be predicted (see the orbital resonance sheet in my signature), it makes a very attractive gravity-assist target.

I have no idea what you're building (some monstrous orbiting gas station?) but if you're looking for a way to attach them in orbit, there's always docking port alignment indicator [MOD] Otherwise I'm not quite sure what your goal is. It should snap into alignment.

This is a very common problem on these forums. Intakes are a possible issue, but more likely it has to do with your CoM/CoL. Here's a post by user Rune: "I've answered this for someone else today: Originally Posted by Rune Actually, and take it from an aeronautic engineer, it's rather simple: if you lose control, it's because your plane is not aerodynamically stable. Now, what makes a plane aerodynamically stable? Well, picture the most aerodynamically stable stable thing I can think of, an arrow: how does it make it to keep pointing in the direction of travel no matter what happens? Well, the answer is simple: the center of lift is way, way behind the center of mass. Unlike in the rocket pendulum fallacy, you aerodynamic thingy "hangs" from the center of lift, and is pulled down from the center of mass. That means the center of mass will always try to get before the center of lift in the direction of travel. Which is why opening a chute behind it will always work (a parachute gets greats amount of "lift", or better said, aerodynamic forces). Now you can go a bit too far, and make your plane too aerodynamically stable. Then what will happen is you don't have enough control authority to make it point anywhere but prograde, and "prograde" will start being more and more "downwards"... very gentle way of crashing, and with a beautifully curved trajectory. All in all, what I can say is: there is a reason planes are long, and have rear stabilizing surfaces at the end of a tail, well behind the center of mass. And why flying wings are very, very tricky to pull off in the real world without fly-by-wire systems. Rune. Hope that helps. Intake drag can also be a contributing factor, though. Intakes behind the CoM help with stability. Rune. Killing two birds with one post." - - - Updated - - - I would also recommend reading through these threads: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalAcademy/comments/1kezq8/spaceplane_re_entry_angle/ http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/75768-Space-Plane-Reentry-issue http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/70480-Stabilizing-SSTO-spaceplanes-during-reentry http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/85638-Yaw-stability-and-re-entry Tips I'll highlight: 1. Place more intakes/control surfaces at the rear 2. The landing gears (can't tell if you're using them in the pictures you posted) have no mass/drag in flight, but DO have them in the SPH/VAB (this is a 'bug', if you want to call it that...). So that may be screwing up your CoM/CoL balance. So trim your CoM/CoL balance first, then slap on landing gears at the last minute. 3. Watch your fuel drainage. It may be draining in such a way that it inadvertently flips your CoM/CoL balance 4. There's always workarounds that are inelegant. When I had this problem on one of my very small SSTO planes, I just accepted reentering backwards. I used drogues to slow me down when I get under 20,000 meters, then fired up the jets and started accelerating backwards. Like I said, inelegant.

To answer, this is a known bug. KSP for some reason doesn't let you create a maneuver node after you get an encounter. Only workaround is with something like PreciseNode or MechJeb (you've gotta create a node, then null the values in the node editor, then drag it to where you want it).

1. Make sure your altitude is right. The zones are mapped in 2D, not 3D. You could be in 'zone' but above or below the altitude required for the contract. 2. Do you get the standard Science screen that pops up when you log temperature? You know, the one that has a short narrative of the science and two green and blue bars for recovery and transmission? If you're clicking "Log Temperature" and you don't get the Science screen, that's a separate issue (and probably a bug). On the other hand, if you get the Science screen but no "Collecting temperature data for zone XXXX" pop-up message in white text, make sure your altitude is right (#1). If your altitude is right and you're in the zone and you get a science message but no contract completion, then it's probably a bug. Restart KSP and try again.

Don't know if it's exactly the issue here, or if your case is some bug that we haven't experienced yet, but: The long boosters like the ones you are using are tricky sometimes. I would recommend using the radial decouplers (the ones with the 'spring') that hold the booster further away from the stack instead. And second, the boosters' attachment point is at your cursor; if your cursor is not within the bounds of the decoupler, you will be attaching to the main body, NOT the decoupler.

Refueling Karbonite missions are done by an external mod. It's not stock. The contracts system will often offer you contracts even though you've already completed a similar one in the past. If it wasn't this way, you'd have to undertake a new mission every single time, which would be really challenging, from a funds/gameplay/time standpoint. So just accept those contracts and fly the same vehicle-- easy money!