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PnDB

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    The first images froms GOES-16

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Findthepin1 said:

    Anyone have the link to the full image? The image being the one of Earth in the above post. 

    Here you go.  This is the image gallery for GOES-16:

    https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/goes-16-image-gallery

    They're pretty spectacular at full resolution... even at reduced resolution, they're still amazing and beautiful.

    3 hours ago, munlander1 said:

    Do you know when these were taken?

    These images were taken on January 15, 2017.

    Poll - OS and Stability

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    Mac user here, a little behind on the OS (Mavericks)... couldn't complete the survey.  The Windows OS question is required, even though I'm not playing on a Windows box.

    In any case... very stable with only a rare crash or lockup every couple of days, though my activities are rather simple.  All VAB, simple rockets currently.  Haven't docked, haven't used wheels.  I do have the SPH floor texture issue, where the lines on the floor are replaced by seemingly random (and rapidly changing) black and white patterns.

     

    Most efficient way to gather science from multiple surface biomes?

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted · Edited by PnDB

    If you have the SCANSat mod and look closely at the boundaries between biomes, you often will find tiny (single "pixel") regions of some other biome right on the border.  This is due to the way the biome maps were generated/stored in the game.  It's why there is a patch of tundra just west of KSC, even though it's almost on Kerbin's equator.

    If you land close enough, you can take advantage of those micro-biomes to pick up extra science without having to hop very far.

    [QUESTION] How do I get more money now?

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted · Edited by PnDB

    3 hours ago, Deoxys_101 said:

    @PnDB I fully understand and respect you if you do not wish to share a picture or a craft file of one of your ships that would help me (like the one in the code) but if you did I'd really appreciate it. I'll try to put something together using the code (may do it tomorrow though due to KSP frustrating me and making me want to call lit a night on it) though.

    Hope this helps a bit... very simple and straightforward for getting into orbit, transferring to either of Kerbin's moons, landing, and returning.  DOH!  Just noticed I didn't re-add the drogue chutes!  Put two of them on the Mk1 pod or the OKTO!

    tqX4Jjg.jpg

    And definitely listen to folks like @Snark and @5thHorseman.  Their assistance has put many an inexperienced player into space.

     

    [QUESTION] How do I get more money now?

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted · Edited by PnDB
    Noticed pretty colors.

    My cheap (about 30k funds) Mun/Minmus tourist/scientist/engineer orbit/landing ships use a single Mk1 command pod and an OKTO probe core as the main part of the payload.  You should be able to build a cheap orbiter/lander using something similar, given your tech tree.  I'm guessing your early orbit/suborbit flights had only one tourist aboard... start that way again for Mun/Minmus, and you'll soon be taking a dozen tourists along for the ride.

    Here's what's on my single-passenger ship from 1.0.5... it should still work reasonably well in 1.1.2.  I took my science gathering, biome hopper ship and ripped out all the science... more refinement could be done to make this lighter and cheaper. 

    Re-entry stage:
  Mk16 parachute
  OKTO probe core
  Mk1 command pod with no monopropellant
  2x drogue chutes
  1.25m heat shield with 40 units of ablator

Transfer, orbit, land, launch, orbit, return stage:
  TR-18A decoupler
  Service bay with X200 battery and small inline reaction wheel
  1.25m to 2.5m rockomax adapter with 4x OX STAT XL panels (don't need this much solar at all)
  Rockomax X200-16 tank with 4x LT-1 landing struts attached
  Poodle engine

Lift stage:
  Rockomax decoupler
  X200-32 tank
  Skipper engine
  4x AV R8 winglets

Boosters:
  2x TT-38K radial decouplers, each with a BACC Thumper attached

Gives 1.6 TWR at launch, and about 6650 vacuum dV.
Costs about 30k funds
34 parts
About 68 tons total

    edit: Interesting... seems like the "insert code" option color-codes bits of my text.  Ignore the colors.

    Keep calm and ...

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    Every single kerbal tourist I have ends up with the same progression of facial expressions on reentry from LKO:

    1. Smiling during weightlessness in orbit.
    2. Smiling during initial reentry, prior to the flames.
    3. Smiling even more while flames engulf the craft.
    4. Immediate transition to complete terror as soon as the flames subside and are replaced with supersonic shockwave effects.
    5. Terror during almost vertical descent, prior to chutes opening.
    6. Chutes open... instantly content and/or smiling again.

    It's bizarre.  It doesn't matter whether they have high courage and high stupidity, low courage and low stupidity, or anywhere in between.  It's always the same.

     

     

    Placing engines high on the fuse like an A10?

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted

    @steuben has the right idea.  If you look at a diagram of the A-10 engine, the exhaust direction is angled slightly upward, pointing the thrust vector pretty much straight through the plane's center of gravity.  Radio control planes with pusher-props mounted above the fuselage do this as well.

    From Wikimedia -- trace a line down the center of the engine exhaust tube and see where it passes through the plane:

    A-10_Cross_Section.jpg

    Thrust/weight ratio + fuel amount

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted

    I have found -- at least in the earlier part of the game -- that it is challenging to get a good TWR at launch without starting to get really hot during ascent.  For example, starting with a TWR of 1.4 and using a decent gravity turn, I usually end up as a red glowing streak around 20-25km.  I don't get so hot that I explode, but sometimes it does get a bit toasty on the way to space.

    Is it common practice to throttle back during the ascent to maintain the TWR one had at launch, or do folks usually just set the throttle to a single level and ride the fire all the way up?

    SAS issue

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted

    @Geschosskopf I noticed exactly this issue yesterday.  My lander can's electricity reserves would deplete much more quickly if I set SAS to hold retrograde versus hold heading.  Turned out the hold retrograde setting was applying lots of little corrections, using up the precious little electricity I had left at an alarming rate (was down to just the lander can, a heat shield, and a parachute... no solar panels left on the craft).  As I wasn't in a situation where retrograde was changing quickly, I just set SAS to hold heading instead.  Finally ended up shutting everything down and just coasting instead to conserve power for when it was needed.

    What did you do in KSP1 today?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    I usually start a career by going to Minmus first, and sent Bob on his way there in the name of SCIENCE.  However, Jeb decided that he wanted to be the first to step onto another world, and headed for the Mün. 

    First time ever landing on the Mün!  Landed in the East Crater, a little southwest of an anomaly that was detected by an orbital mapper.  Jeb decided to check it out during his ascent to orbit.  Turned out it was a Münar arch... the first time I've ever seen one in the wild! 

    Of course, in taking this slight detour, Jeb ran himself out of fuel for the return home, leaving him in a horrible >10Mm Ap, 300km Pe orbit.  If the Mün came around again, it would have flung him who knows where.  So... time to get out and push. 

    Got the Pe down to 37km, ditched the lower section of the craft, and settled in for the slow fall Kerbinward.  Had a near perfect skip reentry, dropping to about 36.5km before going back up to about 68km and then back down for a final descent.  Ended up landing on the southern tip of the KSC continent... not bad for accuracy when getting out and pushing.  Chute deployed as expected, and almost landed in a tree. 

    643 science!

     

    Skewed Rescues?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Choctofliatrio2.0 said:

    How much of a boost to science do scientists give? Does it increase with level?

    From http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Scientist

    Scientist is a specialization assigned to Kerbonauts. As of 1.0.5, scientists do not boost the amount of science gained from recovering experiments. They also provide no bonus from transmitting data, although the green text makes it look like they do. They can, however, increase the amount of science generated per day in the Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2. As of 1.0, scientists are able to restore inoperable experiment modules while on EVA.

    Skewed Rescues?

    in KSP1 Discussion

    Posted

    12 hours ago, nosirrbro said:

    Correct me if I am wrong, but I beleive they are generated with the same generator that makes applicants which seems to me to be entirely equal

    You might be feeling this way because even if the chance is equal, the chance of getting a pilot is 1/3 and the chance of engineer or scientist is 2/3, and with such a small total amount the chance of only getting 1/10 is quite high.

    tl;dr Your just unlucky

     

    Agreed... it's most likely just dumb un-luck.

    With even odds for pilot/engineer/scientist, it's about an 8.7% chance of getting exactly one pilot in ten rescues.  Given the number of people playing the game and rescuing Kerbals, it's highly likely that someone will experience this.  Since getting 1 pilot out of ten rescues feels like something out of the ordinary, it's highly likely that someone experiencing this will post about it.
     

     

    How Do I calculate Delta-V on more than one engine?

    in KSP1 Gameplay Questions and Tutorials

    Posted

    And, to add to Snark's concise answer, consider the special case similar to the original poster's where you have three identical engines burning at the same time.

     

    Engine 1:  thrust of 100 kN and Isp of 350 s

    Engine 2:  thrust of 100 kN and Isp of 350 s

    Engine 3:  thrust of 100 kN and Isp of 350 s

    Total thrust = 100 + 100 + 100 = 300 kN

     

    Thrust/Isp for Engine 1 = 100 / 350 = 0.2857 kN/s

    Thrust/Isp for Engine 2 = 100 / 350 = 0.2857 kN/s

    Thrust/Isp for Engine 3 = 100 / 350 = 0.2857 kN/s

    Putting it all together, total Isp = 300 / (0.2857+0.2857+0.2857) = 350 s

     

    This can be extended to N identical engines; Isp is the same as if you had one of that engine.

    Putting it all together for N identical engines, total Isp = N * (thrust of one engine) / (N * thrust of one engine/Isp of one engine) ... the Ns cancel out , the thrusts cancel out, and you end up with just the Isp remaining. :)

     

     

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