100ideas

Buahahaha, now I realize why this rescue mission has been so impossible - I had upgraded the tracking station to see patched conics but hadn't upgraded mission control for flight planning! I was doing all the burns by the seat of my pants! hahahaha. Closest I got was 4km but I wrecked the intersection trajectory on the final approach and couldn't reestablish it with my remaining fuel... so close. I barely have enough cash to upgrade both... just like 13k left after launch.

Having the same problem callimero is having. Anyone know what's going on?

Hey everyone! Always wanted to be an Astronaut. I watched "Spacecamp" so many times when I was a kid. Now I get to pretend I am one with KSP! Currently about 25 hours into the game, playing stock normal difficulty campaign mode. Just got into low orbit on a rescue mission, now trying to figure out how to intersect a lost astronaut Good thinking: remembering to bring an extra command pod; Bad thinking: not learning the theory of orbital intersections before hand I've been trying to get my girlfriend to get into it with me... help me navigate and plan in these early stages... but somehow I haven't been able to share the feeling of awesomeness and curiosity that comes from playing. I think I'm gonna have to get her to play some of the tutorials and maybe a scenario on her own first. Hmmmm. Anyone out their play collaboratively with their partners?

Wow! Copenhagen Suborbitals is such an amazing project and a huge inspiration. I love the rocket shop Wired blog. I can't think of a better example of the power of "peer production" than Copenhagen Suborbitals. As far as I know, the spaceflight industry hasn't been examined by contemporary peer production scholars. Some research so far has focused on the Alternative Energy, Biotechnology, Educational Materials, and Telecommunications industries, and I think there is a fair amount of prior work on early aviation and aerospace innovation, since innovations in both often required substantial public investment, and public funders (sometimes) have the power and incentive to make subsequent innovations more "shareable." For instance, in the early 1900's, a rapid development of many innovations for powered flight had lead to "patent thicket" that made it difficult to impossible for any one aircraft manufacturer to successfully license and integrate all the inventions into one aircraft. This was a big problem because the country was about to enter World War 1 and we needed the most cutting-edge aircraft available. So, amazingly, the government actually "stepped-in" and insisted that everyone share their patents with their competitors. Better planes were made and arguable the industry was advanced faster than if the patent thicket had remained. From the Wright Brothers Patent War Wikipedia article: Perhaps it's time for these Peer Production scholars to look at Copenhagen Suborbitals, the Rocket Madsen Space Lab, Kerbal Space Program, and the communities supporting and innovating with and around them! Welcome to Kerbal!

Wow, that multi-biome trip is really cool. I just started playing two days ago straight in campaign standard difficulty mode and OMG, I'm addicted. I am learning so much about orbital mechanics and basic piloting. I love the trial-and-error aspect of the game, it makes learning so much more fun. I wish there was a similar experience for molecular biology... hehe. I'm about 25 hours in and in the middle of my first low-orbit rescue mission. I got up there... now I just need to learn how to intersect with the little bit of fuel I have left... My excuse re: hours is - "hey! I'm rocket science! It takes TIME :)"

Thanks for the informative thread! After reading here and getting more details from the Kerbal Navball Wiki entry, I made a quick sketch of where I think the vectors are in a simple orbit. Does this look right? Let me know - I'm thinking about making a vector image for the wiki page. Thanks!