nsgallup

The lander is on the very front of the craft, it uses a mono-propellant engine from the RLA stockalike mod which results in a set up that is a little more size efficient then with the LV-909 Terrier. You only need about 1.5km/s of Delta-V for a duna to orbit craft, so this lander should have more then enough. This is the lander module, dubbed the Eagle An example of a more conventional Duna lander, note that this one has higher (but unneeded) t/w, and requires a larger fuel tank This is the whole stack, a Duna landing and return takes around 7-8km/s of Delta-V according to most charts I've seen. This example doesn't have the two command pods attached, but their impact on the Delta V is minimal, also keep in mind that the lander module is staying at Duna, so that increases the return Delta V This one says it can be done with 7.7km/s I would just post a video recording, but I'm not sure how to do that while running opengl mode

Val and Bill are tasked with an in depth study of Duna, the plan is to land and then bring data back to an orbiting laboratory for long term research This Titan lifter is carrying a modified Ceres transfer stage, named the Ares External fuel tanks detach Fairing ejected Circularization Now that most of the ship is in orbit the crew need to be sent up, as well as a couple small parts of the ship, this lifter is very cheap and simple, relying on solid rocket boosters for most of the ascent Dropping boosters I had to limit throttle or else this would go way too fast Secondary solid rocket motor kicks in Switching to orbital stage, this module is called the KRM (Kerbin Re-entry Module) Circularization Rendezvous with Ares completed, now to dock Hardest one first, i forgot RCS ports on this one so I have to use the linear thrust to line it up This one is much easier Almost there Ares I ready to go, the lifter still has a little fuel left

The Titan heavy lifter has begun testing

You mean like the debug menu? Nope not using it.. it wouldn't be any fun if I was Sometimes I use hyper edit just to test things, but I always perform the mission from beginning to end once everything is good to go.

Booster separation I always overpower my probes.. I think this will be the case here as well The Pegasus lifter stage is detached and the probe begins it's transfer burn This mission will never return to Kerbin Jool The probe infers there are very high wind speeds on Jool due to fast moving clouds Laythe comes into view Capture burn Transfer stage separation, Pioneer is now on it's orbital stage A Tylo encounter reduces speed relative to Jool and also allows for some extra data Periapses was reduced to 150km for an atmospheric entry And that was the last KSC ever heard from the Pioneer probe, which immediately exploded on contact with the atmosphere, KSC has learned that Jool aerobreaking is not a viable tool for manned (or any) mission to the system

Eve ascent is one of the harder things in this game, I still haven't tried it post 1.0, kudos to you.

The Dunan!

What do you mean by legit?

Don't take this thread as an example of how quickly you should be progressing unless you've already been to Duna/Mun/Minmus hundreds of times, KSP has a very slow learning curve and there are tons of little things that you learn the longer you play that make things easier. For example, I never thought of using an RCS only lander for low gravity bodies until I saw someone else do it, but now that I know that I can it cuts down payload weight considerably which means a smaller transfer stage and a more efficient rocket over all. There are elements of the game I am not yet comfortable with, like rover deployment, or SSTO space planes, XD so annoying to get it right. Got any pics of your Mun missions? A Teaser for the next mission, a simple probe launched on a Pegasus derivative

Just tested the new version with a quarter size claw, it did work this time!

I would love to see some sort of 0.625 claw for asteroid probes

Is support for near future spacecraft/propulsion planned? Also the Mammoth engine seems to have an odd plume, it gives off 4 very linear and long plumes with no smoke effects, also (i dont actually know) should the exhaust of this type of engine be blue?

will it fix 0.625 claws?

Val decides try her hand at a simpler mission, this time she will heading to the low gravity playground of Gilly The Pegasus/Ceres combo should be more then sufficient to get her there, this time with a fairing and better energy management I actually am really happy with the sleek look of this launch system Booster separation The lifter stage is nearly a SSTO, only needing the solid boosters for a T/W boost at the beginning of the launch Confetti!! I want to install a mod that has nicer looking fairing.. but I have way too many already Lifter separation Burning for Eve Orbital adjustments as Val approaches Eve Val asks KSC if she can land on Eve instead, but they say no Capture burn, Val records some data about Eve, most notable is that choosing a landing site for future missions will be difficult because of poor surface visability... Perhaps radar? Gilly possesses a eccentric and inclined orbit making it annoying to get an encounter just right, I could've had a more efficient transfer, but I didn't want to wait as long and the Ceres has fuel to spare Val moves to the Grasshopper module Grasshopper detached, the Ceres is in a parking orbit of 100km with an extremely low orbital speed, the grasshopper should have plenty of fuel as it was designed for a Dres landing Moving around in Gilly orbit is agonizingly slow Eve really is nice to look at Looks like we found a flatish landing spot.. although it really is difficult to decipher up from down here Hmm.. not as flat as it looked, the gravity is extremely weak here though and reaction wheels will have no problem holding it up After taking data Val gets back in the grasshopper and flies a few kilometers northwards to the next landing site With some altitude Eve rises over the horizon Val hopes Jeb is impressed! Val kills horizontal velocity and begins the second landing, the third landing will take place in the large depression after the next ridge Landing site IB Another bouncing trajectory over to the final landing site, I actually was getting so impatient with the slow movement that I burned directly down before landing A big boulder Landing site IC After gathering data and having fun in the low G environment Val returns to the pod and plans the rendezvous with Ceres As Kerbol sets, Eve rises The grasshopper ditches the landing assembly and begins orbital insertion Val turns completely horizontal as soon as she clears the ridge line The three landing sites were along this slope Orbital maneuvers, even with just RCS propulsion it is difficult to not overdo the burns Ceres is silhouetted Val begins lining everything up Docking Val transfers surface data from the lander to the command pod, she doesn't ditch the lander though, as both modules have plenty of fuel and she has another mission in mind for it After dropping the periapses down to about 100km Vall ejects the grasshopper module The grasshopper lowers it's periapses to 85km, just inside the Evian atmosphere The module tumbles through the upper atmosphere gathering data on composition and drag properties After about 3 orbits through the upper atmosphere, the periapses is lowered to 75km Miraculously the module survives re-entry mostly intact, I was actually expecting it to explode from the heat Grasshopper radios some final data from the lower atmosphere before a hard splashdown destroys the module Ceres begins its Kerbin transfer burn The return trajectory Kerbin and Mun are visible Kerbin Ceres actually had just enough fuel to circularize in Kerbin orbit rather then a direct aerocapture Val separates from Ceres in preparation for re-entry Val screams past KSC Mission successful! Nuclear Thermal engines are now researched, enabling more efficient transfer stages

Bad news.. it seems there was a miscalculation in the fuel requirements for the mission, Val makes the decision to abort. She was short about 1000 Delta V Val adjusts the trajectory to make for an easier return to Kerbin The lander was ejected, though it did return some orbital data via radio A frustrating defeat.. Val is approaching Kerbin Val wonders if Kerbin will ever get another crater like that one, sure scary to think about The transfer stage burns up in the atmosphere Mission concluded with a splash, Kerbal kind vows to return to Dres

I've done this early part of the game a thousand times, I'm going through it as fast as I can to get to the more exciting parts. I use transfer tools and just time warp to the most efficient tranfer burns, which is always better then eyeballing it

It was Vals time to shine! She had a dream about Dres having no friends and decided she wanted to take a look. The Pegasus MkI on the Pad Liftoff! Higher!! Booster separation Val realizes that Kerbin is actually pretty small compared to the solar system, a pretty amazing thought... at least until she sees the extra snack box! Circularization The lifter brought us to a 85x35 orbit, the Ceres transfer stage takes us the rest of the way, a monoprop engine was selected for the transfer stage due to it's higher efficiency Antenna deployed Goodbye Kerbin Dres.. A lonely place indeed concludes Val More to Come!

Nice!, can't wait for tasty Neidon pics

Pol is pretty crazy, I like using RCS landers there

i couldn't get it to grab an asteroid, it just clipped into the surface then bounced off

Does the claw work if you scale it down? I couldn't get it to grab in the release version

A teaser for an upcoming mission

Awesome!!! love the claw Edit.. damn didn't realize this mod was dead.. the claw doesn't seem to work in 1.x :'(

Very cool! Eve is one of those planets that is best to look at but not touch XD

Thanks!