Hotel26

I do this all the time and call it a security feature.

Designed and tested a big-wing VTOL SSTO for Duna a few weeks back. Foxbat R2. Enormous fun. The big wing area is important on Duna. The one last detail was how to get it into orbit from Kerbin. I tried most of the vehicles in my repertoire and, most fervently, my new F.A.R.T. which is designed for exactly this kind of mission. But that big Foxbat wing throws everything off balance in the thick Kerbin atmosphere. Well, I thought... let's fight wing with wing and gave it a shot on top of Brikoleur's Warangai Maathai... Mission: success.

I was genuinely astonished at the end of Take 2 to have made it to the surface. Vall suddenly became Vallhalla for me. Finally making it to a Jolian destination makes me feel like I have just passed the halfway mark and entered Part 2 of KSP.

Thanks for your interest, @XtraChrisP. Two shots, one of the Hawk lander/tug and the second of the new fuel pod I mentioned. Until recently, vehicles had to rendez-vous with a space station to refuel in preparation for interplanetary departures. In addition, having many vehicles attached to a space station eventually becomes an invitation for a Kraken gate-crashing party. So I'm thinking that the Hawk/fuel pod combination might be a nimble method for taking fuel to a nearby ship. One more component in my fuel chain may be found here: Minotaur. I will definitely give the asteroid capture a go. Do you recommend trying a smaller class of asteroid first, or go directly to Class E?

Take 2: Accelerated Mission to Land on Vall. Take 1 and Take 2 of the series Run, Icabod, Run, were shot on Sunday in five hours on an accelerated schedule, easily satisfying High Kommand's 18-hour ultimatum. General (soon-to-be four-stars) Kerman became even more of a hero on Base, although the usual adjective in use remained "pig-headed". Even Werner von Kerman had to grudgingly express some admiration for the General's ability to learn from his own knucklehead mistakes and show real grit to overcome them. The conclusion to the series, Take 3 (because the format requires 3 takes) will be attempted by the end of the week and posted. Stay tuned and wish us luck.

Take 2: Accelerated Mission to Land on Vall -- Gen. Icarus Kerman in command, KSC Mission Control. Mission vehicle comprised of: Mk 1-3 capsule: crew Jebediah Kerman, Bill Kerman, Bob Kerman Hawk lander Omega ion drive Aquila transfer booster a) Initial transfer burn takes place in a 120 x 70 km orbit. Aquila Mainsail engines have been retained and are in use. Werner von Kerman looks on with a grave visage, silently shaking his head in disbelief. b) Apoapsis has been extended to 1,200km. Another 1,600 m/sec required for Jolian rendez-vous c) Second burn in the transfer series under way. Mainsails should have been jettisoned. (von Kerman knows better than to say anything.) d) 3x spent Jumbos jettisoned along with their Mainsails. at the finish of the burn, the trajectory looks proper for Jool. e) but after the mid-course inclination adjustment, not so good. The transfer burn and inclination adjustment should have been planned together. Werner is now chuckling. f) Tylo is on the other side of the system, so we conclude [stupidly] that it is out of reach. Mission Control searches for contact with Vall. a) approaching the maneuver for Jool capture. b) Jool orbit secured. Only the mighty energy reserves of Ion Power could have pulled this off, I think. c) looking for Vall capture. Had wanted the outside but settled for the inside. d) a paltry 19.7 m/s. Almost a ballistic capture. e) Vall Yahoo!! f) beautiful sight but after a painful decision. General Kerman breaks it to the boys: rock-paper-scissors. Bill Kerman is selected to EVA and occupy the External Command Seat on the Hawk. There is not enough fuel to take the capsule down to the surface as planned... [Bob Kerman and Jebediah Kerman high-five triumphantly as soon as the airlock door has closed on Bill Kerman as they know very well that the next phase of the mission is Certain Death.] a) Bill Kerman has strapped into the "rodeo seat". His knuckles are feeling frozen. LF=500, OX=610. Werner in Mission Control is muttering, "I haf told you to take panelz! Zose electric gizmoz haf bin sucking your fuel all zis vile!... Now you haff NONE!" b) capsule is jettisoned to remain in orbit. Jeb and Bob have started a game of backgammon. Bill valiantly retains the electrics to start the tricky de-orbit procedure... c) OK! That's enough! Good bye, Omega!! Now we need the raw power... d) ...of Puff engines!! Ha ha, you crazy fools. (We're saving the Reliants until the very last moments...) e) WHAAAAT?! VALL!!!! Landed!! Jubilation at Mission Control! Bill does not speak for at least a minute. He has wet his space suit, which has overflowed... f) Bill stands in his sodden space boots, pondering for time interminable and finally fills in the caption on the flag, Icha-BODD!. It reads... "General Kerman, never forget: you received your fourth star, courtesy the heroic effort of Colonel B. Kerman" Mission Outcome: Astonishing Success Days Since Last Injury: 0 And so General Jeremiah I. I. Kerman was promoted to four-star general in the Kerbal Space Kommand. His job was safe. His mid-life crisis was over. And he was free to return to the Space Plane Hangar and wear his favorite overalls! "ICHA-BOOODDDDDDD!!! Have you forgotten it's our ANNIVERSARY!!! Why aren't you HOME yet??!!!"

Quite so! And thank you for the suggestion! Until recently, I had thought that aerobraking around Jool was the way to proceed. I used that technique back in v1.0.5 and think I found that 170km altitude got my apoapsis down to the altitude of Vall and I happily entered orbit around Vall that time, which is the best I had done to date with the Jolian system. Recently, a colleague whom I will refer to only by his code-name, Master Brain, informed me that aero-braking at Jool is "too dangerous". He recommended a gravity assist at Tylo (which is much more massive than Pol, I think) is the way to go. With no atmosphere, you can dip by it quite closely for maximum effect and then possibly aero-brake at Laythe, if that is the final target. I'd be happy to get just the gravity assist at Tylo! I will update this thread in the next couple of hours with the next episode, Take 2: Accelerated Mission to Land on Vall (which also took place on Sunday).

On Sunday, I decided my KSP career was being stalled by some kind of mysterious "mid-life crisis" involving playing around in the SPH with novel, winged conveyances... And so I determined to buckle down and return to nuts & bolts space exploration: Take 1: Accelerated Mission to Land on Vall. Thus, I entered a vale of tears...

Take 1: Accelerated Mission to Land on Vall -- Gen. Icarus Kerman in command, KSC Mission Control. Mission vehicle comprised of: Mk 1-3 capsule: crew Jebediah Kerman, Bill Kerman, Bob Kerman Hawk lander Omega ion drive Aquila transfer booster Fully-fueled, Aquila NERV engines are used to make an initial burn to raise apoapsis to 600,000km. A second burn once again at periapsis continues [screenshot 1] until a decision is made to conserve LFOX by switching to 32 x Dawn ion engines. [screenshot 2] The plan up until this point had been to keep the 3 x NERV engines for use at the destination, but a key decision to jettison Aquila is taken once all LFOX onboard is consumed. [screenshot 3] The transfer burn continues [screenshots 4, 5] until complete. At this time, tracking station shows [screenshot 6] that either a) an error in resuming the original periaptic burn after the first orbit restarted the dV count to the original value, or b) expecting a total dV of approx. 1043 m/s [error using Orbicalc] and subtracting the original burn of 443 m/s completed on the first pass, leaving 600 m/s remaining, failed to compensate for the Oberth effect on the second pass. However, sharp eyes will see that that very low dV the target was probably set erroneously for Duna! The mission will enter the Jolian SOI but at very high relative speed and is deemed irredeemable. Rookie error and a black day for KSC Mission Control. Mission Outcome: Abject Failure Loss of Life: 3 souls

ICABOD!! 0:52 Monday morning. News at 11.

General (3 stars) Jeremiah Icarus Ichabod Kerman, the Kerbal Space Center Base Kommander, was in a foul mood. His two assistants, General (1 star) Halski Kerman and Brigadier General Ronard Kerman, stood across from the desk, eyes downcast and looking very glum. They knew that the General thought of himself as "popular" amongst his command. The word they might have used themselves would have been "autocratic". Or "apoplectic". "General", as General Kerman was universally known[1] on base [or "Harry" while getting drunk off base], had just finished the best part of an hour raging and gesticulating in front of his aids. But he wasn't cross with them; he had just been venting his heart-felt frustration. A command transcript transmitted from Kerbal Space High Command lay on his desk. It was tersely-worded. The two phrases that had gotten under General Kerman's saddle so badly were "get over your mid-life crisis DOUBLE-QUICK, soldier!" and "stop F.A.R.T.ing[2] around in the Hangar, tinkering with new planes, and GET BACK OUT THERE in the universe and EXPLORE!!..." The command had ended with an ultimatum to set Kerbal boots on Vall by the end of the weekend -- or face the consequences. The general snarled, "Get me some boffins in here! PRONTO!! We've got work to do. And only 18 hours to do it in...[3] Let's cut some corners, gentlemen." [pictured[L-R]: Mk 1-3 capsule, Hawk lander, Omega ion-drive module, Aquila lifter/transit vehicle] 1. with the sole exception of his wife and formerly childhood sweetheart, Griselda Kerman, who calls him Icha-BODD!!, when he is in trouble, and Icky the rest of the time. 2. one bridge too far? 3. not counting warp time

Quick question about the tank. Is that a new 1.4 part is it from a mod? If mod, which? (Thanks.) [I long ago saw something like that on a mod called "TAC", maybe. Then it disappeared...]

I reverse-engineered[1] a F.A.R.T.[2], which you see here, assisting a lame NerfJet into orbit. The F.A.R.T. itself has insane thrust. The aerodynamics when it is conjoined with the payload -- well, let's just start with the fact that the long combination of both is not able to rotate from the runway at KSC. Now we know why those klever little Kerbals built R9 with a parapet looking out over the ocean 69 meters below... The CoL is ahead of the CoM, but that's OK if a) you know about it and what NOT to do because of it and b) since this isn't a Red Bull Aerobatics Competition. Flown carefully, the F.A.R.T.can quit thrusting just in time to preserve the last 100 kallons or so of oxidizer. The NerfJet, by that time, (which carried some of the surplus oxidizer required by the F.A.R.T. [this is getting old/stale] Rapiers), is able to take over and drag the tandem team into a circular orbit. That small amount of oxidizer allows the F.A.R.T. to make a short retrograde burn to de-orbit. It has lots of LF left for maneuvering. Does not want to come down. 32km seems to be a good Pe to set over KSC. (Anybody else have an "anti-KSC" marker [flag] placed on the other side of the planet?!) I may be able to improve how I operate the F.A.R.T. but I'm a little worried how I will manage with a machine such as the Duna VTOL Foxbat, which has no Nervs and also requires OX to operate. I surmise it will be able to carry plenty of OX anyway therefore to balance the equation. What a lot of fun!?! (I did it this evening on a laptop while waiting for my son, attending a concert. Oh, Joy. Indeed: Freude schöner Götterfunken...) 1. credit: Brikoleur 2. a F.A.R.T. is a Forward-Assisting Rear-mounted Thruster

I guess this doesn't sound like Hotel26 to be doing something "scientific" but the boffins over in Research & Development insisted. Trying out 3 different kinds of space stations (gas stations, really) and at 125km altitude. I'm spacing 5 Gizmos (some of the Kerbals are now calling it "Quasigizmo") at 72 degrees.

Unaware of anyone successfully doing this (recently) and have seen many failures...

Assuredly not, fine sir! But I certainly must credit your recent pix for making me rethink this all! I designed the original Omega series way back and it needed a revisit. And yes, I've been out past Jool with panels and they fade fast (inverse square?). It's so great to see someone else willing to openly admit using (massive) ion drive publicly -- maybe I should phrase this differently!!? I'm still doing the numbers on how much xenon I should carry... The orange tanks with the Gigantor array are empty but it's still a big weight penalty; the original Omega had solar sail masts and I am going to resurrect some variant of those. My view now is that the sails can supplement the deal and possibly conserve LFOX. Maybe your experience has already suggested it's clear cut in favor of LFOX only? Well, this is all why I like the "Parade Yo Stuff Today!" thread. The wonderful thing about KSP is the massive number of people simultaneously re-inventing the same Very Fun wheels multiple ways and coming up with so many different shapes to boot -- and to measure out just the right amount of cross-pollination via the forum so as to not spoil the fun; but not to work totally in the dark. BE ADVISED: ION DRIVE NOW ENGAGED -- SHIP'S COMPUTER BREWING YOU A CUP OF TEA.....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Omega 3 Ion Drive under development: 32 Dawn engines (up from 24); added 16 fuel cell arrays; will be designing a light-weight "aerial" for 14 Gigantor panels (comes separately); added a medium-amount of LFOX for stand-alone capability; probably adjusting the number of Xenon tanks from 24 to a final number of 32. (Gots to keep up with the newcomers to the market! )

A few days ago the Three Amigos wanted to ride out to a geostat sat in their Peregrine SSTO. Werner told 'em, "then you ain't coming home for supper tonight, boys...". He was korrekt: they managed it back down to a periapsis of 530km before running out of gas, leaving Jebby, Billy and Bobby stranded in a highly-elliptical orbit. The tug boys had to go out with a load of jerry cans and not the first time. So it's been overtime ever since, over in R&D, working on the new NerfJet: same plush, leather seats, fully-stocked bar and karaoke machine, but 4x NERVs instead of 4x Rapiers. It's supposed to be great for zipping around in the busy LKO corridors and packs enough fuel to go as far as Duna. Mebbe. That's without a fuel pack. Saddled up it'll probably go anywhere in the system in comfort. But get this: those big wig, hot shots wanted wings on it!! Sheesh. The thing is so lame it has to go to space atop a launcher or with a F.A.R.T (Forward-Assisting Rear-mounted Thruster) behind it. And then it's going to spend the rest of its life in space. It does land though and mighty purty, too, as long as you keep it going in the general direction of Down. Lands on its tail on the Mun, with gear already extended so it can be dropped gently into the horizontal position for easier passenger egress. To return to orbit, find a good, smooth hill and use it as a launch ramp. ["You shouldn't be thinking about landing this kontraption anywhere," Werner kept telling them, "just DOCKING!!"] ...and, yeah, I know: this is the twin-engined NerfJet 4 pictured. The fifth generation, NerfJet 5, went to a 4-banger coz the boys hate to wait when they are going places. And this is what the R&D fellers originally pitched to Billy, Bob and Jeb: NerfJet 1... Do you think that would fly with those boys!?... Heck, naaah

Well now that I've finished upgrading to 1.3.1, I'm getting the bit between my teeth to go to Jool in 129d. This is (almost) the whole Operation Beach Head mission loaded atop my Gizmo Master Blaster. 7 removable Hitchhikers, 4 Gimlet miners, 2 Vodka fuel trucks, two Hawk landers with fuel pods and, center-stage, another Hawk with a mapper attachment. Only items missing are a couple of Beep satpods which will lift-off with Gizmo. I also intend to add a bunch of Gigantor solar sails as well to provide locomotion for an Omega ion drive that will fly up on an Aquila and join the stern of the center-post (after jettisoning a single Mainsail). And a Pterodactyl as well for Laythe. Primary destination is Vall. I've got time for this to be a dress rehearsal to the Mun. When all details in the mission inventory are settled, I'll set up the same mission also on a space train comprised of at least 2 Aquila and an Omega. And yes, I'm thinking about an 8-way version of Gizmo. [Credit: recent image from @LordFerret] After all, why not? It's whole essence is Complete Overkill. Finally, I think I've maintained my usual, grimy standard of ugliness, wouldn't you say??

I've downloaded 1.4 and will be upgrading. In about a year's time if my usual average delay applies (and it will). I won't trash a world in progress just because there's a new version. I'll run side-by-side for a while and run small exercises in the new version. For example. Mining. Check that it still works the same way. That all my craft go through some basic check-out. Not to mention all the mods I operate have been upgraded. I'll wait until I've heard about a year's worth of comments from everyone. I don't know what the mission builder is yada yada, but I'm not particularly interested. I'll eventually upgrade but I'll also eventually reach a stage with KSP where I freeze it and tune out. "New" is not always "better". "Change" is not always "good". As a matter of fact, I have just completed all the preparations to get from 1.0.5 to 1.3.1 and have just started my first full world in 1.3.1 I'm now totally comfortable with 1.3.1 after all the settling in time.

It's possible. Telemagic currently works this way. But it requires a user to F5 (Save), then run the tool, then F9 (Reload). Might be OK for your application since you want to sanitize a state before loading it. Kraft is another example: it's a read-only tool that analyzes the contents of .craft files, which are quite similar to save files. Being able to parse those kinds of text files is the main work required to be able to do this.

I installed Bon Voyage recently. It's like MechJeb for rovers inasmuch as you have to install a device on your rover. For going from biome to biome (and then exploring in each?), I think it could be quite effective...? Bon chance!

A stimulating discussion (as it's caused some revision of my fleet as well as ideas). My conclusion is that I will stay with LKO but I am likely to use multiple stations now instead of just one. My objectives for a Kerbin space station are a) fuel dump, b) assembly point, c) temporary habitat for transferring crew/pax. The biggest disadvantage for me of LKO is the long rendez-vous times incurred when the target orbit is close to the minimum atmospheric escape. This is a disadvantage primarily only when I a) don't bother to coordinate my launch time and b) am not multiplexing mission steps via the Very Salubrious Kerbal Alarm Clock [Best Mod Ever]. For reference, Kerbin Orbit Period: 100km 32m 120km 34m 160km 36m 260km 44m So my resolutions are to establish multiple stations (3), but at 125km instead of at 100km [faster warp]; coordinate my launches more diligently at KSC; and I've introduced a much bigger fuel pod for use with my Hawk lander/tug. This gives the option of sending the Hawk on refuel jobs for an easier rendez-vous and including the option to completely top-up missions assembled that have been moved to 250km (say) for more efficient departure. I once tried a Mun-originated departure. I soon realized that the orbital speed of the Mun and then that of the craft orbiting it, summed up are going to be far less (in the Kerbol) reference-frame than your standard Kerbin orbit speed. That necessitates an initial slingshot maneuver via LKO to get going, which is another complication for interplanetary transit planning. Doable for sure, but not by me, a hopeless plodder. In addition, I worked hard to acquire the capability to boost a tremendous load of fuel into LKO from Kerbin and -- if I were a betting man -- I might wager I could always load fuel faster with less effort than can be done from the surface of the Mun. Minmus: fageddabahtit... [general consensus] One more interesting concept from this discussion is the asteroid thingy. I think I'm going to take a shot at it but only because it's bizarre. My Kerbals will get a chuckle out of it.

That and having a good book...

Man O Man, look at all those ion drives!! You've got 32 Dawns on that sucker... That will take you all the way to the HQ of the Ionian Nation!