Warzouz

I use a lot of recoverable SSTO rocket. As in 1.0.5, reentry heating is more a issue than before, I was wondering to add elevons on my lover fins (wings). On ascent, the elevons would help to pilot the rocket and on reentry, as they goes backward, they would induce a permanent roll : as the SAS would try to correct a roll, it would increase it, as commands are backward on reentry. I'll give it a try if I've time.

For the bsic fins, I agree that it's a very cheap part, but I needed several times small wings which are heat resistant (especially on a second stage on Eve ascent vehicles. Bigger fins made the first stage very unstable. AV-T1 Winglet are too big for anything else than first stage. As for airbrakes, I agree that they should be for planes. But most plane parts are 2000m/s resistant (except liner ones). I'm not looking at realism here, but I wouldn't want to make devices that doesn't exists (mostly-)IRL . On the other hand, we all use SSTO (planes or rocket...)

I like the Rhino a lot. I use if form Eve, Duna, Dres and sometimes Jool. I alos use if for boosting the escape on Moho trips. But again, I used to lift vey heavy loads at a bargain because of recoverable SSTO rockets. EDIT : ah, even my Jool and Eeloo space station interplanetary stage is Rhino powered. Only my Moho interplanetary is LVN powered but has a first stage with double Rhino. I'm not too fond of low TWR at LKO

I should give an example I've a reentry vehicle with radial chutes in 4 way symetry. I reenter at high speed (4000 to 5000m/s). The stack is shielded, but not the chutes. They overheat (all 4 of them). Then I start rolling and the overheat vanishes (on 4 of them) until I stop rolling. Yes this impacts radial parts and not stack ones.

How would you do to reduce drag of a part with Module Manager ? Are those data obsolete ? dragModelType = default maximum_drag = 0.2 minimum_drag = 0.2 angularDrag = 2

I've noticed that with parts of your ship are overheating, there is a solution : roll your ship over and over and overheat will very quickly disappear. This work nicely on retrograde trajectory Have you noticed that ? Does that make sense ?

As you suggest that the atmo analysis, the surface scanner, the mystery goo and the narrow band scanner are grossly the same size. As I set them to 50kg each, I could remove the physicless options, so there would be more option to balance a ship. With that set, science packages weight has more than doubled. Here is the Module Manager file

I made a Module Manager script which contains that Weight Temp Physic Part Stock New Stock New Stock New Other Mk1-2 Command Pod is way too heavy 4000 2000 Mk2 Lander-can is too heavy 2500 1200 PPD-12 Cupola Module is too heavy 1760 1000 RC-L01 Remote Guidance Unit is too heavy 500 200 Convert-O-Tron 250 4250 6000 Convert-O-Tron 125 1250 2000 EAS-4 Strut Connector is too heavy and too draggy 50 5 Cubic Octagonal Strut is way too light (seriously 1kg ?) 1 10 Octagonal Strut is way too light 1 10 Modular Girder Segment 125 50 Modular Girder Adapter 250 50 Modular Girder Segment XL 375 100 M-Beam 650 I-Beam 80 50 M-Beam 200 I-Beam 375 100 M-Beam 200 I-Beam Pocket Edition 187,5 50 Rockomax HubMax Multi-Point Connector too heavy 1500 500 Structural Fuselage probably to light 100 200 Advanced Nose Cone - Type A 75 50 2000 2400 Advanced Nose Cone - Type B 75 50 2000 2400 Tail Connector A 200 125 2200 2400 Tail Connector B 200 125 2200 2400 Basic Fin could be have a reasonable max heat temp 934 2000 Cost 25→150 A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S, It should be MORE resistant, they are designed to create air resistance. 50 100 1200 2000 Pegasus I Mobility Enhancer way too heavy (you need plenty of them). 5 1 Advanced Grabbing Unit 75 150 Communotron 16 0 1 Comms DTS-M1 0 1 Communotron 88-88 25 50 0 1 Energy -25 % Illuminator Mk1 : could be lighter, they only look nice... 15 5 Illuminator Mk2 15 5 Hydraulic Detachment Manifold should be lighter. 400 100 SC-9001 Science Jr should have it's interaction range increased Range 1 → 3 Mystery Goo™ Containment Unit should have it's interaction range increased 0 1 Range 1 → 3 Double-C Seismic Accelerometer 5 10 PresMat Barometer 5 10 GRAVMAX Negative Gravioli Detector 5 10 2HOT Thermometer 5 10 Atmospheric Fluid Spectro-Variometer size doesn't match weight, should be heavier or smaller in size. 5 50 M4435 Narrow-Band Scanner could be lighter and physicless 100 50 0 1 Surface Scanning Module could be hevier or smaller and physicless 5 50 0 1 Fuel Cell 0 1 PB-NUK Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator 0 1 Inline Clamp-O-Tron could have some RCS reserves 300 250 RCS +50 What do you thing about it ? I still have to manage drag on few parts (Strut and ladder) Mystery goo can be balanced with a small fuel cell, but there is not much more...

OK, I get it. But I'm not about realism or simulation. I'm only try to fix discrepancies that push us not to use specific parts instead of others. For example, maybe the basic pod is too light, but the 3 crew pod is way too heavy compared to the 1 crew pod. It's much better to stack 3 one man pod than using a 3 crew pod... I must say I don't use the 2 crew landing can, because it's not worth the overweight. Why science equipment are 5kg and lights are 15kg ? Why struts are 50kg (and we need them manage over-weak joints), as cubic octagonal struts are 1kg ?. I know "it's not a bug, it's a feature...". Why the material Lab has the same interaction range than the small science parts so you have to stick to the part to activate it (because the range is probably from the center of the part, not from the skin...) It's not inconsistencies with reality (well it's a game) but inconsistencies within parts.

Some more SC-9001 Science Jr should have it's interaction range increased Mystery Goo™ Containment Unit should have it's interaction range increased

I've few of my own : Full throttle on the launchpad Better range for Goo ant Small Lab

When I cam back from Jool in beta 0.9, I had around 230 science experiments, if I'm not mistaken. I cycled trough the whole roster by mistake several time...

Module Manager makes changing parts data quite easy to change. Do you know a mod that already do that ? Do you want I try to do a mini mod ?

Thank you,@MiniMatt, for you time

Hydraulic Detachment Manifold should be lighter. Difference with other decouplers is too high I'm not sure about TR-38-D . It used to be physicless. If it still is, it shouldn't. As I understand physicless for small radial parts, I don't understand it for stackable parts.

Physicless parts aren't as in beta anymore. They only add their parts to their parent. The advantage is you don't have to balance them. It's very useful for small parts (science, ladders, antenna...)

Reading some discussions, many KSC players know there are parts that aren't "interesting" because they are flowed. Mk1-2 Command Pod is way too heavy Mk2 Lander-can is too heavy ISRU may be too light PPD-12 Cupola Module is too heavy RC-L01 Remote Guidance Unit is too heavy Kerbodyne ADTP-2-3 could hold some fuel EAS-4 Strut Connector is too heavy and too draggy (usually used to parry joints weakness) Cubic Octagonal Strut is way too light (seriously 1kg ?) Octagonal Strut is way too light Modular Girder Segment too heavy (175 kg ?) Rockomax HubMax Multi-Point Connector too heavy (you can do nicer and much lighter with Structural fuselage Structural Fuselage probably to light Shock Cone Intake not draggy enough (seriously less draggy than nose cones ?) Structural Intake could be less draggy or more efficient so they can me used... they look cool Nose cones : could be lighter and more heat resistant. Basic Fin could be have a reasonable max heat temp. Or we could get some usable small fins A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S set 2000K to max temp back. Why this par is LESS resistant than wings... It should be MORE resistant, they are designed to create air resistance. Pegasus I Mobility Enhancer way too heavy (you need plenty of them). Inline Clamp-O-Tron could have some RCS reserves Atmospheric Fluid Spectro-Variometer size doesn't match weight, should be heavier or smaller in size. M4435 Narrow-Band Scanner could be lighter and physicless Surface Scanning Module could be hevier or smaller and physicless Antenna : could be physicless to avoid adding 2 Illuminator Mk1 and MK2 : could be lighter, they only look nice... Hydraulic Detachment Manifold should be lighter. Difference with other decouplers is too high TR-38-D is still physicless, it shouldn't be SC-9001 Science Jr should have it's interaction range increased Mystery Goo™ Containment Unit should have it's interaction range increased Insights, others ?

BTW, after tweaking with HE, I managed to find how to emulate hyperbolic orbits. Here are the steps in the Orbit Editor Put your test ship in orbit using "Simple" option (lets say 100 000m) Add velocity up to the desired value with "Velocity" Use "Graphic" to change "Mean" value so you can set your ship before the body Pe. Now you have few minutes to set your ship at the correct Pe altitude (I was testing 30km) KER gives some extra information : you can predict the speed at PE Results : My return ships supports 5000m/s (7000 with a bigger shield) and will land if PE altitude is not higher than 30km.

It's not the first time I go to Jool system. It's a VERY nice place. You can see all 3 inner moons nearly what ever you are and navigating from one to the other is very easy (you don't have to wait months to get a window. But it's the first time I'm using gravity assist. As other said, You can't be sure to get proper encounter with Tylo or Laythe to get proper gravity assist, My point is : pack more fuel than 4800m/s. My initial mission was 3 flyby and 2 orbits for 6500m/s Have fun.

Your idea of a dedicated high speed airbrake would be very nice. The issue is that some parts do better jobs than dedicated ones. For example shock cones air intakes has less drag than a regular cone. That basically non sense if the shock cone is not connected to any engine. Yes, I'm testing reentry vehicle. For now I use a lot of space stations around various bodies. Then I manage crew rotations. for now I was leaving 2 crew (one scientist and one engineer). My reentry vehicle is basically 2 stacked landing pods. With a small heat shield, the pod goes up to 5000m/s at pe. I managed to get to 6500m/s with a medium heat shield, but the ship look ugly and I can't LKO 2 of them at the same time. When the airbrakes are usable, your speed has already been lowered a lot and quickly reducing to a "chute-safe" speed (even without drogues). My standard 2 seat pod is able to open chute at 7000 to 8000m. I could even land in the mountains... No need of airbrakes or drogue. I'm nearly sure that if you survive Eve heating, chute speed opening is not a problem, so airbrakes ar useless. I started looking for reusable vehicles which would circularize at LKO the dock to a space station. Crew would be carried by refueling freighter (probably a SSTO space plane). But this kind of return vehicle is more bulky and costs more fuel. the target space station will have to refuel it and I don't want to have to do 2 mining trips to refuel one return vehicle.

Can't you simply increase the sound level when you edit the video ?

As of 1.0.5, when you try to view a craft you don't have all the parts unlocked In craft files : the ship name is displayed and you have a message that you lack a part. In sub assemblies : the file is not visible (you d'ont even know you have it I suggest the ship would be loadable, editable but missing parts would appear highlighted. The "launch" button would stay locked until all locked parts are removed. That way we would be able to edit a file an replace the unavailable parts by other ones. Only missing parts from mods would make craft hidden (because it's really not possible to open them).

It feels like a more user friendly KAC-like feature ? That GUI would be efficient and quite easy to integrate in existing KSP.

Airbrakes explodes at 1200K, this temp is very quickly reached (few seconds) while really decelerating. They can only be open at reasonable low speed (1500m/s ? - I didn't do any tests in 1.0.5). Anyway, the temperature risk is far gone when you're at 1500m/s. Airbrakes are then useless because Eve atmoshpere is very dense. As I've said, I landed a ship without anything in 1.0.4 (well, I slowdown in high atmo with a terrier burning 1000m/s. Terminal velocity was 50m/s). Even drogue aren't necessary. I'm running some tests on Kerbin reentry vehicles. I'm removing all airbrakes because they are basically useless (I'm testing interplanetary reentry vehicles). They blow in few seconds if you open them, and the even blow if you don't open them (the chutes survives even they aren't protected either...). If I increase the size of the ship (creating a very bulky and ugly ship) the airbrakes also explodes is open. Basically, airbrakes aren't necessary anymore. I could try to do some tests again on Eve, but I'm quite sure they will blow very soon. In 1.0.4, airbrakes were very useful because very resistant (maybe too much though). I did very extensive tests in 1.0.4. That was my successful 1.0.4 lander + ascent vehicle from 100km Eve orbit (this vehicle was largely overfueled) You may notice there was no heatshield, even heat rises to 95% of critical temp. For now, I'm waiting for 1.1 to resume playing KSP. Well, that's not far from editing the part files and set air brakes heat resistance to a higher value.

I don't understand what you want to achieve. Do you want to do a simple Jool fly by or staying and exploring the Jool system/moons ? Do you want to recover your ship in the end ? Or will you simply transmit it science ? If you're not to easy with low TWR, you can always add several engines (LVN) with a bi/tri/quadri coupler. Jool is quite easy to reach. Its SOI is so large you can't really miss it. If you have a long burn time and you're not too easy with multi burns, you can go to a higher orbit where you can do longer burns (even you loose dV) I've recently done a Jool moons flyby/orbits to get 65XP for a very quick and simple mission. I managed to get it done with less than 5000m/s and 3 hours gameplay including ship design, even if I messed up reentry becaus I was to eager to return home... Here is the topic : http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/129302-school-bus-a-level-up-mission-design/#comment-2349170 Here is my flight plan Escape burn 1925m/s (from 200km - 10 min) Jool plane change 210m/s (DN was very near Kerbin) but I got a Tylo encounter Tuning in Kerbol SOI : 1.2m/s (got a vall encounter) Tuning before Vall : 3.7m/s (got a Laythe encounter) Tuning before Laythe : 9.1m/s (got a very far DN with Bop) Bop plane change : 250m/s (Ap is on Bop Dn, cool) Random node tweaking 200m/s : Bop encounter ... Avoid crashing into Bop = 12m/s Circularizing at Bop = 80m/s Escape + partial plane change = 247m/s (a very dirty interplanetary transfer...) Final plane change 50m/s with Pol Random node tweaking 40m/s : Pol encounter Circularizing at Pol = 65m/s Dirty escape from Pol/Jool and partial plane change with Kerbin : 1280m/s (I missed the window and don't want to wait) Final plane change and Kerbin encounter = 150m/s When entering Kerbin SOI, I've 1650m/s left. The ship was a around 68tons at LKO (iirc) for 16 kerbals powered by 3 LVN. The TWR was around 0.3, if I'm not mistaken.