Warzouz

OK, I thought there was some problems with getting in contact with the ground. When I landed (not a miner), I wasn't "landed" immediately. I though that could be an issue. Cool. My miner could refuel the Eve station from Gilly. My station obits Eve at 2000km in Gilly's plane. Rendez-vous with Gilly is 500 to 600 m/s, then capture and landing. Should fit under 1100/1200 m/s, leaving 250 m/s for docking. Best Gilly approach is when rendez-vous is made at periaps ?

Is is really possible to mine Gilly ? I've a contract that ask than. But I remember landing on Gilly was somewhat strange.

No, he forgot to close the fridge's door. Valentina will be furious.

Thank you for you replies. SAS can handle torque offset. I didn't noticed first, but it also show a thrust torque which depends on the engine providing the thrust. I did some testing, even increasing torque by moving fuel around, messing my save file. SAS is capable of handeling the torque. BUT, the heading is still sliding because SAS don't keep a clear heading. It works better when targeting prograde, radial or normal. Event a node will keep it straight. That's for reaction wheels. Now for Gimbal : engines (but not LVN on my test vessel) have gimbal. My ship would be stable is the torque offset angle is lower than the gimbal angle ?

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. I knew thatKerbals weren't the nicely stupid folks they look. They are vicious cultists of ancestral powers ! Does Eeloo is Yuggoth ?

I always build ship even. Only (not so) "physic-less" parts are non even. For example, as antenna aren't physic-less, I always stick 2 of them... Then KER always shows 0 thrust torque-offset. But recently I'm working with moving space stations and I noticed that my lander was nearly the same weight as my generic lander. So I sticked the side ways. that gave me 1° of torque offset. When I fired the engines with SAS... nothing append : the ship flew straight. The engines don't have gimbal, so the course correction is managed by the reactions wheels (2 big ones and probe cores) (click to enlarge) The questions : - How can we evaluate when it's necessary to balance parts ? - How can we evaluate the reaction wheels torque correction needed ? - Do reaction wheel can compensate better at low thrust ? - What experimentation can we do to check that.

Ballistic is as single burn which will intersect your target SOI without plane change. The burn is usually not prograde only. Ballistic should be more efficient. As for "optimal", I don't know. It usually gives the same result as "Ballistic".

Yes I've security warning at work too (custom IE 9.0). It's not from the forum, but from the top left picture which seems to come from the main site. But here at home, I don't have any security warning from Firefox.

Yes this heavy lander is design to bring back 2 big tanks of Ore to a space station. It's capable of refueling 43% of an orange tank from Moho/Vall, 61% from Mun/Eeloo, 68% from Dres/Ike and 83% from Bop, Pol, Minmus and Gilly. It's part of a modular space station I'm working on.

Well my miner/lander is LVN powered and drain from the bottom. That maybe related to the fuel conduit though... EDIT : true, I fixed the OP. BTW, I managed to land on a 27° slope on Bop. I don't understand why I can't take screenshot anymore, but my lander look lit that. (click to enlarge)

Landing can be harsh on slopes. Here is a tip I noticed to reduce unlucky tipping. The obvious : If fuel is drawn fuel from lower tank first (fuel conduits), lock the lower tanks or transfer fuel from the top to the bottom to lower you center of mass before landing. The less obvious : When you locate the orientation of the slope, "Lock suspension" on the landing struts down the slope. That way, your ship will bounce less when you cut engine. In any case : land slower than on flat land. Try to get lower than 1m. Of course activate SAS.

@Kowgan I agree with your charts for interoplanetary dV values. I usually get those easily. On the other hand, I'm a bit confused on the landing/ascent values. They are theorical values that you can't get easily. For instance I don't think anyone landed on Tylo with only 2270m/s. EDIT : OK, I'm stupid. I just did it with a simple 5 part test ship with TWR = 4 (up to 8,5). I used 2266m/s on a very flat ascent. A higher angle gave me 2400m/s. Please ignore this message.

This is valid for Duna, Eve, Jool, but not for Moho, Dres or Eeloo. Those bodies have need a plan change. This can be costly. The best spt is to get the encounter when the body is very near the Kerbin plane. For Moho, this can go up to 2500m/s more. As you get a log of window for moho, select the correct one with care. The best way is to launch to LKO and check each window until you get a proper encounter. Meanwhile, you can explore elsewhere.

To fail at 3400m/s means you have a very non streamlined payload or a messy ascent profile. Sure if you go straight up and circularize then, you'll need around 4000m/s (may be more). A reasonable rocket would be 3300m/s (VAC) with safety margin for a regular payload. My first stage usually have 3350 to 3400m/s but it needs to deorbit itself to land near KSC (powered landing). I think I get to LKO (75km) for 3150m/s (VAC - no safety) that means the real dV (including atmo loss to ISP) should be around 2900 to 3100m/s to LKO.

Yes, 3200 is a good target dV. To get this dV you have to get a very good trajectory and a smooth flight. Further more, you payload has to be very streamlined. I usually get to LKO at 3200 with almost all payloads (except very non streamlined ones - up to 3500). This is vaccum dV. The real dV (including atmo ISP loss is a bit lower). You don't have to take that into account. Just don't build a launch stage with Poodle, Terrier or Nerva. Just stick 3200m/s to your launch stage or 3400 to be safe. I also recommend to add a bit more to small rockets as they are a bit harder to fly than heavier ones.

It's not that simple. If I bring the refinery with me, I must refine the fuel. But the lander is not an explorer, it's a refueling ship. It's meant to refuel the science ship for multiple runs. So I need fuel, RCS and oxidizer. If I refine it, I need dead weight tanks (RCS, oxidizer). The I arrive at the station with probably too much oxidizer and not enough fuel. The balance is quite delicate. I tried various configuration and the most efficient was only to return ore and refine in space. This configuration is efficient because the miner has engines that power the whole station to move it. I laugh when I discovered my stupid mistake because the ship was so neat, I missed the obvious. Eeloo (identical to Dres but with a proper interplanetary stage) and miner assembly Joolian variation in regular configuration moving from Pol to Bop (and crossing Tylo SOI)

I was planning a Dres mission (never been there). My usual mission is to send a space station with fuel and one or two landers (usually some 7 tons/terrier/full science) and a return vehicle. I launch 2 mission : one for the station with fuel and one for the landers/return/satellites... Then, I was experimenting on mining tech. I designed a miner which could reorbit 2 big ore tanks (even from Vall and moho). After refuel itself, it can fill at least 43% of an orange tank. I'm smart. The new strategy is to bring a smaller fuel tank on the station and be able to refuel it. I'm smart. Then I noticed the design of the miner would fit nicely as the interstellar tug to push the station to Dres. Perfect, I'm reusing the same engine block. I'm smart. Then I get that I don't need Oxydiser (the miner is LVN powered), I could get it from Dres when I get there. Same for the monoprop. Even the return vehicle fuel will be used to get there. I'm smart. So all the fuel I bring along will be used for the travel. I'm smart. The full station is much lighter than my previous missions (Duna/Eve). I'm smart. Launch goes perfectly. I get the node set, I do a nice triple burn (low TWR) and get a perfect intercept, after a mid course correction burn. I'm smart. I'm circularize at Dres periaps, with even dV left (the margin I took). Calculation were nearly 100% exact. I'm smart. Until... I notice I forgot to account for the fuel to land the miner on Dres and get back with it's load of ore... Not smart enough though... Warning : failure inbound !

True. I found what I was looking for. Categorization are in as save-non dependant folder \GameData\Squad\PartList So it's very hard to ship a subassembly pack with categorization because the categorization file would replace the existing one. Not a really clean feature from squad.

I must say I don't understand how the heat systems works. Once I blew up in Kerbin sky coming from Minmus with a ultra shallow 5 or 6 pass even using air-brakes and heating shield. And once I aerobraked a 100tons space station in Eve and only blew up the lower big docking ring. The space station wasn't even designed specifically to do so. Aero braking was fun. Now it seems random and I chose to pack up some more fuel and so some boring retro burn at PE. The heating system puzzles me...

I'm working on sub assemblies in sandbox-mode. When I'm finished with them, I dump them my Career-mode save. I can use them as intended BUT, the categorization is lost and I can't get it back. -> Can I transfer the categorization ? Which file ? -> Is it possible to reset the category of a sub-assembly without recreating the sub-assembly (and retyping the description...) ? Thx

Yes, I could go to the lower tech, but those rocket are quite easy to build. Once you get a working prototype (stable and steady) would can go anywhere by duplicating the engines and set a similar TWR. You can switch engines as you want to get different payloads. It's rally easy. I built a 600T and a 400T just by ALT+click on the 200 and 300T rocket (and adding a bit of fuel). I didn't do the 500T because I need a x4 symmetry on an existing x5 symmetry. Those rockets are much easier to design that any asparagus or even regular 2/3 stages to orbit. When I played science game mode in beta 0.9, I remembered fine tune the launch stage with multiple stages/asparagus. It was a lot of test to check if boosters were detaching without destroying everything. Then in carreer, I built SSTO stage and I don't need to test launches anymore, even with new aero. I plug the nearest launch stage to the payload and run for it... (Further more, I'm working on a modular space station)

Yep, I noticed that. I had a lot of engineer at start (when I needed pilots), now I have a lot of pilots (when I need scientists and engineers)... But I think it's 1/3 chance each. We can't find a rule with only 20-30 rescued Kerbals.

Why recovering part of you launch stage to LKO when you can recover whole of it. Recoverable Rocket SSTO It's very cheap, very simple configuration, very easy to fly and scalable. It's quite end game, but you can adapt the design to lower tech. Specifications :

Tips - Separate you power gen (especially solar arrays) from the docking area. You don't want to damage them. - Built yous station that you can easily understand them. I usually always do the same global design. - It's easier to integrate a tank into the main part of the station. the docking rings are for lander refuel and return ships. - Refueller containers dock as small ships, unload fuel to the main tank and you can ditch them. - A extension dock at the bottom to add parts (to upgrade or patch a the station). Few clickable picture A hyperedit test of my Duna station into Eve atmo (to test future mission there) Eeloo mission : A 200T payload to LKO launch for the Dres space station, and the space station in cruse configuration arriving at Eeloo. Finally the The refueller section landing at Eeloo Jool mission : same space station, the internal tank is a double size. The two last pictures shows the station is regular configuration. It can be moved as I can balance th fuel to avoid thrust offset. I visited Pol, I'm now in Bop SOI and plan to go th Vall. A separate mission at next window will bring along a plane for Laythe and a dedicated lander for Tylo.

You only use very few drogue chutes. Their job is to slow faster so the real chute can trigger safely I land a 300 vehicle with only 2 drogue chutes + 24 chutes and a powered landing for 20m/s what I use Drogue chutes - Min pressure = 0.4 - Deploy alt = max Regular chutes - Min pressure = 0.4 - Deploy alt = 1000m (or lower depending on your payload's weight) (beware of mountains with this configuration, chutes won't open before 5000m ASL. For Duna : use only regular chutes, open them at 700m/s and deploy them high. For Eve : use airbrakes high and regular chutes you'll open very low and slow (100m/s ?)