ForScience6686

When it comes to shuttles and space planes I prefer steep re entries. It makes targeting the runway easier IMO, and takes less time. I burn prograde above the ocean wrapped by the continent west of ksc (if that made sense), return to prograde and enable sas. From there it's hands off until below 35km and 1500 m/s, then adjust for approach bringing me to about 1 km at about 5 km out. This method reduces the amount of time that your craft is soaking up heat and gets you into the thicker air to slow down faster. If you come in too high, roll over and pull up to point towards the ground. Having the wings greatly increased your drag profile which makes these types of landings possible. However if you're still really heavy you'll need to burn further east to give more time to slow down.

Pretty much, but don't forget parachutes. I don't have an example as I lost my save. But just build a stable bomber, and cram the probes in. I recall I could get 4 in the large mk2 bay. After dropping circle around to make sure they all deployed properly. It may take some fiddling with parachute settings and when to release but you'll get it. I recommend dropping them relatively close to the ground, but high enough so they can slow down all the way.

Try a science bomber, and drop a simple probe at the sites, fly home. Much easier then anything else imo.

Exactly, the thrust produced by these engines is quite high when you think about it, so the small draw of the alternator is quite puny in comparison.

The mod for science doors exactly what you're trying to do. It will even reset experiments if you have a scientist on board. Love this mod as right clicking just doesn't feel like science to me so I'll just let the mod handle that.

I would rather adjust trim, your never at a constant when flying, speed, altitude and mass constantly change. Find a good term seeing to get parabolic flight, then make small adjustments as needed to compensate. A lot of pilots fly with trim only, and land and take off with the stick.

Lol, "several" parts. It went from a car to a miniature star destroyer. What do you plan on running into on a desolate planet? Jk, I don't want you visiting me with that beast.

No other reason really. And to be honest I never use them. Chemical engines do just fine for anything I've sent out. And if you need that kind of dv, your thrust is so miserable that you end up losing dv due to immensely long burn times. My patience just isn't big enough for them.

One tip I'll throw in. I like to place an antenna or some other component on the top of the fuselage right at col. This way you can manually check your com to col relation by zooming in on the craft. Since the camera is set to the the com of the vehicle you can ensure that you are stable before re entry and adjust if needed. This has become standard on all my planes to quickly check this in flight.

Well we can agree to disagree, but the grass around ksc is not equivalent to anything you'll find in the wilderness, except for minmus, and planes are not effective there. Everywhere else you're dealing with uneven terrain. Real pilots don't practice by not landing on the runway. And by beginning your training landing on the runway, you must line up properly, which is more important when landing in the wilderness and picking the right lane, IMO. Anyone can land, gravity guarantees that, whether you survive or not is a different story. I would say the style points come in when you can land in the wilderness successfully, not on an even, flat, nicely paved runway. I mean we expect the pilot to get us on the runway, and bonus points if we survive an off runway landing, not the other way around. I'm also opposite of you in that I never use the dirty runway, I've always upgraded it before moving to planes. I mean it really isn't that big of an investment, and I'd rather not waste my time taxing from the launch pad. But hey if it works for you then by all means, I was just giving a different point of view. I just prefer to learn how to do it right first, then expand my abilities.

Flaps need some more attention here. They are a great way to slow down as well as increase lift. As for the suspension I would argue that you should increase damper and decrease spring, unless you're maxing out the wheels, but either way increase damper. This allows the plane to squat as well as reducing the spring back. It also helps with swaying on the ground. Beyond that look at how the pros do it. They line up way out and maintain specific speeds based on the planes abilities. This helps to control your descent much easier. They also don't do big flares since they don't nose down towards the runway, always keep positive aoa. Lastly, don't be afraid of the runway. I really disagree with people suggesting you learn by missing your runway, as long as it's not the tier 1 runway you should be plenty fine. Just seems counter productive, making the mark is half the battle.

28 total.

Exactly like a lander descent, except at the last moment, tilt down to land on the wheels. you don't have too completely cancel out horizontal speed since you can just roll to a stop.

Needing to repack a chute mid flight is very kerbal like. you should only need to do it after landing. besides I only use this method in non powered Landers, as I generally come in too fast to make sure I make the runway.

If you're using radiators to get you out of the atmosphere you're doing something wrong. that is not there intended purpose because they won't help much. pushing the craft through the air generates the heat around the craft, so what good would it do to put your radiator in all that heat? Instead, go for more vertical speed to get you up and out of the thicker air faster. or in the case of re entry, increase your drag coefficient. I only use radiators for nukes and drill/refining, and nothing else as they are dead weight. I either adjust my craft or ascent/descent profile.

Laythe can be challenging. You should do a lot of practice on kerbin first to understand the mechanics. there isn't much dry land there.

I recommend an orbital refinery, surface drills, and an ore transport. refining uses a lot of power, and your dark period is shorter when in orbit, so less batteries. No need to hall the mining equipment with you, so leave it on the surface. as far as transferring resources, I went with kas/kis, it has helped immensely with surface connections. now for landing near your mining base. set it as target and come in low, I only mine minmus as there are less losses. I usually line up to overshoot and then zero out horizontal speed and drop into the base. one thing that helps is my mining base is color coded via lights. this way I know where I need to land for quick hook ups. after a few runs it becomes quite easy to land within meters of your target.

Yes that's communications. What you are seeing is the connection to the ksc tracking station. it does have the ability to track through a bit of kerbin which is what I'm guessing you are seeing when it's in the ocean.

Nice work, don't forget about them in the future now. I tend to set them with the gear action group or assign there own action group if I have multiple sets of flaps. helps gradually reduce the speed during the approach.

I'm guessing you lack lift. it should be possible without flaps, but they help with lift as well as increase drag as you should be coming in under power and drop throttle upon crossing over the runway.

how far out do you begin your approach? what speed does your craft stall at? are you using flaps to increase low speed lift? The bigger the craft the harder it can be, but most often the problem is too much vertical speed. my advice is to setup a long approach and come in slow. I see many people just shoot straight for the runway and try big flares. You have much less control this way. You should be approaching with a positive aoa and use the throttle to control altitude, pitch to control speed. I also will decrease spring rate and increase damper to allow the plane to squat into the landing and reduce bounce back. also helps prevent the nose gear from being forced down.

Well you said you can make orbit. try to make orbit at the moment of rendezvous. it can be difficult to time it right, but it can be done.

I've moved on to automated science gathering via the mod for science. which just so happens to be my preferred screen name. it automatically runs science and can reset as long as a scientist is on board. has saved my pointer finger many many clicks.

No they will not. You will be stuck transferring kerbal and science. alternatively you could use kas/kis to attach connection ports and then link the ships manually. But you'll still have to learn rendezvous. But I think you're close than you think. You done the basics by reaching the moon. The only difference is at the closest approach you kill relative velocity. switch your nav ball to target to see how much speed to bleed off. then enjoy your accomplishment.