Dr Farnsworth

Good news everyone! The remnants of a vintage Jeb-Flyer flying machine was discovered last month! A curious engineer found the dusty pieces while rummaging though an old dilapidated hangar on the outskirts of town. Farnsworth Rocket Surgery has painstakingly recreated the antique contraption and added a few nifty safety features (just a seat belt). How to operate: 1. Eva out of the capsule and board the command chair. 2. Stage to separate the propeller from the flying machine. 3. Change focus to the propeller ( [ or ] ) and trim the roll all the way to the left (alt + q). 4. Make sure you yell Contact when the prop starts spinning! 5. Change focus back to the craft and stage again to release launch clamps. 6. Make sure SAS is on. 7. The flying machine will eventually lift off, eventually. Top speed in level flight is somewhere around 51 m/s. It can be flown without SAS if you trim the elevators a bit. It flies wonderfully! It may be the most enjoyable craft I have ever made. Special thanks to @The Optimist for the bearing design that I "borrowed". Download here! https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Jeb-Flyer-MKII

I will just leave this here https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Jeb-Flyer-MKII

I have kicked the idea around of installing the remote tech mod. I am concerned that the orbits of those three satellites would eventually decay and it would turn into a unusable mess.

I would be happy to test things for you. I just happen to have a base set up on Minmus that I could plug your parts into. Actually... I actually designed the base to use your manufacturing parts from the beginning, so it will be an easy fit. I am using Kerbal Planetary Base systems for the permanent structures. The furnace and printer look great mingled in with the base parts.

Eleusis, the MKS Lite scout workshop does not require an engineer to be inside of it for it to function. I will have to check tonight to see if a Kerbal needs to be in the base or if it will run sans green guys. I suspect it needs a Kerbal, and probably an engineer for higher efficiency. Now, concerning your production rates on the 3d printer. I should probably explain my methodology. I like to build remote bases that can become self sufficent but my goal is to start the building process with a single drop pod/genesis pod and build the rest using extraplanetary launchpads. The initial drop pod will contain one or two kerbals, life support, and enough material kits to build the first base structure. The first building is usually focused on ore mining so that I can start feeding my workshop. The Scout workshop is light and inflatable and it makes for a great starter material kits producer. Since it is so light I can usually bring one with me and not build it on site. Once the base is developed fully my goal would be to build a more permanent material kits manufacturer. This is where your models come in. They are beauties to behold! So the transition if from the temporary buildings and then to the permanent structures. It would be great to only have to build two 3d printers to match the material kit production of the scout workshop. But remember the way I am looking at it. The refinery and printer are permanent structures and as such you would assume they are more efficient, not less. The MKS Lite scout workshop weighs in at .75 tons. The Keridan Dynamics furnace and 3d printer weigh a total of 17.65 tons and is a permanent structure instead of being inflatable. It takes a substantial amount of material kits and time to construct the furnace and the printer vs the workshop. This could lead a person to argue that the furnace and printer should be much more powerful and effective devices, not less. Just my two cents.

Have you made any progress towards the 3d printer's production rate being comparable to the MKS/ MKS Lite workshop? You mentioned previously that your 3d printer would have a much lower production rate of material kits when compared to the MKS workshop or the MKS Lite scout workshop.

Eleusis, again thank you for this mod. I just built a base on Minmus using Extraplanetary Launchpads and your side pad. Totally awesome. I was going to build a base section that has your 3d printer in it and then I remembered that it can make material kits but not specialized parts (using MKS Lite). Have you had a chance to take a second look at how to make specialized parts?

Bandus, I am planning on eventually making a video of building a base on Ike and Duna. If not a video, I will release all the parts/ station sections/ vehicles with pictures. I am testing the base building right now on Minmus and so far it looks to be working fine. The mods you will need: 1. Extraplanetary Launchpads. Can't leave home without it (literialy)! EPL uses rocketparts, you will need to take a file (EL_USI.cfg) from the full MKS version to get EPL to use material kits and specialized parts. 2. MKS Lite. The "scout workshop" is a critical part of this. 3. USI Life support. You could do all of this without a life support mod. But why? The little recycler that is included in this mod is a game changer for base building using EPL. 4. KIS/KAS Another critical mod. Optional mods: 1. Kerbal Planetary Base Systems. The mod does not officially have any EPL parts just yet but there are workarounds. The mod does work with Roverdudes USI LS. 2. Keridian Dynamics. This mod has different models for the material kits manufacturing and launchpads. 3. Kerbal Hacks. Asphalt tiles that you can build launchpads with. With these mods you can launch a base building pod from Kerbin and build a base on whatever rock you want to. You will need to get your power and ore mining up first, manufacturing second, then focus on life support. Your initial base drop pod should carry enough material kits/specialized parts to build your first structure. You will also need to bring with you enough supplies/life support recycling to keep your kerbal alive until the base life support is operational. This is how I am approaching the challenge it and it seems to be working pretty well. I hope this at least points you in the right direction.

Real plume changes the startup and running sounds on the rockets. If they can do it, then there must be a way to make this mod work.

Soundy soundy no worky worky.

I just make my own sounds. All my engines sound like farts or boat motors.

I am trying to suck ore out of the ground. Make rocket parts. Build things with Extraplanetary Launchpads. But I can't figure out your refining chain from ore to rocketparts. Help please!

I second that

YAY! free toast for everyone!

The Kerbin sightseeing and pigeon feeding society contacted Farnsworth Rocket Surgery a while back. They asked us to design a craft suitable for visiting points of interest, or points that have no interest at all! They never did pay for the design work so we are releasing it to the public (lucky you)! The images are from the brochure that we had. It has some landmarks in it, so some may consider it a spoiler. Introducing the Ray long range flying wing. The Ray will rotate off the runway fully fueled at around 65 m/s. Cruising altitude is 8km @ 250 m/s The aircraft flies wonderfully! You will experience some wandering when you start the take off roll, but it will center back up without any input. The craft is a swept wing design and as such it does suffer from yaw-roll coupling at high speeds. However, I have not experienced any issues with yaw-roll coupling at landing speeds. The aircraft will fly with SAS without any issue, but I recommend using Atmospheric Auto Pilot for any aircraft. It just makes life so much better. Maybe you don't like flying slow. Don't worry! We have a solution! Introducing the Ray HS flying wing. Cruising altitude is 19km @ 900 m/s The Ray HS comes equipped with drop tanks. The fuel in the drop tanks is used first and gives the Ray HS the ability to reach it's cruising altitude without burning any of the fuel in the aircraft. I hope you enjoy them as much I enjoyed making them! Ray: https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Ray Ray HS: https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Ray-HS

I am not sure what you mean by "enter an issue". If you want to recreate: 8000m altitude, 320ms speed (above sound barrier). Auto zoom is set to on, use audio effects is on, frame of reference is surface. Auto flyby is set, target center of mass. When I hit the home key and the flyby starts, I have too much of the air turbulence sounds, no doppler effect though.

In the demo video there is an amazing doppler effect, sonic boom, and not much air turbulence sound. In my game however I am mostly getting the air turbulence sound, very little sonic boom and no doppler effect. I have been playing around with my mods to see if there was a conflict somewhere but I have not been able to find it. Is anyone else experiencing this, or have these effects been taken out of the mod?

Neat! Looks like it's time for me to "borrow" some ideas and make a bigger SSTO. "Skitters off to the laboratory"

RRF, my test pilots reported no stability issues in regards to landing or taking off in glider form. Extensive testing actually shows the glider to be quite stable. Under-powered, but stable. Take the craft out for a spin and let me know what you think.

Good news everyone! Now you can head out to the Mun like Apollo 11! Back in 1969 they thought it would be a great idea to get some rocks from the moon. Didn't they know we have rocks here?! This is my version of an Apollo style rocket. I call it the "Oh Paul O's". I did not try to make an exact replica, but hey, it works. Here is the mission briefing. The rocket starts off slow, so don't try to do any maneuvers until your up to around 150m/s. The first stage will take you partially through a gravity turn (about 60deg.). The second stage will take you to full sub-orbital. Your gravity turn should be finished by now. Detach the second stage. Stage again to detach the launch abort and light the third stage. The third stage will take you fully into orbit. Once your in orbit, release the faring and detach the third stage. Release the lander and swing around and attach on the docking port. Now your ready to go to the Mun! Except you need to adjust your staging, the main engine will need to be moved down and then activated. To the Mun! Park in a 20km orbit, find a nice place to land, transfer your landing crew and head to the surface. Once you have planted a flag or wiped a booger on a space rock it's time to head back. I shoot for a 10km orbit behind the command craft so I can adjust orbits and catch up. Transfer your crew! Head back to Kerbin. I am sure your mother has cookies waiting for you. Detach from the final stage before you reenter the atmosphere. The heat shield and chutes will take care of the rest. All of the main stages are can use the "Stage Recovery" mod. Good luck! Download here! https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Ohh-Paul-Os

It's not "stealing". Let's call it "creative copying". Glad you like it!

Scatterer + stock visual enhancements + distant object enhancement + real plume + engine lighting I have to ice down my computer every half hour so it does not melt.

Good news everyone! Do you have a hankerin for the good old days? Well now you can fly like they wanted to in the early 1960's Introducing the Farnsworth Dyna-soar. 1.1.3 friendly Back in the early 60's Boeing designed this neat rocket concept. Unfortunately, it never left the ground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-20_Dyna-Soar Instead of the glider being attached to the side of the rocket like we are accustomed to seeing with the space shuttle, Boeing attached it to the top of the rocket. The space shuttle suffered from some inherent design flaws right off of the drawing board (due mainly to government budget cuts). The main one being that it has the thrust and mass are out of alignment. To compensate for this the designers mounted the SSME's (Space Shuttle Main Engines) at an angle so that the thrust could be brought inline with the center of mass. Unfortunately, this flight attitude brought the orbiter directly under the external tank. The orbiter was pretty fragile and could not handle much fod (foreign object debris)hitting it. The external tank was huge, covered in finicky insulation and was directly over the orbiter during assent. A great way for the orbiter to get hit with stuff... The External tank that was filled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Those tanks had lines on them while it was on the pad to boil off some of those gasses that were in liquid form to control the pressure in the tanks. The result was the external tank would get cold enough sometimes for patches of ice to form on the tank out of condensing humidity in the air. Technicians would check for ice before launch but invariably, some would be missed. At launch by the time the shuttle cleared the launch tower it was already hurtling towards space at over 200 mph. Plenty fast enough for a piece of ice mingled with some foam from the external tank to break off and slice through the brittle carbon/carbon leading edge of the orbiter wing. This is the best guess as to what happened to the Columbia in 2003 ...Sorry for the history lesson... Anyways, The Dyna-Soar avoided all of these problems by mounding the glider on the top of the rocket. This however limited the size of the glider. It required the modified Titan rocket to have large fins on the bottom to compensate for the glider moving the center of lift too far up the rocket. So here is my take on the Dyna Soar All stages can take advantage of the "stage recovery" mod if you use it. The glider retains the last stage to use for orbital maneuvers, docking and solar energy. 150k orbits are achievable for crew rotation at your station. Final stage has a Clamp-0-Tron jr docking port to attach to the station. More fun than exploding! Perform your deorbit burn and then detach from the final stage. The glider should enter the athmosphere perpendicular and with the elevators deployed. There is no fuel you can move around. Once the air thickens up, the glider will drop to about 30 deg. attitude. The glider is not a "true" glider. It has two juno engines and 100 units of fuel so if you over or under-shoot your landing there is some adjustments that can be made. The glider flies very well and has an awesome glide slope. This does make it hard to burn off airspeed. Try to cross over the runway at well under 100 m/s and you shouldn't overshoot. Download here! https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Dyna-Soar

Good news everyone! Farnsworth Rocket Surgery and rubber toast delivery is not out of business! The new craft are all 1.1.3. compliant some are stock others have, well not-stock stuff. First up is the Lemur SSTO. Capable of crew transport or cargo delivery up a 150k orbit and returning without needing to refuel at an orbital station. The Lemur was designed to facilitate crew transport duty for my orbiting station around Kerbin and it works like a charm. Flight profile: After rotation off the runway, bring the speed up to about 300 m/s and slowly bring the nose up to about 45 deg. Hold that position until you get to about 8k altitude then bring the nose down to 10 deg. Hold that attitude until you explode or your out of air and need to change to closed cycle on your rapiers. If you fly it perfectly you can hit 1500 m/s before the engines start starving for air. Action Groups: 1. Toggle engine mode (closed/Open cycle) 2. Toggle elevator deploy (helps hold the nose up on reentry). 3. Toggle docking port open and toggle engine on/off (it sucks to poke the wrong button and move your station out of circular orbit. So turn off the engine). 4. Toggle fuel cell Abort: Toggle cabin lights. Rentry: Move fuel to the rear of the craft and hit action group 2 to deploy the elevators. Enter the atmosphere pointing straight up to present as much of the surface area of the craft as you can to assist in slowing down. Once you have dropped to about 1400 m/s, transfer all the fuel you can to the front of the craft. The craft will become unstable and is not capable of flight If you don't move the fuel or you are attempting to glide in without at least 80 units of liquid fuel in the nose cone. Currently there is a bug that will cause sections of the craft to load out of alignment if the landing gear are retracted. This only happens when the game re-loads the craft with the wheels stowed. An example: When you release the docking port from the station you are attached to it will happen when the craft re-loads. The workaround is to un-dock with the landing gear deployed. Just retract them once you have detached from the station. Some pics: The Lemur can be easily changed from a crew transport to cargo by simply changing out the center section! Download Here: https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Lemur Farnsworth Mongoose SSTO Being a sister to the Lemur, I decided to include it in the same post instead of making a new one. The Mongoose enjoys the same operational envelope as the Lemur and shares similar design cues. With both crafts you need to be careful of tail strikes on take off and landing. They rotate at about 100 m/s and need to land around 150 m/s. The Mongoose is a much more stable craft in flight and reentry due to the mid fuselage mounted engines. Reentry follows the same technique as it's sister. Move fuel to the aft of the spaceplane. Enter the atmosphere perpendicular. Once the air thickens up you will level out to about 45 deg attitude. Good enough to keep everyone from burning to a crisp. When to slow to 900 or so m/s, move the fuel back to the forward tanks, un-deploy the elevators and head for the runway! Removing the crew cabin and replacing it with a cargo bay makes it a dual function spaceplane. Download here : https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Mongoose

Good news everyone! Now if only I had some hapless suckers (employees) to deliver things for me.