sevenperforce

Since most modern launch vehicles do not restart to circularize, throttling down is essential to hitting a precise orbit...essentially maintaining a consistent time to apogee right up until the point that you circularize.

While I certainly don't want to be re-boosting my satellites every few months, it would be neat to have an exosphere that would allow upper-atmosphere sampling for science-collection reasons. Might be something cool to add to Jool or even to a body like Tylo.

I was just talking about the code's capacity for adjustment. No, Isp has definitely increased. A carbon-fiber or COPV chamber can handle significantly higher chamber pressures without damning mass increase, and higher chamber pressure means higher Isp.

Why thank you. If I may make a suggestion: you should also add bonus points for launching a spaceplane that deorbits itself, then glides to an unpowered, wheeled landing, Shuttle Style. Extra points for having a payload bay, for making a wheeled landing within sight of KSC, for making a wheeled landing on the KSC runway, and for making a wheeled landing on the dirt runway at the old airfield. Not because I did that, but because spaceplane gliders are something I really suck at. Another thing on Tweakscale -- you should allow it on the unmodded leaderboard for everything other than the SRBs themselves. For example, if you want to use a Tweakscaled Mk3 cargo bay on a Mk1-sized spaceplane (like I did here), that's fine, but the SRBs used to launch it have to be 100% stock or you have to go to the mod leaderboard.

Just one question: Can I assemble this ship in orbit?

Okay, here we go. Did it without Tweakscale just so there's no question of legitimacy. I present...the Fauxon 5! This fully-reusable clone of the Falcon 5 rocket features five main engines on the booster and four main engines on the orbital stage, plus deorbit and landing engines on the capsule payload. The first stage executes a spectacular suicide-burn tail-first propulsive landing on a single solid landing rocket, touching down gently on landing legs, while the second stage deorbits itself using auxiliary motors and body-glides to a predetermined landing spot before landing on parachutes. The capsule deorbits itself and then lands propulsively, but carries an emergency parachute for less-than-nominal landings (or for launch aborts which expend its landing and deorbit motors). One pair of second-stage engines is thrust-limited aggressively to provide a smooth, low-acceleration orbital injection (and to allow time to reach space before the burn ends). It carries enough auxiliary motor pairs to aid in circularization and provide orbit adjustments A spry 148 tonnes is not bad for an all-solid orbital launcher, especially one that is fully reusable. As you can see, I placed several reaction wheels in the fairing section of the second stage. Both sets of SRBs have nose cones (connected at the bottom, rotated, and translated up) to reduce drag. The only expendable part in this whole stack is the payload adapter, which was really unavoidable. The capsule is drained of monopropellant but given an extra battery, since the SRBs have no alternators and won't recharge the batteries that run the reaction wheels. Here is is on the pad! It launches from its own landing legs. The auxiliary motors on the first stage are angled out to prevent exhaust damage, and the guidance fins are just below the CoM at liftoff (but will be above the CoM of the empty first stage). Launch and Abort Sequence: Nominal launch and first-stage recovery: Orbital insertion: Upper stage recovery: Orbital activity, capsule re-entry and recovery: That does it! So, scoring. Fully re-usable: 100 points Each parachute landing: 30 x 3 = 120 points Each powered landing: 100 x 2 = 200 points Single booster: 100 points 0-69 km: 50 x 3 = 150 points 70-100 km: 70 x 2 = 140 points Over 100 km: 100 x 2 = 200 points Manned (suggested): 100 points Functioning LES (suggested): 200 points (Suggested) total: 1,280

If you go in and change the cfg files you can make the stock SRBs in-flight-restartable with no other adjustments. The separatrons already have the highest burnout twr of any engine in the game, so amping up their Isp would make them a bit OP. I was thinking of something similar in shape to the Place-Anywhere Linear RCS Thruster, but larger. The Star rocket motors would be a good example; the highest-performing ones can get up to 297 s of Isp, which is really quite impressive. Of course, the Kerbal version would have a much lower propellant fraction and thrust than the real thing, and would be physically smaller. It would be a good choice for circularizing kerbostationary satellites quickly. With the same attach behavior as the Vector (surface or node attachment), it could be used alone or in a cluster. Since you can adjust the thrust limiter for SRBs already, a thrust curve isn't outside the realm of possibility; it would be like a preprogrammed change. Of course that would be messy and advanced tweakables would get really complicated. Whenever I want a thrust curve for SRBs, I just make a cluster of two or three pairs and set each pair to a different thrust limiter, so thrust starts off high and then drops gradually when each pair burns out in turn.

I did a simple, almost trivial 5-part Minmus lander with a Twin Boar, a Rockomax decoupler, a Poodle, a C7 adapter, and a Mk0 capsule, but that seems too easy.

Tweakscale increases the size of each part but keeps TWR and Isp constant. And that's fine. I actually wanted to use Tweakscale to make SRBs smaller, not bigger.

Tweakscale doesn't change any of the physics or physical capabilities of the engines.

I'll just leave this here:

In addition to larger SRBs, I'd like to see some very small vacuum-optimized SRBs to use as kick stages. Like, something the size of the monopropellant engine. Nozzle deflection setting on SRBs would be great as well.

Actually, now that I think about it, using a command seat requires either a heat shield or a payload bay, to protect the Kerbal from re-entry heat. And since there are no parts which contain both oxidizer and an air intake, you need five parts just to get an engine on it. Of course if we're only working on part count, then a LOT of other opportunities open up....

Proposal for a Large Size trimodal LOX-afterburning engine, for any modders out there: Name: LV-3 "Lantern" Atomic Rocket Motor Diameter: 2.5 meters Length: Same as the Nerva Mass: 13 tonnes Alternator: Can be switched on or off independent of throttle setting, provides 33 electric units per second (a quarter the electricity/weight of the PB-NUK), produces enough waste heat to require radiators Modes: Dry, Wet (Dry burns only LF; Wet burns LF+LO) Max Dry thrust (1 atm): 38 kN Max Dry thrust (vacuum): 240 kN Dry Isp (1 atm): 140 seconds Dry Isp (vacuum): 885 seconds Max Wet thrust (5 atm): 995 kN Max Wet thrust (1 atm): 1,095 kN Max Wet thrust (vacuum): 1,194 kN Wet Isp (5 atm): 500 seconds Wet Isp (1 atm): 550 seconds Wet Isp (vacuum): 600 seconds This is a trimodal nuclear thermal engine with a "wet" mode that allows LO-afterburning. It also functions as a nuclear reactor, providing more electricity per second than any other part in the game (although at a much higher mass cost), enough to run 3 Dawn engines simultaneously. Turning the reactor on requires active cooling to prevent rapid overheating. The dry atmospheric isp is worse than the LV-N due to the larger, more expanded engine bell. However, this allows the vacuum isp to be greater than the LV-N, though the dry TWR is a little lower than the LV-N. In wet mode, on the other hand, LO injection fills the engine bell, bringing the exit pressure up much higher and allowing it to reach a specific impulse of 550 seconds at sea level. Because of the high component of pressure thrust, the engine can attain 500 seconds of isp even at the sea level of Eve. Wet TWR is about 75% of the TWR of the Swivel engine, but still high enough that it could theoretically be used for an Eve SSTO. It is highly underexpanded in a vacuum and only reaches 600 seconds of isp in wet mode. Like the LV-N, it cannot gimbal.

Can I use a command seat?

Does it need to be stock or can I use Tweakscale?

All right, try this on for size:

So @Nucleartaxi created a novel challenge: get Jeb to Eve and back, using only Oscar-B fuel tanks! Of course, given the high part counts when you're trying to build something with the tiniest propellant tanks in the game, only the lander itself needed to be restricted to Oscar-Bs, though there are higher levels for making the transfer stage and/or lifter with Oscar-Bs only. I decided to just do the transfer stage and the lander with Oscar-Bs. In doing so, I think I inadvertently created one of the smallest fully-stock no-hacks Eve Ascent Vehicles ever...certainly smaller than I've ever seen on the forums: It's just 13.98 tonnes and it keeps our intrepid Evestronaut safely ensconced in a fairing until he's through the bulk of the atmosphere. With no further ado, here's the mission! Ascent and Eve Transfer: Eve Arrival and Descent: Sample Collection, Ascent, and Return: Not bad for my first mission to Eve.

I'll do this.

Just wrapped up the full mission for this challenge. It's Level 2 since I used XL sized parts for the lifter, but the lifter was an SSTO, so that should count for something. Final ascent vehicle (which, I might add, made it from the surface of Eve, elevation < 2000m, to Eve orbit without using EVA fuel for circularization) weighed in at a spry 13.98 tonnes, which is lower-mass than any fully-stock, no-hacks sample-return Eve Ascent Vehicle I've ever seen. Not saying it's the lowest-mass ever, but I certainly haven't seen anything smaller. Trimming the album; I'll upload it as a Mission Report and link it here.

The SRBs dropped in thrust as the SRBs dropped in weight so that the stack wouldn't get going too fast too soon.

Only mod I use is Tweakscale. Anything else just feels like cheating. =P Kidding, of course.

Great! I'm glad the missions I came up with worked out well. Hopefully no one runs into any snags. My computer is pretty good, actually, but I just prefer to go without modding for the most part. Less to worry about, and less chance that what I use will be incompatible with other players.

By "modded" I meant "modified", as in, the Ike Lander replacing Logistics. I only use Tweakscale.

All right; I'll get started on the modded EM-7.