SingABrightSong

Huh. Well, thanks. More images incoming, then!

I know *that*. What was happening was that the "Insert into post" button wasn't working for some reason. It's working now, strangely, so have some images.

New Von Braun looks good. Something that comes to mind, though, is the HL-20 escape pod. The VB 11 can carry 18 kerbals, 19 with a Cupola Tug attached, but the HL-20 seats only four. You'd need four of them to be able to evac only most of its capacity, which would leave no room for docking anything else. Do you use some sort of pod bay? I'm attempting to design one myself at the moment. Trying to make one with doors, because reasons. In other thoughts as regards your craft, I notice that the Lackluster still uses its pre-fuel-priority design. Were there not plans to update that? I also notice that the Drive Pods included with the Magdalena seem to be broken(that is, not drawing LF through the tiny docking port), though that could just be a mistake I made when installing them.

Hmm, there should be an Imgur album on KerbalX. Would you like me to embed some of the images here? I should be able to do that. ETA: Nope, can't embed images from Imgur. You'll have to click through to KerbalX if you want to look at pics.

Some of you may remember my mobile base, the Kentipede. While I had made a thread for the earlier versions, the forum software advised me that I should start a new topic due to its inactivity. Just as well, as this version of the craft is a complete redesign. The last Kentipede update was a change in wheels to fit into the mark3 fuselage system. In this version of the Kentipede, it *is* a mark3 fuselage itself. This new brings a massive improvement to performance and durability. The modules are now all the same size, and look quite a bit nicer thanks to the excellent work of PorkJet on the the spaceplane and shuttle parts. This should make it much easier for you all to mix and match to your heart's content, and it allows systems to be deployed that carry a single module at a time, a fair compromise between the MkIV's portability and the MkII's durability. Without having to fit the wheels into the cargo bay, I was free to use the Rovemax M3 wheels, which have an insane impact tolerance differential steering, and a high ground clearance. I also added retro-rockets, parachutes, and lights to every module, to ensure a safe touchdown on most bodies(They are not sufficient for deorbiting maneuvers, so please bring a rocketcrane). Do note that, as before, a launch vehicle is not included(I myself am using a modified version of one of @Rune's General Lifters), and neither is an interplanetary transport(I recommend another of Rune's works, the Magdalena) If anyone is interested, an Imgur album and the craft file can be found on KerbalX

Looks good from what I can tell. I look forward to making my own Kerbal-Stayputnik missions.

*Grabs the new Von Braun* Glad to hear that your craft has such excellent performance. Good work. Now I just need to boot up KSP again... I noticed that you posted in the expansion announcement thread. With the understanding that you do plan to purchase it, should we expect to see craft from you incorporating the added parts? I do intend to purchase it, myself, but for others who do not, would you continue to maintain non-DLC craft in the event that DLC-added parts outperform the extant components in your designs? Perhaps these questions should wait until the DLC is actually released, heh.

I'd forego the recoverability on these ones. "Cheap" means "a long time", and these ones don't look like "A long time" is in their mission profile. I'd probably be using them in case something needs to get to space NOW.

Given that various mods have been moving away from Interstellar Fuel Switch, I would ask if there's a particular way to make the fuel switch compatible with, say, Configurable Containers.

Fair enough. In any case, I've discovered that the Trajectories mod has tools for planning a reentry profile.

While I'm sure it varies by design, as a general rule of thumb, how should I go about deorbiting a spaceplane or space shuttle so that I can land it at the KSC runway? Assuming a 100x100 prograde equatorial orbit, at what longitude should I make the burn, and what should my periapsis be before reentry?

Today I discovered a class-E asteroid... On an impact trajectory with Kerbin. Seems that my asteroid redirect mission just turned into an asteroid impact avoidance mission...

Slight issue here: The GravityTurn window does not respect the F2 "Hide interface" hotkey. I've been wanting to take pretty screenshots of launches, but the ugly window kind of gets in the way of that.

Not having good flying with the Espada. While it's tricky to fly at the best of times, I can't seem to get it to go supersonic properly. I reach Mach One just fine, but get stuck in the transsonic region at about 400m. I eventually punch through at 3500m if I fire the nuke, but even then I find that I have to pitch down to remain in the lower atmosphere, which of course causes the cockpit to overheat. The Espada needs to reach Mach 5 while still airbreathing in order to make orbit on its paltry 500 m/s of oxidizer. Pretty much the only way I can make it to orbit is to have the nuke burning for the entirety of the ascent. This is less than ideal. In other news, I noticed that you were working on a "Longshot" SSTO in the SSTOs thread. Would you care to tell us a bit about that? The payload was rather interesting too, I might add. And on a lighter note... "Why did Rune put shielded ports on the Klaw Pod" I thought. "There's no point!", I thought. I THOUGHT WRONG.

And a major revision this time. The Kentipede MkIV is now available. It replaced the XL-3 wheels with TR-2Ls, making the Kentipede, at last, Mk3-compliant. This means that you can haul the modules to orbit, or even to their destination, inside of your favorite cargo shuttles. However, the smaller wheels are slightly weaker, and the base being shorter and narrower than the MkIII Kentipede means that it can no longer traverse hazardous terrain with impunity. It can still pull a full U-turn at 20m/s at the KSC, but I recommend sticking to 10m/s on anything less a perfectly flat surface.

Crashed into that silver lining, did you? I suggest you file a support ticket.

@MrLake Ah, guess the new filename changed the URL. Try https://kerbalx.com/SingABrightSong/Kentipede-MkIII Another small update, here. Crossfade has been enabled on the rear of the science module, RCS thrusters have been added to the ISRU module, the internal QBEs are now forward-facing, and the LFO transport has been made fully modular.

I'm not actually sure what the glide path is, but what I can tell you is that it has excellent stall recovery

I should probably have posted this in the WIP design thread, first, given that I'm up to quadruple-posting now, but the Kentipede has been updated to Mark III. The form factor has been redesigned, so that you should actually be able to dock the modules together on the surface now, but unfortunately there is now no way to fit it in a cargo bay. The side modules have been phased out in favour of directly attached wheels, to limit part count and save players the hassle of trying to dock them. The NERV has been phased out for impractically long burn times, with a massive LFO transport being provided instead(Three parts, to be attached in LKO). Still ion engines, in case you can stand the burn times, but the xenon is there mostly for fulfilling contract parameters. The package includes one of each module, but if you're accepting contracts for mobile bases you're going to be needing none of some and multiples of others.

I found the one on Gilly while doing a seismic survey contract. The "World-First-Record" entry referred to "Experimental Motors" for some reason, which I understand is an unpopulated tech node.

There's a whole thread on that in the pre-release branch, I recall. Let me see if I can dig it up... Got it. Unfortunately, it appears to not be the case. "Combinable" simply means that having multiple combinable antennae increases the signal range logarithmically.

An impressive first entry! Your point total is 11489.45 points. As you are the first entry, you are the de facto leader.

The cargo bay doors slam shut with an absurd amount of force, so yes, I was able to knock it upright. I would be interested in that rover, though, and I'm sure others would be as well. Some other payloads of interest might be the SSTA module for the Orca, and the fixed-ISRU Lackluster. No pressure, though; I've learned how tedious it can be to come up with descriptions and screenshots for KerbalX. Speaking of payloads, though, I've managed to reverse-engineer your short-range relay, and improve it. The improvement is that it now fits in a Mk2 cargo bay. While you can, technically, fit two in at once, the clipping is a little untidy.

The Tesladyne is an experimental aerospike SSTO designed to prod at the limits of LFO propulsion. It is capable of ascending to a 100x70 km orbit, and returning safely. More skilled flyers may have superior performance. To ascend, pitch up to 45 degrees after takeoff. At 10 km, move into gravity turn. To descend, lower periapsis to 65 km, and aerobrake at 90 degrees pitch. When periapsis is below the surface, pitch down to 45 degrees for reentry. Glide to landing. Images, and download, available at KerbalX.

By the way, I've still been working on that 50-size Lackluster mod. It occurs to me that, with the new fuel flow, the Lackluster doesn't need such elaborate part ordering. In any case, I finally tested my version, deploying a Base ISRU module to the surface of Tylo. It being the heaviest of the base modules, this ensures that, if it can be delivered, any other module can be as well. Moreover, delivering the ISRU first allows the Lackluster to be refueled for subsequent deployments.. How does one refuel it, you might ask? Very carefully. SingABrightSong. The deploy limit tweakable turns the cargo bay into a kickstand.