Ultimate Steve

Sorry for the necro (1 year, almost to the day), but I believe this is still somewhat relevant, and given that it's summer now (and I have 4-5 days before the next exciting thing starts) this is looking like something I want to try. Is KER considered a mod that doesn't change gameplay?

Doubled in length and width, so x4 in overall area. It's not the best improvement, but it's still a big one. IIRC they missed by <50m last time. The ship is ~200ft long with the net being half of that, so the new net will be about 400ftx400ft, or 122m*122m. If they missed the edge of the old net by 50m, then it was a total of (50m miss, old net was 61m, /2 for r is 30m) 80 meters from the center of the net, meaning to hit the net their accuracy would have to increase by 50m, preferably close to 80. However, with the new design, they only have to increase accuracy by (radius doubles, adds 30m, 50-30=) 20 meters to hit the new net, although again the preferred number is 80. I think. My math skills have already degraded significantly over the summer.

But, we have some good news - Elon likes to release news about in development stuff during these lulls. Maybe we'll get a BFR progress update later this month. Or more D2 info... ...Or an announcement that Mr. Steven's net is getting bigger.

One of the reasons is that NASA might be a bit mad, they have been hyping SLS/DSG/EM-2 for a while, and if SpaceX were to rush in and fly people around the moon, congress could question NASA for being inefficient, which might lead to some cancellations at NASA, which could put some of the contractors, companies, and employees against SpaceX. It's a mostly stupid reason, but it's a reason.

One, two, two and a half... two and three quarters.... two and seven eighths... two and fifteen sixteenths... 2.98... 2.99... 2.995... 2.9999... 2.999999999...

We already knew that the flight has *probably* been bumped to BFR, unless it is delayed by more than a few years.

I'll have to try this, looking at that shuttle landing... I've landed 6/7 of my recent SSTO planes on the runway, and the failure is only because I ran out of fuel to deorbit and overshot by 100km.

Is there a setting for the "ping" sound? Since the update I haven't gotten it.

Crickets on the webcast... they are about to get the biggest surprise of their lives!

Equator and High... well, the highest mountain on Eve is 7526m above sea level and is at -25.0159 : -158.4558, which is unfortunately further from the equator than ideal, but doable, you'll just have to incline the orbit of your station by at least 25 degrees. There are maps of all the planets and moons here: http://ksp.deringenieur.net/ Unfortunately, the site is a backup copy of the original which was abandoned years ago, and the elevation, slope, and biome features are broken. The ScanSat mod adds a way to map planets and get that information if you're into mods. Now, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure you're underestimating Eve. It is the third hardest body to return from, after Jool and the Sun. And unless you're crazy you don't try to return from Jool or the Sun. For a long time, Eve SSTO vehicles were thought to be impossible, until someone made one, which involved a mammoth engine, at least 3 of the large fuel tanks, and taking off from Eve's tallest mountain. He barely made it into orbit, and was pretty much completely out of fuel by the time he did so. It also carried one Kerbal, and would have been pretty much impossible to re-land on Eve, even with refueling, due to the lack of control surfaces. Since then, the community has managed better, especially with the update that nerfed drag. One guy managed to drag a set of ISRU equipment to orbit. Then, someone managed an SSTO from Kerbin to Eve and back using ISRU as well as dragging an asteroid to Low Eve Orbit. Two more designs come to mind, while not SSTO's, they were fully reusable. The first is one that launched to a suborbital trajectory and then was caught by a ship already in orbit, but that requires insane rendezvous skills, as well as precision ascent. The second was a stratolaunch type design, with the first stage being a plane powered by stock propellers that took a crew rocket up above the lower atmosphere, and it could SSTO from there, but he needed a stage recovery mod to get the plane back. The most practical design would probably be something like this, but scaled up (longer, maybe 3.75m) to carry 3 Kerbals: Bottom line, Eve SSTO's are hard. Scratch that, Eve Ascent Vehicles in general are hard. It's generally regarded that once you return from Eve, you're an expert at the game, and are in the top 0.1% of players. So in general, I'd suggest that you start with disposable vehicles, they can be tricky enough, especially landing in one piece. I'm not sure how experienced with the game you are. If this is going to be your first interplanetary mission, I'd suggest going to Duna first instead, it's harder to land on, but 50x easier to return from. SSTOs there are no problem. Plus, it has a conveniently placed (annoyingly placed if you're coming in from a transfer) moon similar in gravity to the Mun. Looking at your profile, you seem dead set on sending a submarine to another world. If you're not already focused entirely on Eve, might I suggest going to Laythe instead? It is much more similar to Kerbin, and is in the most interesting place in the whole system IMO, right next to four other moons. If this will be your first Jool trip, don't worry, just pack a lot of extra Delta-V, install a transfer mod, and realize that Jool's SOI is a lot bigger than it seems initially. Your other objectives, a refueling rover, base, and transportation plane, are much simpler although anything on other planets is tricky. A refueling rover will be straightforward, as will the base. Good call on the aerospikes on the exploration plane, they are one of the few engines that produce any thrust at Eve's sea level, although if I were you I'd use a Vector (maybe limit the gimbal) and add more fuel tanks. Good luck!

Hey! Bum bum bum! Got any grapes?

11:30 at night, here we come! Unless it is delayed to the end of the window... then, 3:30 in the morning, here we come!

The hill is known, the TARDIS is not - I'm really hoping this one isn't a hoax, the last person to report a new easter egg (besides the new magic boulders) was hoaxing it, I believe (house on Duna). If this is real, this is the first new easter egg in a while!

The question is not just the rate, we need to know the area. 5 tons a second spread around the state is fine, but five tons a second directly on your date's head is not.

Yes. @Fraston

@Joseph Kerman After a while the spoilers go off screen and are unclickable... is there anything at the end? Error 5P-0173R5 - too many spoilers.

"Please also list the number of quickloads it took."

Good luck, and Godspeed! I've still got two years to go.

Oof... you know your space program is underfunded when you can't build a variant of a proven rocket that involves little more than ditching the second stage.

I'm going to put this on my future job application to whatever aerospace company I apply for in 6 years time.

"Lego rockets"

YES! @Lithobrake

Once, I launched an Eve ascent vehicle to orbit to get to a mothership. The launch vehicle exploded but I managed to get it into orbit and rendezvoused with the mothership extremely heroically... And then I realized that the docking port had been blown up. On a similar note, I was launching a Duna lander but forgot the decoupler between it and the upper stage.

TIL I live less than an hour from Riverside.

If anyone here invents an excuse to come to Iowa... to see the corn or anything.... wait... nevermind Middle of Nowhere.