Zyx Abacab

Sure, that's certainly true: the technique isn't nearly as straightforward as what you describe...but this way works too! Previously, there was only one thread about it—and that was a scenario thread! I really felt that this information, expanded for the Kerbol system, needed to be put down in writing somewhere. I'm glad I could help.

Introduced in 1.2, the CommNet feature made communications-satellite constellations relevant in the base game. A relatively easy way to provide pretty good communications coverage is a three-satellite constellation in an equatorial orbit. However, such a constellation does not provide full coverage over the entire surface of a celestial body. But a four-satellite constellation, if placed in a tetrahedral configuration, does! With that in mind: I've compiled a list of orbital parameters for this kind of tetrahedral constellation for every celestial body in the Kerbol system. Legend INC. Inclination ECC. Eccentricity SMA. Semi-Major Axis LAN. Longitude of the Ascending Node LPE. Longitude of Periapsis (a.k.a. Argument of Periapsis) MNA. Mean Anomaly at Epoch EPH. Epoch Moho Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1812500m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1812500m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1812500m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1812500m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Eve Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 5075000m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 5075000m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 5075000m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 5075000m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Gilly Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 94250m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 94250m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 94250m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 94250m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Kerbin Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 4350000m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 4350000m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 4350000m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 4350000m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Mun Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1450000m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1450000m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1450000m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1450000m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Minmus Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 435000m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 435000m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 435000m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 435000m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Duna Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2080000m* LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2080000m* LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2080000m* LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2080000m* LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 * Note: The correct semi-major axis of 2320000 metres causes satellites to eventually be pulled away by Ike's gravity. The listed SMA corresponds to the highest stable orbit I could find. Ike Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 942500m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 942500m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 942500m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 942500m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Dres Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1000500m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1000500m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1000500m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1000500m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Jool Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 43500000m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 43500000m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 43500000m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 43500000m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Laythe Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2909000m* LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2909000m* LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2909000m* LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2909000m* LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 * Note: As pointed out by boccelounge: given these orbital parameters, the correct SMA of 3625000 metres is outside of Laythe's sphere of influence. The listed SMA is the closest possible value that is still within Laythe's sphere of influence. Vall Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2175000m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2175000m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2175000m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 2175000m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Tylo Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 4350000m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 4350000m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 4350000m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 4350000m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Bop Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 471250m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 471250m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 471250m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 471250m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Pol Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 319000m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 319000m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 319000m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 319000m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 Eeloo Satellite 1 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1522500m LAN. 0° LPE. 270° MNA. 0 EPH. 0 Satellite 2 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1522500m LAN. 90° LPE. 90° MNA. -1.57078 EPH. 0 Satellite 3 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1522500m LAN. 180° LPE. 270° MNA. 3.14159 EPH. 0 Satellite 4 INC. 33° ECC. 0.28 SMA. 1522500m LAN. 270° LPE. 90° MNA. 1.57078 EPH. 0 The information in this post is based on John Draim's paper, Three- and Four-Satellite Continuous-Coverage Constellations, and an excellent thread by maltesh. The maths are all his; I only did the number-crunching and table-setting.

I'm zyxabacab on GitHub. Luckily, it's not a very common username.... I suppose it would be a good idea to wait until then? TAC-LS compiles with the code from both danfarnsy and JPLRepo, but only after commenting out references to PopupDialog and EngineersReport. Wayland's code compiled without needing to do that....

I'm actually a web developer by trade, so I'm most proficient with PHP and JavaScript. The only KSP-related thing I've made was a planetary science tracker—in pure JS. (Admittedly, that was before I knew the game kind of tracks these things for you....) That said, I've written several programs in C#/.NET, including a (mostly) feature-complete clone of RSIGuard, a personal budgeting application, and a desktop client for a web app. I've also made a toolkit for creating and modifying EPUB files in Python. I (used to) have a working knowledge of C++, but I haven't done anything with the language in years. Right now, I'm learning Rails in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, I could get away from PHP.

I agree. Forks of TAC-LS appearing now would not be a good thing—if those forks appeared only because the original developer stepped down. As long as the license remains open, and pull requests are honoured, we can keep this going!

Yes, yes! A thousand times, yes! TAC absolutely needs a radially-attached container in addition to the stackable containers. Like TheSaint pointed out, radially-attached containers could take on another form—perhaps more closely resembling the monoprop cylinders?—but I fail to see what benefit such a change would bring. What would be really nice is if all the TAC parts could be placed into a "Life Support" category, a-la Kerbal Planetary Base Systems, so that all the thousand little variations of parts don't clutter up the "Utility" category. I messaged the creator about this on April 22nd—almost two weeks ago—and he still hasn't read the message. His last recorded login was on the 25th. He did say he would be busy, though, for two weeks starting on the 20th. Hopefully, we all will hear from him in a few days. I'm a programmer with a fair bit of C# experience, but none with Unity or KSP in particular. I'd be happy to work together with you to get this mod working in 1.1—and to bring some of the older elements, like the GUI, up-to-date. However, I'm not in a stable enough environment to maintain something like this in the long term. The source code for TAC seems pretty straightforward, but it has basically no documentation—and maybe a dozen or so meaningful source comments in the whole project. It's also hard to find information about plugin development in recent versions of KSP, beyond very basic guides for outdated versions of IDEs. With that in mind, I think the biggest hurdle to get over is finding detailed information. Thank you for stepping up and offering to maintain this mod, by the way.

Post has been edited for accuracy.

For others reading this thread, be aware that—in terms of consumables—USI only cares about keeping kerbals fed. Water and oxygen resources are not directly consumed. By default, failing to provide life support is not fatal, and kerbals begin acting like tourists after 15 days of starvation.

Any given person is bound to have a limit at which he or she no longer enjoys the work. If a modder isn't having fun, or just doesn't want to do it anymore, that's simply all there is to it. We're only human, after all. Also, 1.1 is by far the biggest update; many things have been radically changed. Updating mod code to match new game versions is a chore at best—and a total rewrite at worst. This might be part of the reason why some modders chose to quit. Furthermore, I don't think a sense of the game being "finished" matters to everyone. Some of us—certainly including a number of modders—played enough 0.24, or 0.90, or 1.0.4/5 to be satisfied, never to pick up KSP again. That's just the nature of the early-access scheme. Luckily, according to this status update, it appears that someone has already offered to look after TAC Life Support and the Fuel Balancer—and WaylandSmith said earlier in the thread that he/she will fork the mod if that's what this comes down to. I agree with you completely, by the way! TAC-LS is pretty much the only life support mod that does the "big three" necessities just right.

This pod works fine with 1.1, including the newfangled internal view! (I tried to create an alternate RasterPropMonitor config for the K2, but I can't—for the life of me—figure out how to place the props correctly.)