Calvin_Maclure

Personally, I prefer having the real-life counterpart behavior. It adds an element of design (albeit, a small one) to think of when putting your stuff together. So i.e.: passive-to-passive = no / active-to-active = no / active-to-passive = a good time

Duna SAR Altimetry. Soon to be launched!

That's hot!

lol... you clever stand-up guy.

Like those OMS. What's the output? And nice flame in the bucket.

Resources at Duna - Duna RSSO Ridding atop of a Calvin 1.3 and Hobbes 4 rocket, KASA successfully launched the Duna RSSO satellite headed towards the red planet. The launch proceeded without a hitch and KASA engineers report that all is well with the RSSO. The satellite is set to reach Duna in about 305 days time where, once there, it will fire its onboard engines and set itself up for a polar orbit. Once in orbit, it will scan Duna's surface for resources. Combining its data with the Duna Resource Scanner and Biome Scanner satellites already on-route to the red planet, the information gathered will be combined to help scientists and engineers determine suitable landing sites for upcoming kerballed and unkerballed missions. The satellite is equipped with a pair of narrow-band scanners, the M335 and M4435, both developed in partnership with Kaltech and Stranton universities. The scanners will allow scientists to scan the planet's surface for items like water, ore and minerals. Also onboard is a planetary survey camera developed by a joint partnership betweem Kanon, KESA (the Keuropean Space Agency) and KASA's Karshall Space Center. Using the PSC, scientists will scan the planet's surface for items like gypsum, hydrates, metallic ore and rare minerals. Acting KASA administrator, Robert L. K. Kerbal said ''with all three satellites in orbit scanning the surface, we'll be in really great shape to figure out what would be the most interesting places to send our probes and kerbonauts''.

Not sure if the link is working. What KSP version can this be used in?

*gasp*!

The prettier the better.

Full story behind the probe:

Duna MultiSpectral Satellite - Duna Biomes The Keuropean Space Agency (KSA) successfully launched the Duna MultiSpectral Scanner today aboard the Ariane 5 rocket, with a Calvin T Briz upper stage on its way to Duna to scan the red planet's surface in order to establish a biome map. The map will be key in helping KASA scientists determine suitable landing sites for both upcoming manned and unmanned missions. KASA has at least five scheduled and funded unmanned missions which will see a host of different landers touching down on the planet's surface, as well as several kerbaled missions, though the final number is up to any one's guess. The biome map will serve as an important tool for targeting specific locations of interest in both cases. ''It's really important to know as much as we can about the planet's surface from composition to landscape to topography if we're to make the most of these missions'' said Carl Kerbal, head of KASA's robotic exploration hub, JPL. The satellite was produced in partnership with Kaltech's Space Exploration department and KASA. Ariane 5 was provided by KSA. The only mishap occurred when the Ariane main stage booster failed to de-orbit. ''The booster was equipped with thrusters which, once the third staging had occurred should have slowed the booster down enough to cause it to eventually de-orbit''. The Duna Multispectral Scanner is scheduled to arrive at the red planet in 305 days time.

Cool. Would the 1.1.2 version work at all in 1.2.2 you think??

lol, yeah... will changing the names of the parts in the old version by adding ''_old'' break anything? It'll make it easier to swap the old with the new!

Cool beans. I thought I had read that somewhere. So... I suppose I'll have to install both the latest and old one and then swap the old parts with the new. Thanks for the answer (and the mod )!

Real quick question but if I'm still using the Tantares version for KSP 1.1.2, how craft breaking is updating to the latest version going to be? And is that for all KSP 1.1.2 Tantares compatible parts? Cheers!

Thank you kindly! Yeah it was kind of a dump of sorts. But yeah, I love to refine my designs, basically use a ''would this make any sense irl'' and take if from there.

Amazing... but question is, who killed it!?!? *Tun tun TUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!*

I just used Hyperedit to reajust the positions of the sats that have drifted. In actuality, most of my comm sats have fuel (though not all of em... )so I could go through the trouble of manually going through a series of burns, reasjusting the orbits and blah blah but, too long. Hyperedit, WAY easier than adjusting the persistent files.

You know, sometimes just pointing someone in the right direction (as in page number, if you happen to know it) is all it takes. I have no issues with doing the reading myself, I usually do, but is asking for a pointer really asking for too much?

I havent yet updated to the latest KSP version, still on 1.1.2. Long story short, waiting for mod updates, then 1.1.3 arrived, then 1.2.0... anyways, I use RT and do not plan on leaving it behind. What's the relationship between the new stock comm system and RT? What's all this I hear about relay networks and all?? Cheers!

Im assuming you're referring to the ''Engine Lighting'' mod when you say ''Engine Light''?

Sweet!

Mun Return Mission - Test Flight 2 Champagne, toasts and celebrations were all the rage today at KSC as KASA successfully completed the second of its two planned test flights of the Munar Return Mission (MRM). For the first time in many years, kerbonauts were sent beyon Kerbin's sphere of influence and went where, previously, only 16 kerbals had been before: the dark side of the Mun. No, that's not a reference to Kink Floyd's famous album, but to the actual Munar dark side. The first test flight verified a bunch of systems performances in LKO whereas this one was to test the Aquinas LEM's ability to undock from the Orion capsule, autonomously land and take off from the Mun and rendez-vous back with the orbiting CM. With the exception of a small computer glitch which caused the LM to refuse to respond to commands after it had return to the CM and was decoupled a second time to be sent crashing into the Mun's surface (which engineers and crew were easily able to solve by simply rebooting the LEM's onboard computers remotely), the mission was a complete success. The only true close call came when, quite to their surprise, engineers noticed that the CM's heat shield had suffered far more ablative loss than had been expected. The three lucky kerbonauts, Doobdin Kerbal, Dumin Kerbal and Melbel Kerbal were elated at, not just the mission's success, but of kerbals returning to the Mun. ''It had been well over two decades since the last time any Kerbals had been sent to the Mun'', said Melbel. In fact, the last time Kerbals left Kerbin's sphere of influence was during an all ups test flight of the Duna mission which was sent in orbit around Minmus to see how the complex design would fair over extended mission time. The mission marked the second successful flight of the Aquinas LEM and Orion SM Boost stage, and the third successful time the Hobbes VIII Ultra Heavy booster was used. The Hobbes VIII features a unique design where the engine mount containing all 8 upgraded RS-25 engines is jettisoned from its gigantic fuel tank allowing it to reenter Kerbin's atmosphere safely. Its integrated heat shield and radial parachutes allow it to survive the mach 6 plus speeds and land safely in the Atlantic where crews wait for its arrival. No word yet on when any of the three engine casings will be used again.''The plan is to use as few of these as possible, basically having maybe a a set of 3 or 4 of these that are continually used in rotation'', said Marcus Kerbal, lead propulsion engineer for the Hobbes VIII at MacFran Aerospace. No plans to actually land on the Mun have yet been announced, but with growing pressure from Congress to get kerbonauts to Duna soon, it is hard to tell just what KASA will choose to focus on next. Photo courtesy: KASA

Mun Return Mission (MRM) - Test Flight 1 For the first time KASA's modular-design philosophy has been put to the test. The very first test flight of the new MacFran Moon rocket, aptly named 'Aquinas', after the 13th century philosopher, has just successfully completed its first test flight, the first of two scheduled test missions. Most components were already tested before in a series of prior missions. When KASA was given the task of designing project Orion, part of the mission objectives it set out for itself was to develop and implement modularity in its designs so that a new missions with different demands could easily be whipped up without having to start from the ground up. ''By building this way, we can design one component that could match the mission profile of more than one type of mission'' says Charles Bolden Kerbal, KASA administrator. ''It helps to reduce costs and overrun expenditures as well as the time needed to design and test new unproven concepts''. Where as previous test flights were ''all up'' tests of what KASA devised as the mission craft that will carry kerbals to and from Duna in its Orion Mission, this one was the first time KASA designed, from scratch, a new mission with a different destination other than Duna by picking and choosing off-the-shelf-already-developped tech to produce the new Mun Return Mission (MRM). Not all of the tech, however, is ''old''. Both the new LEM design as well as the upper booster stage responsible for the circularization and Trans-Munar Injection (LMI) burns are new designs and this test flight served to prove that they work. But the rest, all interchangeable. Not bad. This first ever flight of the new systems successfully tested several key items for the upcoming Mun return missions: the Hobbes VIII booster main stage (the largest KASA has ever produced and the first of its kind with a detachable engine compartment which allows all eight of the upgraded RS-25 engines to re-enter the atmosphere, be recovered, refurbished and be reused), the new Aquinas LEM and Orion SM booster stage. credit: MacFran Aerospace Industries, KASA

Duna Deployable Habitat Module (DDHM) - Design and Flight Tests With the Duna launch window inching ever closer with ever passing day, scientists and engineers at KASA have been in a mad scramble to finalize all required designs in order to move on to the testing of the yet unproven components. Thus far, all but one of the Orion Mission items have been tested, including the Orion Capsule and Service modules, Leo and Ares descent vehicles which will carry the Kerbonauts to the planet's surface, as well as the rockets which will carry the payloads to orbit (including the gigantic Hobbes VII lifter). So far two test flights have been executed, one around Kerbin and the other around Minmus, allowing engineers and crew to evaluate the crafts ability to perform over short hauls. All items have proven themselves up for the tasks and challenges that lay ahead. Yet one item still remains: the deployable habitation module, or DDHM. But KASA engineers are hard at work doing just that. The DDHM's ability to survive reentry has been a partial success, as even though the module did survive the fierce heat of reentry, the solar panels were damaged during the jettison of the outer protective shell. Had that occurred while making its entry of Duna, the mission could have suffered a catastrophic ending. Static tests have also been done demonstrating the module's ability to deploy its landing airbags and inflatable modules. The only test that have not been done yet is actually seeing if living inside the DDHM for an extended period of time is feasible. But that is all about to change. A six man (and women) crew are gearing up for an extended stay in the module on Kerbin. The plan is to airdrop the module from a C-177 and drop off the Kerbonauts and have them stay for several weeks, executing stress tests on the module and see the viability of the design. Yet as testing began, crews ended up finding a major flaw rather unexpectedly as soon as they arrived on seen. It seems that the module is a little top heavy… Though the airdrop was a complete success, the module landed on a slightly angle hill, tipped over and suffered irreparable damage. Crews did what they could to salvage the mission but could not resist the obvious conclusion. Engineers and staff cleaned up and brought the broken module back to KSC for analysis. Subsequent design changes have already been proposed including relocating the airbags to increase the width of the module to improve its stability. Much to the dismay of the crew, KASA engineers and project administrators, this portion of the testing will have to be sideline as engineers redesign the module to ensure that such incidents do not occur ever again. ‘’It’s a good thing we decided to do this test’’, said Sigsy Kerman (one of the 6-man crew) in an interview with the Kerbin Times. ‘’Had this happened on Duna, we would have been in serious trouble’’. So far, development costs along with testing have cost taxpayers well over 8.5 billion dollars. Some, including many in Kerbin's democratic party, are starting to seriously question the program stating ''there are more important issues on Kerbin than exploring a barren rust pile''. Critics rush in to say the program has been nothing but setbacks and test flights with nothing to show for it, but any proper minded Kerbal will see that through it all, we've developed technology that has already begun to trickle in to our daily Kerbin lives. Charles Frank Kerbin, KASA's chief administrator has remained adamant that the program must and will go on to inspire generations to come.