valens

For the sake of planification, what is the date in SCSP? (cc transfer windows to other planets). Also, here's a proposition for a SCSP logo/flag. Do we have any color code or palette associated with SCSP? I'm not entirely convinced by the color choices. [edit: added shadows & larger text, darker arms]

“Dark Forest" was built with 1.1.3 indeed.

Here's my entry with STS-2 "Dark Forest," a 1.1.3 light spaceplane able to bring one ton to LKO. For this entry, "Dark Forest" placed a biome mapper in polar orbit. Full imgur album here. Some of the highlights of this flight: Atmospheric flight Payload delivery End of re-entry and S-turns Crew posing for press shots

Hmmm. Had these been connected, I think it would make a very efficient and simple refueling station (dock anywhere on the asteroid to refuel, even if the tanks are on the other side...).

Really nice! Are those docking ports connected ?

That stashed expansion kit is just genius! I wonder how much time you spent adjusting the parts to obtain that effect.

Time permitting, I'll update the badges in a few weeks. Also, if you have ideas for the program badge, I'd be happy to hear them.

Based on the current forms of our space stations, here are a pair of badges for your missions :

Somewhat inspired by SpaceX and countless KSP forum members, I tried my hands at recoverable first stages. Based on my expandable lifter lines, I present Herakles-R and its smaller sibling Phaeton-R. Both first stages are designed to land with parachutes and can deliver sizable payloads (over 10 t on "naked" Phaeton, 20 t on "naked" Herakles) to LKO or, for heavier payloads, bring an upper stage on a suborbital trajectory for circularization ("à la SpaceX"). The stages are compatible with MechJeb's autopilot and develop by themselves over 4800 dV. For re-entry, just extend the AIRBRAKES, point retrograde and burn to deorbit. I suggest the stage be spinned in order not to lose some parts to reentry heat, so extending the control surfaces is a good option. A few issues are left, though: Staging of the parachutes is frequently lost when decoupling the first stage and its payload. As I use AGExt, I can assign action groups in-flight and this is not too annoying, but still. As I did not add landing gear at all, they are a bit unstable on landing and can topple over and break. Splash-down means that they will topple and break, unless one can click on the recover button quick enough. Feel free to take them for a spin (dropbox links, subassemblies): Phaeton-R and Herakles-R. [Edit 27.10.16:] So I overhauled the Phaeton-R for better efficiency and added some SRBs for increased payload; the new version, Phaeton-R1(V/6) is available on KerbalX, and can lift about 15 tons to LKO. Additionally, having the booster land on the tail fins means it is much less likely to lose its engine. [Edit 19.11.16:] Two versions of Herakles-R are now available on KerbalX, with and without the S2 intermediate stage.

For "realism", I'll probably ferry a mixture of monoprop and ore tanks. Also: if I launch two crafts in a single launch, would you count it as one or two launches? Lastly, as a bonus, here's a few shots of the crafts. http://imgur.com/a/Vf1PE

I'd gladly run a refueling/transfer mission with an ATV-like craft (33 parts, stock). By the way, what do you want transferred (besides monoprop of course)? I happen to have two empty service bays as cargo space.

If you put control surfaces (elevons, etc.), you often have the possibility to extend them (with right-click or action groups), which locks them in one position.

One possibility to alleviate the heat issue on the AIRBRAKES would be to continuously roll the craft during reentry. One trick, though: since you're entering bottom first, your reaction wheel (should you have any) will conflict with the control surfaces and both will cancel out at one point. I suggest extending flaps at reentry so that they will always point the same direction. [EDIT:] Fool of me, I did not see @Warzouz suggesting exactly the same a bit higher.

Planning an orbital rendez-vous with MechJeb and watching my ship blasting through the station it was supposed to join. Thanks for quicksave — wish I had taken screenshots though.

Thanks for the interest @KingPhantom! As the docking port cannot be attached directly to the Science Jr, I put a BZ-52 Radial Attachment Part; another binds the top part of the lander to the fuel tank. Also, I often hide a small probe core just under the docking port for control. Here's a link to the .craft file: LV-M3 Diogenes. [Edit: btw there is probably also a Radial Attachment Point on the side of the capsule to support the Science Jr.] However, as I thought it lacked flexibility and, frankly, landing alone is no fun, I designed the Diogenes 2 around the Mk1 Crew cabin. This posed a new problem because of fuel and space requirement. This was solved with a new lower part (partly inspired by @Raptor9's excellent work) which gives Diogenes 2 a whopping 2700 m/s ∆V (a bit more than Diogenes for twice the mass) ! Here's the (yet untested) .craft file: LV-M4 Diogenes 2

They are actually accessible from the hatch, except the atmospheric spectrometer (which is useless on the Mün anyway) and the material bay. I had to make a compromise between balance and accessibility though. It could probably do without the landing legs, though these are the lightest ones and do not cost that much ∆v (packs about 2.5k ∆v, I can go back and forth from 50 km orbit and still have about 1/3 of the starting fuel). Still, I prefer breaking a landing strut than an engine. [Edit: verified accessibility]

Diogenes is my solution to the following problem: how to land & recover as much science as possible on the Mün, return to orbit to refuel and upload the science and so on. Nifty little craft, although a bit short on monoprop. The tricky part was adding a platform so my kerbonauts can take all the data, while keeping everything balanced. The first version of this had the mk1 lander can on the side, attached straight on the science package, but I scrapped it as the SAS and EVA-ing were too complicated.

Eos 2 is so far the main return waypoint for my münar and minmusian missions, and used to grind as much science as possible from these satellites. Placed in MKO (600 km), it is ideally placed to minimize the circularization burn for incoming spacecraft. To speed things up, an Eos 1 science craft was soon docked to Eos 2 to allow the use of a second mobile lab. Finally, the Amalthea craft stores significant amounts of fuels for craft unable to reach kerbin on their own. Eos 2 will soon be phased out in favor of the Olympus mission line, to begin with the Mün-bound Selene mission, but holds so much science that it will probably stay in orbit a few more years. L. to r.: Eos 1 science craft, Eos 2 core, Amalthea supply craft. The temporary design of the station is well visible in the placement of parachutes on the Eos 1 and 2 modules, as both were designed to be recovered in order to increase cost-effectiveness.

A very nice design; I like especially the ion drive to make small orbit corrections. Tried a clone of this and the 1-minute rule is quite useful... [Edit:] Made it to 100 km LKO with a 10 t package. The ion drives are quite useful for changing orbit, though they pack about as much power as a radial RCS port. Of course the advantage is that Xenon takes less place and weight than monoprop.