Josh IN SPACE

Some time ago I sent off a Sentinel telescope on a journey around Kerbol to track asteroids. It was equipped with one Communotron-16 and one HG-5. Someone reading this is probably already chortling. It is no longer operable. I had signal for quite some time but it would now seem I'm just too far away now. I've been reading about comm networks in this game and I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it all still. 500k, 5M, 50G, 500 Mm interplanetary around Kerbin, as opposed to Kerbin SOI. I'm scratching my head here but I want to understand this stuff. What could I really do in this case? Would upgrading the station allow me to contact the telescope? Creating a comm tower with a ton of relays on it? Sending another vessel with better antennas to latch onto the telescope? Send up a new telescope with better antennas on it? Have my antennas pointed a particular direction? All of the above?

Oh Elon, you slay me! Also, bio-augmented syncing interface between human crew and Dragon capsule confirmed?

I put my first space station in orbit of the Mun. 31 tons, supporting a science lab and 13 Kerbals (not yet present). I learned why inline stabilizers are useful after trying to use limited RCS to orient that beast for docking a fuel ship to it so it could make the rest of the journey. Still needed to use some additional monopropellant too sadly to get into orbit, thus going below the necessary amount needed to complete a contract. Oh well. I've already docked twice to fuel this behemoth to the Mun, now I can send a small ship to fill up it's propellant and complete the thing.

I have no evidence to back this up, but I'd say you're in just the right age group for what you're proposing. By the time BFR is (IS!) up and running, the race to being the best provider for living situations on places off of Earth (orbit/Moon/asteroid mining) is going to be on, and you may be far enough along in your studies by then or your career to really jump in and collaborate. Even if you aren't the first to start something by then, you're sure to find some start-up with enough venture capitalist funding behind it to join and contribute your skills towards. Even if those above-mentioned things don't end up happening, a strong engineering background couldn't hurt looking forward, as it has many applications elsewhere. But if this current period of lowered launch costs and reusability is "Step One" on the path to more business and potentially people beyond Earth's surface, then your generation is probably the prime group for innovating for "Step Two," living out there.

It would be fun to find some altars or ruins. As far as life goes, I'd be happy with like a science lab feature that might allow you to analyze soil samples and maybe the results bring up a image of some bacteria or something (in classic Kerbal-silly aesthetic of course). There could be a large image library full of these different little microbes from the Kerbol system waiting to be found

I like that ballute idea. Pretty neat. Would the engine still have a lot of control on descent without the bell to help direct thrust in such a case?

Another exciting launch! I was watching a terrible feed though from work. No HUD, no telemetry, no POV from first stage as it's coming in. Just a shot from the drone ship before the feed cut out as the rocket approached. For all I knew, the thing hit the deck at full speed. Seeing the cheers on here told me otherwise and I looked up a better feed. Thinking about the second stage, could they alter it as a sort of hybrid rocket that contains of course the usual Merlin, but also a sort of air skimming mechanism that would collect very small trace amounts of passing atmosphere (at relatively low altitude) to give a small retrograde burn through a second specialized engine placed alongside the Merlin? There could be panels that open next to the engine and the energy converted to a small thrust to the special engine. The Merlin could perform a preliminary burn after delivering the payload already, which puts periapsis at a close enough altitude for the special engine to gather a tiny amount of atmosphere each pass to drive a small burn from the special engine and lower apoapsis over a long period of successive orbits. This could then bring the rocket's orbit and velocity down to something more manageable for the Merlin to burn for re-entry/landing without having to expend as much of it's own fuel reserves in the process. I admit my understanding of the subject is quite limited and I'm happy for any corrections to such assumptions above. Just like to see the discussion.

Wow, really glad we actually got to see the core come splashing down. That looked so close! If the grasshoppers hop over grass, then BFS hops over...? Seahopper? Skyhopper?

Being prepared certainly isn't a bad idea. I also wonder if there'd be rules/laws regarding how your account collects interest while you sleep for centuries. The ideal scenario is that you come out being incredibly rich. I wouldn't be surprised if someone at some point decides that's too easy though, and so when you come out of crysleep, your money is no good with current coin or something.

If freezing yourself was perfectly safe and you could be thawed out safely at some other point in the near or distant future, when would you like to be woken up? This also assumes that your recovery period is quick and that the thing you woke up for is ready to happen as soon as you're feeling 100%, for maximum enjoyment of said anticipated event. Just going off the first thing that comes to mind, and without putting too much thought into this, I'd like to skip ahead to the launch of the BFR. Could just be a test flight even. Downside: Whatever you want may end up being a huge bust and you missed a lot of time while waiting that you'll never get back.

OH MY GOD THAT WAS NUTS!!! Was at work in my cubicle watching this go down while seeing everyone's reactions on here, but couldn't sign in. Wish I'd taken yesterday and today off and just flown out there to watch the launch. I was sure it was gonna scrub for a week to be honest with you... I must have looked like I was really enjoying my job with a big grin on my face, pumping my fists in the air silently. Way to go SpaceX! -Side note. I hope maybe there is footage to come of the core booster diving into the drink. Watching that sounds almost as entertaining as watching the actual launch.

I'm nervous and excited. I don't want to make any predictions yet.

Out of curiosity, how'd that SRB wind up in such relatively good shape? It surely didn't have the luxury of retrothrust upon return. Fascinating!

WOOHOO! Finally got a chance to watch this. Loved that footage of the first stage separating and falling off into the distance.

ZUMA was actually an alien spaceship that crashed here long ago along with it's crew, who then took up work in Area 51 and become registered government faculty. They funded their own secret voyage home using a Falcon 9 as cover and launch provider. They were able to repair their ship's engines so that they can fire up once in vacuum, but lacked the necessary materials from our planet to fix their ship's advanced cloaking abilities. Thus the cover-up. Source: My daydream.

Fire up that sucker, let her rip! Just kidding, I want things to go smoothly.

Perhaps ZUMA is a reference to Montezuma II, of Tenochtitlan? Come on FH static fire, let's go.

Yeah I do like the idea of having small areas of interest that could visit. It could be similar to rescue missions where the kerbal and their wayward ship isn't actually up there until you accept a rescue mission, and then suddenly a chosen module and specialist is put up in a specific orbit. You could have a small, limited-time area that's placed in a certain spot on one of the planets. It contains little grooves, rocks, lichen (I'm just throwing stuff out there) which you could send rovers or kerbals to. Granted it might be a little odd if the surveyed area vanishes when you're done, but maybe there could be a limit to how many you have running at a time?

The anticipation is too much.

Whoa! Insane! What a great space video to send off 2017. Those sounds are like something by 65 Days of Static from No Man's Sky when you leave a planet and go back up into space. Also sleep paralysis comes to mind when looking at that mannequin being strapped in with his mouth covered, head locked to look at the ceiling. That landing looked pretty soft. What common occurrence for a civilian would you compare that landing to? Being backed into in the grocery store parking lot? Being tackled? Having the wind knocked out of you?

Getting pretty hyped for this. Go Electron!

In the end, my previous save was too far before the launch and so I gave the claw-strategy a shot, but rovers (at least my small one) was not quite strange enough to tug that portion of the outpost. I decided it couldn't hurt to practice landing again next to my outpost, so I then sent out a refueling lander to link up with the outpost half and give it a little more juice so it could make the hop to the other part of the outpost. I got it hooked up in the end but it was quite the hassle and looks pretty ridiculous. I'll really rethink my design the next time I try adding on or setting up a new outpost. Thanks again for the help!

I also think about launch delays. You have the ship ready to go for what's supposed to be a quick trip, when suddenly launch is scrubbed for the day/week due to unfavorable conditions. Those conditions might not be so unfavorable to the aircraft sitting on standby, and so everyone just loads up on the plane and makes it to the destination, albeit not as fast the rocket would have, but faster than the rocket now that it's delayed.

Ah, that all makes more sense then. Great responses in here! I'm sitting at a crossroads on my latest mission, which is asking me to attach a new compartment to my existing outpost on the Mun. However, like most of my missions, I end up just barely under fuel, and have to pull off some wacky landing (as with the first outpost). In this case I was able to use what I had to land the 5 kerbals safely instead of having them blow up at 60 m/s... but now they're at least 2 km from the other half of the outpost I need to attach this portion to. Maybe I could send a vehicle there with the claw to latch on and drag that outpost all the way to the other outpost to connect them. Best tires I have are Rovemax M1. Outpost consists of viewing Cupola and the 4 kerbal hitchhiker container. So probably around 4.5 tons with the added bits and pieces and fat kerbals. I wonder if I should recruit/rescue more people and go for a 3rd attempt with better fuel/engine consideration, or try sending a vehicle to steer the thing into place. If the first option, then I have 5 people sitting in that 2nd outpost for nothing and have to get them back eventually.

I'm just curious as to what the justification is for having the Grabbing Unit be all by itself on the tech tree? That's a fair lump of science to put down for one part. 10% salty, 80% curious, 10% full of pizza right now.