Halfdan

i managed to build a submarine!

there are those days where you cant be bothered to build a new base, but you have an obsolete transport ship lying around....

i finally built something big like really big after suceeding with the little space wheel, i designed this one as a HUGE orbital harbor in mun orbit The fuel depot was the first module the second was the ore storage facility the processing facility the habitation module the final piece was the reactor section containing the RTGs

considering after what i put those poor guys through, that might as well be disneyland in comparison

as a reward for their long and faithfull service (and because i kinda allways wanted to build a wheel station) i decided that jeb, bill, bob and val were to get their own little space staion and a sweet ride to get them there so here is my first space wheel station and a small shuttle to get the guys there (and also lets them visit other orbital installations)

okay i did some redesign on the craft: i scaled the drive section down to eight engines, and it carries 35305 units of liquid fuel, and added a transfer stage to boost it out of kerbins gravity well bevore switching to the nukes for propulsion mech jeb states that the main craft has DeltaV of 8309m/s does that look sufficient to you guys? things i could do to save further weight could be: scaling down the antennas (purely cosmetic in this case) remove all docking ports except one (wich i would not really like because it reduces capacity for carrying landers for the moons) cout down on the passenger section (perhaps swithcing it to a hitchhiker container in a cargo bay witch would reduce the size of the expedition) any other things i could do to save weight? to further explain the mission architecture: i would like to do this in a sort of a mars semi direct style, with a dedicated crew vessel that carries kerbonauts and several unmanned cargo ships that carry equipment like habs, rovers, landing craft and SSTO planes for laythe, and a tug craft to get from moon to moon

here is a screenshot of the ship i tested, the payload bay holds a mobile processing lab and some sciency stuff i use MK3 parts for liquid fuel, and those that hold oxidizer have been empited it was based on my duna transfer vehicle: so how about i stick to the engine block of nine NERVs and ditch the side bits but add aditional fuel to the central fuselage?

Hello fellow kerbonauts i am currently struggeling to design a craft that is capable of getting kerbals and equipment into the joolian system but i cant seem to get it right i started by expandig on the ships i use to carry personell and equipment to duna but i have somwhat reached a dead end, i added more fuel and more nuclear engines to the base design of my craft (15 in total), and yes they are capable of reaching jool orbit using aerobreaking if possible (after a 15 minute transfer burn but that was expected) but lack the fuel for real exploration there let alone the return trip so since i am somewhat out of moves here, i really need your help what stock ship designs do you use? nuclear engines or LF/OX? what are basic design guidelines for this kind of craft? thanks in advance

behold the glory of 15 nuclear engines firing!

after making some improvements to the ILV (insane launch vehicle) i put my prototype jool craft into orbit and sent it to the fuel station around minmus to stock up on fuel before the long journey the main drive consists of 15 NERV nuclear engines the flight to jool will be an unmanned proving flight, if all performs well, manned flights, as well as a unmanned freighter version of the ship will follow since i was only once before to jool in another playthrough and the ship barely limped back to duna with about 1% of fuel at the time of docking with the fuel deopt in ike orbit, i am open for suggestions on how to improve my ships for this kind of mission

in order to launch large ships for exploration of the outer kerbol system i deveoped the Insane Launch Vehicle or ILV it is powered be 36 vector engines and 8 SRBs truth be told i thought it would go of like a medium sized nuke right on the launch pad but it went suprisingly well ignition! (first "yay it didnt explode!" moment) after seting 85km apoapsis main engine cutoff and coasting to space circularisation burn and booster separation final flight result: SWEET BABY JESUS IT ACTUALLY WORKED!

i kew that angel looked familliar in the grim darkness of the far future there are only kerbals

landed my first duna crew at the base camp in this playthrough The fuel plant coupled to the landing and ascent vehicle hab with crew rover after everyone has settled in, the next objectives are to move the orbiting cargo ships to ike orbit and dock them to form a fuel depot, and look for a suitable site for a larger outpost on dunas surface

after launching a new career game, i finally managed to make a working SSTO for cheap crew transfer in LKO main propulsion is trough six RAPIER engines while orbital manouvers are handled by a single terrier engine crew capacity is six kerbals, also suitable for orbital rescue by switching the docking port for a KLAW In Formation Flight with the new duna transfer vehicle

took out my duna plane for a manned prooving flight flight and landing worked perfectly i think its now time to choose a name for this class of craft

low airspeed and RCS help compensate for the bouncing issue also performing a flare manouver right before touchdown is a good idea yeah the terriers are kinda overkill, the next versions will be equipped with the smaller engines

i gotta admit you made me curious, so i tried myself in making a duna plane and here is what i came up with: i took it out for a few test flights around olympos colony and i must say it handles rather well main propulsion is by two terrier engines steering is done by a combination of aerodynamic surfaces and RCS thrusters landing in a low gravity environment with thin athmosphere is.... interessting to say the least, airbreaks are VERY usefull but i sometimes hat to perform sort of a drift to retrograde and throttle the engines to full i often end up rather far away from the spaceport, but hey what airplane lands right at the terminal? ^^ but with RCS i can safely roll back to the spaceport at about 5-7 m/s all in all i would call this a rather sucessfull aircraft, and i proudly announce that olympos colony can now offer an airline service

i can only talk from shuttle landings on kerbin but have you tried executing turns to bleed of airspeed? also airbreaks and an EPS (emergency parachute system) are usefull

the discovery began its return trip from Jool by executing a gravity assist manouver at laythe a last look in the rear view mirror practically on fumes discovery reached duna and therefore the fuel station in ike orbit i think further expeditions to Jool will take place from duna instead of kerbin

i designed a SSTO as a lander for laythe and tested it on Kerbin Launch and insertion into an 84 by 84km orbit at half a 0.3 degrees of inclination After a series of orbital manouvers a docking manouver with a target vehicle was performed Final stage of the mission was the deorbit Burn and landing in kerbins deserts I am all up for suggestions to improve the craft but i believe landing on laythe should be possible next planned design step is adding a sience payload and the EPS (Emergency parachute System)

today the discovery reached the Joolian system and sucessfully deployed almost all its drones (no KAL9000 malfunctions and the pod bay doors worked nominal) Laythe Vall Tylo (L.O.S on impact due to insufficent fuel for deceleration) Bop (encountered an unknown and potential dangerous lifeform, thermonuclear sterilisation of moon is advised) Main Orbiter for Jool only downside is the great expense of fuel, but i am confident i can get the discovery back for refuelling to the Ike depot

after boarding the flight crew and all drones the Discovery blasted off to the Jool system

minutes before my wife called for christmas dinner i was able to put this bad boy into orbit: meet the Discovery, it will be the first manned ship that will be sent to Jool and its moons, as part of its payload it will carry several probes to land on the moons and an orbiter for jool himself if the mission is a success manned landings on the moons will follow (perhaps even laythe if the SSTO research goes as planned)

i tried to build a VTOL mod for my shuttle so i wouldnt have to land on the main engines and then flip it over with rcs well... so far so good... soft landing is possible, fuel consumtion is outrageous, and mech jeb landing guidance gets a stroke any tips are welcome guys

last time i saw zeppelins in space the mondführer declared the meteorblitzkrieg on earth (in iron sky) but zeppelins seem like a good solution for aircraft on duna do these work on other planets too?