APlayer

I finished the script, but some formulae turned out to be wrong, or at least I hope that's the only source of error. I am working on correcting them.

I need the numbers in addition with parts from the transfer window planner. And, also, I am not good at kOS. But thanks for the suggestion!

maltesh from the IRC channel suggested an approximation - it is somewhat hard to explain, boils down to approximating the movement as a straight line and then determining the angle that has passed per trigonometry. So that means I am good to go, and will try to write a script today. Also, I will probably use JavaScript, because then more people than just me could use it. Plus I am more skilled in it than in Python.

Update: I just derived the needed equations from the vis-viva-equation and the SMA equation. Now I've got a ton of scribble on Post-It notes, two needed equations and a headache. Here are my equations, I guess this is the final list and all else can be derived from those easily: e = (rmax - rmin) / (rmax + rmin) p = (rmax * rmin) / a r = p / (1 + e * cos(theta)) v = sqrt(G * m (2 / r - 1 / a) rmin = a - (G * m) / v^2 + r / 2 rmax = a + (G * m) / v^2 - r / 2 a = (rmax + rmin) / 2 ...where...: ...e is the orbital eccentricity ...rmax is the distance to the center of the planet at apoapsis ...rmin is the distance to the center of the planet at periapsis ...p is just some weird parameter used in formulas, still no idea what it's for ...a is the semi-major axis ...r is the current distance to the center of the planet ...theta is the true anomaly ...v is the velocity ...G is a constant and equals to about 6.674×10−11 ...m is the mass of the planet Also, while posting, I noticed I still miss a way to describe the travelled distance along the orbit. So here goes more maths.

This time, I decided to take a shot at calculating the needed angle at which to start the burn and do a continuous burn. It would greatly increase efficiency of the ship assembly phase and the transfers. For this I plan to write a script in whatever (JavaScript, Python or on my calculator... why not?) which approximates the long burn with a series of shorter ones. I dug through the internet in the search for formulas and basically found everything I need or everything I though of, at least, except one: When you preform a prograde or retrograde burn not at your periapsis or apoapsis, but at a know radius from the periapsis: How can you describe the change of periapsis and apoapsis? Could anyone help me here?

Humm, this is interesting. However, it still uses the part of USI mods which I'd not like to use, the plugins from USITools. It's them that add the features I tried to remove, actually. Thanks a lot, though.

Update: Pictures time! Generally showing off craft in action, no technical details: http://imgur.com/a/fIWzZ VAB images with technical information and split view: http://imgur.com/a/W8uoy (Edit: I made small modifications like lights pointed at the torus which are in the second album but not in the first) Craft specs: When assembled, fueled and supplied: + 36 spare parts in KIS storage Mass: 83,183 kg Cost: 788,204 funds When assembled, but dry and empty: Mass: 53,427 kg Cost: 452,556 General: Part count: 156 DeltaV: 18,034 m/s Crew capacity: 6 TWR: 0.007 - 0.014 Propulsion system: 4x redundant Ion thrusters, 3.6 kN each, all at 1/4 power to stay withtin EC margins Fuel: 7,560 kg of Xenon Main power generation: 1x 400 EC/s nuclear generator Auxilary power generation: 4x redundant ~10 (Duna) - ~24 (Kerbin) EC/s solar arrays Power storage: 41,390 EC directly stored throughout the vessel, 96,000 in NFT capacitors - in case of a complete loss of power enough for 3 h normal operations and then 8:42:43 h of emergency mode, or run the ship full with engines for 5:36 min Power Emergency Mode (PEM): Saves 85% of power - 1.34 EC/s vs. 8.83 EC/s normal Main ACS: 1.97 kNm from 4 sets of 4 thrusters, enough MP for 30 minutes of continuous burning Auxiliary ACS: 0.8 kNm from 2x 2.5 m inline reaction wheels + 1x reaction wheels in pod Adequate cooling at the reactor and engines 7.24 Kerbal-Years worth of Food 8.46 Kerbal-Years worth of Water, using recyclers 12.51 Kerbal-Years worth of Oxygen, using chemical plant as recycler 2.08 Ship-Years worth of Nitrogen, extends to 5.42 Ship-Years in power emergency mode (Less hab volume) Lighting on every critical, dangerous or fragile element All component objectives fulfilled but one: KIS beer. I was disappointed to find they must have deprecated it. -> Seriously missing only backup power supply scenario: 3 hours instead of 6. Justification: Batteries already mass ~3 tons. Adding 3 t more would be too much for this unlikely scenario (All solar panels failed? Unlikely. Reactor core life time exceeded due to failed solar panels? Possible. Provided spare solar panels for this, every TWO can power the ship in emergency mode, I bring six. 9 critical solar panel failures + reactor failure? Nearly impossible!) Ship consists of 5 modules, front to back: Crew Module (CM): Heaviest in the dry ship due to shielding: ~27 tons Holds the crew and the torus Front docking port Manned command module Service Module (SM): Holds capacitors, two solar arrays RCS fuel, life support supplies, KIS storage The chemical plant Low gain antennae Airlock/Docking modules attached to it 2x Airlock/Docking Module (DAM): Attach to Storage compartment Hold high gain antennae An airlock, JR. size and normal size docking port on each Used for EVAs and resupply docking Propulsion Module (PM): Holds the Xenon and engines Batteries, reactor, two solar arrays Radiators Plan for tomorrow: Search for a trajectory. I will use my notes from the old ship as a reference, the trajectory can be very similar.

I did it like this: Place a pod Remove all N2 from it Add another part Ctrl+Z to revert change The pod should hold the default amount of N2 (Full) again.

I made a patch to make the ranges of the two strongest antennas (RA-100 and RA-15) 800 GM and 300 GM respectively. Code: @PART[RelayAntenna50]:NEEDS[FeatureSignal]:AFTER[Kerbalism] { @MODULE[Antenna] { @dist = 3e11 } } @PART[RelayAntenna100]:NEEDS[FeatureSignal]:AFTER[Kerbalism] { @MODULE[Antenna] { @dist = 8e11 } } Also, @ShotgunNinja: I found an issue. Every Kerbalism-configured container (including pods) reverts to default filled state upon reloading the vessel. E.g. if I empty a pod with pressure control so that it holds 0 Nitrogen, save and reload the vessel, it will still hold the max amount of Nitrogen. The same happens with pressurized tanks and supply containers. This happens only to Kerbalism's resources, so, if there was for example Monopropellant in the pod, it stays saved. And another thing, neither the chemical plant's processes nor the ECLSS ones are considered by the planner EC-wise. All resources that they convert do show up there, but not EC. And even more things, haha. In the editor scene, the GUI has no click-through protection, meaning that if you click in some configuration GUI and your vessel happens to be covered by it, you end up detaching parts, in addition to configuring whatever you chose.

Thanks, guys! I almost finished the ship, currently I am looking for some smaller life support details. But the most important part, meaning the TWR, should be settled now: 0.007. That means I can start calculating my trajectories. (Pics as soon as I finish it.) To anyone who doesn't know it yet: Try this tool! It's absolutely amazing!

EDIT: Wow, I am stupid. I just requested the code. Nevermind, and you have official permission to execute me. EDIT2: @EmbersArc: Still, would you mind commenting it better, so I can learn from it? I know the basic syntax of Kerboscript and kinda understand the tutorial, but I still don't get what your code does...

A rapid unplanned not-disassembly!

It would be nice to have a settings backup feature, which would save somewhere else than in GameData/KerbalEngineer. KER is really time consuming to set up, and I totally freak out when I mess around in my GameData folder and accidentally delete the KER settings in the process (For example when I forget that KER does not need to be deleted for updates. Happens to me sometimes.). The reason I request this is, while it will be useful to only a few people, I don't think it's hard to add - should be really easy to save a copy of the settings somewhere on every change.

I know there were many mods that added inflatable habitat parts. I also know there are still some left. Let me list all I know, and why I am looking for another one: USI parts - they are really cool, but the mod is focused on colonization which is totally not what I am looking for. And I horribly failed at trying to remove these base features like scavenge and such. Pathfinder - same as USI. Not so colonization heavy, but was still too much for me. SSTU - I love it, but it adds so much stuff... Also, it is WIP and things change very often. It would be impractical to have to update it once or twice a week, because with the number of mods I use, I need to put significant effort into making them work together when I install or update one. PorkJet's Habitat pack - It's been updated, but it has no real maintainer. If it had one, I could be more or less certain that it will be updated, but it has been explicitly stated that this is probably not the case. And I don't want to loose my creations if it does not get updated. PorkJet's Living Space - A year ago, he announced it, but it seems to have been lost. Does anyone know what happened to it, and if it is still being worked on? Before anyone suggests it, I am also using KBPS. It has no inflatables, but I noticed many people suggesting it when inflatables are requested. Those are all the mods that I know add inflatable parts. Does anyone know anything else? I found many threads on steam and such asking this exact question, but they are all older than one year old. Did anything change since then?

@ShotgunNinja is it possible to configure an ECLSS module in a pod to "nothing" "empty" or so? If so, how? If no, then I think you should add the possibility to do so...

Sir. I have a total of eight ECLSS modules, two of them are water recyclers. Now, I did play around with enabling and disabling them, didn't know it would have an effect. Guess what? I just checked. All are enabled except, you guessed it, the water recyclers. I have some luck today! Thanks a lot, fixed my problem.

Also, is it just me with my stupidity again, or does the planner fully ignore water recyclers in the ECLSS window?

Hello people! This community is awesome, and I want to be awesome too. So here's my clumsy attempt at this: A while back, after I've read The Martian, I was totally hyped and made an Ares style mission to Duna. Of course it had some mishaps and stuff. This was in 1.1.3. Now, that all the mods I've been waiting for have updated to 1.2 and holidays have started, I figured I could try it again and do better, and share it here. So, this is the thread I'll be posting my progress in, I plan to do this topic like the Kron missions one, and will post succeeding missions here too, and it will be pic heavy. Just like last time, I will do this in a Sandbox save. I may some day try to pull it off in career... but not now. I will use a HEAVILY modded install, including mods that make your life harder, like Kerbalism. Also, the way I do missions, the planning phase of it takes a few times the execution phase, so expect the first week or so to be just craft building and assembling, trajectory planning and such. My main mods will be Nertea's NearFuture Technologies and Kerbalism, but there will be bits from many other mods too. I also use tools such as KER and the Transfer Window Planner, but no autopilots like MechJeb. Here is my mission objective list (Skip if you don't like reading, this is more of a checklist for myself): The interplanetary vehicle must be reusable It must include the following components: A science lab A torus A cupola Living space for a crew of six Ion engines, because it will be too heavy else Probe control Adequate HGAs LGAs Docking ports in normal and JR. size Lighting on critical or fragile components and docking ports Adequate KIS storage space KIS Beer for everyone, one for Kerbin departure, Duna landing, Duna departure, Kerbin arrival It must include the following crew comforts: Maximal radiation shielding At least two seats per Kerbal Adequate living room according to Kerbalism It must include the following safety measures: In case of a complete elecricity generation failure, it must be able to run for 6 hours at full capacity (not including engines) and after that six hours in emergency mode, powering only the life support 150% of the trajectories fuel requirements One additional Kerbal-year worth of life support supplies At least double redundancies for non-critical but fail-able component At least triple redundancies and high quality manufacturing of mission critical and fail-able components, including: Engines, antennae, electrical supply Quadruple redundancy and high quality manufacturing of engines The surface operations must be performed under the following conditions: The supply probes must be landed within a radius of 1000m around the target The crew must have a hab module on the surface The crew must have two 3-seat rovers with KIS racks and some storage for any used resources on the surface The crew must have enough supplies to last for 45 days on the surface Every surface component holding life suppport resources or fuel at any moment in the mission must have KIS valves There should be as much science payload as possible The ascent vehicle must have the following capabilities: Have medium radiation shielding Have quad engine clusters on any stage and be able to reach Duna orbit with any one engine per stage failing at any point Be as light as possible, achievable by ISRU Be able to fill its tanks by ISRU within 400 days of the about 600-700 available The crew must spend no longer than 426 days on the mission (between the interplanetary ejection burn start and Kerbin orbit injection burn end) 30 days must be spent on the surface of Duna The mission should cost no more then 3 Million funds the first time and 2 Million funds the second and following times, not including failure replacements and other maintenance costs Backup and emergency plans should be available for: Ascent vehicle failure at any stage before the crew descent Any probe loss before the crew descent Any rendezvous and docking failure mid-mission Crew landing off-target by up to 100 km Surface emergencies Piloting failure during ascent resulting in unsafe altitudes Piloting failures in space resulting in missed target trajectories Just for this mission, there are three types of launchers planned: 1) Heavy cargo, 3.75m fairing diameter, 30 tons to Duna flyby or Kerbin high orbit capability, up to 100k funds cost per launch Projected three launches to assemble the ship Projected five launches to Duna with surface components (Hab, Descent Vehicle, Ascent Vehicle, Rovers, Science/Hab/Rover components) -> Estimated payload costs: 1000k ship + 20k Hab + 20k Descent Vehicle + 60k Ascent Vehicle + 20k Rovers + 50k Components = 230k -> Total launch costs: 2030k including ship, 1030k without ship 2) Light cargo, 1.4m fairing diameter, 5 tons to Duna flyby or Kerbin high orbit capability, up to 20k funds cost per launch Projected three launches for ship supply Projected three launches for orbital survey & relay sats, landing site investigation rover Projected two launches for surface supplies Estimated payload costs: 50k - 200k (Argon/Xenon) supplies + 20k survey/relay/rover + 30k surface supplies = -> Total launch costs: 290k - 440k 3) Crew, 2.5m fairing diameter, 3 crew + 5 days of supplies to Kerbin high orbit capability, up to 50k funds cost per launch Projected two launches to bring crew to the ship Estimated payload costs: 30k per crew capsule -> Total launch costs: 160k -> Total estimated mission costs 2.5 to 2.6 Million first time, 1.5 to 1.6 Million second and following times Sorry for the long list. As I said, it is more like a personal checklist. Also, a lot of it is heavily based on what I experienced when I did this back in 1.1.3, that's why I think it is pretty accurate. Plan for today: Start building the ship. This is first, because I need an estimation of the TWR for planning the trajectory. I expect it to be significantly less than 0.05 (Last was about 0.005 - yay, ion engines for the win!) and I don't want to split my burn, this is too complicated to plan. So I need to know what orbital altitude is adequate to start with a given ship, before planning the trajectory (The burn should last no longer than 1/3 of the orbital period). If you wonder how long it took to finish the burns (Max deltaV was 2.863km/s, I had noted it) - it took 8h 50min in game time. I downloaded a mod to allow for x8 almost-lag-free physical timewarp and went to have dinner while the burn was executed. I had plenty of time left when I came back. If you read until here, then thanks for your attention, you're really patient, sir!

I've had issues with this mod, or rather, it didn't work at all. I tried with every version of KSP since, inclusive, 1.1.3, modded and umodded installs. Neither the stock ion engine nor any other worked for me.

On the sample analysis stuff, as people said it makes no sense... Indeed, I agree. If you bring scientists, you probably do intend to return them anyway. However, I have a few suggestions to correct that: Allow launching "samples" right from the VAB, simulate experiments - this is actually how labs work, after all. You launch an experiment and perform it in space. Samples could take the role of said experiments. Add a science boost depending on lab location and situation Make samples really heavy - like at least 100 kg per unit. To have any useful science, you probably won't collect one single rock anyway.

Sir, this is absolutely awesome and amazing! You made me happy again after a tough day!

It does, thanks a lot.

Did something change or why is there no Data button on my satellite's probe cores anymore? How do you bring up this transmit science dialog now?

Not quite what I mean... I mean to prevent collecting science when you currently have that same experiment and situation on board already. Or at lest do not restore the first one to full data amount, but rather add another (Rename it with numbers at the end, for example, if you need unique names). What about allowing to process Monopropellant (UDMH??) into N2, H2 and EC (Simulate a power plant generating electricity from the heat) and allow the same in reverse (EC + H2 + N2 -> Monopropellant). It would make a more or less realistic solution and still an improvement over having nothing.

Ah, never had a vessel with two controllable parts since I tried Kerbalism. Good to know, thanks! I must have missed this, then. Sorry. I was confused since I found that my experiments return no science (Thermometer and Barometer) but the Geiger Counter did. So I thought the former two had to be used differently. However, I just remembered that I did these two already, so it's my bad. Thanks. One thing I'd ask for, though, is when you repeat an experiment during transmission of itself, then the full data gets restored (1) and (2), I am unsure, but I seem to recall that the science reward gets restored too. Could you prevent repeating an experiment if it's there already, no matter if (2) is correct? I think it would make more sense anyway.