Crispynaut

Mission 1-4 - Mechanoid Design Objectives: Gain familiarity with remote piloting Achieve escape velocity out of Kerbin Complete scientific objectives Delta V Requirements: We are flying straight up to maintain LOS, so estimate a requirement for about 3600ms. Science Instrumentation Nil, this is purely a mission for familiarity and completing missions Safety Not required, its a drone!

I made a few more improvements as I did a few more missions and uprevised to V3. Thankfully the ability to fly along with the improved scientific instruments means that I have been able to tech most of Tier 3: I believe that once we finish tier 3, we should be able to safely work on a mission to encounter Mun.

After considering these issues, I made a few revisions for Gulf Sierra 1-3 V1: Angled the tail cone up to increase clearance while landing Replaced girder with empty fuel tank Moved rear wheels closer to the COG to try and enable pivoting for takeoff I will use this vehicle to take on more missions and hopefully collect a bit more science. While not super profitable, this line of missions will help me better understand considerations when designing aircraft and complete 'low hanging fruit' missions.

Suprisingly, it flew quite well. Some problems: I could not lift off, once I hit the end of the runway and fell off the end I gained control but I could not lift off. I suspect this is because of the relative position of landing gear and the center of lift. The lift could not generate a moment great enough to overcome the mass moment. Quite Sluggish on the corners, probably because my tail fins are fixed. Center of mass, I dont have structural body parts so I used a girder. Probably could have used an empty fuel tank (duh) Not enough lift, required too much Angle of Attack to maintain low speed approach for landing resulting in a bit of aircraft shortening.

The contracts I decided to go for are surveys that are close to the KSC. They are below particular altitudes so should be quite simple to pick up. My feat of engineering that I will achieve this uses the parts I have available:

Mission 1-3 - Icarus Design Objectives: Gain familiarity with stable aircraft construction Collect science from nearby Safely parachute to ground. Delta V Requirements: Not required, balance and stability more important Science Instrumentation Will attach as many scientific instruments to the vehicle as possible to collect multiple values on the single sortie. Safety Some of the threats I am concerned about: Insufficient lift Unstable flight Poor landing stability The mitigations I will put in place are: Abort key attached to parachute and cockpit detaches Offset rear landing gear to create initial positive attitude Testing abort prior to take off. Empty auxiliary fuel tank until lift characteristics confirmed

To try and collect science from the immediate vicinity with low tech, I have modified GulfSierra 1-1 to include the latest instruments and also reduced the part count using larger fuel tanks. This changes the revision from V0 to V1 and conducted the mission sufficiently effectively to unlock another technology. I opted for aviation to build a aircraft that could pickup a lot of the local survey missions but to also collect all of the KSC science.

At this point I have bought myself a bit of flexibility with funds, but need significantly more science before I can progress. Planning out my next technological advance, I think given the issues we had on the last mission that upgrades to survivability will be important. The next few contracts should focus on scientific development as I believe at a minimum, our next major missions will require advanced rocketry, but I also think aviation will be useful for those survey missions if I get jammed up for cash. Looking at the science I have collected already, and with the new instrument from the survivability upgrade, my next missions will seek to consolidate easily available science before pushing for a Mun fly by As a short term financial goal, for reliable interplanetary missions I require upgrades to both the mission control and tracking center costing a total of $450,000. I will immediately purchase an upgrade to the mission control to open up the total number of missions and try and make more money on single missions. My main problem right now is science!!!

SUCCESS!! Collecting science and returning to base. Couple of issues on re-entry. First of all, we overshot the landing. As this campaign develops, I need to get better at making precision re-entry. My goal will be to re-enter and splashdown in the gulf to the east of KSC within 10 or so KM. I will work on this over time. A more pressing issue is some heat problems on re-entry. We re-entered with an apoapsis at about 103km and periapsis at 30km. I felt this was pretty conservative. However we came extremly close to burning off our external scientific equipment. W With some careful rotation and a bit of luck, we managed to keep all the instruments in-tact, but future research should focus on heat viability. Will also need to develop re-entry protocols to ensure the re-entry attitude is safe.

So I have hit my first snag of this game mode. I think it is a consequence of missing one of the early missions, but essentially the Orbit Kerbin mission will require a vessel that is more than 18T. I will need to upgrade the launch pad which costs $100,000. This leaves me $9000 for my approx $15,000 mission, which I will have only one attempt to nail. My best (admittedly first) attempt at a spacecraft with 4k(ish) delta v weighed in at 32T and cost 16k. My options are: Accept a bogus mission for the advance to get me across the line and attempt to complete the mission at a later date Complete some of the easier missions for real cash The only problem with number two is that they are mostly test part at altitude X at speed Y which can be difficult to complete with early tech. For this reason, I opted to do the scum move and accept a mission I intend on doing much later or not at all once I have some money. Noticing the reputation damage of non-completion, I decided to pick a mission I could realistically honor. The one I picked will probably be useful in an interplanetary mission within the next year, probably Jool or Duna. And this is it! Cross your fingers for me

Notes / Feedback Straightforward mission, good re-entry with no excessive heating. The mission was a success. We finished the mission with: $110,000 45 Science 2 reputation

Mission 1-1 - Arch Angel Design Objectives: Test a parachute Ascend to an altitude of at least 70km via a parabolic flight trajectory Land in water Safely parachute to ground. Delta V Requirements: It is important that this mission is conducted with a parabolic trajectory. Vertical re-entry causes heating issues and likely G overstress problems, therefore we will seek to vertically ascend to the desired apopapsis then horizontally accelerate out to round out the trajectory. I am not sure how to calculate the optimal delta V amount for a suborbital trajectory (if anyone can point me in the right direction it would be appreciated). Rule of thumb I have used in the past is about 2000 ms. Science Instrumentation The mission will be a good opportunity to collect science. We will collect science using triplicates of the available instruments attached to the command module for safe re-entry. Safety The safety measures implemented for this mission will be to detach from the spacecraft body, use the blunt end of the command module to de-accelerate as much as possible then pop parachute when safe to do so. A few risks include: Loss of power - resulting in pointy end down and insufficient de acceleration Re-entry - overheating or over stressing due to poor re-entry angle. Agree with your point regarding the parachute mission. Literally the first mission off the ground so happy to accept a bit of grind but I take your point. Thanks for the head up RE the accuracy KAC. Was tracking Alex Moons website, will give it a closer look when I get a bit closer to the windows.

[Year 1, Day 1, Hour 0, Minute 17] With the absolute baby steps completed, I had enough research for some very basic rocket technology. I researched Engineering 101 and Basic Rocketry with the intention to start kicking into some very basic missions. Reviewing the mission list, I know from previous play through that the best strategy is to seek the highest reward missions that your current technology level will support. Looking at the mission list: The focused observational survey missions are probably best left for when I have better control surfaces on my rockets or I have aircraft. The parachute mission I can complete as part of any mission so will aim to do so on my next mission. I don't like doing hauling missions for solid rocket boosters because their speed cannot be controlled and it can be difficult to achieve the mission parameters. The last two missions are probably beyond my current technology level to achieve, therefore our next mission will seek to: Haul MK16 Parachute into flight above Kerbin Escape the atmosphere!

Mission Set 1 - Ground School (Gulf Sierra) Planning To start the campaign off, I took some time to do a quick time appreciation and understand what we should be aiming for. I know from my past games that the biggest restrictions we have on our time are interplanetary transfer windows. We should aim to structure our development to hit those windows. With that in mind I took a look at Kerbal Alarm Clock and identify the upcoming transfer windows: Looking at the available missions, we can quickly eliminate a mission to Moho. After a quick look at the star system delta v map (below) we can see that a mission to Jool while certainly possible, would probably be a one way trip. We could probably look to send probes to Jool, and a possible manned mission to Duna. This plan will develop as time goes on, but as a rough plan we know, we should aim to get mid tier technology (sufficient for a long range probe) within the next 180 days. First Steps To kick the game off, I collected as much science as possible from around the space station without even taking off. I did this by attaching sensors to the command module and launching from the Launchpad and Air Strip. I picked up a few contracts to Gather Scientific Data from the surface of Kerbin and Launch our first vessel. While doing so I started to develop my first design checklists. This will include all the lessons learned as we proceed and eventually provide a fairly robust design document.

After my first failed attempt at a full Campaign, I have opted to throw myself back into the Kerbal Universe. Will have the same rules as before with some slight modifications: Difficulty Settings This will have to be enforced using the honor system, but my aim is to face as many design challenges as possible to make the game interesting, and consequences real. I want to play in hardcore mode so I and anyone else who is interested can experience the risk and the reward. The settings I will be using are: I will try to follow a regular pattern for my mission logs so you can understand what I am trying to achieve, what the stakes are and some of the design challenges I faced (and how I overcame them). Please send through any questions or suggestions for improvement! My Mod Policy While my intention is to keep the game as stock as possible, I will be using a few usability mods to help cut down on the extraneous. I understand this is a slippery slope, I will advise any mods I am using to keep things honest and will explain why I think they are necessary. My Mod List Science [X] - Cuts down on tedious time warping and flicking backwards and forwards to find new biomes. I would argue that this does not break immersion as we would expect maps overlaid with biome to be available to Kerbonauts. Kerbal Alarm Clock - Quality of life mod, helps manage timelines and better control time warps. Again, stops me from wasting time on more tedious tasks and allows the focus on piloting and design. KRPC - I imagine this one will be quite controversial, but I enjoy the idea of KRPC as it adds another layer of design that you would expect in a real space program (software). My pledge is I will not use scripts created by other users, I will develop my own software as we go along similar to the early space programs (warts and all). While I am a competent Python programmer, I am not overly familiar with KRPC. Kerbal Engineer Redux - Speeds up the design process and prevents me from having to flick backwards and forwards between an excel spreadsheet.

References Builtfor - Mission Series: Genesis Overview Over a series of short range flights, collect science from the upper atmosphere and low space, and start to understand the requirements for re-entry. Objectives Strategic Gain experience in leaving atmosphere and safe re-entry. Contractual Leave the atmosphere Science Science Targets Collection Plan Will attach two mystery goo modules to the outside of the command module and collect science over a series of flights landing in various locations Mission Results Science: +93 Credits: + 50800 Reputation: +28 Time: 60 minutes Vehicle Development Version Flight Observations Required Improvements 0 1 High thrust of solid rocket boosters caused heat in atmosphere Insufficient delta v to escape atmosphere (Max altitude 58km) Reduce thrust of solid rocket boosters to reduce drag losses. Modification Produce flight plan with maneuver costing. Planning 1 1 Insufficient delta v to escape atmosphere (Max altitude 53km) Design larger lift engine. Modification 2 1 Insufficient delta v to hit high space. 80km @ 1200 m/s Design larger lift engine. Modification 3 1 Unstable staging in atmosphere with removal of fins Add interstage fins. Modification 4 1 Does not reach high space (150km @ 2000 delta v) Design larger lift engine. Modification 5 1 Got close to G limit, Stage parachute before hitting atmosphere in case of blackout. Checklist

References Builtfor - Mission Series: Genesis Overview Over a series of short flights, collect science from the biomes closest to KSC using a hopping spacecraft. Objectives Strategic Land in biome that are easily accessible from KSC and collect science from target list. Contractual Launch your first vessel off of the launchpad or runway to achieve this goal Leave the atmosphere Science Science Targets Collection Plan Will attach two mystery goo modules to the outside of the command module and collect science over a series of flights landing in various locations Mission Results Science: +35 Credits: +1248 Reputation: +1 Time: 37 minutes Vehicle Development Version Flight Observations Required Improvements 1 1 Very unresponsive once passing even the lowest speeds Need better control surfaces for atmospheric flight. Modify 2 Tipping on landing Low opening parachute due to ASL altitude of grasslands When landing on land with anything other than a capsule or small spacecraft, be sure to include landing gear. Checklist Plan LZ and design accordingly. Checklist

References Campaign Description Aim The aim of the Genesis series is to learn my first lessons of space flight. It will require me to learn my first lessons that I will eventually need to use to launch more complex missions beyond Low Kerbin Orbit. Objectives The objective of the series is to: Collect all available science given current technical capabilities Understand how to design stable atmospheric stages Understand how to design re-entry vehicles Understand how to accurately re-enter the atmosphere and splash down in vicinity of the Kerbin Space Center Reliably establish LKO Milestones Atmospheric flight Sub orbital flight Orbital flight

Approach In this play through was a bit more of a Hardcore mode / role playing approach. I wanted to increase complexity, difficulty and consequence so I could improve my skills in the game. I wanted to replicate the highs and lows of survival games and develop my tools and procedures for future play through. If you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to reply. Difficulty Settings This will be the first of a series in the Builtfor Campaign where I will set out to tackle some of the challenges that come with the harder difficulty modes. For transparency, I the settings I will be using are: Note: I have removed reversion to increase the stakes of our mission and encourage the use of robotics. I have reduced funding awards increase the likelihood of difficult financial decision making Note: I have included part pressure limits, part G force limits and Kerbal G Force limits to improve realism and increase the engineering considerations when designing craft. I have also removed extra ground stations to provide more opportunities to design and implement communication systems.

I am currently looking at a project to improve my coding skills and was thinking of creating a orbital simulator for KSP. The objective of the simulator is to provide precision re-entry maneuvers, a replacement to the now defunct parachute calculator and perhaps a visual aerobraking simulator. I was wondering if there was any community interest in this. Also, was wondering what tools are currently available that I could improve?

@Red Iron Crown, you are probably right, I'll assume and simplify until it doesn't work anymore and then I'll admit defeat haha. I'll post back shortly, standby

Haha I respectfully disagree, if you calculate what happens for a wide variety of conditions you can estimate an optimised solution (that being said I will be the first to admit im wrong in 4 days so standby hehe). The model is the hard bit. Thanks for the feedback, I do enjoy the community here.

@Red Iron Crown, acknowledged, I have no doubt they work and I will probably end up reverting to them when I admit defeat. I feel like since KSP is a simplified model of a real world system, it has to be analytically solvable because my computer is doing it. I guess I have to decide how much I want to simplify the system in my model and wether that is just one step ahead of empirical numbers. Thanks a lot for the input, it does set the stage for me a bit better. I'll have a tinker when I get home and post if I get any results. Thanks again

Yep i think we are taking about different things. It's all good I'll probably just tinker and post any results.

@The Moose In Your House How he got to the theoretical max speed of the engine, how he got to 14% of total mass being for fuel, how he decided how many engines to use (why is 1-1.2TWR ideal), how did he work out his maximum payload etc. I have no doubt it's out there, I'm on the road so I'll probably have to do more digging when I get home.