Cavscout74

I've used something similar to return pilots from putting long range spaceplanes into LKO. I use a pilot to avoid problems with loss of signal, but I also use life support and a little interface spaceplane for Laythe doesn't have room for 3 years of snacks. It rides piggy back, protected by a fairing which gets jettisoned in orbit. The pilot boards, stages away from the spaceplane and does a deorbit burn

Glad to hear it!!!

Didn't get much done - mostly some planning for upcoming transfer windows. I did get a contract satellite launched to Mun carrying a newly-unlocked ion engine Then installed a pair of 1000G ground antennas, one near KSC & one near DSC. Once in place, stabilizing legs are deployed then the massive antenna is unfolded Heading out to a good deployment location. How have I never noticed this vehicle park at the desert space center before now?

Nope, sorry, I don't believe that. This is some kind of conspiracy!!!

1.3.1 was a great version - 1.4 added a ton of bugs and incompatibilities. I still have a mod & stock 1.3.1 install tucked away even though they aren't my primary installs. I personally don't think anything ran as smoothly as 1.3.1 until 1.8.1 came along.

Finally post an update to my Out of the Sands career - I've been off playing a different game the last few weeks, but I needed a break from it and figured some nice simple rocket science was just the ticket. Got my Eve crew back home safe finally: And found out my spaceplane flying hasn't degraded too badly - I did overshoot KSC by over 200 km though And started getting things ready for a Moho mission

Update 07:250 Don't look back, A new day is breakin' Manned Launches: Just 2 manned launches this update, both spaceplanes. Unmanned Launches: 7 unmanned launches this update Aircraft: On 07:151-152 conducted a series of test flights of an experimental disc-winged aircraft that went surprisingly well. The first attempt resulted in a crash due to a low-altitude maneuver without sufficient room for recovery. Pilot Magas Kerman was shaken but uninjured, while Haigan Kerman performed the subsequent test flights without incident. Due to predicted increasing demand, additional Lightning II spaceplanes were built & rolled out, CS-04-07210 & CS-04-07228 Debris: EFS-Eve Transfer Stage - 05:395 - Eve surface Ongoing Missions: ***Operation Morning Star*** With the safe return of the crew from Eve orbit, Operation Morning Star is officially concluded ***Operation Red Dawn*** "Eva-1" - Entered Eve's SoI on 07:193 and established orbit on 07:198. Eve entry is on hold, pending alignment of its orbit with EFS-Eve, which only took a few hours. After a brief deorbit burn, the transfer stage was jettisoned and Eva-1 prepared for entry. Initial entry was stable and despite a loss of signal, Eva-1 remained in a steady, nose-up attitude. Despite getting fairly warm, nothing overheated and speed dropped rapidly until signal was reestablished and the craft trimmed for gliding flight. Despite using most of the onboard fuel, the entry burn was too soon and the final touchdown was over 640km away from EFS-Eve. Still, the mission was a success in so far as it demonstrated a safe and effective way to deliver a 2-kerbal crew to Eve that allows for limited maneuvering to select a final landing zone. MMB-ISRU-E-1 - Eve arrival on 07:193 and entered orbit 07:197. During Eve entry, it was discovered the team responsible for adding parachutes for a soft landing were off stuffing themselves with snacks and forgot to add the parachutes. The inflatable heatshield made a reasonably effective parachute, but induced a violent spinning motion around the longitudinal axis. Landing speed was actually <20 m/s, but the MMB module ended up partially inverted after "landing," without enough reaction wheel strength to right itself. The decision was made to activate the self-destruct charge (intended for the inflatable heatshield, but still attached to the rover) and attempt a new mission in the future. Laythe Large Remote Rover - Jool SoI encountered on 07:160 and after a minor course correction had a fly-by of Tylo on 07:200 followed by Laythe encounter on 07:201. After orbital insertion, two aerobraking passes brought the rover down on a large island. Loss of comms resulted in a multi-hour delay before control was regained and scientific data gathered on both Laythe's dunes & shores, plus scans of a stone and a geyser. TL-1 - Course correction completed on 07:198, Jool intercept expected 09:056 Laythe Glide Rover 2 - Course correction performed on 07:230, Jool arrival expected 09:191 Pol Lander & Relay Mk 1v - Jool arrival planned for 07:270 LACRO-5-1 - Circularization maneuver planned for 08:082 JLR-3-3 - Jool intercept expected on 08:210 LSD-01 - Jool arrival expected 10:031 Barca-Eeloo - Eeloo arrival is expected 11:368 Other: ****** Due to losing the memory stick I was storing all this career's info on, I will not be continuing this series. I've been away from KSP for several months now, but I've been missing it. If I come back, I will start a new career, possibly in JNSQ if that is still being updated ******

High reward Sentinel contracts aren't too rare. I've never seen one that high, but I generally turn my contract rewards down to 40% or less.

They could probably add a part to get a surface sample in lieu of a kerbal. Another idea - DMagic Orbital Science mod adds an experiment that scans the asteroid - needs two (identical) parts. You get science based on how close to the center of the asteroid you scan through. Something like that could be added to stock as well. But like @Bej Kerman said, they probably can't add a true biome

Same, unless I'm trying to be extra clear in saying it. But for general conversation, its twenty-twenty.

I hate to say this, but Stormworks: Build & Rescue has now usurped KSP as my main game. It started slow but has become almost an addiction. It even has rockets - just SRB's at the moment, but who knows where it will go.

Especially when a bunch of think "the galaxy is on Orion's belt" and that is their only exposure to using the term

Another item I haven't seen mentioned yet, your main landing gear should be slightly behind the center of mass not at the tail of the plane. That is contributing to you not being able to get off the runway till the end. And yes, you will have to watch you don't over-rotate & smash your tail.

I landed a remote rover on Laythe for the first time in this career and my Eve crew made it back to Kerbin orbit and are waiting on a recovery vessel LLRR (Laythe Large Remove Rover) chutes deploying and jettisoning the heatshield Within a short drive of not one but two geisers: Shortly before landing, I lost comm's and had to wait a few hours to open my main antenna and start exploring Eve crew adjusting inclination: So after the fact, I realized the "return to Kerbin from flyby of Gilly" requires a landing on Kerbin so I had to build a recovery craft that (with the engineer on the Eve vessel) use KAS to cut the crew segment off the ship, add parachutes & a heat shield then reenter while the rest of the ship gets sent off to crash into Mun - don't want to dump a NERV into the oceans of Kerbin, much better to pollute the Mun

My most recent "not so great moment" was yesterday, when during Eve entry I realized I forgot the <insert appropriate adjective here> parachutes on my Mobile Modular Base. The heat shield did wonders slowing it down, but it started spinning at low altitude & here was what I ended up with: That pile of debris under the rover includes one of two radiators and the only solar panel

I went & picked up another game - Children of a Dead Earth is on sale for 90% off, so for $2.49, how could I resist. Been kinda wanting that one for a while, but I never saw it on sale before. The controls are a little clunky to me (specifically setting up maneuver nodes), but maybe that will get better with use.

Only accomplished two things today - my Eva-1 lander and the Modular Mobile Base (MMB) ISRU module arrived at Eve and landed. First up was the MMB ISRU module. All was going well till I realized the team responsible for the landing stage (parachutes and such) was taking a nap during vehicle assembly. The inflatable heatshield did a remarkable job slowing the MMB module (as low as 18 m/s) but it also created a violent spinning force along the longitudinal axis at low speed, making a safe landing unlikely. Despite the spin, the heat shield took the brunt of the impact, but the MMB continued to roll, ending up inverted with the solar panel & one of the radiators smashed. With the loss of the solar panel & no way to right the MMB, the order was given use the self-destruct charge that was intended to destroy the inflatable heat shield to instead destroy the entire MMB. Despite the failure, it is still a pretty remarkable for a no-parachute landing Next up was the Eva-1 aerodynamic lander. While it has nowhere close to enough dV to take back off, it was theorized to provide a gentler and more controllable landing for a pair of kerbonauts, so this unmanned test vehicle was sent to test the theory. Pictured here after deorbit burn & jettisoning of the transfer stage Eva-1 was remarkably stable during entry, despite a loss of signal during the hottest phase. Also, despite the extreme heat, Eva held together until slowing down enough to regain signal and re-trim for gliding to land Even in Eve's upper atmosphere, Eva-1 slowed down to a crawl (<200 m/s), needing bursts from the linear aerospike to keep its speed up even at over 30km Dropping through the cloud layer, Eva was getting low on fuel but still several hundred kilometers from the intended destination (an emergency fuel station landed on the previous Eve mission) so it was time to look for a good landing zone. Also, some maneuvers to see how she handled in Eve's soupy atmosphere were in order. It turns out stall speed is around 18 m/s with the gear down, which will make for a nice, gently landing Once landed (in Eve's midlands, a previously unexplored biome) some basic science data (temp, press, seismic & a graviolli reading) was gathered and sent back to Kerbin. For the present, Eva-1 will remain parked but she is equipped with a self-destruct charge if mission control decides to use it. Now I just need to build something to bring two kerbals back to orbit.....

Nearly simultaneously I got my reactor module for my Mun base launched, transferred & landed and my Minmus crew arrived via spaceplane (a first for this career), then transferred to the surface to reactivate the Minmus mining base At nearly 1.7 million funds, this was the most expensive launch to date After shedding most of its orbital velocity, the transfer stage was jettisoned, leaving the landing motors to finish the job The aft skycrane was jettisoned a safe distance from the base, then the module drove up to connect under guidance from the base engineer. The front skycrane has the only probe core on the module, so it has to be kept in place until docked. To jettison, all radiators & solar panels were retracted for safety. Everything all hooked up & ready to go. Its on the Mun so the reactor is hardly necessary, just a test for other bases. The entire base is currently 96 parts and 16 of them are retractable wheels that I'm going to take off with KAS once I have somewhere to dispose of them. Edit: Just realized, I didn't add any radiators to the reactor. Guess the craft that will carry the radiators can be used to dispose of the wheels..... Over at Minmus, happening simultaneously, a 4-kerbal crew reached Minmus station (now renamed Johnny Kerman Memorial Station), transferred to the Peregrine-TX lander and headed down to the mining base. I should've just waited a day to launch the reactor module, because every event (SoI change, maneuver, etc) I had to swap back & forth between the spaceplane & reactor. I'm always amazed at how big even relatively small spaceplanes are compared to other structures. Peregrine-TX undocking Finally, the most important step - moving the stupid docking port from the front to near the CoM. I just love KAS

Best guess would be a lab running while going through the night - a station in a 150km orbit will need over 3200 Ec just to power the lab through the night, not counting any other power drain & assuming it's purely solar powered.

So far I've had time to play with just one - it takes a 0-1 value & outputs a 0-100 value, so its basically a percentage readout. I guess it doesn't really matter once you understand it, but I like 0-100% battery charge vs 0-1. And you are right, it was pretty easy - took like 5 minutes.

The Buffalo mod by @Angel-125 adds a new experiment with shallow & deep water biomes (its the RCS-tank looking thing bolted to the top in front of the high-gain antenna). I feel like there are a few others have an underwater biome, but I'm not sure if that got added by Buffalo or is stock

Only had a few little things going today - did a little Laythe exploration with the Ocean Explorer, put a small station into Mun orbit and got a crew moving to Minmus to re-staff my heavy mining base. Laythe Ocean Explorer heading down to its max depth to gather some more data on this watery moon: After a deep (nearly 400m) dive, came back to the surface and my high gain antenna promptly jammed during deployment. On the surface it can reach nearly 60 m/s, which is enough to get some air: Mun transfer station in orbit - just a collection of docking ports, a single hitchhiker and plenty of snacks Minmus crew departing on one of my Lightning II spaceplanes While they were on their way, the Peregrine lander returned to Minmus orbit & docked with the station to await the crew. I'm REALLY glad I moved the docking port to near the CoM on the final version of the Peregrine, because this one was not much fun trying to dock. I really don't know what I was thinking when I stuck it over the cockpit at the front. I think once the crew arrives, the engineer's first job will be to move the docking port somewhere better

I saw that recently, looked pretty interesting. If I hadn't gotten several new games already that I don't have enough time for, I might have gotten it.

So I kinda stumbled across mention - with pics - of some disc-wing mono- and bi-planes built in the early 1900's that actually flew. One was even described as pleasant to fly. And I thought something like this: ...really deserved to be in the skies of Kerbin. So, here it is:

I don't have one favorite thing. I guess you could say my favorite thing is that I can do so many different things as the desire hits me - build a Mun rover one day, then switch the next day to tinkering with a prop seaplane to buzz around Kerbin, then decide the seaplane would be more fun on Laythe and attach it on top of a rocket to send it there. Today my favorite thing is going to be trying to create a disc-wing plane based on some pictures I saw earlier today: If the real one could fly, this thing definitely has a place in the skies of Kerbin