RealKerbal3x

Completely random thought here, but I wonder if B1058 will be reused for an uncrewed CRS2 Dragon flight after DM-2, since NASA doesn't yet like the idea of crew flying on flight-proven boosters.

@sevenperforce Lovely stock Dragon/F9! Did you make that for the NASA challenge, and how many parts is it?

On one hand, I'm sad to see that I'll have to wait so long for what is most likely my most-anticipated game ever. On the other hand, this gives the developers more time to make KSP2 a true successor to KSP. I want KSP2 to surpass KSP as my favourite game of all time, and it looks like this delay will allow it to do just that. Another good thing about this delay is that by then I'll probably have a new computer that will allow me to experience the game in full. Good luck, guys. Make it worth the wait

They might as well use dollar bills as propellant at this point...

I found this short rendering that someone made of what SN4's 150m hop could look like. It certainly looks like a balancing act!

...that stores rocket propellant. The building is an orbital spacedock...

DM-2 HYPE! I'm excited. Can you tell?

Wow, an ESA update! This looks great, I can't wait for more news It was already reskinned, in 1.5. https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Probodobodyne_HECS2

Getting a lot of venting from the tank farm now, but still no frost on SN4.

Let's hope it actually goes ahead this time.

I just found this fantastic video about SpaceX's case for Mars. I highly recommend you give it a watch!

Tundra is overpowered for stock scale, it's designed for 2.5x/2.7x systems. You're probably just used to overpowered stock rockets.

Thanks I was wondering about that because a lot of mods seem to be balanced for 2.5x and I don't really want to have to handle an outdated version of the game to run Kopernicus and a whole bunch of system rescale mods just to play with properly balanced parts. A couple more questions from me: - Do you ever plan to add Real Plume support? - Do you think you'll add more parts (e.g, the latest incarnation of Starship), or is this mod purely in maintenance mode? OK, I'll shut up now. I do like a good SpaceX mod, keep up the good work!

I feel like they're going to have to build a LC-39 sized concrete pad with a gargantuan flame trench sooner or later.

If the static fire does happen today, then the 150m hop will hopefully happen within a few days Speaking of static fires, I wonder if this one will be another 2 or 3 second burn, or a longer-duration static fire.

@Kartoffelkuchen Wow! This looks amazing! Are the parts balanced for stock scale, or 2.5x?

@aspacecephalopod Welcome to the forum! I really enjoyed your mission report! For inserting images, copying and pasting the direct link from imgur into your post usually works.

Looking at the LabPadre stream, it seems like there's a storm over at Boca Chica. I can see occasional lightning flashes. I hope everyone (and SN4) is safe. I doubt it will cause any harm or damage, but SN4 is essentially a giant steel lightning rod Edit: It seems like the storm began to calm down just as I posted this. Also, this is what happens to me when we have a lack of immediate news - I start posting about how it's raining in Boca Chica

While we're all distracted by SN4 getting ready to test, it seems that SN5 nosecone integration is imminent:

Floor -39: You find the nuclear waste dump for the floor above. You hurry on to avoid being irradiated.

I believe it's similar to the Shuttle external tank, in that MECO occurs just short of orbit and the ICPS nudges the vehicle the rest of the way into LEO.

Well, then we'll just have to see how reliable Starship can be made. LES or not, I think crew Starship is still some years off, giving them some time to get it right. The fact that it's being built by a single company with a single vision, rather than a country-spanning network of contractors, will mean it avoids the fate of the Shuttle, hopefully.

That's what NASA said about the Space Shuttle, and 14 people died. I think at least initially NASA is going to require an LES if they ever fly their astronauts on Starship, because they don't want to make that same mistake again. Besides, my point is to make the LES useful later as a set of auxiliary engines for landing (to avoid plume-regolith interaction) rather than it being dead weight - or worse, jettisoned - after it is no longer useful as an escape system. Essentially, it's similar to the original plans for Crew Dragon - as long as there isn't a launch abort, the LES is put to a different use later for assisting in the landing of the vehicle.

Eventually, when Starship is in operation, I envisage that Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy's only remaining customer will be NASA, for crew missions to the ISS and cargo to Gateway in NRHO. It remains to be seen whether NASA will warm up to SpaceX using flight-proven boosters on crewed missions, and SpaceX's future inventory size hinges around that. It's possible that they may continue to produce F9 boosters at a reduced rate, or just stop the F9 production line entirely and simply fly a number of flight-proven boosters repeatedly, periodically refurbishing them to keep them going. ISS will probably remain in operation until 2030, and by then NASA may have already decided to crew-rate Starship, meaning bye bye Falcon and Dragon. Though before NASA flies crew on Starship/Super Heavy, I imagine NASA will want it to have some kind of launch escape system. I've been thinking about possible Starship LES configurations for a while and I feel that since Starship is designed to be a fully reusable system, meaning that the LES can't just be jettisoned when it is no longer deemed necessary, that anything designed into the vehicle as part of a launch escape system must also serve another useful purpose post-launch. Perhaps a set of throttleable liquid fuel LES engines draining propellant from the header tanks could later act as auxiliary thrusters for final landing on the Moon/Mars, similar to the 9 auxiliary engines planned for Starship HLS.

It's probably the craft duplication bug, usually restarting the game fixes it.