Kerbolitto

Thank you! Well yes it's certainly easier this way, also it might be very hard to do precision flybys with all the stuff floating around Jupiter.

Okay, so why do you think they're going equatorial ? I just thought you'd have lot more time to power the craft, transmit data and scan all the surface from polar. I'm obviously not saying this is a better idea or anything I'm just curious about this specific choice.

But Juno is on polar around Jupiter, maybe it would use too much dV to lower Ap because there's less possibility to use gravity assist with a craft not on the ecliptic ? Maybe when near Ganymede the low TWR doesn't allow for a fast enough capture when arriving from polar ?

Hey there, not sure if this has been discussed or if I'm asking dumb questions : Juice will be orbited around Ganymede on an equatorial orbit. Do you guys think this will be a big limitation in regard of - available power (photovoltaic) - the quantity and quality of experiments (no flyby above poles) - transmission rate and delays Is it even possible to put a craft on polar orbit when the moon is orbiting that close of Jupiter ?

Would it be possible to change the picture on first page when you add a module ? To see how things develops !

STS-13 - Laboratory Module 2 This module is just a basic lab, 2 docks and a giant antenna. It's made to look at distant stuff in the universe, between STF (StuffTooFar) and MSF (MunSometimesFart) radio bands, expanding Kerbal's knowledge of what is currently known as " Dark Sky ". That's a 51 parts module (I know I know ...!) and is almost useless if you manage to break the dish !! : D It's not very pretty and absolutely useless, if you don't want that thing on the station no problem, at first I just wanted to search solutions to pack a fat dish into a mk3 bay. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6cbo0f6hw5uunbj/STS-13 - Laboratory Module 2.craft?dl=0

Maybe your l/d ratio is too low ? Did you tried to put airbrakes on the tip of the wings, above and below ? edit : I tried to fly your shuttle after tweaking the elevons a bit, it's more stable and pitch +15° at +/- 20° left or right from prograd. Problem is that the lift is too low under the com and the craft wants to 1) stick on its side at 90° angle pitch because of resonnance 2) roll 180° so that col is above com. Hypersonic : stable enough if not yawing far from prograde, descent at 15° aoa totally stable. Supersonic : much more stable, its possible to roll & pitch left and right to bleed speed at 1300m/s, but its still possible to loose control if pitching too hard, in this case the shuttle points to the ground and enters roll which I could only recover after modifying 4 elevons to roll only. Subsonic : no problem at all, your l/d is excellent : D What I did : set canards below crew cabin to pitch only, raised airbrakes near stabilizer (so they are flat) and allowed pitch, the 4 BigS elevons are dedicated to pitch and only the outer Elevon 3 are controlling roll. Also you really want the craft to be more stable you should increase dihedral, at least a tiny bit! MMU 2.0 : https://www.dropbox.com/s/gyzruq86vz3y90t/STS _ MicroMMU.craft?dl=0 More Monoprop & lot more thrust, but still no usb port !

LuCeDa-TwiVi Which kind of instability do you experiment when deorbiting ? Also did you tried to cheat the crane on the station to see if it has some use ? :p

I saw that the MMU had limitations but when it is controlled from the mini dock the missing axis is not very important. I wanted to create something very compact with a low parts count but I can modify it a bit ! =) edit : Okay so there is no need to fix the MMU because it works fine with a payload, the problem comes from the fact that the thruster block is in line with center of mass, so if you offset it in the direction or away from the docking port at the bottom it will work better. To fix it entirely and counteract torque vectoring, you'd need another block above or below the existing one! Consumers rights allows you to choose between a refund or a version 2.0, up to you ! : D

@Ultimate Steve Here it is : the bottom tanks are meant to transfer ore when the crane is not operating, to lower CoM, Set 1 action group controls the first part of the assembly, Set 2 the end of the arm. It also has multiple docks to get as close as possible to the module you want to assemble on the station. If you like it I may change some stuff to submit it later. https://www.dropbox.com/s/kq1vvvl2v7c46o3/Test _ Grue de l'espace!.craft?dl=0

I'm asking because sometime you say the ship, sometime the ships :p I'm not participating yet, maybe in a few ! =)

Is it possible to build multiple ships to get to different destinations ?

Very cool mission !

I've made a larger one for a space station, it uses counterweights and bigger cylinders, its not exceptionnal (and big) but it works better than the shuttle's arm!

I've done a robotic arm prototype, you want to test it ? Not sure if it will be very usefull but it works

grand parent on the first half of the crane once is deployed, none above that, only rigid attachments

I used 4 to 6 mostly, with precision control (lock maj) The crane created fantom forces, with only 4.5t. fuel tank and trying to dock it to a space station, it started moving the ship at 0.2m/s in random directions..

@Dman Revolution Thanks for the input, I like your heavy crane ! But for me the problem remains with a precision crane for a spacecraft, using 8-10 robotics parts on top of each others.. It's just too wobbly, and if you have to double the size of each parts this will be simply too big to be usefull, I don't want my crane to fill half the cargo bay..!

I'll wait a bit before submitting a new design =)

STS-9 - Airlock 1, MMUs 1-2, Docking Compartment 2, and External Stowage Platform is ready : This long module has an air lock, room for 4 crew, 2 jr docks for MMUs and 1 for the docking compartment 2 and 2 panels which holds 4 jr docks ! The design was nicer at first but I forgot that this module has to dock a lab on each side, so it's now tilted at 90° because why not : D https://www.dropbox.com/s/1gpkcvxhgneipho/STS-9 - Airlock 1%2C MMUs 1-2%2C Docking Compartment 2%2C and External Stowage Platform.craft?dl=0

Oh okay, I just have to provide a single different version of a MMU ? Can I use a bit of robotics for the Jr docks on which you'll dock experiments ?

I'll create STS-9 - Airlock 1, MMUs 1-2, Docking Compartment 2, and External Stowage Platform

@Ultimate Steve Did you try to use airbrakes as yaw control ? They are very powerfull if positionned correctly !

They are far too weak, somewhat realistic in regard of unity engine but totally underpowered compared to IRL stuff.. : / I had to forgot swing wings, foldable rover, space-arm .. Because of that crap I created a new shuttle, has 1.5 cargo bay, around 3k m/s & 0.2TWR (nukes) with 36t. payload, is also an SSTO from Laythe or Kerbin ..

I've created a shuttle with swept wings, which should be able to adjust its center of lift depending on the load, but even the fat G32W hinge is too weak .. That's disappointing : /