jimmymcgoochie

After the raucous celebrations had died down a bit following not one, but two orbital launches (only slightly dampened by the failure of the third), Red Tiger 4 rolled out to the launchpad to do what the simulator run said it could- first polar satellite and first solar-powered satellite. A successful launch, but due to the possible delta-V constraints of launching into a polar orbit I didn't include any science experiments, something that's going to come back and bite me later. A contract to reach 4km/s orbital velocity with an advanced biological sample capsule and then bring it back down was dispatched without any issues, even though I forgot that the Red Tiger's interstage avionics didn't have an antenna on it meaning this launch was done with minimal control: Next up was a routine X-planes contract and flight, with a successful runway landing this time after the rebuild from the last *ahem* incident. A new launch rocket, the Red Leopard- an evolutionary step from the Red Tiger with integral structure fuel tanks (more expensive but lighter and higher fuel fraction), upgraded to the RD-103M engine configuration and with a fully guided first stage complete with 40 tons of avionics support; the rocket only weighs 35 tons on the pad but the extra capacity means it can be re-used for bigger rockets in the future. Tooling the new parts was pretty expensive, but worth it for the cost and construction time savings: Here's a launch that I don't really know why I did- it didn't fulfil any contracts so maybe it was intended for that 4km/s and return one that I did before, or for the orbital velocity and return one but that requires 6.5km/s of orbital velocity and the rocket doesn't even have 6.5km/s of delta-V on the pad... Sadly that wasted launch meant that I ran out of research nodes! Fortunately, Red Leopard 1 launched shortly afterwards and not only completed two contracts, but also carries several science experiments to get more science- plus the latest science core avionics, improved communications tech and solar panels mean that it actually gains power while in sunlight so should last for a very long time and send back some nice science data. Full album: https://imgur.com/a/FOeygcT Coming up next time- chasing science any which way I can, plus I've finally found out how to use TUFX to paint parts so I'll show off my (probably terrible) new look rocket plane.

I always use the arrow keys to drive rovers, but I’ve also found that applying a bit of reaction wheel torque to yaw rather than using wheel steering is a better way of turning at high speeds. It’s also a good idea to set your rear wheels to either toggle their steering with an action group (on at low speed to turn tightly but off when going faster) or just turn it off altogether.

My first Earth orbit! And in April 1953 no less, a whole 4 years earlier than that silly Spudnik thing got there. Amateurs...

Here's a simulation of my brand new Red Tiger launch system going into orbit: And here's a real Red Tiger FLYING INTO LOW EARTH ORBIT! *ahem* I may have gotten a bit excited there, but that's my first proper orbit of Earth with RSS/RO/RP-1 and it took several days of trial and error to get it right- and even then I did a bit of a Kerbal move by sticking moar boosters on it, each of which was pretty much identical to the upper stages. First artificial satellite around Earth in April 1954, take that Spudnik! And just to prove the first one wasn't a fluke, I followed it up with Red Tiger 2, now sporting solar panels and the latest in space science experiments to fulfil the first scientific satellite contract. This one had to stay in orbit for a day and still have power, but the batteries were more than up for the job even without solar power. With these contracts done and more accepted- polar satellite and solar-powered satellite- it was time to buy some upgrade points: There were some new contracts popping up for the advanced biological sample capsule; conveniently I already have a rocket (Blue Basketball) which has an advanced biological sample capsule and can complete these contracts with no modifications at all plus it gets more data units for the RD-102 (and later RD-103) engines for the orbital launches plus more science too. One embarrassing (and slightly bewildering) failure as Red Tiger 3's last stage fails to burn due to a non-pressurised fuel tank. Strange how that got changed when I just copied the previous design and made minor tweaks... A quick sim run proves that Red Tiger 4 can complete both the polar and solar satellite contracts in one go: Contract advances and completion rewards = more upgrade points: In between rocket launches I also did some X-planes contracts, which were pretty routine apart from the very last one: Well, when the wheels sink into the runway things start getting weird. I *may* have briefly deployed the 'no crash damage' cheat to avoid Diana Zonova's fiery demise, but the game was cheating first by making the wheels clip into the ground so I call that even. Oddly enough, replacing the missing wing only counts as 5% of the total build: A few interesting tech nodes have been unlocked, of which the most notable is EDL- entry, descent, landing, a.k.a. heatshields! I've already cooked at least one Blue Basketball by coming in too fast/too steep and the last of the three advanced bio capsule contracts wants the rocket to go at 4km/s in space and come back which will require some considerable effort; it might require the whole Red Tiger first stage to get the required velocity. Also unlocked were better avionics cores (75% less mass and 99.4% less power use on science cores? Don't mind if I do!) and new science experiments, which were required for the science sat contract. Full album: https://imgur.com/a/fHNFYSZ Coming up next time- can I throw a biological sample capsule into space at 4km/s and bring it back again?

It’s possible to grab an asteroid in any plane around Kerbin, you just need to launch into its plane to make things a lot easier. Select the asteroid as your target when it enters Kerbin’s SOI, wait for the KSC to move directly under its trajectory and launch to match orbital planes, then do a Hohmann transfer to intercept when it’s still far out from Kerbin.

Air launched a light aircraft but summoned the Kraken leading to 0.1c and many millions of atmospheres of pressure destroying it instantly, then pixelating the KSC. Also made it to LEO for the first time, but only in a simulation, and then the editor reverted the changes that made it work and I haven’t found the right combination again.

Differential steering is a bit strange with those wheels- often it results in the wheels on one side accelerating at full power while the other side accelerates at normal power and you end up speeding up without really turning much. It tends to work OK when you're stationary, but that often results in the vehicle starting to move forwards or backwards and then the reverse side stops reversing, meaning you speed up and stop turning properly again. Unless you need them for the size and carrying capacity it's usually better to go for the TR-2 wheels instead which have normal steering.

Today I had my first Kraken attack in this playthrough, but it was an absolute doozy- plane cabin crushed by over 3.5 TeraPascals, or about 35 million atmospheres, at over 10% of light speed! I think I should never again attempt to air launch that particular plane, which is a shame as that means it'll be much harder to get science from all those biomes in the western US. When the KSC looks like this, you know you have to reload the game: In other news, I went looking for the Appalachian mountains only to discover that pretty much all of the eastern US is 'forest'; on the plus side, I did break 1500m/s and get a nice little bonus for breaking that record: A long, long flight was attempted with a redesign of my old Plane 1 but that ended when I realised that the science probes I had stuck under the wings a) didn't have batteries in them and b) kept exploding when I decoupled them. Landing the plane got some science until the batteries ran out. Another flight record, this time for altitude- ignoring the 'go down or you will die' warnings for longer than strictly necessary resulted in a maximum altitude of just over 83km and another bonus for topping 80km. Another Blue Basketball rocket lobbed a camera into space for science, plus data for the RD-100 rocket engine which might just be enough to get a satellite into orbit. A few different rocket designs were tested in the simulator using various combinations of RD-100s and Aerobees; one run actually made it into orbit, but annoyingly doing a KRASH simulation then returning to the VAB results in all unsaved changes being lost, so I lost the configuration and haven't found it again My latest crazy idea is to use the RD-102 configuration with four XLR11 engines (the same as on my rocket plane) on stage 1, then a massive cluster of 19 Aerobee AJ-27 engines on the second stage, with avionics and steerable fins on stage 1 to give it some semblance of control and a total of 10km/s of delta-V to play with. Engine clustering is advised against in the RP-1 wiki, but what do they know? I'm sure it will be fine Full album: https://imgur.com/a/Lc1HHkW Coming up next time- more simulating of an orbital rocket, then possibly the same thing but for real.

OK, so I may have been a little ambitious about the timelines, specifically the 'time warping forwards for an entire year' bit. There's still plenty of stuff that needs doing, more rocket launches and plane flights to get more science and money, plus it's never a good idea to leave the VAB idle. Everything on that research list down to Satellite Era Science is required for the 'first scientific satellite' contract- well, apart from the orbital rocketry node, but that unlocks several good engines that could be the key to getting into space in the first place. I made a few attempts at simulating an orbital launch, using some of those not yet unlocked booster engines, with decidedly mixed results: But some of them got really close: There's a fuel tank upgrade coming soon which might help, so enough simulating for now. Another launch of a film camera rocket ended 4 seconds in when the engine failed: Then I launched a Blue Softball (basically a Blue Baseball but with the three extra Tiny Tims replaced with small separation motors on the fins to spin it, and better engine configs on the top two stages) to get space science, only to have this happen: It wasn't all bad though: I got a crewed altitude record of 70km on one flight, upgraded the engines with a better config and went for the speed record of 1500m/s- and failed. And skidded off the runway too. The second Blue Softball launch went without incident and returned the last of the biological sample science along with some other data. This science will be useful to unlock an upgrade to procedural avionics which reduces the mass of science cores by 75% and power consumption by a frankly ridiculous 99.4%! Both of these things would be particularly good for that first satellite, but not strictly necessary. At this point there's almost exactly one year of R&D stuff to get the nodes I think I need for an orbital launch. Coming up next time- I might try to use the air launch system to drop a plane really REALLY far away, like the Sahara or the Arctic, to get more science from new biomes. There's not much else to do in the meantime, so I might cobble together some rockets with better science experiments and throw those at space.

No wonder it’s flipping- you took off the only thing that was keeping it stable, the fins. You need to keep the weight as close to the front and the drag as close to the back, and fins will both add a little drag and passively correct your course if it drifts out of line. Without any fins on it, any deviation from prograde will be amplified by thrust and the heavy SRBs on the bottom will make it very unstable, causing flipping. Put some fins on both the Hammer SRBs- basic fins will probably do- and if necessary on the LF stage too. Get rid of the radiators and heat shield below the capsule as just by looking at the rocket I don’t expect it to get much further than LKO where re-entry heating is minimal, but put a decoupler between the last stage and the pod or things could get a bit dicey on the descent. I don’t see the point of using that many SRBs in a stack, you’d probably be better off with a liquid fuel engine with radial SRBs if necessary to boost its launch TWR to help it off the pad. LF engines have better fuel efficiency than solids and can also be extended by adding more fuel tanks, plus you can add steerable fins to the bottom to make it even easier to control it.

Swapping out the cockpit has resolved the altitude limit problem, so even more ambitious X-plane contracts could be completed: Despite using the same design as before, I had one rocket that just wouldn't work properly with engine failing to light or stay lit all over the place. It took about 20 attempts before it flew properly, including one where the parachute deployed stupidly early and one where it splashed down safely but then bounced off the ocean like it was a trampoline until the avionics exploded on impact. Eventually it worked properly and the contract was completed: A minor change to the Blue Football rocket was made to add some SoundingPayload which will complete a contract on top of the 3000km downrange contract and make even more money. The yellow cylindrical bit below the nosecone is an extra fuel tank, otherwise it's exactly the same as before: Half way through 1952 and already I'm gunning for the 3000km downrange contract. There's a spare one building just in case, but it won't be needed: An even higher flight followed, nearing the limits of the new cockpit: This was followed by a rather embarrassing incident on the next flight, which only just completed a supersonic X-planes contract and then ran out of fuel before having to ditch in the sea: A contract to lob a film can over the Karman line went well enough, even if the mission plan was to let the rocket tear itself apart due to a weight balance issue when the fuel ran out; it was better to do that with parts of the Blue Football rocket which are already tooled than to make something new. Tired of looking at all these stupid little contracts? Me too! Enough of this- it's time to go big or go home! These contracts handed out half a million funds in advance payments, there's 3 years before they expire but they aren't possible with the tech I have available right now and I need a bigger launchpad too. Fortunately, those advances allowed a new launchpad to be built and a lot of upgrade points to be funnelled into R&D to reduce the research time for the required nodes to be cut to around a year, leaving two whole years to build and launch the rockets. The plan is simple- three stages, the bottom stage throws it up to somewhere between 200 and 300km apoapsis, then separates; an avionics and RCS interstage points the remaining stages in the right direction, then decouples as the second stage fires, followed by the third stage which contains avionics, science experiments and solar panels to keep the power on. Total delta-V required is around 9500m/s Full album: https://imgur.com/a/E2j2C10 Coming up next time: a lot of waiting around, some design work and then, hopefully, an attempt at making it to orbit- possibly 4 years before Sputnik 1 did the same back in 1957!

Are you using the Bleeding Edge version of Kopernicus? I see a lot of exceptions relating to Kopernicus in the log, as well as something about PQS (not sure what that actually is) which may be related to KerbalKonstructs.

And me. (Now I remember where I saw that!)

You’ve linked to the GameData folder image twice instead of to the logs. What version of KSP are you using and are the versions of your mods the right ones for that version of KSP?

That’s the version of the settings file rather than the game itself. The easiest way to tell what version of KSP you have is to open the game and then look on the bottom right of the main menu- the game version is displayed there. It’s probably in a Readme/version file somewhere too.

Even in JNSQ I usually aim for a launch TWR of 1.4 or so- any less and the gravity losses take their toll, but any higher and it tends to need more fuel which adds more weight and reduces the TWR again. There isn’t a magic formula for the ‘perfect’ TWR and if I remember correctly the Saturn V had a launch TWR of about 1.1. Higher TWR usually means more expensive engines though which often means that it’s better to use a less powerful main engine(s) and add moar boosters to throw it off the pad and into thinner air where the engines work better.

It's a new year and that means... er, very little actually. Some science reprioritisation has occurred, unlocking the souped-up rocketplane cockpit and its 75km limit faster as well as some materials science nodes which are a prerequisite for better parts and hold some new fuel tank types too. Then it was time to stick a second engine on that plane and switch the configs to one that doesn't need high-pressure tanks, which saves a lot of weight. Another scientific sounding rocket was launched into space for science and (contract) profit: And now for something completely (well, mostly) different: a new rocket design! It shares some part sizes with the other rockets I've made so far but then goes for something a lot beefier in the bottom stage- a 1.75m rocket powered by the Soviet version of the German V-2 rocket engine. This thing has a lot more delta-V than anything I've made before and promises to go very, very far. It's also the first time I've used my new naming system, based on the 'rainbow codes' used by the UK for several decades and which gave the (in)famous Black Arrow rocket its name. This one started out as a new upper stage called Blue Baseball, then I added the lower stage (which I'm retroactively naming Blue Basketball) to create a two-stage rocket called Blue Football- and yes, I know that it isn't even remotely blue. A test run with no science instruments on board ended up reaching a 1400km apoapsis, clipping the inner edge of the inner Van Allen radiation belt and flying all the way from Cape Canaveral to Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), around 6000km away and double what the big downrange contract is asking for. In fact, with a few minor tweaks to this design, this thing might even make it to orbit. Tooling is an odd business though- that pointy tank on the lower stage is considered to be exactly the same as the cylindrical one on the lower half because their length and maximum width are the same, regardless of their shape. In theory this could allow a second cylindrical tank to be stuck between the two to add more fuel (with another upgrade to the engine to give it more thrust) and an attempt made at going to orbit without significantly increasing the costs. Those boat-tail fairings were really expensive to tool (1500 funds each, but they're identical so 1500 funds total) but their price went down from 90 funds each to 0 when tooled. Weird stuff... Another flight of the rocketplane was spoilt by the cabin upgrade not being applied; this will now be addressed by swapping it out for a brand new one with some minor tweaks being applied to make the controls less twitchy/prone to flip-flopping from one extreme to the other. Full album: https://imgur.com/a/KRf6EUy Coming up next- long-distance rocketry (a.k.a. dropping unarmed ICBMs on unsuspecting islands off the African coast), and also a launchpad upgrade- the Blue Football rocket is just under the 20 ton limit but is only about 2/3 of the delta-V needed to reach orbit.

If I was trying to make an accurate Space Shuttle replica just using stock parts, I would try either the Thud engine or those XM-50 air intake thingies (the F-16 looking one) with some Puff monopropellant engines clipped inside them.

Me: trying to drive through an unfamiliar city full of labyrinthine streets, with a vague idea of where I’m going and how to get there, in heavy traffic, in heavy fog, in the dark, on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road, with nothing but a 1:50,000 scale road atlas to navigate with. Everyone: arewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyetarewethereyet... If and when the next chapter is done, and I am happy with it, then- AND ONLY THEN- I will post it; if you don’t see a new chapter yet, it isn’t done yet. I’m doing this in my spare time and mostly for my own enjoyment, if and when the ideas come to me; random poking/pestering will not make that happen any faster.

Pictures would help here. Did you install RO by hand or using CKAN? Have you got all the dependencies? Which parts in particular look weird?

You need to do the experiments in different places and then either transmit the results home (not recommended when you’re just starting out) or keep the data and recover the vessel when it lands on Kerbin. Some experiments e.g. mystery goo and materials bay require you to run them multiple times to get all the available science points (so try to bring several of those if you can), and many experiments are worth more if you bring them back to Kerbin instead of transmitting them. Reverting flights will lose the science and crashing with science on board will also lose the science, so make sure you stick the science parts directly to your pod if you plan to drop your rocket stages.

It's always important to define your criteria for what constitutes a 'successful mission'. In my case, because several of these were bordering on terrible accidents. A sub-orbital rocket launch carrying science experiments to new and exciting heights, complete with a safe recovery and a number of achievements plus a nice contract to go suborbital and return safely. And then the first flight of my new rocket plane! As missions go, this one went swimmingly... The next attempt went completely as intended and actually landed on the runway of all places: The third flight pushed the plane to new and exciting heights, but unfortunately it turns out that those heights are beyond the capacity of the plane to keep its pilot alive: Probably best to come back down. There's an upgrade in the next plane tech node that boosts the cockpit's maximum altitude to 70km which will come in handy for these missions, but until then 30km is a hard limit on how high it can go. By the time I was done with all that, and trying another mission with that plane only to discover that the engine ignitions don't get reset between flights and the engine needs to be physically replaced for that to happen, it was 1952! https://imgur.com/a/MiazrDR Coming up next time: Bigger and better rockets going very far away.

I’m not sure that a self-deploying ring structure like that would be possible in KSP due to the inherent limitations of the game- it doesn’t work well with loops, for example. There are some centrifugal modules in the Stockalike Station Parts Expansion Redux (SSPXR) mod which include inflatable and deployable versions of different sizes, maybe one of those will do what you want?

How you classify your vessels can vary very widely between players- one person’s “interplanetary supership” could be another’s “corvette”.

Continuing an RP-1 career, I made a rocket plane to do a bunch of contracts. Flight 1 went OK, but I had to use the emergency parachute and ditch in the sea because I vastly overestimated its flight distance and airdropped it too far out to sea. Once it got fished out and returned to the SPH I upgraded the engine and made some minor adjustments to the fuel tanks to give it much more fuel than before, then flew it again even faster than before and so high that a big warning flashed up saying something like ‘go down or your pilot will run out of oxygen and die’; the pilot was fine and a fully successful runway landing followed. Flight 3, the airdrop worked fine but the engine said no ignitions remaining even though it has 4 ignitions? Turns out that refuelling the plane isn’t enough, I also have to pull off the old engine with the depleted ignitions and put on a brand new (and identical) one in its place to make it work.