Vagrant203

Asking the real questions now, lol.

Matt who again? Lol

Beautiful. Best book-to-movie port EVER as far as staying true to the origin.

Ya had me panicking for a few there.

In my experience, the lady Kerbals' shenanigans tend to actually work though.

Is that a microscopic view of a surface sample from Pol?

Personally I'd circularize Indy Actual right on the edge of SoI. Just my opinion.

Good read. Could maybe use some better formatting for the script-style sections. Think I might have to try this out myself.

I've never dealt with limited ignition but that does sound feasible.

Mechjeb - Utilities - Differential throttle. Automatically manages individual engines to balance everything out perfectly.

What you really need is Orbital Construction, or another mod that allows building in orbit.

There's a mod called FullAutoStrut which may help to some degree.

USI Life Support is a good choice.

ISRU tech is what you need.

Heh. Buckle the eff up. *maniacal laughter*

Well written reports and great designs. Will probably be taking notes to incorporate into my own Long Service Vessels.

I was aware of F2, but not F1. Thanks kindly! Hope everyone is enjoying so far!

The program has developed a new heavier launch vehicle, dubbed Ballista. This was then modified into a dedicated propulsion module for NVO Station. With a total of three separate locked vessels, the probe operators have dubbed the rock itself Anchorage. The name would be more widespread, but the probe operators have not been very social lately, having worked round the clock for several days to wrestle Anchorage to a lower orbit. With invaluable help from Mechjeb, a long series of Mun gravity assists and one aerobraking pass, the orbit is now 95km by roughly 10 thousand km, still significantly inclined. A refueling mission is now necessary to continue operations. A crewed maintenance vessel is in the design phase, and is likely to serve as the basis for a new series of craft. Further research is required for some of the necessary technology, specifically high-efficiency nuclear engines.

The first data from NVO-129 has been transmitted by a small probe equipped with a magnetometer and surface ablation laser. Preliminary calculations place the asteroid at total 212 tons, with a theoretical yield of 87%, or approximately 184 tons, of useful resources. ISRU technology is still in a theoretical state for our space program at the moment. The current hot topic of discussion at the space center is the best pronunciation of the asteroid's designation, most popularly EnVEEoh or ENvo. All personnel agree a permanent crewed station ought to be established, with several scientists being particularly excited to test the practicality of using hydroponic gardening to sustain a crew.

Operation Harpoon has succeeded in capturing and decelerating NVO-129 into an elliptical but still accessible orbit. The space program personnel are now scrambling to figure out what to do next. Future operations will be launched to study the asteroid and perhaps even utilize it for resources. For the moment however, the primary focus is on figuring out how to get some good pictures for public release. (F12 isn't working for me like usual. What's KSP's built-in screenshot method?)

Operation Harpoon: simple concept in theory, but difficult in practice. An asteroid has been discovered having just entered Kerbin's sphere of influence. Class D, tracking designation NVO-129. Its trajectory is highly elliptical, not quite a closed oval but fairly close distance between its entry and projected escape of Kerbin SoI. The asteroid's existence is thus far an open secret amongst the personnel, and the decision to mount a mission to stabilize its orbit was practically unanimous. Operation Harpoon is named after the Javelin launch vehicle which has served as a workhorse since its development. The name is shared with a single vessel thus far, a probe-operated station featuring a klaw and plentiful docking and RCS equipment. Further launches will be made, as Harpoon Station is currently calculated to have rather low delta V. In the event of a failure to capture the asteroid, the mission will be considered a partial success if Harpoon can manage to at least lock to the asteroid. The multiple relay antennas also present will serve their primary purpose as well as a beacon for future missions.

Mechjeb's got a feature that might help. Think it's the Translatron but I could be wrong.

One fun little trick I've learned is to include a relay with any drone exploration lander mission. Once you've reached your final orbit before landing, separate the relay and then begin deorbiting. I keep the relay small and simple. All you need is a probe core, relay antenna, and solar power. A small battery would help too. The relay's probe core can be set to hibernate. If you already have a rough network you can use the smallest simplest relay antenna to save mass and funds.

I never thought of establishing polar ground station relays on other bodies, that's a pretty good idea I'll be sure to borrow.

What kind of engines did the ships have? Did you use the same model of ship for the rescue?