Kimera Industries

"Top Gun looks easy. I can do that in KSP, no problem!" *They just got KSP* Running out of fuel 400 meters above an airless body's surface.

I don't see why so many people are giving Tim C so much flak. Plenty of people have middle names, and Kerbals have no reason not to either. Besides, it's a clever way to tell people he was a developer. I agree with you about Bill, though. Well-engineered ships and good flying can prevent any disaster.

For posterity, I present: Making the Psyche Mission: Episode 2 Miniaturizing and Asteroid Hunting Making a scaled-down version of Psyche was much the same as making the original, of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I could streamline it more. Packed full of batteries (the solar panels provide enough charge but just in case) and adding some monoprop tanks for the cold gas thrusters, (I forgot to add the RCS itself but I'll do that later) I actually like the scaled-down version better than my original. There's more to add but I'll do that later. Then, I slapped together a quick probe with a telescope and got to work mapping asteroids. Turns out that asteroids in KSP are extremely unrealistic as far as orbits go. Nearly all of them have orbits that intersect with Kerbin, frequently. If the Kerbol (Kerbolar?) System is anywhere as old as ours, then asteroids with orbits that intersect with a planet's so frequently would impact, become a moon, burn up, break into rings, and be filtered out of the population of asteroids in general. Kerbin should be a wasteland with all the near-Kerbin asteroids it has. No wonder about the big crater, then. In reality, they should mostly be between Duna and Jool, as that is where the biggest gap between the orbits is and also where the analog of Ceres is, Dres. This made finding an accurate stand-in for 16 Psyche rather difficult, as far fewer asteroids spawn in the orbit of Duna, and of course, all asteroids by Dres are part of the Dres-teroid ring. After an hour of searching, I found an asteroid whose orbit did not take it past Jool, and that didn't intersect Duna's. I built in the ability to grab another asteroid into this probe, so I rendezvoused, grabbed it, and renamed the asteroid. As far as I know, this is the only way to rename an asteroid. I'm using cheats, but since I am not altering the orbits of the asteroids in any way and this is only to find a suitable one and name it 16 Psyche, I'm ok with it. If you choose to do so with your attempt, feel free. At the last second, I decided its orbit was too close to Duna's. (It did not cross the inside of Duna's orbit but if you zoomed out it looked like it was right on top of it.) More searching, and finally, I found it! Its orbit is visibly apart from Duna's, and its distance from the orbit of the red planet means a Duna gravity assist might actually help me out. I had already named the previous asteroid 16 Psyche, so after I renamed the new one, I went back to the old one and called it 40 Mothball. Not quite sure where the name came from but I went with it. (Perhaps it can be a secondary target after 16 Psyche.) Oh, I named my asteroid exploration craft Psyche-ologist. Not the main focus but just as important all the same.

I saw the eclipse! It wasn't the full thing, but at max, it was about 70-80% covered. The cloud layer was just right so we could look directly at it! In other news, my recreation of the Psyche mission is going OK. Little did I know that asteroid hunting would be so hard, but that's for another time. Here's what I posted on the Psyche Recreation thread: For posterity, I present: Making the Psyche Mission: Episode 1 Cursed Robotics Out of Scale In making Psyche, I decided to start with the probe itself. Placing a probe core, I surrounded it with structural panels and filled my new box with batteries and some small xenon tanks. Psyche has 4 Hal Effect thrusters, placed at angles so each is pointing through the CoM. The Dawn engine is too big to have 4 at this scale, and I don't need the redundancy anyway. To maintain some semblance of accuracy in the matter, I chose to have two engines. Since I would only really use one at a time, since the fact that they are angled means I would lose dv if I used both, I created action groups to toggle them and docking ports so I could control from the center of thrust. Next, I added "greebles" to the exterior, meant to be the cameras, star trackers, etc. Psyche has two "horns" that are scientific instruments held away from the craft via struts, then covered in insulation. (It looks like foil but it actually isn't) You can see it in the pictures. Anyway, I made those with science bits (this isn't all aesthetic) and triangular structural panels. Next, DSOC: Deep Space Optical Communications. I just wanted the look of the thing, so I used two magnetometers for the cylinder and SP for the base. I added an antenna dish, and we were done. Except for the solar panels- oh, the solar panels. Psyche (and JUICE) use plus-shaped solar panels. None of the deployable panels in stock KSP come close, and I haven't found any mods with one either. So I would make my own deployable panels with DLC hinges and static panels. Two large OX-Stats clipped side by side made the right rectangular shape, so I mounted them on a small SP and added hinges and more "panels." I got it to look visually correct, and it could unfold normally- but the panels all clipped through each other. I decided to make a KAL sequence to get a cooler-looking deployment, and the problems began. Whenever the craft loaded in, the folded panels would stay in place, while the hinge connecting it to the craft rotated 90 degrees, in its fully deployed position. Attempting to deploy the panel results in the final thing being 90 degrees from where it should be. I discovered that if I rotated the entire assembly 90 degrees the other way, then it would load in normally. I figured this would be the best I'd get, so I put the array on Psyche. Suddenly, the problems vanished. Frustrating, and something I've seen a million times before: Problems with DLC hinges, spending several hours crying and diagnosing the problem, and discovering that the solution is stupidly simple. RIP Starship with moving flaps... I tested out the fully assembled craft (well, mostly) and then It was this moment He realized He messed up The solar array is all out of scale! It's too small! Way too small! Okay, it's not that bad, but to me, who has spent several hours in the last week on the Psyche website, it's a glaring mistake. Rather than make the solar arrays bigger, which would mean more panel clipping than I was already doing, and redoing the robotics, (which I hope never to have to do again) I decided it would be much simpler to redo Psyche itself but smaller. Instead of 1.8m SPs, I would do only 1.2m ones. The only problem I think I'll have is the Ions being a bit big, and I'll have to figure out a new antenna dish. Well, that's all for now, except for the fact that my PC crashed and I lost all the data, meaning I'll have to restart. Psych!

It's not on the list, but what about the Galileo spacecraft? I could also do the atmospheric probe. I've always wanted to send something into Jool.

For posterity, I present: Making the Psyche Mission: Episode 1 Cursed Robotics Out of Scale In making Psyche, I decided to start with the probe itself. Placing a probe core, I surrounded it with structural panels and filled my new box with batteries and some small xenon tanks. Psyche has 4 Hal Effect thrusters, placed at angles so each is pointing through the CoM. The Dawn engine is too big to have 4 at this scale, and I don't need the redundancy anyway. To maintain some semblance of accuracy in the matter, I chose to have two engines. Since I would only really use one at a time, since the fact that they are angled means I would lose dv if I used both, I created action groups to toggle them and docking ports so I could control from the center of thrust. Next, I added "greebles" to the exterior, meant to be the cameras, star trackers, etc. Psyche has two "horns" that are scientific instruments held away from the craft via struts, then covered in insulation. (It looks like foil but it actually isn't) You can see it in the pictures. Anyway, I made those with science bits (this isn't all aesthetic) and triangular structural panels. Next, DSOC: Deep Space Optical Communications. I just wanted the look of the thing, so I used two magnetometers for the cylinder and SP for the base. I added an antenna dish, and we were done. Except for the solar panels- oh, the solar panels. Psyche (and JUICE) use plus-shaped solar panels. None of the deployable panels in stock KSP come close, and I haven't found any mods with one either. So I would make my own deployable panels with DLC hinges and static panels. Two large OX-Stats clipped side by side made the right rectangular shape, so I mounted them on a small SP and added hinges and more "panels." I got it to look visually correct, and it could unfold normally- but the panels all clipped through each other. I decided to make a KAL sequence to get a cooler-looking deployment, and the problems began. Whenever the craft loaded in, the folded panels would stay in place, while the hinge connecting it to the craft rotated 90 degrees, in its fully deployed position. Attempting to deploy the panel results in the final thing being 90 degrees from where it should be. I discovered that if I rotated the entire assembly 90 degrees the other way, then it would load in normally. I figured this would be the best I'd get, so I put the array on Psyche. Suddenly, the problems vanished. Frustrating, and something I've seen a million times before: Problems with DLC hinges, spending several hours crying and diagnosing the problem, and discovering that the solution is stupidly simple. RIP Starship with moving flaps... I tested out the fully assembled craft (well, mostly) and then It was this moment He realized He messed up The solar array is all out of scale! It's too small! Way too small! Okay, it's not that bad, but to me, who has spent several hours in the last week on the Psyche website, it's a glaring mistake. Rather than make the solar arrays bigger, which would mean more panel clipping than I was already doing, and redoing the robotics, (which I hope never to have to do again) I decided it would be much simpler to redo Psyche itself but smaller. Instead of 1.8m SPs, I would do only 1.2m ones. The only problem I think I'll have is the Ions being a bit big, and I'll have to figure out a new antenna dish. Well, that's all for now, except for the fact that my PC crashed and I lost all the data, meaning I'll have to restart. Psych!

As far as sun tracking, what I'm gonna do is have a servo at the base of the assembly. During non-phys time warp, I will manually align the solar panels to the sun beforehand, and as long as I don't warp too far, (like halfway around the orbit) I will get constant EC. During maneuvers, I will re-align them to the sun again and since maneuvers won't take up a massive chunk of your orbit, only a small amount, the panels will get max EC for the entire burn. Sounds good in theory but Mark Watney taught me no plan survives first contact with the enemy, so I'll test it out as soon as possible on a demo probe. Worst case scenario, you just warp to the other side of your orbit (around the sun) to face the solar panels the right way again if you run out of EC.

Took me a minute to figure out how to embed the video, haha...

It's not KSP, but I saw the Psyche launch live! My friend was shocked that SpaceX could land boosters like that and there is something so cool about seeing them touchdown one after the other. My friend said it's like concept art for the future where they show two rockets landing, one in the foreground and the other in the background. I agree. If you want to make this mission yourself, check this post out!

@Kerb24 Are you working on a design right now? Or later? I'd love to hear your plan for the plus-shaped solar panels if you have one. My best idea is to use a combo of the large/small static solar panels that unfold with DLC hinges, but alas, no sun tracking. Maybe a kOS script could help, or I could just bother with it during maneuvers while using the ion engine when it needs the most electricity. Originally I thought I could extend the panels with different length pistons and then I realized I could just make my own makeshift deployable solar panel much easier.

This is absolutely fine! As long as all requirements are met.

I got the Pravda I mission complete- coming soon. Turning off anti-aliasing fixed the problems I was having before, thankfully. (Stuff looks janky now but I'll get used to it)

Absolutely! Tell me what it is and I'll look at it. RSS is good, just swap Duna and Jool with Mars and Jupiter. If you have something else in mind, I'll look at it.

You ever heard the song from Turbo? About the super fast snail? "That chopper's fast, that chopper's fast, that chopper's really fast fast fast!" (I also saw the "conventional" bit just now. Nice chopper, looks good.)

Oh, that's a relief. Funding. always getting in the way of all those cool missions. Building supply rockets is gonna be cool, I wonder how mining will turn out. I think some dedicated action groups for mining parts + a simpler UI for resource transfer would be a HUGE help.

Just made a mission challenge to recreate the Psyche mission to asteroid 16 Psyche! Watch the launch live (hopefully) and do the mission yourself! The highest possible score is a Psyche-16 and a job incredibly well done!

The Psyche (sy-kee) spacecraft launched successfully on October 13 atop a Falcon Heavy. The probe will head to asteroid 16 Psyche, the largest metallic asteroid discovered so far. Psyche aims, among other things, to evaluate whether or not the asteroid is the remnant of the core of a planetesimal that had its outer layers stripped away, leaving a metal-rich asteroid behind. Psyche will get a Mars gravity assist in 2026 and arrive at 16 Psyche in 2029. Thanks to time warp, it shouldn't take too long for you! Here's how your KSP version will work: Pick an asteroid to visit. No comets. Launch your replica with a rocket of your choice. Rendezvous with the asteroid and gather as much science data as possible! Point scoring: Launch vehicle: Any ol' rocket Reusable launch vehicle Falcon Heavy look-alike (Central core with 2 boosters) Reusable Falcon Heavy. More details on recoverable Falcon Heavy: Psyche spacecraft: Any ol' probe Psyche look-alike Gravity Assists: No assists- I can do this on my own! Do a gravity assist Asteroid: Any ol' space rock Asteroid in orbit between Kerbin and Duna Asteroid in orbit between Duna and Jool Asteroid Encounter: Zeroing out speed Circling the asteroid Circling 3 times around the equator and once over the top, like so: Science: Transmit any science back to Kerbin Transmit any science, plus bring a magnetometer boom (or a modded part with similar function) with you. Psyche aims to figure out if the asteroid has a magnetic field. Scoring: 4-7 points: Mission accomplished. 8-12 points: Good job! You did a challenging mission! 13-15 points: NASA would be proud. 16 points: The Golden Psyche-16! Now that's a nice number. Best of luck to you, and may the Kraken favor your craft! RSS, JNSQ, OPM, and MPE are allowed. Ask me if you have a question. Here's the mission badge! 15 or less points: Maximum points, a "Psyche-16:" Yes, the solar panels follow the same color gradient as the official badge. See this PDF to see exactly what colors they are. This video might help with your replica:

Hang in there, guys! I wanted to do the Pravda mission, (yeah, that's the name of the orbital surveyor) I really did, but then, well, Mars rovers happened, and I wanted to make Pathfinder, so I worked on Sojourner, and long story short I discovered several glitches. Rest assured, Joe was duly compensated for his sacrifice.

How about an asymmetric helicopter? For an extra challenge, I'll make this stock. Airplane Plus' wonderful engines would make it too easy. (With the dlc, of course.)

I agree with everything you said, just wanted to hopefully excite you by reminding you that we will be able to build craft directly in orbit via orbital colonies The capability to assemble in orbit without needing to launch will be really interesting. I wonder how the game will calculate this, like if there's a set cost per ton or something, or if you get to test a launching vehicle on your own, and however many tons it gets into orbit and the cost of the vehicle is used to calculate that. Or, if the new science mode even uses money at all. It probably should, but not like KSP 1 did, at least. Perhaps when you have colonies assembling vehicles with their own baby VABs (I actually wanna see a tiny cute VAB now) you manage local resources, not money. As far as orbital colonies go, O'Neill cylinders, anyone? I don't think farming/greenhouses will be crucial to gameplay, because KSP doesn't really do life support stuff. It's probable some centrifuge pieces are coming, and I think a good justification for a part not "necessary" to space travel would have a different benefit, science. Science in KSP 2 is probably gonna be focusing on long-term data more, as simply getting a temperature report is... well, boring, but also one of the more unrealistic aspects of KSP science. Having a centrifuge onboard a craft could give data like, "Gravity Ring Report #3, 2 Months of usage: "The artificial gravity makes life easier, and more fun. Don't tell Bob it was me who pushed him down the tunnel to the centrifuge." Or something like that. Greenhouses could also give data for plants in space worth science as well. Just as long as it's long-term data that accumulates. Perhaps different categories of science should be called for- after all, in KSP 1, science is used to unlock new tech. Greenhouse and Centrifuge data would give you more "Life support" points, to get more related parts of that category. (Even if Kerbals aren't dependent on them for their lives) Thermometer data gives you heat shields and radiators, and crew reports get you more advanced cockpits. A preliminary planetary base, (Maybe a Martian style HAB) gets you better colony pieces. Then again, that might make things overwhelming and complex, but it would be fun, right? Technically, in KSP, an interplanetary spacecraft only needs Kerbal "storage," (as simple as a bunch of EVA seats,) fuel, and an engine. And yet, time and time again, players add gravity rings, extravagant accommodations for their crew, and overly complex mechanisms. Why? For the same reason you might build a fancy bedroom or toilet in Minecraft: a touch of realism, accompanied by something maybe a little goofy, functional, and aesthetic, too, has a strong appeal to it. That's what KSP is all about- realistic, funny, (when it needs to be- wobbly rockets have no novelty to me), and cool-looking. Forgive me if I got a little long-winded, this spacecraft has a lot of wind in his solar sails...

Thanks! This plane didn't show up in any of my searches, nice job.

I completely agree, this feels like a good, useful solution- of course, in-game testing could say otherwise, but it seems like it would work well. As far as docking port rigidity, I feel it should be the same as with the rigidity of parts attached in the VAB, if a fix like this is implemented. After all, the ISS and other stations don't wobble, just like how irl rockets don't. Those big interstellar ships seen in the trailers, probably assembled in orbit with docking ports, are gonna suck if you fire your engine and get a bowl of spaghetti. Please don't do something like autostrut if but for the simple fact that it gives me anxiety to make sure I got every part.

Discovered what seems to be the Panther engine irl today. What plane is this?

Perhaps the game could have a new vessel state, like instead of "landed" or "flying" it's "floating at x altitude." It would stay at that altitude even if you leave it there.