Poppa Wheelie

Part 1. Orbital Assembly This assembly required 9 launches. Total Launch Mass: 1810.678t Total Launch Cost: 1,032,632 Funds Final Assembled Mass: 293.682t Final Assembled Length: 137m Final Assembled Part Count: 469 Final Assembled Vehicle: 9 Launches and Orbital Assembly:

This is my final mission of a Career playthrough I started shortly after I got the game for Christmas of 2019. The mission is not complete, but I wanted to report progress so far mostly because I don’t know how much more I’ll get done before KSP2 drops. Here are the parts I’m ready to report on now: Orbital Assembly Flight to Eve Satellite Deployment (3 satellites in geosynchronous orbit, 1 over a fixed location for contract) Flight to Gilly Gilly Surface Mission (Elcano) Eve Landings (progress so far) I’ll come back later to update this post and this thread after I finish it all up.

@18Watt, I have a rules question. I have an Eve Elcano vehicle that I delivered all the way to the Eve surface, only to find that the Kraken had taken the propellers and expanded them into 2 or 3 meter radius circles. They are floating out in the atmosphere, apparently attached to nothing. This is not "as designed", nor "as built". Neither my poor driving skills nor the harsh Eve environment broke this vehicle, the Kraken did. I can send screen shots if you'd like, but this is not something an engineer can fix in game. Before starting the mission, I tested this vehicle in sandbox by placing it into Low Eve Orbit, deorbiting, and landing it. During this sandbox testing I had no issues with the propellers, and was able to drive the vehicle on the Eve surface as intended. So how does the Replacement Vehicle rule apply here? Must I send a replacement vehicle in game? Or, since this is a Kraken issue, am I free to "cheat" an identical replacement, and drive the Elcano with that? (Identical except the propellers will be attached to the rotors, as originally built) I await your judgement before I proceed with the mission, and I will respect your call, whichever way you decide.

I originally had problems with steep climbs and descents. The brakes would not hold, and I would slide down until the ground flattened out. I was good to go after I set the Friction from 1 to 2 on all 4 wheels. No further issues.

I posted a Mission Report on the Duna and Ike mission from my career save. It includes Elcano runs for both Duna and Ike, plus over 40,000 science collected in (almost) every biome and situation. I have an Eve mission about to reach Eve SOI. We'll see if I can get that one finished before KSP2 drops.

I just posted a Mission Report for my Duna and Ike mission. Now I'm waiting on the transfer window to send everyone home to Kerbin. Before that date arrives, I have a mission about to arrive at Eve. This mission will include Eve and Gilly Elcanos, but I don't know if I'll get it all done before KSP2 drops. Anyway, I'll return to the Mission Report later to show how everyone got home, but the Elcanos are done and ready for your viewing pleasure now. Duna Elcano: Ike Elcano: Enjoy!

Part 9. Return to Kerbin Ike Ascent, rendezvous and docking, and return to Low Duna Orbit Actual Return to Kerbin To Be Continued... In Low Duna Orbit I had MechJeb build a maneuver node for the return to Kerbin, and I set an alarm for 340 days. I have another ship that will be arriving in Eve SOI in only 31 days, so I will go work that Eve mission, and I will return to this post with updates at a later time.

Part 8. The Science During this mission, I got (almost) all of the stock science, plus some additional science from mods. I missed a few biome/situation combinations on both Duna and Ike, and I forgot to bring any EVA Experiment Kits, so I missed out on that. Still, I’m anticipating over 40,000 science points for the mission upon return to Kerbin. Here’s how that breaks down. Contracts also got me a little more science, and I recorded some science while within the Kerbol SOI on the flight from Kerbin to Duna. I haven't figured out how much science those things brought in, yet. I used this spreadsheet to keep track of the science as I collected it within the Duna and Ike SOIs. Within each situation (In Space High or Low, Flying High or Low, Landed, etc.) I hid rows in order to see only the relevant part of the sheet. Look in the upper left corner. Overall, within the Duna and Ike SOIs, I got 44,325 science: 40,815 from stock experiments, and 3510 from experiments provided by mods Here's a further breakdown for Duna: And more detail for Ike:

Part 7. Ike Surface Mission Ike Descent Ike Elcano Circumnavigation, stopping at every biome for all the science Jeb docked the lander, then the team got out for the flag planting ceremony (which they had forgotten to do when they arrived). Elcano circumnavigation of Ike is complete!

Part 5. Transit to Ike Burning for Ike Part 6. Ike Orbital Science I decided not to attempt an Ike polar orbit. I saw that I could get all but 2 polar biomes from an equatorial orbit. This also saved on dV, and on time – I got all In Space High science within 1 orbit, and all In Space Low within a second orbit. Finished all Ike orbital science

Part 4. Duna Surface Mission We'll get Surface and Flying Low science from all Duna biomes, while completing an Elcano circumnavigation of the planet. Orbital Plane Change and Duna Landing The Elcano Run (exactly like the Cannonball Run, only different)

Part 3. Duna Polar Orbital Science Where we'll do all "Flying High Over Duna" science from "atmospheric orbit", as well!

Part 2. Flight to Duna Arriving at Duna

Part 1. Orbital Assembly I planned the Ben Bova to be assembled with three launches. Turns out I needed a fourth. Fully assembled and ready to go to Duna!

I got KSP for Christmas in 2019, almost exactly 3 years ago, and I’ve been playing the same Career playthrough since that time: after work, on weekends, etc. It’s been a great pastime for the “nothing else is going on during the Covid lockdown” period. During this time, I’ve gone to the Mun and Minmus many times, but, until now, I had not gone interplanetary. With KSP2 coming up, I figured it was time to finish up this career playthrough. I sent this mission to Duna, and I have another mission enroute to Eve which will arrive shortly. I think the science from these 2 missions will more than finish the original tech tree (and possibly my expanded tech tree), but either way, this career will be “done” after I return the Eve mission to Kerbin. Yeah, I have lots of mods going here, including some parts mods. This stuff looked cool when I started with it in 2019, I’ve been using all of these mods since the beginning, so I’ll keep using them through the end of this career. If I ever do KSP1 career again, I’ll probably still use QOL mods, but no parts mods. That would be my recommendation to any newbies just starting up a career right now. I’ve divided this Mission Report into 8 parts, split into several posts: Orbital Assembly Flight to Duna Duna Polar Orbital Science Duna Surface Mission Transit to Ike Ike Orbital Science Ike Surface Mission The Science Return to Kerbin I’ll have to go run the Eve mission before the Duna to Kerbin window opens up, but I will return here at a later time and post updates that fill in Part 9.

I wrote a tutorial on Calculating Mission Fuel Requirements with a spreadsheet and the Rocket Equation.

This tutorial demonstrates how to calculate your mission fuel requirements using a spreadsheet and the rocket equation. I recently flew missions to Duna and Eve that each required orbital assembly in LKO. These ships were too large to fully assemble them in the VAB, and I realized that I didn’t have a method of determining how much fuel each mission would require. I’m sure there are plenty of other use cases where you may need something more than the VAB tools to determine your fuel requirements. Too Long, Don’t want to Read? Do you just want a copy of the spreadsheet and the short version of how to use it? Here you go: the spreadsheet. Short Version: Longer version: What are we doing with the Rocket Equation, how to create the spreadsheet from scratch and fill it with the Excel formulas that implement the rocket equation, and how to fill in your mission-specific details to get the results you want.

The "dot dot dot" notation means: "an infinite number of these digits". Or, "these digits repeat infinitely". If you do the long division to get a decimal equivalent of the fraction 1/3, you get 0.333... (that's an infinite number of 3 digits) 3 goes into 10 3 times, carry the 1 3 goes into 10 3 times, carry the 1 3 goes into 10 3 times, carry the 1 dot dot dot This process goes on forever, there is no end to it, it requires an infinite number of 3s So that's what the "dot dot dot" notation means, "an infinite number of these" 1/3 equals 0.333... 1/3 does not approximate 0.333..., 1/3 equals 0.333... 0.333... does not "approach" 1/3, it "equals" 1/3 Computers can't deal with this. Computers cannot represent "an infinite amount" of anything. If you do not agree with this, then you will not believe any proofs. But here are two demonstrations: Mathematical: 1/3 = 0.333... 3 * 1/3 = 3 * 0.333... 1 = 0.999... Algebraic: x = 0.999... 10x = 9.999... 10x = 9 + 0.999... 10x = 9 + x 9x = 9 x = 1 This Wikipedia page has the Algebraic demonstration, plus several complete proofs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0.999...#:~:text=The meaning of the notation,%3D 1.

I just removed KSPIE from my save and checked the Nerv engine. It looks like KSPIE replaces the 'LV-N "Nerv" Atomic Rocket Motor' with the '"NERVA" Solid Core Fission Engine'. I found these 3 differences (maybe more that I might have missed): KSPIE causes the Nerv engine to slowly thrust up, and slowly thrust down. This is what I was referring to above. When you go to full throttle, you don't have full thrust immediately. When you cut throttle to zero, you still produce a little bit of thrust until it falls off to zero. I have found this to be a difficult and frustrating feature to deal with. Putting exact amounts of dV into a maneuver node, for example, is difficult KSPIE causes the Nerv engine to produce electricity. I have found this to be a useful feature. KSPIE changes the exhaust plume. Meh. Also, I don't get any dV readings in the VAB for the NERVA. I didn't notice if I can see dV numbers for the Nerv. For the NERVA, dV is fine once launched, and seem to match the Nerv. Stock Nerv: KSPIE NERVA:

If you use CKAN to launch, you can modify your command line arguments: CKAN > Settings > Game command-line KSP_x64.exe -single-instance -popupwindow I was experiencing the exact same issue as you described, and this fixed it for me.

Thanks for looking into this. But I didn't reply again. I only sent the one post about the Mk2 Lander Can.

I'm still running 1.12.2, and I just discovered the following problem. If I launch a Mk 2 Lander Can with a pilot and a scientist, do a Crew Report, and then send the scientist EVA and have him right click the lander can: With the standard size Mk 2 Lander Can (2.5m), the scientist can see the "Take Data" option to get the Crew Report out With the Mk 2 Lander Can scaled up to 3.75m, the scientist does not see the Crew Report, with no option to "Take Data" in the menu 2.5m Mk2 Lander Can, "Take Data" is a visible option for taking out the Crew Report 3.75m Mk2 Lander Can, "Take Data" is NOT a visible option for taking out the Crew Report KSP.txt log Player.txt log

I have KSP Interstellar Extended. One thing I've noticed, that seems different from behavior in videos I've seen, is that the Nerv continues to produce a little bit of thrust, and only slowly reduces thrust to zero, after I've set thrust to zero. All other engines go directly to zero thrust immediately upon command. This may be a KSP Interstellar behavior, but I also have plenty of other mods that may be doing this. Or, maybe this is standard behavior for the Nerv now.

Although this video is about 1.5 hours long, I really enjoyed it. It's about the Apollo Guidance Computer, how it worked, and how the crew interacted with it. It describes what was really happening with all of those 1202 alarms that were going off during the lunar landing descent. And here's a 15 minute video from Scott Manley where he interacts with some people who have recently gotten an original one of these computers working again.

Here's how to re-root the subassembly on PC (I don't know about console): While your mouse still has "control" of the subassembly, press 4 Now left click the part that you want to be the new root part of the subassembly You should now be able to attach the subassembly at the point (part) that you wanted.