xionix4

I've completed a few of these. My advice is to throw caution to the wind (heh). Try editing the parachute parameters such that it activates as soon as you stage it, regardless of safety. I recommend using a probe core instead of a kerbal, though, as it sounds like the requirements of this contract are going to leave them in a death spiral, unless you add secondary parachutes to land safely after the test. Best of luck.

Just an additional tip: You are going to need to reach a minimum speed of (GM/R)^(1/2) = 2,296 m/s for a 70-km circular orbit. Though lower speeds are required at higher altitudes, the overall delta-V cost will always increase the higher you go, so engineer for 2,296 m/s minimum in orbit. A minimum delta-V for getting to 70 km is (2GM(1/r - 1/R))^(1/2) = 1,109 m/s (not accounting for losses due to drag). If you fly to the east, you have some "free" delta-v due to Kerbin's rotation equal to 2*pi*r/T = 174.9 m/s. Flying to the west means you need that much more. (Any other direction, use trig or just add 175 m/s ...KIS 'n all.) Taken together, you'll need a minimum delta-V (without accounting for drag) of 2,296 m/s + 1,109 m/s +/- 174.9 m/s = 3,230 m/s to 3,580 m/s. As you know, the less extra delta-V you carry in fuel, the less you'll use to get up there. EDIT: This also works for rockets. It's trickier to apply to spaceplanes due to the insane efficiency of air-breathing engines, but good to keep in mind so your fuel isn't making you use ...more fuel.

I had a thought. You could also potentially do something like this: The KAL controller is set to decouple when staged and then 5 seconds later, activate the sepratrons. I didn't have time to test it, but hope this helps. Best of luck :3 EDIT: I tested this morning. Two things: adding the controller to the stage action group doesn't provide a staging icon, so can't treat it like a normal stage, but assigning it to the gear group (g key) worked as intended. I am so happy we can detach microcontrollers, and they continue to function (probably just while in physics range). ^.^ I was worried it wouldn't work once detached, lol.

I typically ditch heat shields the same as Vanamonde's second description, i.e. parachutes and detach shield once heating's not an issue. You could potentially combine the methods to avoid the risk of landing on it. Something like a probe core on the heat shield (wasteful, I know), and then sepratron-ing it after it's fallen away while lander's still descending via parachutes. I haven't tried vehicle switching during entry, but if you didn't know already, you can switch between nearby vehicles with [ and ]. Best of luck; happy engineering :3

1. Plan/design from the end of the mission backwards to the start. It'll save time when designing crafts and lots of unnecessary trial and error and/or launch reverts. 2. Work out a Delta-V budget for each mission phase using the Vis-Viva equations and/or a good Delta-V map, and then make sure you have a little more for each. (Just a little. Remember that adding mass to a later stage increases prior stage fuel requirements exponentially.) 3. Sometimes (definitely not always), it's more fun to engineer a solution after something goes wrong than to revert to launch and start over. (Probably not cheaper, though, lol.) 4. Plane/inclination changes are less expensive at higher altitudes, except for launching into the desired inclination to begin with or doing a mid-course correction, so plan the order of your orbital maneuvers accordingly to save Delta-V. 5. Don't be sad when the people around you don't care about this awesome game you found that lets you do the things you always dreamed of doing for a career but weren't able to. You're not alone and plenty of people here love it just as much if not more.

Here is a link to the log from a single launch, target is a vessel in 137-degrees-inclined orbit about Kerbin: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G7Z8wZfchq61LNsKUyyF5vobkIjxR27K/view?usp=sharing

@sarbian I also have this issue. I've tried versions 2.12.0.0, 2.12.3.0, and dev release 2.13.0.0 #1107. I'm running KSP version 1.12.3.3173. I am trying to intercept a vessel in an inclined orbit from launch (circularization in same plane and direction first). I select the target, and then the buttons for launch to rendezvous and launch into plane of target appear, but they always have 0 degrees in the text boxes (the inclination of the target is 137 degrees). I have tried launching via the buttons anyway (leaving the zero), changing the zero to the correct inclination, and even putting the inclination into the top text box for launches that don't have targets. It seems to ignore them and just launch straight East no matter what. Without a target selected, I can input an inclination into the top box, and that does launch to the given inclination, but for my goal, I have to eyeball the right time to launch. The timewarp for launching to a target seems to be pretty much random or some arbitrary constant amount of time, not at all related to my target's orbit. I have the same issue if I select a different target or the Mun or Minmus (I suppose it does work, so to speak, in the case of the Mun, having inclination 0 -- lol). I have a log -- how should I share it? Thanks. Edit: The log is of just one attempt, but I can replicate the others if you'd like and share that log instead.

I know you asked this a while ago, @rodentgun, but I hope you're still playing KSP. Either way, you can calculate circular orbit speed for any celestial body using the formula sqrt(mu/r). Sqrt is the square-root function, mu (Greek letter mu, also known as the Standard Gravitational Parameter) is found in map view / tracking station in the info window (listed as GM, because it's the product of the Universal Gravitational Constant, G and the mass of the celestial body, M), and r is the radius you want to orbit at (NOT the altitude -- you get r by adding the desired altitude to the radius of the celestial body, also listed in the info window of map view / tracking station). This formula works for real celestial bodies, too. To answer your question directly, Kerbin has a mu (GM) of 3.532x10^12 m^3/s^2 and a radius of 600 km. Since the Karman line (where the atmosphere is considered to end, and you are in space above it) is 70 km for Kerbin (listed as Atmos. Height in map view / tracking station), orbit radius is anything above 600 km planet radius + 70 km altitude = 670 km = r. Plugging into the formula, we get sqrt([3.532x10^12 m^3/s^2] / [670,000 m]) = 2,296 m/s at 70 km altitude. You may have noticed that as r increases, the result becomes smaller, and indeed, it requires less speed to orbit at higher altitudes. (I like to shoot for 80 km myself, which has a circular orbit speed of 2279 m/s). As you know, we of course need more delta-v than that to get up there and to overcome losses during the ascent, but I hope this answered your question.