Pipcard

This project is currently on hiatus and I want to get back to it sometime next year, but yes, that is the eventual goal.

Just to let everyone know, I haven't posted in a while since I've been playing a in-development space settlement game called "Extrapolation" or "Heliosphere" which is still in the alpha stage. I found out that Atlas factory domes could do that when I was looking through the MKS thread.

{ARA] Y3, D36 - Microscopium 2 performs the first landing on an asteroid (this is a class A asteroid enlarged by Galaxies Unbound) Y3, D168 - Castor City, a permanent colony composed of 20-meter "Atlas" domes, is built entirely on Minmus using only local resources (MKS + Extraplanetary Launchpads) (comparison with the old Castor Base before it was recycled into Material Kits)

Y3, D7 to D168 - Huge colony domes on Minmus; landing on an asteroid Y3, D7 - Castor Base began constructing the next-generation colony, dubbed Castor City. It would take over 1.8 million Material Kits and 120 thousand Specialized Parts to build the new city. Y3, D36 - Microscopium 2 arrived at the asteroid PGB-762, which was larger than expected* for a class A asteroid. The spacecraft used its RCS thrusters and an Advanced Grabbing Unit to attach itself to the asteroid. But since the asteroid had a mass of over 700 tonnes, there was practically no way to change its velocity, let alone insert it into Kerbin orbit. An in-situ propellant converter or more efficient engines would be needed. *apparently Galaxies Unbound makes asteroids a lot bigger. Y3, D71 - The assembly of the specialized parts for Castor City was completed, but it would take almost 100 more days for the Material Kits to be finished. Y3, D168 - Castor City was finally completed after over 160 days of construction. The cluster of 20-meter Atlas domes made the old base look small in comparison. The six crew members (Jebediah, Bill, Bob, Handorf, Gledorf, and Billy-Bobeny) proceeded to move into their new home. The city consisted of one habitation dome, one agricultural dome, and four factory domes. The five large radiators folded upwards from the tops of the domes. A container of Enriched Uranium was transferred from the old base to the new one to start fueling the reactors (however, there were some complications - see below). The four inflatable workshops were also transferred, but were later dismantled as they seemed to be using too much power for very little gain (the efficiency boost of the workshops is based on the mass ratio between the workshops and the assembly plants it is affecting, or so I've read). The old base began to be dismantled (to save on part count and frame rates), but taking it apart piece by piece would take a long time (and there seemed to be no option to dismantle the 10 m dome). So a container with a demolition charge was assembled by the new factories. It only took less than a minute. The demolition charge was attached to the old base and set to "recycle vessel," meaning that much of the base (but not all of it due to storage limitations) would be recycled into Material Kits. Some of the resource containers had a tendency to detach themselves (a "structural failure") from the attachment nodes on the domes. An attempt at fixing this was made by building more struts and attaching them, but ultimately it was decided to reattach the containers radially (without attaching them to the node), and this seemed to be a more stable configuration. With an initial mass of about 3000 tonnes (and a part count of ~110), Castor City was the largest off-world object built by the Aerospace Research Agency so far. The habitation dome (on the farthest end from the original base) technically had enough room for 96 Kerbals, but only had permanent accommodations for 32. With 6 people, the maximum habitation time was already indefinite. 32 Kerbals could have their hab timers extended with Colony Supplies, which needed Organics, Material Kits, and Specialized Parts. However, Organics could not be produced yet by the central agricultural dome. Like Machinery, the process to make Organics requires Organics (which would initially need to be brought from Kerbin). The factories of Castor City could produce over 1 Material Kit per second, making it easier to build other huge vessels away from Kerbin's gravity well. The efficiencies were higher than expected, so some of the production plants were disabled to save on power. The base also had propellant production capabilities for liquid fuel, oxidizer, monopropellant, and a new, more efficient fuel known as liquid hydrogen (which requires active cooling or insulation to store due to its cold temperature). Three "Hermes" fission reactors powered the entire operation, replenished by a Uraninite drill and a nuclear fuel plant. (There seems to be a bug with the Near Future Electrical reactors and MKS. Whenever I load the scene, one of the reactors starts off full, but the other two reactors start out empty. The Enriched Uranium starts filling so I can turn on the reactors again with an action group, but it's strange that this keeps happening no matter how much EnrU was in the reactors beforehand. In addition, the two reactors are also emptied whenever "Automated Maintenance" is performed, which I guess is supposed to fill up the reactors instead.)

I recently built a huge base with MKS and Extraplanetary Launchpads, which uses three "Hermes" fission reactors from Near Future Electrical. However, I am experiencing an apparent bug in which every time I load a save, two out of the three reactors are emptied of Enriched Uranium (EnrU), while the other reactor is full. I am currently drilling Uraninite and converting it into EnrU, so I can restart the reactors. But those two reactors always start out empty no matter how much EnrU was in there when I saved. I also see EnrU periodically disappear from the two reactors whenever "Automated Maintenance" is performed.

[ARA] Y2, D506 - Microscopium 2, the first spacecraft built and launched from another celestial body. It would leave Minmus to intercept an asteroid that would fly by Kerbin in less than 40 days. Gemini 29, built on Minmus to mine water (for permanent habitation) Y3, D1 - Gemini 30, a larger miner for Specialized Parts resources Y3, D7 - To support Castor Base's inflatable workshops (which act as productivity multipliers), a second 3.75 m reactor and several more drills are built.

Y2, D504 to Y3, D7 - First launches from Minmus; multiplying productivity Y2, D504 - A small monopropellant tank was added to Castor Base. (however, the Convert-O-Tron could not convert to liquid fuel/oxidizer and monopropellant at the same time) Y2, D506 - Completed at the end of the second year, Microscopium 2 was the first spacecraft built and launched from another celestial body. Since the previous Microscopium spacecraft were not able to rendezvous with the asteroid it was targeting, a new one was made at Castor Base. Its destination was a newly discovered asteroid called PGB-762, which would make a distant approach to Kerbin in less than 40 days. It was fueled using MKS Local Logistics. It used a new turquoise color scheme to reflect that it was launched from Minmus. On the same day, Gemini 29 was launched to mine the water needed for Colony Supplies, which would be provided by the larger colony). Enriched Uranium was manually transferred to the spacecraft's reactor by detaching and attaching a container to the newly built vessel. Y3, D1 - The first launch of the new year was Castor 30, a larger version of the Castor 28 miner. It had larger drills for Silicates, Rare Metals, and Exotic Minerals (for faster Specialized Parts production). Y3, D3 to D7 - The inflatable workshop modules were activated for the first time, increasing the productivity of Material Kits, Specialized Parts, and Machinery severalfold. The base was now producing 0.6 Material Kits per second, but this consumed a lot of electricity and used up more Substrate, Metallic Ore, and Minerals. Thus, another 3.75 m reactor (with a large radiator) and several drills were built.

[ARA] Y2, D504 - At the end of the second year (2.5x scale Kerbin), Castor Base had grown over 300 days from a single module into a large off-world factory. The most recent additions were a nuclear fuel plant and propellant production facility. But an even bigger Minmus colony was being planned, which would use the 20 m Atlas domes (MKS mod).

Y2, D484 to D504 - In-situ fuel production (and bigger colony plans) Y2, D484-485 - With the addition of the 10 m Atlas factory dome, several more drills were assembled to extract Substrates and Metallic Ore for Material Kits. Y2, D492 - As Castor Base had just started the on-site production of Specialized Parts, it kept running out when assembling the drills. Castor 21 was subsequently launched with 4000 SPT as an extra reserve (arriving on Day 502). Y2, D503 - A nuclear fuel plant was added to Castor Base. A small drill mined Uraninite, which the module converted into Enriched Uranium to power the nuclear reactors. The module also had a breeder to convert Depleted Fuel back into a usable form. [Afterwards, a small test of the Extraplanetary Launchpads system was conducted - to see if construction on one project can be temporarily paused for another project, then restarted after the other project was finished. The test was successful.] Y2, D504 - A propellant production plant (Convert-O-Tron) was added to convert ore into liquid fuel and oxidizer, stored in a large tank. Now the base could build, fuel, and launch spacecraft from Minmus. At the end of the second year, Castor Base had grown over 300 days from a single module into a large off-world factory. But this was not the end. An even more massive Minmus colony was being planned, which would use several 20 m versions of the Atlas domes. It would eventually replace the original base (currently ~140 parts) with a ~100-part city on another world. The central dome would contain a large greenhouse to produce Supplies and Organics (the latter needed for Colony Supplies, used to extend the maximum habitation time of any Kerbals on board). A single habitation dome would have permanent accommodations for up to 32 Kerbals (out of 96), while four factory domes would produce over 1 Material Kit per second, speeding up the production of huge spacecraft (including stations, crewed interplanetary vessels, and other colonies) from Minmus. By comparison, the current base could only make about 0.1 Material Kits per second.

[ARA] Y2, D478 - The Gemini 28 autonomous miner extracts the resources needed to make Specialized Parts (MKS mod) and transfers them across Minmus using a Planetary Logistics module. Y2, D482 - With a new Atlas factory dome, Castor Base now has the ability to build spacecraft (with Extraplanetary Launchpads) and perform maintenance entirely using off-world resources.

Y2, D421 to D482 - Off-world manufacturing supply chain Y2, D421 - Using Material Kits made on Minmus combined with Specialized Parts from Kerbin, two 3.75 m Tundra Pioneer modules were built. This increased the total lifting capacity for (stock) EVA construction to about 70 tonnes. (again, I pretend that this module contains equipment to manipulate large modules, and doesn't make Kerbals carry huge modules with their own hands) The next four launches brought 4k Specialized Parts, 8k Machinery, and an automated mining vehicle known as Gemini 27 meant to mine for Silicates, Rare Metals, and Exotic Minerals (the three raw materials needed to make Specialized Parts) on Minmus's Lesser Flats, which would be transferred to Castor Base in the Midlands using the MKS "Planetary Logistics" system. Castor Base already had several logistics modules that could "pull" resources from planetary storage (if a pilot or quartermaster was present). However, it was not known at the time that Gemini 27 needed a logistics module to "push" resources into the planetary warehouse. Therefore, it could not actually send resources to Castor Base. The SPT and MCH from Castor 18 through 20 would be used to make the next major component of the base. Castor 18 (Y2, D428) Gemini 27 (Y2, D433) Castor 19 (Y2, D436) Castor 20 (Y2, D437) Y2, D457 - After several days of construction, the first 10 m "Atlas" dome was built on Minmus, along with several inflatable storage and workshop modules. Twice the diameter of the largest rocket of the Aerospace Research Agency, it had a dry mass of 50 tonnes (which is why the two extra Pioneer modules were needed for EVA construction), and had the ability to produce Material Kits, Specialized Parts, and Machinery directly from raw materials - skipping the step of refining them. The large mass was the trade-off, but the lower part count also made it worth constructing. Y2, D468 - After realizing that Gemini 27 was not able to send resources, Gemini 28 was launched with an uncrewed "Duna" logistics module and inflatable storage (instead of shipping containers). Arriving on Day 478, it began to gather resources for Specialized Parts and after filling up enough, began to put resources into planetary storage so that it could be received by Castor Base. Y2, D482 - After receiving the first batch of Silicates, Rare Metals, and Exotic Minerals from the Lesser Flats (and inflating Workshops to increase efficiency), Castor Base was now able to produce Material Kits and Specialized Parts (and combining them into Machinery) without needing to import them from Kerbin. The significance of this was profound. Spacecraft and base modules could now be built and maintained entirely using off-world resources. However, there was still more work needed to achieve full self-sufficiency. (On Day 479, The Microscopium 1A probe that had been sent to capture an asteroid was unfortunately not able to encounter it, as the asteroid had an encounter with Kerbin that shifted its orbit, and the plotted trajectory did not account for that. Thus, the asteroid was in an entirely different place from where it was expected.)

Were the 20 m Atlas domes actually updated? I saw a post on Reddit by "loverevolutionary" that looks like they used 20 m domes and miners but they seem to touch the ground (unless the perspective is fooling me).

[ARA] Y2, D418 - The Aries 1 probe makes a flyby of Ike and Duna Y2, D420 - Castor Base on Minmus now has an operational factory to produce Material Kits from local resources, a major component for off-world construction and base maintenance (MKS + Extraplanetary Launchpads)

Y2, D398 to D420 - Operational Material Kits factory; first Duna and Ike flyby Y2, D398-399 - Castor 14 and 15 lifted off with Machinery that was needed for the refinery modules to function. Castor 15 also carried Enriched Uranium for a nuclear reactor that would be constructed on Minmus and installed on Day 403. On Day 408, Machinery was transferred by an engineer to the refinery modules (using the "Perform maintenance" option). The Uranium containers were also detached and attached to the newly built reactor. Disclaimer: transferring Enriched Uranium is supposed to require a level 3 engineer. To make this playthrough less grindy (and enable more independent colonies), I disabled the need for Kerbals to return to Kerbin to level up after gaining experience. The Strategia mod also has the "Engineer Focus" strategy that gives engineers up to 2 extra levels, so the engineers on Minmus were currently level 4. However, I was having an issue in that when I tried to transfer EnrU from the container to the reactor. An error popped up saying "Selected part can't handle radioactive storage, exiting transfer mode..." even though the reactor literally had storage for Enriched Uranium. But @Aelfhe1m pointed out that I could use the regular stock transfer buttons (Out/In), and speculated that this was because I have MKS, Near Future Electrical, and System Heat installed at the same time. Y2, D409-410 - Castor 16 and 17 delivered more Machinery that arrived on the base on Day 420. After deploying radiators and inflatable storage modules, the factory was now operational and able to produce Material Kits out of resources mined from Minmus (Minerals, Substrate, and Metallic Ore - converted to Chemicals, Polymers, and Metals, respectively). The efficiency of the refinery modules was enhanced by Material Processing Units (which the drills were attached to) set to "Smelter" mode. The next step was to build more modules that could produce Specialized Parts and Machinery without having to import them from Kerbin. With MKS, Extraplanetary Launchpads uses Material Kits and Specialized Parts in an approximate 15:1 ratio, so being able to produce Material Kits on Minmus is a major leap forward. Y2, D418 - While Castor 16 and 17 were arriving at Minmus, Aries 1 performed the first flyby of the red planet Duna and its moon Ike. After entering Duna's sphere of influence on the previous day, the spacecraft quickly encountered Ike before meeting Duna and its rusty surface.

[ARA] Y2, D362 - Large containers for Material Kits and Specialized Parts (MKS mod) are added to Castor Base on Minmus. For now, MKT and SPT are brought from Kerbin, but the plan is to eventually make them from Minmus resources. Y2, D397 - Using Extraplanetary Launchpads, modules for a Material Kits factory are assembled on-site from MKT and SPT. However, more Machinery needs to be imported from Kerbin for the factory to be operational.