softweir

Sounds like a corrupt download. How large is the file?

Reaction Engines claim that the payload fraction of the Skylon ought to be better than for any other launch solution that can carry a similar payload mass. However, there are many factors influencing this - wings, ultra-lightweight construction and engines that are ultra-efficient at low altitude. The wings alone won't do it, it's the whole package! (Of course, this assumes that their calculations are matched by reality: until an engine has been built, tested and perfected it's silly to build too much on claims made for it, still less any craft it is built into!)

I can't remember if you mentioned it - are you playing in Career or Sandbox mode?

Yes, "upward-canted" does mean wingtips higher than roots. "Outward-canted" means tail-fin-tips further out than roots.

Perhaps you could try moving the fairings to a "higher" stage so they aren't jettisoned when the decoupler fires?

I'm another of the role-playing guys who uses LES systems in case of emergencies. It somehow makes a mission feel more "real", and the extra challenge of designing a vehicle to use them well makes a successful outcome all the more gratifying. ("Successful" can mean "a successful abort" just as much as "a successful mission"!)

Yes, it does work in career start. The AR202 module (with basic functionality) appears in an early node, then various more advanced functions provided are unlocked in further nodes. If you have already unlocked those nodes then you need to view the tech tree, click on nodes, and in the panel on the right select the Mechjeb modules/functions and research them.

I don't have any special knowledge - just what has been mentioned in public - but Rob only turned 18 a while back and I assume that college and the like are taking up all his time. I bet he does well wherever he goes - his energy and coding ability are exceptional!

Solid boosters are large tubes filled with lumps of solid fuel (plugs), usually with a hollow core. Changing the shape of the core and altering the mix of fuel allows engineers to change the thrust curve of a solid booster, so, for instance, you can have a booster with a massive initial thrust that tapers off rapidly, then holds steady for a while before dying away completely, or your could have a booster that starts hard and then tapers of evenly, or any variation between them. It is even possible to have a booster that starts at high thrust, dies down, then builds up again for a bit! All this can be done by using well-chosen combinations of different plugs within the same booster. 3d mice can be very useful for RCS manoeuvres - in one device you have three axes of rotation and three axes of translation all proportional, rather than on/off.

Density does affect speed of sound, but the mass of the molecules has a much greater effect. H2 molecules are very, very much lighter than CO2 molecules, so the speed of sound is very much higher.

Currently at 68% of the vote.

It would certainly be worthwhile linking to updates (if any are needed) so users can update the toolbar .dll independent of other plugin authors' release schedules.

You burn the fuel, you drop the tank - and suddenly the craft weighs less and needs less engine to keep accelerating. So why waste fuel carrying that engine even higher? As you probably know, the Saturn 5 first stage had 5 engines and shut one down towards the end of its burn to keep acceleration below dangerous levels. NASA seriously considered dropping the middle tank at the time it shut down. This would have allowed them to shut it down even earlier, and meant the first stage would have achieved even greater altitude and velocity in the last few seconds. And all this in spite of the fact that they weren't dropping tanks, just burning huge masses of fuel. EDIT: AN afterthought: The proposed Falcon 9 Heavy will have the following phases: Launch: All three engines firing at full power MaxQ: inboard engine throttles back to prevent breakup due to aerodynamic forces as it transitions to supersonic Outboard tanks and engines jettison, inboard engine at full throttle Inboard engine throttles back 1st stage dropped, upper stage ignites Note phase 4: By this time, the inboard tank and upper stage are now so light that the inboard engine is throttled back, partly to improve efficiency, partly to reduce excess acceleration. If the Falcon had carried those outboard engines all the way up here, the whole lot would now be too heavy to get into orbit!

As a user I would only ever use one buttonbar: I don't use many mods and wouldn't feel the need for multiple buttonbars. I wouldn't really want to move buttons all over the place and I dislike each mod having its own button wherever the mod-creator puts it, and where possible I cluster them all together. So I personally would be very happy with a minimalist buttonbar! However, I can't help but think that it should be possible to organise the API so all this is invisible to plugins using it: they don't care if the buttons are docked to a buttonbar or isolated, they just need to be able to register a button, set its visibility and be informed of click events. (It *would* be useful if the API made the location available at the time a button is clicked so plugin authors can implement drop-down menus.) So at this stage I would suggest you produce the minimal feature-set (up to you to decide if that consists of a buttonbar or individual buttons) and find out how easy or hard that is before going on to elaborate the feature-set.

It's a problem with Spaceport - if a download takes too long then the process controlling it dies, and you lose connection. It applies to any download that is long enough, or any internet connection that is slow enough. You can get round it by using one of the very many download managers that has a Resume Download facility.

"L" locks the shape. You could build your craft without the fuel tanks, place ONE fairing (turn off symmetry to do that), lock it's shape, pull it off, add the fuel tanks, then replace the fairing with symmetry on. You can adjust the fairing shape by hovering over the fairing base, holding down "R" and moving the mouse up/down to increase/reduce the radius.

Have you tried mechJeb without the other mods?

Did you try "+" to "+"? Both docking ports should have the "hatch" visible on the outside of the component.

Force Roll has two modes: when a docking port is set as target, and otherwise. When a docking port is targeted (such as when Mechjeb is in Docking mode, but also when manually docking and using "Parallel -" or "Parallel +") then the roll is relative to the target docking port. This helps ensure the ports are lined up after docking. This is excellent news for those trying to create neat space-stations, or those who suffer from docking O.C.D! At all other times that I am aware of, force-roll is relative to the current orbited body, so it tries to level the navball. I suspect that in your instance, the port you were docking with just happened to be at 90deg to the local horizon. EDIT: I discovered this feature totally by accident only yesterday.

Voting is back up.

I went to vote, and got "Voting is on hold" for that category.

Sorry, yes, I was mistaken to say that. I could SWEAR that I had read it in a press release (or maybe a news article) but I can find nothing to support my impression. tl/dr: me=derp! On another note, I did find a mention HERE of a fibre-reinforced ceramic aeroshell being proposed - it's in the paragraph titled "Material Construction".

Good points!

Sorry I missed your query first time round! On the left, the current system as a head-on view of a docking port in Active mode, with the fins in grey, and locations for the fins of the passive docking port in pink. ("Dorsal" side is top.) On the right, my suggestion. Again, a head-on view with fins in grey, and locations for fins of another port in pink. This is very much the same diagram, but the grey fins are permanently rotated 22.5deg into the suggested orientation. With this arrangement, the the docking ports simply connect, without the need for moving the fins. If you want I could try and do a 3d version of this.

I believe that the nose of the Shuttle was made that blunt so as to protect the wings from the front shockwave. The blunter the nose, the wider the cone of shockwave. Make it wide enough, and the wings are entirely enclosed within the cone of low-velocity air within the shockwave. Make it too pointed and the shockwave can intersect with the wings, which would be fatal. Interestingly, Reaction Engines are proposing that SKYLON would have a narrow nose much like Concorde, and claim that aerodynamic research has shown that the materials they propose for the wings will survive the effects of the shockwave, though they may possibly need active cooling. They appear confident that Scaled Composites (their materials partner) can deliver the goods! EDIT: OK, I appear to be misremembering/imagining the bit about Scaled Composites being signed-up to produce the aeroshell. I could swear I had read about it in a press release (or maybe a news article) but I can no longer find it.