TerLoki

Quick question: Will this update with the new OM and engines break any existing craft using the original Onion OM?

Gladly: Not the fully realized vehicle, but close enough. The main differences are the addition of parachutes (LOTS of parachutes), landing legs, a trio of crew capsules at the so I can use Crew Manifest to magic them up to the return capsule (cheaty, I know), and three heatshields rather than one. Yeah, went with this suggestion instead. Managed to lighten the payload to 175 tons and strip about half the engines off the launcher in the process, while still getting a better margin of error. I had to rearrange a few things, since I hadn't planned on orbital refueling the conventional fairings had to be swapped for interstage fairings leading up to a shielded decoupler. Hopefully TAC Fuel Balancer will help get that moving along while still keeping the fairings attached. Oh yeah, lots of fairings on this thing, three sets in fact. One for Kerbin ascent, one for Eve descent (just in case, keeps the parachutes a bit safer), and one little one at the top for the Eve ascent. This thing is actually too tall to fit in an interstage fairing o_o . Way ahead of you. Now that I have something I can load (barely), I've moved on to the flight testing phase. By "flight testing" I mean "MOAR STRUTS".

In regard to the G90's lack of thrust, I honestly haven't had a problem with it as a first stage engine. Granted I don't use it on my heaviest lifters, but five of them onion-staged together makes a rather nice Soyuz analog rocket for launching a Soy-Juice.

Just got done designing a rocket that will, hopefully, be capable of getting my Eve Ascent vehicle to orbit. Bad news is that I can't launch it because my poor computer refuses to load it on the launch pad. I'd post pics of the whole stack, but I couldn't view the whole thing at once in the VAB.

Well right now the mission plan is more Mars Direct style, having the crew come later after the ascent rocket has already touched down. I'll probably include a rover as a second launch so that the crew can still get check out sea level and do ocean science regardless of landing site. And I totally agree there, higher is better. Thank Kod for MechJeb including TWR on other planets, it's got around ~1.5 from the first stage on Eve and ~1.75 after dropping the first set of boosters. I designed the whole thing around that before taking it out to the pad for a test fit (had to make sure the heat shield was big enough), which then turned into an SSTO launch just to see what all that dV could do. Sounds like I'm doing a sandbox "simulation" run then, sans-crew. Edit: Good news! According to every test I've run this design should survive reentry and landing (6m heat shield, crapton of parachutes, still upright and operable after a 5m/s drop test). Bad news, the launcher for it is so utterly Whackjovian that my computer refuses to load it for launch. Any tips for getting 450 tons to orbit?

So I'm using FAR, and I suddenly have the urge to do a sandbox mission to Eve for a manned landing. I built a simplified rocket to test various aspects (heat shield deployment, strut integrity, stability, etc.) and to my pleasant surprise it was able to make a 200km orbit flying manually without staging or using the last two stages (which had roughly 4km/s of dV between them). My question to those who are more experienced with that purple orb than I is this: Does it sound like this would be enough to lift off from Eve and make a stable orbit for rendezvous? The dV readouts in the VAB say "no", but my gut says "yes".

So does this mean that, aside from the special alternate livery, there won't be alternate names for the Super 25?

Either Bill and Milbert's Eve flyby gone wrong that had to park in orbit and wait seven Kerbin years to finally land again, or my Explorer 10 unmanned Eve lander. Just the fact that nothing else I have will land on Eve any time soon (read: before the next patch in all likelihood) is what makes that little probe so lonely.

I haven't. It may just be the SDHI clamp-o-tron/parachute combo that I'm using, but I haven't had any issues with that. The SDHI part works fine with the stock ports and KSO ports.

This. Planning in the VAB for me is just to get a sense of what it will look like approximately and test out clearances, I usually don't add everything in there but make a new craft file for each module and use it to modify and launch them. I'm STILL stuck on a good hab module design for my latest station that's not just an inflatable hab with a docking port on the end.

I just hope some genetically enhanced madman doesn't steal it, that would be a pain in the ass.

Demoted to the fourth page? This shall not stand!

We're now at roughly the half-way point in Libra Station's construction; either just before it if I keep the second solar array, or after if it's left out. LE-2 lifts off from the pad, carrying Jenbert, Gregfrey, and Erlo to take over for Milbert, Donrick, and Ergan. Arriving at the station. Rather than choose to use the Laythe MPCV or Duna MPCV exclusively I decided to just alternate them. This also helps me remember which crew used which ship. This is the first time both a Duna and Laythe have been in orbit at the same time, though admittedly not for long. The crew of LE-1 departs on their nine-day journey back home. Docking the CS-2 truss. With this addition the crew segment truss is now complete. All solar panels deployed. Delivering the refinery module. The size and low weight of this part made launching it a bit of a pain. I had to use way more struts than I usually do. Now that this module is in place the station is technically fully operational. Before the landers arrive however, two more flights need to be conducted, bringing up one of the habitat modules and refinery segment docking modules.

Sorry, I need to wipe the drool off my keyboard. Seriously though, that is just gorgeous. The flaps and cargo bay interior in particular look great, and I like that the moon roof can handle an octagonal docking port. Can't wait to see the textures after more fine-tuning and this bad-boy fully assembled including engines. Now, just as a side question, will this update include an IVA for the station docking module? It's kind of the only crewable module that lacks one.

I tried out an Apollo-style two-stage Mun lander for a few missions, but compared to the usual single-stage landers I use it turned out to be a bit of a mess. It took four tries to get one that actually worked AND let me get all the science. I may stay with that design if I ever do any more one rocket there and back Mun missions, but otherwise I'll stick with a reusable lander and space station combo.

Captain Proton!

Oh right, this is still here. Guess I need to stop launching rockets and actually write about launching rockets. The first two missions after we left off were more module deliveries. The first brought up the CS-1 and CP-1 truss segments, followed by a Vall ACTV in preparation for the first crew. Each truss segment includes three "Kingfisher" 0.625 bipropellant rockets for station-keeping, attachment points for 18 KAS containers, two large RCS tanks, and a 1.25m kethane detector. Milbert, Donrick, and Ergan arrive aboard a Duna MPCV as the crew of LE-1, the first expedition to Libra Station. Just before their mission is over a second crew will be sent up to ensure that the station is always inhabited. While the crew settled in this little guy was launched. The Surveyor K Lite is designed to survey kethane deposits from polar orbit, and will compliment the detectors on Libra Station. Now that the crew is settled in, Donrick and Ergan get to work on the first of many EVAs required to assemble the station and make it fully operational. These will involve transferring storage containers, laying fuel lines and struts, placing lights and antennae, and removing excess equipment from incoming modules. The redesigned CP-2 truss arrives. After ground testing it was decided that the old square-truss design was too flexible, used more solar panels than necessary, and would be more trouble than it was worth to assemble in the planned three segments that would have been launched at once. So instead a single-piece octagonal design was created with four solar panels, as well as storage for extra fuel and power. Until now our crew had been using the MPCV for EVAs, as no dedicated airlock had been installed. The arrival of the station's utility module changed that, as well as installing dedicated regenerative life support for the station. After docking the utility module and transferring waste into the ACTV, it was undocked and sent to deorbit at Kerbin, freeing up a docking port on the core hitchhiker node. Next to arrive were the R-0 truss (core module for the refinery segment) and laboratory module. Donrick on the second series of EVAs. Here you can best see the lab module's storage/sensor palette, and the MPCV which was moved temporarily to make room for incoming traffic. Donrick lays the last pipe segments. Libra Station as it is now. Next on the agenda are the first crew switchover, and the arrival of the main refinery module and CS-2 truss.

CosMech Astronautics, because it sounds cool.

Why? Who knows, maybe just as a memento. How? My guess is a screwdriver.

Interesting how most of the rover seems to have some degree of dust on it, while the RTG is relatively clean. I wonder why that is. Edit: I've been playing too much KSP, I thought the grand gain antenna was a kethane detector.

I've got that same image as my desktop wallpaper. It's got one thing that really sells it as a realistic concept that most or concept drawings like that don't: Fuzzy dice in the cabin window.

In know right? Someone needs to buy that and use it to play KSP. Or make a copy of it and use that to play KSP.

No no, you dock whatever you want to move to the front of the tug, then extend the RCS booms to keep your RCS balanced around the center of mass.

Shut up and take my nonexistent money!

A Minmus base, working with a big ol' ISS-sized station in Minmus orbit to service a similarly sized research station over the Mun, a crew way station in LKO, and another in Kerbin synchronous orbit as a dock for interplanetary ships. Said ships would probably carry enough payload to start a colony on Duna and Ike in one go. Each. Scale that all back a little bit and it becomes less "if lag didn't exist" and more "if you had all the time in the world".