Wjolcz

A "build your own plane and fly with others in real time" kind of spin-off. Semi-realistic and highly moddable atmospheric flight sim with multiplayer. Still, with ragdoll kerbals that can EVA. They are a very good mascot IMO.

Meh. I actually don't mind. I always build all my rovers with the front facing the flag on the wall in the VAB. I actually never paid any attention to where the name of the probe core is on it. Do you build your rovers with the probe core facing up when the rover is on the wheels? That's how I do it and it always works fine. Btw, a side-mounted probe core with switchable control directions (just like it is on the bigger lander can) would be nice IMO.

Isn't the lander going to be fueled by cryogenics anyway? Might as well put all that fuel in LEO and then go directly to the Moon with some sort of tug. BTW, Aren't conditions around the Moon worse for cryogenics than they are in LEO anyway? How much time (if any) will the station spend in the shade to radiate away all of the heat accumulated on the day side? The whole thing is obviously proposed to make the SLS seem useful so it's no surprise it's overcomplicated and full of pitstops. I honestly doubt the SLS will fly more than twice.

So a tent VAB? Cool. Oddly, it's stuff like this that make me think they are actually serious about building and flying that thing. Are they making it on a triangle base? Seems like the best way to deal with the winds. A square building would catch a lot more of incoming air putting additional strain on it, right? The smaller the angles in the corners the more likely wind is to slip off the walls, I guess. Now that I wrote all this: how about instead of having a tent made out of some sort of fabric they would put steel sheets on the frame? It's way less flammable, won't tear as easily and they are building a rocket out of it anyway, so could cut the cost and time of production since they can just order more of the same thing from the same manufacturer.

Does anybody know of a mod that can exchange funds to sicence just like this one did? Something like DailyFunds would be good too.

Hopefully the future of KSP includes career rework.

Hopefully I'm not repeating myself with this. So KerboKatz seems to be dead since 1.4 and playing career without it is almost unbearable. What I need is directly and immediately buy science when I need it. Are there any mods that do the same/similar thing? And I know about strategies. Tried them. Turns out they are worthless crap. Only lost funds setting up the Outsourced R&D one.

Correct me if I'm wrong but from my experience slowing down early on should make the ship heat up less, shouldn't it? That's why the best way to aerobrake is to slow down by perofrming multple passes in the upper atmosphere and then, once the ship isn't going interplanetary speeds anymore, enter the atmosphere for landing. I'm also assuming we are talking about spaceplanes here since they are known for orienting thmselves nose-first (making them aerodynamically stable and very fast) then having proper viking burial. I do realize that it depends a lot on the ship and how it enters the atmosphere, but a bigger surface will slow you down more. Sure, the crew will experience a lot of gees and black out but if the probe core is active everything should be fine. You should either maximize your surface or change the entry/aerobrake profile. BTW, @Reinhart Mk.1 may we see your ship, please?

This mod is like that Historical Progression Tech Tree!? :O YESSSSSSSS! Time to start a new career save!

I used to use a couple of mods that allowed me to indirectly buy tech tree nodes with funds. -Science return as low as possible. -Periodical funding based on reputation -KerboKatz widget to exchange funds for science. Made the time pass way quicker (planning transfer windows made actual sense) and I didn't have to fly half-assed landers anywhere to get better tech/more science instruments. What annoys me in stock career the most is the fact that you have to go somewhere to grab points and then go there again to grab additional points to research more parts. That mod setup got rid of this annoyance very successfully.

Here's how I slow down from orbital speeds: Doing it a'la SpaceShipTwo is very effective.

This. And how about instead of having these K-struts we would have a welding tool instead? That way you could use normal struts and connect 2 different vessels for fuel transfer.

Being able to recharge vessel batteries with nearby science (from Breaking Ground) RTGs and solar panels.

Yeah, I'm not surprised. As I said though: it's not like I'm a huge fan or anything. Original plans always change. Falcon Heavy had a VTOL upper stage in the animation too. Still, they got the majority of the rocket to fly back to be reused. I know it's apples and oranges, but I feel like they will continue and build on the experience gained.

I was thinking the same thing.

That really depends on how the train/vehicle is designed and how the traffic is handled. It's not like people in regular underground trains are strapped to the ceiling to maximize the amount of passengers per cubic meter. And it's not like these metro trains are always full. Sometimes there are just a few passengers per section. What a waste of taxpayers' money, right? Hmm... I'm not trying to defend the Boring Company. I need to see it first to believe it too. But I remember saying the same thing about landing rockets. Was a pretty cool trick in KSP until it actually happened IRL.

There's nothing new because we stand on the shoulders of giants. Aren't they doing it a bit different though? With smaller diameter they can bore quicker and use scrubbers instead of ventilation to make the whole thing cheaper.

How much cheaper/simpler is a cable with a winch and some sort of dampening system vs a whole rotating mechanism that forces the designers to put two of those on a ship to counter the rotation? Ok, so let's go with an O'Neill cylinder if spinning sections on otherwise rigid ships are too problematic. Are they easier to build? It depends how much money you have to throw it at all of the problems of building one of these. None have been built and tested in space. But at least one of those technologies is being used here on Earth all the time in pretty much any major sea port or construction site. It's a no-brainer IMO. The details can be worked out with a bit of testing.

This isn't that big of a deal if both ships are identical and can perform the correction burns on their own. One just has fuel where crew would normally be. Or: What about the mass being distributed unevenly? Have a heavier tanker on one end and a crew ship on the other? Still simpler than an air donut in space. Those donut centrifuges are a waste of living space and building material. They cost more, are harder to build and use and a pain to get into space.

Why not take 2 ships, a crewed one and a tanker, tie them together with a cable and spin to 1G? Even if the cable fails and snaps both ships can continue the trip on their own or re-rendezvous and reconnect the cable. If the ship can whithstand 1G standing on a launchpad on Earth then it can be used to simulate 1G without the complexity of a centrifuge.

I think it really depends on the platform design. I'm assuming it will be very similar to how oil rigs look like and work except with fuel tanks underwater, for safety reasons. They could probably use gravity to dump the fuel back into the underwater tanks if there's a delay or something goes wrong. Then use a crane to move the empty Starship aside.

Are you telling me that a cylinder made out of steel is wobblier and more noodle-like than the ISS?

More fragile too. Why does the mobility matter? If two starships were docking it's not like they would smash into each other at dozens of meters per second. One would use the RCS to approach the other while the other would keep, as you call it, 'immobile'. BTW: The Starship will be only slightly larger than the Shutle orange tank. And there were plans to make stations out of those.

How massive are we talking?

You know what I think? I think they are waiting with building the aft and tank sections until the hopper is done testing and/or design revisions from the upcoming presentation. Though the second option makes a little sense. If I were them I would build the simplest parts first which would be the empty sections of the hull. So my guess is: that Starship in Florida is actually only the top part of a Starship and the skin of a booster.