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KAI Sitrep #6 - Multistage Hello fellow engineers, kerbonauts and chefs! First thing first, welcome back to another Sitrep of the KAI. This weeks were crazy in terms of RL work, so I had to slow down a little the progression of the game to better accomodate an healthy lifestyle (already hard-tested due to the global pandemic) but nonetheless I'm proceeding and funnily the slow-down process gave me some sort of feeling of "natural" progression of the events... meaning that it felt more right to having the KAI spending time at the engineering table rather than launching missions over missions in sequence. Let's look at this report topics: General status of the project I finally bought a DNS name: kaero.space, I was hesistant at first after I was worried in spending money and then at some point abandon the project like I did several times in the past, but at the end the cost is very small (even compared to what I spend on steam regularly, for example) and I really like that fact that I can now point to a single domain rather that having blogger, github etc... As mentioned before, I proceeded slowly compared to the beginning but also because most of the stuff I wanted are already in place, so now I can focus more on the evolution of the fiction. On Twitter I post daily information and stuff. I don't have many followers, maybe in future I will publish this fiction links on other media (like Reddit) but I don't want either to bother people too much because if I can say that I'm happy with the outcome, I could certainly do it better (like writing better.. english is not my mother tongue and given the fact that I have to write a lot, mispelling and convoluted phrases are very common unfortunately) so I'm waiting to have much more stuff before "marketing" the KAI. Nevertheless, I do love the feedbacks that I'm receiving and even a like makes me happy! At the end I can say that I don't have at the moment big ideas for the near future, as I said everything is in place to move further with the fiction The website The website is coming up nicely, the more things happens in the fiction the more it seems lively. As I said it's quite dull from a pure development perspective but the platform (Blogger) doens't give too much room for fancy stuff (or, to say better, I don't like the idea to spend too much time on its technology, quite old style). Plan for the near future is to add a couple of new sections like a "book of records" and a page dedicated to explain what the hell that website is and maybe listing the mods actually in use. Xmas time will probably gave me some time to improve also existing pages (some of them, like the About KAI, are quite dull) The mapserver KAIA is quite complete, I added the capability to hide or show the markers and labels on the map plus the capability to plot lines of coordinates in the [lat,lon], [lat,lon], ... format that I already tested to came up with the flight path of the Aero-4 mission. The coordinates are gathered through kOS that saves them every second (it's enough, I don't feel the need to go more grainy) on a text file on disk. Lastly, I added geographical features label. These are not very easy to write up as essentially they are HTML canvas layers put on top of the map, but the effect is quite cool and the naming itself is a good fiction stuff that made me came up with the Explora program. The fiction Lastly, the fiction, which I believe is proceeding the right way. We moved from solid to liquid to now multistage rocketry and at the same time planes are being developed. It feels a natural progression and as I said the fact of not conducting missions everyday gave some much needed realism touch. It's funny that in this way even if I need to take some breaks it works well too by assuming that the "KAI engineers" are working on new stuff. Regarding the game, as I mentioned I introducted kOS but only for retrieving telemetry data and I'm a bit worried that the upcoming KSP update may break compatibility with some mods. I will probably need to wait a little before transitioning and eventually do some testing. The thing that scary me most is to lose compatibbility with Kerbal Konstruct that I used to have a KSC on steroids. Let's see, I will keep my finger crossed as not being able to follow up with new patches is something that I don't really like, especially missing cool content like the one that will be introduced (repairs, new visors, etc..) All right I think that's it! If you read through all of this thank you! See you at the launchpad!

Thank you @Misguided_Kerbal! Ahah not sure, but quality is always better than quantity! (And maybe because I’m boring!! Ahah)

KAI Sitrep #5 - A diary is better (I think!) All right so I'm changing things a little bit here. Last sitrep were more a copy/paste of the same information that I'm posting on either the website and on Twitter, and honestly this seems really redundant to me. So considering that the KSP forums are a "friend space" I thought that maybe it's better to use this medium as a safe harbor where I can talk "out of the fiction" about my plans, the general progress and everything that is not posted nor explained already. Maybe I'll split in topics each entry. General status of the project At the moment I'm very happy with the result. I manage to get to a pace that allows me to take everything very easy. I still have not identified a way to use a standardize time, meaning that the output in the fiction is different than the time in game. For example, I've done some missions in game in two consequent days but I reported them on the fiction having a longer span, to give a "breath" to the fiction itself. While this paradox can work while I do a timed/single day mission, it could be difficult in future when I will work on longer missions. I plan to find a solution along the way, but at this time I'm trying to avoid "fixed time" or dates in the fiction stuff, also to avoid potential "we'll do that tomorrow" and the next day being unable to updated due to being bogged down with real life events. In game I've completed around 10 missions, so I have a slight advantage over the fiction. I plan to keep this advantage over time, maybe more, but at the moment I felt moving faster in game could potentially be disruptive (I'm thinking for example of the recent addition of a map server, it would have been cool to record more telemetry from my first launches and visualize their path, but at that time I had no clue that I ended up with this additional cool tool). I'm trying also to gave more importance to each assets I build in game, this is something that bothers me because I don't want to have thousands of rockets/planes and not give enough space to each one of these, or worst, not justifying their construction. The website I've expanded a lot the website since I started. It's quite a mess honestly because I wanted to rely 100% on free systems (since last time I paid for a domain and a hosting for one year and ended up shutting everything down after a month) so I used a Blogger account and I just create a template from scratch, leveraging on Bootstrap. As you may imagine, there is a lot of unorganized HTML, CSS and JS but at the end it works and I believe it's looking good right now. I've added some heavy HTML customized pages like the Assets and the Kerbonauts and for edit them I essentially change them in VS Code and then copy paste to blogger. I will add some more stuff there over time but again I don't want to rush. Regarding the news section there, since Twitter is the place where I post daily news, I plan to add a little more exhaustive articles when importat event will happens. Maybe also a weekly, daily report on operation, but definitely it would look like more a general database for the fiction rathern than a news site. The mapserver In these days I also worked on what I call KAIA (Kerbal Aerospace Institute Atlas) which is nothing more that a google-map alike for Kerbin (for the more dev oriented, Leaflet relying on tiles generated from Sigma-Cartographer, everything hosted on GitHub pages). At the moment I'm still understanding how to use it at best, most likely I will add specific missions and launch informations. I'm adding in seconds a link on the first post of the topic. The fiction Lastly, let's talk about the fiction. So at the moment the KAI focus is on two different projects, Aero and Ascent. Both are essentially "foundation" projects, one for building up fictional knowledge about aeronautics engineering, the other for doing the same with space exploration. With Aero I just rolled out the X-1 Aerojet, an aircraft (inspired by the Me-262) that would represent the first step of experimenting with jets. On top of it I plan to release multiple specific variants for different uses. Talking about Ascent instead, I think now at a "V-2" phase in terms of technology, where experiments are like "lit this candle and see how far it will go". The first rocket is a solid propelled one, also with no reentry options other than crash. I plan to evolve this design with parachutes, test a liquid fuel variants and generally having the KAI focused on understanding how rocketry works and makes consideration about rockets aerodynamics, propellant and derived capabilities. Of course reaching space is very near (just launch fast, it will get there somehow right?) but the challenge will be to control these rockets and use them in an intelligent way. In game I decided to use just vanilla parts, to have a unified look and without mods like TweakScale (to add some challenge). I really like use mods but I think that at this point KSP is very mature and allows to do essentially everything without modded parts. I'm relying instead of mods for both visual and informative purposes, like Engineer Redux, Scatterer and so on. So things that doesn't really affect a possible craft file that I will generate. I also evaluate the use of KOS. But I believe it could be really overkill as I believe it will have me taking too much preparation on each rocket development. I'm planning to use it anyway for telemetry data, for example taking a ship position over time and reconstruct it's flight. I already have an halfway baked script with all kinds of telemetry there. Along with KOS I will certainly use Graphotron, which automatically plot and prevent me to export/import into Sheets/Excel. I think that for today we're set! I hope you are enjoying the fiction and these short "diaries" that I will post here on the forum from time to time. Thank you for reading!

KAI Sitrep #4 - Nearly there! Operational Divisions of the KAI While the Space Center is in a chaotic in and out of trucks and vehicles to transport the equipment for the upcoming opening, the Board of Directors confirmed that the Institute will be composed by 4 Operational Division, each one of them with distinct objectives, tasks and responsibilities. You can find below and informational flyer about the four divisions: First two KAI programs announced! While we're waiting for the KSC inauguration next week and our ranks are nearly completed with fresh new engineers and scientists, our board of directors announced the very first programs that the Institute will work on: Ascent and Aero.The Ascent program represent our willingness to explore the space and of course, develop the assets necessary to fullfil this goal: rockets, probes, artificial satellites and so on. This will be a milestone in Kerbal history and our civilization first try to go outside the boundaries of our atmosphere and finally explore the universe, starting of course from our near space. The endgoal of Ascent is to put an artificial satellite in orbit and demostrate that we can do that, paving the way for all future space explorations and investigations. Our knowledge in rocketry and space flight is very limited and just theoretical, so we know very well that it will not be easy but we're ready to pick up this challenge. The Aero program instead is focused on jet planes and atmospheric flight. Jets technology is just at the beginning and it's important that we develop the necessary skill and knowledge on aerodynamics while at the same time producing aircraft not only for research and logistic purposes, but also to possibly exploit civilian and military market opportunities to fund the Institute and allow the KAI to rely less on UKN funding alone. Ultimately this will be beneficial for our future plans. You can find additional information about our programs on a brand new page, available here. See you next week for the start of our journey!

KAI Sitrep #3 - The Kerbal Space Center Kerbal Space Center will be inaugurated next week! We're happy to annouce that today our administrator Devan Kerman confirmed that next week the Kerbal Space Center will be inaugurated. The news came after the KAI staff today got the green light from the construction company that all the facilities are now accessible and the work at the location is now complete. Equipment needed to operate will be shipped along this week. In the meantime, at least a number between 150 and 200 employees were hired including the first seven kerbonauts that will live at the Kerbonaut Complex in the facility. Their names will be made public at the inauguration. Below you will find a detailed map of the KSC facilities and structures.

KAI Sitrep #2 - Board of Directors Board of Directors announced! UKN published the names of the members of the KAI Board of Directors and from now on the Institute will operate under their leadership. Devan Kerman, previously Scientific Committee Administrator of the UKN was nominated as the KAI Administrator and will be assisted in his activities by Lizelle Kerman, Deputy Administrator. From the org chart of the KAI is outlined that there will be four specific operational departments, the Space Administration, the Propulsion Division, the Jet Laboratories and the Skunkworks. Specific tasks and responsibilities were not cleared yet but will be soon available for the public. The KAI Board of Directors

KAI Sitrep #1 A new era for Kerbalkind It's with pleasure that we announce the foundation of the Kerbal Aerospace Institute - KAI. The United Kerbin Nations, during a joint session, deliberated the foundation and the allocation of fundings for the Institute to be created, a new organization with the final goal of leading the whole kerbalkind effort in space exploration and scientific advancement. "This will be a pivotal moment for the history of our kind" - commented the President of the UKN at a press conference after the announcement. Kerbal Aerospace Institute will start operations soon After the announcement of the foundation of the Institute last week by the chairman of the United Kerbin Nations, a commission was assembled to hire the initial staff of the KAI.At the moment, a number of applicants are evaluated and after their hiring will be complete they will be put in charge to fully staff the organization with the personnel necessary to start the operations. The KIA main goal is to lead the effort of the Kerbalkind in space exploration and scientific discoveries. The UKN Chairman also added “it’s funny that we never ever reached our upper atmosphere, this is a clear sign that something must be done”. Work underway for the construction of the KSC The peninsula in front of the Booster Bay was identified as a perfect location for the construction of the Kerbal Space Center, the main facilities hub from which the KAI will operate. The location was deemed optimal not only for being at the exact equator of Kerbin and being close to the ocean (to allow for risk-free launches preventing rockets from traveling the skies over potentially habitable areas) but also because of the nearby Island Airfield, a now abandoned location that could be integrated in the KSC facilities in future. Aerial view of the construction site of the Kerbal Space Center Work already begun and thanks to the huge amount of fundings allocated to the project it was estimated less than a year for the completion. At least 3 additional locations will be used by KAI “There are unused launchpads and airfields that Kerbin nations decided to hand over to the Institute” - commented Salmun Kerman, the head of the committee - “it would be a shame not accepting such an interesting offer”. Meanwhile, work at the KSC continues and the terrain has been evidently paved for the construction of at least three runways. Three additional locations were identified by the UKN commission to host KAI staff. These will be complementary to the KSC and will allow for a wider area of operation by the organization. View of the Dessert Airfield, one of the selected locations DSN stations to be constructed around Kerbin Several Deep Space Network stations will be built scattered across Kerbin. These station with definitely big communication antenna will help tracking vessels and rockets that potentially the KAI will launch into space. Officials declared that these stations will be manned by KAI staff recruited in the vicinity of them and the search for communication engineers and astronomers already begun.

After a very long break from KSP, and after several attempts to run, for at least a moderate amount of time, a fictional agency here on the forums, here I am again! Some of you may remember me from a long dead report about the Kerbal Aerospace Institute. It was my first iteration of running a fictional agency and after a very small amount of time I quit as I 100% burned out. The same thing appened around 2 years ago with another report, this time it was Binary Aerospace, a fictional aerospace company. Again, less than one month and I was burnt. Why this happened, in the same way, twice? Well looking back it was simple. I was spending like 90% of my time creating infographics, diagrams, long articles etc.. instead of focusing on the game. For the KAI I even created a website and worked on it like 2 weeks before starting my adventure. Being a grown adult (unfortunately) I ended up, instead of coming back to work and have fun, spending my evening literally "working". This time I hope I realized my mistake and will take a different direction: no rush, no insane details, not putting the game as a subsidiary of the fiction. I was always impressed by the work of @Drew Kerman and his superb Kerbal Space Agency (yes Drew, if you're wondering, I will mention you as my inspiration every time I start a new fictional agency ) or what @Raptor9 is doing with his catalog. Of course, I will never reach their level but giving the circumstances (less social interaction due to covid, working from home, daughter growing up so more free time) I would like to try again, considering that soon KSP will became a relic with the advent of KSP2. Well, I hope you'll all pardon my for my "nth" attempt and I hope to give you some entertaining time in joining me in this endeavour. ps: I'm again building a very simple website and running a twitter account, but again, this time at a very low and relaxed pace. TWITTER ACCOUNT Daily news and information on missions WEBSITE Articles, KAI Database, Assets and General Info MAPSERVER KAIA, the Atlas of KAI Summary KAI Sitrep #1 KAI Sitrep #2 - Board of Directors KAI Sitrep #3 - The Kerbal Space Center KAI Sitrep #4 - Nearly there! KAI Sitrep #5 - A diary is better (I think!) KAI Sitrep #6 - Multistage

Hi folks! yeah, unfortunately at the moment is pretty much dead, RL things took out all my time unfortunately

Did I read correctly? Kolechian? Is it a reference to Papers Please? Btw I love how you made using non DLC parts, but you definitely need to buy Making History, they are some nice parts!

I hope so! Running a bit late these days at work so my time is very thin! I will probably publish the spaceplane plus some images of the Pegasus as I remember you were curious of it!

Thank you buddy! I'm progressing a little slow these days due to RL activities, but I'm getting there! Surely having nearly finishing the Meteors allows me then to focus on the Pegasus!

Newsfeed - May 16th 2018 Welcome back for a new update! Today we will finally show you some images taken directly by our currently in development projects. Let's start with the Space Division! We're in fact moving very fast, the prototype of the K-1 Pegasus is in its final testing phase before qualification, we put it on hold because we felt that the Comet IV, the launcher used to put it in orbit, gave us not enough spare Delta-V, hence we chose to rely on the in development Meteor rockets. The Meteor family prototypes are fully completed, and they are all awaiting the qualification phase. Along the three variant, L, M and H, we decided to ship the I variant (Interstellar) that combines a Meteor-H launcher plus the upper stage of the Comet II/III/IV (the S-CHS+ stage) that allow probes up to 3 ton to perform planetary transfers. The Meteor family was conceived to have a slighter certified mass for an improved endurance, in fact each vessel has more than 1,000 of remaining available Delta-V when reaching LKO. In total, we performed 7 tests, having only 1 failure and 2 partial successes (due to an initial non-optimal maneuverability that hampened gravity turn efficiency). The Jet Laboratories on the other hand are approaching the 11th test on the Horizon program, so far only the C-100 cargo and C-120 airliner were tested but acceptable results were achieved only on the last test. The main issue with these airplane development was related to a very unresponsive pitch capability, added to an overestimated thrust output by the engines (that are shared amongst the two planes). We however managed to finally achieve optimal results with the last design of the C-120, and its frame will be adapted for the C-100. So after a pretty troublesome initial phase, seems now that we reached the turning point and we can proceed full speed. Last but absolutely not least, the Skunkworks are finally at the last phases of the Summit program, having successfully converted and tested the experimental X-6 into the marketable S-6 and the stunning image that we posted above shows the vessel in orbit performing system testing. The Centaur is the first spaceplane produced by Binary Aerospace. It has limited capability in terms of payload (need to be certified the maximum yet), but the performance are above the expected results, especially during the reentry. Our both unmanned and manned test in landing back at the KSC runway were executed flawlessly, and a reentry profile with an angle of attack of more than 45° allowed for a very safe and quick heat dissipation. That's all for now, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! CEO notes I finally sorted out the issue with the airliners. The problem was twice, first the mass too big for the engine and the wingspan, and the CoM too inline with major control surfaces. In the end ensuring that the pitch was on the tail wings and reducing from 4 to 3 the crew cabins allowed me to complete the C-120. The C-100 will be then a cakewalk since cargo bays are lighter. I also managed to update my secondary KSP installation with visual mods. I moved from EVE Stock Visual Enhancement and Stock Visual Terrain to a combination of EVE, Astronomer's Pack, textures from KSPRC, 43k clouds and a tweaked configuration of KS3P, that adds post processing effects (plus scatterer, planetshine, smokescreen, realplume and kopernikus). The tweaks toned down the effects, especially on the color side since it will made the ambient too dark. To be honest I'm very very happy about the outcome and the images shows how beautiful can KSP became if tweked a bit! Oh! And I made the first spaceplane that fully satisfied my goal, first time for me in years of KSP!

Ahahah LOL they better have to since I will not pay for them! They Meteors will be the made with new 1.875m parts, so a middleground between 1.25 and 2.5. I hope to get some screens during this week, as having rebased to 1.4.3 I need to prepare the visual mods yet. Sounds interesting! Can you explain more? Not sure to understand very well what do you mean with Mission Report