Cezary

Exploring the edge of a crater (17.3 km from base) Back at base camp

Launching at sunrise, so pretty...

I launched the GPS satellites an hour apart to get six orbital planes as the planet takes 6 hours to complete a full revolution. The GPS satellites took 47 minutes to reach stable orbit so this was possible without waiting a day. For the Shield I launched every 10 minutes. The ships used are 2-stage and reached stable orbit in 7 minutes and 21 seconds from launch. I would wait until 9:54 and launch another ship (assuming the launchpad load delay ate up about 6 seconds). Here\'s the ship:

Nope. 100km orbits, launching every 10 minutes, aiming for 305 degrees (55 degrees 'up') heading. With a total of 36 satellites, you get super good at orbital insertion.

My planetary shield. Thirty-six satellites of goodness.

AR 202 no longer works in 0.14.1

My GPS Network, detailed here: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=7962.0

Efficiency wasn\'t my main priority the first time around. I focused on impact tolerance (the 3x decouplers + winglets can take a big hit) and lots of thrust for quick maneuvers (thus the 36x thrusters). I also had no intention of returning the Probe to Kerbin; Apologies to Bill, Jeb and Bob. Once we get not only persistence, but docking as well I plan to create a Mun shuttle/lifter that lands on top of cargo, attaches, and moves it elsewhere.

Busy day. Cooking and cleaning left little time for KSP, and by that I mean I did a Mun mission without using time warp while I cooked and cleaned. I find that I am EXTRA careful when it took eight and a half hours to reach the surface of the Mun. Back to the topic at hand... The successor to Ascento has arrived. The boringly named RCS Probe is ready to scour the Mun for landing sites and mountain tops. Complete with 3 RCS tanks and 36 RCS thrusters, you\'ll be able to cover a nice area. Check it out here

Oh my... When I posted this, the Ascento was my primo ship. A mere half a day later I have already made several generations more and feel like Ascento was a rickety pile of bolts. How very Kerbal of me... By the way, not sure if you\'re using the \'F\' key out of choice or you don\'t know about the \'T\' key. I played KSP for a month before realizing I didn\'t have to hold the \'F\' key the whole time.

Right-click and Save As... Browsers tend to open .craft files as text rather than auto-download

The Ascento is a very tight ship that only has 5 stages, but will get you to the Mun with tons of fuel to spare, and uses a multi-stage, RCS-based system for the return home. Download it HERE

I wanted to go to the Mun... Instead I became a Mun

Wicked cool. I was looking for a new challenge. Going to try this right now. ;P

Fantastic explanation. In regard to the winglets, they will still move as there is no way to turn them off like there is for RCS. If you\'re out of the atmosphere, the winglets moving will cause no problems. It just looks funny.

Just another successful take-off

That is a fantastic ship. I have tried using RCS thrusters to land before, but I\'ve always failed. I also like 100% stock part ships and have designed quite a few Mun capable vessels. Check them out if you\'re curious @ http://kerbal.blogspot.com/ In regard to landing gear, I use Radial Decouplers and AV-R8 winglets. A single radial decoupler, attached as low as possible to a Liquid Tank, with an AV-R8 winglet attached as low as possible on the Decoupler will reach lower than the LV-T45 engine attached below the Liquid Tank. See below:

Is it wrong that my first reaction was 'I have to recreate this... Build a long orbiter and try to clip the Mun without killing my Kerbals'

12 meter difference @ 152,411/152,399. That\'s an orbit eccentricity of 0.0000394

As Kryten pointed out, click on the Moulty Shedder link or the link to the blog. In regard to flying it; ditch the first 5 stages (11, 10, 9, 8, 7) as their tanks run dry, but be careful on stage 6. It tends to clip the engines after decoupling. The engines should survive, but if you want to be safe then turn down the throttle for a moment while you decouple. Happy exploring!

KSP v0.13 came out and to celebrate I built a new Mun lander that uses Fuel Ducts. (Totally not because my v0.12 ships will no longer load) Introducing, the Moulty Shedder. The finest heap of scrap metal this side of the tracks. A lovely ship that loses fuel tanks almost as fast as I lose chips at the casino. No refunds/returns. In all seriousness, this baby will take you to Kearth orbit -> trans-Mun injection -> orbit -> land -> take-off -> orbit -> Kearth injection, with enough fuel left to set up a shallow re-entry with less than 4 Gs. It is well balanced as well, needing no RCS to stay on course. Use it only for heading changes and perfecting your Mun landing before ditching the orbiter. Good luck, here is a bag of spare parts... http://kerbal.blogspot.com/2011/12/ksp-v013-mun-vessel-moulty-shedder.html

Hello all, I found this game through the Kotaku article and I love it soooo much. The last few updates have really made me addicted and I cannot wait for what the game will bring in the future. I spend my days planning new missions in my head and my nights slinging those poor kerbals around space. My Skyrim character is getting jealous. ;P I used to use all sorts of mods, but recently found much pleasure in going 100% stock. Landing on the Mun and coming back is so much more nerve-racking, but also much more satisfying I find. I keep track of my misadventures on a blog. Not sure if posting links is OK, but it\'s entirely about KSP so I hope it\'s OK. Let me know what you think! http://kerbal.blogspot.com

Awesome pictures. Anytime you can get Jeb to look terrified without killing him is a bonus. About your questions; Ships that fall apart on the launch pad: I use only stock parts so I can\'t speak for the mods, but it mostly has to do with mass and the strength of your (de)couplers. Also make sure when placing parts to use the symmetry tool as manually placing several congruent parts doesn\'t guarantee that they\'ll line up perfectly. Placing struts so they are not 'funky': When placing a strut use the symmetry tool, selecting the same multiplier as the parts you are attaching it to. Watch the Symmetry tool as it might change by itself as you pass over various parts. Also I find that not all copies of the same part cause the symmetry tool to behave correctly. Stick to the 'original' part rather than the 'clones'. When placing the struts, try using the camera height (mouse wheel), the camera angle (right button and move) AND the camera zoom (SHIFT + mouse wheel). That way you can get a really close view of where you want to stick your struts. You can even change the camera position AFTER placing your first connection so that your second connection is perfect too. Have fun!